A one-year hiatus did nothing to dampen enthusiasm for or turnout to the Lions Wine Festival September 19 at the Ukrainian Orthodox Community Centre.
“It’s fantastic,” said Don Reed, local Lions president. “You can see it’s a young crowd, a very happy crowd and I think they’re all enjoying themselves.”
For $40, attendees got access to a wide variety of wine, spirit and beer vendors, enjoyed entertainment by Jackie Guy and food by the community centre, as well as, new food sponsors Boston Pizza, Mr. Mike’s and Brown’s Social House.
Fundraising results were not available at press time, but Reed said it typically brings in between $40,000 and $60,000.
Most of the proceeds from the festival this year will go to the Yorkton Clubhouse, to which the Lions committed $50,000.
It is one of three major fundraisers the club runs each year, the other two being Spring Expo and the LobsterFest, which is associated with the Yorkton Film Festival.
Spring Expo is their biggest event by far, with the Wine Festival and LobsterFest being about equal.
Due to a problem with the venue not being available in 2014, the service club decided to go a different route last year and brought in a magic show, explained local president Don Reed. They won’t do that again any time soon.
“He showed up with half the act,” Reed said.” It wasn’t good.
Expect the Wine Festival to be back in 2016.
