Two major beer events on southern Vancouver Island have been cancelled this year.
Organizers of the annual Great Canadian Beer Festival and Langford Beer Festival announced both events will not take place in 2025 due to rising costs and limited funding.
According to the Victoria Beer Society, 2024 marked two big milestones for the region celebrating local breweries.
Last year marked the 10th edition of Victoria Beer Week and the 30th celebration of the Great Canadian Beer Festival.
Despite this success for the organization, the lack of funding and high costs breweries are facing have prompted them to press pause on this year’s events.
“Today, the challenges facing events and the craft beer industry as a whole are no secret,” wrote the Victoria Beer Society Board of Directors in a media release.
“Like many of our partners, we’ve faced rising costs, increased competition, and other challenges.”
The organization says that instead of putting on these events this year, they will be focusing their time and energy on figuring out a financially sustainable path forward for these two flagship events in the years to come.
One of two major factors in this decision is the rising costs breweries will face because of the US-Canada trade war.
Hops are one of the impacted products that will be subject to a 25% tariff, and the majority of hops used in BC craft beer come from the United States—particularly the Yakima Valley in Washington.
Another major factor in this decision is that the BC government cancelled the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Fund (BCFFE).
In 2024, the Great Canadian Beer Festival received $33,500 from the BCFFE fund and the Langford Beer Festival received $13,600.
In addition to these events, the BCFFE has helped fund around 1,100 other events in years past, which must now go without the additional funding.
