TORRINGTON – The grapes have been crushed, the goblets are gleaming and the stage is set for the annual Torrington Rotary Club Wine Tasting Gala, “Let’s Wine!” at the Goshen County Fairgrounds’ Rendezvous Center on Friday.

“Ticket sales are going well,” Brett Malm, Rotary member, said. “It’s $30 for the entry ticket, $50 for the reverse raffle, and people can pick them up at Platte Valley Bank. See me or Sandi Ash.”

The grand prize for the reverse raffle – in which the last ticket drawn wins the largest prize – is $2,000. The event also features a silent and live auction, games, heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer and, of course, plenty of wine to taste – in traditional and ice cream form.

“This year, we’re doing a St. Patrick’s Day theme,” Torrington Rotary Club President-elect Timothy Pieper said. “In preparation for the event, we have to sell 180 reverse raffle tickets. Decorating is huge. We have to get food, decorations, and wine vendors lined up, and line up a lot of silent auction items, as well as four or five live auction items. The satellite group is in charge of doing the wine ice cream dessert. We do raffles for our foreign exchange program, and for the satellite club, as well.”

The wine tasting is the Rotary’s largest fundraising event of the year, and helps several causes, both local and worldwide, including polio eradication, installing clean water systems in Kenya, hosting exchange students, providing a community safe house, and the satellite group’s work to offer Alzheimer’s awareness and training in Torrington.

“(The wine tasting) is just a great social event for the community,” Pieper said. “It actually helps fund all of our projects through the year – it’s just a fun event.”

The 2018 Torrington Rotary Club Wine Tasting Gala is scheduled for Friday, March 16 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Attendees must be 21.