For Father's Day, A Brewers Festival in a Park

Maybe instead of a tie this year, you could get dad his choice of 200 or so beers and a henna tattoo. We know, the henna thing seems out of place, but we were talking to henna artist Meghan and she's going to the 2009 Washington Brewers Festival (St. Edwards State Park), which reminded us to post about it. We have been told that this is the premier local beer event in terms of pure good time--great beer, good food, and family friendly doings.

Tonight is about 30ish select Washington breweries, pouring from 5-9 p.m. Tickets are $15 at the door; admission includes a tasting cup and four tasting tokens. Tonight's also 21+ only, if you want a tot-less beer-swilling environment.

Saturday and Sunday it's almost 200 beers [pdf list], all ages, and runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Advance tickets are $15 and they're $20 at the door. That nets you six tasting tokens. Parking is gonna be a hassle, so try to take the bus.

There's three bands per day over the weekend, a brewer's keg toss, a kids playground and a root beer garden. And Meghan and her henna. We asked about the beer-henna connection, and she explained that her "most frequent clients are kids, teens, and 30-year-old women," i.e., the people who might be get otherwise bug dad to leave a beer fest early. She's got a photo gallery of designs, if you need ideas. It's all the art therapy of a tattoo without the perhaps regrettable permanence of a skull with flames coming out the eyes.