Deann Reinhardt is pictured here with a group of her friends who traveled from Cedar Rapids to enjoy a selection of wines from across the state at the 10th Annual Taste of Dysart Fall Festival.

The 10th Annual Taste of Dysart Fall Festival capped off its first decade as a huge hit last Saturday in Dysart. The sun was shining bright, and for the first time in weeks the temperature reached nearly 80 degrees.

As in past years, the event was held from 4-8 p.m. on Main Street. Vendors started to line the street and the band was setting up in the early afternoon in preparation for the event, where each business on Main Street hosted a winery inside of the store. There were a total of 11 wineries at the event this year – all of them from the great state of Iowa.

For a donation, guests received a commemorative etched “Dysart” wine glass. The crowd assembled before the start of the event, and when it was finally time to enjoy the festival, people could be seen wandering about and checking out all of the goodies at the vendor booths, as well as admiring the beautiful Corvettes that were brought down to Main Street.

The Lions Club sold burgers and brats, and the aroma of grilled food was a sure draw for local residents, who could also find gourmet popcorn from Here’s What’s Poppin, a Cedar Falls shop. Their delicious popcorn can be found year round in Dysart at the Front Porch Primitives and Antiques store.

On the entertainment side, the Getaway City Band kept everyone’s ears busy as they wandered about from shop to shop and mingled with friends.

Many of the wineries present at this year’s festival have participated were familiar to Dysart residents. Beth Guzman, who was representing Winnesheik Wildberry Winery out of Decorah, noted that she attends several different wine tasting events throughout the year.

“Out of all of them, the Taste of Dysart Fall Festival is by far the busiest,” Guzman said. “Dysart does a wonderful job of hosting the event, with great advertisements and such.”

Kim Latusick, who came down from Waterloo with her friends for the event, had found that Dysart has the best little shops that are always full of new and charming merchandise.

“This is my fourth year in a row coming to this, and I can’t wait to come back next year!” Latusick said.

The Taste of Dysart Annual Fall Festival is sponsored each and every year by Dysart Business Builders, Dysart Development Corporation, and the Dysart Volunteer Fire Department. This event also would not be possible without the cooperation of all the local businesses and the hard work of volunteers who helped set up and organize.

A complete list of the wineries at this year’s event is as follows:

-The Cedar Ridge Winery and Distillery from Swisher, Iowa was located inside of KE Black Mercantile. Their wines can be found at KE Black throughout the entire year.

-The Tassel Ridge Winery was located inside Custom Creations by Sheri.

-The Winneshiek Wildberry Winery was at Front Porch Antiques.

-The Fox Ridge Winery, which is located just next door in Traer, was inside Where Two Corners Meet.

-Wine 101 the Traveling Vineyard was in Carl Luze Real Estate.

-Fireside Winery from Marengo was at Sassy’s.

-Park Farm Winery and Heartland Harvest Winery shared space inside the Brick-a-Brack building.

-Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery from Carroll Iowa was inside Custom Creations by Sheri.

-The Engelbrecht Family Winery was at Gypsy Souls.

-The Summerset Winery was at Wrage Realty.