Best Little Brewfest in Texas turning into musical festival in Lewisville

The background

Cloud 9 Charities has presented the Best Little Brewfest in Texas since 2013 and in Old Town Lewisville since 2014, according to city documents. Attendance once was more than 3,800 people at the peak but has fallen below 2,000 each of the past few years.

The event featured tasting stations from more than 80 breweries at its peak. The number of local breweries dropped by more than 50% since the COVID-19 pandemic, and attendance hasn’t rebounded to prepandemic levels like other events, according to city documents.

What’s happening?

While the event is changing, the date will stay the same—Oct. 19—and will stay at Wayne Ferguson Plaza near Lewisville City Hall.

The revamped event will feature nine tribute bands, 30 retail vendors and multiple food trucks, according to the event’s Facebook page.

The lineup will include the band/tribute acts:

• Dream Unwind (a Stevie Nicks tribute)
• Still the One Tribute (a Shania Twain tribute)
• Dreaming of You (a Selena tribute)
• Basket Case (a Green Day tribute)
• King George (a George Strait tribute)
• Turnpike Tributedours (a Turnpike Troubadours tribute)
• Texas Flood (a Stevie Ray Vaughn tribute)
• Windy City (a Chicago tribute)
• Def Leggend (a Def Leppard tribute)

"We felt like our crowd was a little down, and there were some breweries struggling [to have] representatives at Brewfest,” said Kim Cloud, founder of Cloud 9 Charities. “We felt like it was losing some of its glamour, and it was time for a change, ... something that would grow some legs and some ears, so we came up with this."