The inaugural Del Mar Wine & Food Festival raised $25,000 and attracted more than 8,000 attendees, organizers said.
The event, which was held from Sept. 6 to Sept. 11, featured 20 culinary events and festivities hosted by professional athletes Alex Morgan, Drew Brees, and Rob Machado, actors Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston of Dos Hombres, and more than 200 world-renowned chefs and winemakers from SoCal, Baja, and beyond.
“It’s just so humbling to see not only how many people showed up to celebrate our food and drink culture, but how world-class the venue and experience turned out to be,” says festival co-founder Troy Johnson. “Thousands of people on that grass. Every few feet, an absurdly talented chef or winemaker or drinks-maker sharing the great thing they do. And we raised money for Feeding San Diego. We’re incredibly grateful for the chefs and winemakers and people. It blew away our expectations for the first year. We’ve already started on creative ideas for year two.”
Ali Colbran, Feeding San Diego’s director of development, said the organization is grateful to be the recipient of the donation.
“We are honored to have been chosen as the first-ever charity beneficiary of the DMWFF and are thrilled to receive the generous donation of $25,000 to help provide nutritious meals to San Diegans facing hunger,” Colbran said. “Many hunger-relief organizations across the country are facing new challenges post-pandemic stemming from reduced funding and the impacts of inflation, and Feeding San Diego is not excluded. We are incredibly grateful to our culinary community for rallying behind our mission this year.”