Spilling the Beans

Wilmington Coffee Fest 2025 brings local roasters, latte art competitions, coffee-themed cocktails, and community spirit to the Cargo District this September

By Katie Schmidt  »  Photos by Lauryl Meile

Wilmington Coffee Fest returns the last weekend of September in the Cargo District area. The annual event will include a Friday evening cocktail showdown, followed by a latte art throwdown and a Saturday street fair.

The event was originally launched in 2018 by Will Chacon, the owner of Castle Street’s Luna Caffe, and Krysta Kearney, former manager of 24 South Coffee House. At that point, the event was Wilmington Coffee Crawl, which entailed guests going shop-to-shop with their reusable mug to sample coffees. While the event was successful, guests found the transportation element cumbersome. “We decided it made much more sense to do it in one location and have the coffee shops set up there,” Chacon says. And so, Coffee Fest was born.

“It just grew and grew,” Amy Heggen, current owner of Coffee Fest, says. “With every Fest, Will learned and got feedback from the vendors and attendees, and he would morph it.” Chacon ultimately decided to sell the event to Heggen, focusing on Luna’s operation and wholesale program.

“In 2024, I decided I was done, but I wanted to keep it going,” he says. “I didn’t want to shut it down because I think it’s a good event.” At the time, Heggen had participated in the event a handful of times as the owner of Blue Cup Roastery, where she also hosted a latte art throwdown event. Ultimately, she merged the two events into what is now Coffee Fest (a Friday night latte art competition, a Saturday daytime coffee festival). “We’re also for the first time doing a Cocktail Competition this year at Azalea Station,” Heggen says. “So, on Friday afternoon, we’ll have mixologists and bartenders compete to see who can make the best coffee-themed cocktail. Then, after the baristas will do the latte art throwdown.” 

As for the Saturday portion of the weekend, the team has closed 15th Street between Castle and Queen for a street-fair-style event. Guests will be given a tote bag and reusable cup with the purchase of their ticket and will have free roam to sample, sample, sample. “We have vendors that are coffee shops, we have vendors that are coffee roasters, we have vendors that specialize in cold brew concentrate,” Heggen says. “Some will be sampling lattes, hot coffee, cold coffee…you’ll get to try all kinds.” One important element the team learned from last year? “We’ll be right next to the new food court in Cargo District, so people don’t get too jittery from all the coffee,” Heggen says.

Outside of Wilmington, the term “Coffee Fest” usually refers to an event held in multiple cities that is branded as a business resource for coffee shop owners, roasters, and distributors. “The Wilmington event is much more community-oriented,” Chacon explains. “It’s more focused on local coffee shops and targeted toward the public rather than a corporate event with vendors selling syrups.”

One way that community focus comes to life is through donating a portion of the proceeds from the event to local nonprofits. This year, the two nonprofits selected are Kids Making It and The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. “We decide on the nonprofits as a team,” Heggen says. “Coffee is supposed to bring people together — we can have differences of opinion on what kind of coffee or how we take it, but this is a community-building product and event.”

The team emphasizes that the event is built for anyone who loves coffee. “Our focus with our vendors is very coffee-specific,” Heggen says. “We make sure that everything is coffee-themed; even if we have additional vendors, it has to be complementary to the coffee. For example, we have artisans who are coming, but they are ceramic artists who specifically make mugs. There are bakers coming, but pastries and coffee — that just makes sense. We’re very deliberate in what we’re bringing in and what we’re offering the community with this event. It’s not just a street fair; it’s a coffee fest.”

Coffee Fest takes place September 26th and 27th. For more information and tickets for the event, visit wilmingtoncoffeefest.com.