Letter to the Editor: Sip of Fifth

Just a note about our experience last Friday night at the “Sip of Fifth” in Naples in case you have not had a reply about this horrible event:

Family and friends joined me for what we thought would be another wonderful evening last Friday evening for the Sip of Fifth. For the past few years we have attended the wine walks & beer walks up and down Fifth Avenue which also included Tin City & Bayfront areas. These were fantastic events which were about $25 for the beer walks and $35 for the wine walks. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed these annual events and looks forward to them every year.

The Sip of Fifth was advertised as the same type of fun filled evening where folks would go to 20 to 25 different restaurants to sample both wine and beer along with a taste of an appetizer from each these establishments. One would think that with the increased fee to $55 per person things would even be better. But, it was not to be and fell far short of our expectations. As a non-drinker I came hungry for samplings of the exotic treats I had enjoyed from years past. What they served this year were chips, pretzels & cheese that sat out in the open for anyone, paying or not, to place their hands into as a poor snack sample. We were all appalled at what they were serving during dinner hour while giving you a shot or two of beer & wine per serving. Many in attendance were noticeably upset about this and spoke to those in charge about the drastic change from similar events held in the preceding years. We received several conflicting stories that this was a benefit for the Children Hospital (I did not know Naples had one) to the woman who sold us the tickets who said that the charity was the 5th Avenue Business District. Are you kidding me ? Really? The businesses of 5th Avenue are a charity that maintains the proceeds from the $110.00 per couple rip off of sipping wind & beer with cheese, chips & pretzels?

On behalf of the many folks that expected a marvelous night as was presented in years past I am venting all of our frustration to you. A Taste of Collier was a much more pleasing & enjoyable day for their five dollar entry fee. You could sample and feed a family of four for the price of one ticket to a Sip of Fifth. This will be our last wine/beer walk event we will ever attend.

Regards.

Lou Wolfenson

Marco Island