Washington’s Favorite Beer Brand Hosts Free Music Fest This Weekend

Expect some wild costumes and even crazier fun at Seattle’s R Day this weekend.

Rainier Beer’s “thank you letter to the city” will be held this Saturday in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. This free music festival is celebrating its 11th year, and it will feature the Allah-Lahs co-headlining with Sheer Mag, Monsterwatch, and DJ Prometheus Brown.

“R Day celebrates the re-raising of the neon R over I-95, the busiest freeway on the west coast,” says Sean McKillop, brand director for Rainier.

The giant letter had been taken down in 1999, after Pabst had taken over the brand, but then, in 2013, Rainier Beer had re-opened their offices there. About 800 people showed up to that first R Day celebration, and last year, more than 8,300 people came to the party. This year, the event organizers expect 8,500 people to come. “The venue space can’t hold much more,” McKillop says.

“It’s a really cool thing,” McKillop says. “We call R Day our thank you letter to the city of Seattle, and we keep it entirely free. As long as you’re 21 years old or older, you don’t need to reserve a spot or a ticket as long as we’re still under capacity.”

“It’s a really cool thing,” McKillop says. “We call R Day our thank you letter to the city of Seattle, and we keep it entirely free. As long as you’re 21 years old or older, you don’t need to reserve a spot or a ticket as long as we’re still under capacity.”

The event “can’t legally give away free beer,” but organizers try to keep prices reasonable, $5 for a tall boy. “The money goes to our concessionaires, and our water sales are donated to a local charity.

“One of our nicknames is Rain Dogs, and we give back to dog charities,” McKillop says.

Rainier is a one-beer brand, McKillop says. “Rainier is pretty special in that in 1999, we were selling 1.2 million cases per year, and in 2023, we had our best year yet, which is 250 percent-plus growth since Pabst purchased it in 1999,” McKillop says. “Rainier defies the odds every year, and we’re still plus 2.5 percent over last year, meaning we’re having our best year ever.”

Though Rainier sells in 11 states, about 90 percent of Rainier’s sales is concentrated in western Washington and western Oregon. “Washington is our core market, and here, we outperform Modelo, Bud Light, and Corona, all of these huge brands with massive marketing dollars,” McKillop says. “What we do at our core used to be called gorilla style marketing, and we host R Day to give back to our fans. Our fans have kept us super strong.”:

Rainier fans, he says, embrace the brand with verve and style, and at R Day they show up in creative costumes. “The costumes - they’re just (fricking) wild,” McKillop says. “It’s a brand marketer’s dream. People come adorned in costumes that are influenced by our really iconic ads, the one s that paved the way for fun beer advertising.”

In the 1970s, the brand had an anthropomorphic beer can with legs. “That’s pretty much our mascot,” McKillop says. “People some times come in two, but others come as a six-pack.”

Other people dress as”R heads, which are a take on the coneheads with Rs on top of their cones,” he says.

“We have something special on our hands,” McKillop says. “R Day is one of the most fun, iconic beer events there is, and anyone in the greater Pacific Northwest is welcome to join us.”