By ANNE GELHAUS
When the first Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival was held 22 years ago, organizers say, such events were nowhere near as prevalent in the Silicon Valley as they are today.
"They're everywhere now," says Suzi Blackman, executive director of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce. "Our festival kicks off the art and wine season."
This year's festival is set for June 1 and 2 in downtown Sunnyvale. More than 500 arts and crafts vendors, selected through a jury process, will set up booths in the Town and Country Village and along Murphy Avenue. Food booths will be staffed by groups such as the Sunnyvale Child Development Center, the Fremont High School Music Boosters, North County Pony Baseball and St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Eight local wineries--including J. Lohr, Mirassou Vineyards and Devlin Wine Cellars--will provide the grape, and Budweiser and Stoddard's microbrews will be the featured grain beverages.
Two entertainment stages will be set up along Washington Avenue, one at Mathilda Avenue and the other at Murphy Avenue.
"There's lots of community entertainment this year, from cloggers to choirs," Blackman says. Groups in the latter category include the AMD Choir and the Sunnyvale Singers.
NASA is mounting an aerospace exhibit next to the Mathilda Avenue stage, and the nearby children's area will house play equipment and activity centers. The American Cancer Society plans to set up a screening service to check festival-goers for signs of skin cancer.
The festival has attracted 120,000 to 150,000 people in recent years, and Blackman says the chamber expects similar attendance this year. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, and the Sunnyvale Host Lions Club will serve a pancake breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m. at the Towne Oak Restaurant in Town and Country. The festival is free; the breakfast is $3 for children and $4.50 for adults.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 29, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.