3:12 p.m., July 18, 2008--The fifth annual Downtown Newark Food and Brew Fest is slated for noon-10 p.m., Saturday, July 26. Sponsors include the Downtown Newark Partnership, Out and About magazine, WJBR-FM, Kildare's Irish Pub, Parkway Gravel, Captain Blue Hen Comics and the Deer Park Tavern.

Beginning at noon, the “Hops and Shops” sidewalk sale extravaganza will showcase the goods and wares offered by downtown merchants, as well as balloon decorations and strolling musicians.

From noon-4 p.m., the second annual Newark Art Alliance kids' art carnival will take place on the Academy Building Lawn. There will be art booths with hands-on arts projects for kids 3 and older, including T-shirt printing, bead stringing, sun-catcher making, picture painting, clay sculpting, sun printmaking and group mural painting. Fees range from free-$8.

From 2-10 p.m., 12 downtown Newark restaurants will open their doors to 16 craft breweries in honor of American Beer Month. Besides celebrating fine American handcrafted beers, this year's event features craft brews from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Poland and the United States.

Participating restaurants and breweries include Caffe Gelato, featuring Magic Hat and Dogfish Head; Cucina di Napoli, featuring Moretti and Penn Breweries; Deer Park Tavern, featuring Hacker-Pschorr; East End Café, featuring Flying Dog; Grotto Pizza, featuring Twin Lakes Brewery; Home Grown Café, featuring Affligem; Iron Hill Brewery, featuring Stoudt's Brewing Company; Kildare's Irish Pub, featuring Murphy's Stout; Klondike Kate's, featuring Paulaner; Pat's Pizzeria and MVP, featuring Blue Moon and Yuengling; Santa Fe, featuring Southampton; and The Saigon Restaurant, featuring Sapporo and Fischer Breweries.

The restaurants will offer tapas menus to highlight their featured brews and the first 2,000 guests will receive a Downtown Newark Food and Brew Fest 5 commemorative tasting mini-mug. The event also will offer brew tasting, food specials, prize drawings, giveaways and entertainment. A day-of-event itinerary will be available at the restaurants and at an information booth at Wilmington Trust Company's Main Street branch.

Free parking, both at meters and municipal lots, will be available all day long, and the University of Delaware fuel cell shuttle bus also will be offering rides.

For more information on the event, call (302) 655-6483 or visit [www.NewarkFoodandBrewFest.com].