We went to REI Presents: Jerky Fest 2016 at the REI Community Space at Wunder Garten. We snapped the event producers, BrightestYoungThings' Cale Charney and Marissa Rubenstein with REI outdoor programs and Mid-Atlantic outreach manager Matt Liddle, whose DC flagship store opens at the former Uline Arena in October.

Bluegrass bands performing at the event included Second String Band, Ed Schaeffer & Rattlesnake Hill, and The High & Wides (shown here).

Guests enjoyed dozens of varieties of artisanal jerky from national and local producers, with fresh beer and live music, and they even got a chance to hit a piñata filled with jerky.

The event brought together some of the best jerky artisans—and similarly rustic foodstuffs makers—and offered meat and vegan samples to guests. Here is one of those jerky artisans—Tanka Bar's Theo Abbott flanked by Wells Fargo Advisors' Lindsey Diranian and nurse Corine Buurman.

The vendors included Dundalk Dan's Beef Jerky, Jerkface Artisanal Beef Jerky, Meatcrafters, Grayson Natural Farms, Mobtown Meat Snacks and Comestibles, District Jerky Co, The New Primal, Vermont Smoke & Cure, Greenheart Juice Shop, Apinya Thai Food Co and UrbanStems, who gave away 100 bouquets to guests. Here, UrbanStems' Megan Sanders and Nate Schuber flank DoD's Alice Schroeder.

Travis Holler and Alfredo Flores contributed to this issue.