Ashawaug Farm Pop Up at Grey Sail Brewing
Ashawaug Farm Pop Up at Grey Sail Brewing brings an Indigenous-owned Rhode Island farm to Westerly on Saturday, August 29, for an afternoon combining locally grown produce, art, craft drinks, and live music.
Dawn and Cassius Spears of Ashawaug Farm will set up at the Grey Sail Taproom from 3 to 6 p.m., allowing visitors to meet the people behind the farm, shop for local goods and learn a little more about the connection between what’s growing in Rhode Island soil and what’s eventually poured into a glass.
The event is part of something larger, too. Grey Sail is participating in Zero Foodprint’s Dirty Drinks campaign, a weeklong effort connecting the beverages people enjoy with the farms and soil that ultimately make them possible.
Meet Ashawaug Farm
Ashawaug Farm is a six-acre, Indigenous-owned and family-run farm in Ashaway operated by Dawn and Cassius Spears with help from their children, grandchildren, and extended community.
Both Dawn and Cassius are members of the Narragansett Tribe.
The farm grows organically cultivated crops in Narragansett silt loam soil alongside woodlands where fruits and herbs grow naturally. Rather than concentrating solely on conventional produce, Ashawaug places particular emphasis on traditional, heirloom and culturally significant crops.
Its farmstand and farmers market offerings have included more than 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes along with crops connected to Indigenous food traditions.
For the Spears family, growing food is also a way of preserving knowledge.
Art, Agriculture and Narragansett Foodways
Ashawaug Farm is also home to the Ashawaug Project, an educational initiative combining agriculture and art to share knowledge of Narragansett foodways.
The project explores Indigenous agriculture while working to support community health, cultural revitalization and food sovereignty.
Cassius Spears is an agricultural expert and cultural educator whose work focuses on restoring and advancing Indigenous agricultural knowledge. He also works to strengthen connections among Indigenous agricultural communities and currently serves as president of the Rhode Island Association of Conservation Districts.
Dawn Spears approaches the land from another direction as well.
She’s a multimedia artist whose work incorporates cultural symbolism and the colors and forms of the natural world. Spears also works to increase the visibility of Indigenous artists and serves as director of the Northeast Indigenous Agriculture and Arts Alliance.
That combination explains why Saturday’s gathering is billed as an art and produce pop-up rather than simply a small farmers market.
What’s a Dirty Drink?
Grey Sail’s involvement in the Zero Foodprint Dirty Drinks campaign gives the afternoon another layer.
The national campaign runs from August 24 through 30 and asks participating bars, breweries and other businesses to draw attention to something that’s easy to overlook when ordering a drink: agriculture starts beneath your feet.
Grains, fruits, herbs and countless other ingredients depend on farms and healthy soil long before they reach a brewer, distiller or bartender.
For its collaboration with Ashawaug Farm, Grey Sail is serving a special Dirty Drinks creation called the Ashawaug Bees Knees.
Visitors can try the drink while meeting Dawn and Cassius and learning about the farm behind the collaboration.
From a Macaroni Factory to a Brewery
Grey Sail has its own connection to local history.
Jennifer and Alan Brinton had considered opening a brewery for more than 15 years before finally moving forward with the idea in 2010.
They found their home in a Canal Street building constructed in the late 1920s as the Westerly Macaroni Factory. The property later served the U.S. Postal Service and NAPA Auto Parts before the Brintons purchased it.
Grey Sail moved into the building in April 2011.
Seven months later, on Nov. 11, 2011, grain was moving through the old macaroni factory again, this time for the first batch of Grey Sail’s Flagship Ale.
The brewery has since become one of Westerly’s best-known craft beverage producers, with beers including Captain’s Daughter Double IPA, Pour Judgement IPA and Pour Judgement Pils.
Stay for the Music
The farm pop-up doesn’t end when you’ve picked out some produce.
Grey Sail has live music scheduled at the Taproom beginning at 4 p.m., one hour after Ashawaug Farm arrives.
Benjamin Quinn performs from 4 to 7 p.m., meaning the music overlaps with the final two hours of the pop-up and continues for another hour afterward.
The Taproom is Grey Sail’s outdoor venue, serving beer alongside wine, cocktails and nonalcoholic options.
So Saturday afternoon can easily turn into more than a quick stop.
Meet the farmers. Browse the produce and artwork. Try the Ashawaug Bees Knees. Then grab a drink and stick around for the music.
A Short Trip From Farm to Taproom
Ashawaug Farm sits in Ashaway.
Grey Sail is in Westerly.
They’re neighboring communities, but Saturday’s collaboration connects them in a different way.
One is growing food while preserving and sharing Indigenous agricultural knowledge. The other is turning agricultural ingredients into something poured into a glass.
For three hours Saturday afternoon, those two ends of the process meet at the same place.
And the people tending the soil will be there to tell their side of the story.
Event Details
Event: Ashawaug Farm Pop Up
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2026
Time: 3–6 p.m.
Location: Grey Sail Taproom
Address: 65 Canal Street, Westerly, RI 02891
Featured Farm: Ashawaug Farm
Farmers: Dawn and Cassius Spears
Pop-Up: Local produce, goods and art
Special Drink: Ashawaug Bees Knees
Campaign: Zero Foodprint’s Dirty Drinks
Live Music: Benjamin Quinn
Live Music Time: 4–7 p.m.
Taproom Beverages: Beer, wine, cocktails and nonalcoholic options
Ashawaug Farm Pop Up brings Dawn and Cassius Spears to Grey Sail Taproom for an afternoon of Indigenous agriculture, local produce and art, a special Ashawaug Bees Knees drink and live music from Benjamin Quinn.
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
Ashawaug Farm
https://www.ashawaugproject.com/
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
