Brew fest, parade Saturday in downtown Morgan City

Basin Brew Fest and the Irish/Italian Walking Parade will add some flavor to downtown Morgan City this Saturday.

The Krewe of Dionysus’ fifth annual Irish/Italian Walking Parade starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Second and Belanger streets by A.J.’s Second Street Pub and proceeds down Second Street to Lawrence Park, then Everett Street and ends at Everett’s intersection with Front Street.

Parade organizers hold the event to celebrate the heritage of the Irish and Italian members of the community and to gather together with everyone in the community. Cost to enter to participate in the parade is $20 per person for pre-registration and parade day registration. Only walkers and golf carts may participate.

To pre-register for the parade, call Walter Shepherd at 985-312-9500 or Cindy Marino at 985-518-0128.

The third annual Basin Brew Fest will be from 3-6 p.m. Saturday. Fourteen Louisiana breweries will be on hand offering multiple beers each to sample along the fest’s inaugural homebrew competition featuring 10 Louisiana homebrewers. Morgan City Main Street and Animal Advocates of St. Mary are partnering to host the fest.

Early VIP entry starts at 2 p.m. Clustafunk will play from 2-6 p.m. Cannata's of Morgan City will host a wine sampling inside the festival.

Online ticket sales end at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Online tickets are $30 each. General admission increases to $40 at the gate. With this ticket you receive an entry wrist band and unlimited 2-ounce beer samples.

Designated driver tickets are $5, which do not include beer sampling. Proceeds from the Designated Driver ticket sales will go to the Animal Advocates of St. Mary.

All other funds raised from brew fest will benefit The Block 27 Project, which is dedicated to renovating Lawrence Park. Fest organizers donated $10,500 to the project in 2017 and $3,000 last year.

The only entry gate to brew best is located at the corner of First and Greenwood streets, and people are encouraged to park under the U.S. 90 bridge. There are two check-in lines at entry, one for advance sales and one for day of sales. You must present your ID at check-in to prove you are least 21 years old. A ticket of some kind is needed to enter the festival area.

In the event of rain, organizers will relocate the fest to under the U.S. 90 bridge.

Through the Animal Advocates, organizers will collect donations for the animal shelter, and Rescue Revolution will have dogs available for adoption.

An after party starts at 7 p.m. at Pool Do’s Sports Bar with Family Tradition Band and DJ Dave. The cover charge at Pool Do's will also go to the Block 27 Project.

For more on brew fest, visit basinbrewfest.com.