WAKULLA COUNTY, FL (WTXL) — Businesses in St. Marks continue to see growth as the annual St. Marks Crafts and Drafts Brewfest expands every year, drawing more visitors to the small Wakulla County town.
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The brewfest is still a newer festival, now in its fourth year. According to festival organizers, ticket sales have climbed steadily since the event began.
This year, the festival is featuring more than 70 local arts and crafts vendors and 30 breweries. Erin Farmer, chair of the brewfest, said the event was built around a goal of lifting up the surrounding community.
"That's kind of our main goal is to help with economic development, give back to the community," Farmer said.
Ticket sales have grown each year the festival has been held.
"We sold roughly about 300 tickets. So for the first year, I felt like that was pretty good. But you know, of course, we're always striving to get bigger each year. So our second year, we did around 400 tickets. Going into the third year, our ticket sales went up, and we did about 500 sales," Farmer said.
Those numbers don't include people who came to the festival but didn't go into the beer garden, and they also don't include day-of sales.
For local businesses, the growth has been noticeable. John Himes, the owner of Sweet Magnolia Inn, said that as neighbors learn about the festival, he sees more clients every year.
"In the past, it has always helped. With you know, we we haven't always had a full house during it because the word just hadn't gotten out about the brew fest in St. Mark's, and you know it was just starting to build up," Himes said.
Himes said the inn has an almost full house this weekend.
"It is now getting large enough that we are getting more and more clients, you know, coming specifically for the brew fest," Himes said.
He expects the trend to continue as awareness grows.
"So as it more people become aware of it, you know the more and more I think it'll affect our business and other local businesses here in town. So I believe that it will eventually make it so we have a full house and we are booked out well held ahead of time," Himes said.
The Stone Crab Feast is also happening the same weekend this year. Stan West, the owner of Riverside Cafe, said events like the feast and brewfest help people discover the small town of St. Marks.
"People need to find out where St. Mark's is, and St. Mark's is kind of a coastal town that's set off in a little bit of a hideaway place. So if you're not coming to St. Mark's, you're not going to find St. Mark's, and so these festivals bring out people," West said.
The Stone Crab Feast starts at 10 a.m., and the Brewfest kicks off at noon on the 24th.
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