Beach Cat Brewing to host ‘Catoberfest’ at Marine Park

To celebrate the incoming autumn while also supporting the Blaine Food Bank, Beach Cat Brewing will host Catoberfest at the Blaine Marine Park amphitheater on Saturday, September 14.

Tickets for the seaside festival are $25 and will go from 12 to 7 p.m. for VIP guests, and 1 to 7 p.m. for all other attendees, with all ticket proceeds benefitting the Blaine Food Bank. Catoberfest will feature live music from Dad Company, Paperhearts, and Michael Dayvid, along with a DJ, beer garden, games, silent auction and a costume contest.

Beach Cat Brewing co-owner Jake Gobeille wanted to celebrate the change of season with a classic Bavarian-style Oktoberfest while raising money for a crucial nonprofit. Gobeille said the food bank’s motto, “Turning hunger into hope,” resonated with him.

The date, September 14, is a special one for Gobeille. It’s the birthday of his best friend Bradley Hill, who committed suicide in November 2023. Gobeille said he wanted to make Hill’s birthday a celebration, and thinks the festival will be a great way to keep on remembering a dear friend, all while helping the community.

“All of the music and the event itself was to put something together to honor my friend’s memory,” Gobeille said. “His whole family will be there, so it’s a personal thing for me. That’s one of the reasons I did this, to highlight and show that the food bank needs our support and we need to be able to be there for our community.”

Taps from breweries Beach Cat, Anacortes, Barley Pop!, Distant West, Menace, Kulshan, Larrabee, El Sueñito, Bickersons and Bellingham Cider Company, and three local food trucks will all be available, with proceeds benefitting the Blaine Food Bank. VIPs will receive two free drink tickets, with tickets available for general admission for $4 per ticket, or $25 for seven tickets.

Gobeille said the event  has already raised $8,000 from local business sponsorships, and is setting a goal of $25,000 after beer and food sales, silent auctions, and any other donations are tallied up.

“It was just this gut feeling of needing to do something for the city of Blaine and do something for the community,” Gobeille said. “The food bank was an easy decision because of the vital services they provide to this community.”

The Blaine Food Bank feeds around 750 families per week, and has provided crucial nutrition to the northwest Whatcom community for decades.

For more information and to buy tickets to Catoberfest, visit bit.ly/3TjpbPp. To donate or volunteer to the Blaine Food Bank, visit blainefoodbank.org.