Red, white and… plenty of sunshine.
Those were just some of the key ingredients in a whopping successful 20th Festival of the Grape, Sunday afternoon at the Oliver Community Centre grounds.
And once again thousands of people from as far away as France, Great Britain, Scotland and the United States converged on the park for some grape stompin, wine sippin and side splittin good times.
(read more: FOG will be a stomping good time)
Back again for his fifth year with members of his family in tow was owner and festival’s unofficial wine marshall, Bruce Fuller of Rustico Farm and Cellars winery.
“We love to come here for a whole bunch of reasons, we love to meet our guests who come to our winery all year and many of them come to this function so we get to reconnect with them,” said Fuller just as the crowds were about to converge on the always popular, old west themed tasting tent. “Overall it certainly puts a spotlight on the south Okanagan and it really does work for all of us.
“We’re all open year and people come and visit all year and I think they come because of this event.”
Among the 24 teams competing this year was the Brits on Holiday entry lead Ian King.
“We’re here to do a wee bit of Grape Stompin,” said King who was dressed to the nines in his Union Jack best. “The fun part is the weather has been always been nice. It’s getting out trying lots of differenht varieties of wine and food, mingling with the people, looking at all the stalls and generally having a good time.”