Butter & Egg Parade

The parade was yesterday.

Our float, representing the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance (PGWA), was an antique crawler towing a buckboard wagon that was carrying some compost, a winepress, and several winegrowers. My buddy's youngest daughter thought it was the coolest-looking float. Good answer!

I rode in the driver's seat of the wagon, holding a bottle of 2006 Clary Ranch Pinot Noir. I had Liana and Olivia walk alongside the float to hand out extra wine labels... Shameless Promotion and Child Labor: two great concepts that go great together, right? I told the girls I'd pay them $4/hour plus a $1/hour bonus if they smiled.

Well, it didn't work out like I hoped. Liana handed out two labels. Olivia handed out a few more. Both of them said that they didn't earn the smiling bonus. Oh well.

The PGWA is a committee-run organization, supposedly an alliance of growers, wineries and interested local wine enthusiasts. The board meets once a month so that they can review the decisions that were postponed at the last meeting, and before adjourning, they postpone any further decisions on questions that may arise. (In fairness, I may be exaggerating, but not by much...) Their stated mission is to educate wine consumers about the high-quality wines that are being grown in the Petaluma area. One would think that having events to expose local consumers to the wines would be high on the list of priorities. However, some board members are resistant to having PGWA sponsor events where wines could be sold, since this would "benefit only the wineries". So thus far, the only events we've had have been our own private parties where we drink our own wine and congratulate ourselves.

We have spent $4000 on a website and $4000 on a logo, yet cannot get support for spending $1200 on a public event where we can sell wine. There is a mental disconnect between the sale of winegrapes and the sale of wine. I am dumbfounded at the shortsightedness.

At the meeting when I was elected to the board, I interrupted the adjournment to push our participation in the parade. This action made me the Parade Committee Chair. We threw together the float with minimal fuss. In PGWA's two or three years of existence, it was their first public event. We weren't able to sell wine, but now at least Petalumans have the idea that world-class wines might be grown and produced in their own back yard. Now if we can only figure out a way to put wine into their mouths...

Ain't decision-by-committee grand?