About Town: Don't miss the 12th Annual Friends of Jupiter Beach Food & Wine Festival

If you love great food and wine, along with dogs and beaches (and how happy dogs are when they're running around on beaches), then don't miss the 12th Annual Friends of Jupiter Beach Food & Wine Festival.

Happening May 14 at Jupiter Riverwalk Plaza Down Under, this event will feature food, music and tons of fun for people and their pups. Or pups and their people as it is for most of us.

This is the biggest event of the year for Friends of Jupiter Beach, and they aim to please.

There will be over 30 food and drink vendors on site serving up some seriously delicious vittles and libations.

Among the local eateries dishing out the delicacies and drinks will be Tacklebox at Charlie and Joe's, Coolinary and the Parched Pig, Lynora's, Brick & Barrel Gastropub, Blue Water Taco, MOOD, Seminole Reef Grill, Matty's Gelato Factory, Twisted Trunk Brewing, Volley Tequila Seltzer, Wines for Humanity, Oceana Coffee and many more.

And the pups in attendance won't be forgotten, either.

A "Bark Park" area will feature games, nice turf and water stations.

Vendors catering to canine customers will include Big Dog Ranch, JUPdog, Paw Beach, Florida Man Pet Treats and Wiggle Bar, which will serve up some tasty "doggy beer."(Don't worry moms and dads, it's not actually beer. It's made with beef or chicken broth, Omega-3s and glucosamine.)

And even though we all know where our dogs' tongues have been, there will be a doggie kissing booth — because a kiss from a lovable pup can, as the theme song to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" states, "take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worth while."

So you've got food from the best of the best eateries around, libations to get you happy and keep you happy, dogs having the times of their lives — what more could there be?

How about some great live music?

Providing those sounds will be South Florida's very own Spred the Dub!

And spread it they will with songs including "Road to Hanna," "Who Knows," "Be Free," "Girl Next Door," "Compliments to the Chef" and many more.

Friends of Jupiter Beach came together in 1994, when threats of closing the beach to dogs prompted a small group of concerned citizens to mobilize.

Sponsoring beach cleanups and providing doggie clean-up bags at the entrances to "Dog Beach" (from marker 25 to marker 60) for more than two decades now, the group has successfully preserved a space for both dog lovers and non-dog lovers (seems impossible, I know) to enjoy in harmony.

This event is their first in-person gathering since 2019. COVID forced the cancellation of plans in 2020, and 2021 was held virtually.

Friends of Jupiter Beach is holding this event in partnership with Legends Radio, Florida Power & Light, Waste Management, LaBovick Law Group, Jeck, Harris, Raynor & Jones, Castaway’s Craft Beer & Pizza, Holbert Wealth Management Group of Raymond James, American Portfolios Financial Services, Inc., Tire Kingdom, Steven Kuveikis, PA – Injury Attorney, Doane & Doane, PA, Art By Nature Garden Center, Relevant Marketing & Events, Blue Ocean Supply, Liberty Signs & Graphics, Jupiter, FL, Deluge Biotechnologies and Loggerhead Fitness.

What: 12th Annual Friends of Jupiter Beach Food & Wine Festival

Where: Jupiter Riverwalk Plaza Down Under, beneath the Indiantown Bridge, 25 Coastal Way, Jupiter

When: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 14

Cost: Adults, $50; children 4-12, $20; 3 and younger, free; VIP $100

Information: friendsofjupiterbeach.org

Eddie Ritz is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. He has lived in the West Palm Beach area for more than 30 years and, from mild to wild, will cover noteworthy community happenings. He can be reached at eritz@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: About Town: 12th Annual Friends of Jupiter Beach Food & Wine Festival