The 30th annual Capitola Art and Wine Festival kicked off on Saturday and hundreds of people from Santa Cruz County locals all the way to out-of-staters flooded the Capitola Village to look at incredible pieces of art and of course, wine tasting.
Close to a couple dozen of local wineries like Alfaro Family Vineyards, Domenico Winery, Naumann Vineyards, and Burrell School Vineyards came out to let folks sip and indulge on some of their finest nectars around.
Burrell School Vineyards was founded by Dave and Anne Moulton since 1972 and is located all the way at the top of Summit Road. The business has made the trip to the festival for over twenty years, but according to Jennifer Welling Burrell School went through some drastic changes over the years.
“The earthquake was kind of a big transition moment,” she said. “The orchard that was there was destroyed in the earthquake and so they went ahead and put the vines back in. The property was a vineyard back in the old days, then it was orchard and now it’s a vineyard again.”
Also according to Welling, wine was something that was always a part of the Moulton’s dreams and when they bought the one room red schoolhouse, which ran from 1890–1954, they converted it into their business as well as their own living quarters.
As for the festival itself, Welling and the manager of Burrell School Vineyards Katarina Simic thought it was an average turnout as far as attendance but are still happy knowing that some of the old faces might show up and there will plenty of new ones to meet and greet.
“It’s a good combination of people who live locally, but we’ve seen a lot of people that come from other parts of California and other states,” said Welling. “They come here just this weekend because they know this is happening, they may be here for something else but they come to this.”
“Also the Silicon Valley, which pretty much helps support the Santa Cruz Mountains as far as revenue,” said Simic.
In the arts department, there was plenty of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and other extraordinary pieces, yet, nothing stood out like the Sheila Collins Fabric Art booth with framed pictures that were quilted with a variety of fabrics, buttons, and zippers.
Sheila Collins from Sunnyvale went to Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. and is an independent graphic designer for over twenty years She brings her “One-of-a-kind quilted, dimensional, fabric art” as she puts it, to Capitola for the first time ever and the second year in a row to the festival circuit.
“This combines three passions: I work as a graphic designer, my background is in fashion design, and I quilt,” she said. “It’s just really fun to blend everything and I love bright, bright is good for the soul. People walk in here and they just smile, it’s very heartwarming to see their reactions.”
