Field Day Brewing raising money for North Liberty park with special beer

Collaboration often leads to success.

The City of North Liberty and Field Day Brewing are hoping their teamwork assists the construction of a unique gathering space

The recently-opened brewery and North Liberty, one of Iowa's fastest-growing cities, have partnered to release the Centennial Park Pils, a light American pilsner brewed as a fundraising effort for renovations and development at Centennial Park.

The fundraising attempt is to help fuel North Liberty Next Stage, an initiative meant to transform the popular park into a state-of-the-art entertainment district with a spacious event center, splash pads, a pavilion, and more.

Next Stage has been split into four phases that will take place over the next few years.

Centennial Park is expected to generate $11.5 million each year once the project is complete, the city said in a statement. Phase I will feature the Centennial Center, a large indoor and outdoor event center. Construction is on track to begin in July.

More: North Liberty's Centennial Park to begin 4-phase plan next summer for $8 million events center

Providing good beer for a good cause

For each sale of Field Day's specially brewed draft beer, can or four-pack, the brewery will donate $1 to the park.

Field Day has pledged to raise $50,000 through Centennial Park Pils sales, with an "oversized" ticker helping guests keep track of progress.

Erik Shewmaker, one of Field Day's founding partners, said Field Day was keen on giving back to the North Liberty community, which has supported them throughout its infancy.

Field Day opened its doors on Aug. 1 of last year.

"Community is everything," Shewmaker said. "The least we can do is try to give back to them and foster the community support to grow together."

A crushable drink

The Centennial Park beer was officially released Friday, Jan. 19, at the North Liberty brewery, a party that included a free tour and samples.

The Centennial Park Pilsner, brewed with, of course, centennial hops, is an American Pilsner with notes of lemon and melon flavors and floral notes. It's perfect for "crushing" year-round, head of brewery operations Alec Travis said during a tour of Field Day's brewery operation.

The beer is currently tap at Field Day and available in take-home four packs. It's expected to be available at other area restaurants, stores and events throughout the year.

North Liberty city councilor Brent Smith said one of the first things he learned about Field Day was that the people behind it had strong and long-time local ties to the Iowa City metro area. He and his fellow councilmembers were excited to partner with the up-and-coming brewery.

"We knew that they would want to give back," Smith said. "They're part of this community and they live here, they're raising their kids here, their families are all here and they would want to make this a great partnership."

Field Day was packed with a lively crowd on Jan. 19 as the tour wrapped, a good sign for a vibrant community on a cold, Friday night in January. Smith expects more collaborations for similar ventures in North Liberty.

"I think, honestly, this is just the first of a number of partnerships that we will see, not just with the city, but within the region that this place will have," Smith said. "I think that they're going to be extremely successful."

A once-in-a-generation park

Next Stage fundraising efforts have spanned the community. Children have offered to donate their own piggy banks and many have started lemonade stands to help out, Smith said. Several large donors have contributed as well, earning the right to name benches and other aspects within the park.

More: Large-scale brewery to churn out 13 original craft beers and offer patio seating

The Next Stage campaign has raised $2.2 million to help with construction costs. The goal is to raise around $3.5 million to help expand the park.

Shewmaker said the beer collaboration was an easy decision. The company appreciates North Liberty's consistent lineup of family-friendly activities and they wanted to help feed into that notion.

"With Blues & BBQ and other events, you know, it's such a fantastic place for families to go," Shewmaker said of the park. "As the city is growing, Centennial Park is growing too. So it's such a great example of what North Liberty is and is about to be and we're really excited to be a part of that."

Susan Barrett is a donor to the Next Stage project, lives in North Liberty and has two children. She said the park is one of the family's favorite places to go, so giving back was really a no-brainer for her.

"People say, I wish we had (this) in our community, but then to be able to actually say I'm contributing to bringing that thing to our community, to building up the park, putting in the picnic spaces and additional splash pads and other things that that people keep wanting to add to the community," she said. "It feels good to know I'm putting my money where my mouth is and taking action."

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: North Liberty, Field Day Brewing to raise money for Centennial Park