National craft beer festival announces High Point stops

High Point will be among the stops by the Great American Craft Beer Festival this year, according to an announcement today by the Nashville, Tenn.-based events company.

The festival was created to capitalize on the explosion of interest in craft beer across the country, and to allow patrons to sample a wide range of beers from the local, regional and national market.

"The idea is to bring the craft beer craze to areas that are less likely to be exposed to great craft beer," said CEO Tom Kiermaier in a prepared statement. "There may be fewer opportunities to sample different styles of craft beer in these cities, and that's where we come in."

The High Point stop brings the Great American Craft Beer Festival to a regional market that is home to the vaunted Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem and Natty Greene's Brewing Co. in Greensboro, along with Liberty in High Point.

Other stops in what the company references as "second and third tier cities" include Anderson, SC; Augusta, Ga.; Siler City, NC; St. Augustine, Fla.; Guntersville, Ala.; Ocean Springs, Miss.; Montgomery, Ala.; Westhaven, Tenn. and Knoxville, Tenn.

The company canceled a planned festival in High Point because the police were unable to provide the level of support organizers thought they would need. A publicist told YES! Weekly that the organizers secured Festival Park at Oak Hollow Lake for May 10 and Nov. 1. When the festival was initially planned, some grassroots volunteers who had run a small, local beer festival, raised objections to the prospect that the Great American Craft Beer Tour could qualify for incentives from the convention and visitors bureau.