October, Beerfests, Kids?

This past Saturday I went to the third annual Smoke in the Valley Chili and Beerfest, an event that has close to a hundred beers for tasting, a chili cook off, numerous bands on two stages, and close to three thousand people.   Despite the warm weather, which I wish was a little bit cooler, I had a good time.  Luckily, I live right up the hill from where it was held and walked down with a friend to attend.  My wife and son didn't go, because, well, its mostly a beerfest.  The great benefit to this beerfest at least is that all the proceeds go to charity, I believe towards breast cancer or something like that.  In any case, I expected it to be an adult crowd as you need an I.D. to get in and you are handed a little plastic cup for tasting all the beer.  Much to my surprise, there were a number of young parents toting their very young children around with them, while drinking beer, surrounded by what would become a crowd of half drunk adults.  I believe the youngest child I saw was close to a year old and the oldest had to be around 5.   But back to children being at a beerfest in a little bit.  I love the idea of a beerfest, a place where there is plenty of beer to sample, plenty of people to talk to and congregate with, and especially if you have friends there, a place to just kick back, hang out, and enjoy a beautiful afternoon.  It seems that there has been an influx of beerfests over the past few years.  They always occur during the fall, most likely because the notorious Octoberfest from Germany is held in the fall, and they are becoming widely attended events.  The beerfests and the influx of microbreweries and homebrews are making their mark and spreading, and I must say, I love it.  I was never one to latch on to the big, name brand beers like Budweiser, Coors, Miller, or any of those.  I like the unique taste you get with a more local brewery, the small one down the street that you can't find out of state.  Even those that are located in the New England area, I'd take any of those beers over the name brands any day.  I know Budweiser is "America's Beer", but for me its fading.  It never really tasted that good and with a plethora of other, better beers out there, why drink Bud?  In any case, I must move on to my only gripe with this past Saturday, the kids that were at the beerfest.

I just don't understand why you would bring your child to an event that you intend to drink at.  I know that parents are supposed to be responsible, but with that many beers and nearly everyone drinking, its fairly easy to have one too many.  And that's not even the half of it.  It goes beyond bringing your child to an event that you will be drinking at, potentially heavily.  Its also about that atmosphere and those others around you who will not keep their drinking under control and make themselves look like complete idiots.  For instance, I was standing with my friends, drinking, as a young girl in her twenties stumbled up to a bin for donating clothes, and vomited down the side of it.  If your child saw that and asked why that woman threw up, what would you say?  Maybe, "Well, you see son, when someone has too much to drink, they sometimes get sick to their stomach and it all comes back out."  The child's response, "So will I catch their stomach bug then?"  "No, honey, your too young to catch it."  "What about you?  Your drinking.  Will you catch their stomach bug?"  "Well, I shouldn't because I haven't had too much to drink?"  "How do you know?"  It goes on and on and on the conversations that could take place about drinking between a parent and their child at an event like this.  Its just not a conversation that I feel should be had between a parent and their child under the age of say 13.  Maybe I'm being a little ridiculous and parents should start introducing their children to alcohol at the earliest age possible, but I don't think so.  I think its being a responsible parent when you don't bring your child to an event such as a beerfest.  Find a babysitter or just don't go.  As much as you might love drinking beer, is it really worth it to expose your child to that lifestyle at such an early age?  And lets not forget about the cigar tent and the plethora of men walking around with cigars blowing smoke everywhere.  I personally don't mind, but we all know what second hand smoke can do.  Bringing your child to an event like that is like asking them to consider entering that lifestyle themselves.  But enough of all that.  My son wasn't there, I had a great time, and I look forward to the one next year.  I do want to make it to Octoberfest in Germany one time during my life, but for now, I will enjoy the local beerfests in Connecticut.