Wicked Weed cancels July Funkatorium Invitational

Discussion in 'Beer News' started by Miles_in_beer_city, May 11, 2017.

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  1. Miles_in_beer_city

    Miles_in_beer_city Pundit (982) Jun 18, 2014 North Carolina

    "ASHEVILLE - Wicked Weed Brewing has announced it will cancel its July Funkatorium Invitational, previously known as Funk Asheville.

    The brewery had planned to host another "reimagined" festival Sept. 16 in its stead, but on Wednesday night told the Citizen-Times they could no longer commit to that date. A new date will be released soon."

    http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...cels-july-funkatorium-invitational/101510748/
     
  2. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Apparently, everyone is so butt hurt over the AB-Inbev purchase of Wicked Weed, they decided to punish all the families that depend on Eblen Charities.
     
  3. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I wouldn't be surprised to see another brewery spearhead something similar in the future.
     
    cavedave likes this.
  4. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    “Wicked Weed cancels July Funkatorium Invitational”

    Given the recent announcements that over 40 independent craft breweries pulled out of this event my thought was: when will Wicked Weed announce that they will cancel this event? That question is now answered.

    Cheers!
     
  5. pjeagles

    pjeagles Zealot (682) May 29, 2005 New Mexico
    Trader

    Article say the invitational netted the charity $40,000 last year. Maybe, just maybe, the Wicked Weed folks made enough off the sale that they could scrape up enough to donate that amount.
     
  6. thebeers

    thebeers Grand Pooh-Bah (5,837) Sep 10, 2014 Pennsylvania
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'm sure if you write to Wicked Weed's former owners and to InBev with the suggestion, between them they can more than cover a donation meeting or exceeding what the event would have raised. I'd be sort of surprised if they aren't doing that already.
     
  7. Miles_in_beer_city

    Miles_in_beer_city Pundit (982) Jun 18, 2014 North Carolina

    The head of Eblen Charities was interviewed on local TV last week when the first breweries were announcing their withdrawal from the event. He said that last year they received 10K from last years event.

    "The trickle down effect might impact Eblen Charities, which gets 100 percent of the proceeds from the event. Executive Director Bill Murdock said last year's invitational raised $10,000 for his cause." http://wlos.com/news/local/majority...weed-event-for-charity-in-protest-of-big-beer

    So I won't call the $40K a lie, but perhaps that is for all the years of the event combined?
     
  8. elNopalero

    elNopalero Grand Pooh-Bah (5,822) Oct 14, 2009 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    This might be part of a larger conversation but just how beneficial are these fundraising events/beerfests for a cause? Aside from the 'feel-good' aspect, it doesn't seem like $10k (or 4 times that amount) would go very far in even the most shoestring of organizations.
     
  9. WheelsPSU

    WheelsPSU Initiate (0) Aug 25, 2013 New Jersey

    According to the article in my below link, there may be a "counter" festival inthe works that will benefit the Eblen charities.

    http://beerstreetjournal.com/counter-wild-festival/
     
  10. fehrminator

    fehrminator Maven (1,301) Jan 26, 2008 North Carolina
    Trader

    I work for an NPO that serves families. $10k is a major gift and I wouldn't minimize its loss. Hopefully WW and/or Inbev makes it right with a large donation and hopefully Eblen gets some good marketing and publicity out of an unfortunate situation.
     
  11. Blinkyoureyes

    Blinkyoureyes Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2015 Tennessee

    JK wrote a $1k check straight to Eblen. I think other breweries are or will be doing the same.
     
  12. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah


    Regardless of sale- that's a large sum for business of WW's size to toss around at one time for charitable donation I'd think.

    Doable, maybe. But it's still a stretch regardless of how the masses think they wipe their asses with $100 bills these days.
     
  13. Brewday

    Brewday Zealot (721) Dec 25, 2015 New York

    Lesson learned.Don't sell out before an event.
     
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  14. Miles_in_beer_city

    Miles_in_beer_city Pundit (982) Jun 18, 2014 North Carolina

    Eblen may come out ahead and receive more from counter events and straight out donations.
     
    rgordon likes this.
  15. elNopalero

    elNopalero Grand Pooh-Bah (5,822) Oct 14, 2009 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I don't mean to downplay the amount by any means. I was thinking in terms of how far 10k would go in terms of paying rent & salaries, as well as the larger conversation around just how much money raised by charitable festivals (beer- and otherwise) actually make it to the recipient orgs. I'm hoping more folks follow Jester King's lead on this one.
     
    fehrminator likes this.
  16. M-Fox24

    M-Fox24 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,941) Mar 17, 2013 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    'We're Funk'd Weekend' + Big Guns Beer

    http://southborough.wickedlocal.com...nut-springdale-to-host-were-funkd-sour-stroll

    http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2017/05/11/night-shift-springdale-bring-were-funkd-weekend-july-8/
     
    TheOneTC likes this.
  17. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    The largest beerfest in my town is put on by these folks: http://www.maxhigbee.org/ . I volunteer at the fest every year, and this year the event cleared $145k for the charity. Which is about half of their yearly budget. Well organized and run events can make some nice money. My town is roughly the same size as Asheville, so I'm a bit surprised they're only taking in $10-40k/year.
     
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  18. Beer_Economicus

    Beer_Economicus Pooh-Bah (2,698) Apr 8, 2017 Ohio
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I believe it was only "profits" that were donated. I am surprised that for such a charitable event that they are not asking for only money to cover travel + base cost of beer (marginal cost of having produced those 10 kegs, let's say). I agree - 10K seems pretty low. With the hella expensive VIP passes this year, there certainly should have been more proceeds raised this year.
     
    BBThunderbolt likes this.
  19. elNopalero

    elNopalero Grand Pooh-Bah (5,822) Oct 14, 2009 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    This makes me feel a little better about the various beer festivals I've attended and volunteered at!
     
    BBThunderbolt likes this.
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