Event forks out a success

By Business Observer Staff
| 7:43 a.m. February 24, 2014
| 1 Free Article Remaining!

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The Naples Winter Wine Festival is king of big-time Gulf Coast food and wine events, with $13.5 million raised for charity this year, but a Sarasota upstart has gained quite a following.

The annual Forks & Corks, now in its seventh year, has become a see-and-be-seen food and wine extravaganza for the Sarasota-Bradenton region. This year's Forks & Corks, held the same weekend as the Naples shindig, Jan. 24-27, was a record-setter says Kate Atkin, executive director of the Sarasota-Manatee Originals. The Sarasota-Manatee Originals, which hosted the event, is a nonprofit organization made up of independently owned local restaurants.

“We couldn't be more thrilled,” Atkin tells Coffee Talk. “Everyone left with smiles on their faces. We're still beaming.”

Forks & Corks highlights include:

The main all-day event at the Ringling Museum, The Grand Tasting, sold out of 1,200 paid tickets eight minutes after tickets went on sale. The Grand Tasting featured signature dishes from 43 Originals member restaurants, with 45,000 samples of food prepared and served. There were also 438 wines from 81 wineries, with 5,000 bottles of wine poured.

“We experienced the fastest ticket sell-out ever,” Atkin says in a release. “We even had calls and emails from overseas for tickets.”

Nearly 35 worldwide winemakers attended the winemaker events, which led to around $100,000 in retail wine sales over the entire weekend.

A charity auction event raised $13,000 for All Faiths Food Bank and more than $30,000 for The Ringling.

Nearly one in 10 ticket buyers, 8%, were from outside Florida, while another 11% were from outside Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Planning for Forks & Corks 2015 has already begun. It's scheduled for Jan. 23-26. Says Atkin: “We're already getting requests from vintners to be a part of it and from the public to purchase tickets.”