Naples Winter Wine Festival finalist in USA Today Readers' Choice Awards: How to vote
The Naples Winter Wine Festival is a finalist in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards.
The Naples event is competing for the title of Best Wine Festival in the country. Voting runs through 11:59 a.m. Monday, July 10.
Seventeen other wine festivals named finalists are in California, Hawaii, Oregon, Colorado, Michigan, Louisiana, New Mexico, Miami and Key West.
Vote once a day here or at 10best.com/awards/travel/best-wine-festival-2023.
USA Today is the owned by Gannett, the parent company of the Naples Daily News and The News-Press in Fort Myers.
The Naples Winter Wine Festival, which began in 2001, has raised about $269 million to provide services and resources to 300,000 Collier County children. The annual three-day event runs in late January or early February and raises the majority of the money at a Saturday afternoon live auction.
The Naples Children & Education Foundation, the festival’s founding organization, in March awarded about $26 million to nearly 50 Collier County nonprofits supporting underprivileged and at-risk children.
The foundation on its Facebook page urged followers to vote daily and tell their friends to vote as well.
"These agencies collaborate throughout the year to optimize funding, avoid duplication and develop innovative programs to deliver high-quality programs and services to support local children," Maria Jimenez-Lara, CEO of the Naples Children & Education Foundation, said this year when announcing the money awarded to nonprofits.
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In addition to the Naples Wine Festival, here are the 17 others vying for the title:
Black Vines, Oakland, California
Bottlerock, Napa Valley, California
Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado
Hawaii Food & Wine Festival
International Pinot Noir Celebration, McMinnville, Oregon
Key West Food & Wine Festival
Lodi Wine Festival, California
New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
Newport Beach Wine Festival, California
Queer Wine Fest, Dayton, Oregon
San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival
Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta, New Mexico
South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Miami Beach
Taste of Sonoma, Santa Rosa, California
Taste of Vail, Colorado
Uncorked: Detroit Wine Fest, Michigan
World of Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara, Caifornia
Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram @lacrossewriter and on Twitter @NDN_dosborn.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples Winter Wine Fest up for top event in USA Today Readers' Choice
