Wendy Taylor

2022 Annual Business Meeting

Our Annual Business Meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 9 at 7 pm. In order to continue our practice of being fiscally responsible and to reach the most members possible, this year’s meeting will be presented over Zoom.

During this meeting, viewers will hear updated information about the current state of the Wine Society, including our financial condition. We will highlight what has been accomplished during the past year, including a recap of our two wine competitions and the OC Fair, and discuss the upcoming events we have planned for the remainder of the year.

Our Annual Election of three members for the Board of Directors is coming up, and we will introduce you to candidates who will present their qualifications and interests as potential Board members live. There will be time set aside for questions and  answers and Committee Chairs available to provide more insight.

Sign-up for attendance is currently open through our OCWS website under the Events tab. Reminder announcements will also be pushed out to the membership during September. There is no cost to attend this Zoom meeting.

The 2021/22 OCWS Board of Directors looks forward to you attending as we review our past year and look forward to the 2022/23 calendar year. The meeting will be concluded in accordance with OCWS Bylaws and government regulations for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

We look forward to having you log into this important event!

– Fran Gitsham, President

2022 Courtyard at the OC Fair

The 2022 OC Fair, now just a fading memory, is still fresh in the minds and hearts of the 212 OCWS volunteers whose dedication and enthusiasm brought success to this year’s Courtyard. With over 1,340 shifts worked and thousands of hours spent behind the scenes before and after the Fair, the Fair came and went like a breeze on the wind.

As a partner to the Orange County Fair & Events Center, we run both the Commercial and Home Wine Competitions. In return, we are given the opportunity to run The Courtyard, with income therefrom paying for both Competitions and covering OCWS’ overhead for the following year. The Featured Winery Program and donations from the general public raise funds that are contributed directly to our Scholarship Fund.

The success of The Courtyard is due, in no small part, to The Courtyard Committee, cash verifiers behind the scenes, seminar presenters, the set-up and tear-down crews, the Featured Winery Program, and too many other positions and programs to name and, needless to say, all the OCWS volunteers who manned or maintained The Courtyard in a number of capacities.

It takes every one of our volunteers, their time, their hands, and their hearts, to tackle the tasks, no matter how great or small, to make The Courtyard a success and provide the OCWS with a fabulous foundation going into next year. Thank you to each and every one of you who volunteered this year!

– Fran Gitsham and the entire Courtyard Committee

2022 Courtyard Fun Facts

Here are a few “fun” facts that The Courtyard Committee thought you might enjoy knowing:

  • Largest Day—Friday, July 29: $23,461 and 2,098 Transactions 
  • Most Register Transactions—Saturday, July 23 for Awards: 1,000
  • Featured Winery Program— Scholarship Fund Contributions: $16,760
  • Largest Scholarship Day—Friday, July 15: $1,182 (First day of the Fair!)
  • #1 Best Selling Item—Korbel Sparkling Splits
  • #2 Best Selling Item—Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay: 2,070 Bottles = 8,280 Glasses
  • Govino Glasses Sold: 3,869
  • Total OCWS Volunteers: 212
  • Total Shifts Worked: 1343 (Managers – 21; Cashiers – 43; Stewards – 30; Servers – 126)
  • New Memberships: 180 Dual Memberships= 362 and 34 Single Memberships = Total New Members 396

 

OCWS Board of Directors Election

Oversite of the OCWS is seen by a nine-member Board of Directors, which finds three members’ terms ending each year. The organization, as you all know it, does not run itself. Needless to say, intelligent, innovative, open minded, problem solving, and results oriented people are the key to the leadership of the group. The majority of our members have these skills already, and it’s that time of year to consider stepping up to help lead the way. If you know the organization and have been a volunteer along the way, you just might be among the people to take a lead position.

The beginning of a three-year term on the Board of Directors, according to the By-Laws, shall be staggered such that three members’ terms expire each year. The three vacated positions are filled each year by a vote of the OCWS membership, following the Annual Business Meeting which, this year, will be held on Friday, September 9, 2022, and will be held virtually via Zoom.

The overall time commitment for a member of the Board varies, based upon assignments and participation. The ultimate goal of the Board is for members to run OCWS programming, with the Board acting as mentors and liaisons regarding budgets, event timing and placement, and for the Board to function as an oversight committee, focusing on compliance with the By-Laws, insurance, OC Fair compliance, liability exposure, etc., and generally running the business of the organization.

A candidate, ideally, should possess some of the following skills:

  • General knowledge of the OCWS events and activities
  • Prior experience as a volunteer
  • The ability and time to help organize events throughout the year
  • Selected event and budget management skills
  • Be a member in good standing

To declare candidacy for a position on the Board of Directors, a candidate must present a Declaration of Candidacy, in writing, by mail or via electronic media to the Election Chair no later than fourteen (14) calendar days (which is August 26, 2022) prior to the scheduled Annual Business Meeting.

Statements of Candidacy will be posted on the OCWS website and, during the Annual Business Meeting, declared candidates will have an opportunity to address the attending membership. A written Statement of Qualifications is required to be presented to the Election Committee no later than five (5) calendar days after receipt by the Election Chair of a Declaration of Candidacy.

The OCWS continues to thrive thanks in great part to the leadership of the organization over the last 47 years. If helping take the helm of this amazing group is of interest to you, please feel free to contact Sara Yeoman at Sara@ocws.org with any questions related to Director Responsibilities, the election process or anything else. Thank you.

– Sara Yeoman, 2022 Election Chair

President’s Message – From the Heart

I have had the pleasure of being President of the OCWS twice now, four years apart, and have tried to use this column wisely as a forum to share some of the history of the organization, to give you a peek into the workings behind the scenes, and to highlight the magnitude of just what it takes to run this amazing organization. This article is a reaffirmation of something I wrote in 2018 and is different from other articles I have written in that I want to tell you why I think the OCWS is so incredible and why it holds a huge place in my heart.

To me, the Orange County Wine Society is a microcosm of what the entire world should be. We have members ranging from their 20s to their 90s, members of all races, religions, political affiliations, and sexual orientations. We have doctors, lawyers, professors, law enforcement, salespeople, white and blue-collar workers. We have people that live from check to check and multi-millionaires. But none of this matters because what everyone in this organization has is heart and passion, and they don’t care about the trimmings or the labels. They care about the success of the OCWS, its educational mission and fundraising, and the camaraderie that nowhere else in my life has been found elsewhere. This group has hundreds of people willing to go out of their way to hold others up and come together for a better cause than oneself. Absolutely amazing in my estimation!

I have watched the people around me circle and embrace those in need of support as often as I have seen them laugh, dance, occasionally drink (okay, so that’s a bit of an understatement), and work their tails off to make every aspect of our eclectic group a raving success. On a personal note, this group has held my heart at the highest points in my life, the years after my husband and I joined, and at the lowest point, when I was widowed. It was people within the OCWS that encouraged me to get back out into the world again, lifted me up and gave me the courage to help lead this organization, not once, but twice. I am so proud to be a Director and having had the opportunity to be your President.

With every new member, we continue to make more friends, have more fun, feel more fulfilled. The last couple of years left a hole in my heart in that I missed all the smiles and hugs, but they are back with a vengeance at the OC Fair this year and I could not be happier. I hope the Orange County Wine Society makes each of you as happy as it makes me and that our paths, and new ones, continue to cross often in the future, all while working for a common goal.

Until we next meet again. Cheers and L’Chaim.

– Fran Gitsham, President

Featured Winery Program at the OC Fair

Lloyd and I would like to invite you to visit us, along with Betty Jo and Jay Newell, at the Featured Winery Bar during the OC Fair. We will be presenting wines from a different winery each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You will get to meet the winemaker or a winery principal who will introduce you to their wines, answer your questions about their wines, their history with the winery, and any other inquiries you may have. We will be pouring tastes for you to enjoy.

Our participants are scheduled to present from 1 pm to 7 pm, as featured below.

All proceeds from the Featured Winery Bar go to the OCWS Scholarship Fund.

Please come make new friends, learn more about wines, and enjoy yourself.

– Liz & Lloyd Corbett,
Featured Winery Program Co-chairs

Date Winery
August 5 Gelson’s Private Label Wines, Jake Cheung
August 6 Orange Coast Winery
August 7 TBD
August 12 Vinos Unidos Winery, Chris Jaregui
August 13 Shale Oak Winery, Curtis Hascall
August 14 Bushong Vintage Co., Jason Bushong

Announcing the OCWS Photography Contest

The OCWS is starting a photography contest and you are invited to participate! As you might have guessed, the subject is “Wine,” but this can mean many things to many people. Do you have a great shot of the sun filtering through the vines just before picking? Or an action shot of wine being poured with some great swirls in the glass? Or a romantic shot of a couple toasting each other with some wine? These are just a couple ideas, and I am sure you have many more ideas of that great shot involving wine in some way.

Each month the Photography Committee will select a “Photo of the Month” for publication in an upcoming Wine Press. The ultimate goal is to publish an OCWS Calendar, consisting of the 12 best photos of the year. These may or may not be the 12 monthly winners.

The rules are simple:

  1. Entrants must be OCWS members in good standing and the submitted photo must have been photographed by the OCWS member when he/she was an active member.
  2. The photo must be somehow wine oriented. It may be of a winery, a vineyard, the winemaking process, the finished product or simply the consumption. But don’t limit yourself to these ideas!
  3. The photo may be submitted to the photography committee anytime but will be considered only for the month it was submitted. There is a limit of five (5) submissions per month.
  4. Upon submission, the photo becomes the property of the OCWS, so before you submit it make sure it is your property. Please get permission from any people in the photo to use for OCWS marketing purposes.
  5. The photo may be submitted in any either JPEG, RAW, TIFF, or Photoshop format. Any size is acceptable, but is preferred to be at least 3000×2400 pixels, which is an 8×10 shot at 300 dpi for printing.

To submit a picture attach it in an email to Jim@JBurk.net. Be sure to include your name, phone number, picture location and picture title.

If you have any questions contact Jim Burk at Jim@JBurk.net, OCWS photographer and head of the OCWS photography committee.

– Jim Burk, OCWS Photographer

The Courtyard Crew– Set Up and Tear Down

This is How It’s Done: It took three days for our talented veteran volunteers to set up The Courtyard for the 2022 OC Fair. With things around us quickly changing every day, new features and with our special touches, we passed all our inspections to make The Courtyard a safe place to meet, greet and appreciate.

It is from our Courtyard teams and your generous service that promote our organization in many ways throughout the year. And importantly, the donations generated fund our scholarship account. New members could experience interesting tidbits few of us get to see, and there will be more opportunities to get involved for the OC Fair in 2023. Sorry we cannot keep The Courtyard looking so nice all year long!

The Tear Down Team will assemble in The Courtyard the day after the Fair ends to take it all down in one day, Monday, August 15 at 9 am until 3 pm. Contact Leslie Hodowanec at Les@ocws.org to sign up. Lunch will be provided.

If you’re smiling when you walk into The Courtyard, thank the Set Up Team!  We are one facet of many that it takes to pull off the OC Fair. We hope you enjoy some photos below of our dedicated OCWS team in action and THANK YOU CREW!

– Leslie Hodowanec, The Courtyard Set Up
and Tear Down Coordinator

President’s Message

Pandemic of Kindness—An Organization Full of Resilience

There is no doubt that the pandemic brought darkness, and that in times of crisis we tend to focus on the negative. But there are positives, too, that have provided optimism, promoted resilience, and increased our ability to adapt to challenges and, although we are still facing albeit a somewhat diluted COVID crisis, our ability to accept that which we cannot change, and to handle each situation as it arises, never ceases to amaze me. My favorite saying (and printed on a coaster on my desk) is: “Life is all about how you handle Plan B.” I don’t know about all of you, but I don’t recall a day in my life that everything has gone according to the way I envisioned it upon waking.

We have now seen both the 2022 Commercial and Home Wine Competitions come and go and, unless you were a part of the crews that made them happen, they both appeared to run relatively flawlessly and easy. Little do many of you know the trials and tribulations of the Committee members who worked tirelessly for months on end that made them look that way, and the hundreds of volunteers who ultimately brought the Competitions to fruition.

This is the story of the workings of the OCWS all year long (and for over four decades now), and the commitment and kindness of all the volunteers that make it happen. Someone very high in the ranks of the OC Fair & Events Center once asked me how we manage to run such a highly successful organization on volunteer power and could we teach their other non-profit partners to do the same. My response was that good, kind hearts can’t be taught and that, although, the majority of us originally joined because of our love, and often curiosity of wine, we stay because of the love and camaraderie that abounds within the OCWS. It’s infectious and makes us want to participate more.

I have seen kindnesses within the group like nowhere else. Volunteering becomes addictive and makes one want to work to lift up the organization and those within. I wish I could list all the people who I have witnessed who selflessly have supported and helped lift others up, while devoting themselves to the OCWS for no other reason than they are kind and we share a common goal…..the success of a truly phenomenal organization, with amazingly kind and loving hearts.

We now have The Courtyard at the OC Fair ahead of us in the near future and, again, we are looking at over 300 volunteers to make it happen. I have no doubt that this too will follow suit and rank among the many successes of the OCWS.

I hope you all know that whether you volunteer all year long, or for just a few hours a year at one event, you are what drives the success of the OCWS. I am so grateful to be a part of something so amazingly special and thank each and every one of you who make the Orange County Wine Society what it is!

– Fran Gitsham, President

In Memoriam— Remembering Jim Downey

This year’s OC Fair Home Wine Competition was a bit sadder and harder to organize without one of our longtime members, Jim Downey, who passed away in mid-May after a short battle with cancer.

Jim was a fixture in the Winemakers’ Group and is best remembered for organizing the Home Wine Competition volunteers. He was a “take charge and get it done” kind of guy. When we needed Competition volunteers he’d say, “Tell me what you need and I’ll get it done for you.”  Besides getting them, he himself was the consummate volunteer. He always worked the hardest, was one of the last to stay, and never complained about it.

I worked with him for many years helping to run that competition. He was well organized and very disciplined. He was also very firm and direct with someone when he wanted to make a point. One year I was Director of Judges and was short a few judges as the competition neared. I asked Jim for phone numbers of some stewards who had judging experience. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he did not want me stealing his stewards.

Jim and his wife, Linda, joined the OCWS in 2011. Besides being involved with the Winemakers’ Group, Jim enjoyed working the Express Bar at The Courtyard during the OC Fair. He stewarded at the Commercial Wine Competition. He was a regular at the Wine Auction and you could always find him behind a big crock pot serving his chili at the Chili Cook-off.

Jim and Linda enjoyed travel and brought back stories from their worldwide adventures. Jim especially liked Japan. Regular family visits to Northern California always included wine tasting side trips, particularly to Macchia.

Jim was very generous. He made a most delicious German potato dish or a crockpot of bratwurst sausages for potluck gatherings. He was also an excellent winemaker, reds and whites. One he was most proud of was a Riesling made from a kit.

I think the situation that most exemplified Jim happened while preparing for a Home Wine Competition. Jim was directing volunteers as if giving orders and Rob Romano made the comment, “that’s right, you used to be a Marine.” Jim whirled around, stood at attention, looked Rob in the eye and replied, “NO, you are ALWAYS a Marine.”

Recollections by Ed Reyes, with contributions from
Wendy Taylor, Rob Romano and David Rutledge