Crumbs: Beerfest and the Return of Ronald McDonald

* Beer lovers, take note: this year’s Omaha Beer Fest will take place Friday and Saturday, May 20 and 21, at Lewis and Clark Landing on the Riverfront. The two-day event will feature unlimited beer samples (!) from over 25 breweries, Beer Academy classes and live music. You’ll learn which glass is the most appropriate for which beer, get tips on pairing food with beer, and the benefits of barrel-aged beer. Presenters include Goose Island and Boulevard as well as Zac Triemert, Lucky Bucket’s Brewmaster. There are two ticket options: Taster, which gives you access to the samples and general admission to the event, are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. The Connoiseur Combo ($60) gives you access to the Spieglau Beer Classics Seminar/Comparative Glass Tasting on Thursday May 19, an opportunity to learn more about the benefits of particular glasses and their impact on the beer drinking experience. Connoisseurs will leave with a better appreciation for glassware and serving techniques as well as a set of Beer Connoisseur glasses valued at $50. For more information or to get your tickets early (recommended, especially for the Connoiseur event), go to Spirit World at 75th and Pacific or visit OmahaBeerfest.com. * Correction: Food & Spirits Magazine’s “Finding the Food” article erroneously stated the rib special at Boyd and Charlies. The rack of rib special on Saturday morning is $10.50. We regret the error. * Bad news for those with Coulrophobia, the irrational fear of clowns: McDonald’s will be reintroducing Ronald McDonald for a series of ads beginning this month if they haven’t already. He’ll be appearing in a number of commercials encouraging children to scream and throw fits until they get a Happy Meal. And if that doesn’t work, they should at least go to HappyMeals.com to upload photos of themselves so the images can be integrated into Ronald McDonald videos, a McDonald’s representative told Nations Restaurant News, a trade magazine, last week. (OK, he didn’t specifically mention the “screaming and throwing a fit” part, but really, what do you think’s going to happen?) Of course, there are detractors. “One month, executives are saying Ronald is now playing a different role than TV personality,” Deborah Lapidus, spokeswoman for Corporate Accountability International, wrote in an e-mail to Nation’s Restaurant News. “The next, they are elevating Ronald to television again to see if his star power can move kids over to a more engaging platform for young minds. Ultimately, McDonald’s is going to realize the public is increasingly linking fast food to diet-related disease and, therefore, the public’s appetite for kids’ marketing is on the wane, no matter the medium.”