Jesse Francomano and Amber Sage consider themselves seasoned beer festival attendees.  As they sipped their favorite craft brews in downtown Colorado Springs at the 4th Annual Springs Beer Fest on Saturday, they agreed that spending an afternoon tasting beer was the perfect summer activity.  

Farther west on Colorado Avenue at the Old Town Showdown, Chris and Stacey Turnpull tried another summer classic: barbecue.  The couple stopped by Old Colorado City’s chili, barbecue, beer and music festival to see if any of the vendors’ barbecue could measure up to Chris Turnpull’s home-cooked style.

Together, the two Colorado Springs festivals gave locals and visitors a chance to sample their favorite foods and beers as they enjoyed the day’s cooler weather.  Saturday’s high was in the upper 70s.   

With one ticket, people at the Old Town Showdown could try samples of beer, chili and barbecue from more than 25 venders and vote on their favorites.As people sat outside at Bancroft Park to enjoy the live music, vendors were busy trying to wow taste buds.  

For Phat Hatties owner Anne Morris, the day was spent bustling around the small kitchen of her food cart, cutting up brisket and serving pulled pork sandwiches.  Morris was on a mission to defend the first-place title she won last year for her barbecue brisket.  

It’s so good that people have to call in and order it beforehand if they want to pick it up for lunch at her food cart, she said.   

She credits her barbecue talent to her grandmother and a childhood growing up in Texas.  “I knew what great barbecue is supposed to taste like,” she said.

The atmosphere was more relaxed beneath the cottonwoods of Antlers Park as music mingled with the constant babble of the crowd at the beer festival.  

German-style pilsners, lemon zest and rose petal accented wheat beers and white ales with hints of citrus and cloves were some of the featured brews on tap at the festival.  Organizers also set up backyard games like disc golf and beanbag throwing for entertainment.  Profits from the festival will benefit the Friends of Cheyenne Canyon, said event organizer Dustin Frazier.    

Most used the festival to bond with friends and new acquaintances over their love of beer.“It’s really nice to see all the beer advocates unite,” said Bristol Brewing Company’s Nikos Pulos as he watched a man walk by wearing strings of beads and brewery stickers. “They’re a unique group of people.”

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