Here at OneTake Media, we LOVE covering events, doesn’t matter what it is (well it kind of does). Our basic rule of thumb is the weirder the event, the more electric it is going to be. While the rest of the OneTake team was talking shop for OTR, Producer Reese went on a solo circle jerk mission to Lodi’s famous Grape Festival to see what all the hype was about.
I must say, my expectations for this event were far different from what I saw. I first heard about this festival through a buddy of mine (a Lodi Towny), and was initially not very excited by the spiel. In my head, I was picturing a small/medium sized winery where people walk around and look at grape harvests (don’t get me wrong- there was actually a little bit of this). Lodi is known for its grapes and wine too, if you haven’t guessed. Yeah, it didn't sound particularly fun at the time.
Well, I was wrong. The festival actually takes place at Lodi’s Fairgrounds, which is quite a spacious area considering the size of the actual town. The best way to describe this event would be to call it an agricultural celebration combined with an art walk, combined with a wine tasting event, within an amusement park which also has a plethora of live entertainment.
I attended the event with friends and family. There is an admission price, but if you bring in canned foods (which gets donated), the price goes down significantly. So after standing in line with our bags of cans and entering the fairgrounds, the first thing we all did was head to the Lodi Grape and Wine Pavilion, which is in the center of all the action. The pavilion features a variety of different things, including the finest selection of grapes from the area (which is ranked by judges), grape murals and other types of grape art, historical displays of Lodi, a sectioned off wine tasting area, and some other cool stuff to walk around and see. My personal favorite part of that pavilion was the wine slushee bar. By far one of the most interesting and tasty alcoholic beverages I’ve consumed. 1 mixed wine slushee plus the heat of the day was enough to give me a level 3 buzz for the entire time I was there- would definitely drink it again.
We continued to walk around the festival and watch some of the live entertainment that it had to offer. There are multiple stages around the fairgrounds which feature different types of music and dancing. The stage that I enjoyed spending the most time at was the Vaz Brothers Stage. It showcased a variety of traditional Mexican dancing from local academies- pretty fire.
The rest of the day was spent checking out the vendor tables/booths. There is no exact theme to what people are selling- and that’s the best part. You’ll never know what you’ll find here. Vendors were selling everything from reptiles, to vintage comics, to homemade jerky, to patriotic apparel- I scored a pretty sweet shirt from this booth (we love our boys in blue). I guess I forgot to add “giant flea market” to my description of this event, because this is also what it consisted of.
Almost forgot to mention that the other 50 percent of fairgrounds is filled with amusement park rides (roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, the rides that toss you up-down-and around), carnival games, and the best (worst) types of junk food. I wasn't very intrigued by this part of the festival, but it can definitely be fun if you’re in high school and go with your friends at night.
All in all, it was a pretty solid event. It usually goes for three days, starting Friday and ending Sunday, and is open from Noon to 11 PM. If you ever find yourself in the Central Valley towards the end of September and feel like indulging in funnel cakes, wine slushies, and live music, then definitely stop by to visit the Grape Festival!
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Where is mirror selfie Producer Reese and when will he come back ?