By Kate Knight

The Boys and Girls Club of Portage County will hold its 12th annual Taste of Wine and Cheese event on Friday, April 1 from 7 – 10 p.m. at the Noel Group Hangar in Stevens Point.

Tickets can be purchased for $65 at www.bgclubpc.org, Trig’s in Stevens Point, or the club’s new Berard Center on Michigan Ave. Brittany Von Ebers, director of development and marketing at Boys and Girls Club of Portage County, encourages community members to purchase tickets sooner than later. The event is limited to 800 attendees and is known to sell out.

“It’s been getting bigger and raises more money each year,” Von Ebers said. “This year’s goal is to raise $100,000 in one night.”

Funds raised at the event will support programs at the Boys and Girls Club, including a new healthy dinner initiative. The dinner program will provide free, well-balanced meals to kids at the club on weekday evenings.

New this year, the Boys and Girls Club is offering a pre-event tasting earlier on the evening of Taste of Wine and Cheese. The pre-event includes a sampling of six Trinchero Family Estates wines and is limited to 50 people. (Contributed photo)

“The event supports kids of the community – the ones eventually controlling our future,” Von Ebers said. “So if we are training tomorrow’s leaders today, we want to do the best we can to make a big impact on their future.”

Taste of Wine and Cheese is organized by a committee, which includes club board members, community volunteers and club staff. It is the largest fundraising event put on by the Boys and Girls Club with about 100 volunteers involved.

The 12th annual event will feature a new pre-event tasting from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the hangar – prior to the start of Taste of Wine and Cheese. “Taste of the Vineyard” will provide no more than 50 attendees with six samples of wines not available for tasting at the main event. Hors d’oeuvres from Rockman’s Catering will also be offered, along with a premium bourbon tasting.

Wine varieties to be included at Taste of the Vineyard will come from Trinchero Family Estates in Napa Valley, California. A sommelier representing Trinchero will facilitate the pre-event and educate wine tasters on the characteristics of each sample. Tickets to attend Taste of the Vineyard followed by Taste of Wine and Cheese are on sale for $110 online and at the Boys and Girls Club’s Berard Center location.

Traditional highlights of Taste of Wine and Cheese will include more than 60 silent auction items, 100 varieties of wine, samples from local breweries and Great Northern Distilling, assorted appetizers including cheese, fruit and desserts, a bourbon tasting sponsored by Trig’s Cellar 70, and Sippin’ for Bling presented by Lee Ayers Jewelers. Raffle tickets are also being sold in advance for a chance to win a year’s worth of beer donated by Central Waters Brewing Company.

“The community has been so generous,” Von Ebers said. “This is already our highest fundraising year yet. Every year we just want to make the event better.”

“It’s the most fun to plan because of the return we get on it,” she added. “Seeing the generosity of the community blows me away every year, and it’s encouraging – to keep doing what we’re doing – making kids’ lives better.”

For more information on the Boys and Girls Club of Portage County, Taste of Wine and Cheese, or to volunteer, visit www.bgclubpc.org or find the club on Facebook.