For one long weekend, the town of New Straitsville will triple or quadruple its population by celebrating its title as the “moonshine capital of the world.”
In its 43rd year, the annual New Straitsville Moonshine Festival will be held from Thursday to Monday.
The festival is the only celebration the town sees all year. It features carnival rides and games, eating contests, tractor pulls, pageants and parades, but its main focus is in its name: moonshine.
“It’s a celebration of moonshine heritage,” said Brian Hinerman, a Moonshine Festival committee member and host of the festival’s car show.
That heritage is almost 150 years old, he said. New Straitsville began as a mining town in 1870, but the town boomed during the Prohibition era when the sale of alcohol went underground.
“Anyone can make moonshine anywhere,” said Brian St. Claire, who makes moonshine whiskey for the festival. “The water quality is what separated New Straitsville from anywhere else. It gave it a distinct flavor.”
The source of that distinct flavor could be found in the nearby mines. St. Claire said the water that flowed out of the old mine shafts is what was used in the Straitsville Special, the name given to the town's moonshine.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau classified moonshine as an illicit spirit, and the festival has one of the few permits in Ohio that allows it to make the alcohol for display purposes only. St. Claire makes the moonshine in a closed room with display windows so observers can see how the process is done.
“Our permit allows us to make 250 gallons during the whole festival,” said Ken Burgess, general chairman of the festival. “We dump it at the end of the day.”
Even though no one is allowed to drink or sell the moonshine, St. Claire said the festival has frequently tripled or quadrupled the town’s population of 722, according to the 2010 Census Bureau.
“People get to see how (moonshine is) made,” he said. “You can’t see that anywhere else.”
He added that he enjoys making the moonshine, which he has done for the past five years or so, because it connects him with the town’s past.
The festival will also feature Nashville-based musicians such as Jeannie Kendall, Johnny Hiland and Tim McDonald and a Grand Finale Parade on Memorial Day.
For a full list of events visit here.
mg986611@ohiou.edu
What: Moonshine Festival
When: Thursday – Monday
Where: New Straitsville
Admission: Certain contests and rides will have varying costs; entertainment and all other activities are free
