Your ticket earns a seat at one of the longest dining tables in the world
By Matt Larson
Can you remember the last time you attended a dinner party? Do you recall meeting some fun and interesting people? Was it also catered by 12 of Calistoga’s most amazing restaurants? And, final question, were you one of 800 guests who were eating on a string of tables stretching 1,000 feet down Lincoln Avenue? If your answer is a resounding “yes,” then you were one of the lucky ones who managed to get a ticket to sit at the Calistoga Harvest Table last year.
If you’re reading this now, however, we have terrible news—you’ll have to wait until next year to try and get tickets, as this year’s event on September 9th is already sold out. But wait, there is still good news! While they’ve reached capacity for the sit-down dinner at the thousand-foot table, they invite you all to arrive before dinner from the hours of 4:30-6 p.m. where you’ll find a lovely reception featuring more than 40 of Calistoga’s finest wines, available at eight separate wine bars that will be ready and waiting to serve you. You can mill about with your wine glass during this social hour-and-a-half whether you have a seat at the big table or not.
Many of you probably already knew about this event, tried getting tickets and, sadly, could not. Well in 2017 they sold out of all 800 dinner seats in a record-breaking 39 minutes. As of this writing, we’re not sure if the record was broken again this year, but what we do know is that by now they’re most definitely sold out. But it couldn’t hurt to double check.
Sitting at perhaps the most epic dinner table in history, you may be seated with close friends and family, but you may also be joined by some friendly strangers as well, as this is communal dining at its finest. “Half of the people who sit at the table are members of the community, and half of them are visitors, so it’s a great blending of the two,” said Visit Calistoga’s Marketing & PR Manager Charlene Peters. “A lot of friends and relatives plan this time of year in September to visit just so they can go to the Harvest Table event.” It’s even become known worldwide.
“We have people calling in from Calgary, and other visitors from the UK that come every year. Today we got a call from a sommelier in Italy who wants to come to the event; we get quite a bit of international visitors.” When world travelers come to visit Calistoga and find out about the event, they’ll often mark their calendars to try and get tickets for a triumphant return! “If they happen to be visiting during the event and see what’s going on, then they’ll want to come back and be a part of it.”
For Calistoga tourism, that visitor-meets-local facet of the event can create some especially wonderful experiences for tourists. “Visitors get this local immersion experience that they couldn’t get on a regular visit to Calistoga,” Peters said. “So they get to see the community spirit!” And they might even make a new friend or two in the process.
Each restaurant has a limited number of seats available along the thousand-foot stretch of tables, and just because one restaurant is sold out of seats, another restaurant may still have seats available. For example, if your top-choice restaurant only has three seats left and you’re with a party of four, the fourth person will have to find a second-choice restaurant and be seated with that section.
It’s recommended that you look at every restaurant’s customized menus first and pick your top three to five choices based on that, so that in the event your top choice is sold out, you already know which restaurant to turn to next because once tickets go on sale—time is of the essence. So remember this when your group tries to get their tickets next year.
The 12 restaurants featured at this year’s Calistoga Harvest Table include All Seasons Bistro, Culinary Institute, Napa Valley Crust, Cafe Sarafornia, Evangeline, Sam’s Social Club, Calistoga Inn, Hydro Grill, Tanit Pan-Asian, Checkers, Lovina, and Veraison. Most of these restaurants are all located right on site of the event on Lincoln Ave. Since the tables stretch on and on, they can prepare the food in their own kitchen and bring it out to the guests seated as closely to their establishment as possible. Only a couple restaurants are located a bit farther away will need to set up staging at the event to make their meals.
“Proximity of the restaurants to the tables is what makes this event work in such a way that we can have all of these restaurants involved,” Peters said. “The idea of the Calistoga Harvest Table is to showcase our culinary scene.” Lincoln Avenue is already set up like a sort of “restaurant row” in Calistoga (closed off to traffic on the day of the event) so attendees can see all of the great food options in town when they take their seat at the table.
For every ticket sold to this event, a portion of the profits goes to the Calistoga Cares food bank, which is a part of the Food Pantry Network of CAN-V (Community Action of Napa Valley). CAN-V provides basic needs to local residents, such as food and shelter, as well as emergency assistance and a variety of programs that can provide people with the skills they need to help rebuild their lives.
“Every year we present a check that’s based on the percentage of the ticket sales,” Peters explained. “We’re cognizant of the fact that not everybody can afford a ticket to this event, or can even afford food on their own table, so Calistoga Cares seems to be the right benefit.”
Community is what this event is truly all about. It’s produced by Visit Calistoga, also known as the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce, so bringing the community together is at the forefront of their priorities. This year marks the fifth edition of Calistoga Harvest Table, and the greater Calistoga community has responded with plenty of support as they’ve sold out the event every year to date. “There’s great music, great food, and great wine all in one place!” Peters exclaimed. “It’s a great party.”
Peters tells us that not only is the Calistoga Harvest Table event showcasing the fabulous culinary options you can also find in Calistoga, but it’s also showing off wines from the region that put Napa Valley on the viticultural map. “A lot of people don’t realize what a premiere wine destination we are,” she said. “We’re at the top of the Napa Valley—where it all began. You can start at the top and work your way down.”
Plus, if someone is flying into California for their Napa Valley visit, Calistoga is a great place for them to start their tour as well, Peters explained. “We are one of the most easily accessible places within the Napa Valley,” she said. “You can fly into the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa and it’s a 28-minute drive to Calistoga.”
So at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 9th, 2018, we highly suggest you try out some of these world-renowned Calistoga AVA wines during their Harvest Table social hour (and a half). For an extensive list of all the wineries that will be present at the event, as well as which wine bar they’ll be located at so you can easily find what you’re looking for, head to their website at calistogaharvesttable.com. You can call their welcome center at (707) 942-6333 and head to visitcalistoga.com for additional insider tips to make your Calistoga visit as full as can be.
Invite some friends to the social hour so you can all get equally excited for next year’s harvest table. The more friends you invite, the more luck you’ll have getting 2019 tickets, because the more friends you have refreshing the tickets page online, the better your chances of beating the rest of the world to the dining table will be. So for next year, cross your fingers and watch the countdown for tickets on their website. This year, come on out and celebrate Calistoga’s harvest season!
Larson is an actor/comedian/director from Vallejo who lives a double life between the Bay and LA. When he’s not writing for Local Happenings Magazine he could be editing a short film or working on his next rap album—who knows!
Keep up with all things Larson at www.MarsLegstrong.com.
