50+ Wineries, food sampling from restaurants vendors, Live Music from The Soulshine Blues Band, Angel Island shore with breathtaking views of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco skyline, Tiburon, Sausalito and Belvedere Island.

For more information see:
Vino Moda Save Angel Island Wine Festival 2010.

This turned out to be a wonderful wine festival. Despite the very long line early on, things seemed to work out very well. Most people showed up before the event started, but once they got under way with letting people in, the line moved swiftly.

There was plenty of wine through the day. Only a couple of vendors seemed to run out. Note to vendors: don’t ever let this happen.

The weather was amazing again this weekend. Thanks for letting it rain during the week between opening day and the wine festival!

Also, the oyster were really good. They’re the same oysters they serve at the cantina at Ayala Cove.

I’m not sure how much money was raised for the island, but I hope it was a lot. The island is definitely worth it!

The Sausalito Art Festival was a total blast. My favorite moment was watching The English Beat perform. Dave Wakeling and the rest of the band can really put on a show. Somehow they were able to manage a mashup of their hit Sooner or Later along with Tom Petty‘s Free Falling and Pearl Jam‘s Better Man. Tainted Love was also a lot of fun for the 80s fans, as was Night Ranger, while Servino‘s regular Michael LaMacchia performed on the artist stage.

Monday was the Heroes of Woodstock 40th Anniversary Tribute with Tom Constanten, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, and Jefferson Starship.

I was a little disappointed with the food, although the crab cakes were really good, and so was the wine and champagne.

And of course the art was definitely worth spending a day or two to go through and see it all.

As for me, I was too busy enjoying the work of others, so continuing in that spirit, please enjoy the above slideshow of photos submitted to Flickr from various attending photographers.

See you all at the Sausalito Art Festival 2010!

Unfortunately, there will be no opera night in August, but opera nights will return again in September.

Servino’s is my favorite restaurant, and this was a really fantastic experience. The opera and dinner was intimate and wonderful in every way, and I sure hope they do another one soon (and on a regular basis).

Somehow, the people at Servino’s are always able to make the restaurant seem as if nobody actually works there. You get the sense that you’re simply a very welcomed guest and these are your new friends who want you to have a good dinner, and even more so, a good time. The opera was all of this and more. Oh, and the weather and view were amazing…complete with a full moon rising over Angel Island.

The full set of pictures is available for download (18MB). Please contact me if you’d like even larger resolution copies for prints.

You can make the slideshow full screen by clicking on the icon that looks like this: