SISTER LAKES — Many may not think of books and beer as pairing well together, but residents of the greater Dowagiac area will have a chance to mix the two at an event this Saturday.

Saturday, Sister Lakes Brewing Company and the Dowagiac District Library are partnering for a document shredding event from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the brewery, 92500 County Road 690, Dowagiac. For the event, the library will set up in the parking lot of the brewery with a document shredding truck for any local resident to bring boxes of documents to be shredded. The service is being offered free of charge, though there is a limit of 10 boxes per person.

For the Dowagiac District Library, the event will serve as a way for the library to reach out to residents of Sister Lakes and other parts of the library district that are farther away from Dowagiac proper.

“This is an effort to reach out to [Sister Lakes] residents and talk to them about our library services and the millage that is coming up,” said Library Director Matt Weston, referring to a library millage on the November ballot that is seeking funding for improvements to the library. “[The document shredding] seemed like a fun way to do that.”

Founder of Sister Lakes Brewing Company Jerry Morin said he was excited for the event, and said he would personally buy a beer for anyone over the age of 21 that brought in a box of documents to be shredded. He added that he believes shredding documents is an important security measure for residents to take.

“Our tagline is ‘fostering community one pint at a time,’” Morin said. “I’m a big supporter of the library and the school, and that I think we need to rally around those places. The library builds strong community, so I’m happy to help them out.”

In the same way that the library is hoping the event will allow it to market to the people of Sister Lakes, the brewery is hoping that through partnering with the library people who live in the city of Dowagiac will learn more about the brewery.

“Our address is Dowagiac, but we aren’t in downtown. We are in Sister Lakes, and it’s kind of amazing how many people in Dowagiac just don’t even know we are out here,” Morin said. “This just seemed like a really good fit for the library to the word out around here and for us to build awareness of our brand.”

Weston said he has already heard that residents are excited for the event and that he hopes there will be good turnout at the brewery Saturday.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting everybody and talking to them about the library,” he said.