Hops & Heritage is an awareness and engagement campaign that aims to connect the Chilliwack Museum & Archives with the community while supporting local businesses at the same time.

Beer lovers will hop from one Chilliwack brewery to the next trying different beers and collecting stamps in order to win prizes. The brew hop coincides with the museum’s newest exhibition, The Hops Connection, running June 24 to September 11, 2021.

“Our goal is not only to raise awareness about the museum, but to encourage the community to visit all the amazing local shops and organizations in Chilliwack,” said Shawna Maurice, executive director.

The Chilliwack Museum & Archives hosted its inaugural, in-person Hops & Heritage fundraiser in 2019 but it was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. This year, everyone involved is looking forward to bringing it back.

Hops & Heritage focuses on the local craft brewing and hops industry in Chilliwack, and the important role it plays for the region — it is also a museum fundraiser.

“We are so grateful to have four local breweries willing to participate,” said Cari Moore, coordinator of volunteers and administration at the museum. “Bricklayer, Farmhouse, Fieldhouse, and Old Yale have all been great to work with and they have great beer too.”

Participants can purchase a Hops & Heritage passbook from the Chilliwack Museum for $25 which features a different local brewery on each page. Each time customers visit a brewery, they will receive a stamp in their passbook. The more stamps collected, the better chance participants will have in winning a prize. People can also receive stamps by visiting The Hops Connection exhibition at the Chilliwack Museum.

All participants will automatically be entered into the weekly draws and the grand prize draw with purchase of the passbook, giving people one entry into each weekly draw as well as the grand prize draw. When the passbook is complete, people can bring them into the museum and receive additional entries. If people would like to have their stamps counted throughout the summer to have additional entries in the weekly prizes, they can bring the passbook in to be marked and continue on receiving more stamps.

Proceeds will benefit the accessibility upgrades planned for the Chilliwack Museum.

Weekly draws will begin the week of July 6 with the grand prize draws being held on September 13.

Photos courtesy of Jenna Hauck/Chilliwack Progress