Pie contest, beer unveiling among highlights during holiday weekend
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BRANDON D. OLIVER/Palatka Daily News – Azalea City Brewing Co. owner Andrea Conover holds a beer in her taproom during the business' third-anniversary celebration.
A Palatka brewery owner is spending the holiday weekend celebrating her business’ anniversary, which will culminate with a pie-baking contest Sunday.
The third-anniversary festivities for Azalea City Brewing Co., 120 S. Seventh St., began Wednesday with live music, beer specials and a food truck, among other features.
“We’ve got live music Wednesday night, Friday night and … Saturday night and Sunday afternoon,” owner Andrea Conover said Tuesday. “We’re closed on Thanksgiving, but Sunday afternoon is the jazz quintet.”
As part of the anniversary, Azalea City will be unveiling a new beer, a doppelbock called Hibernator, and the Bacon & Bubbles food truck will be at the brewery from Friday through Sunday.
In addition to new beer, live music from Swing and a Miss Jazz Quintet, and the food truck, the final day of the anniversary weekend will feature the annual sweet potato pie contest.
Sponsored by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences office in East Palatka, the pie contest invites community members to pick up a bag of purple sweet potatoes from the brewery and use them to make a pie to be presented Sunday. The East Palatka office donated nearly 50 bags of sweet potatoes for the contest, Conover said.
The anniversary coinciding with Thanksgiving wasn’t the reason Conover settled on a pie contest as a staple in her celebrations. It’s purely a seasonal matter, she said.
“It’s kind of coincidental that it’s on our anniversary,” she said. “It’s really unrelated. It’s just the season for sweet potatoes to be ready.”
While Conover doesn’t take a headcount at her anniversary events, she hopes to see lots of people walking through the doorways this weekend. Thanksgiving weekend is a great time for local residents to bring their visiting family members and friends, Conover said.
Although the business has been open for three years, she said, there are still people in the area who don’t know of its existence. She hopes to change that over the next few days.
“It’s busy; it’s a good time,” Conover said of previous anniversary parties. “(There are) a lot of families in town visiting, so there’s people who come to hang out with their friends or neighbors and listen to the live music. On Friday and Saturday and Sunday, if you don’t feel like cooking after you’ve had your big meal at home, then come to us with our food trucks.”
Conover said she is thankful her business has carried on for another year, but she also remembers the rough times, including the COVID-19 pandemic and rising costs due to inflation.
Rather than dwell on the dark times, she looks to the good she’s experienced with her business. One of the best things that has come from Azalea City being open, Conover said, is the chance to give back to the community.
The brewery has been the site of yoga classes, nonprofit events, bicycling meetups and more. Conover said her plan is to continue, and even increase, that involvement.
The anniversary celebration is less a pat on the back for making it another year and more of a thank you to the community for supporting her business.
“We really like supporting the community activities and getting involved with different nonprofit groups,” she said. “And we just like being the community gathering place and serving great beer.”
