Rotary Club kicks up this year’s ‘Dining on the Dock’
Andy Taylor, left, co-owner of Dixie Lee Wines & Liquors, serves wine to Rotarians Dr. Kathy Horne and Jim O’Brien during Rotary Club of Farragut 18th Annual Wine Tasting & Hors d’oeuvres fest last year.
The event, called “Dining on the Dock,” will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, at Concord Marina, 10903 S. Northshore Drive near Lakeside Tavern. While the 19th annual wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres gala still will offer some of the previous year’s favorites, such as the wine tasting and silent auction, it also will feature a DJ from Mobile Beats providing a variety of “fun and exciting music,” said Teri Jo Fox, the event coordinator heading the event.
“Staci (Wilkerson), the current president, just wanted something a little different this year,” Fox said.
“I think they just wanted to try something new and exciting,” event co-chair Megan Belcher said. “They’re really coming up with ideas to freshen it up. It’s going to be a different feel to it.”
RCF welcomes the public to the event, which helps fund RCF’s local charities such as annual Free Flu Shot Saturday every October, support of schools, parks, stream cleanups, non-profit organizations and sponsoring Hardin Valley Academy’s Interact Club and foreign exchange students.
Additionally, RCF supports efforts by Rotary International, such as global eradication of polio, providing clean drinking water and improving health services in Mexico and Africa. The club raised about $16,000 from last year’s event, Fox said.
“This (event) is how we raise money for our various charities throughout the year, so we really need everybody’s support with this event to make it successful,” Wilkerson said during the club’s meeting Wednesday, Oct. 9.
“Come, be friendly, enjoy our wine, bid on some great items,” Fox said in a subsequent interview.
She added the event also offers people interested in Rotary to find out more about the organization.
The goal is to sell 200 tickets, Fox said.
Tickets, which are $75, are available online with Eventbrite. The link is available on the Rotary Club of Farragut Facebook page.
As in years past, Farragut Rotarian Sam Mishu, president of M & M Development Company Inc., again is donating the cost of the catering, as well as some miscellaneous rental needs.
Meanwhile, Farragut Rotarian Sam Taylor, co-owner of Dixie Lee Wines & Liquors, and his family is donating all the wines for the festivities.
“I love the fact that they actually donate and get involved,” Fox said. “They’ve been doing it for a little while, before I was part of Rotary.
“And if everybody got involved — or more people from the community came out and enjoyed the event — it really allows for people to get to know what Rotary’s about and get to know the members,” she added.
The event will feature a new caterer, Special Tee Cookies & Catering.
“(The owner’s) my personal caterer,” Fox noted. “She has some delicious food.”
The menu includes shrimp cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce, mini crab cakes with a cilantro lime sauce, Angus roast beef provolone croissants served with roasted red onion mayo, stuffed mushrooms with creamy cheese and bacon, bacon-wrapped asparagus, cocktail croissants with homemade chicken salad, a warm, smoky pimento cheese dip and a cheese board, among many other items.
And, Belcher said, “There will be some outside seating and a tent,” she added. “It’s all going to be covered.”
