With a nod to neighborhood history, Creston Brewery kicks off beer branding competition

Flash back to the turn of the 20th century: Creston wasn’t yet named Creston; instead, it was often referred to as the North End or the Fifth Ward. The area, a working class community of Grand Rapids, was growing, its streetcar line running on Plainfield Avenue attracting hotels and shops to the neighborhood populated by immigrants from places like Ireland, France and Poland. Not long after the dawn of the new century, in 1905, residents formed the first neighborhood organization in the city -- and one of their first orders of business was to select a new moniker for their area, a community wanting to reclaim its pride after being tarnished in the press as the “Bloody Fifth” following a series of crimes.

A year later, in 1906, the Citizen’s Committee announced in the Evening Press newspaper that they would award $10 to the individual who came up with a winning name for the neighborhood. The names came in: Pride of the City, Shanahan Heights, Riverside, and others. So far, no Creston. Then, hundreds of people arrived at the then-Shanahan Hall (now the Rezervoir Lounge) to select the new name. A community leader, A.W. Morgan, suggested the name Creston (or, at the time, Crestown) -- which, as we know, was the name that stuck.

Now, more than 100 years later, the recently opened Creston Brewery, is getting inspired by its neighborhood’s history and is turning to its residents to help it with its own branding campaign. Beginning Feb. 1, the brewery owned by Scott Schultz, Vincent Lambert, Molly Bouwsma-Schultz, and Cailin Kelly is launching a branding competition for its flagship beer, GRale. Through Feb. 28, artists are welcome to submit entries that will be the artwork for t-shirts, posters and labels for bottles and cans.

“Creston founded itself on competition and community, and we wanted to honor that with a competition with artwork for our first Grand Rapids beer, the GRale,” says Andrea Bumstead, the sales and events coordinator at Creston Brewery.

Following the end of the submission period, an artist committee made up of some of the city’s most highly respected artists and art influencers, including Tommy Allen (also Rapid Growth’s publisher) and Miranda Krajniak, the executive director of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, and the brewery’s owners will select the top 10 branding entries. From March 10 through March 29, the final entries will be displayed on professionally printed posters, and the public will get a chance to vote for their favorite design. To be eligible to make your pick, you’ll need to make a purchase in the brewery’s taproom in order to get one vote. And if you order a pint of the GRale, you’ll get an additional ticket to vote.

Come April 3, all participating artists will be invited to join the community for an unveiling party of the final pick. The winner will land a $250 gift certificate to the brewery, their artwork will be displayed on bottling labels for GRale (as well as on other merchandise), and more.

For those who are interested in participating, you’ll probably want to know what the GRale is -- if you haven’t already imbibed.

“More than being our flagship, it’s our very definition of our approach to beer: flavorful, distinctive and as antagonistic as it is approachable,” Creston Brewery writes in a press release. “How’s that? Well, it’s all about the ingredients. We start with a base of pale malts and oats to deliver a chewy and rich medium body with a beautiful hazy golden color. Then we add just the right combo of superstar hops -- Michigan Nugget, Simcoe, and Citra -- to provide big flavors of citrus, mango, and pine with a beautifully balanced bitterness that we can only refer to as ‘righteous.’ With our beautifully fruity house yeast strain rounding out the flavor profile, we dry hop with more Citra hops to make this an absolute aromatic masterpiece to experience.”

In other words, you’re probably going to want to grab a drink to get your creative juices flowing.

Some basic details about the contest:
 

• Submissions will be accepted from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28
• You may submit artwork to [email protected].
• Artwork will only be accepted if the image is 72 DPI or higher and is submitted in a 10x10 format size or smaller.
• Do not send images of your artwork that have been framed or contain watermarks.
• Files should be titled in the following format: name, art title and medium used (example: ScottSchultz_OilPastel_GoldenSubmarine).

For further information, you can email Andrea Bumstead at [email protected].