We’ve previously talked about how at KCM Agency, we love working with clients that embrace culture and community, from KCON with CJ E&M to non-profit organization Children in Harmony, both have enlightened our mission in connecting people with many and multifaceted cultural backgrounds.
Back in 2015, when the city of San Gabriel reached out to us and proposed an idea for a Lunar New Year Festival, we gladly accepted. After the Lunar New Year Festival, the city proposed an idea to us for a festival similar to Oktoberfest, but with a local unique twist. The idea of a dumpling and beer festival came about and the San Gabriel Dumpling and Beer Fest was created. The city came to us with multiple goals for the festival, which we were thrilled to support and be a part of. They had a mission of creating an event where people could engage and local businesses, breweries and restaurants could also be promoted.
Why beer and dumplings?
The city of San Gabriel continues to embrace culture and has a wide variety of events that caters to the locals of San Gabriel and its surrounding cities. The creative idea of serving dumplings and beer stemmed from the idea that people love both. With that, many vendors and restaurants come up with creative dumpling ideas like the Wagyu Beef Dumpling and the Cajun Dumpling to entice people to try out their dishes. There are also local and micro breweries people may be unaware of around southern California. The festival gives exposure to these breweries and allows them to experiment with creative and new beer flavors.
Our POV
When we first started the San Gabriel Dumpling and Beer Fest back in 2015, we didn’t know how it would be received by the city and community. The initial reaction of the festival was so well-received and positive that the city of San Gabriel won the California Association of Local Economic Development Award. We were extremely excited to be a part of the success of the event. Putting together an event like the San Gabriel Dumpling and Beer Fest takes months of hard work and dedication, but during any live event we can run into minor issues.
The first two years of the Dumpling and Beer Fest had an overwhelming response by the San Gabriel community! Despite the positive reception of the festival, there were long food vendor lines and a shortage of beer. For 2017, we had three times as many vendors and made sure we would be more accommodating and eventful for our attendees. An addition of eight food vendors and an increase of beer from beer vendors helped ease those issues we had in the past. We also added two new events to the festival this year, including the “Dumpling Eating Contest” and the “Best Dumpling/Most Creative Dumpling Contest” to increase excitement and exposure of the festival.
We’ve produced and managed three years of the San Gabriel Dumpling and Beer Fest and it has been a privilege to work with such a tight-knit city and community like San Gabriel. As we increase in exposure and attendees, we hope to continue to grow the festival and have even more breweries and food vendors as the years go by!
