New flavour added to wine fest
Saturday’s Grande Parade will be divided into grape-growing seasons
There’s a lot new at the 67th annual Niagara Grape and Wine Festival, and that includes the woman in charge.
This is the first year for Dorian Anderson, the newly installed executive director of the festival. Anderson took over from Kimberly Hundertmark, who moved to British Columbia last year.
“It’s been amazing,” said Anderson of her experience with the festival so far. “Other than the fact that Mother Nature through a little fun at us (Friday) with 100-km/h winds, it’s been perfect.”
Saturday marked the first day of the festival, which continues next weekend. One hundred wines, 24 wineries and 12 food vendors will be at Montebello Park.
Next Saturady is the Grand Parade next Saturday, which also features changes.
“This year, we hired an artistic director
for the parade for the first time. Alice Burke, she’s the dance animator and the performing arts centre,” said Anderson. “We hired her to come in and look at the parade with fresh eyes. She’s done an unbelievable job.
“The theme is the four seasons of wine country, so the parade is going to be divided up into seasons. She has worked with the parade entrants to do their floats up or their performances based on the season they are in. She got four local dance schools so as that as the season moves along, the dancers will be costumed, moving in and out. She has ballerinas, she has circus performers, so it’s going to be kicking it up a notch.”
A new wine lounge has also been added to the festival.
Anderson said the intention of the new Sommelier Wine Lounge is to have a place in the park that is a little bit quieter and away from the main stage.
“We serve a different style of wine — they are all ultra premium wines and sparing wines. Traditionally in the park we serve … some of the best selling wines from the wineries. There are some reserve and special wines that people may not have tried in the park before.”
Tickets are $45 for the Sommelier Wine Lounge are available online or at the door. The price includes your first two glasses of wine. Different chefs will be rotating through as well.
“The Harvest Lounge, which is the most popular spot in the park, we have expanded the hours. So if the park is open, the Harvest Lounge is open,” said Anderson.
The main stage is showcasing all Canadian talent, with half of the performers new to the festival. Some of the local acts include, Birds of Ontario, Treetops and Limestone Chorus.
On Monday, the festival will be hosting a Harvest Moon Festival in conjunction with the Brock University Chinese student council.
“It is actually the harvest moon that night. We are hoping the sky will be clear and the sky will be illuminated with a harvest moon,” said Anderson. “It’s also the Canada-China year of tourism, 2018. And the Harvest Moon is the second most popular festival in China so we thought we would marry that tourism tradition with the fact that it is the actual harvest moon. This whole part of the park, we are going to fill it with Chinese lanterns and we are going to have Chinese food vendors and a poutine vendor so it is always China and Canada side-by-side. ”
The Harvest Moon Festival will run 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and it is free.
There are also a number of family activities that are also free of charge during the festival.
“I just want to see the park full, seeing people wandering around and breathing it all in. It’s great that the wineries and food vendors get to show their stuff but having the whole community come together in the park every year, it feels like homecoming, getting to see faces you don’t always get to see.”
Tim Coons, chair of the festival, echoed her sentiments.
“For me it’s all about community connecting. With how busy people are these days and how connected they are on social media, they don’t really get out and just enjoy with family and friends.
“That’s my favourite part — and the wine,” he quipped.