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BackStory Brewery brewmaster Grayson Wing samples a beer at the 2019 Red, Whites and Brew festival held on Celebration Plaza in Sulphur Springs Saturday. Staff photo by Taylor Nye -
residents at Wesley house Assisted living and Wesley Oaks Memory Care enjoyed their fifth annual Memorial Day cookout with grilled hot dogs with all the fixings and a patriotic cake. Courtesy/Wesley House, Marcie Gamill
Proceeds benefit Shadow Ranch Therapeutic Riding Center
Charity
Only a half hour into the Reds, Whites and Brews event, local alehouse BackStory Brewery had already sold out of two of their three beers on tap.
Brewmaster Grayson Wing says he thinks being the hometown brewery has made his booth one of the more popular ones at the festival, which boasted wineries and breweries from all over the state.
“It’s surreal,” Wing said. “I grew up in this area...and where Sulphur Springs used to be — not that it was in a bad place at all, but we weren’t where we are now. And to be at the forefront of it, it’s exciting to say the least.”
Reds, Whites and Brews seems to be hitting its stride. The event celebrated its fifth year this year with proceeds benefiting the charity Shadow Ranch Therapeutic Riding Center.
The riding center is a nonprofit designed to help those with any number of temporary or permanent physical or mental ailments rehabilitate through horseback riding, Marion Cox, co-founder and co-director of the riding center said.
This includes such diverse states as paralysis, autism spectrum disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, victims of domestic violence, and kids and adults of almost any age with disabilities of almost any kind, Cox said.
“All our horses themselves are rescues,” Cox said. “They give us everything they have to give.”
Hopkins County winemakers Phil and Vanessa Williams provided the reds and whites in the Reds, Whites and Brews festival. Specifically, the reds come from both grapes and blackberries, and the whites come from peaches, Phil Williams said.
“Everybody loves it,” Williams said, “And it’s made from fruit grown right here in Hopkins County.”
Williams says it’s important for Phinesse to be present at events like Reds, Whites and Brews and to be a visible part of the community.
“I’m hoping that this kind of thing opens new agricultural opportunities,” Williams said.“In this part of the county, the land is right.”
“Just doing anything that benefits them [Shadow Ranch] is wonderful,” said event coordinator Katrina Buth. “They do it out of the goodness of their hearts…so to see people out there dancing and having a good time is very rewarding.”