Sara Stadem | Editor
It’s that time of year again when area residents brush off their best witches and warlocks costume, or showcase their best group Halloween costumes and hit the streets of downtown Hartford for some wine tasting.
The Downtown Hartford Inc. (DHI) is set to hold their third annual Witches and Warlocks Wine Walk on Saturday, October 9, from 6-9 pm.
Seth LaBounty, co-chairperson of the Witches and Warlocks Wine Walk committee, said, “This event ties in well with what DHI is trying to do. It serves as a way to get community members to visit downtown and the businesses to get people in their doors as well, all while community members get to enjoy wine!” He continued, “There seems to be a lot of events going on in October which DHI tries to do while the weather stays nicer.”
LaBounty explained you must be 21 or older to attend the event and the cost is $25 per person.
What does that entrance fee get you? LaBounty explained community members will receive a punch card to take to the local participating businesses. Once a wine is sampled at a local business, the community member will receive a punch on their punch card. Community members take the completed punch card to the end of the wine walk to receive a free pour of whatever kind of wine they liked the best along with turning in their card to be eligible for a door prize of $100.
According to LaBounty, residents will be able to listen to Halloween party music through a sound system while strolling through from business to business. There will be chili at the Senior Citizen Center so there will be food along the way for those partaking in the wine walk to enjoy and in addition to the food and wine, there will be yard games. “We have yard games, like pumpkin bowling, which is very chaotic and unpredictable, and many more!” LaBounty said.
For those that attend to show off their creativity with their costumes, they will get to participate in the costume contest. LaBounty explained there will be a couple of different categories to look forward to the night of the wine walk. “There will be a costume contest as well with a couple of different categories that we will be encouraging as well. Since this is a Witches and Warlocks event, obviously, we have those for the best costumes,” LaBounty said. He continued, “Then we will have the best group costumes as well. We haven’t finalized all of those details yet.”
The DHI has a company they work with that supplies the wine. From there, DHI will hand out the wine to each of the businesses. “We are going to try to put it in some type of order so that if someone wants to start with a dry wine and move to sweeter, or vice versa, they can,” LaBounty said.
Once the wine walk is completed, LaBounty said there will be a seating area outside Buffalo Ridge Brewing, weather permitting, and the brewery will be open as well for people to enjoy their beverages while they wait.
“Main Street will be shut down itself so we don’t have to worry about the traffic,” LaBounty said. He concluded, “This is a fundraiser for DHI to help us with our mission to bringing life into the downtown community and helping local businesses with their growth and vitality.”