West Covina Food & Wine Festival Raises Money for Scholarships

The inaugural West Covina Food & Wine Festival raised $2,500 this summer for scholarships in the College of Agriculture.

Rod Perryman, a board member with the Historic Hurst Ranch Foundation, and Jean Barrymore, the festival’s organizer, presented a check on Sept. 17 to Dean Mary Holz-Clause.

“Hurst Ranch was one of the original farms in the area. We’ve watched Cal Poly Pomona grow through the years,” Perryman says. “There’s a connection with what you do and the original farms.”

The two-day festival was held July 18-19 and sponsored by the Hurst Ranch Foundation and the West Covina Historical Society. It featured a VIP four-course dinner and auction the first night at the South Hills Country Club, for which the college donated vegetables, wine and beer.

The second day featured wine and beer tasting at Hurst Ranch; more than 30 restaurants and 40 wineries and breweries attended the event, which also included live music, tours, culinary demonstrations and a wine seminar.

Next year’s festival is scheduled for Oct 8-9, 2016.

The Hurst Ranch Foundation and the College of Agriculture are discussing further collaboration on agricultural education programs.