The Macon Beer Fest

Time to roll out the barrel, gents, and get a preventive health screening, where you can reward yourself with a cold one afterwards.

Party with a Purpose: People enjoying the Macon Beer Fest, which also offers prostate screenings for men. Photo credit: Contributed

The Macon Beer Festival, founded in 2010 (also known as the Macon Oktoberfest), is a party with a purpose. Held downtown at the intersection of Third Street and Poplar Street, the annual shindig has likely provided more than $ 1.5 million in prostate screenings for free since it began.

“It’s a health fair disguised as a festival, reaching men through the universal language of beer,” says founder Steve Bell.

Seventeen years ago, Bell was diagnosed at age 42 with prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men worldwide. About 1 in 8 men is diagnosed in their lifetime.

The good news is that most prostate cancer is slow-growing and can be found early with screening and often cured with treatment.

“It gets branded as an old man’s disease, but it is hitting men younger,” Bell says. “I’m here because of early detection, and that’s what we’re promoting.”

The event – which is put on by the Downtown Macon Rotary Club and supports the nonprofit Pints for Prostates – has broken national records for screenings taking place in a single day. The Prostate Conditions Education Council provides the testing kits, and the Macon-Bibb County Health Department does the free screenings.

“The beer greases the wheels,” Bell says. “We offer fast passes to allow you to bypass the lines if you get checked, and we get friends egging each other on.”

The fest, on October 10, will feature more than 100 varieties of craft beer. If a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) reading is elevated, participants get a letter notifying them to follow up with a urologist. “We no doubt have saved lives,” Bell says.

Learn more at visitmacon.org/directory/macon-beer-fest