( CNN ) -- Those hardy micro-brewing pioneers of the first Oregon Brewers Festival in 1988 were looking for some free advertising and a few people to taste the beers they were brewing in tanks scavenged from dairies , food processing plants and -- yes -- a never-used nuclear power plant . They hoped 5,000 people might drop by and they corralled their buddies into manning the taps , promising a leisurely day of suds and sun at Portland , Oregon 's Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the Willamette River . More than 15,000 people came and chaos reigned . Coolers did n't work right . The beer poured foamy , warm , then not at all because the kegs were dry . Brewers scurried back to their breweries for more kegs . The owner of Deschutes Brewery drove nearly 200 miles from Bend with all the brewery 's spare beer -- nine mini kegs . The crowd drained those too , and loved it all . America 's Oktoberfest was born . `` I had traveled to Oktoberfest in Munich and knew what a big beer party was like , '' says Art Larrance , who now owns the festival . `` I wanted to create that atmosphere . '' The 27th Oregon Brewers Festival begins Wednesday , when a parade of hundreds of brewers and beer fans troops across Portland 's Hawthorne Bridge to the park , where Grand Marshal John Maier will tap the first keg . Hundreds more will be consumed over five days by a crowd of more than 80,000 . Family-friendly behemoth . From shaky beginnings , the OBF has become perhaps the largest outdoor craft beer festival in the country , a sprawling , family-friendly behemoth that attracts visitors from around the world . It 's the spiritual home of Oregon craft brewing and the crown jewel of the city known as Beervana : Portland , Oregon . Denver 's Great American Beer Festival is older by six years and offers more beers -- 3,100 last year to the OBF 's 80 or so . Tickets cost $ 80 : admission to the OBF is free and a tasting glass costs $ 7 . The GABF is n't a family event : its 40,000 attendees sign up for one of several sessions in a convention hall chockablock with beer fans intent on sampling all 3,100 beers , not in a grassy park on a glorious late July weekend with big white pavilions , ranks of picnic tables and riverine breezes a-wafting . Serious beer judging is a big part of the GABF , where a couple hundred medals are awarded in dozens of categories . In best laid back Oregon fashion , the OBF does n't award medals and lets the crowd be the judge of which beers are its favorite . `` The GABF was the first , and it was their show , '' said Larrance . `` We did n't want to copy them , so whatever they did , we pretty much went the other way . `` It 's a very different festival in that sense , and that 's why it 's grown and evolved . '' Oregon Brewers Festival , July 23-27 , 2014 , Waterfront Park , Portland , Oregon .
Portland Brewers Festival is a five-day 1988 event started in five-day in Oregon . More than 80,000 beer fans from all around world gather at this year 's CNN . The OBF is a free and family-friendly beer party with more than 80 different craft beers .