Third Annual Event Brings In Capacity Crowd of 2,000 From South Bay Beach Cities and Beyond to Palos Verdes
Fantastic.
Glad I went and when’s the next one!?
In just three years, the Trump National Beer & Wine Festival has become one of the hottest social events in the social-heavy South Bay, a must-do happening that in 2011 even drew people off the beach from the beloved Manhattan Beach Open volleyball tournament. It was held on a sunny Sunday, Aug. 28.
“How can you not like this event!?,” asked one attendee to no one in particular as he sipped on a sample of Hoegaarden while standing among a few dozen people in the beer area. He was one of 2,000 people at the third-annual event, something that has become so popular so fast that officials were forced to turn away people who arrived after about 1:30 – it ran from noon-5 p.m. – because it reached the capacity that the city of Palos Verdes allowed for the festival.
It’s certainly not difficult to understand the attraction. The location is on a public area between holes of the Trump National Golf Course. It’s high on a cliff – the beer area pushes right out to the edge of a walking trail – with the Pacific Ocean providing a perfect backdrop.
For $45, people get a big wine glass with the Trump logo and are free to fill it as often as they like in the five-hour period. Wineries from throughout California are pouring from a half-dozen tents near the entrance and unique (such as a raspberry Shock Top) and high-end beers are flowing from a second spot. (Food is extra.)
In 2011, there was a free raffle – one ticket was included with the admission price – and the golf pro was giving short iron lessons.
Naturally, it’s brilliantly sunny because this is Southern California.
All this helps to bring in people from not only neighboring Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, but also from Long Beach, San Pedro and Torrance.
Yet its biggest draw for the several singles of the South Bay is the sensational socializing the event provides. The wine, beer and setting set the stage and the people responded, girls presenting themselves in beautiful sun dresses, sometimes enhanced by hats they probably wore to Del Mar on Opening Day and men sporting shots, sandals and their best Charlie Sheen shirts.
It can safely be said that not all the swings at Trump National that day were taking place on the golf course. Not by a long shot! And with so many single people around, the pin placement, so to speak, made for easy approach shots.
It was interesting to watch the progression of the people as the day unfolded. Most seemed to spend the first couple of hours in the wine section before filtering down to the beer area. By mid-afternoon, the line for the Belgian beers of Leffe, Stella and Hoegaarden was consistently 10 people deep, and the distinctive orange Shock Top VW bug with the mohawk on the roof was a magnet for groups posing for photos.
When the event was over, there were as many smiles as empty wine glasses and a few people hit the equivalent of the 19th hole, the bar in the Trump National clubhouse.
Put it down for next August – PubClub.com will publish the dates when announced – because this is one “must attend” event in the South Bay.
RELATED LINKS:
• Trump National Wine & Beer Festival Review
• Tickets
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