It only took Steven Burkhardt one T-shirt to get the attention of the Greater Gator Beer Festival.
In a single motion, he balled up a black short sleeve and lobbed it over a keg storage tent and into the crowd of mostly college-aged youth. A girl grabbed the shirt and unraveled it, displaying a gator with an uncanny resemblance to Bluto from “Animal House” on the front.
The reaction was immediate. Hands, glasses and decibels were raised for more shirts to be given away.
The Burkhardt Distributing of Gainesville team was generous, and sent more of the promotional items sailing towards a crowd that had been quenching its thirst on the company’s beer for the last three hours. Burkhardt, though, was happy to give about $10,000 of it away, mostly two ounces at a time.
Ricki Black, coordinator of the festival, watched from a safe distance.
“That’s what it’s all about,” she said. “Promoting.”
About 50 beer suppliers joined Burkhardt in giving away their beer, koozies and T-shirts during the 16th annual Greater Gator Beer Festival on Saturday afternoon.
For about $20, those who attended the festival were given unlimited refills of more than 100 brews. Choices ranged from the newly introduced Bud Light Platinum to the less-orthodox Swamp Ape from the Florida Brewing Company in Melbourne.
Black said a majority of the businesses were allowed to set up at the festival for free, as long as they weren’t selling anything.
But the businesses weren’t there to turn a profit, Black said. They wanted brand exposure.
Rain didn’t deter about 1,800 people from attending the festival, which highlighted exotic and non-mainstream beers.
The festival has outgrown two locations in Gainesville. The festival started at The Sun Center and expanded to a parking lot next to Rick’s City Musical, which now holds The Vault, before moving to the current location of Magnolia Parke.
Burkhardt Distributing had 18 dispensing tables at the festival this year, compared to the original four they had their first time at the festival.
“It has a lot to do with the craft beer explosion,” said Wes Cooper, the company’s craft beer specialist. “It’s about ‘What have I not tried yet?’”
Black estimated that the festival’s attendance grows about 10 percent each year.
Chris Moeller, the North Florida district manager of the Florida Beer Company, attributed the increasing popularity to students seeing beer as a status symbol as they get older.
“It becomes more about not how much you drink, but what you drink,” he said.
Lauren Protzer, a 22-year-old biology senior, said she enjoyed the aroma and flavor of the craft beer.
“The beer actually has taste,” she said.
Black said festival coordinators plan to host the fourth annual Greater Gator Part Two during the by-weekend for Gators football in the fall.
“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “When the weather holds up, its a blast.”
Wendell Stainsby, a 22-year-old environmental engineering major, picks up a craft beer from 22-year-old marketing major, Chelsea Schaffer, at the Greater Gator Beer Festival on Saturday.
