Under sunny skies on Saturday, Oct. 11, crowds of people helped celebrate the 48th version of Riverbank’s annual Cheese & Wine Festival.
People came from all over to enjoy the many vendors whose booths lined Santa Fe Street downtown, extending to side streets. There were a number of food vendors, with just about any kind of beverages or food one might crave. There were also loads of information booths, crafts and other products for sale.
At the west end of Santa Fe, near Second Street, a stage was set up for musical performances, with lots of chairs available for those who just wanted to sit and listen. Also available was space on the street in front of the stage, where those interested could dance.
The actual Cheese & Wine provisions were at the Riverbank Community Center, across from Cardozo Middle School. Several sessions of tastings were offered on Saturday throughout the afternoon, complete with a commemorative glass. Wine, cheeses and more were sampled by those who purchased their tasting tickets for one of the sessions.
In addition to all the vendor booths and wine tasting, organizers showed off a block of classic, custom and hot rod cars and trucks on both sides of Santa Fe, between Third and Fourth streets.
When started in the 1970’s, the event was put on by the Riverbank Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, the Chamber turned it over to the Riverbank Rotary Club, which produced it for a number of years.
When Rotary decided they had to give it up, it ultimately was taken over by the City of Riverbank, with the Parks & Recreation Department at the helm.
That has been the case for the past couple of years.
A couple of years ago, the weekend event shrunk from two days to one, with that continuing again this year, the Cheese & Wine festivities running Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This year, there were a couple of new features added to the weekend, which included an afternoon of events aimed at youngsters, so that parents might be able to do the tasting on their own while kids had a place to go.
They had a number of activities scheduled throughout the day, where parents could enjoy the festival kid-free. Games, crafts, snacks, movies, and supervised play in a safe, engaging environment were provided.
In the evening Saturday, after the regular hours of the festival, they had scheduled a separate event, titled Encore for the Last Pour.
It was advertised as a final toast to close out the festival in style.
It ran from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Community Center, with live music, “good vibes,” and one last round to savor the day.
Dining and Cooking