…I messed this one up. But in a way that kind of makes it look like I know what I’m doing. So… nevermind, I guess..?

‘Beau’s Fall-Fest’ is a first-of-its-kind Event. In the Before Time (aka: pre-Pandemic) Vankleek Hill used to host Beau’s Oktoberfest — three days of wanton debauchery, beer, gluttony, power-pop, keg throwing, and punk music. VKH, a village of 2100 people, would welcome 24,000 crazed lunatics from Ottawa, Montreal, and Cornwall over those three days. It lasted, I think, twelve-years. It was a really, really good time.

But then two things happened… well one Big Thing happened, then the consequences of that Thing led to a second thing that, while tragic, didn’t end in the deaths of millions.

First, because of the f*cking Covid-19 Pandemic, Beau’s had to cancel their Oktoberfest for two whole years. And people stopped going to bars, which kind of sucks when you’re in the business of creating, brewing, and distributing beer. This is no business blog, but the consequences of a Beer Company not being able to sell or promote its product for two to three years would seem fairly dire.

So ‘Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company’ [link] is kind of in limbo. Toronto-based brewery, Stream Whistle (whose beer doesn’t totally suck) merged [link] with Beau’s… which, if this was a business blog, I’d think was more of a takeover. But this isn’t a business blog. And that, long story short, is how ‘Beau’s Oktoberfest’ became ‘Beau’s Fall-Fest’.

It was still fun… mostly because I met up with some friends — some who literally created Beau’s from scratch — I haven’t seen in a long time, and the music was great.

Which is what I messed up. ‘Fall-Fest’ was a six hour Event. It started at noon but, because I have kids, I arrived at 2:45pm. Which meant I missed the band I wanted to take photos of, ‘A Boy Named Stew’. Twice. He did two sets, and I missed them both.

Whoops. But I did arrive in time for ‘Starfield Cookout’… I’ve never heard of them before, and I may never see them again, but they were really good. Along with not being a ‘Business Blog’, this also isn’t a ‘Review Blog’. But here’s what someone wrote about ‘Starfield Cookout’ that I like…

“Seeing Starfield Cookout in general is guaranteed to mesmerize because those that follow the local scene know very well that this is a band in the highest tier of the A-list corral.” [link]

You can find out more about them on their YouTube Channel [link] and their Facebook Page [link]… it’s worth the effort.

–> …there’s a YouTube video below this, if you can’t see it, just click here: [link]

…hey! That’s me in the background (at 5:02)! There was another band, called Squirrel Jam [link], that played after Starfield Cookout, but I missed them because I promised to take my youngest kid to dinner and a hockey game. Again, whoops.

Three of these photos ended up in The Review [link].

…anywho, just click on an image to get the carousel going. Or not, no pressure.