You guys!! We have news.

And by news, we mean big, big, important news!

Mad River Glen, our beloved and rustic home for 12 years, will be undergoing some much needed construction and renovations this summer. We have been working closely with the mountain to understand the scope of their plans and we’ve looked very carefully at all the ways this could impact our event. After a lot of discussion we’ve come to the conclusion that we are better off relocating our event for the year.

This is massive, we know. And we have not made this decision lightly. Mad River Glen is an integral part of our identity and we really wanted to keep our event on the mountain. But at the end of the day, we think the choice to relocate our 2020 event is by far the easiest thing we can do for everyone’s sake.

So we are excited to announce that the 2020 SIP will take place Saturday, September 26 at Kenyon’s Variety in Waitsfield. We decided on Kenyon’s for reasons similar to why we love MRG: this working farm is old-fashioned and no-frills to the core, and they are an independently owned and family run business. Since they already host several other events annually in their fields and they now keep a tent up all summer, we think this venue will be the perfect place for SIP to set up camp!

And speaking of camp, the spaciousness of these fields offers us a few exciting, one-time opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise have in the base area of MRG, like having artist booths and maybe even camping! Please click here to take our survey and help us gauge interest in these ideas… Plus one lucky entrant will win a SIP Hoodie & Hat! Your feed back will help us gauge all the options and make the most informed plans possible, so we’d love to learn what you all think!

Ultimately we plan to do what we always do – make SIPtemberfest the same but better! We still plan on having only one session, with about the same number of brewers pouring their delicious beer, and about the same number of attendees hanging out with that easygoing vibe. We will still have awesome food and killer live music. And we will still allow well behaved, leashed dogs and underagers!

We will announce all the event details before tickets go on sale, probably May/June-ish. This will include ticket pricing and start of sales date. As usual, we will offer a couple pop up ticket sales prior to the start of online sales, but we still have some tinkering to do before we can confirm this info, so stand by.

So please take our survey, follow us on instagram and look for more information from us in the spring!

Thanks as always for your continued support and cheers!

-Team SIP

We just wanted to reach out real quick and thank everyone who was involved in 2019 SIPtemberfest! Our sponsors were generous and supportive, our volunteers absolutely slayed it and our crowd was chock full of really cool, fun-having, beer-loving people! Oh – and the beer!! How awesome was the beer (and cider and mead and ginger beer and whiskey and vodka)!!??!! We were so completely stoked with everything this year, Team SIP needed a full week to recover!

Thanks as well to our photographer Erin Doble, our photographer, who brilliantly captured the day – check out her work below.

Finally, we will announce our 2020 plans in January so stay tuned – follow us on Facebook, Instagram our FreshSIPs!

Thanks again everyone and see you next year! Cheers!

Top Ten Things to Know about SIPtemberfest 2019

• SIPtemberfest will take place Saturday Sept 21, 2019 from 1-5pm. Ticket check-in will start by 12:30pm. IF YOU WANT TO DRINK YOU NEED A VALID ID with your ticket! Yes you!!
• If you haven’t already checked it out – our line of Breweries and our Menu can be found here! Crack open a beer to read through this long list…
• The Stark Mountain Foundation will be raffling off a wicked cool prize this year: Two Tickets to a Lawson’s Full Moon Snowshow Tour and Brew Dinner at Mad River Glen! Swing by their booth near the Single Chair for your tickets and to learn more about their work.
• This year Green Hut CBD and Clear Water Filtration will have booths! Stop by the Hydration Station to get some deliciously filtered water and then stop at the Green Hut to learn all about CBD and get some for yourself!
• Don’t forget to grab your SIPtemberfest Tshirt and more awesome beer gear at the HopShop. You can also complete our Scavenger Hunt for a free SIP T or Hat – see the beer menu on the day-of for details. (PRO TIP: wear your SIP merch from previous years!)
• Both our bands are back by popular demand! Ragged Company will open our event this year and Lowell Thompson will close the show! Yes!!
• Cornerstone Pub will be serving those ridiculously tasty tots and the Mad Dumpling (i.e. Joey and friends) will have a menu with nommy-nom dumplings and more! NEW THIS YEAR: The cafeteria at MRG will be open serving their famous burgers, fries and more. But the General Starks Pub will be closed.
• Designated drivers, kids and well-behaved, leashed dogs are all welcome at SIPtemberfest and don’t need a ticket. Keep in mind that there are no kid-specific activities and the chairlift will notbe running. We ask that you be mindful when choosing to bring pets and kids; they must be supervised at all times. Thanks!
• Right now the weather is looking wonderful – 70s and sunny! But it’s September in Vermont so make sure to check the latest forecast and dress accordingly! Keep in mind that the terrain is very rugged so wear sturdy footwear!
• If you are driving – please bring a DD and try to carpool! If you are taking the shuttles, you should get an email from us with details. Shuttles are full and we are no longer taking waitlist names.
• Ticket sales will not be availble at the gate! You can purchase tickets online until Wednesday, 9/18 at 11pm!

Thanks to our sponsors for their ongoing and generous support! Thanks also to all our hard working volunteers! Finally, thank YOU so much for supporting our event! We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Cheers,

Team SIP

Sperry Tents

Hunger Mountain Coop

Mehuron’s Supermarket