Wolcott - Wine & Jazz This Weekend
Mike Costanza | Lakeshore News Writer
WOLCOTT - Ready for hot jazz, cool wine and a terrific time? Head down to Wolcott this Saturday for the third annual Central New York Wine & Jazz Fest. “The bands are great and the wines are good,” says Michael Bettis, coordinator of the festival and president of the Wolcott Area Chamber of Commerce, which joined with the Wolcott Lions Club to organize the festival.
Bettis says this year’s Wine & Jazz Fest features five acts, including the nationally known jazz ensemble the Rick Holland Little Big Band, vocalists Danielle Rausa and Rachel Otto, and regional jazz favorite E.S.P. The Domicolo-Barlow Band, a popular local duo, rounds out the bill.
“They get the crowd involved and get you moving and grooving,” Bettis says.
Atop that comes the wine tasting. Bettis says over 16 local wineries are scheduled to present their wares for tasting and sale on Main Street, which will be closed to traffic throughout the day.
All that wine tasting will help local kids and residents. Bettis says some of the festival’s proceeds will be used to pay for eyeglasses and minor eye treatments and surgeries for local children. Festival money will also help finance local summer and after-school programs for kids, and help pay the heating bills of those in need.
“We serve our community-that’s what this festival is all about,” he says. Bettis says the festival drew as many as 6,000 to Wolcott last year, and raised about $8,000. As welcome as those funds would be this year, the festival doesn’t necessarily float all boats. Robert Delf, co-owner of Bob’s Big M, says that in the past the festival has cut down-not added to-traffic to his Wolcott store.
“Everybody’s busy with the festival,” Delf says. “Typically it slows us down that day.”
Some businesses expect to experience more than a slowdown. Amber Roberts, owner of the Palace Theatre-which is open only from Friday to Sunday-says the closing of Main Street would cut so deeply into her business that she doesn’t plan to open this weekend at all.
“If I lose my Saturday night business, I don’t make enough between Friday and Sunday to cover my expenses,” Roberts says. Despite such difficulties, Roberts and Delf say they support the festival as a way to introduce visitors to Wolcott. “The more people we can get to our community, the better we all are,” Delf says.
All this fun takes a lot of work. Bettis says planning for this year’s Wine & Jazz Fest began just after the last one ended in 2010. He credits Sheri Sheldon, assistant vice president and bank manager for the Wolcott branch of the Lyons National Bank, Chuck Palermo, publisher of Wayuga Printing & Publishing and Lakeshore News, and Ross Chrisman, second vice president of the Wolcott Lions Club, for giving a great deal of time and energy to the festival.
Costs for this year’s festival come to about $12,000, Bettis says, much of it contributed by local sponsors. Bettis is also production manager for Wayuga Printing & Publishing, the Lakeshore News’ parent company.
