It began as a creative idea to support women homebrewers and raise money for the Human Rights Campaign. Year one, 2013, featured 10 female homebrewers and a handful of professionals. About 50 people showed up for the beer festival at the Q Center in Portland. Now in year eight, SheBrew on Sunday will be held in The Redd on Salmon, a stunning events center in Southeast Portland with towering walls topped by old-growth timber beams. There, more than a thousand festival-goers are expected to gather and taste more than 40 beers and ciders made by professional female-identifying brewers and 10 from this year’s crop of homebrewers. Career brewers such as Gracie Nelson and Anna Buxton of Steeplejack, Jen Kent of McMenamins, Lara Hargrave of Great Notion, Cason Wolcott of Baerlic, Teryn Zirk of Migration and Becca Linn of Von Ebert will offer beers across a wide array of styles. Also featured will be the 10 female-identifying homebrewers, vying to take the titles of Best in Show and People’s Choice, which will be revealed Sunday. The Best in Show competition was judged earlier this week, with the winner earning the opportunity to brew a collaboration beer with brewmaster Natalie Baldwin of Wayfinder Beer. Festival-goers will be able to vote for their favorite in the People’s Choice competition, with the winner this year for the first time getting to brew with a professional as well — Madeleine McCarthy, the innovation brewmaster at 10 Barrel Brewing Portland. Other women-owned and operated makers and businesses will be showcased as well, including food trucks Marty’s Sandwich Depot and Hearth & Soul Pizza, plus vendors that include jewelers, bakers and candlestick makers. The reach of the festival continues to grow annually, and this year brewers from beyond Oregon and southwest Washington are represented for the first time. Brewers from Seattle’s Reuben’s Brews and Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery will participate along with Tieton Cider Works of Yakima. Jenn McPoland, one of the founders of SheBrew, said seeing the festival’s growth has been inspiring and helped affect change in the brewing industry. “I truly love being able to celebrate all these women — they all blow me away with how much they do and how creative they are,” she said. “It’s an honor to be able to lift them up and then also raise a bunch of money for (the Human Rights Campaign). “I mean, yeah, it’s easy to have this be my passion project. ” Changing a male-dominated industry is part of what motivates McPoland and her two partners in organizing SheBrew, Shannon Scott and Christine Garcia. And fighting for the rights of the LGBTQ community and is a primary mission as well. “I was forced out of the military because of my gender identity,” Scott said. “I’ve experienced an incredible amount of discrimination and violence throughout my life, and I was lucky enough to come to Portland where it’s OK to be me. “They’re trying to legislate LGBTQ people out of existence, or at least push them back into the closet. That is why I do this work. ” Garcia added that beyond the festival being “just such a great party,” the causes behind it are her motivation. “The festival used to be kind of grassroots, and being able to see all the little pieces as they grow, that’s what I love,” Garcia said. “How we can make it grow, how we can make it as vibrant as it is, because we are really changing this culture. ” If You Go SheBrew festival celebrating female-brewed beers and ciders. Noon-8 p. m. Sunday, March 5. The Redd on Salmon, 831 S. E. Salmon St. $30 general admission or $60 VIP tickets are , or $35 general admission at the door. All ages, with homebrewed sodas available; no pets. More details at . .