Craft Brews Galore at Saturday Festival in Novato

About 4,000 people attended the California Beer Festival's shindig down in Ventura last weekend, and the organizer is hoping for a similar turnout this Saturday in the festival's stop at Stafford Lake County Park in Novato.

"We're excited to bring this to Marin," said Vincenzo Giammanco, president of the three-year-old California Beer Festival series. "Stafford Lake is gorgeous, and I'm so stoked to be able to bring it there."

About 35 breweries will pour upwards of 60-70 selections between 12:30 and 5 p.m. Saturday. On stage will be standout blues guitarist Chris Cain, the 14-piece Michael Jackson tribute band called Foreverland and the Highway Poets, formerly known in the North Bay as Hillside Fire.

For many years Marin had two beer festivals — the Fairfax Brewfest, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"st-paddy-s-crowd-packs-in-at-fairfax-brewfest"} --> in March and the