Everyone in the wine industry knows about the terrible fires affecting Napa and Sonoma Counties. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this disaster.
The Wine Bloggers Conference and the Wine Marketing & Tourism Conference, which takes place immediately prior, will run as scheduled. We have been in touch with our host hotel, which assures us:
“The Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country has not been affected by the fires, is open for business, and looks forward to welcoming the wine industry conferences to Sonoma County in November. It will be even more important for you to attend as the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County recover from the disastrous fires.”
We also wanted to get a local perspective from our Advisory Board and so communicated with Thea Dwelle, who told us:
“As a Sonoma County resident, I want to encourage everyone to confirm their plans to join us in November for the Wine Tourism & Marketing Conference and Wine Bloggers Conference. We value your support and need your unique ability to spread the word that Sonoma and Napa wine industries are still active, vital, and thriving. Your presence will reinforce that we are open for business and will contribute to the recovery economically and emotionally. The host hotel is in an area that is not directly impacted, and many wineries are untouched and open for business.”
It is certainly possible we will have to make a few adjustments to the conference schedule, primarily to our excursions and off-site dinners if any of our participating wineries have been affected. We will contact all our local partners once the fires have been put out and make adjustments as necessary to our schedule. This will not affect the overall conference.
We all know the US has experienced way too many disasters recently. Local areas bear an unfair burden when these disasters strike. We at the Wine Bloggers Conference will donate all registration proceeds from additional tickets sold to both Wine Education sessions and Wine Dinners to the local American Red Cross of the California Northwest based in Santa Rosa. All registration proceeds to date from Wine Dinners are already being donated to the WBC Scholarship Fund.
We look forward to our wine blogger community coming together in Santa Rosa next month and discussing other ways we can support those in the wine industry affected by the fires.