Virginia Wine Festival - Sept. 15-16
Virginia was recently voted a Top 5 up and coming spot for wines and winery tours.
And it’s time for the oldest wine festival on the East Coast, the Virginia Wine Festival. In its 32nd year, the festival will feature over 40 Virginia wineries, educational seminars, live musical entertainment, and foods designed to be paired with your favorite Virginia wine. This is a great way to introduce yourself to the wines of Virginia if you are not familiar with them.
Entertainment includes the a cappella Cartoon Johnny, The Grandsons playing roots rock and the acoustic blues sound of Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women.
A few of the wine related seminars are:
- 400 Years of U.S. Wine History
- Becoming Wine Savvy in 45 Minutes
- Why Wine and Good Health - Let’s face it, wine is more fun than Welsh’s grape juice.
- Wine and Food Pairing
- Touring Virginia - covering family weekend trips, visiting historical and cultural sites, and enjoying area B&Bs
Kids will love the obstacle course, jousting ring, face-painting and balloons.
Virginia Wine Festival
Morven Park Equestrian Center
41793 Tutt Lane
Leesburg, VA 20176 (map it)
Dates and Times - Sat. and Sun., Sept. 15-16 - 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m
Tickets - $20.00 in advance online, $25.00 at the gate, $12.00 for designated drivers and kids over 3.
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POSTED IN: Events, Food & Beverage, Great Activities for a Date, Great Places to Unwind, Music
2 opinions for Virginia Wine Festival - Sept. 15-16
Diane
Sep 15, 2007 at 9:11 pm
It is now 9PM. I just arrived in the door. I live in Lorton, VA. I was sitting in my car at the Festival’s parking lot at 5:30PM, I got out of the parking lot at 7:50PM. While I totally enjoyed the Wine Festival I was appalled by the lack of traffic management out in the lots. It was utterly disorganized and disfunctional. Obviously no-one on duty managed traffic for large events. I am surprised there was not a riot! The Sheriff’s department did a very good job making sure that no one had a glass with wine in it and definitely watched for the sobriety level of others. I spoke to 3 different individuals with the shiff’s department and they all told me, and many others, that they should write. Authorities were very quick to point the finger at each other…fire department blamed it on the county police and the sheriff’s office blamed it on the fire officials that volunteered for the event. In either case, getting out of the lot was an absolute travesty. 2 hours and 20 minutes it took for us to get out of the lot. I was 4 rows from the exit. The back side rows could not feed into the main lane because no one was managing traffic in the front. All the side rows in the front were merging into the main lane. It meant that the thousand cars parked near the exit would have to leave first before the rest of us could leave.
On another note, the lines for food, as late as 3:30pm, still took up to 50 minutes. What does it take to get additional food concessions there??
The enjoyment of the event was ruined buy things that are so easy to fix. At $50 a couple, I would not anticipate this kind of aggravation. It’s ashame. We will never go again.
Diane
Lorton, VA
Jon
Sep 16, 2007 at 7:55 am
Diane: First thanks for your comments. And second, so sorry about the traffic and food issues. After 32 years of doing this, you would think the organizers might have these details nailed.
Perhaps the only possible solution to avoid the end of event rush is to arrive early and try to leave early as well.
There also a free shuttle from Belmont Country Club (Just off of Route 7 - on Russell Branch Parkway) which might be easier. LINK: http://www.virginiawinefestival.org/tips.htm
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