Lift a pint to honor memory of a poet

On a July day 101 years ago, John G. Neihardt and two companions built a canoe on a gravel sandbar in Montana and christened it with a bottle of beer.

It speaks to Neihardt’s love of beer that he sacrificed a bottle to launch a dream journey on the Missouri River in 1908. It was a trip that helped Nebraska’s future poet laureate and the world-acclaimed biographer of Oglala Sioux holy man Black Elk gain an appreciation for the life of the fur trappers who later became the heroes in his epic “A Cycle of the West.’’

Neihardt’s love of beer comes full circle Aug. 1 with the first Bancroft Neihardt Beer Festival, a specialty beer-tasting fund-raiser sponsored by the Neihardt Foundation.

The fest will be held in Bancroft, Neb., home of the John G. Neihardt Center, a Nebraska state historic site.

More than 20 brews provided by area distributors and brew pubs will be available for sampling, along with appetizers, a demonstration of home brewing and a silent auction of specialty items.

The evening event kicks off the annual Neihardt Day Celebration in Bancroft the next day. Neihardt Day commemorates the life and works of Nebraska’s poet laureate, who was given the title by the Legislature in 1921.He died in 1973 at age 92.

Presentations and an art exhibit begin at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Neihardt center, 306 W. Elm St.

Ron Hull of Lincoln, who filmed Neihardt in 1961 for Nebraska educational television programs, recalls telling the production crew to take a 10-minute break before continuing a series of taped interviews.

Neihardt raised a hand and said, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The boys (the crew) and I have been talking, and we’d like to go down to Lebsock’s and have a beer.’’

Hull cautioned Neihardt, then 80 years old, about drinking before taping two other interviews.

Neihardt replied, “I had two before I did this one.’’

Everyone went out for a beer.

Hull also recalled smuggling Neihardt a Coors beer — the poet’s favorite — years later at Lincoln’s Bryan Memorial Hospital. He carried it inside an ice cream container. Neihardt drank it with a straw.

Nancy Gillis, director of the Neihardt center, remembers the poet stopping several times during a Neihardt Day speech to sip from a coffee cup. Only when he proclaimed over the microphone, “Boy, that’s good beer!” did everyone know he wasn’t drinking coffee.

Contact the writer:

444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com