If you want to go to this year's Wine and Roses event Feb. 14 (Valentines Day) at the Nike Tiger Woods Center, you'd better get on the stick. Only 30 days after the first announcements went out, it appeared that more than half the tables had been reserved.
That's important. It's important because capacity at the Nike facility is 352 and 475 guests attended the record-setting 2008 event. That Wine and Roses, which took place at the Stott Center, raised $204,000 in scholarship support for 300 Portland State University athletes.
“We have a new venue this year...and we're really excited about it because the Tiger Woods Center isn't available for many events that aren't directly related to Nike,” said Deyna Brown, director of donor relations and special events in the Viking Athletics Department.
Although it holds fewer dinner tables, PSU Associate Athletic Director for Development Zack Wallace describes it as “a first class venue, which offers a great athletic ambiance for an event like this. It will help us in our effort to make Wine and Roses 2009 an even more memorable experience than last year.”
The center provides a great space for showcasing the events' more than 250 silent auction items which Brown said also will “be a little higher quality in line with our efforts to make this one of the best events of its kind in Portland.”
They also promise the return of such popular oral auction items as the steak and cigar dinner with head football coach Jerry Glanville, Blazer Suite tickets and a yacht cruise on the Willamette River.
Although it will be difficult to improve on last year's Wine and Roses, Wallace said “we're trying to improve the entertainment value of the event and the overall experience. From the time you receive the first invitation to the time you leave Feb. 14, we want this to be a class act. We want it to be professional.”
And, that effort will get a boost from what they describe as a “very professional” Nike staff and from the Tiger Woods Center itself, a state-of-the-art conference center which showcases golf memorabilia from around the world (trophies, flags and photos). Wine and Roses also provides a chance to see the Nike campus and may be the only chance most Wine and Roses guests will have to experience the Tiger Woods facility.
Last year's event brought 100 volunteer student athletes together with many of the people who provide the scholarship money that allows them to attend Portland State while fulfilling their dream of competing at the collegiate level.
Although the athlete's roles may be slightly different this year because catering is more structured at the Tiger Woods Center (last year, an athlete at each table brought guests' entrees), Wallace and Brown said they don't plan to alter the student participation.
“We started involving students more heavily a couple years ago and that has proven very popular with our guests...and with many of the students who volunteer. They enjoy it enough that some have volunteered all four years during their time at PSU,” she said.
With Wine and Roses, PSU athletics is trying to expand its reach, introducing more people to athletics at the state's largest public university, Wallace said. He and his crew are finding that to be successful, too, as more people and businesses have stepped up to offer auction items.
But, while there will be more and higher quality auction items for guests to bid on (and they'll be displayed in a much more spacious environment), there will be a premium this year on seats.
So, if you want to go to this year's Wine and Roses event, as we said at the beginning...”you'd better get on the stick”! (Contact Deyna Brown, 503-725-9744, or complete transaction can be handled at goviks.com)
