Vevay’s Swiss Wine Festival celebrates 41st year

 The 41st annual Swiss Wine Festival will be held Thursday, Aug. 23 the Sunday, Aug., 26, at Paul Ogle Riverfront Park in Vevay, Ind.

The Swiss Wine Festival is a four-day celebration that commemorates Switzerland County’s winemaking roots and bragging rights as the “Birthplace of the First Successful Commercial Winery in the United States.” 

“Switzerland County and Vevay has worked hard over the years to put this part of southeastern Indiana on the map,” said Miller. “The Swiss Wine Festival has played a big part in that.”

Visitors will find the traditional aspects of the festival firmly in place – the famed Wine Tasting Pavilion, Midwest Championship Grape Stomp, arts and crafts, amusement rides, Grand Festival Parade, riverboat cruises, 5K run/walk, cheerleading competition, live entertainment, and more. This year includes a free video game truck for children and adults and Close Encounters of the Exotic Kind that includes lions, tigers, and elephants. 

Twelve Indiana wineries are offering samplings of their award-winning wines, with staff on hand to answer questions about their yield. Novice or connoisseur wine lovers can enjoy sample tastes or a glass or a bottle, if already acquainted with their palates desire. Participating wineries include Buck Creek, Carousel, Chateau De Pique, Ertel Cellars, French Lick, Grateful Goat Vineyard, Harmony, Indiana Creek, Lanthier, Ridge, Windy Knoll, and Winzerwald. 

The event will have varieties of cuisine to suit anyone’s tastes. “The Swiss Wine Festival was selected as the Fourth Best Food Festival in Indiana by the Best of Indiana earlier this year,” Miller said. “I can personally attest that it’s hard to know what to try first!”

This year’s entertainment headliners are country music legends Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin, performing at 7 p.m. Friday. The show is included with the $4 gate admission. 

An autograph session will take place after the show ends around 10 p.m. 

Additional musical performances include Brittany Gillstrap, the Hi-Tops, the Kent Family, Diamondback, Hot Wax, Kristen Hobbs, Stevie and the Johns, I69, the Dusty Road Band and more. Guests are advised to bring lawn chairs. 

The ZuZu African Acrobats will take the Ogle Stage on Friday and Saturday. Several members of the troupe from Mombasa, Kenya, performed on the NBC show America’s Got Talent. 

Also featured will be the Kent Family Magic Circus, magician Daniel Lusk, Rik Roberts, and joyUNSPEAKABLE, an interactive character performer who boasts having performed for such notables as President Reagan.