‘It’s going to be fun’: Museum event returns to celebrate local history with beer

Local craft brew enthusiasts and history buffs will be able to marry their passions next week at the Port Huron Museum’s HOPStoberfest with the unveil of and chance to taste a brand-new beer.

Named for a 19th-century United States senator who hailed from Port Huron, as well as a vessel that infamously exploded downtown, the “Omar D. Conger: The Man, The Ship, The Beer” is from Black and Blue Brewery and is coming just a few months after the 100th anniversary of the latter.

The event itself is set for 6-10 p.m. Friday at the museum’s Carnegie Center, 1115 Sixth St. It’ll feature other drinks to sample, games, craft activities, and live music from local band Dusk Til Dawn.

“Omar D. Conger’s a guy that maybe people in Port Huron have vaguely heard of,” said Andrew Kercher, the museum’s community engagement manager.

He added they’ll have photos and artifacts on display to give attendees a good idea about the historical figure.

“They certainly know the streets named for him, Omar and Conger,” Kercher said. “But hardly anybody knows anything about the senator himself. I think a few more people might have heard of the ship, the ferry boat, and we figured with the centennial of the explosion, that’s really made that an appropriate year to (remember) that.”

“… But just being able to bring out some of those stories and get people back into the museum to engage with all this local history, see some artifacts and exhibits that they may not have checked out, it’s going to be fun.”

Conger, the man, got his start practicing law in Port Huron in the 1840s before going on to serve as a local judge, a state legislator, and a congressman. He became a U.S. senator in the 1880s.

According to the museum, he was involved in the founding of the American Red Cross.

The ship, which ferried passengers between Port Huron and Sarnia, was built in 1882 but was destroyed in March 1922 when the vessel exploded where it was docked on the Black River, killing four, injuring many more, and sending projectiles across central downtown.

'The whole thing got me excited': More on the beer and event

Gene Harrison, owner of Wings Etc., which includes the Black and Blue Brewery, said the Conger beer will remain on tap there after the event.

“I said, 'Let’s go for it.' We just so happened to have a beer that was coming off of fermenting tanks. It’s a stout. Great flavors to it, smooth. We thought it was a great beer to introduce over there at the museum," he said. "The cool part was they literally approached us. … The whole thing got me excited.”

Jeff Bennett, who manages operations for Harrison's business, as well as future sites in development next door on East Quay Street, added playing role in HOPStoberfest "hits home for us" because of their perch on the Black River in view of where the Omar D. Conger once blew up.

Kercher said the HOPStoberfest event has been geared toward welcoming a younger adult population at the museum — something they looked forward to continuing this year, as the museum reports record numbers from a city-backed boost to waive admission costs at museum sites overall.

The museum official added HOPStoberfest was also a good chance for visitors to check out other ongoing exhibits at the museum.

He pointed to “Holography: The Michigan Medium,” as an example, in reference to the mezzanine display honoring holographers native to Michigan with 18 colorful, lit-up works made with hologram technology.

This year’s HOPStoberfest marks the return for the event after a three-year hiatus because of the pandemic — last celebrating the 140th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s electric light with a brew named for the figure.

Additionally, this year’s brew marks a shift away from the pun-centered beer names of the past.

Kercher said the Conger beer still felt like a natural continuation of the fun, including when the museum hosted a separate but similarly titled event for October.

“We even had (a) beer name picked out for 2020. We were going to have a Lightship Centenni-ale since it was its hundredth birthday, but that’s since passed,” Kercher said, referring to the Huron Lightship, whose museum site is at Pine Grove Park. “They had Hop-toberfest at the museum before, but it wasn’t the same.

“We changed it from where you hop from museum site to museum site. It was very frog-based. So, we moved it to HOPStoberfest, and that proved to be pretty popular.”

Tickets for next week’s HOPStoberfest are $35 and include six sample tickets. They’re available online through an Eventbrite page or by calling the museum at (810) 982-0891.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Port Huron Museum event returns to celebrate local history with beer