The 35th annual Messina Hof Wine and Roses Festival

The purpose of the Messina Hof and Wine and Roses Festival is to celebrate the blooming of the roses and the budding of the vines each year. The festival is a three-day affair, starting on Friday with a spring wine release for V.I.P members only, then heading into Saturday where everyone is invited to come to participate in a grape stomp, taste local vendors, experience pairing classes, and enjoy wine tastings. Finally, the festival ends on Sunday with a 5K marathon. 

I volunteered to help out with this event during their Saturday activities. During my volunteer time at this event, I was in charge of helping out with the wine and chocolate pairing. Thewine and chocolate pairing was located in the Estate Celluar room. All participants were invited to join if they had brought their ticket ahead of time or if they paid the price of ten tickets at the door. During the event, my duties included; resetting the tables for the next groups, directing people where they needed to be seated once entering the venue, lining up customers by groups of twelve to fit tables accordingly, collecting tickets, and ensuring each customer stamped their passport as they left the venue.

While working this event, I learned quite a few things that will benefit in my future career as an event planner. The first thing I thought this event implemented very well was their passports. The passports (pictured below), required each customer to receive a stamp from specific stations in order to receive a chance to spin the prize wheel located at the front of the venue. By utilizing the passport, the event coordinator for this event was able to ensure the customers were aware of what events were taking place, as well as being able to keep them actively engaged throughout the event. Additionally, by allowing the guests to receive a prize, the event coordinator was able to bestow a takeaway of the event in a more memorable way. Another concept a learned during this event, was the importance of fast turnover time. In the Estate Celluar room, there were four tables for a set of twelve guests each. Thus, each customer had to wait outside in a group of twelve before getting seated in the venue. Hence, volunteers and staff had to make sure to reset all wine and chocolates for each table prior to starting another tasting. Resetting included setting up taster sheets, wines, chocolates, and flipping the linens. For this part of the event, it was imperative that we moved quickly as possible to ensure our guests a satisfactory experience. Finally, of most importance, I learned that it is crucial for any event planner to be aware of their volunteers' training. Due to the fact, that the area in which I was working in required volunteers to be TABC certified, as well as have their food handlers licenses if they were to be setting tables for the pairing. Hence, one will want to ensure ahead of time of this training, in order to ensure they are complying with federal laws.