Those interested in attending the Great Northwest Wine Fest, Saturday, September 24, were no doubt somewhat skeptical of the weather forecast, but 1,960 people took their chances and experienced the biggest wine fest yet. The weather turned to partly sunny skies with the temperature rising to the upper 70s at North Griffith Park in Mound City for the event, sponsored by Northwest Missouri Enterprise Facilitation. A cloud burst hit around 4:00 p.m., and a few people scattered and the music subsided for a short time. Activities resumed, but a torrential downpour following in about 65 minutes ended the day’s activities almost three hours too soon. Attendees came from as far away as California, Texas, and Florida.
“Despite the rain, most everyone had fared well with a successful day and a good time. Some latecomers had to be turned away but we are hopeful for next year’s event and better weather,” said Marilyn Alldredge, coordinator for the event.
Twelve wineries featured several of their different award winning Missouri wines with opportunities to taste and purchase their unique flavors. The wineries included: Baltimore Bend, Waverly; Fence Stile Winery, Excelsior Springs; Grindstone Valley Winery, Osborn; Jowler Creek, Platte City; Ladoga Ridge Winery, Smithville; Pirtle Winery, Weston; Riverwood Winery, Rushville; Terre Beau Winery, Dover; Tipple Hill Winery, Easton; Vox Winery, Kansas City; Weston Wine Company, Weston; and Windy Wine Company, Osborn. The wineries were all pleased with their sales for the day and were amazed at the size of crowd attending. The Klub provided additional drinks. Community Hospital-Fairfax provided a first aid station and Northwest Health Services provided assistance setting up and Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, Maryville, provided assistance with clean-up.
The crowd also indulged in delicious food from the following: Enchilada Lady, Oregon; Two Sisters Catering, Rock Port; The Duck Inn Catering, Craig; and Rock Port Catering, FC Food Country Cheeses, Rock Port. Several of the 51 vendor booths featured homemade goodies along with jewelry, household items, clothing, vitamins, pumpkins, mums, artwork, soaps and lotions, and more.
Lucky winners in the large raffles were: 50/50 raffle, winning $815, Bertha Gorman, Oregon; wine cooler, Randy LaFollette, Gower; The Wine Cellar Basket, Jeanne Rost, Savannah; $100 gift card from Tarkio Hy-Vee, Alva Stoner, Fairfax; $100 gift card from The Klub, Mound City, Mitch Andrews, Boulder, Colorado; $50 each from Byergo Angus and J Howards, Jerry Ingle, Savannah; $100 certificate from Rapid Elite, Bertha Gorman, Oregon; Victorian Getaway, Maryville, Mitch Andrews, Colorado; Abbey Center Guest House stay, Gary Kincaid, Savannah; $100 cash donated by Kent Peterson Insurance, Sisters of St. Francis, Savannah; $100 cash donated by City of Grant City, Nancy Thomson, Maryville.
Entertaining the crowd all afternoon were: guest artist, Matt Snook, Camden Point; Frank Rardon, Olathe; Esther Laurie, Gladstone. Performances cancelled because of the rain were: Devon and Mikaela Sons of Maryville, The Serenades, Sheri Wright, Ellen Kunkel and Sue Gregg, Mound City.
Many sponsors helped add tremendously to the success of the day with their donations: $1,000 Sponsors – Laukemper Motors, Mound City; Mound City Development, Farmers State Bank, Mound City, Tarkio, Fairfax, Cameron; Regional Alpha Media KAAN Radio, Cameron; $500 Sponsors – Kincaid Gardens, Savannah; Maryville Daily Forum – The Post, Maryville; Northwest Bank, Stanberry; Sunny 101.3 Radio, Falls City, Nebraska; $250 Sponsors – Fairfax Agency, Inc./Bob and Marilyn Alldredge, Fairfax; Midwest Data Center, Rock Port; Commerce Bank, St. Joseph; Northwest Cellular, Maryville; Mound City News; Nodaway Valley Bank, St. Joseph; Citizen Bank & Trust, Rock Port; Jim Lower Marketing, St. Joseph; East Hills Shopping, St. Joseph; Tiffany Care Centers, Mound City; Farmer Publishing, Tarkio, Rock Port; Conception Abbey, Conception; $100 Sponsors – Ginny Vernon/Tomboy Tools, Fairfax; Deb Powers and Mike Sytowski, St. Joseph; City of Grant City; Stoner Drug, Rock Port; SBG Midwest Consultants, St. Joseph; Advanced Pork Systems, Fairfax; Umbar Farms, LLC, Fairfax; Jim and Jeanne Rost, Savannah; Kent Peterson Ins., Stanberry; Charlotte Chunn, St. Joseph; Community Hospital-Fairfax; Northwest Health Services, St. Joseph, Mound City; Atchison County Hy-Vee, Tarkio; Hiawatha Implement, Mound City; Jeff Gates Promotions, St. Joseph; Golden Triangle Energy, Craig; Victorian Getaway, Maryville; Rapid Elite, Maryville; $75 Sponsors – Rogers Pharmacy, Mound City, Tarkio, St. Joseph.; Nodaway News, Maryville; Bank CBO, Oregon; Wells Bank, Oregon.
“The outcome of proceeds for Enterprise Facilitation will be quite favorable for our seventh year of sponsoring the Great Northwest Wine Fest,” said Marilyn Alldredge, Wine Fest coordinator and board member. “Several of our board members and volunteers put in a lot of hard work, time and effort and we all feel it has paid off. Proceeds will be used to continue our free confidential business services of assisting new entrepreneurs and small business start-ups and retention in our service area of Andrew, Atchison, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway and Worth counties. We are proud of our record of assisting business start-ups and continuance of business in the past 10 years adding much to the economy in Northwest Missouri,” Alldredge concluded. Next year’s event date will be set soon so people can mark their calendars in advance.