24th Annual Capital Food and Wine Festival: Cheers!
March 14, 2013
LACEY, Wash. – Raise your glass and “praise the grape” at the 2013
Capital Food
and Wine Festival Saturday, March 23. The Saint Martin’s Alumni
Association will host the fun-packed event from noon to 9 p.m. at
the Hal and Inge Marcus Pavilion and Norman Worthington Conference
Center, on the Saint Martin’s University Campus, 5300 Pacific Ave.
SE.
“Our 24th annual festival promises to be an exciting and
memorable precursor to our silver anniversary celebration that’s
coming up in 2014,” said Evan Martin (‘04), festival co-director and
treasurer for the alumni association. The Capital Food and Wine Festival
is one of the largest and most popular events of its kind in the
Pacific Northwest.
Forty regional wineries and 16 microbreweries will be on hand with
a rich variety of bottled spirits and brews for festival-goers to try.
In addition, delicious cuisine will be offered by 20 local restaurants
and regional vendors. Live music will punctuate the festive atmosphere
throughout the day.
Proceeds from the festival will support scholarships for students
of Saint Martin’s University, and will fund various causes within the
communities the Saint Martin’s Alumni Association serves.
A wine cellar to house premium wines during the festival, to be
located in the Norman Worthington Conference Center, will be
dedicated to the memory of Randi Sue Johnson, a festival chair for
many years who passed away in 2012. “We’re naming it ‘R.J.’s Wine
Cellar,” Martin said.
In addition, Saint Martin’s alumna Sandra Quebedeaux
(’99 and MED ’11) will be recognized for generously sharing her
time as a festival co-director, a post she is leaving after three
years of service. “We greatly appreciate Sandra and her husband, Brent,
for giving back to the Saint Martin's community for many years,” said
Martin. “They both have worked on the alumni board and they both
supported the festival for a very long time.”
Two vendors will display merchandise designed with wine lovers in
mind. Cupbearer will bring
a sampling from its “Wine Line,” a line of wine barrel furniture that
includes rocking chairs, love seats, and coffee tables. Samples of
customized tote bags for wine bottles will be provided by Lady Bug
Wine and Spirit Bags.
Major sponsors for this year’s festival include Evergreen Direct,
Hanson Motors Subaru, O’Blarney’s Inc., Red Wind Casino, Holly Harmon,
Century Link, TwinStar Credit Union, Albertson, Obee Credit Union, The
Olympian, Virgil Adams Real Estate, Discovery Media Productions, Frost
& Company P.S., Heritage Bank, Western Meats, ABC Printing, Accent
Limousines, Capital City Press, Stormans (Ralph’s Thriftway and Bayview
Thriftway), and Showcase Magazine.
As in previous years, taxi and safe-ride services will be provided
to festival-goers. To increase parking options, a shuttle service will
operate from an area near the Chicago Title Insurance Co., at South
Sound Center. More information can be found on the festival website,
www.capitalfoodandwinefestival.com.
Tickets are available for purchase online through Thursday,
March 21, at the festival website.
Tickets also are available at the following locations through
Friday, March 22: Ralph’s Thriftway, Albertsons – Olympia,
Bayview Thriftway, Twinstar Credit Union, and the Saint
Martin’s University campus in the Office of Alumni Relations
(Room 214, Old Main). Tickets purchased in advance through
March 22 are $15. General admission tickets are available
at the door on the day of the event for $20. Seniors and
members of the military, including retired military
personnel, can purchase tickets for $15. Children under
12 can attend the festival free of charge.
Due to the large number of festival attendees, strollers and
baby buggies will not be permitted at the event. Please leave
them in your vehicle or at home.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
coeducational university located on a wooded campus of more than 300
acres in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic
Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 14 Benedictine
colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the
only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University
prepares students for successful lives through its 23 majors and
seven graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business,
education, nursing and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more
than 1,100 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students from
many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its Lacey campus, and 300
more undergraduate students to its extension campuses located at
Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College. Visit the Saint
Martin’s University website at
www.stmartin.edu.
For additional information:
Evan Martin
Festival Co-director
Treasurer, Saint Martin’s Alumni Association
director1@capitalfoodandwinefestival.com
Sandra Quebedeaux
Festival Co-director
Secretary, Saint Martin’s Alumni Association
director2@capitalfoodandwinefestival.com
Meg Nugent Dwyer
Media relations manager
360-412-6126;
MDwyer@stmartin.edu