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Photograph by Douglas Rider
Kathryn Quigley takes a sip of one of the many wines featured at the annual Arts and Wine Festival in downtown Sunnyvale.
Fine Wine
Sunnyvale residents sip back and enjoy 27th annual Art & Wine Festival
By Gretchen Knaup
The 27th annual Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival provided residents a chance to stroll around tasting wine, while perusing specialty items from all over the Bay Area and beyond.
Spanning four blocks in the downtown Sunnyvale area, the festival overflowed with people that came from miles around interested in artistry from all over the state, as well as local restaurants and micro breweries. Local wine connoisseurs enjoyed spirits made in wineries and vineyards from the Bay Area.
For $10, attendees could purchase a signature wineglass, plus two servings of wine. Additional servings cost approximately $3 a piece. Working the wine and beer booths were various local corporations who co-sponsored the event along with the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, Yahoo, Synopsys, AMD, Ebay and The Sun.
"We think it's important to partner with the community, to support the Chamber because we own land in Sunnyvale. We are proud of our partnership," said Erin Brennock, community relation's manager for Synopsys.
The Art and Wine Festival offered visitors opportunity to relax with their beverage of choice, while milling among the vendors displaying a variety of their products and services, from handmade lamp string pulls to wooden flute playing lessons. The vendors also sold textiles, pottery, stained glass, painting, and photographs, were purchased from artists that came as far as Southern California.
One vendor, Loretta Williamson, who sold coasters featuring photos taken by her son-in-law, said, "This is one of our favorite shows. We love coming here. You will find some really excellent handcrafted good quality art here."
According the vendors, it isn't easy for artists to come to these festivals. There is a lot of traveling involved, and when they finally arrive it takes an extensive amount of time to get their tents set up. "I get here around 4:30 a.m. It takes about two hours to set up and an hour and a half to close, but its worth it," said photographer Bo Svensson, who came from Sonoma.
The other vendors had similar viewpoints on coming to the festival. With so many festivals to chose from in the Bay Area, the artists cannot possibly attend all of them. "This is a great festival to come to because people come from all over when they find out its here. It's amazing how far people come," said a vendor displaying art from the Sally Bookman Gallery in Capitola. He speculated that people come to the festival because it provides them with a luxury, in a time of recession.
Some local restaurants and nightclubs such as Dishdash and the Forum, featured their grand openings at the festival. The Forum opened May 25.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
