HopJam 2016 - Hanson's Beer Festival- Year 3

          This year marked the third year of Hanson's international Beer festival. This year it was bigger and better than ever, except for what I would consider a major flaw, it was  the first year that Hanson did not play at the festival and though fans had been told previous years that they would not always play, Hanson kept it hush-hush until the last possible second. I know some fans were annoyed especially those who spent more money to stay Sunday just to see Hanson. I get that they probably didn't want to tell us for fear that attendance would go down but silly Hanson don't you know that Hanson fans will almost support you in anything. At this point I should just admit that my soul belongs to Hanson.

          Since Hanson wasn't playing I wasn't in a mad rush to head out straight to the festival, I ended up visiting some local places that I either usually have to rush through or always ended up missing. I visited my favorite store (IDA REDS), restaurant(COMOS), the chocolate store(Glacier's), Mayfest and the Philbrook downtown.  
     After my exploring I decided to take a break at Guntrie Green where I was not only surprised to hear Hanson over the loud speakers but I almost collided with a news crew who happened to be there interviewing Taylor about the festival. I retreated to  a table where I thought I could watch the interview unnoticed but sadly I am not a coordinated person and when I went rest against the table I missed and ended up bumping into the table instead, which made quite loud noise and alerted Taylor Hanson to my presence. He smiled and waved and continued the interview. Let me repeat that TAYLOR HANSON SMILED AND WAVED AT ME BECAUSE HE RECOGNIZED ME!!!!

          After the interview I had no intention of bothering him but then I remember I actually had something to tell him, a true rarity. I told him that Hanson should make a wine. (I will never be much of a beer drinker, except of course when Hanson is on the label, believe me, I know how sad that sounds.) I told him that they should call the wine "The Grape Divide", he laughed and said that it was good idea and he would keep it in mind, and then a girl came up asked for picture, so I volunteered to take the picture and then thought heck I want a picture too! He agreed, so I turned around to ask someone to take the picture and THERE WAS NO ONE THERE. For possibly the first time and only time it was just me and Taylor Hanson. I ended up asking Taylor to take a selfie, and thankfully it came it out. I thanked him and was about to leave when the cutest thing happened: two little kids (practically toddlers) ambled up to him with their father. The dad explained that the kids had been waiting all day to give the Hanson brothers gumballs. Before my eyes Taylor went into dad-mode, as he got down on one knee and happily accepted 3 gumballs from their tiny hands and exclaimed that this was the most awesomest that had happened all day. My heart melted, literally melted and I knew in that moment something I think I already knew deep down, Taylor Hanson is not only a great and lovely human being but an amazing father. To know a person like Taylor Hanson in any capacity is an honor.   

Highlights

• Everyone seemed to have ordered a HopJam Beer Package, and nobody seemed to know where to buy individual tasting tickets. I spent an hour looking for the table.
• Hanson had five beers to taste, Mmmhops and the Festive Ale are still my favorite, and the new flavor "Tulsa Tea" which one would think would be kind of sweet, was absolutely vile in my opinion.

  

  Hanson's Beer Flavors

• 3CG  was turned into the lost and found and I kept joking that I would get lost on purpose.
• The bakery next to 3CG had MMMHops infused foods: the MMMHops chocolate pie, was quite good.
• Hanson favorited two of my tweets about the festival. 
• Cute early Hanson photos were posted in window of the brewery next to 3CG
• A mural was painted by local artists behind 3CG: 

  

  Zac Hanson getting interviewed about donating the wall and the mural 

• I caught the Xambassadors and Hanson as they joined the all the bands on stage for the Encore of John Lennon's Instant Karma  
• This year the HopJam was  a lot more organized with a bunch of activities: beers, food trucks, live music on both the main stage and the park stage. It was a lot more family oriented this year and I unfortunately didn't  explore enough and completely missed the life sized games they had behind Cain's Ballroom.
• At the end of the festival, I ran into Zac and was able to get a quick picture. Sadly, I didn't hardly see Ike all festival, rumor was he had to go home to pack for the Show "Greatest Hits" which I ended up attending the day after I got back from Tulsa.  

Til next year!