SARASOTA-MANATEE ORIGINALS UNCORK PLANS FOR 2021 FORKS & CORKS FESTIVAL
Week-long Event Raises Awareness and Monies to Support Local Independent Restaurants
Representatives of the Sarasota-Manatee Originals have announced details for the 2021 Forks & Corks Food & Wine Festival taking place April 26 through May 2, 2021. This year’s 14th annual event has been reimagined to offer guests a menu of specially-curated and controlled experiences designed to showcase the talents of the area’s brilliant and resilient, independent food & beverage operators. In addition to wine seminars and a food stroll, a world-class Online Auction is planned as well as a schedule of “food & wine experiences” taking place at restaurants throughout Sarasota and Manatee’s Gulf-coastal communities.
With guidelines for safely gathering changing every day and COVID-19 vaccine administration underway, we made the decision to organize a very different kind of Forks & Corks experience for 2021, one that is based on the safest precautions and procedures. While we will miss gathering with convivial crowds of our Members, friends and Winemakers from around the world, and bustling from table to table in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum for the massive Grand Tasting event, we’re very excited to leverage our platform to drive people back into our local eateries at a time when they are very much in need.
The 2021 festival schedule has increased to a week to allow for expanded events and offerings:
Presented by the Sarasota-Manatee Originals, Forks & Corks is the organization’s primary annual fundraiser, bringing critical marketing dollars to the Sarasota-Manatee Originals to promote dining in local, independently-owned restaurants and encouraging locals and visitors to our area to always “Eat Like A Local.
A bright spot we have found during the pandemic is the creativity it has inspired, in terms of reimagining and pivoting events and celebrations - like what we just did with our Set The Bar and Original Eats events. We’re really looking forward to introducing our guests to the 2021 food and wine experience and we’re hopeful for a big return of our infamous Grand Tasting in 2022.
An area-wide event, this year’s sponsors include Art Ovation Hotel, Atlas Insurance, Sweet Sparkman Architects, and Icard Merrill. For more information on Forks & Corks and to purchase tickets, visit EatLikeALocal.com. Follow Forks & Corks on Facebook and Instagram.
About Sarasota-Manatee Originals
The Sarasota-Manatee Originals (SMO) is a community of 60+ independently owned and operated restaurants in the Sarasota and Manatee Counties on the central Gulf Coast of Florida. Our mission is to promote our community's local, unique, independent dining establishments. We support our Member restaurants who help define our Suncoast, give it character and make it a memorable town to visit and live. We urge the community to support our local independent restaurants here and across the country and encourage the general public to always “Eat Like A Local.”
