Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music fest names beneficiaries

Two area charities have been selected as the beneficiaries for the 6th annual 2021 Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival, set for Saturday, Sept. 18, at the Independence Clubhouse and grounds in Long Neck, minutes away from the Delaware beaches.

The Developing Artist Collaboration and the Delaware Restaurant Association will enjoy the proceeds of a day of fun and fundraising that offers food tastings from 20 restaurants located along the Culinary Coast, 100 different wines, beers, cocktails and spirits, great music, and a surprise event.

The members of the Developing Artist Collaboration believe art is so much more than paint on paper. Artists of any ability or possible medium are capable of building sustainable, meaningful careers. The Developing Artist Collaboration empowers artists’ careers by giving them the space and tools for creation, peer connection, and an understanding of the value of their purpose.

The grant from the Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival will help fund a new educational resource that honors the history of the iconic community of West Rehoboth. In the 1940s, Black and brown workers in downtown Rehoboth were sold plots of land in the West Rehoboth area. Working with descendants of those original families and longtime community members, artist Terrance Vann, whose grandparents helped settle West Rehoboth, will paint family portraits of these community members on a long concrete wall.. Each portrait will have a QR code that the viewer can scan to see a video of the family history. The work will also include scenes portraying West Rehoboth from the 1940s to 1960s so viewers can get a sense of what this historic community was like.

The collaboration is seeking additional funds for the estimated $30,000 artist fee for this massive mural project, planned to be open to the public by Memorial Day 2022.

The Delaware Restaurant Association grant will go to DE Eats, the association’s nonprofit fund providing direct relief grants to struggling restaurant workers.

"We have been humbled by the needs of those in our restaurant community throughout the pandemic,” said Carrie Leishman, president and CEO of the Delaware Restaurant Association. Donations to DE Eats during early 2020 paid for groceries, rent, utility bill payments and other critical necessities, totaling over $325,000 in direct financial assistance to more than 675 workers.

“While we’re not out of the woods yet, we’ve made a meaningful impact. Because of our community’s generosity, we have been able to provide grants to hundreds of restaurant workers and their families in Sussex County and throughout Delaware. We’ve managed to keep families together and fridges full,” Leishman said.

As a partner with Creative Coastal Connections Corp, which brings the Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival to wine and food lovers every year, the fund can continue to support communities' restaurant workforce in times of personal crisis.

“The Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival is a celebration of the very best of coastal Delaware – our restaurants, breweries, wine merchants and artists,” said Stacy LaMotta, Creative Coastal Connections executive director, who founded the festival in 2015. “And while we provide a great experience for our participants and guests, we have also been able to give more than $125,000 to Sussex charities and nonprofits, and we are very proud to make that impact while having a fun and delicious afternoon.

“We have such a creative, talented community here in coastal Delaware. The chefs, sommeliers, restaurant owners, musicians, businesses and volunteers who make the festival the premier event that it has become are just awe-inspiring,” LaMotta said. “We’re expecting another big crowd, and we will all have a great time while giving a much-needed boost to these two deserving programs.”

Sponsors, restaurants, distributors and musicians will be highlighted on the Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music website, as well as through television, newspapers, magazines and in other promotional materials.

To purchase tickets, go to sodelfest.com. For sponsorship information, restaurants, wine/liquor stores or distributors that want to be part of this annual event should contact Stacy LaMotta, 302 245-4262 or stacy@sodelfest.com.