Dallas Brew Festival set for Oct. 15 at Old City Park

This article originally appeared in the North Texas e-News.

Dallas, Texas — Following an eventful summer that included a name change, the introduction of free admission and a Fourth of July celebration for charity, Old City Park in Dallas plans to keep that wave of energy rolling through the rest of 2022 with a mix of long-running, popular events and potential newfound favorites.

The 2022 summer, which WFAA has compared to some of the warmest in all of North Texas history, became a sweltering backdrop to the big changes and events at the park. Nonetheless, Deputy Director of Old City Park Sarah Hambric says the park has continued to pull strong attendance in spite of the stifling heat.

“We’ve actually seen an uptick in our summer visitor data by being free and being able to serve the community, and quite frankly; we’re getting a lot of people who are coming on their vacation – tourists in town for a short Dallas visit – and they’re coming by the park to really enjoy the space,” Hambric said. “So, we’ve actually done surprisingly well for this very, very hot summer.”

However, that doesn’t mean the weather hasn’t come without its challenges. The recent drought-breaking heavy rains did cause damage to the park’s infrastructure, some of which Hambric was out in the field helping to assess when North Texas e-News spoke with her. She noted that a quick response from community friends and partners luckily led to fast assessments and repairs of the majority of the issues that arose, however, swiftly putting the park back on track.

Now, with residents and park officials alike likely looking forward to some cooler temperatures and hopefully less tumultuous weather ahead, Old City Park is already looking forward to its full fall event slate.

Highlights include Dallas Brew Festival on October 15, which will feature more than 60 breweries as well as live cover bands and lawn games, in addition to the returning Chefs for Farmers event in early November.

“We get stuff from all over the country, not just local chefs here, and we usually see anywhere from 2-to-3,000 people in a day at our location sampling food, wine and drinks from all over the country from some of the best chefs in the nation,” Hambric said of Chefs for Farmers.

Hosting events like those are what Hambric says will help the park fulfill its goals for the rest of the year.

“The biggest goal for the end of 2022 is we want people to come to the park and have a good time,” Hambric said.