Private wine dinners. Grand wine tastings featuring both value wines and rare bottles. A gala dinner with live and silent auctions. Symposiums by leading wine specialists. The popularity of this prestigious event guarantees a sellout crowd every year and creates a festive atmosphere in the picturesque mountain resort community of Highlands, North Carolina. All of this and more awaits you at the fourth annual Collective Spirits wine festival, set for May 21-22, 2010.

Held in The Bascom's stunning new 27,000 sq. ft. mountain-top facility, all proceeds benefit the exhibition and education programs of the nonprofit visual arts center. It is truly Highlands' season-opener and a delight for the true wine aficionado.  Come sip, sup, socialize and stock your cellar!

History

Collective Spirits started in 2007, when nearly 200 people gathered in May at The Bascom’s construction site for the nonprofit art center’s first-ever wine event. Organized by Vernon and Miriam Skiles for The Bascom, the event featured an array of fine wines by vendors hand-selected by Scott Roddy, of Highlands Wine and Cheese. Let Holly Do the Cooking served scrumptious hors d’oeuvres, and guests mingled and sipped while they pored over plans for The Bascom’s new campus.

In 2008, chairman Dickie Barker, vice chair Carolyn Timmons and Bascom Events Director Donna Woods expanded the event into a two-day, top-level wine festival held at Highlands Country Club.

In 2009, the event, co-chaired by Harriet and Dick Boger, along with vice chairs Bert Mobley (wine) and Carolyn Timmons (auction & event), and Donna Woods, took Collective Spirits to the next level.  While the paint was still drying, and as the inaugural event in The Bascom's new $13 million facility, nearly 700 people attended the two-day event and experienced the festival amidst the magnificence of the new facility and six-acre campus.

2010's event, again chaired by Harriet and Dick Boger, with vice chairs John Rymer/Bert Mobley (wine) and Laney Capron (event), coordinated by event planner Elizabeth Fletcher, I Do Events, promises to be a show-stopper -- well on its way to becoming one of the best wine festivals in the nation. The two-day format will be augmented by invitation-only private wine dinners for sponsors and benefactors and an expanded line-up of interesting and thought-provoking symposiums conducted by leading experts in the wine field.