Farm Fresh Weekend Ends Saturday at Imagination Brewing

You probably hear it all the time - support your local farmers. The call to action was present before but it's been amplified even more with how the pandemic has affected farmers over the last year. And with agriculture being Montana's top industry, it's a phrase that hits close to home for many. With farmers across the country facing hardships, coupled with shipping issues that have popped up for various reasons, the role farmers and others play in providing goods for our day-to-day lives has become a bit more top-of-mind lately. That sounds like a good enough reason to me for us all to go grab a beer!

Saturday will wrap up a three-day event at Imagine Nation Brewing known as Farm Fresh Weekend. The event is being hosted by the Community Food and Agriculture Coalitions and a new farm fresh pale ale at Imagine Nation is one of the highlights of the weekend. The new beer, with the fitting name Homegrown, is made with local hops from Bell Crossing Farms in Stevensville.

Today and yesterday have featured a few options for attendees aimed at helping farmers, including a program that let you purchase a passport to visit over 75 farms in the state. The event will conclude tomorrow and they'll have food trucks on hand at Imagine Nation Brewing from 11 AM to 2 PM and 5 PM to 8 PM.

The owner of Imagine Nation Brewing is quoted in a Montana Right Now article talking about the work of the Farm Fresh Weekend: "CFAC has done a wonderful job of really taking the idea of a collaboration on a beer but then leveraging that for something that's even more important which is getting local farm passports into people's hands so that Missoulians and people in the area can get out there and support local growers.”

Missoula does love its beer. And the Homegrown pale ale is expected to sell out - so you might want to stop in and grab one at Imagine Nation before they're gone!