Karleigh Neff
LV Life Editor
Roughly 1,000 visitors from La Verne and surrounding communities came together for wine, live music and good vibes Saturday for the second Sip of La Verne Wine Walk.
Those who bought tickets in advance walked through downtown, stopping at the 23 different shops and businesses that featured wine for the walk.
This year, the event sold out in record time, selling twice as many tickets as last year.
“Everyone has a great time and loved the event last year so we brought it back,” Darleen Foy, event committee member, said. “It brings people into downtown that didn’t know what was offered here. We get to promote the businesses here.”
The event also donates the profits from the tickets to a local charity. The University was one of many sponsors who supported the event as well.
Generations Antiques, which has been open for 19 years in downtown, was giving out almond champagne and chocolate strawberries.
“This is such a great event,” antique shop co-owner Carrie Leeper said. “It brings a lot of business to downtown and for our shop, which not a lot of people know about.”
The wine walk featured more than 10 musical stops, a few were live bands, featuring different kinds of musical genres. In front of Lordsburg, a reggae band performed and people danced along.
People were also able to stop at different locations to get their photo taken by professionals.
“It is just a great date night,” said Felicia Calhoun, a Pomona resident, who came with her husband for the second time. “We enjoy the atmosphere and the music, and plus we get to go into shops we never knew existed previously.”
At each wine stop, there was food provided by the local restaurants to pair with the type of wine. The smoke shop in downtown offered a California Chardonnay and Italian Lambrusco to accompany food from Spooners restaurant.
Roberta’s Village Inn offered their own food to pair nicely with an Argentine Pinot Noir and California Chardonnay.
The committee made safety a priority for the event, according to Foy. Sanders towing company offered free rides for a distance of seven miles, and the La Verne police walked around the event.
The event committee plans on continuing the wine walk for years to come, making it bigger and better every year.
“We want this event to grow because we want to make sure people don’t count out La Verne for being a great downtown area,” Foy said.
Karleigh Neff can be reached at karleigh.neff@laverne.edu.
