Last weekend’s Art & Wine Stroll brought out a good number of wine drinkers to the streets of downtown Gilroy, but perhaps not as high as previous years.
“We don’t have the numbers yet, but it was a fantastic day,” said Melanie Corona, coordinator for the downtown business association. “It may have been a little lower this year because of The Ghost’s fight being on the same day.”
Corona said a new feature of this year’s wine stroll – which wasn’t advertised ahead of time since the plan came together at the last minute – was a pop-up wine store where attendees could purchase the wine they sampled at the booths they visited during the afternoon. About 10 of the 21 wineries present participated in the pop-up store, and next year, with more advertising, Corona hopes that more can participate.
“It was the perfect segway for people to be finishing their stroll and buy some really great wine that they would normally have to go to a winery to find,” she said.
Last year, the event sold 535 tickets. This year, Corona guesses the number is close to that, but not quite there.
Corona said that some strollers mentioned that Gilroy’s Art & Wine Stroll was much more fun, personal and “down home” than Morgan Hill’s Wine Stroll held just one week prior on April 27.
Amber Madrone, owner of Mango Street Kids on Monterey and Fourth streets, also said that the day went smoothly, partly because of the beautiful 80-degree sunny weather.
“So far, I’ve gotten just really good feedback about it,” Madrone said.
