By Douglas W. Motley
Senior Writer
Hawaii and luaus and the “Aloha culture” were the theme of the first Corks & Hops wine and beer tasting extravaganza of the season held in Crestline on June 6. Each tasting station tried to exhibit another element of “Aloha.”
Each month during the summer Crestline holds a large festival and this June the event was a sellout, as the chamber decided to stop walk-up ticket sales a half-hour early to preserve enough choices for those who had already purchased their tickets.
During Corks & Hops, there are 10 tasting stations spread throughout the community, from Top Town Crestline, where there were two tasting stations, down through Lake Gregory Village, all the way to Lake Gregory.
There is a shuttle bus that takes the festival goers to the numerous stations, where there is live music, food trucks, open stores and pop-up vendors throughout town. This year there were several new stops such as the relocated Bizzyland in the former and now totally remodeled Presbyterian Church and Keller Williams, directly across from the north shore of Lake Gregory.
With the Hawaiian theme, there were many wearing grass skirts, Hawaiian sarongs, muumuus and lots of aloha shirts and shorts with flip-flops. The Lions Club handing out pretzel necklaces and water and other community volunteers handling various jobs such as set and cleanup are what make the event run smoothly.
Enjoying the music and friends during Corks & Hops this June.
The brewers and winemakers were mostly from California, including Sycamore Ranch wines and ciders from our own local award-winning winery owned and run by the Krumweides, who were last year’s Jamboree Days parade grand marshals.
The next Corks & Hops will be held on Aug. 1, followed monthly on Sept. 5 and Oct. 3. The August theme will be “The Decades,” with five stages, each with a different live band representing the decades from the 70s on. In September; the theme will be “Disc Jockeys and Jerseys,” so wear your favorite sports jersey and enjoy the disco parties at the various tasting stops. October’s theme will be “Country Western,” so wear your big belt buckles, boots, cowboy hats and ladies bring that “big hair” and do some boot-scooting around town as you enjoy the music, the various brews and, that day, you can practice talking with a Texan drawl.
Comments from June’s event were very positive as the weather was perfect and the wines and beers were excellently chosen, as they have many different choices each month.
“After this winter and May’s weather, I wondered how this event would be, but I must compliment whoever chose today’s weather,” said Suzanne White from Riverside, who added, “The wines were very tasty tonight, too. I like how the pourer at each stop tells you a bit about each wine. This is the second year I’ve come up here and I plan to return in August, too.”
Several of the stores in town were open later hours than usual that evening for everyone’s shopping pleasure. The pet shop also offered a pet adoption day during Corks & Hops. The pottery shop showed off their pot-throwing efforts and results. The new art supply shop had had their movie nights posted and Bizzyland’s new interior stage was amazing. The Comic Book shop’s new location and Pokemon stores were delightful finds for many.
There was no Corks & Hops in July as the Jamboree Days parade took place on the first Saturday, July 4. Crestline had been chosen by AAA’s Westways Magazine as one of the “Five Worth the Drive” for the July 4th holiday.
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