Shelved by COVID, FOL Beer and Wine Fest returning | News Leave a comment

Another Ahwatukee victim of the pandemic is coming back to life next month – and a Thanksgiving tradition canceled during the same time may return in an altered form this year.

Two years after it was shelved by COVID-19, the Ahwatukee Beer and Wine Festival will be held 6:30-10:30 p.m. June 17 at Foothills Golf Club, 2201 E. Clubhouse Drive, Ahwatukee. Tickets were scheduled to go on sale today at folaz.org.

Meanwhile, Festival of Lights Committee President Raphael Isaac said it’s possible the Thanksgiving Saturday Kick-Off Party could return in November, though it won’t be the huge all-day extravaganza it had been in the past.

The $50 admission to the Beer and Wine Festival will entitle guests to wine and beer tickets, live music and a commemorative wine glass. There will be casino-style games with a chance to enter a “split the pot challenge” and a raffle.

There also will be an auction, although the number of prizes will be substantially fewer than the scores of items that had been available when the beer-wine event had been held at Rawhide Western Town and Event Center.

“We are not going to do what we did in years past, where we had a couple hundred auction items,” said FOL Committee President Raphael Isaac. “This year we’ll have hour or five large items that people can bid on.”

The committee is still in the process of gathering those auction items, but they could include a “wine experience” in northern Arizona, an electric bike or mega-television set.

There also will be the popular wine pull, in which a $10 ticket gets the buyer to choose a bottle of wine from a selection that includes many valued at far more than the ticket price.

As it changed the whole nature of the Festival of Lights, the pandemic also has impacted the Beer and Wine Festival.

The biggest impact involves food: it will be available from a handful of select food trucks that will be parked outside the clubhouse.

“A lot of the restaurants either didn’t want to do it or couldn’t afford to do it,” Isaac said. “So what we’ve decided is, we’re going to have food trucks there and food will be available. …We’re looking for more specialty type food.”

In the past, restaurants were invited to the event to give away food samples along with coupons and brochures that advertised their businesses.

“But with everything the way it’s been over the last two years, a lot of restaurants just didn’t want to do that,” Isaac said.

Even the nature of the nonprofit Festival of Lights organization has been changed by the pandemic forever.

The group was set up more than 20 years ago to pay for the Christmas light displays along the median of Chandler Boulevard between 24th Street and Desert Foothills Parkway.

To financially support the expensive undertaking, FOL held the big Kick-Off Party in Desert Foothills Park the Saturday after Thanksgiving and eventually added the adults-only Beer and Wine Tasting event. The word “tasting” has been dropped from the event title.

But when the pandemic forced both fundraisers to remain closed, the FOL Committee negotiated with the Foothills Homeowners Association board to take over the management of the lights display from set-up to tear-down to power costs totaling about $120,000 – as well as $6,000 in payments for barricades that manage traffic on Chandler Boulevard during tear-down and set-up.

While both the Foothills and Club West HOA boards kicked in $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, hundreds of residents and businesses also gave donations last year to keep the Christmas display lit throughout December.

Proceeds from the Beer and Wine Festival will go to select charities based in Ahwatukee as well as to the Foothills HOA to help cover some of the display costs.

Meanwhile, after declaring it all but dead, Isaac said the committee is considering bringing back the Kick-Off Party in a significantly modified form.

“We’re revisiting the Kick-Off Party,” Isaac said, explaining that because the Foothills HOA has taken over responsibility for the Christmas lights display, the urgency of that event is significantly reduced.

“It’s not like we have a gun to our head that says we have to raise $30,000 or $40,000,” he said. “Now we have some flexibility. So, we’re thinking we’ll probably do a scaled-down version.”

A scaled-down version also relieves the committee from trying to line up hundreds of volunteers to set up, run and tear down the party.

“And when I say smaller, I’m not saying like 10 vendors but maybe we do 60 vendors or maybe we don’t have to stress over the bouncy houses as much,” Isaac said. “Maybe we have fewer of those. Maybe we do something with an antique car show or just mix it up a little bit but also make it to where it’s a little bit more manageable. We’re all volunteers. Nobody gets paid to do this and it’s very stressful.”

Meanwhile, the committee is hoping to get business sponsors for some pieces of the Beer and Wine Festival and volunteers to help staff it. So far, only committee member and Realtor Dawn Matesi has signed up as a sponsor. She and her real estate team are sponsoring the commemorative wine glasses.

To volunteer or inquire about becoming a sponsor: go to folaz.org.