Portland comes together again after tornado — for beer
PORTLAND – In the first few days after the devastating June 22 tornado, the Portland community came together to clean up the city.
On Saturday, the community came together again — for beer.
More than 300 people swarmed the Veterans Memorial Bridge and downtown boardwalk to enjoy the very first Beerfest on the Bridge and its 12 craft beer tents.
“It’s a time that Portland can finally take a deep breath and kick back,” said Shelley Perry, manager of Portland’s Main Street program, which hosted the festival.
It was also a time to celebrate Portland Strong, the community-wide effort that coordinated clean-ups through Facebook and made everyone closer as a result, Perry said.
This effort was embodied in a special beer brewed at Saugatuck Brewing Company called Portland Strong Strawberry Stout. Its logo features a red tornado that morphs into a fist hitting the ground while strawberries fly out of the cyclone.
The logo is meant to show that a tornado would not be enough to dampen Portland’s spirit, said Eric Proctor, of Portland, who brewed the beer and coordinated the festival. The strength of the malt is meant to represent to strength of Portland while the sweetness of the strawberry represents its people, he said.
“I originally wanted to make a mulberry beer because that’s what grows here, but the tornado blew all the mulberries away,” Proctor said.
Local farmer Jeff Sandborn sponsored the beer and collected strawberries from a grower in the area.
Their freshness made the stout smoother than normal, said Matt Wiles, lead brewer at Saugatuck Brewing. And at 6.7 percent alcohol content, it’s no weakling.
“It’s been long enough (since the tornado) and people are ready to have some fun,” Sandborn said of the festival.
The city still bears the scars of the twister’s touchdown - missing facades, boarded-up windows and roofs along with the former Goodwill that still lies in a pile of rubble.
Proceeds from the festival will go to Main Street’s 50/50 grant-matching program, which will help businesses replace facades or roofs damaged by the tornado.
Sandborn was in Goodwill when the tornado hit on June 22. He was trying on a new suit in the dressing room when the building collapsed around him.
“It happened so fast, there was no warning,” he said. “I had no injuries and I walked out of the store where the wall used to be.”
He got the suit for free.
Rich Greenhoe “high-tailed it home” from Detroit when his daughter informed him of what happened.
“The town rebuilding came together since day one,” he said as he sipped his beer on the boardwalk overlooking the Grand River. “This (festival) feels like a morale boost. Portland has always been good at this stuff.”
Contact Alex Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.