Burp Fest at Brewgaloo 2027

Brewgaloo began in 2011 with a deceptively simple mission: pay the breweries. When Jennifer Martin, a University of South Florida graduate who had recently relocated to North Carolina and joined the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (Shop Local Raleigh), helped launch a craft beer festival, she insisted on something that was surprisingly uncommon at the time — that every participating brewery would be compensated for the beer they poured. That founding principle, paired with an all-North Carolina brewery roster, gave Brewgaloo a local-first DNA that has defined it ever since.

The first Brewgaloo drew roughly 4,500 people to Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. By year five, attendance had surged to 35,000, with visitors arriving from 44 states. The growth was not accidental; it tracked the explosive rise of North Carolina's craft beer scene, which has become one of the most dynamic in the country. Today, Brewgaloo regularly draws over 60,000 attendees across its two-day format — a Friday night kick-off party featuring limited-release and barrel-aged beers, followed by a Saturday street festival where general admission is free and more than 110 NC breweries pour alongside nearly 50 food trucks and live music acts.

What makes Brewgaloo remarkable is its nonprofit backbone. Shop Local Raleigh, funded by the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association, uses the festival as an engine for the local economy — connecting small businesses, breweries, food vendors, and the community in a single weekend that has become one of the largest events in the city of Raleigh. It is proof that a craft beer festival does not need a corporate sponsor to reach massive scale; it just needs a city that shows up for its own.