Staff Reports
It was altogether appropriate that ZwanzigZ Pizza & Brewing, which organizes the Columbus Craft Beer Festival, offered a bit of beer tasting at the annual announcement of charity donations from the festival proceeds.
In just three years, the event at Round Lake at Mill Race Park downtown has donated more than $100,000 to area charities from the proceeds from the festival.
After treating guests at the check presentation to a selection of ZwanzigZ craft beer, including a new Snickerdoodle blend, and a selection of the restaurant’s pizza offerings, Kurt and Lisa Zwanzig first brought a group of local Columbus residents who organized the initial installments of the festival and assist as an organizational committee to the front of the room to thank them for their efforts.
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“It was started by this group, and without them, this could not have happened,” Kurt Zwanzig said of the continuation of the festival. He explained that ZwanzigZ stepped in as new “stewards” of the event, but also kept the donations to local community charities as part of the event.
The other change for the third year of the festival in 2019 was to move the event to May, to avoid conflicts with a large number of events locally in the fall.
The 2019 Columbus Craft Beer Fest featured about 50 vendors of craft beer and food with three area bands.
ZwanzigZ presented $7,000 checks to Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, Just Friends Adult Day Services and the Columbus Park Foundation from the 2019 event.
Turning Point provides shelter and services to those affected by domestic violence. Just Friends offers daytime activities and socializing opportunities for older adults. The Columbus Park Foundation raises money for major park improvements around Columbus.
Kurt Zwanzig said ZwanzigZ wanted to keep the Columbus Craft Beer Festival about beer and the brewers and about craft beer.
“And we never forget it’s about Columbus,” he said. “It’s about these charities and about our community.”
Recipients posed for pictures with Kurt and Lisa Zwanzig with large checks, and were reassured that ZwanzigZ would provide real checks to take to the bank. The check presentation was held at the company’s new brewing facility downtown.
Columbus Parks Director Mark Jones said the money would be taken to the parks foundation board to be used for several big projects coming up.
He mentioned the money may go toward the fund-raising effort to upgrade The Commons playground in downtown Columbus.
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For more photos from the event, visit therepublic.com.
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