Deal of the century? New era for Royal St. John's Regatta beer tent

The countdown to the annual Royal St. John's Regatta is onand while some people will win trophies at next week's event, many more people will have a beer.

This year, they'll be doing more to help the Regatta Committee's finances.

As the Newfoundland and Labrador Craft Brewers Association takes over operation of the popular beer tent from the St. John's East Kinsmen Club, there's a new deal with the committee.

The Kinsmen pulled out this spring after 37 years of running the beer tent,citing "arrogance" on the part of the committee for asking to see its books and raising the fee for the tent by 10 per cent.

Now the Royal St. John's Regatta Committee will getroughly 50 per cent of all proceeds, which is an increase from previous years, according to its president Chris Neary.

We really want to make sure that they can run the best Regatta.- Justin Fong

"I'm not quite sure what the percentage was. It's a little bit higher this year and that was based on all the applications from the RFPthat were sent out," he said Wednesday.

It's expected that the beer tent will gross anywhere between $30,000 and $60,000 at the sporting event this year.

The money left over will then be divided amongst twoother non-profit organizations, Special Olympics and the R.E.A.L. Program,as a donation fromthe N.L. Craft Brewers Association. It will keep 15 per cent.

"We really want to make sure that they can run the best regatta, not only this year but for years to come," said Justin Fong of Quidi Vidi Brewery and president of the association.

"So we decided that giving those guys 50 per cent of the proceeds would really help out in doing that."

We've put a lot of time and effort in as volunteers to get this sport as big as it is.- Chris Neary

The tent fee for this year will beabout $3,000, roughly$300 more than recent years with that 10 per cent operation fee increase.

However, the increase in operating price is the same forall vendors, not just the beer tent.

'Back to the community'

As a non-profit organization, Neary said all the money the committee takes goes directly back into the Regatta,to maintainthe rowing shells and other expenses.

It will not go to the ongoing construction around Quidi Vidi Lake, which has beenfunded through the municipal, provincial and federal governments.

"We offercommunity services just like anyone else. We've put a lot of time and effort in as volunteers to get this sport as big as it is," said Neary.

"We do a great job in making sure that youth participants are there, we're running the event safely and efficiently, and everything we do really is going back to the community itself."

Hundreds of people participate as rowers, coxswainsand coaches in the annual rowing event on Quidi Vidi Lake.

Fong said the beer tent is less about making money and more about promoting the province's craft beer scene and giving back to the community, with volunteers giving their time.

"To run that with all of our employees, I mean you'd probably lose money on the day. So, we ended up reaching out the craft beer community itself for volunteers and we had 120 people sign up in the first few hours," he said.

This year each 16oz beer will cost $7.50.

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