A new kind of festival with craft beers and sausage will make its way to the South End this upcoming Saturday afternoon.
Taking over the South End Open Market (SoWa), Sausage Fest will be held in the Trolley Barn at 540 Harrison Ave., from 12pm – 5pm, and will feature sausage-inspired dishes from food trucks, craft beer, and music. The event will be like a block party, but under cover in case it rains.
The event is free but you can buy a VIP package for $35 and a commemorative pint glass for $12 in advance. Everyone else will be drinking out of compostable beer cups.
“One thing we are trying to do is activate the community a little more with having different types of events besides the normal Sunday open market,” said Brad St. Amand the Director of Operations at SoWa.
“We want to get people here and explore the area,” Amand continued. “We think it will be a fun event.”
Aaron Cohen, the creator of the Sausage Fest has been producing similar events in Boston and other U.S. cities, including the Bacon and Beer Festival in 2010 at SoWa and a similar sausage festival in Oakland this past May. He said that he enjoys producing fun events that incorporate both food and drink.
“I like to make things that are accessible to the public which are not super expensive that are not like other events out there,” Cohen said.
Cohen who also hosts the beer garden at SoWa each weekend said instead of the event being out in the parking lot it will be in the barn instead.
“I used to work across the street on Harrison Ave.,” said Cohen. “There was a window that looked out at it and I used to day dream about having events there.”
He said, that’s when he came up with hosting the Bacon and Beer Festival and thought to himself “I should do something there.”
Cohen added, “It’s such a neat building.”
Cohen is unsure on how many people will be attending because it is a free event but he is expecting between 1,000 to 1,500 people will be attending.
“This time of year there is not a lot of things to do,” said Amand. “A ton of people are moving in on September 1, so a lot of people will be looking for things to do.”
The event does not have vendors that are exclusively producing sausage but they did it on purpose to see what the response will be.
Cohen said he already saw that the food truck Chubby Chickpea has gotten two lambs and butchered them and will be creating a Shawarma spiced sausage.
“I think people in Boston like eating and drinking good food and beer,” Cohen said. “They like having a good time, anytime, especially on a Saturday afternoon.”
For tickets and a list of the food and drink vendors visit, www.sowaboston.com/events/