Grove City Wine & Arts Festival

Friday night my husband Andrew and I attended the Wine & Arts Festival in Grove City after seeing an advert in a local newspaper. Having never before attended we were intrigued, and as Grove City isn’t exactly a million miles away (in fact, it’s where my sister teaches), we thought it would be a fun evening out. The weather was more than cooperative with sun and temperatures in the low 80s (a little cooler than that after the sun went down). We parked at a local shopping center and then hopped on the shuttle that whisked us a few miles down the road to the city centre where the festival was being held.

As we’ve rarely ever been to Grove City (only twice that I can think of), it was like being somewhere brand new to us, which is always nice. We were both quite impressed by the local library (hoping that Hilliard’s new branch is half as nice as this one) as we could easily look in through the floor to ceiling glass windows on both floors.

The roads were closed so attendees could wander the streets browsing the various food stands and artists in attendance. Of course there were lots of wineries represented too, hence the name of the festival. I would say it was about 60% wineries, and 40% food/artists. It’s like a smaller, more inebriated version of the Columbus Arts Festival (which was held the previous weekend). It’s really the perfect size for an evening out because we had plenty of time to meander between stands while talking to people and trying to choose which wines to sample.

It cost $20 per person which got you a souvenir glass and 8 samples. Each sample (perhaps 1/3 of a glass) cost one ticket, and a whole glass cost 3 tickets. I had 3 samples, 1 full glass, and ¾ of a glass. Of the samples I had, a couple of the more interesting ones were a full glass of Cucumber Melon wine from It’s Your Winery in Medina (I love their t-shirts! We are totally stopping there on our next trip up to Northeast Ohio).

The other interesting sample I had was a Raspberry Mocha Port dessert wine. It definitely tasted of raspberry and mocha, which was an interesting contrast having it in a wine instead of coffee (which, as you may recall, is my favorite flavor of Folger’s).

Besides the fun of sampling the various wines (next time I need more tickets or I need to be more selective), we enjoyed looking at the art, which wasn’t all wine themed, though there were a few booths that were. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the atmosphere and nice weather and all, but we broke down and bought some more art, though in this case, it’s both pretty and practical. We bought four drinking glasses depicting a tree transformed by the various seasons.

My favorites are the winter and spring scenes. I had to declutter our cabinet a bit, but it was worth it to make room for these beautiful vessels. Now I just have to force myself to use, rather than just savor them.

While walking around I enjoyed talking to various people wearing wine-themed garb (like the Wine Party ladies wearing identical pink tank tops). There was this lady from the Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard & Winery.

Olde Schoolhouse Vineyard & Winery, my new friend, Dreama

Then I met Dreama, who lives out in Morrow County (aka the boondocks or God’s country,). We had a nice long chat about all sorts of things while admiring the marbled canvases nearby. My apologies to the artist for not actually buying anything, and maybe blocking people from having a look at your art.I also chatted with a lady selling the most unusual shaped salt ‘n pepper shakers that rely on physics and gravity to hold & dispense the salt & pepper. I told her I’d possibly buy a set if I didn’t already have several dozen pair at home I inherited and am still trying to find a good home for. I also had a chat with the couple running the Mothman booth. I told them we recently had a visit from a female Imperial Moth who proceeded to lay eggs on the metal fence between our and our neighbor's yard. They were impressed by the photos I showed them on my phone.

After much contemplation and Andrew’s encouragement, I decided to try my hand at a little glass spin art. Basically you chose your various colors (Pebeo 650) then gradually squeeze them out of a plastic eye dropper while your piece of glass is spinning around (inside) underneath. Whatever color you most want to emphasize you should probably save for last and keep it close to the center. I tried to recreate a tie-dyed effect I saw on one of the samples, but didn’t quite manage the rainbow effect. Still, I am happy with my creation and forever grateful Andrew remembered to pick up my piece of glass at the end of the evening (they had packed it up since they didn’t think we were coming back). We followed the instructions which was to let it dry for 24 hours, then seal it by baking it in the oven for about 40 minutes. Here’s the finished product:

I might frame it (using a piece of clear glass or just an empty frame) to protect it from damage.

Near the end of our evening we ran into our cousin and her husband who live nearby and enjoyed having a chat with them before getting some ice cream from the local ice cream shop, then took the shuttle back to the car park and headed home.

Needless to say I had a bit of a hangover (both from the food and the wine) and slept quite late the next morning, but it was totally worth it and I can’t wait to do it again next year!