RIPON — Commemorative wine glasses are being provided for the three-hour “Taste of Ripon” Wine stroll Thursday courtesy of the McManus Winery as part of the $25 ticket donation to the Ripon Chamber of Commerce.
Deadline for the ticket sales is 4 p.m., Thursday, at the Ripon Chamber office at 929 West Main Street The event begins at 6 p.m.
Those taking part in the wine stroll may pick up their wine glasses at two locations. One is at the Ripon Library in the center of the downtown and the other is a vacant store front next to Schemper’s Hardware on Wilma Avenue.
It is the 17th year when more than 250 area residents are expected to turn out for the social event of the year where they say they meet old friends and shop keepers alike in the small South County community that has often been referred to as Mayberry RFD.
Ripon Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rebecca Naranjo promises the best in hors d’oeuvres to be provided at the nearly two dozen individual businesses open for the evening. Most will walk from the two shopping centers at Main Street and Wilma Avenue. Others have the option of taking a shuttle down through the business district to the area at the east end of the thoroughfare near the Ripon Road House with some five stops.
Shuttles will make use of two Storer Coachway commercial buses – one 12-passenger and one 24-passenger – with assigned pick-up and drop-off points in the business community, running from west to east.
Strollers can pick up their shuttles at Jake’s Coffee, Tea and Sandwiches shop at 150 North Wilma Avenue, New China Restaurant in the Town Square Shopping Center at 1201 West Main Street; PMZ Real Estate, 1408 West Main Street; ReMax Real Estate, located at the corner of Main Street and Acacia Avenue; and at Silverado Nursery, 460 South Stockton Avenue. The buses are scheduled to be available until 9 p.m., the chamber announced.
The chamber has purchased one-day ABC liquor licenses for each participating merchant and has also underwritten the signage and printing for the event.
