Prince George, B.C. – A phenomenal response to Kiwanis Alefest again this year.

Tickets for the January event went on sale at 8 this morning and sold out shortly afterwards.

“It was amazing, we had a pre-sale for our folks that subscribe to our email list yesterday and those went really fast and this morning when tickets went on sale at 8 we were done in 10 minutes. It was shocking,” says chair and lead of beer and brewers Bjorn Butow.

“We had phone calls, emails, and texts from disappointed people that wanted to get tickets and they didn’t.”

So what does he attribute its popularity too?

“I think it’s a lot of things – I think we have a great team that puts together a good, professional event that people like. It’s a great venue (Two Rivers Gallery), and its unique in that we’ve got a bunch of breweries and local restaurants participating.”

Now in its third year, he says the event has grown from selling 550 tickets in year one, to over 900 last years and 1,200 this year. Butow says he’d love to be able to sell more tickets but says they’ve reached their capacity at their current location.

He says it may mean they’ll have to get more creative next year.

“Maybe we could do part of it outdoors, something like that. There’s beer festivals in Michigan that are winter beer festivals and they do them outside in tents so we’ll look at different options. Certainly the community seems to be supporting us.”

The two-day event is set for January 27 January 28. The event is a fundraiser for children’s charities and projects in Prince George.