Cape Fear coffee lovers should mark their calendars now for Wilmington Coffee Fest on February 1, 2020. The Wilmington Coffee Fest will be held at the Hannah Block Historic USO Community Center and Waterline Brewing Company. In addition to highlighting the artisan coffee culture in the region, Wilmington Coffee Fest will educate locals on coffee and related topics and also give back to the community.
February’s Wilmington Coffee Fest will be the third annual coffee event presented by Wilmington Coffee Crawl, LLC. Founders Krysta Kearney and Will Chacon, who each operate coffee shops in downtown Wilmington, were inspired to create an event that would bring local coffee lovers together and introduce the broader community to Wilmington’s coffee scene. After sold-out events in 2018 and 2019, the Wilmington Coffee Crawl is evolving into the Wilmington Coffee Fest to broaden the scope of the event and allow the entire Wilmington coffee community to participate.
Though the Wilmington Coffee Fest is certainly coffee-centric, there will be something for everyone, non-coffee-drinkers included. With 70-80 vendors participating, anyone who likes fine tea, sweet treats, baked goods, local art, craft beer, or great music will find something to enjoy. Events will include demonstrations, lectures, kid-friendly activities, and – of course – tastings!
As a community-oriented event, Wilmington Coffee Fest will be an environmentally and socially sustainable festival. Composting will be available on-site, and participants are encouraged to minimize waste as much as possible. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the preservation of the Hannah Block Center and the Plastic Ocean Project, a Wilmington-based non-profit leveraging both research and art to clean plastic out of our oceans.