Due to the growing popularity of the wine walk which took place on the Friday evening of the Peanut Butter Festival, the Redbank Valley Chamber of Commerce decided to have the event as a stand-alone event at the beginning of summer.

The Chamber is hoping that a potentially successful festival will be able to take the place of the annual golf outing as a way to pay for New Bethlehem’s 4th of July fireworks display.

“The Chamber’s golf outing has been used as a fundraiser for the Chamber’s July fireworks event,” explained Gordon Barrows, Past President of the Chamber. “After seeing the golf outing steadily decline over the past several years, we needed a more profitable event in order to properly fund the fireworks event.”

Barrows went on to explain that since the Chamber already had the knowledge and resources required for this type of festival because of the wine walk, creating this stand-alone event was a smart move to make to hopefully generate more profit.

“The Peanut Butter Festival Wine Walk has been consistently successful since its initial development. Since we already had the basic foundation/resources for a wine walk, we decided to expand and separate this event with the goal that it will generate enough profit to not only sustain itself but also keep the fireworks event alive.”

The first annual “Nutty Wine, Shine, and Brewfest” will take place in New Bethlehem’s Gumtown Park on Saturday, May 4, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The theme of the festival will be “Cinco de Mayo.”

There are currently 14 vendors scheduled to set up at Gumtown Park on the 4th. Those vendors include Twisted Vine Winery; The Winery at Wilcox; Country Winery and Vineyards; Deer Creek Winery; Bee Kind Winery; Porchvue Winery; DR Distillery; Woody Lodge Winery; Star Hall Vineyard and Winery; Chicken Hill Distillery; Bear Creek Wine; Wapiti Ridge Wine Cellars; Triple Nickle Distillery; and Groundhog Winery.

In addition to having the opportunity to sample various drinks from across the region, festival goers will also be treated to various food vendors, artisans, basket raffles, 50/50 raffles, and musical entertainment provided by Against the Grain.

There will be a grand prize drawing of either a $1,000.00 cash prize or one-week lodging accommodation in Aruba. Each ticket purchase qualifies as one entry into the drawing with patrons having the opportunity to purchase additional entries at the festival.

Tickets are $25.00 each and can be purchased at the Redbank Valley Chamber office, all New Bethlehem banks, A-Plus, Zack’s, Shirey Overhead Doors, and Joe’s Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant. The event will take place rain or shine and no one under 21 is permitted.

While the driving force behind the festival is to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the fireworks, Barrows was also quick to point out that the Chamber is aiming to provide an event that will hopefully become a community staple for the New Bethlehem area.

“The chamber is hopeful that the Wine, Shine and Brew festival will become a yearly tourist attraction and community staple that our chamber members and surrounding community will enjoy.”