Sierra Madre Wine and Jazz Walk Set for Saturday, Oct. 3rd 
 
Click images to enlarge (except logo, which links to event website)

The Sierra Madre Wine and Jazz Walk to benefit the City of Hope will be held on Saturday, October 3rd  from 4 to 7pm in downtown Sierra Madre.  Thirty Sierra Madre merchants, retailers and downtown businesses will swing open their doors to welcome attendees, offering delicious food from more than a dozen local eateries/caterers/chefs.  As attendees stroll the downtown area, they will be entertained at a dozen venues by twelve jazz combos/bands.   New to the event this year will be the San Antonio Winery Wine Garden, from 6 to 8pm.
 
The Riboli Family Wine Estates is the presenting sponsor of the event, donating wine from the historic San Antonio Winery to be served at each of the venues.  The Winery was founded in 1917.  During prohibition, when most wineries closed down, San Antonio was able to stay in business by providing sacramental wines to the Catholic Church, and to this day, produces altar wine as well as the aforementioned award winners.
 
Tickets for the event are available online by visiting the event website, www.SierraMadreWineandJazzWalk.com, or by visiting one of the participating businesses in downtown Sierra Madre.  Advance tickets are $35, on the day of the event, tickets will be $40.  Advance tickets to the Wine Garden are available only when bought in tandem with Wine Walk tickets.  Wine Garden tickets the day of the event will be $40, or when bought with Wine Walk tickets, $20.  In addition to full glasses of wine (as opposed to the tastes that are offered as part of the Wine Walk), there will be prizes given away in the garden, and the Latin jazz band Sweet Heat will be performing live.
 
According to Angel Throop, owner of Angels Everywear, one of the participating businesses since the event's 2006 inception, the event began when she and some other Sierra Madre merchants were talking about the many events that take place in Sierra Madre, and the idea of a Wine Walk came up.  Shortly thereafter, a trip to Café 322 in Sierra Madre to enjoy some live jazz was the genesis of the idea to add jazz to the wine walk, and the idea started to pick up steam.  It was agreed that making it a charitable event was a good idea, and the City of Hope was selected.  The reasons for picking City of Hope were many.  The event was to be held in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  All of the involved participants that first year had had customers, friends and/or family affected by cancer.  Throop's father-in-law, the 2006 Sierra Madre Older American of the Year in Sierra Madre was treated for lymphoma at City of Hope, and was in fact, at that time, the oldest person to receive stem cell treatment at City of Hope.  Another acquaintance had been treated at City of Hope, despite the fact that they had no insurance.  So City of Hope was selected.
 
This year's event features nearly a dozen live bands.  Joining Sweet Heat on the bill are The Mercy Powell Quartet, Max Buda, Nine + One Big Band With Harry Smallenburg, Skivaly/Sills Quartet, The Susan Krebs Trio, The Bruce Lofgren Trio, Envino Jazz, New Astroturf, Red Eye Blues Trio, and the Lorenzo Grassi Trio.  Music is being booked, arranged, set up and coordinated by Mario Lalli, owner of Café 322, a local restaurant and nightspot known throughout the region for booking quality jazz and blues bands.  Photo at left is from 2008 event.
 
There will also be a silent auction featuring dozens of items up for bid, including:

• Dodgers Ticket Package
• Wine Tasting and Tour for Four at Callaway Winery
• Numerous dinner packages at local restaurants
• Taco Party for 25
• Passes to local museums
• Weeks of free membership at local gyms
• San Pedro Harbor Cruises
• Turf Club Admission, with Valet Parking and lunch up to $100 at Santa Anita Park
• Big Bear Weekend Getaway
• Gift Package including Rose Bowl game tickets and parking
• and many other wonderful items.

Food this year will be varied.  Some merchants will be providing their own food, while many have teamed with local restaurants, caterers and chefs to provide food.  Participating Sierra Madre food providers include Barney's Only Place in Town, Bean Town, Café 322, Casa del Rey, Charcuterie, Corfu, Four Seasons Tea Room, Lucky Baldwin's Delirium Pub, Restaurant Lozano, Ugo's Italian Gourmet, Village Pizzeria and Wildflour Baking Company.  Other local restaurants that will participate include Baldwin's Sidewalk Café of Monrovia, Matt Denny's Ales House and The Patio Mediterranean Cuisine, Arcadia, Barney's, Ltd., California Skewers, El Portal Restaurant, and Nikki C's , all of Pasadena, and Chefelle, Personal Chef Caterer.
 
Participating businesses this year are Angels Everywear, Attitude Clothing, B. La, Baldwin Jewelers, Body Shop Private Fitness, Brown's Classic Interiors, Capelli Court Salon, Center for Well Being, Chase Bank, Colbert Studio and Spa, Creative Arts Group, Curves for Women,  Foothill HomeCare Partners, Gwen on 2, The Hair Upstairs, Iris Intrigue Boutique, Ixora Floral Studio, Julia Rocks Skin Care Center, La Bella Rouge, Leonora Moss, Lunch Salon, Once Upon A Time, Salon Zelo, Savor the Flavor, Sierra Health and Fitness, Sierra Madre Books, Sierra Madre Playhouse, The Four Seasons Tea Room, and Webb-Martin Realtors.  In photo above left, Linda Knowles and David Hein pour it up at Savor the Flavor during the 2008 event.
 
There will be three check-in points in the downtown area, where attendees will pick up their City of Hope wristbands, a wine glass, tickets good for each of the "tastes" of wine. 
 
In its first year, the Sierra Madre Wine and Jazz Walk raised $20,000 for City of Hope, in its second year, event organizers were able to present the world famous hospital with a check for $40,000.  In 2008, the Walk raised $74,000 for the cause.
 
Presenting Sponsors of this year's event are the Riboli Family Wine Estate and San Antonio Winery. Ticket Sponsor is Sharp Seating.  Rusnak Jaguar is Valet Sponsor.  Gold Sponsors are Remo, Inc., Foothill Home Care Partners, and Webb-Martin Realtors, a Dickson-Podley Company.   Angels Everywear, Charles Norman, Chase Bank, Frank and Pat Hall, Mike and Nancy Brown and Sierra Madre Woman's Club are all Hope Sponsors.  For a complete list of sponsors, visit the SierraMadreWineandJazzWalk.com website and click on the link to sponsors.
 
About City of Hope - City of Hope is recognized worldwide for its compassionate patient care, innovative science and translational research, which rapidly turns laboratory breakthroughs into promising new therapies. It is one of only 40 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers nationwide and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. An independent biomedical research, treatment and education institution, it is a leader in the fight to conquer cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.
 
About San Antonio Winery - Since 1917, The San Antonio Winery has added flair and flavor to celebrations of friends and families throughout Los Angeles and the West.  Today, it is the last of more than one hundred producing wineries that once lined the Los Angeles River Basin.  It is a popular restaurant and legendary banquet location, a comprehensive tasting room, and an international wine shop with hundreds of domestic and imported labels.  The winery is an oasis of good living in the heart of the city.