A History of CityView’s Food and Wine Party
In early 2013, Miriam Landru joined our company as editor. Miriam had some fresh ideas, one of which was us sponsoring a Launch Party for our October Food & Wine issue. She had done such an event at her previous job in Hawaii. The idea was new and we liked it.
We had our first party on October 3, 2013, at SkyView on Hay. It was a large success, with over 250 people attending. The party included food and wine from 15 different local vendors in Fayetteville. The party was the talk of the town and we were encouraged to do it again.
In 2014 we chose Vizcaya Villa behind Eutaw Shopping Center for our second event. We added music and dancing provided by 5 Star Entertainment. We had over 400 people for our second party and again it was a huge success.
Our 2015 event was also at Vizcaya Villa and we had a new twist – Valley BMW provided BMWs to ferry guests from the Eutaw shopping center parking lot to Vizcaya’s front door. Again, over 400 people attended. The unfortunate thing was most of our vendors were outside because we couldn’t fit them all in the building and there was a torrential rainstorm that evening. The rain lasted only about 20 minutes but it was just enough to spoil the evening for some people.
Because of the rain, we decided to move to Cape Fear Botanical Garden in 2015. We installed a tent next to the building for music and dancing. With the size of this venue, we knew the rain would not hinder the party. Close to 500 people attended and people began to say it was Fayetteville’s biggest and best party.
In 2016, Hurricane Matthew hit Fayetteville hard a few weeks before the party, which was held October 13. The Garden had some damage but it didn’t stop the party and lots of people attended.
2017 was routine and another great success. Last year, we had to postpone the party by a week because of Hurricane Florence. We changed the event date to October 18. Because of the change, we had fewer guests than in previous years but still, over 300 people attended.
Miriam left the magazine in 2016 but the idea she brought from Hawaii has lived on and has been a major impact on Fayetteville. Our seventh party will again be held at the botanical garden on October 10. Tickets are available at our website for $35. Visit www.cityviewnc.com for more information. It will surely be a good time.
