Greetings from WSU
Sigma Iota Hospitality Association of Washington State University would like to cordially invite your winery to join us at our 24th annual Winefest. This year our popular wine tasting fundraiser will be held on Friday, April 11, at the Schweitzer Event Center in Pullman, WA. Winefest will be kicking off a very exciting Mom's weekend at WSU, which is traditionally one of our biggest weekends of the year on the Palouse.
Our names are Jennifer Engle and Jessica Heath we are coordinating this year's Winefest. We are so very excited to work with you to make this event a success. This year we are planning to accommodate approximately 600 guests. Winefest 2008 will feature wine tasting from some of the finest wineries throughout the Northwest, catering by School of Hospitality Business Management, an exciting silent auction and live band. We will be hosting two sessions; the first session running from 5pm-7pm and the second from 8pm-10pm.
We would be so delighted for your winery to attend this fundraising event. This is a great opportunity for you to market your wine to the WSU community with over 20,000 students, parents and active alumni as well as enthusiasts from all around the Northwest. We recommend that you provide a red, white and one specialty wine. We ask that you bring enough to serve 600 one-ounce pours and additional wine for sales if you choose.
This year, we strongly encourage you send a representative from your winery. We feel this will benefit all parties as the representatives will be able to provide guests with the finest and most accurate information regarding your great wines. This is also a great opportunity to increase your business throughout the Northwest, since many of our guests live outside the Palouse region. Hospitality students will be on hand to assist in pouring the wine to ensure your representative has ample time to answer any questions the guests may have for them. Space is limited and for those who are interested, we have several hotel rooms reserved for the weekend to ensure a great stay in Pullman.
Winefest is a student fundraiser, and all wineries are being offered the opportunity to donate their tasting wines. If you are interested in donating but do not wish to donate wine services, items for our silent auction such as gift baskets, gift certificates, specialty wines, or wine tasting tours of your location would make excellent contributions to our silent auction, and event as a whole. Wineries that do choose to donate will be given special acknowledgement in our Winefest 2008 Programs and on our website to publicize their generosity and support for Sigma Iota. Sigma Iota is dedicated to providing their members with opportunities that will help them further their careers in the Hospitality and Business fields. All funds generate from this event help support our members via scholarships, industry experience and educational opportunities.
Thank you for taking the time to consider your participation in this year's Winefest. We hope to make this the best year ever and would love your support!