Coastal Virginia Wine Fest Vendor Packet Dear Vendor: Welcome to the Coastal Virginia Magazine Wine Fest taking place January 27 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center located at 1000 19 th Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Hours of this event are: Saturday Noon-7pm. This exciting event will be the perfect way for you to showcase your superb wines, foods, and business. We are thrilled that you are participating! Below is a listing of important details that you will need in order to make your event a success. Please read this information thoroughly so that we can expect smooth preparations. Set Up Time/Info: Please stay within the load in times to ensure everyone gets inside in a timely manner. Friday January 26. o Premier Events Decor- load-in 10 am o Colonial DJs- load-in 11 am o LOVE sign- Tim Oliver - load in Noon in the pre-function area under escalator outside Hall A. Staff will be there to assist. LOVE sign pick up is scheduled for Noon Monday. o Vendor load in 12:30-8 p.m. Saturday January 27 o Vendor load in 7 a.m.-10 a.m. Upon arrival please check in at the Coastal Virginia Wine Fest Check-In table located inside the hall near the loading dock Hall A at the back of the building to receive your vendor passes. Loading Dock HALL A. There will be a Dock Guard on site to instruct you and staffers will be on hand to assist. You will have 30 minutes to unload your booth items to your assigned booth. After unloading or event arrival- there is ample free parking in all lots. No parking in loading dock allowed. We will have vendor signs placed on booths to make location of your booth easier. Staff will assist in locating your booth as well. Set up MUST be completed on Saturday NO LATER than 11:30 a.m. Doors open early to restaurants at Noon, 1 pm to all other guests. Please be ready for guests by 11:30 a.m. Wine Tasting/Non-Tasting Wristband colors. TASTING: NEON YELLOW and NON-TASTING: BLUE with Saturday written on them. PLEASE- Make your staffers aware of these colors. No wine samplings to guests without a YELLOW wristband. Beer Garden: Sold by the cup ONLY. YELLOW wristband needed to purchase beer. ALL vendors will receive tasting wristbands and glasses when checking in. Winery & Vendor Meeting: 11 am Saturday in front of Main Stage. Please attend for important update information. EARLY ENTRY FOR RESTAURANTS-WINE TASTING: Invitations were sent to area restaurants to invite them in one hour early at Noon to taste your wines. This is to encourage the restaurants to perhaps carry/feature your wines in their restaurants. Please be ready for this early entry. Doors open to general public at 1 pm. Break Down Time: Saturday 7p.m. 10 pm No breakdown prior to 7 p.m. will be permitted. This is to insure the safety of our guests and other vendors.
Vendor Passes: Each winery will receive up to 6 vendor passes, 6 tasting wristbands and 6 glasses. All other vendors will receive up to 4 vendor passes, 4 tasting wristbands and 4 glasses. The passes will allow for you and your staff to come and go throughout the hall during the event. Electricity/Internet Availability: Electricity: If you should need electricity for your booth, these arrangements can be made in advance directly with the Virginia Beach Convention Center as they control the payments and the utilities of these services. Please visit http://www.visitvirginiabeach.com/conventioncenter/. For electricity click on Utility Service Rates. Also you can arrange these services the day of check-in at the VBCC Business Center if you find this easier. Wi-Fi is included. The network name is COVAWinefest and the password is winefest2018. To access the Wireless Service provided by Smart City Networks and the Virginia Beach Convention Center, please follow these instructions: 1. With a Wi-Fi enabled device, find the designated wireless network name COVAWinefest. 2. Choose connect to this wireless network. 3. Enter the password winefest2018 in the security key dialog box. 4. Once connected to this network, open up an Internet browser. 5. You should be automatically redirected to the assigned Internet page, regardless of what your homepage is set to. ** 6. You are now connected to the Internet. If you have any problems, please contact Smart City directly at (757) 334-1190 **If you are not automatically redirected, check to see if you have http://about.blank or a corporate Intranet site set as your homepage. If you do, navigate your browser to any public site, such as http://www.smartcity.com, which should cause you to be redirected to the Internet page. NOTE: Smart City Networks cannot guarantee the functionality of VPN client software with the Wireless Internet service. Ice: Ice will be available for purchase. Cost is $25 for up to 7 bags of ice. You may pay with credit card or cash at load-in at the vendor check-in table located near the loading dock. Ice will be run at two times; once pre-show between 11am and Noon and again between 2pm and 3pm. We will have staff shuttling ice to vendors who are participating. You may provide your own ice if you choose. Water: Water stations for guests to drink or wash out glasses will be placed throughout halls. There is a room for vendors to use with a water hose and rinsing area in the back corner of the hall. If you cannot locate please ask a staffer. Booths: All booths include pipe and drape with 8 ft backs and 3 ft sides, covered and skirted 6 ft table and two chairs, vendor sign. Winery pipe and drape is burgundy and all other vendors will have black and white.
There will be large trashcans for both recycled and regular trash placed down each aisle and throughout the hall for your use. Feel free to bring your own tables, linens, towels and décor for your booth if you wish. Any extra tables will be given out on a first come first serve basis. Shuttle Buses: Buses provided by Legacy Coach will be transporting guests to and from participating hotels (at designated drop off-pick up areas) to the convention center during the event. Pick up and drop off will be located in front of Convention Center. Wine Purchase Hold Area: This is for Wine Purchases Only. Guests who purchase wine may leave their items here and pick up upon leaving. This is to ensure efficient purchases. The Wine Purchase Hold Area is located in the pre-function foyer area outside the entry doors. Please feel free to let your guests know this is available when purchasing wine. We will give all wineries pre- printed claim tickets that you can display at your booth as a reminder. There will be bag check runners, wearing black shirts with Volunteer in white letters on the front of the shirts, who will pick up large purchases (boxes or bags) from your booth and take them to the purchase hold area. We will have a procedure in place for this and will explain during the vendor meeting at 11 am on Saturday at the Main Stage. Wine Check cut off will be 1 hour prior to closing. The event closes at 7 pm. We will be asking wineries for any empty boxes they want to get rid of to use in our wine purchase hold area. If you have boxes you want to get rid of please let a staffer know. Permits/Outside Food Forms: All wineries should have a copy of their ABC permits and display in their booth. All vendors serving food samples were required to submit for approval a form online directly to the Virginia Beach Convention Center 2 weeks prior to event day. If you failed to do this you will be denied the ability to serve food samples per the convention center staff. Wineries must submit a Certificate of Insurance (see your exhibitor contract). If you have not sent yours to Pam (pam@vgnet.com) yet-please do so asap. Inclement Weather or Road Blocks: We will contact vendors by way of CoVa facebook, website and emails in the event of bad weather or roadblocks due to city events. On -Site: Coastal Virginia Wine Fest staffers will be on site beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday and 7 a.m. on Saturday. For questions on Saturday you may contact Paul Brannock at 757-639-3655, and for concerns prior to the event you may contact Pamela Hopkins at 757-422-8979 ext 104. We will be wearing black shirts with white staff or volunteer letters and staff badges and will be happy to assist you. We look forward to seeing you at the Coastal Virginia Wine Fest. Cheers! ~Pam Pamela Hopkins
Special Events Coordinator Coastal Virginia Magazine/Coastal Virginia Bride/Savor Virginia Magazine Lynchburg Living Magazine 1264 Perimeter Parkway Va. Beach, Va.23454 Office: 757-422-8979 ext. 104 Cell: 757-641-6523 Work email: pam@vgnet.com