LAKEWOOD, NY – The 2021 WRFA Great American Picnic, taking place on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at Southern Tier Brewing Company. An annual fundraiser for Community Radio in Jamestown!  This year’s fundraiser focused on music from the 90s, and featured performances from Sixpence, Bill Ward and Friends, Cindy Love, Gary Peters and Friends, Cold Lazarus, Feverhawk, and Black Tooth Grin!  Over $2600 was raised as part of the fundraising effort. Thank you to all who supported the cause!

• PURCHASE TICKETS

The theme for this year’s fundraiser is “We Love the 90s!” – celebrating the music and songs from the 1990s. Musical acts include:

• Black Tooth Grin
• Cold Lazarus
• Feverhawk
• Gary & Legit Musicians
• Bill Ward
• Cindy Love
  
• Sixpence

To support WRFA, please consider purchasing a $20 ticket, which includes two complimentary STBC beers and one complimentary ticket for the WRFA Gift Basket Giveaway, featuring items from a variety of local businesses including National Comedy Center/Lucy-Desi Center, BioDome Project, Brindle Barn, Chautauqua Music, Full Moon Rising Bakery, Jamestown Skate Products, Jamestown Tarp Skunks, Liquid Monkey, Reg Lenna Center for the Arts and WRFA!

Hot Dogs will also be sold and there will also be a 50/50 raffle!

(Attendees under 21 get in for free).

Call the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts box office for Tickets – (716) 484-7070 – or buy them on line at www.RegLenna.com.

ABOUT WRFA: WRFA is a listener supported, non-commercial, low power FM radio station provided as a public service by the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts. It is dedicated to providing access to the arts, cultural and educational programming and a forum for the discourse of both national and local public affairs. Funding for WRFA comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, corporate underwriting, and donations from individuals and groups in the community. It broadcasts at 107.9 FM in Jamestown and also streams worldwide at WRFALP.com. 

The 2018 Great American Picnic takes place Tuesday, June 26 at Southern Tier Brewing Co. Here’s an image from the 2015 event.  (Photo courtesy of Andy Palermo)

LAKEWOOD – An annual fundraising event for the only locally owned, non-religious radio station in Chautauqua County will be taking place Tuesday night, June 26 in Lakewood.

WRFA and the Southern Tier Brewing Co. are teaming up to present the seventh annual Great American Picnic – an evening of friends, food and live music from a variety of local and regional performers. This year’s theme is “I Love the 80s!”

The Great American Picnic will begin at 5 p.m. at the home of the Southern Tier Brewing Co. (2072 Stoneman Circle, Lakewood, NY) and will feature a wide variety of musical acts.

Musical entertainment for this year includes The Porcelain Bus Drivers, We Speak Canadian, Bill Ward, Feverhawk, Steve Davis & Friends, Cheers for Beers (Gary Peters, Jay Peterson, Dan Witherspoon, Steve Davis and more!), and Rebecca McIlvain.

Many of the performances will also be recorded and broadcast on WRFA.

All the music that will be played during the four-hour event will be songs from the 1980s.

Tickets to this exclusive event are $20 each and include two complimentary beers from Southern Tier. In addition, the WRFA Advisory Board will also be on hand selling hotdogs, raffle tickets, and letting attendees get their photo taken with a vintage 80s convertible.

The event continues until 9 p.m.

Southern Tier Brewing Company, based out of the Stoneman Industrial Park in Lakewood, has announced what is being called a landmark alliance with Victory Brewing Company under parent company Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV).

In a media release sent out earlier this week, officials with both breweries say the union presents a new model for craft beer partnerships by preserving brewery independence while providing capital, security and vision for the future for both breweries.

ABV was formed to unify independent craft brewers and distillers as well as embraces the collaborative craft spirit, while administering crucial growth resources.

Under the umbrella of ABV, Victory and Southern Tier will independently operate their breweries and both leadership teams and employees will remain intact. The move will also result in a joint capacity of over 800,000 barrels of potential annual production.

Officials say the alliance creates one of the largest brewers in the Northeast and ranks within the top 15 craft brewing companies in the United States. They add that both brands will become increasingly available to loyal and new consumers across their combined markets as a direct result of this union.

The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 days.

Southern Tier Brewing Company’s Pumking has been included in a friendly World Series wager between the governors of New York and Missouri. Southern Tier Brewing Co. is located in Busti, NY.

JAMESTOWN – There’s some Southern Tier Beer on the line for this year’s World Series.

This year’s fall classic will feature the New York Mets of the National League facing the Kansas City Royals of the American League and the governor’s for each respective state that the cities are located in have made a friendly wager on the game.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced this past weekend that if the Mets win, Governor Nixon will wear a Mets jersey to work for a full day. If the Royals win, Governor Cuomo will do the same, wearing a Royals jersey.

But in addition to the Jersey wager, the two have also placed several items from their home state on the line – including some of Southern Tier Brewing Co.’s popular Pumking pumpkin spice beer, which governor Nixon would receive from Cuomo, should the Royals win.

The first game of the best-of-seven 2015 World Series will be played Tuesday starting at 8 p.m. in Kansas City.

WRFA General Manager Dennis Drew at the 2014 Great American Picnic (June 1, 2014 at Southern Tier Brewing Co. in Lakewood, NY)

JAMESTOWN _ The annual Great American Picnic fundraising event for WRFA will take place Sunday at Southern tier Brewing Company.

Featuring three hours of music with the theme of ‘Music from the Motor City” – the Great American Picnic will be hosted by Rolling Hills Radio host Ken Hardley along with WRFA General Manager Dennis Drew. It will also have performances from:

• Erickson, Peters, & Peterson
• Preach Freedom & Connect
• The Audience (Featuring Jonny J)
• The Bogarts
• Djava + 1
• The Distractions
• Dirt Track Racing

The performances will also be recorded and broadcast on WRFA during Arts on Fire (New Time – Fridays at 5 p.m. on WRFA) over the next three weeks.

There is no cost to attend the Great American Picnic. Instead, a portion of all proceeds collected by Southern Tier Brewing Co. between 1 and 4 p.m. will go directly toward WRFA.

In addition to music and beverages, the WRFA Advisory Board will be grilling and selling hot dogs, with proceeds to benefit Jamestown’s only locally owned and operated community radio station.

Donations will also be accepted. All ages are welcome. So stop by and support Community Radio in Jamestown NY – WRFA LP 107.9 FM – Low Power to the People!