Wine and Food Success

Montrose Wine & Food Festival

It has already been a week since the 16^th Annual Montrose Wine & Food Festival drew to a close. With a record number of attendees (around 1,000), food and beverage vendors (around 70 total), and silent auction gifts (around 70), it was the Festival’s biggest year! We still don’t have the exact figures in quite yet on how much was raised but every dime from sponsorships, wine lanyard sales, ticket sales, silent auction purchases, etc. will go right back into the Club’s operating fund for programming, payroll, facility leases, etc. Of course, there are always areas of improvement. While we can’t control the weather (crazy Colorado Mays) we are looking to push the Festival back to May 30^th next year so you can all go to graduation parties, vacay over Memorial day weekend, and still come to the 17^th Annual Festival (fingers crossed the weather is a little better two weeks later too). New this year was the VIP tent for all sponsor levels and a select number of individuals VIP ticket sales. We have already received some good community feedback on how to amp that up next year. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves this year! As the weeks go on, we will be updating the Festival website, www.montrosewinefestival.com, with event photos, recaps, and more. A big thank you to all our auction donors, food and beverage vendors, and sponsors, a complete listing of which can be found on the Festival website. In particular, I would like to thank our top level Manhattan sponsors: Alpine Bank, David & Gaynelle Mize, Colorado West Investments, Friends of the Club, Western Slope Orthopaedics, TEI Rock Drills, Montrose Surgical Center, and Mike & Phoebe Benziger who are all continued Festival supporters. A new sponsor this year, also at the Manhattan level, was American Family Insurance - The Dieter Agency. Thank you all for helping make the Festival a success. I also wanted to thank our major partners, The Liquor Store and The Bridges in Montrose, without whom the Festival would not happen.

This year at the Friday night sponsor dinner, the Club had a big announcement; we are starting a capital campaign to get our own building in Montrose! With a great kick off speech by Bob Tesch, a constant advocate for Club, the community was exposed to the future plans of the permanent BCBGC Montrose Unit. With a plot of land already purchased, by the Club, at the corner of Niagara and 6700 Rd, we already have a solid base. However, this is just the kick off! We need to get the whole community in on this. Every little bit helps reach our dream of our own home. In fact, we have some wonderful people who are willing to match a certain percentage of all the donations we get! Check out the Club’s website, www.bcbgc.org/im_in, for more information on the capital campaign, the building logistics, and how you can help develop “a place to become” for the BCBGC. I’m in on helping the Club to continue to make great futures start here, are you?

Bud Taylor is the Executive Director for the Black Canyon Boys & Girls Club (BCBGC) and had been for the past two years. Prior to that, he was a BCBGC kid, junior staff member, and board director. Feel free to contact Bud Taylor by e-mail at btaylor@bcbgc.org or visit the Club’s website for more information, www.bcbgc.org.