Sponsorship for the Oct. 9 Pacific BeachFest is down, but that has not slowed the organizers of the annual festival that celebrates autumn life at the beach. Discover PB, the organization behind the festival, has acquired new sponsors to ensure the event takes place, and has added new highlights. Among the attention grabbers at BeachFest this year will be a beer garden, situated between the Pacific Beach Shore Club and Joe’s Crab Shack on Ocean Front Walk. “It was more of a financial decision [to include the beer garden],” said Sara Berns, program manager with Discover PB. “Beer garden — or no BeachFest.” Pacific Beach Ale House and Karl Strauss will sponsor the tent and offer $6 craft beers from their respective selections. “We are the only brewery at the beach, so it will be nice to let everyone know,” said Artie Walsh, general manager of Pacific Beach Ale House. Inside the beer garden, Pacific Beach Shore Club and Joe’s Crab Shack will be also sell food items from their menus. “The beer garden will have singer-songwriter, guitar player Jackson Price,” Berns said. Price is a San Diego musician who recently played during the Pacific Beach Restaurant Walk. The beer garden will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. and will serve those ages 21 and up. All of the proceeds from the beer garden will go toward paying for the annual community event and any remaining funds will go to Discover PB. Discover PB supports various improvements and cleanup efforts within the Pacific Beach Business Improvement District. It also sponsors events such as last year’s holiday tree lighting on Crystal Pier, as well as organizing the Holiday Parade, which did not take place in 2009 due to lack of funds. “We have a lot of new sponsors coming in,” Berns said. Firehouse American Eatery and Lounge is one of the new sponsors, acting as the main sponsor of the volleyball tournament. The tournament is major part of the daylong event, drawing crowds to watch the two-on-two competition in the sand. Matt Spencer, owner of Firehouse, wanted to sponsor for two reasons. “The number one reason I did it is because I personally have volleyball background,” Spencer said. He knows players in the tournament and felt kinship toward them. He didn’t want to see another event cancelled in Pacific Beach, as the Holiday Parade was last year. “I’m trying to do my part for Pacific Beach,” Spencer said. He serves on Mayor Jerry Sander’s Small Business Advisory Board which is made up of 11 members who are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Serving on this board has made him more civically-aware, accounting for his second reason for wanting to take an active sponsorship role, he said. “I think the BeachFest is a pretty cool thing and I don’t want to see that go away,” Spencer said. “It celebrates one of the most important things about our area, which is the beach,” said Spencer, a Pacific Beach resident. The festival takes place between Thomas Avenue and Diamond Street, west of Mission Boulevard, from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9. For more information visit www.pacificbeachfest.org. See the special PB BeachFest section, pages 9-11.