By Bethany BROWN

The Montrose Shopping Park hosted its 4^th Annual Spring Wine Walk on April 9 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Community residents who purchased their tickets in advance were given wristbands upon arrival that allowed them to sample a variety of wines from the many pour stations hosted by participating MSP merchants and businesses.

Tickets were limited in quantity and available to purchase for $45 leading up to the sold-out event. Every “wine walker” received a tote bag, Montrose logo wine glass to be used at all tasting locations and $10 in MSP scrip that never expires and can be used to pay for goods and services throughout the shopping park.      

The event – sponsored in part by the La Crescenta Woman’s Club – has been on hold since 2019 due to the 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It served to encourage residents in the community to shop small at MSP and raise funds for both the shopping park and woman’s club. Each pouring station served red and white wines and offered complimentary snacks and bottled water to participating walkers.

Kim Kelly of Merle Norman Cosmetics said they were overjoyed to see such a tremendous turnout and connect with familiar faces again. The storefront served homemade bagel bites and salami squares infused with cream cheese, among others, and Turley wine from Paso Robles and Prisoner wine from Napa were poured. She noted that, while it is a lot of work for the merchants, it’s an equally rewarding and enjoyable experience.

“We did about 300 pours, so we were very busy,” Kelly said. “We’ve participated every year and it’s a really fun event. We just hope that people will come back and visit us before the next Walk happens.”

MSP Event Coordinator Dale Dawson said he believes it’s one of the events that the merchants like the most because the streets aren’t closed and there’s a vast opportunity to meet new people.

“Some of our newer businesses were over the moon because they met a lot of people who said they never even knew that they were there,” Dawson said. “It was just a huge success and it’s always great working with the Woman’s Club; they really keep it moving. I could not have been happier with how it all went.”

Dawson said over 500 wine walkers participated, which is only slightly fewer than the record-high of the 2019 holiday season. In previous years, a significantly larger turnout was seen for the Holiday Wine Walk than for the springtime event, so MSP staff and merchants were thrilled that tickets sold out so quickly.

Dawson urges residents in the community to purchase their tickets ahead of time for all future walks because they are limited in quantity. The 2022 Holiday Wine Walk is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12.

Additional upcoming MSP events include the 10^th Annual Kids & Kritters Day that will be held on Sunday, May 1, the Montrose Arts & Crafts Festival on Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5 and the Montrose 20^th Annual Car Show on Sunday, July 3 – all of which are free to attend.

“All of our events are designed to bring people to town and connect the merchants with the community,” Dawson said. “We have a lot coming up yet and I hope the community will come out and experience the many fun days we have planned ahead.”