Like most Iron Horse lore there are many versions of how the Dirtbag Carnival came to be. The one story that sticks the most is that it was inspired by the Lagunitas Beer Circus that was created in the late aughts down in Southern California. More of a nod to rather than reimagining of the Beer Circus. The Beer Circus has actual aerialists and burlesque performers while our Carnival veered off into paying homage to our working class roots. The majority of the labor and the most important work at the brewery is physically and mentally hard, with daily technical challenges, and messes to clean up as we move thousands of gallons of sticky fermented liquid between tanks then into kegs and cans. There was that time a new brewer took the wrong clamp off the bright tank and cold beer came shooting out soaking everyone nearby but especially the person trying to get the clamp back on. lots of lost beer down the drains. Many days end being covered in dirt and beer. Brewery work is not for the weak.
Working at a Brewery was not my dream job. I landed here after ten years of farming and was not afraid of working hard or getting dirty but felt completely in over my head when it came to the world of beer. I can honestly say I didn’t quite get the Dirtbag Carnival the first time I put it on. I was more of a farm to table dinner kind of girl and didn’t understand its purpose. I asked around and heard stories of the early days of Dirtbag that were more like Highland Games with feats of strength. People showing off how far they could throw a keg and games made with whatever else they could find around the brewery. The kind of games that were probably made up just 5 minutes before the game started.
My first year reimagining Dirtbag we were lucky enough to have Cobrahawk come back to play and I recreated a couple games from the past but it wasn’t until the second year that it all started to click for me. People went all out in their costumes as much as they do for Halloween but it was the games where they got a chance to be absolutely ridiculous. We played beer baseball with over fermented cans of Bad Granny Cider that would explode on impact causing screams from the crowd as everyone got sprayed and the hitter would keep the fun going running bases that didn’t exist. We ended the night with a pile of cans taller than me and a lot of people happy with how much good dirty fun they had. Dirtbag gives grown ass adults permission to be silly, sexy, competitive, filthy, and make fun of themselves while they are doing it.
Now when people ask what the Dirtbag Carnival is I like to say it’s a chance for adults to get dressed up, blow off some steam, and temporarily abandon all reasonable behavior. Sometimes we beat a car with a baseball bat or maybe play a game we like to call “Beat the Meat”. It’s not a serious affair but it’s all ours and honestly we would probably keep putting it on even if no one else showed up.
If you want to show up we will be Dirtbagging on Saturday September 12th from 4-9pm at the Iron Horse Brewery Worldwide Headquarters- 1621 Vantage Hwy. Ellensburg, Washington. Besides Feral Games we will have Crave Ink from Yakima here doing a Tattoo popup and later in the evening music from Cobrahawk, Nurhachi, and The Nightmares.
