ICT Bloktoberfest returns to downtown with beer, food, music and a ‘dad bod’ contest
When Xclusive Event Services owners Crystal McDonald and her brother, Cody Lathrop, put on their first ICT Bloktoberfest in 2016, it was a little too popular.
A crowd of 4,000 people crammed into the plaza on Union Station for the first-year block party, which included beer, wiener dog races and sausage samples.
After that, the event moved to a big field at the Wichita WaterWalk. Last year, McDonald and Lathrop put it on at the Wichita Boathouse, which they manage.
For 2021, though, XClusive is taking its big October block party back to the place where it started: Union Station at 701 E. Douglas. It’s scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and this time, it will have more room to spread out. The event — which will include beer, food, live music and crazy contests — will take over Mead Street on the east side of Union Station, and the footprint will stretch all the way back to Jenny Dawn Cellars.
“We’re going back to the roots, really, right on Douglas and right downtown,” McDonald said. “We like to change things up every year, and we don’t want to do the same venue every year.”
The event will open at 4 p.m. on Friday, and DJ Vaughn Solo will start playing music at 5 p.m. Admission to the plaza is free, and anyone can attend, but a special ticketed Beer Fest also will be going on. It lasts from 6 to 9 p.m. and will offer samples of more than 99 beers, including many brewed locally. Tickets to that are $50 for general admission or $60 at the door and include a sampling stein. VIP tickets, which include 5 p.m. admission and a porcelain commemorative stein, are $75. Tickets can be found at www.facebook.com/ictbloktoberfest
On Saturday, the festival opens at noon and will include an artisan outdoor market, live music and lots of contests, including wiener dog races at 2 p.m., a hot dog eating contest at 3:30 p.m. and a pretzel eating contest at 4:30 p.m.
New this year, McDonald said: A 4 p.m. dad bod contest, open only to men whose six-pack abs have failed them.
“Who doesn’t have a dad bod after COVID?” she said.
People can sign up on site for all of the contests.
The event will also include a stein-hoisting contest, a watermelon smash and ax throwing. Food trucks will be serving on site, and Union Station’s resident restaurants — including The Kitchen and Pour House — will offer special ICT Bloktoberfest menus on their patios.
Xclusive will have its four booze and tap trucks stationed throughout the festival, McDonald said, so an adult beverage will never be far away.
“This is a free event that Xclusive puts on, and we just need people to come out and support us so we can continue to do it every year,” she said.
ICT Bloktoberfest schedule
FRIDAY
4 p.m. Festival opens
5 p.m. Vaughn Solo, DJ, performs, Beer Fest VIP admission opens
6-9 p.m. Beer Fest general admission open
All evening: Food trucks, booze trucks and beer trucks serving
SATURDAY
Noon: Festival opens with DJ Dugger
Noon-8 p.m.: Artisan outdoor market
1 p.m. Whitnie Means performs
2 p.m. Wiener Dog Races
3:30 p.m. Hot Dog Eating Contest put on by Emerson Biggins Old Town
4 p.m. Dad Bod Contest
4:30 p.m. Pretzel Eating Contest
5 p.m. Stein Hoist by Samuel Adams and Standard Beverage
6 p.m. Stimulus performs
6 p.m. Watermelon Smash by Wichita Brewing Company, fire pits and cigar lounge at Jenny Dawn Cellars
All day: food trucks, booze trucks, beer trucks, ax throwing by The Tomahawk Truck and all-day specials by PourHouse ICT, The Kitchen and Jenny Dawn Cellars
10 p.m. Festival ends
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 5:30 AM with the headline "ICT Bloktoberfest returns to downtown with beer, food, music and a ‘dad bod’ contest."
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