BC Beer and Beverage Festival at TRADEX

The BC Beer & Beverage Festival is an event on Saint Patrick’s Day at the TRADEX Centre in Abbotsford. It features live music, arcade games, drinks and more.

In 2023 the event took place on Friday, March 17th. The event’s date for 2024 is to be confirmed.

BC Beer & Beverage Festival in Abbotsford

The BC Beer & Beverage Festival is a new event in the Fraser Valley. It’s an adult-only celebration of local breweries with vendors, music, games and other activities. The event took place for the first time on St. Patrick’s Day in 2023.

At the festival there are over 50 different vendors with a large variety of alcoholic beverages to sample. There’s beer, wine and ciders for all to enjoy. Up to 10 sample tokens are included with admission, along with a souvenir tasting cup. Food is also available for sale.

Music is a big part of the BC Beer & Beverage Festival as well. In 2023, the featured bands were Five Alarm Funk and Delhi 2 Dublin. Expect to hear funk, alternative and Irish-inspired music throughout the night. There are also arcade games and other fun activities to check out at the festival.

When and Where

In 2023 the BC Beer & Beverage Festival took place on Friday, March 17th. It ran from 4:00 pm up until midnight.

The event is held at the TRADEX Centre which is located at 1190 Cornell Street in Abbotsford. It’s a massive venue beside the Abbotsford International Airport. Driving from Vancouver takes about an hour in good traffic.

You usually have to pay for parking at TRADEX. Expect it to cost about $10 which is good for as long as you like for the day. Exact rates, however, are subject to change. (TIP: If you only plan to stay a couple of hours, parking at the airport next door is usually cheaper. At the airport though, hourly parking is only good for a maximum of three hours.)

2023 Breweries

The 2023 festival featured over 50 different breweries, wineries and cideries. All are locally based in the Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver and other regions of British Columbia. Listed below were some of the participating vendors in 2023.

Batch 44 Brewery (Sechelt)
Dead Frog Brewery (Langley)
Five Roads Brewing Co. (Langley)
HUBCco Brewing (Mission)
Old Yale Brewing (Chilliwack)
Parallel 49 Brewing Company (Vancouver)
Wild Eye Brewing (North Vancouver)

Ticket Prices

Last year there were two types of tickets available online for the BC Beer & Beverage Festival.

The first option was general admission, which cost about $38 plus taxes. This type of ticket included access to all concerts and the regular beer sampling session from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. General admission came with five sampling tokens and a souvenir tasting cup to take home.

VIP tickets were also available last year for about $70 including online fees. These pricier tickets came with all of the perks of the regular tickets, plus more. VIP ticket holders could access the tasting session starting at 4:00 pm, which was one hour earlier than other attendees. In addition, this premium type of ticket came with 10 sampling tokens instead of five, as well as a special VIP lanyard.