Last Saturday evening my husband and I and our friends and neighbors, Steve and Theresa, made our way to the Centennial Golf Club in Medford, Oregon, for the eighth annual Southern Oregon Classic. This two-day event encompasses a golf tournament on the first day and a “culinary feast” on the second day. Put on by Ghost Tree Events, a nonprofit organization that also operates similar events in Bend, Oregon, and Las Vegas, Nevada, our local event raises funds to support CASA of Jackson County, which provides court appointed special advocate volunteers to support children in the foster care system. It’s a charity near and dear to our hearts, as our older daughter has served as a CASA for the past five years, and we know how vital these big-hearted givers are to the lives of the children they support. With the threat of cuts in grants and funding on the near horizon, it seemed more important than ever to help this good cause.

It was a hot day, with a high of 98 degrees, so everyone was dressed in cool, comfortable clothes, and the ice-filled tubs of bottled water had to be refilled often. Ranged all around the golf club’s large outdoor event lawn were canopies sheltering tables hosting local wineries pouring their best, as well as a few breweries and cideries. Fifteen different local restaurants offered small plates of some of their favorite bites, and for those who wanted stronger libations, a few tents offered a range of cocktails and spirits. You could eat and drink (wine and beer) as much as you wanted, and the wristband you received upon entering the event allowed for five servings of the hard stuff.

We each grabbed a little wine before heading to the silent auction tent to see if anything tempted us to bid. We signed in to the auction app, making it easy for us to place a bid, be warned when someone else bid on our items, and increase our bid automatically if we chose. We always donate a few lots of some special wines from our cellar for this event, and the app makes it easy for us to see how those are doing. It would be hours before the auction closed, so we headed off to check out the food offerings.

We’ve found this is a great way to sample menu items from restaurants we haven’t yet visited in the area, and the participants really present some very tasty and visually appealing bites. Most are appetizer or tapas-sized servings of savory items, but there are always several sweet desserts to sample. Some of our favorites included mac and cheese with barbecued pork, a generous-sized potsticker, a very elegant mushroom risotto with elk loin, and a smoked salmon slider with a raspberry sauce. We took turns holding down our high-top table and circulating through the food and wine booths. My one wish for this event would be more shade and more seating. Every year it seems this event falls on one of the warmest days of the summer (yes, even in June!); and because it begins at 5 p.m., one has to spend several hours in the sun. I drank a lot of water to counter the wine and heat, but it was still a challenge.

At around 7 p.m. the live music and dancing began, adding to the festive atmosphere.  We stayed on until after the silent auction closed at 8:30, learning we “won” one of the items we bid on, and our donated wine went for a good sum. As the sun set and the air cooled, we paused to take a few photos before we strolled off, pleased to have benefited a great cause and enjoyed some wonderful food and wine as well.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor