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Every June, the annual Beer Cheese Festival in Winchester brings people from all over Kentucky and beyond to Clark County.

This year, it offered more opportunities than ever before.

Saturday’s Beer Cheese Festival brought a record number of vendors, and over 20,000 people roamed Main Street in search of their favorite taste.

“We’ve got fourteen beer cheese vendors, and I would say this has exceeded my expectations,” said Cameron Correll, Marketing and Events Director of Winchester First. “We’ve got over 20,000 people who have seen downtown Winchester, many for the very first time.”

Winchester First put the event together by forming a Beer Cheese Festival Committee.

Consisting of thirteen individuals, each member of the Committee played a different yet essential role in putting together the day’s events.

Kim Bugg was in charge of food vendors and the Beer Cheese Store, where attendees could purchase their favorite beer cheese after tasting them from the different vendors.

Money raised from the Beer Cheese Festival goes toward Winchester First.

“It’s a fundraiser for Winchester First to do betterments downtown,” Bugg said. “We sell their product, but they also have the bare products to give out as samples.”

The different beer cheese vendors present were Big Poppies, Hop’s, 2 Rivers Beercheese, YetiCheese LLC, Double D’s Beer Cheese, DJ’s Steakhouse, The Mousetrap, True Blue Beer Cheese LLC, Inebriated Chef, Bootlegger Beer Cheese, Curious Kitchen, Kentucky Beer Cheese, Hopewell Bake Exchange, and Smokin’ Joe’s.

Some, such as YetiCheese LLC, were making their first appearance.

“We heard this was the biggest Beer Cheese Festival around,” said owner Spencer Harrod. “We’re hoping to sell everything we brought today; about 150 pounds of beer cheese.”

Others, such as Bootlegger Beer Cheese, were making a return appearance.

“You always get good sales. You get to meet people face-to-face and talk to them,” said owner Russ Kirkland. “I’m just so happy that there are fourteen other people here competing. [It] just shows that everybody loves beer cheese and wants to be a part of the festival.”

While Bootlegger Beer Cheese sold a smoked-flavored variety, others also chose to have unique blends.

Inebriated Chef, which sells six different flavors, includes beer and bourbon cheese, and jalapeno beer and bourbon.

“It’s just some of my favorite combinations. I do love cheese, so I figured, why not try them?” explained owner Danielle Rowell. “Some of them were happy accidents, but other than that, it just seems to be working with experimentation.”

Hopewell Bake Exchange, making its first appearance, even mixed some of its ingredients.

“We use some different cheeses other than just the traditional cheddar and Velveeta,” said owner Andrea Pompei. “We use a smoked gouda in [our] habanero [flavored].”

Of course, not all vendors were offering beer cheese.

Out of Berea, the Sammich Man Express – featuring the husband-and-wife team of Karen Melbourne and Rick Mallo- offered a variety of foods, including four different types of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches.

“We actually buy a whole steak, and we shave the meat. We do everything by hand”, said Mallo. “All our steaks are very fresh.”

Hidden Homestead, a frequent vendor from Harrison County, also appeared.

“This year, we did pretzel bites because we figured they were a great idea to do some beer cheese tasting [with],” said owner Nicole Elbourne. “We have a multitude of different baked goods, pies, cakes… all kinds of things.”

Various arts and crafts vendors were also present, with 35 returning for this fall’s  Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival.

“At [the] Beer Cheese [Festival], we let people who have a store sell the things they sell in [their] store,” said Elizabeth Chalfant, a Committee member in charge of the Arts and Crafts vendors. “At the Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival, it has to be all handmade…the mix is completely different.”

One arts and crafts vendor present was Sweet Southern Craft Company, which sells soap, candles, lotions, and more.

Proving that the influence of the Beer Cheese Festival is widespread, the business made the trip to Winchester from Marion, an approximate four-hour drive.

“We heard it was a phenomenal event. It’s a beautiful town,” said owner Kathryn Jenkins. “The traffic’s definitely here. There are high-quality vendors.”

Yet, even with all vendors and other interests, the people came for the beer cheese.

“I brought my granddaughter down here so she can experience it,” said Wayne Moore of Lexington.

“It’s been nice to sample the different beer cheeses because I’m a beer cheese and pretzel fan,” said Jenny Fox of Nancy. “There’s a lot of different activities for people to do.”

At day’s end, in the 2023 amateur contest, Tony Willoughby’s mild and hot flavors took home first and second place, respectively. Andy Stephenson’s beer cheese took home third-place honors.

In the professional contest, 2 Rivers Beer Cheese took home first place, with Bootlegger’s Beer Cheese in second place and Mousetrap in third.

However, Bootlegger’s Beer Cheese won first-place honors in the People’s Choice category.

“It brings a lot of money into the community people coming in for one day and seeing how nice [of] a place Winchester is,” said long-time Winchester resident Clay Wills. “There’s a lot of history here.”