‘Y’all Means All’ provides alternative for beer lovers done with Brewgaloo
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Organizers said about 1,000 attended and some vendors ran out of beer by 3:30 p.m.
- Shop Local Raleigh director’s transphobia pushed attendees to find Brewgaloo alternative.
- Raleigh Brewing Company plans to review the inaugural event, likely to return next year.
Gray Mitchell enjoyed Brewgaloo the last few years she went. She would have gone again this year.
But after Shop Local Raleigh’s executive director, Jennifer Martin, made a transphobic comment on an anonymous Facebook account in December, Mitchell, 23, of Raleigh, couldn’t again support Brewgaloo, which Shop Local Raleigh organizes. Not after Martin said things Mitchell felt hurt her best friend, who is trans.
Then Mitchell found out about a different beer festival close to downtown Raleigh happening the same weekend as Brewgaloo. A festival she felt would be diverse and supportive of the communities she’s a part of. So she and her friends joined over 1,000 others to spend their Saturday afternoon at Y’all Means All.
“Raleigh is a very diverse city, and I have a lot of friends from many aspects of life,” Mitchell said. “And I think it’s just important to me to support creators who support those things, as well.”
Brewgaloo still drew thousands to downtown Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street on Saturday. But from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the back lot of the Raleigh Brewing Company, enough people showed up to Y’all Means All that by 3:30 p.m., several of the 15-plus vendors had run out of beer, according to Raleigh Brewing Company event coordinator Cat Pearce.
Pearce met with the owner of Wake Forest jeweler Be Like Missy, Erica Vogel, four weeks ago, she said. Originally, the meeting was to plan for a fall market at Raleigh Brewing Company. But the two got to thinking: What if they could give people another choice of beer festival to go to?
From there, Vogel rallied potential vendors, Pearce said. Enough were interested that Raleigh Brewing Company had to start turning breweries away.
“There’s some great beer over at Brewgaloo, and there’s great beer here,” Pearce said. “We just wanted to be able to provide a choice that was clear in the stance of supporting those existing as their true, authentic selves.”
Laurel Foote-Hudson, of Raleigh, felt Yall Means All’s atmosphere was such that she wouldn’t meet a stranger. Chatting with people she never met before in line came easy — everyone was welcoming and friendly.
Foote-Hudson never went to Brewgaloo but said she was disappointed that the festival billed itself as part of the community, yet its organizer’s executive director said things that excluded people who are part of the community. For Foote-Hudson, coming to Y’all Means All was a way to tell those people they’re seen and loved.
“If anything, it’s like, who are you choosing to share your beer with?” Foote-Hudson said. “Not just where you choose to go, you know?”
Those who came to Y’all Means All were not disappointed by either the prices or the choices on offer. Ramon Rojas, of Raleigh, was happy to see a vendor close to his hometown of Hendersonville, Flat Rock Cider Company. A trio of friends — Emma Pelfrey, Nicki Dalessio and Madi Hardy — noted big names like Trophy Brewing and Mad Mole Brewing had tents there.
“It’s nice to know that they’re willing to come out here and kind of be loud about their support and take more of a risk for a new event,” Pelfrey, of Durham, said.
Pelfrey, Dalessio and Hardy went to school in Wilmington and attended Pride events at a local brewery down there. But all agreed Y’all Means All was bigger — impressive for a first-time event.
Y’all Means All will likely be back next year, Pearce said, but she and others at Raleigh Brewing Company have to review how things went and what changes to make. Pearce didn’t have an exact estimate of how many people came by, but several attendees made clear the demand for another festival was there.
Even after Martin apologized for her comment and Shop Local Raleigh laid out how they would try to make things right, Rojas, who went to Brewgaloo in years past, said Y’all Means All attracts him more and aligns with his values. Mitchell said only Martin’s resignation would make her think about coming back to Brewgaloo. And even so, she was having more fun at Y’all Means All.
“Absolutely, they will see me here next year,” Mitchell said.
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