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Whiskey and Spirit Walk to be featured with annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival

By Mark Hofmann for The Almanac 3 min read
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A peek inside the Whiskey Rebellion Education & Visitor Center

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The Almanac

The Snappin’ Bug String Band performs at the Whiskey Rebellion Festival in this 2021 file photo.

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Mike Jones/Observer-Reporter

Reenactors fire muskets during the Whiskey Rebellion Festival in downtown Washington in July 2019.

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Observer-Reporter

Reenactors walk past the Washington County Courthouse during the Whiskey Rebellion Festival parade in this photo from 2018.

The annual Whiskey Rebellion Festival is returning this year, and reintroducing the popular Whiskey and Spirits Walk.

The festival, Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9, is considered the largest in Washington County, said Tracie Liberatore, executive director of the Bradford House Historical Association. The association organizes the event in downtown Washington.

The Whiskey Rebellion was an uprising by Western Pennsylvania farmers and distillers against the whiskey tax, which was the first excise tax levied by the federal government.

“The biggest realization is that the Whiskey Rebellion happened right here,” Liberatore said. “David Bradford, a leader in the Whiskey Rebellion, lived on Main Street (in Washington).”

The pandemic forced the festival’s cancelation in 2020, and it returned last year it was smaller in scale. This year, Liberatore said, organizers are going all out, bringing back the parade and the mercantile area.

The Whiskey and Spirits Walk, first done in 2019, will also return.

“Everyone has always said you can not have a Whiskey Rebellion festival without whiskey” Liberatore said.

The Friday walk from 6 to 9 p.m. has guests, who purchase a wristband for $50, visiting 11 businesses on the Main Street block where they can sample wine, whiskey and vodka.

Tasting locations include the Bradford House cabin, the Whiskey Rebellion Education and Visitor Center, Farmers and Friends Market, B&B Distillery, Washington Winery, The Ivy Green, Art by April Ryan, Nutrition Fix, Buy & Sell Outlet, Fanatic Impressions and The LeMoyne House.

Vendors for the walk include Old Overholt, Red Pump, Quantum Spirits, Big Spring Spirits, LaVigneta Wine, LLC Excise Distillery, Black Dog Wine, Crooked Creek Distillery, B&B Distillery, Washington Winery and Boyd & Blair Distillery.

“This is a great way to try different vendors, and their bottles will be for sale,” Liberatore said.

Runners will be available to securely stash bottle purchases until pickup at the end of the evening.

The ticket cost includes a tasting glass, two tote bags and a map of the tasting locations. Ticket holders must be 21 or over.

Friday’s festivities will also have food trucks open from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. and a free performance by the Washington Symphony Orchestra at the Main Street Pavilion from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the main pavilion in downtown Washington.

The festival will also include history and heritage displays, reenactments and demonstrations, a mercantile area, the Bradford House museum, the Whiskey Rebellion Education and Visitor Center, street theater performances, historic tours and live music.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.whiskeyrebellionfestival.com.

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