Local Events Can Keep Us Home

Holiday weekends are often comprised of barbeque, beer and good times with family and friends.  The neat thing about living in an active, vibrant community such as Stillwater is that even if you don’t leave town there’s still plenty to do right here in our own backyard, and they include much of those favorite activities!  Although the weather wasn’t what the organizers of the 1^st annual Brew-B-Q at the Liftbridge Brewery had in mind, the enthusiastic participation of those who braved the drizzle made up for smaller than expected numbers.

I was there in double capacity, trying to vend ice cream on a cool drizzly Satuday to BBQ enthusiasts as well as introduce them to the video services we offer to small businesses under the Tour Main Street name.  Of course, I rarely go somewhere fun without my trusty camera bag, and because sales were slow (everyone was enjoying Farm Girl more than Bomb Pops on this day!) I was able to grab some footage.  What I was able to capture was great, including their beer dunk tank and brat eating contest!  I spent some time Sunday "in post" putting this together for the guys as a way to say thanks for how well they treated the vendors.  For those who have never worked in that capacity, vendors are sometimes treated, how can I put it… less than well.  Not so with this event!  The participation fee was beyond reasonable, and they took GREAT care of us!  For our participation, we were given more beer and food tickets than we could even use, so for me, participating was more than worth it, I could eat and drink all day long!

The awesome ribs and wings from the competing teams were fantastic and the beer… well, you can’t do better than local right?  The guys at Lift Bridge have done it right by growing their business slowly and steadily from small basement beginnings to where it stands today with their tall, shining, stainless steel fermentation tanks in their Tower Drive location.  Croix Valley Steak Sauces owner Damon Holter not only showed he’s an award winner in the kitchen with his multipurpose sauces, but a talented harmonica player as well!  I used Mark Stary’s rendition of Sweet Home Chicago with “Grillmaster” Damon on harmonica as the soundtrack for this clip.  At the point in the song I started with, you can hear Mark say “take it to church Damon!” 

With fun and local events like this in the St. Croix Valley all summer long, on both sides of the river, do we even need to go out of town?  If leaving is not an option, then always remember there’s plenty of local events just like this one which will give you a reason to think about sticking close to home for our precious few warm months ahead.  Tour Main Street looks forward to working with all of these folks again in the future… great event guys!  Next weekend we'll be shooting footage of the Park Art Fair & Willow River Blues and Brews Fest in New Richmond for their Chamber of Commerce.  If you see us with a camera pointed your way, be sure to wave!