The Valley Brewer's Fest will celebrate all things local beer when it debuts in the fall. Photo via Central Valley Brewers Guild

The Central Valley Brewers Guild — a conglomerate of local breweries from the Central Valley — will host its first ever Valley Brewer’s Fest this fall celebrating the Central Valley’s craft brewing scene.

The festival will feature a number of local breweries, all members of the Central Valley Brewers Guild, and will be held Oct. 19 from noon to 4 p.m. at Eaton Plaza in Downtown Fresno.

“This is the first time that nearly every single brewery in the Central Valley has been in one place at the same time,” said Adam Band, director of national chain accounts at Full Circle Brewing Co. “There’s no outside breweries; there’s no largely-distributed breweries from Norcal or Socal; it’s all local breweries.”

The event will exclusively feature craft breweries from the area including1852 Brewing from Visalia, Riley’s Brewing from Madera and a bevy of other breweries from the Central Valley.

Band said the festival has been in the works for about a year. He said that a driving force behind the event is the community support that has been present over the years, specifically referencing the growth of local breweries and the public’s involvement in that growth.

“Looking back to even as recent as five or six years ago, there were just a handful of breweries in the Central Valley,” Band said, adding that there are roughly 8,900 craft breweries nationwide.

Band continued, adding that the support for brewers in the Valley — many of whom have their roots in places other than brewing — is what drove the guild to host this event.

“I think what’s super unique about the Valley is pretty much everybody who owns a brewery in the Central Valley has a day job — whether they’re farmers or accountants, there’s people from every industry,” Band said.

Band said Eaton Plaza in Downtown Fresno, which has played home to large pop-up events and festivals in the past, will provide plenty of space for vendors, entertainment, and, of course, festival goers.

In addition to the event’s main draw — its local breweries — Valley Brewer’s Fest will also give local craft beer lovers the chance to continue to expand their “passports.”

Participating breweries in the passport program will offer Central Valley Brewers Guild beer passport-holding customers the chance to “stamp” their passports for discounts on purchases, ranging from buy-one get-one free offers to half-off first brews and more.

Tickets for the event are on sale now and available at Eventbrite.