Elgin puts in bid to hold state wine festival

Elgin officials have a sweet, full-bodied and maybe-not-so-nutty interest in holding a major wine festival next year.

City officials have been in talks with Illinois Wine Festival organizers about holding the 2008 event at Elgin's Festival Park.

The Illinois Wine Festival is a statewide event started this year in an effort to showcase Illinois wine producers.

Organizers said the inaugural event, held at a winery just east of St. Louis, attracted an estimated 10,000 visitors.

"We're committed to doing whatever the city can do to bring the festival to Elgin," Mayor Ed Schock said. "We have a great venue. It looks like a great event. We think it would be fantastic."

City officials said they had initially hoped to hold the festival this fall, but the timing wasn't right.

"They were supposed to come," city marketing officer Cherie Murphy said. "But the wine growers didn't want to have it during the time they're picking the grapes."

Now, city officials are eyeing May or June.

"We're more than happy to work with them any way we can," Murphy said. "We think it's a great fit."

Of course, Elgin isn't the only city hoping to attract the wine festival.

Elgin is one of several communities in the running to host the 2008 event, said Carl Henrickson, Illinois Wine Festival event producer.

"I'm not sure we're ready to say Elgin's a winner," Henrickson said. "We're looking at a number of sites."

But Elgin is doing all the right things, he said.

"Our objective in running an event like this is to provide an opportunity for the wineries to bring their tasting rooms to the cities, so to speak," Henrickson said. "Elgin has been most responsive in every regard, including that one."

In part, that's because Elgin appears willing to issue a special permit to allow the wineries to sell by the bottle, as well as by the glass.

The city had to do something similar to attract the Prairie Rock Brewing Co., Schock said.

"We had to create a license that allowed them to sell their bottled beer," he said. "We made accommodations. We would certainly come up with something for this."