My Town – Festival Of The Grape
by Bibi on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 | 14 Comments
You know the song….Small Towns and Big Dreams by Paul Brandt?
“The best things around that I have ever seen came from small towns and big dreams”…..
Annual Festival Of The Grape in Oliver
I live in a small town in the heart of beautiful Okanagan Valley called Oliver. We might be small in population (under 5,000 awesome residents), but we sure are BIG on dreams…..and because of these big dreams (weather and climate helps too) our little town is known as THE WINE CAPITAL of CANADA.
….and rightfully so….Oliver is home to more then 20 (and growing) world known and award winning wineries.
Maybe you heard of little winery called…..Inniskillin…..or Gehringer Brothers….perhaps Jackson Triggs…..how about Black Hills Estate….
Ours….ours…ours and ours…..yep!
Enjoying Fair Food @ Festival of the Grape
Not only we are surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills with vineyard….wine tasting rooms and lately first class restaurants
…..we get to celebrate Grape Harvest with class and fun.
Since 1997 Oliver is a host to annual FESTIVAL OF THE GRAPE…..one Sunday in October our little town turns into major wine tasting festival where not only local wineries, but wineries from the Okanagan Valley and beyond come share and show off their best wines.
The Wine Testing Tent
Very Busy Wine Tent
Festival of the Grape is not only for wine lovers and wine enthusiasts…..it is a huge family fun event filled with top notch entertainment…..famous grape stomp….always popular and sinful fair food.
Over the years Festival of the Grape grew from little 10-12 wineries showcase event to this year’s over 50 wineries wine festival.
….and let not forget all the different vendors selling and showcasing everything from organic cheese….preserves…flavored vinegars…crafts….art….cosmetics…..handcrafted clothing……
….You name it it was there….
BBQ Pulled Pork or Perhaps Greek?
Corn On The Cob It Is.....
…..then there is the food…..Southern BBQ….Greek food….Thai food…homemade pierogi and borscht….poutine….fresh mini donuts….cotton candy….ice cream….pizza….
I don’t think there was food group missing this year at the Festival of the Grape.
Of course we can’t forget about the under aged crowd…..our sweet children and teens….
They were busy climbing the wall…..jumping and doing flips in the air…..bouncing in the castle…..competing on the obstacle course….trying their skills in fencing…..testing their balance on the tight rope…..and having blast and winning great prizes in arcade games.
....There Was Rock Climbing...
.....Belly Sliding....
....High Flying...
….the best part…..the part that makes me truly appreciate living in Oliver?
…..all kids entertainment and prizes were FREE….mostly because of all the volunteer work of Link Crew members (high school students) from SOSS (Southern Okanagan Secondary School)…..great job,….you should be proud.
Festival of the Grape 2011 might be behind us….it was a huge success and tons of fun (my kids didn’t want to go home), but we are looking forward to even bigger and better Festival of the Grape 2012….will you join us?
If you are planning to visit beautiful Okanagan Valley make sure you come during the grape harvest….especially if you love good wine….good food and fun!
...See You Next Year @ Festival of the Grape...
One more thing….I appreciate your time to read this post and I hope you will come back, but I also love COMMENTS like everyone else so go ahead and let me know how am I doing. I would love to hear from you.
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This looks absolutely awesome! What a wonderful festival! I would love to visit one year when this festival is on – imagine all the eating I would do
You would have blast, Debra….the food was amazing!
Looks like such fun. I just love where you live!
How beautiful! And even better that they had so much fun, free stuff for the kids! I grew up in a small town, too… they’re the best! : )
I did not grow up in a small town, but I sure love raising my kids in one. They are the best and fun festivals like Festival of the Grape make them come alive.
You know this is an event after my heart!
My dad always spends time in the village he is from (in Germany) during their wine festival….. our favorite time of year!
I was actually thinking about you, Alexis when I was writing about Festival of the Grape…..great minds think alike,lol
This looks like it has something for everyone in the family. What fun!
Stumbled this post.
It was so much fun. My kids had blast and can’t wait for next year Festival of the Grape.
wow…lovely post with beauuuuuuuutiful cliks…thanks for sharing Bibi..:)
first time here..love your space..
very interesting post with nice presentation..
Am your happy follower now..;)
do stop by mine sometime..
Tasty Appetite
Thank you for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment, Jay. I will be more then happy to come over and visit your space.
This looks so fun! I’m envious!
Sadly, any wine festivals they have here in California are just over-corporatized (is that a word?) due to all of the big-name wineries that are based here.
My husband grew up in a relatively small city in California’s original wine country. Now the city is an average sized city that tries to hearken back to its winery roots…all it does is seem like a yuppie tourist trap.
I sure hope our Festival of the Grape won’t end up like the ones in California….it would be such a shame.
[...] week I wrote about the fun Festival of the Grape that my little town puts on every year to celebrate grape harvest and [...]