Craft Beer? Breast Cancer Fundraiser? That's the Breastfest

One of Marin’s homegrown beer festivals and heartwarming fundraisers is back after a hiatus across the Golden Gate Bridge. The 15th edition of the The Breastfest, a benefit for the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, will continue its tradition on Saturday, July 18, at the Marin County Fairgrounds following a few years held at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

Co-founder Jenn Procopio is proud the beerfest has contributed to the Oakland-based clinic for so long no matter where it’s been held. She watched her mother fight breast cancer for years and was shocked to find that alternative treatments to soothe the side effects of cancer treatments were only rarely covered by health plans. Inspired, she helped start the festival in 2000 and held it at Marin Country Mart, then called the Larkspur Landing shopping center, just out the back door of Marin Brewing Company.

How much as The Breastfest meant to the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic? This year’s event will push the 15-year donation total over the $500,000 hump.

“The people at the clinic are so grateful for this event,” said Procopio, general manager at Marin Brewing Company. “It’s such a fantastic clinic. They have helped so many people who need it.”

The nonprofit Maxwell clinic, which has offices in Oakland and San Francisco, offers free alternative medicine treatments (acupuncture, massage therapy, Chinese and Western herbs, therapeutic imagery), organic foods, transportation services, social services and educational workshops for low-income women with cancer. The Breastfest routinely raises tens of thousands of dollars that go directly to the clinic.

Procopio said almost all the 40 microbreweries participating are from California and will be pouring samples of their brews Saturday on the island at Lagoon Park – the same spot where major touring bands play during the Marin County Fair. Brewmaster Arne Johnson is celebrating his 20th year at Marin Brewing and has brewed a special batch of Preservation Ale for the event. Other breweries include Moylan’s, Iron Springs, Broken Drum, 21st Amendment, Lagunitas, Magnolia, Bear Republic, Rubicon, Russian River and Third Street Ale Works.

This is a festival organized for the purpose of helping those in need, created in an era in which beer-tasting events were far and few between. In Marin, only the Fairfax Brewfest is older (now 20 years old). The Breastfest has become an elite presence for breweries on the West Coast and beyond.

“It gives the craft brewing industry a way to create camaraderie for a worthy cause,” Procopio said. “We get outstanding support from the breweries, who really get behind the cause. It’s an event where our local beer pioneers, cancer survivors and regular old craft beer geeks can join hands and give back to the community.”

Kingsborough, an upbeat band from Santa Rosa, will entertain the crowd. The quartet offers a modern twist on classic, soulful rock. There will be an array of tasty foods and non-alcoholic drinks (covered by the ticket price) and, of course, a mind-boggling selection of beers.

The festival, which features raffle prizes, is from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is $55 in advance and $65 at the ticket booth. There will be plenty of free parking in lots at Marin Center and Lagoon Park, just off Civic Center Drive in San Rafael. Go to thebreastfest.org for online advance tickets and other details.