TEXARKANA, Texas -- Sunny skies added an extra sparkle to the wine Saturday at the eighth annual Texarkana Twice as Fine Wine Festival fundraiser.
With the exception of the one year lost to the COVID pandemic, the annual festival has become a growing tradition, co-chairs Mark and Cathy Van Herpen said.
The first fundraiser in 2015 drew 5,000 patrons. Attendance grew to about 12,000 in 2018, then to about 13,000 in 2019.
The Van Herpens estimated that Saturday's total could reach 17,000 for the eight-hour wine sampling.
In 2017, the fundraiser brought in about $220,000, while 2018's collected about $240,000 for Alzheimer's research.
The Van Herpens said this year's take could hit $300,000.
Above 29 wine vendors and 12 food vendors participated in the festival. The approximately 70 artisan markets offered everything from baked goods, pecans and corn, to furniture, assorted arts, chimes and jewelry.
Vendor Billisha Hastings is a custom jewelry, wine and unique gifts designer. Through her company Collage, she has hand painted wine glasses for about the past 12 years.
"I saw this as a niche in this market, so I just decided to start painting wine glasses," she said. "I find that this type of painting just relaxes me, and I'll be here every year at this time."
The Van Herpens attributed the fundraiser's inception to Alzheimer's Alliance Tri-State Executive Director Terri Arnold.
The festival has about 350 sponsors.