Craft beer festivals are old hat. Wine and food festivals, they’re everywhere.
So Sebring, a small town along the lovely Lake Wales Ridge in Central Florida, is staking a claim for something new — Florida’s first (and only) craft soda festival, the Sebring Soda Festival, April 7-8, 2023.
The festival, which is in its fourth year, takes place in the historic downtown of Sebring. It will give visitors a chance to sample and buy more than 200 sodas.
You’ll find traditional ones — colas, ginger ales, root beers, and cream sodas – as well as novel flavors — prickly pear, espresso, peach cobbler, candied bacon, key lime, cucumber and pepper.
Craft sodas have blossomed besides craft beer, often made by breweries. They also have benefited from the growth of cocktail culture and mixologists, along with a growing interest in beverages that can be an alternative to alcohol.
What makes something a craft soda? Well, all the sodas at the festival are made from sugar (vs corn syrup) and all are made in small batches. And you’ve probably never heard of most of them.
Craft sodas have a story to tell
Craft sodas at the event have some great back stories, dating from the era before Big Soda reigned supreme, and many of the soda makers will be at the festival.
Moxie, the state of Maine’s state soft drink. In the late 1800’s, Dr. Augustin Thompson, a Civil war veteran, playwright, and homeopathic physician, wanted to make a cure-all which did not contain harmful ingredients like cocaine and alcohol. Moxie Nerve Food was invented and patented in 1885 and was the very first bottled carbonated beverage made in America. Today Moxie is still a craft soda produced in Maine. (It’s now owned owned by Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England. )
Avery Soda, still made in a barn in Connecticut. Sherman F. Avery began making soda in the red barn in New Britain, CT in the summer of 1904. Avery’s quickly became known for its variety of flavors, especially the Cream, Birch Beer, Root Beer and Ginger Ale. Avery is a family-owned business that produces its sodas in small batches and packaged in glass bottles, still based in the same barn.
Boots Beverages from Bellville, Texas. When the craft beer business exploded in Texas, Mark Kristen revived his father’s soda brand dating to the 1940s.Flavors available at the festival will include Caramel Apple, Dewberry, Coconut Cream, Sarsaparilla Root Beer, Orange Cream Dromsicle, Lemon Meringue, and Lucky Ginger Brew.
Other craft sodas participating include Sprecher Brewing Company (Glendale, WI), Fest Cola (New Orleans, LA), Boylan Bottling Company (New York, NY), Cheerwine (Salisbury, NC) Durango Soda Company (Durango, CO) and others.
One of the founders of the event is Liz Barber, who co-owns Sebring Soda and Ice Cream Works, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor in a historic building in downtown Sebring, 201 Circle Park Drive, Sebring. At Sebring Soda, hundreds of flavors of soda are available every day.
About the Sebring Soda Festival
Admission is free to the festival and the kickoff party Friday night from 5-9 p.m. It’s called Fizzy Family Fun.
On Saturday night, there will be a free Block Party Concert from 6 to 9 p.m. with a live band, food trucks, as well as beer and wine.
To try the sodas, you must buy a “punch card” that allows you to sample several. ($5 for eight samples; $10 for 18 samples; $20 for 40 tastings.) You can buy your punch card here.
2022 schedule for Sebring Soda Festival
Friday
5 p.m.-SHS JROTC to Present Colors with National Anthem
5 p.m.- Festival Begins
5 p.m.-9 p.m.-Soda Tastings, Vendor Booths & Food Trucks
5 p.m.-8:30 p.m.- Family Fun Zone
5 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
5 p.m.-9 p.m.- Belanger Media Group (stage)
5 p.m.-7 p.m.– Pictures with “Carb-O-Nate”
6 p.m.-9 p.m.– SILENT DISCO
6 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
6:45 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
7 p.m.-Circle Theater-Malachi Jaggers free concert
Saturday
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Soda Tastings, Vendor Booths & Food Trucks
11 a.m.-5 p.m.- Belanger Media Group (stage)
11 a.m.-6 p.m.- F a.m.ily Fun Zone
11 a.m.-6 p.m.-Toby The Clown School Balloons, Face Painting and More
11:30 a.m.- ODD-O-T’S
12 p.m.-1 p.m.– Pictures with “Carb-O-Nate”
12 p.m.-2 p.m.-Sebring High School STEM Club soda experiment demonstrations
12 p.m.-4 p.m.– Plant Guy
12:45 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
1 p.m.-1:30 p.m.- Pictures with the Easter Bunny
2 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
3 p.m.-4 p.m. Pictures with “Carb-On-Nate”
3:15 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
4:30 p.m.- ODD-O-T’S
6-9 p.m.-Block Party Concert FEATURING “BLUFFET”—
Sunday
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Soda Tastings, Vendor Booths & Food Trucks
11 a.m.-4 p.m.- Belanger Media Group (stage)
11 A.M.-4 P.M. – Family Fun Zone
12 p.m.-2 p.m.-Pictures with “Carb-O-Nate”
12 p.m.-4 p.m. – Plant Guy
12 p.m.-2 p.m.– Pictures with “Carb-O-Nate”
1 p.m. – Sebring Soda Pop Princess Pageant
Sebring Soda Festival website.
Places to explore near Sebring Soda Festival
Sebring is located in an area of rolling hills and small towns. We’ve visited many times and here are some of our favorite nearby places:
- Henscratch Farm and Vineyard
- Highland Hammocks State Park: Ancient oaks caress the soul from Florida Rambler.
- Paynes Creek Historic State Park
- A terrific river for kayakers is 20 minutes outside Avon Park: Arbuckle Creek
- The Lake Wales Ridge area is hiker heaven. Nearby, there are 10 miles of good trails at the Nature Conservancy’s Tiger Creek Preserve.
- A scenic drive through Florida cattle country along the Cracker Trail
- Lake Kissimmee State Park: Where Old Florida lives on, a Florida Rambler guide.
- Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park
The author, Bonnie Gross, travels with her husband David Blasco, discovering off-the-beaten path places to hike, kayak, bike, swim and explore. Florida Rambler was founded in 2010 by Bonnie and fellow journalist Bob Rountree, two long-time Florida residents who have spent decades exploring the Florida outdoors. Their articles have been published in the Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, The Guardian and Visit Florida.