Contestants hollow out prodigious pumpkins supplied by the local Giant Vegetable Growers’ Association, then grab paddles and race in the pumpkins across the chilly waters of the harbor. It’s all to raise money for a local youth leadership foundation, lest you think the rowers are completely out of their gourds.
Grape expectations
If Oregon had a state wine, it almost certainly would be pinot noir. The grape from which it’s made is one of the most fragile and temperamental in the wine world, insisting on warm days followed by cool nights to produce an optimum harvest. Fortunately, Oregon’s Willamette Valley provides nearly perfect growing conditions for pinot noir, and the state’s offerings now rival in popularity the varieties grown in France’s Burgundy region. And that is cause for celebration.
This year, Oregon will mark the 25th anniversary of its International Pinot Noir Celebration in the town of McMinnville, attracting pinot producers from the world’s great wine making regions. Some 50 of the world’s best chefs also will travel from Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, and across the U.S. to cook for guests at the four-day event.
The celebration is highlighted by winery tours and lunches where the Willamette Valley’s best examples of pinot noir are available to sample, seminars where speakers explain the intricacies of the growing process, and wine and cheese parties. The event’s Northwest Salmon Bake is a longs tan ding tradition. By the time throlls around, happy guests already are making plans for next year’s festival.
Celebrating the services
Service members will be happy to know several festivals celebrate the military in film and music. The GI Film Festival, held in Washington, D.C., in May, is the first to honor service members from all eras by screening motion pictures about the military. The festival recently partnered with the Military Channel to bring “Best of the GI Film Festival” to television for those who can’t be there in person.
The Virginia International Tattooe has nothing to do with body art, although the musical celebration leaves its imprint on attendees.
[CONTINUES ON PAGE 78]
Oktoberfest
Sept. 21-22, Cincinnati
www.oktoberfest-zinzinnati.com
Giant Pumpkin Regatta and Festival
Oct. 7, Burlington, Vt.
www.lllvt.org/pumpkin
Sea Witch Halloween and Fiddler’s Fest
Oct. 26-28, Rehoboth Beach, Del.
www.beach-fun.com/sea-witch-halloween-fiddlers-festival
Frozen Dead Guy Days
first week of March, Nederland, Colo.
www.nederlandchamber.org/events_ fdgd-home.html
Gasparilla Pirate Fest
January 2013, Tampa, Fla.
www.gasparillapiratefest.com
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
Feeling daring? Try out a chocolate mealworm — yes, mealworm — cookie recipe by clicking here on page 69 of this
issue at
www.moaa.org/moarchive.
APRIL 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 69
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