The Colorado-based Breckenridge Brewery, known for creating fresh craft beer on site and organizing community events, is celebrating its second anniversary in Fort Collins.
The sound at the center of Breckenridge Brewery Aug. 22 was a swirling mix of jazz-funk music and jovial conversation as the location celebrated its second anniversary in Fort Collins. There were appearances from acoustic pop rock band Venture Still, jazz-funk fusion group Orobeat and old-style country band Preuit Road.
Christie Goodlaski has been the events and catering manager at the Fort Collins location since May of this year. She said the all-day celebration has been her favorite to plan so far, as she tried to condense the Breckenridge spirit of community while planning the activities.
“Saturday’s anniversary party will have to be the best,” Goodlaski said. “I wanted to find vendors and partners that we’ve been close to in the past but also a mix of well-known partners in the community. I think that mix will help bring a crowd and a lot of fun.”
One such vendor was Monica Aragon from Plantiness Parties. The roaming business she started in 2020 has given away thousands of plants through various events and has required community support from places like Breckenridge Brewery to flourish.
“When I started my business … I knew I was going to be mobile and not have a space,” Aragon said. “I was like, ‘OK, where can I go that would be willing to host me?’ And because it’s Fort Collins, I immediately thought of breweries.”
Aragon and another vendor at the event, Renee Becher, founder of The Crowded Bookshelf, met at a local brewery, and both vendors said they believe in the power of local businesses to spread awareness for lesser-known causes such as their own.
“Breweries are also really good gathering places of a lot of different intersections of our community,” Aragon said. “So they just kind of made sense where, yeah, it’s, like, it’s adults, obviously, but breweries are also environments where families will bring their kids … and you just have so many different people from so many different walks of life coming into one place.”
On top of the music and vendors, the Aug. 22 event included a cat adoption with Colorado Kitty Coalition, a dog adoption with Animal Friends Alliance and a goat happy hour with Goat Yoga Mindy.
Goodlaski stated the multiple animal-centric collaborators were chosen on purpose to account for the city’s love of nature — a love which was upheld by Breckenridge Brewery through their offering of a free beer to those who walked or cycled, leading to their keg-shaped bike stands filling up for the occasion.
“Fort Collins represents such an outdoor, wildlife lifestyle,” Goodlaski said. “Even if someone doesn’t go home with a kitty, seeing the cats and the mission of the rescue is amazing networking. I also live strongly for adopt, don’t shop.”
The goats were a particularly compelling attraction, drawing people away from the indoor live performances and out to the tables and animals in the parking lot. Kids could be seen jumping around in groups with their parents as they played.
“(The baby goats were) really cute,” attendee Adriaan Flores said. “And also we got beers and food, so 10 out of 10. … I think the kids are having a lot of fun.”
Goodlaski said she hopes she can use this party to show more people what Breckenridge Brewery is about and what they’ve been doing the last two years.
“I hope this event puts more eyes on Breckenridge (Brewery),” Goodlaski said. “It’s taken its time to find the community that supports it. I love our regulars and (their) support, but I’m excited for the rest of the beer community in Fort Collins to see what Breckenridge has.”
Reach Maiya Kreamer at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
