Auction of Washington Wines Hybrid Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The 34th Annual Auction of Washington Wines is quickly approaching AND it will be the first-ever Hybrid Event.The Auction’s Executive Director Jaimie Peha says after last year’s virtual event, this year’s format started taking shape early …
PEHA … “Way back, when we started making decisions, we thought that we would have four small events, like maybe 40 to 60 people at different locations with everybody spread out so, we figured by August that would be okay.”
But, Peha says after the technology they used last year, they realized they had more options …
PEHA … “As it got closer, we realized, okay, the restrictions are lightening up, we can actually make these events bigger. And so, they started to sort of grow in size, and then it became clear that, you know what, we can take one of these events live.”
Now, Peha says we can return to much of the original Auction, along with some of the new …
PEHA … “So, we went back to our original location, that we’ve been at for 35 years, which is Chateau Ste. Michelle, and we are doing the live event there. It will be about a third of the size that it usually is, so about 250 people. So, there people will attend and it will be the full-on reception and dinner and live bidding with paddles and all of that.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on next month’s Auction of Washington Wines in a new and improved format.