Prince George, B.C. – It was put together in just two and a half months but the organizer of this year’s very first northern wine festival is calling it a success.

Sip Wine Fest ran nine days, wrapping up this weekend.

“Oh my goodness, we had such a good time, so many of the events sold-out,” says Sandy Whitwham. “People have been talking about it, totally engaged, so we’re pleased with the first-year results.”

And despite the short planning window, she says it exceeded expectations.

“We weren’t sure how it would all come together with the nine days. We had over 20 events happening and over 25 wineries participated. So, when you’re putting something together for the first year you set your sights high and we did that and it surpassed all of our dreams for what it could be.”

So, what worked?

“I think it was the variety that people were happy with. We did the wine crawl, that was sold-out. Paint the Night at Northern Lights sold out almost immediately. We had wine pairing dinners that were sold out so everything just seemed to connect the dots.”

She says it was so successful that wine lovers can expect it to return next year.

“There’s already conversations going on about what it will look like and what else we could do and we’ll have a year to plan it instead of two and a half months,” she says. “A lot more time to bring in a lot more wineries, get a lot more engagement from venues – be it restaurants, hotels and non-food businesses.”