A working hop farm south of Portland is throwing open its gates this weekend for a celebration of the Willamette Valley's late-summer harvest. The third annual Oregon Hop Festival returns to Woodburn on Saturday and Sunday, drawing beer fans, families and dogs to a fifth-generation farm where the region's most time-sensitive brews get their moment in the spotlight.
The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days at TopWire Hop Project, located at 8668 Crosby Road NE, according to Travel Salem. Tickets cost $25, though anyone under 21 gets in free, and organizers are offering free parking, as reported by KATU. The event is both pet-friendly and family-friendly, with kids' activities on site alongside live music and local food vendors, per the same station's report.
Guests can wander through hop sensory stations and sample fresh hop beer, and tractor tours will carry visitors directly through the working hop fields, KATU notes. TopWire's Nick Giles has been examining hops on site alongside Wesleigh Ogle ahead of the festival, the station reports. The tasting lineup will include fresh hop beers from more than 20 breweries, according to the same account.
A Taproom Built Inside a Working Hop Field
TopWire Hop Project isn't your typical beer garden. It opened in summer 2020 as a seasonal taproom set directly inside an active hop field, and it remains the only public taproom of its kind on an Oregon hop farm, according to Travel Oregon. The farm sits about 32 miles south of Portland in Woodburn.
That farm is Crosby Hop Farm, founded in 1900 and now run by fifth-generation family growers in the Willamette Valley, per reporting from Craft Beer Scribe. In 2016, Crosby became the world's first hop supplier to achieve Certified B Corporation status, and the farm also holds Salmon-Safe certification, according to an ArcGIS StoryMaps account from December 2021.
Why Fresh Hop Beer Only Happens Once a Year
The festival's timing isn't a coincidence. Fresh hop brewing involves getting freshly picked hops from farm to beer in less than 24 hours, according to reporting from Fort George Brewery. That short turnaround is why breweries chase the harvest each year rather than brewing with fresh hops on demand.
The Pacific Northwest hop harvest runs annually from late August into late September, according to Sip Magazine. Commercial hop farming in Oregon dates back to 1867, with the Willamette Valley prized for nutrient-rich soil, abundant water and growing conditions comparable to Germany's Hallertau region, Travel Oregon reports.
A Harvest Tradition Facing Market Pressure
The celebration comes as Oregon's hop industry navigates a tougher stretch. The broader U.S. hop industry faces similar market pressure.
That market pressure has created challenges for some Oregon growers. Against that backdrop, festivals like this weekend's gathering in Woodburn double as a showcase for a crop, and a family farming legacy, under real economic strain.
