Saturday was a GREAT day for drinking beer.
 
Well, to be honest, for most of the thousand + people who came to Union Station to support WQLN, ANY DAY is a great day for drinking beer. 
 
But this was truly special.
 
For one thing, it is a great way for WQLN to raise money. Their normal fund drives have got to be tough for them, and they are REALLY tough on even dedicated listeners like me : ).  This is the opposite of that. People having fun while raising money for public radio (they should do these more often and scrap the on-air fund drive : ).
 
Secondly, the beers are terrific. It is a fun event, with dozens of different locally brewed beers from pale ale to nut brown and all kinds of variations that you never would imagine and that might not sound like they’d taste too good, but are really delicious.  
 
There is good food (this year Connie’s and Rita’s showcased their delicious homemade ice cream, and The Sweet Shop has some of the best chocolate chip cookies around), non-alcoholic beverages (the Brewerie had homemade root beer and ginger ale. VERY good). Wegmans provided a wonderful assortment of cheeses (that went GREAT with the wonderful assortment of beer). Chef William made some great soup. There were folks hand rolling cigars on-site, good music, and hundreds of different people from the many walks of life in the area just enjoying themselves, and running into friends and acquaintances they haven’t seen in months or years–another annual day that the community turns out. Great to see. 
 
Thirdly, from a selfish point of view, all these people get to visit Union Station and to see how great it looks and how the neighborhood gets better and better each year. This year, the flags were up on the roof (which really brightens the place up–come on down if you haven’t seen them yet) and the work on Griswold Park has begun.  In fact, since the park expansion will be done this year, I’d suggest that WQLN be allowed to open up the park and to get to use that as well for next year’s event. The weather yesterday was unbelievable. Mayor, can we do that please?  It’s for a good cause, and would be a cool way to showcase the investment the city is making in the neighborhood (thank you).
 
A terrific success. Thanks to Tom New of QLN and to Chris Sirianni and Gary Burleigh of The Brewerie and to Marty Pituch of The Concourse at Union Station, our good friends and neighbors.

Cheers!
 
JB