The Bakersfield annual Village Fest took place at the Kern County Museum on Sept. 8, and anyone over 21 years of age had the opportunity to taste from many different beers and wine brewers. The event was a fundraiser for Kern County Children’s Advocates Resource Endowment (CARE).

Even though the event started at 6 p.m., there were some people arrived earlier because they wanted to be the first to enter. By the time the event was supposed to start there was a line that had over 60 people.

Chris Martinez arrived at the Village Fest early with his friends.

“I got here like around 5 [p.m.] and some people were already in line,” Martinez said.

He also said that he had gone to past Village Fest events and was enjoying this one like all the other ones. Until this latest reiteration of the Village Fest, Martinez had not been to the event for nearly 15 years.

“A lot has changed since I last came here. It used to be smaller than how it is today, and they did not serve any wine either,” said Martinez.

In order for this event to happen, board members at the Kern County Museum needed volunteers to provide attendees beer, any food, water or any other type of assistance.

Sergio Araujo was a volunteer for the museum, and he has been volunteering for it for nearly12 years already.

“I came in an hour early so they could tell me where I was supposed to be for the day, and I was able to try some of the beers before everyone,” said Araujo.

He explained that he had to stay until 10 p.m. to help other volunteers whenever they needed to go to the restroom or when they went on break he was going to cover for them.

Liz Armstrong was the volunteer supervisor for all the volunteer members. She has been volunteering for the event for over 20 years and has been a supervisor for about five years already.

“We have to come in like at 3:15 p.m. to make sure everything is clean, to make sure products are ice down and cold. We also need to give breaks to workers so they can enjoy the event as well,” said Armstrong.

She also said that she felt really good that the museum was also doing this event to help a local organization such as CARE.

The Village Fest had a lot of entertainment for everyone to enjoy, and of course, it had beers, wine, water and soda for all those who wanted some of those four for free, and everyone that attended helped with the fundraiser for CARE in this year’s end of summer party.