I went to Spiral Brewery to support some friends and learn what the latest trend in fundraising was all about.

With the brew pub concept booming around the state, including the building of Spiral Brewery several years ago in Hastings, non-profits have started a new, trendy way to raise money: the taproom takeover.  The taproom takeover concept is simple: Advertise your date and time of the event, especially to your customers, friends and family that enjoy craft beer.

Spiral Brewery is a beautifully put together location. With warm lighting, comfy seating, unique furnishings and ambiance plus an outdoor, rooftop patio, it is perfectly situated for downtown Hastings. Ideally, from the size of the room, one would expect 60 or so people to comfortably enjoy a few of the custom craft beers produced on site.

My first experience of this trend was Wednesday when I went down to Spiral Brewery to support my friends at Hastings Community Television. HCTV was holding its taproom takeover, and I was curious as to how it was organized, what kind of work went into it and how much money could be raised. Given my volunteer time with the Hastings Hawks, I thought it might be an option for us.

When I arrived, the event had already started and there were probably 35-40 people in Spiral Brewery and maybe 10 in the parklet. Of course, over the next few hours, people came and went, but I would say that they never really lost more than 10 people in total.

HCTV included a fun round of bingo with the event. They collected prizes from a variety of local businesses to give away to the bingo winners. Everyone that entered Spiral was given the opportunity to have one bingo card for free and they could buy additional cards for a $5 donation for each card.

I spent some time chatting with guests during the takeover and they were having fun and liked that they could do something lower cost and have fun while supporting a local service. They were right. It was a fun night. I did not plan on participating in the bingo side, I was just going to donate some cash, take pictures for them and hang out because I am not a craft beer drinker. I am really not a drinker at all, so that felt like the best way to support them. I ended up playing a couple games of bingo and decided to donate a prize from the paper. Congrats on the extra year of your subscription Janet!

Ironically, I actually could have called bingo on the very prize I donated but held off until the next prize. The bingo callers knew I had a bingo so we played it fair, and I said I would simply call it on the next number not knowing what the prize was. The next number gave me a second bingo and I walked away with some cash.

The secret to a successful taproom takeover in Hastings is making it a combination of something engaging while the people are there to support your cause, something interactive where people can win prizes and promoting it. The Spiral staff does a great job assisting and accommodating the takeover events and their donations to local groups is awesome. It is even better that they encourage groups to do extra stuff while doing the takeover. If you have a chance to join in a taproom takeover, do it. Why?

I went to Spiral Brewery to support some friends, I ended up walking out with a smile, a story and $40. It was a good day.