|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Many good things come in a pint: ice cream, beer — and at least for 2021, the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival. The event returns this year in what organizers are calling a “pint-sized edition.” The one-day festival takes place Saturday, Sept. 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Mountain View Caltrain parking lot at 600 W Evelyn Ave., Mountain View.
The festival is coming back after the pandemic put it on hold in 2020.
The 2021 edition of the event will see several significant, temporary changes: Typically held over two days along Castro Street in downtown Mountain View, the festival is one day only and moving locations. With some portions of Castro Street still closed to allow for outdoor dining, the fair will take place at the edge of downtown, in the Caltrain lot. And since the lot is used on Sundays by the Mountain View Farmers Market, this year’s festival will be held just on Saturday, said Peter Katz, president of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the art and wine festival.
“It’s going to be a smaller footprint, but it’s going to have the same spirit as in the past. Most of the things that people really want to see are going to be back,” Katz said.
Despite the smaller space, the compact event will still feature 150 artisans and a stage with a variety of live music. The Mobile Eats Alley offers an array of food trucks and booths from local restaurants. Specialty food vendors will also be found throughout the fair.
And to complement the variety of dishes, guests can enjoy wine, of course, as well as beer, hard seltzer and hard kombucha, sangria and craft cocktails.
“Even though the event will look different this year, we’re thrilled that we’re able to still provide some of the most important pieces of the festival this year. Festival-goers will still be able to purchase a 2021 keepsake wine or beer glass, eat delicious food from a variety of vendors, enjoy live music and buy goods from local artisan vendors,” said festival director Leslie King in an email.
The festival also offers a kids’ area with activities that include bungee jumping, hands-on art and face-painting and the Cornhole Corner games area, plus home and garden, and wellness exhibits.
Although admission is free, visitors had the opportunity to pre-register for a ticket, since attendance is limited this year, in keeping with public health rules.
Pre-registration is already “sold-out,” with about 5,000 people already registered, according to Katz. The festival will welcome about 1,500 more guests at the door on the day of the event, he said.
Katz said that the festival has partnered with Santa Clara County to have a mobile COVID-19 testing clinic a few blocks away on Bryant Street.
Organizers also noted that this marks the “49th and 1/2” Mountain View Art and Wine Festival. The event would have been celebrating the big 5-0 this year if not for last year’s interruption.
“We’re hoping that by next year, everything will be free and clear and we’ll be back to normal and we’ll have our big huge 50th anniversary,” Katz said.
For more information, visit mountainview.miramarevents.com.
