By Collin Perez
Contributing Writer
The De Pere Optimists Club will be hosting its 10th annual Wine Beer and Cheese Festival at the Swan Club, a ballroom in De Pere.
“The Optimist Club of De Pere was chartered in 1964. Since that time, we have dedicated our efforts to help the youth of De Pere.
The motto of the Optimist clubs worldwide is ‘Friend of Youth,’” stated Harry Olp, an organizer of the Festival and member of the club.
The club supports the Hands Across De Pere and Hope Squad to prevent youth suicides, the Boy Scouts, Girl’s Youth Softball and special projects for high school students.
This is done through fundraisers for the Club’s expenses, which also include $5,000 dollars worth of scholarships for seniors from both West De Pere and De Pere High School.
The Festival is one of their major fundraisers and typically averages around 200 people.
The club is hoping to raise the number of attendees in order to provide even more support to the youth in the De Pere community.
Harry explained how the event works, “The process we use for the tasting of both wines and beer is that everyone gets a wine glass when they enter. There are usually 5 or 6 wineries represented and about the same number of craft beer vendors that offer a variety of their wines and beers. The people attending use the glasses they receive to get small samples of the wine or beer. There is no limit on how many samples they can receive. The vendors will also describe the wine or beer and answer questions.”
Alongside the theme of no limit to samples Harry also said, “There is a buffet of carved prime rib and turkey sandwiches and other fine foods.”
There will also be a silent auction in which Harry revealed a special item of a Game Day experience for the January 2024 Packer vs. Bear game valued at $800.
The festival will be held on Friday, Nov. 3rd from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The tickets can be purchased in advance for $30 each or two for $50 at Captain’s Walk, Seroogy’s, Dugg’s Take 5, De Pere Optimist members, Cotter Funeral Home and www.eventbrite.com.
They can also be purchased at the door for $40 each. For more information about the event and the De Pere Optimists Club, you can look up “De Pere Optimists Club” on Facebook.