Wine and bird aficionados alike joined together outside at the Domaine Meriwether winery in Veneta for the sixth annual Fern Ridge Wings and Wine Festival. The event was held on Saturday, May 14 to celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.
The festival was an all-day event with various activities to do both on-site at the winery and off-site at Fisher Butte, Oregon Country Fairgrounds and other places. It started at 8 a.m. with a bird walk and concluded with a sunset sail at 5:30 p.m. It was a family event with activities for children, as well as adults. Works of art displayed inside the building were made by elementary and middle school students from the community, and included drawings of bugs, painted birdhouses and felted birds.
Chris Sarver of Sarver Winery takes a break from tabling with Dan Cooley of Spencer Creek Cellars. (Aaron Marineau/Oregon Daily Emerald)
The Fern Ridge Wings and Wine Festival, held at Domaine Meriwether, featured tastes of numerous Oregon-made wines. (Aaron Marineau/Oregon Daily Emerald)
Natalie Inouye, of Travel Lane County, is part of the festival’s marketing team. Several groups coordinate to plans differents part of the event. Some of the other organizations involved in the festival were the Cascades Raptor Center, the City of Eugene Outdoor Program and the City of Veneta.
“We’re all about partnership,” Inouye said. “We find something we want to do, find the team that can do it and send them on their way.”
Inouye said the Wings and Wine Festival first got started as an attempt to help the area’s economy, which was negatively affected by work that was done on a dam that left water in the lake too low to continue the regular activities there.
“We rallied together to draw people to our community. We thought, ‘What else do we have as strengths?’” Inouye said. “We realized there are plenty of other reasons to visit this area. The water came back up and the festival stayed.”
The festival has been hosted at the same location since it started, but the winery itself got new owners two years ago. Domaine Meriwether has a 13-year history and the Veneta location is its new home.
This year, the organizers wanted to enhance the wine element of the festival and did so with Wineries without Walls, which gave a venue for wineries without traditional locations or tasting rooms.
An American Kestral was just one of the many birds on display at the Cascades Raptor Center booth. (Aaron Marineau/Oregon Daily Emerald)
“It gives people the opportunity to try something they wouldn’t get to taste,” said Buzz Kawders of Domaine Meriwether, whose primary responsibility for the festival was the wine and coordinating all the participants. “We want to expose as many people as possible to these little hidden treasures.”
Friends of more than 20 years, Laurel Ross, Jeanie Neven and Karen Hyatt came to the festival to support their friend at Venetian Delights, which offered various treats to go along with the wine. This was their first time at the festival, and they didn’t know what to expect.
“I like that it’s outdoorsy,” Neven said. “It’s more relaxed, not too sophisticated.”
The organizers of the festival believe it is important because of the community it represents.
“What I really love about the festival is that it’s important to the community,” Inouye said. “It showcases what’s special to our community. We help people realize all the wonderful things we have here.”
