Macon Beer Fest disguised as health fair to fight prostate cancer

August 19, 2019

Amber Lake,

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)- The Macon Beer Fest returns for the 9th year in a row and now offers more than you think.

For starters, more than 100 unlimited beers and wine will be available for ticket holders.

The Macon Beer Company participates in the festival every year and introduces a new beer to the community.

We don’t have much information about the new beer, but Owner Yash Patel says it will be a lighter beer that ties into the River series the Macon Beer Co started.

“The River Series is making people aware of river preservation in the community,” Patel said.

More than beer

Macon Beer Fest organizer Steve Bell says this is the first and largest beer fest that started in Macon.

“The beer fest is disguised as a health fair in order to raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer,” Bell said.

The health event is a fundraiser for Pints for Prostates.

Bell says the festival offers free blood tests for men age 40 and above to check PSA levels, cholesterol, and other things.

“PSA is prostate-specific antigen,” Health Educator at Family Health Center for Navicent Health Charles Krauss said. “PSA gives doctors a picture of what is going on inside the prostate.”

Bell says $56,000 worth of blood tests were given at last year’s beer festival. “From those tests, 25% of men had high cholesterol and 16% of men had elevated PSA levels which prompted for additional testing,” he said.

Bell has a personal connection with the event. He was 42-years-old when he received a prostate-cancer diagnosis.

After attending support groups, Bell realized how unaware men aware of the disease. Now, fully free of the cancer, Bell strives to help as many men as he can.

“1 in 6 men will have prostate cancer and Georgia is the 4th in the nation for prostate cancer cases,” Bell said. “Men who are tested at the festival get a ‘fast pass’ that lets them cut the line to get beer and wine.”