Dry Dock's New Spring German Beer Fest Will Include Can Bash and Oral Cancer Screenings

Dry Dock Brewing's inaugural Nautoberfest will take place on April 15 at its North Dock location (2801 Tower Road, Aurora). In addition to the fun and games, there will be free oral cancer screenings. At least one person at the brewery knows all too well how important these screenings can be.

A few months into the pandemic, Dry Dock's publicist, Marty Jones, began losing weight. He went to see his doctor, who found a small lump on the side of his neck and scheduled a biopsy. Jones remembers what happened next: “One minute I’m putting a plant in the ground on a beautiful day,” he says. “Then the phone rang, and a voice said, 'Your biopsy came back positive for cancer.'”

Jones recently hit the two-year cancer-free mark, the result of an early diagnosis. In fact, his doctors told him that if things went on just a few weeks longer, he would’ve had to undergo full radiation and battle all the effects that go along with that.

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, so Dry Dock has embraced the importance of regular screenings for early detection, and pairing that with a big fest should bring even more awareness to oral cancer risks.

Likening the festival to the annual Docktoberfest bash, co-owner Kevin DeLange thought it was a good idea to have a spring event. “One of our bartenders came up with the idea of a spring German-beer-focused event with this name,” says DeLange. “While we’re known for Apricot Blonde and other fruit beers, we also have these time-honored German styles that we’re really good at making."

DeLange is passionate about German beers, adding that they're the types of beers that made him fall in love with beer in the first place. “We don’t want our customers to lose sight of these beers, and I’m optimistic that these classics will have a resurgence and be cool again.” He may not have to wait too long, as European lager, specifically pale lagers like German pilsners, have seen strong growth in the craft beer sector in recent years.

Dry Dock will have Docktoberfest, its Marzen-style Oktoberfest beer, along with a helles, hefeweizen, altbier and pilsner, available at the spring fest, along with other, non-German beers.
The brewery is also incorporating its popular Can Bash into Nautoberfest, in which customers pay for a turn at smashing low-fill and out-of-date cans into oblivion with a golf club. This will be the ninth Can Bash; the production crew came up with the idea in 2013.

In addition, the event will showcase about thirty small-business vendors and selected charities from the Aurora area, along with music from the Polkanauts. Food trucks will be on site all day as well.

The initial lump on Jones’s neck was discovered by Dr. Chris Griffith at Kaiser Permanente, who has since opened his own practice, Concierge Medical Care, with Dr. Kevin Lutz. The pair will be doing the oral cancer screenings at Nautoberfest. “The screenings are quick and painless,” says Jones. “The docs look in your mouth with a light and examine the inside of your mouth, then they walk your neck with their fingertips to feel for lumps and abnormalities.”

Jones considers himself lucky, and has been reluctant to discuss his experience outside of close friends and family since he had a comparatively easier recovery process than many. But easier doesn’t mean easy.
The cancer was found in the back of his tongue. It, along with numerous lymph nodes on one side of his neck, was sliced off in his first procedure. He then had a second procedure to do the same to the other side of the neck as a precaution. “It was painful to speak, eat, drink and move [my] tongue,” recalls Jones. “My Frankenstein neck was creepy, and my tongue and jaw were numb for over a year.”

Still, Jones wants to be clear that he’s not complaining. “My experience was a stroll in the garden compared to the living hell that many people go through with oral cancer,” he admits. His immediate thoughts when receiving the diagnosis were of regret — that he shouldn’t have worked so much; that he’d wasted a lot of precious time; and that he “never should’ve grumbled about anything," he says. Most of all, he kept imagining his wife alone in their house.

Today, the industry veteran and longtime musician is thankful for every moment. “I can kiss my wife, I can talk, I can enjoy a good beer,” says Jones. Plus, “my singing voice has finally returned."

Nautoberfest is on April 15 at Dry Dock North, 2801 Tower Road in Aurora. The event starts at 11 a.m. and is free to enter. Oral cancer screenings are free; beer, food and can bashing will be available for separate purchase.