Green Gala

Saturday, September 29, 2012

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Wintergreen Studios: 9780 Canoe Lake Rd., Township of South Frontenac (near Westport) 613–273–8745

On Saturday, October 23, 2010, we hosted our first fundraising celebration called Share the Harvest: A Celebration of Local Life.

We are planning a similar event for 2012, called the Green Gala. The 2010 event featured local foods and wines, musical performances by Kingston and area musicians, and a silent auction. We will have a similar format for the 2012 celebration.

The aims of the event were three-fold: (a) to celebrate locally grown foods and wines as well as local artists, musicians, and businesses, (b) to educate our guests about the many riches in our community and about the programs at Wintergreen, and (c) to stimulate further program development and outreach through the establishment of an endowed fund to support school garden programs.

Food and Wine

There was food and wine available throughout the evening (included in the ticket price), featuring products from local farms and wineries. We harvested beets, carrots, potatoes, cabbages, kale, chard, herbs, and tomatoes from our own Wintergreen gardens, and several local farmers provided other fresh produce, such as peppers and squash. Firefly Lane Farm and the Frugal Farm donated goat, chicken, pork and beef for the event (there were vegetarian dishes, too!). Tara Natural Foods was one of our major sponsors and provided food and marketing support for the event. Main Street Market, an urban CSA that supplies weekly produce baskets in Kingston sourced from local and organic farms and business and a strong supporter of local food programs and community gardening, donated produce and coffee for the event. Other organic farms that supplied food included Gerrie’s Glorious Greens and Forest Farm.

Steam Whistle Brewing donated the Pilsner beer. Steam Whistle uses an extraordinary range of sustainable practices in producing its beer. We also featured wines from Prince Edward County, provided by Rosehall Run, The Grange of Prince Edward County, and Thirty Three Vines. We will continue to feature these wines throughout our 2011 dinner-entertainment series.

Entertainment

Two of the featured bands were fireweed, an acoustic trio, and Sheesham and Lotus, Ol’ Tyme musicians.

Silent Auction

Beautiful mixed media, fused glass, prints, and sculpted pieces from Kingston area artists, as well as items donated by local businesses, were available for silent auction. Contributors to the silent auction were acknowledged in the printed program received by guests when they arrived at the gala.

Some of the silent auction art items included: Kabuki, a framed watercolour by Kingston artist Graham Shorting (detail pictured), fused glass by Kevin Kapler, a print by Angela Costello, Hobbit House (detail pictured) by watercolor artist Maria Klawe, a mixed media piece by Holly Dean called Sweet Hours (detail pictured), and an acrylic painting titled Autumn Birch by Heidi Mack (detail pictured above). There were wine tastings offered for auction by several Prince Edward County wineries, including Thirty Three Vines, The Grange, and Rosehall Run, a flight for three over Kingston and area, dinner for 4 overlooking the falls by the chef of the Waterfall Tea Room, and a night at the Four Points Sheraton in Kingston. Other silent auction items included a basket of local produce from Wendy’s Country Market, a snowshoeing expedition at Wintergreen sponsored by Trailhead, and a hand-made leather bag by Laura Langford.