Haines City's first Cigar and Wine Festival is Saturday. Aims to support vocational school
HAINES CITY – The idea is to indulge while at the same time promote education in the Haines City area and beyond.
That’s part of the purpose of the first Cigar and Wine Festival in Haines City. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, the event will be what organizers said is a way to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics – STEAM Education. STEAM is an approach to learning that uses those areas to help guide student inquiry, dialogue and critical thinking.
Hosted by Haines City’s The Cigar Quarters, a cigar and craft beer and wine lounge, and Sip Haines City, a wine and tapas lounge, the nine-hour festival will include various cigar and wine companies' product introductions, local food, product and service vendors, and musical entertainment provided by artists who have been signed by recording labels.
Anthony Grant, the Cigar and Wine Festival organizer, said the festival will be a fun way for area businesses to network when they gather in downtown Haines City’s Railroad Park, 620 E Main St. He said the other impetus for the cigar and wine festival is to promote education. The goal is to raise enough funds through cigar, wine and food booth rentals, as well as private donations, to sponsor two students to attend the non-profit GCTE Center Inc., a Winter Haven vocational school.
“Our focus is to help young individuals who have fallen through the gaps with an alternative way of learning through STEAM,” said Grant, who is also CEO of Grant Enterprise USA, Extravagant Exposure LLC and the nonprofit GCTE Center Inc.
Another festival focus will be the various cigar and wine companies who will be on-hand to sell and serve samples their products. The companies that are expected to attend include Madre Tierra Cigars, Kissimmee/Dominican Republic; 2nd Amendment Cigars, Tampa; Luciano Cigars Company, Nicaragua; ATL Cigars, Atlanta; Blue Mountain Cigars, Hialeah Gardens; Konscious Cigars, Tampa; Rooster Smokehouse Cigars, Haines City; and King Musa Cigars, Orlando.
John Deans – who co-founded Madre Tierra Cigars with his wife, Juana De La Cruz, in November 2022 – said he heard about the festival through Facebook and his company was invited to take part in it. He chose to take part in the Cigar and Wine Festival because it would highlight the area’s independent “brick-and-mortar” businesses. He said because his cigar company is new, he’s working to get the name out across the central Florida area and to the east coast.
Madre Tierra consists of Deans, his wife and her brother in the Dominican Republic. The brother has workers who roll the cigars and has had a cigar business in Tamboril, Dominican Republic, for more than 40 years.
“We’re new, and this is a good way to get the word out about our cigars,” he said. “This is great for networking because we’ll meet the people in that area who will get to know our cigars."
As far as wine goes, Grant said there would be at least two wine companies represented at the event.
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In addition to the taste and smell sensations of the Cigar and Wine Festival, Grant said scheduled entertainment includes Mel Speller and Friends, a Motown-jazz band from Kissimmee; and Precious Groover, a female vocalist; DJ King of Milehigh Entertainment & Events; and Loudpack Sound Company, a sound equipment company, all from Polk County.
Grant, who is also past president of the Polk County National Pan-Hellenic Council, said the idea for Cigar and Wine Festival is to give guests a chance to have fun while doing some business networking.
“We want to promote community development; this is a community event. We want to network with each other. There are a lot of individuals who live in Haines City who don’t know the different types of businesses that exist here. We’re trying to build up a community awareness of the businesses here,” he said. “Of course, we hope they’ll maybe have a nice smoke and sip of wine.”
Sponsors for the Cigar and Wine Festival are the Solivita Cigar Club, Milehigh Ent & Events, Luciano Cigars Company, Securetek, Carter 2 and McClam Enterprise Productions.
If you go
WHAT: Haines City 1st Cigar and Wine Festival
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 8 pm., Sept. 23
WHERE: Railroad Park, 620 E Main St., Haines City
COST: Free
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Haines City's first Cigar and Wine Fest is Saturday at Railroad Park
