To Our Diehard Surly Nation Fans,
So this sucks, but we want to make sure you are in the loop on our latest plans surrounding this year’s Return of Darkness Day at our Minneapolis Brewery.
As you remember, Darkness Day at Brooklyn Center always consisted of two back-to-back days. Saturday, the day of Darkness Day, was all about securing your Darkness bottle, drinking some beers together, listening to some metal, and sometimes getting into the mosh pit. The day before Darkness Day, Friday, organically grew into an incredible bottle-sharing event that turned into a giant street party, where many folks pitched a tent and stayed overnight.
As we started to plan this year’s event, we explored many different options to try and recreate a similar Friday night party as part of our weekend festivities. After digging in and reviewing every option, there is just no legal way we can support a Darkness Eve event on our Minneapolis property. To do so would inevitably put our brewing and liquor license at risk, so in the interest of taking care of our employees, our business, AND you, a Friday night event can’t happen here. We take safety and security seriously and putting anyone at risk isn’t an option. So, the parking lot will be closed Friday night. I wish we could make it work. Surly fans that know me understand how important Friday night is to me and Surly. Friday night has always been an organic event that the fans started and made work. Perhaps something new can be built by the fans outside of the MSP brewery grounds.
So – we can’t host a Darkness Eve event, but we’re taking the Return of Darkness DAY very seriously. It’s going to be a killer party and we hope to see you at our event on Saturday, October 8th, where we’ll have 10 bands, 3 DJs, timed tappings all day long, vintage bottle releases, and more than a few other wild surprises; a truly ridiculous line up of cool things and the opportunity to come together and celebrate the release of Darkness once again.
We deeply appreciate your love, support, and in this moment, your understanding around what we can and cannot do. Again, THANK YOU and we sincerely hope we see you all on Saturday, October 8th.
I will see you all drinking,
Omar
