A toast to benefit the Virginia Living Museum
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – In two weeks, you can join in the fun of the Bacchus Wine and Food Festival benefitting the Virginia Living Museum! This is the 20th anniversary of the festival. It’s an event that was created by volunteers of the museum.
Executive Director of the Virginia Living Museum, Rebecca Kleinhample, says those volunteers created the first festival to build a schooling tank that you can now see at the guest services desk when you enter the museum.
“This is focusing on local fish, primarily pompano and permit. So, you may be familiar with those species, but you may not be familiar with them up close, in a live format, and how they school and act in their habitat,” said Kleinhample, pointing to the school tank.
Over the years, the Bacchus Wine and Food Festival has grown into a huge fundraiser for the museum.
“The Bacchus event celebrates a great evening of the community. We bring in really strong community partners to celebrate them. Folks like the James River Country Club, Smoke BBQ. Really long-term standing, strong organizations bring their delicious food here for all of us to taste. We pair that with wines, and we, as adults, have a fantastic networking event. We start off with a divine reception, which is a little bit higher end. All the wines are 90+ rated or higher. We pair them with delicacies from the local restaurants and our main event starts a little bit later, and it’s full access to the museum. All the galleries are open. We’ll have live demonstrations here from museum staff members and volunteers. We have local musicians. We’re celebrating what we are here on the Peninsula, so local musicians come, share their talent with us this evening, great event,” said Kleinhample.
Kleinhample explained how the funds raised at the event will be put to use.
“This will help operations which means education. Every exhibit you see here is an education. Obviously that requires upkeep. Every student that walks in our door, all of our partner school districts who we share Standards of Learning responsibilities with all of those things are supported by supporting terrific, fun events at the museum.”
The Bacchus Wine and Food Festival is Friday, February 2. For times, and ticket information, click here.
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