The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Christian del Rosario

Rod Roe watched in amusement as Trish Toomey took a close look at one of the exhibits at last year's Art and Wine Festival. This NASA exhibit demonstrated motion sickness in outer space. This year, organizers expect up to 150,000 people.

Art, wine, fun and some beer, too

By Justin Berton

Sunnyvale's largest and grandest summertime celebration, the Art and Wine Festival, is set to dominate the streets of downtown for the 24th straight year June 6-7.

Of course, the event is set to attract thousands of art-lovers and wine connoisseurs from all over the Bay Area, but this year a few more beer lovers will be in the crowd to enjoy something special.

For the fifth straight year, Sunnyvale's Stoddard's Brew House and Eatery will unveil its Summer Wheat Brew at the festival.

The special Summer Wheat takes 20 days to brew and is only available from June through September. It is a lighter, crisper drink that should go well with the expected sunshine, said Bob Stoddard, founder of the Murphy Avenue brewery.

Stoddard said last year the brewpub rolled out between 50 and 60 kegs of the Summer Wheat and Pale Ale for the event.

"This is a major deal for us," Stoddard said. "We're not just promoting ourselves, we're promoting Sunnyvale."

Chamber of Commerce executive director Suzi Blackman said that between 75,000 and 150,000 people will attend the two-day event.

Blackman said she did a study two years ago that found the festival generated between $1 million and $1.2 million from artists and visitors staying at area hotels, eating at restaurants and buying goods from shops.

"That's got to be good for our community," Blackman said.

Last year Blackman ordered 300 cases of wine for the event and returned only 13. Close to 14,000 beer and wine glasses have been ordered for this year's event.

"It's so big," Blackman said, "it's kind of hard to believe it until people see it."

Blackman said 550 artists will set up booths to showcase their works.

The new resident at Moffett Air Field, NASA, will have an aerospace exhibit, and live bands will entertain.

A fenced-off bike corral will be available for bicycles, and parking in the area will be free.

"Next year is the 25th," Blackman said. "We're really going to do something special for that."

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Art, wine, fun and some beer, too

The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper