Dear Friends, Supporters, and Volunteers,

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It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that the Roswell Wine Festival will not take place in 2025. This decision was not made lightly. The festival has been a true labor of love from the very beginning, and we are incredibly proud of the memories and community spirit it has fostered over the years.

 

As many of you all know, the festival is run by two friends with a shared passion for wine (Peggy Robinson and Dwight Cunningham). You would likely be surprised by how much time it takes to host 2,500 wine loving guests and 100 business participants annually. Each year, the festival requires hundreds of hours of planning and coordination. Most years, we have both held full-time corporate jobs along with simultaneously organizing the festival. While we are deeply passionate about this event, several key factors have led us to the difficult decision to pause this year’s festivities.

 

Event Date

A significant turning point came last year when the City of Roswell required we move the date we traditionally held for 10 years. This change had a substantial negative impact on attendance, with ticket sales down 20% year-over-year. For a one day event, this is hard to recover from. 

 

Rising Costs

Like many event organizers and local businesses, we’ve seen dramatic increases in costs - with some items more than doubling and tripling in price. We have always believed the level of quality has defined the Roswell Wine Festival as unique, and it’s not an area we want to compromise.

 

Financial Risk

The Roswell Wine Festival is fully self-funded by just the two of us. While we care deeply about creating something meaningful for the community, the personal financial risk - combined with the hundreds of hours we already volunteer for free - makes it difficult to continue in a sustainable way.

 

We are deeply grateful for your support over the past decade. Together, we hope that we have enhanced the cultural fabric of Roswell. We’ve raised hundreds of thousands for local charities and helped support hundreds of small local businesses.

 

We take immense pride in what we've all accomplished together – you are part of this. Whether it’s old friends like Jamie and Seth Freedman, who have been helping from sunrise to sunset since the very beginning, or the new friends we’ve made through the festival - Kim Weber, Diane & Jim Dooley, Karin Mimms, many regular volunteers like Orson Hall, Jennifer Harding, Jill, KC, Laura, the GS Bestie Squad, and countless others - we’re truly grateful for each and every one of you.

 

As we look ahead, we are considering possibilities for a potential return in 2026, when we hope to have more clarity around the economic and logistical landscape.

Sincerely,

Peggy Robinson and Dwight Cunningham

Roswell Wine Festival Co-founders