Second straight year event eclipses $50,000 | Third District Governing Board representative Toby Payne gave final report at November Governing Board meeting
Discussing and purchasing wine at the program celebrating the vineyard and viticulture program back in 2010.
Yavapai Community College Third District Representative Toby Payne presented the final report on the 14th annual Verde Valley Campus fundraiser celebrating the viticulture and enology program and creation of a vineyard and center to support it (for last ten years the event has been called Wine & Dine in the Vines). The report was made during the District Governing Boards’ November meeting. The event, held Saturday, October 19, 2024, successfully raised over $50,000, matching the amount raised in 2023.
The late Yavapai Community College president Dr. James Horton, a visionary, attending the 2010 event celebrating the start of the experimental vineyard on the Verde Valley Campus.
Proceeds from the event will fund student activities and scholarships while supporting the priority needs of the College’s Viticulture and Enology program, which has become a cornerstone of the College’s Verde Valley presence. Thirteen wineries, six of them Southwest Wine Center Alums, and nine restaurants participated. There were approximately twenty sponsors. Over 200 guests were served.
History:
The Greater Verde Valley Chapter of the Yavapai Community College early on recognized the potential economic value to the Community College and the Community of involving itself in the fledgling wine industry in the Valley. It took a first step when it became a member of the Greater Verde
Valley Wine Consortium during the 2008-09 academic year.
Thanks to the decision by then Yavapai Community College president Dr. James Horton, in 2010 an experimental one acre of grape vines was planted on the Verde Valley Campus. Dr. Horton had discussed the matter with local rockstar and entrepreneur Maynard Keenan. Mr. Keenan generously provided financial support for plants and materials for the experimental vineyard.
Community College and part-time Greater Verde Valley Chapter of the College Foundation employee Linda Buchanan persuaded a local excavation company, the Brewer Brothers to help out with first project. They agreed to prepare the ground for the first one acre vineyard—a big job and all for free.
Yavapai Professor Tom Schumacher drafted a detailed 16 page plan for what is now the Viticulture and Enology program. President Horton instructed Professor Schumacher to move forward with research into creating this new program. 
Once the first experimental acre was leveled, Ms. Nikki Check (now Third District County Supervisor) and others dug the holes for the soils testing and trenches for the water lines so that the vines could be planted.
It is noteworthy that during this period, Robert Oliphant, then a member of the Community College Foundation Board, worked closely with Board members to expand the viticulture program from one experimental acre to 20 acres of particularly rich land immediately adjacent the Campus.
The initial plan for the large Campus vineyard was the vision of a Cottonwood group consisting of Oliphant, Ms. Ruth Wicks, Mr. Randy Garrison, Professor Tom Schumacher, and Professor Paula Woolsey. They met during 2009-2010 and prepared a detailed financial plan that Oliphant presented to the Community College Foundation Board. This plan provided the basis for the donation of the rich 20 acres adjacent the Campus that is now used in part (only 13 acres) for the vineyard.
The Wine & Dine in the Vines fundraiser can trace its genesis to at least 2010, when an event called French Flair in the Countryside was held to celebrate the establishment of the one acre experimental vineyard on the Verde Campus. The event was created by the Greater Verde Valley Chapter of the Yavapai Community College Foundation, which was later dissolved by former Yavapai Community College President Dr. Penelope Wills.
The 2010 theme remained until 2012 when it became “Art, Wine and Dine.” The Southwest Wine Center Board ensured the event’s continuation and labeled it “Wine & Dine in the Vines” ten years ago. Over the years, the fundraiser has grown into a highly successful and eagerly anticipated community tradition in the Sedona/Verde Valley area.
You may listen to Third District Toby Payne’s full report to the Governing Board by clicking on the video below (For reasons unclear, the video operator did not put Mr. Payne in the video frame during most of the report.)