“I’ve been to every one of these since they started it, so it’s a lot of fun,” said Jazmin Knaack of Soldotna.
“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since we started doing this,” said John Hedges of Soldotna. “I think I’ve been every year. I don’t think I’ve missed an event.”
“I think it is wonderful to have outdoor activities this time of year, and includes beer,” said Bill Baird of Nikiski.
“It's so neat how they have the fireplaces, the fire pits around, and everybody's got a place to stay warm,” said Greg Caille of Kasilof.
“We've got young families here, we've got older people here,” said John Brier of Soldotna. “It's a true mix of the community.”
“Nobody's getting crazy or out of control,” said Lonnie Feller of Soldotna. “It's a beer thing, but it's not like, you know, your typical beer type of event.”
“I did not realize that this many people lived in this town,” said Hannah Trieu of Soldotna. “This is the most young people I've seen in one place since I moved here in August.”
“Just getting out here in the fresh cold weather, it feels good,” said Brian O’Fallon of Soldotna. “Just feels good. And, a lot of the community shows up.”
“Just kind of a sign of spring for me,” said Ben Wishnek of Soldotna. “Like, ‘Okay, we've got a couple more months, and then we're going to be in warmer weather.’”
“It’s great publicity, essentially,” Knaack said. “And everybody loves all the breweries. They’re all small town, hometown folks around here.”
“I think that the craft beer scene in Alaska is something that I really enjoy, and it's something we kind of connect communities together with,” Hedges said.
“The different breweries are wonderful,” said Aidan Katzenberger of Sterling. “It gets their names out a lot as well. But I feel like a lot of why the RiverFest is special to me is just bringing people in the community together.”
“It's not just like a big macro brewery where you can't see the faces of people, you can go and talk to them,” Wishnek said.
“It's just being able to see what else is out there, right? They got people from Fairbanks, they got people from Cooper Landing. Normally, you might not make the trip to go up there and check those places out,” Feller said.
“It's amazing how many really good beers don't get out of Alaska,” Trieu said. “I don't think that I've ever seen an Alaskan beer on the east coast. So I'm definitely going to have to pack my car with some Alaskan beers to take back with me.”
“The dynamics of the homebrews that have gone commercial is phenomenal,” Brier said. “I mean, people love what they're creating, and it's not your standard.”
“Everybody puts on their best stuff,” Caille said. “I mean, the fur hats and the parkas, and it's just so neat. And then looking through the crowd to see if you recognize a friend here.”
“Let's do 10 plus more,” Wishnek said. “This is a good event, and good to have so many people out and about, and not not just sitting at home and getting cabin fever fest.”
“It brings us all together, because I sure don't see all these people at Safeway,” Caille said.
“We’re the biggest state, but we have the biggest small town people around here," Knaack said. “And so this is really important for everybody to be together as one and support each other.”
“I really appreciate that there are things in this small community that can still bring people together, even in the winter time, when nothing's open and nobody's doing anything,” Katzenberger said.
