The Auburn Food and Wine Festival is back and ready for newcomers. On Oct. 14 and 15, the Auburn Food and Wine Festival will be hosting benefit dinners at three different restaurants each night.
On Thursday night, the benefit dinners will be held at The Waverly Local, Moores Mill Country Club and The Depot. For Friday night, the benefit dinners will be hosted at Acre, The Hound and Christine’s Unlimited.
The Auburn Food and Wine Festival benefit dinners offers a chance for the community to highlight the culinary scene in Auburn.
This year, Aaron Norris and Katy Blackburn acquired the festival from Christine Healey, who helped begin the Auburn Food and Wine Festival back in 2019. Healey was a local chef and caterer who recently retired and moved home to Canada.
With COVID-19 putting a halt on anything happening in 2020, Norris and Blackburn did not want to let another year go by without holding an event. Thus, the benefit dinners were created. This is the first year they will occur.
“The first thing we want to do is benefit these restaurants,” Norris said. “After the labor shortages and COVID, these restaurants have been hit hard.”
When Norris and Blackburn approached the restaurants, they told the chefs they could have creative reign over the menus for the dinners and which beverages to pair with each.
The benefit dinners will be held with small groups at the restaurants, where the chefs will walk through their menu.
Along with the benefit dinners donating to local charities, participants will be able to partake in the East Alabama Community Ballet virtual silent auction. Anyone can take part in the virtual silent auction, even if one does not attend the benefit dinners.
The Waverly Local will be benefitting the Food Bank of East Alabama’s Backpack Program. The Depot will be benefitting the Lee County Humane Society. The Hound will be benefitting Nourish. Christine’s Unlimited will be benefitting the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lee County.
Tickets are going fast, with Moores Mill Country Club, The Depot, Acre and Christine’s Unlimited already being sold out. However, tickets are still available for The Waverly Local and The Hound.
Participants who are able to attend both nights of the benefit dinners will receive a discount for the tickets at their purchase.
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Jayne Duignan, senior in journalism and psychology, is a culture writer at The Auburn Plainsman.
