My wife and I attended the Wine Festival today, they provided a glass at the gate. First tent I went to I was shocked at the spoonful of wine I was given. I went to a second tent only to find the same disappointing amount. this is the third year that we have attended this function, I complained back at the gate only to be told sorry sir but the vendors are only allowed to serve that amount. We paid $70.00 admission, there was a very small turn-out on such a beautiful Autumn Day.
I suppose they do this this on purpose, so a person gets tired of having to constantly walk from tent to tent to get the equivalent to a glass of wine. I can buy a good bit of wine for $70.00 locally and not be embarrassed with a small spoonful of wine.
The music was great but it is the wine festival not the music festival.
Recreation and Parks, heads up, lots of folks I talked to were as unhappy as I was. Wake up before you screw this event up too.
I suppose they do this this on purpose, so a person gets tired of having to constantly walk from tent to tent to get the equivalent to a glass of wine. I can buy a good bit of wine for $70.00 locally and not be embarrassed with a small spoonful of wine.
The music was great but it is the wine festival not the music festival.
Recreation and Parks, heads up, lots of folks I talked to were as unhappy as I was. Wake up before you screw this event up too.
XBow
Nobody KNEW about trick or treat day at shorebirds stadium BAD ADVERTISING shame on them.
ReplyDeleteExactly the reason I didn't go. 70 bucks? i can buy alot of wine for that amount and have my own tasting!
ReplyDeleteI heard the same complaint from the Beer Festival with the same decision, they wouldn't be returning next year.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with this comment. I was appalled by the lack of visitors to this event. It was so poorly attended Sunday that many of the vendors packed up early and left. The leadership at Wicomico County Parks and Recs needs to wake up or they will lose another great thing. This leadership includes Gary Mackes because it stops at the top. Gary Mackes has been employed in that top spot making nearly $150,000 way to long. This guy can't even sell out a concert in that small Civic Center.
ReplyDeleteI already heard that Pork in the Park isn't coming back next year. What a waste. Many people enjoyed that Spring event as a way to get ready for an enjoyable Summer.
Some of you can remember how bike event Beast of the East was a big event at the Wicomico Civic Center. After a couple of years it fizzled out. Then Sandy Fulton tried combining it with Pork in the Park with no success. Dumb move in my opinion.
Now I am hearing Delmarva Bike Week may not be coming back to Wicomico County next year and it almost didn't make it this year.
Many factors include Gary Mackes charging way to much money for admissions. If you remember people were complaining about this years Pork in the Park admission charge. Now people are complaining about charging $35 for admission to the Autumn Wine Festival? Thirty five dollars is to much money for admission. We are paying $35 for admission and they are giving just a small "taste" of vine. They are trying to get you to buy their expensive bottles of wine buy giving you a small taste. The vendors are at the Wine Festival to promote their product and their business, not to fake a fortune off the unsuspecting patrons. If the visitors have to buy the bottles of wine to drink then we shouldn't be charged an admission charge.
Another part of the problem is that Gary Mackes is charging way to much money to the vendors. This has always been the case in Wicomico County with Gary Mackes charging way to much money for events. Concert tickets are over priced and loaded with extra and unneeded "fees." Then in the end of the sales period the promoter has to give away the tickets just to fill more seats in hopes of them buying CD's and t-shirts.
Gary Mackes has always overcharged Wicomico County Schools for the use of the Civic Center for a simple prom. The Schools in turn went down to UMES for their prom. That in itself speaks volumes.
Everyone complains about Parks and Recs, the Civic Center and everything else connected with it charges way to much. We have been in poor economic times for over 6 years now and all Wicomico County Parks and Recs wants to do is continue to charge more money and raise fees.
This all boils down to one problem and one problem alone. Gary Mackes has been a problem for Wicomico County for over 20 years and it's leadership has continued to let him get away with it, at our expense.
The biggest problem with this whole situation falls on Rick Pollitt because it falls on his watch. Rick Pollitt has had 8 years to correct this problem and he hasn't done anything about it. It's time for new leadership in Wicomico County. Only a fool would vote for Rick Pollitt. Only a fool would vote for a Democrat.
My family and friends have attended the Pemberton Wine Fest for 7 years, until this year. The entrance fee was too high and in all other years, as long as you got your tickets before the Saturday of the event, they were $5 cheaper. So it started out at $20 then $25 but we were ok with that. Now you had to buy them 9 days in advance to get them for $25? That is insane. I was very disappointed to see that the non drinking DD pass went up to $10...for what? Alot of us simply didn't go. We can pick up our Basignani and Layton's Chance locally and enjoy it together without the $35 pp charge. Just from our side of things, we usually have 10-12 of us attend together. I can't imagine we were the only ones who decided to keep that hard earned money in our pockets.
ReplyDelete-countrygirl@heart
POLLITT IRETON KILLI.NG MD
ReplyDeletePlease say it isn't so about Pork-In-the-Park
ReplyDeleteI understand the small portions, it is after all a Wine Tasting. You can buy a bottle for a larger amount if you wish. Our tkts were $25, pre sale. They did go up at the door to $35, which is a large jump.
ReplyDeleteThe most disappointing point was the time change. The time this year was 11a-5p. Who drinks wine at 11a? In years past the time was 12p-6p, which I think is much more suitable.
It is such a fun event and I don't mind the $25 charge, however, I do hope they change back the time to 12p-6.
I went as a vendor and I had to pay $10 just to get inside and man our vendor's booth that we paid a lot of money for. They only allowed 1 "free" ticket per booth. I didn't get to taste the wine, but I did get one thing. Guess what that was? One can of Pepsi and they checked to make sure I had a ticket stub and they took that to make sure I wouldn't come back for another one. How F*n CHEAP is that. Rick Pollitt Gary Mackes and the administration needs to go.
ReplyDeleteWhat made me mad was the $3 per ticket charge for buying early online, they said it was for shipping, why did I get another $3 per ticket charge for the additional tickets I ordered? All of them came in a 1st class envelope that was metered for .48 cents. So really early bird tickets were $28 after the fee. THAT left a bad taste in my mouth before anything started.
ReplyDeleteThe event was nice on Saturday, it was well attended and was fun with a group. The metered pours is customary with an event like this, still had a bunch of drunks running around with whole wine bottles strapped around their neck, but whatever no fights or anything happened so that part I was OK with. Don't bother me and I won't bother you.
I was not impressed with the selection of wines, it seemed like they were giving taste tests of the crap wine then charging $1 for a taste of the "better" wine, still even then most were too sweet for my taste. I only found one good red wine out of all those vendors, to me that is really sad.
Maybe Bob can shake things up and next year the event will be better, I gave up on the beer event in hopes the winefest would be better and was very disappointed, unless things change I will not be attending either next year.
By change I mean emailing me my ticket (ditch $3 fee), lowering the admission price ($20), and finding more WINE vendors.
Rick is scared to death of Gary. If you've noticed, most of his so called campaign has been promoting things in Recs and Parks, Tourism, etc. Things associated with Gary. Also, Straussburg is Gary's drinking buddy. Remember the car hiding episode at Back Street. Again people, there is a clique that runs this county and the drinking buddies are at the heart of it. Straussburg made sure Mackes got his big budget for new vehicles while our vehicles are being destroyed by potholes. It was only recently (can we say election) they found money to fix a few roads but there was $600,000 for Mackes to spend so he got a new Tahoe. This administration is all about themselves and the hell with the rest of the people. If we are dumb enough to put Pollitt back in office, we deserve what we get. Strassburg and Mackes need to go too.
ReplyDeleteWhen is this circus going to end for Wicomico County. Getting rid of the current people and get someone that cares about this county and it's people. Vote for Bob, lets hope , he will take care of this B.S.
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ReplyDeletethe only thing Gary has in his stars is a NEW modern upper class Civic Center with a brand new restaurant and LIQUOR on tap.
what a disgrace to our county and at $150.00 and a new classy car. We can do better. I think Bob Culver can put a stop to all that.
The vendors are stingy with their product which is not very good anyway I will not attend next year.
ReplyDeleteya all miss the bigger picture. the sports leagues/events that are either no longer up and running or are hanging by a thread. Teams pay expensive fees just to have parks and rec give them lip service. Way past time for gary to go. The department has been downsized just so he can keep his salary and those of his friends. everyone else is long gone!
ReplyDeletePre-sale is cheaper so get your tix then. As for the tiny samples, it's the law, look it up. My family went to beer & wine fests and had a better time this year than ever, due to better local products. You are all the so against certain politicians that you make everything in your lives about them...must make you the miserable person no one wants to be around. Rather than complain, do something you enjoy those weekends and forget about the festivals.
ReplyDeleteThe Wine Festival was fun, my group went on Sunday and there were a few who had too much to drink and were escorted out. This is not a drunk fest, I went to listen to On The Edge and taste some wines and enjoy the outdoors with some friends and family. Got our tix early. I do think that the vendors should be dispursed in between the wine tents to give the vendors more awareness. I enjoyed the event and the Sangria!!!!
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