Courtyard

There are big things going on for the 2026 Fiftieth anniversary Courtyard! We are about three months out from the July 17th opening day and-I want to take this time to give some insight about The Courtyard and what goes into the preparations for our biggest fundraiser.

The Courtyard Committee has already started meeting to look at our set-up (Leslie Hodowanic and crew), wine offerings, changes to pricing, shifts and scheduling (Rich Skoczylas and Sue England), training for stewards and servers (Helga Hrowal and Maia Pehrson), cashier training (Cheryl Knapp), the fabulous Featured Winery Program (Liz and Lloyd Corbett), and the very popular wine seminars (Sara Yeoman and Ed Reyes). The biggest change for 2026 will be the new point-of-sale cash registers. Cheryl Knapp researched the available POS computers and Toast was selected as our provider. These POS devices are used by many local restaurants. Cheryl is putting together a new training program and the registers will be in use for this month’s auction. Behind the scenes year-round we have Fran Gitsham, as our Fair Liaison, working to solidify contractual obligations with the Fair, along with assuring compliance with governmental, safety and health agencies. As you can see, the Courtyard is no little feat to accomplish, and it takes commitment from an amazing group of dedicated volunteers, without whom we would not have the successful Courtyard operation we do!

As I mentioned before, The Courtyard is by far our biggest fundraiser. In 2025, the sales for the 23-day run of the Fair were at a high since COVID; that income for the Orange County Wine Society affords us the opportunity to run the OC Fair wine competitions! In addition, the Featured Winery Program generated $21,596 for the OCWS Scholarship Fund and the donation jars added $14,768.

We go through a lot of wine. Bill Redding orders wine during the run of the Fair to augment the wines from the Commercial Competition. That includes the Premium Wines, Champagne splits, wines for the Express Bar, and varietals that we are running short on. To give a better picture of the magnitude of our total sales, that translates to over 26,000 glasses of wine, 20,000 tastes and 50 cases of Govino glasses.

Not only does The Courtyard help fund the OCWS for the year, it is a vehicle for the OCWS to meet its missions of scholarship (now totaling over $1,000,000), viticulture, and wine appreciation. Each time a volunteer interacts with a fair-goer, we have the opportunity to share wine experience and knowledge. Spending time at the award tasting bar expands that opportunity tenfold.

Now, with that said, I hope you are anxious to volunteer. April is the month to sign-up for shifts at The Courtyard, and Rich and Sue have an article with all the dates, times, and volunteer information.

I look forward to seeing you at The Courtyard this summer!

—Fred Heinecke, Courtyard Committee Chair