Midwest Winefest transitions from big Century II party to smaller, more exclusive event
The Midwest Winefest’s Grand Tasting used to be one of Wichita’s biggest parties. In the 2000s and early 2010s, people would cram into Century II to get unlimited pours of wine and unlimited bites of food from more than a dozen of the city’s most popular restaurants.
But several factors over the past five years — the most impactful of which was the COVID-19 pandemic — have forced the festival’s organizers to re-imagine the event, which now has a much different look than it did in its early days.
The festival, now in its 28th year, returns next week and weekend, starting with the traditional Old Town Walkabout on Thursday, April 27.
But the Grand Tasting is no more: The last year it happened was 2019. And the festival no longer uses Century II at all.
“Feasibility-wise, it was about $30,000 to set everything up, between renting Century II and paying to set up booths,” said Alley Kirchner, development director at Guadalupe Clinic, which puts the winefest on. “And the ticket sales weren’t there, so it didn’t make sense.”
When the festival returned from the pandemic in 2021, organizers opted for a downsized, more exclusive version of the Grand Tasting, which in 2021 and 2022 happened at The Vail, 110 N. Mosley. The Saturday-night event, which this year is moving to Distillery 244 at 244 N. Mosley, is now called The Reserve Room, and it features higher-end wines and a buffet-style dinner provided by just two restaurants: Twelve and Larkspur.
The Reserve Room has been a popular event, Kirchner said. Tickets for this year’s, scheduled for April 28, officially sold out on Tuesday. The price of the Reserve Room tickets, though, were raised to $250 as opposed to the $69 ticket the Grand Tasting required. And only 224 Reserve Room tickets were made available, as opposed to the 2,500 people who would sometimes attend the Grand Tasting.
Those who want to participate in the Midwest Winefest, though, still have a chance to get tickets to the Thursday, April 27, Old Town Walkabout. That event, which has been going on for 25 years, invites ticket holders to stroll around Wichita’s Old Town district, stopping at participating restaurants for food and drink.
This year’s Walkabout features 10 stops on the walking tour, each of which will offer a bite-sized appetizer and one-ounce pours of both a red and a white wine. Among the stops are Larkspur, Sabor and the new Sushiya restaurant in Old Town Square.
Additionally, the Farm and Art Plaza outside The Museum of World Treasures will have eight booths offering food and wine samples. They’ll be populated by restaurants and businesses that aren’t physically located in Old Town, such as Angelo’s, Argentina’s Empanadas and Molino’s.
Tickets to the Walkabout, which lasts from 5:30 to 8 p.m., are $75. Alley said the festival has about 200 Walkabout tickets still available at midwestwinefest.org
The new iteration of the Winefest doesn’t raise as much money as it did in its heyday, when a typical year would bring in between $400,000 and $500,000, Alley said. These days, it’s closer to $250,000.
But that still helps the Guadalupe Clinic — a Catholic non-profit clinic — achieve its mission of helping provide medical care to uninsured people in the community.
“I think the worst thing about Winefest is that people don’t know that it benefits the clinic,” Alley said. “They’ve never heard of us and just think they’re going to a wine event.”
Midwest Winefest’s Old Town Walkabout
What: A fundraising event where participants stroll from restaurant to restaurant in Old Town sampling wine and food
When: 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, April 27
Where: Douglas Street along Rock Island and North Mead up to the Farm & Art Plaza north of Second Street
Tickets: $75 at midwestwinefest.org
Reserve Room: The Midwest Winefest’s other big event, the $250-a-person Reserve Room on Saturday, April 29, is already sold out
