Event serves up wine, food and art for a cause

If you like wine, food and entertainment, you’ll want to be at the Art D’Vine fundraiser on Oct. 1.

The event, sponsored by the SCCA Foundation Board, will feature a variety of wines paired with heavy hors d’oeuvres, in addition to live and silent auctions featuring more than 70 items of original art, food, wine and entertainment.

All the proceeds go to the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts to support its programs, especially those geared toward children.

“This is our one major fundraiser of the year,” said Sharyn Flintoff, a co-chair for the event. “The proceeds of this auction will go towards classes and programming at the center. In particular, we’re concentrating on children, trying to offer more classes and scholarships and provide money for students to take field trips.”

The fourth annual Art D’Vine celebration has a fundraising goal of $50,000, said Susan Rawls, the other event co-chair.

“It’s for a good cause, which is to help support our programs,” Rawls said. “It just helps our whole center to perform and to get things out there for the community to get involved with and to enjoy and learn from.”

The theme for this year’s event is “Fall Fare with a Festive Flair.” Guests will enjoy seasonal wine and food pairings at different stations around the ballroom. Recipe cards will be available for those who find they can’t live without a particular dish.

“People seem to really like that, because it’s a bit of a learning experience,” Flintoff said of the pairings. “It’s just really fun.”

The variety of wine will include red and white selections. Complimentary beer, water and soft drinks will be served.

“If your husband or wife doesn’t drink wine, come anyway, because we have something for you, too,” Flintoff said.

Those who prefer shopping will be able to select from dozens of auction items including seafood feasts, private yacht cruises, performance tickets and more.

“It’s all kinds of things that have to do with arts, food, wine and entertainment,” Rawls said. “Since we are an arts center, the majority of our items have to do with art.”

Flintoff added the auction items are high-quality and mostly one-of-a-kind.

“We feel like we have quality items that we offer in our auction,” she said. “We think that makes our auction stand out from other auctions.”

The dressy-casual event will be held from 8 to 11 p.m. at the center, 110 W. Finney Ave. To purchase tickets or for more information, call 923-0003, ext. 3020.