Benefiting the American Lung Association
Twenty years ago, the first Las Olas Wine and Food Festival was staged on Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale as a fundraiser for the American Lung Association. Since then, it was grown into a hotly-anticipated event which welcomes thousands of food and wine connoisseurs from across South Florida. This year they are celebrating their 20th anniversary in style, featuring food from 70 local restaurants and 45 different tables of beer and wine, courtesy of Premier Beverage. The 20th annual Las Olas Wine and Food Festival will be held on Friday, May 1, on Las Olas Boulevard between SE 6th Avenue and SE 11th Avenue.
A diverse range of culinary styles will be represented at this year’s Las Olas Food and Wine Festival. A selection of participating restaurants would include 3030 Ocean, BAO bar + Asian Kitchen, Brio Tuscan Grille, Fork & Balls, Gran Forno, Hard Rock Café, Joe’s Crab Shack, Myapapaya Juicery and Kitchen, SuViche, The Chimney House, The Roasted Fig, and Yolo Restaurant.
The festival begins with a VIP party that starts at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Hotel. The party will be hosted by Susan Wise, who you can hear daily on Easy 93.1 WFEZ-FM in South Florida. Appetizers and special wines will be served, and there will be live entertainment for all the guests to enjoy. Also, VIP guests will receive their wine tasting glasses and food plates early, allowing them to be first in line when the Wine and Food Festival opens to the general public at 7:30.
People who are interested in trying delicious spirits can stop at one of two special tents which are specially designed for the Wine and Food Festival. The first is the Bombay Sapphire Lounge, a fan favorite. In the lounge, they will be making the festival’s signature drink, a Sapphire Raspberry Collins. There is also the New Amsterdam Lounge, which will feature their own drink, 
The Mule, as well as a tutorial on how to make it at home. The New Amsterdam Lounge will be located on the corner of Las Olas and 8th. There is also a beer garden, which will feature ten different styles of beer from five brands you know and love: Samuel Adams, Concrete Beach, Lagunitas, Harpoon and Sierra Nevada.
If you’re interested in buying wine to take home, the Discount Liquor Group is a partner of the Las Olas Wine and Food Festival for the very first time. Just make sure you note which wines you like, and you can fill out an order form at the Discount Liquor tent, which will be located at the corner of Las Olas and 9th, or at the Riverside Hotel. From there, the staff at Discount Liquor will deliver your favorite wines right to your door, ensuring that you will get to relive the best memories of the 20th annual Las Olas Wine and Food Festival for weeks and months to come.
For people who love fashion, the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale’s Fashion Honors Group will be presenting fashion lines that they developed themselves. All of the fashion lines were developed with the theme “couture” in mind, and they will receive their first-ever unveiling at the Wine and Food Festival.
Ticket
s can be purchased online by going to lasolaswff.com and clicking on “Tickets.” The ticket price for the VIP reception at the Riverside Hotel is $225 per person and includes admission into the festival. General admission tickets are $100 per person. All of the proceeds go directly to the American Lung Association.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The American Lung Association in South Florida works to prevent lung disease and improve lung health for the people living in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The American Lung Association is tirelessly “fighting for air” and the support of the community through events such as the Las Olas Wine and Food Festival is invaluable.
Sponsors of the Las Olas Wine and Food Festival include Premier Beverage, Blackstone Media Group, The Las Olas Company, Mercantil Commercebank, Broward Health, Comerica Bank, Broward Yellow Cab, and JM Lexus. NBC 6 South Florida WTVJ-TV and CBS 4 Miami WFOR-TV are the official television sponsors for the event.
For more information on the Las Olas Wine and Food Festival, visit lasolaswff.com. Follow the American Lung Association of South Florida on Twitter @lungsofla.
