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Sonoma's 21st Annual Salute to the Arts
Salute Celebrates Coming of Age with food, wine, art & music at the Peak of Perfection

Press Release

Press Release - May, 2003

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2003

Sonoma's 18th annual Salute to the Arts / See Also

Sonoma's 18th annual Salute to the Arts

CONTACT: Tannia Summers
Summers-McCann Public Relations
707.938.1133 - tannia@summers-mccann.com

HAPPY TRAILS - Sonoma's 18th annual Salute to the Arts Celebrates the Roots, Beauty, and Bounty of Sonoma County

Sonoma Valley, CA ~ The 18th Annual Sonoma Salute to the Arts, Northern California's ultra-premium showcase of the winemaking, culinary, visual, performing, and literary arts, is slated for the weekend of July 25, 26, and 27, 2003. Happy Trails, this year's theme, honors Sonoma County's agricultural heritage, cultural bounty, and natural beauty.

The Salute Celebration, the annual Salute to the Arts gala kick-off party, will launch festivities on Friday, July 25, 7 p.m., at Buena Vista Winery. Don cowboy boots and glitzy western wear to celebrate Happy Trails and dance the two-step beneath the stars. Taste delicious cuisine and select vintages served by Sonoma County chefs and winemakers. Pause in the Art Pavilion to bid on juried artists' entries in the 2003 Salute to the Arts Visual Art Competition Silent Auction. (This will be the only opportunity to bid at silent auction prices. The exhibit pieces will be presented at retail prices in the Sonoma Plaza on Saturday and Sunday.)

Taste regional cuisine as chefs present their favorite recipes, enjoy live cooking demonstrations presented by Viking Range Corporation, and sip current releases poured by premium Sonoma County wineries and local craft breweries at Salute to the Arts in historic Sonoma Plaza on Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27. Music and art will be presented on expansive lawns and beneath century old trees from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; food, wine and craft brew, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Browse through exhibits of fine art presented by wine country artists, including Sonoma Valley Arts Alliance board members Claudia Wagar (Vine Art), Michael Holland (M Holland Gallery/Artworks), Thomas Patrick (Red Wolf Studio), and Dick Cole, 2003 poster artist. His Happy Trails Sonoma Salute to the Arts poster ties the theme of regional western lore with wine country romance.

Don't miss the Fine Art Pavilion, which features entries in the Salute to the Arts Visual Art Competition Exhibit. Stop by the Sonoma Valley Arts Alliance booth to add your own brush strokes to the art-for-all-ages mural created annually during the event. Take a seat under the trees and enjoy theatrical performances, ballet and ethnic dances, choral and opera presentations, poetry readings, and concerts of jazz, classical and blues music on four stages.

Raise your paddle high at Chateau St. Jean Winery in Kenwood, the elegant setting for this year's Salute to the Arts Live Auction & Dinner on Saturday evening, July 26, at 5:30 p.m. A sumptuous seated dinner will follow the silent auction, hors d'oeuvres, and wine tasting. The live auction will feature large format bottles of wine painted by local artists, exclusive winemaker dinners, fine art including Dick Cole's original poster artwork created for this year's festival, wine country excursions and getaways, and exotic vacation packages.

Primary sponsors of the 18th Annual Sonoma Salute to the Arts are the Sonoma Valley Arts Alliance, Visa U.S.A., ABC 7, KGO Newstalk AM 810, American Airlines, Buena Vista Winery, Diablo Publications, Viking Range Corporation, WineCountry.com, and The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. Net proceeds from Salute to the Arts fund scholarships for high school seniors in the visual, theatrical, musical, literary, culinary and winemaking arts; and will provide funding for approximately 20 Sonoma Valley arts, cultural, and arts educational non-profit organizations. Proceeds enhance and enrich local endeavors from theatre and opera, to public school music programs and children's art classes throughout the year.

For information and tickets, call Summers-McCann Public Relations, the event's founder and producer, at 707.938.1133, or visit the Sonoma Salute to the Arts website at http://www.salutetothearts.com.

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prepared by Summers-McCann, Inc. Public Relations
voice 707.938.1133 · fax 707.938.0123
www.summers-mccann.com · info@summers-mccann.com
P.O. Box 1385 · Sonoma, CA 95476

Salute to the Arts c/o Sonoma Valley Arts Alliance
P.O. Box 1947
Sonoma, CA 94599
707.938.1133
info@salutetothearts.com

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