Traverse City Wine & Art Festival Photos

The popular Leelanau County winery newcomer, Laurentide, was a festival hit and just one of 30 wineries pouring samples; one of its claims to fame is a win at the prestigious Riesling Challenge at the International Eastern Wine Competition.

Despite the record crowd, festival-goers had plenty of chances to chat with wine pourers and experienced winemakers like Adam Satchwell, pictured here at the Shady Lane Cellars booth.

A festival volunteer–one of 300 volunteers who worked between the Friday night Winemaker’s Party and Saturday’s main festival–pours the popular L. Mawby Vineyards’ popular Redd, a Brut wine made from Regent and Marechal Foch grapes hand picked, crushed, fermented on the skins and pressed.

Sangria, made with local wines and fruits, was an especially popular mid-afternoon offering at the Traverse City Wine & Art Festival.

Hundreds of blue globes hung from trees lent an under-the-tent feel to the grounds of the Village at Grand Traverse Grounds as a sell-out crowd of some 5,000 people settled in to listen to musical acts that included Sixto Rodriguez of ‘Finding Sugar Man” fame. One survey found that the festival’s number one draw was ambience.

The picturesque setting–a massive tent on the grounds of the Village of Grand Traverse Commons–was as much a hit at this year’s fifth annual Traverse City Wine & Art Festival as the music acts, great wine and 32 art fair booths. One of the entertainment additions, the ‘Amazing Giants” from Columbus, Ohio, added to the fest’s quirky feel with their hula hooping on stilts.