The Boca Bacchanal, one of South Florida's premier food and wine festivals, celebrated its 10th anniversary during this year's March 23 to 25 event. One of the Bacchanal's unique aspects is the diversity of mini-events that take place throughout the weekend, from intimate dinner parties to a massive grand tasting.
"The Boca Bacchanal brand has consistently been known for the quality of the wine and the food," said Sarah Flynn of Willcaro Communications, who helped plan the event. "Attendance has consistently grown, which means our challenge is to continue to deliver that intimate, high-quality experience throughout the entire weekend."
The Bacchanal began that Friday night with six dinner parties in six different private homes. Atlas Party Rental designed a decor scheme for each home, where between 36 and 55 guests enjoyed champagne and passed hors d'oeuvres, followed by a five-course sit-down dinner with wine pairings. A different chef and vintner conceptualized each location.
Many of those guests returned for Saturday night's Bacchus Bash, which brought ticket holders together for one larger, two-hour reception at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. The chefs and vintners from Friday's events returned to help prepare a menu of wine and hors d'oeuvres for the 244 people present, followed by a silent auction, super-silent auction, and a three-course dinner. Atlas Party Rental and Boca by Design put together a vineyard theme, dressing the room in shades of purple, white, and black, and the evening ended with a dessert bar (including port, to stick with the wine theme), with music from Will Bridges.
Finally, on Sunday the Boca Bacchanal's main event welcomed 1,200 people for the Grand Tasting at the Mizner Park amphitheater. Twenty-four local restaurants and 54 wineries presented under the big tent, which was decked with plants and trees to keep with the leafy, vineyard theme. With attendance growing this year, planners had to reimagine the floor plan to maintain an intimate feel.
"One thing we changed that really helped was layout," Flynn said. "In the center of the amphitheater there's a grassy space that is divided into four quadrants separated by walkways. This year we broke it up into eight quadrants and changed the site's layout to include additional walkways. It really made the flow so much better. People thought there were fewer attendees than last year, even though were actually more."
