Forest Park Wine Walk 2023

Begin your wine exploration as you stroll through Forest Park! Local Madison Street specialty shops, boutiques, and restaurants will host tasting locations during this exclusive adults-only event.

Your $50 ticket includes wine sampling from 4:30 pm to 7 pm (while supplies last), delectable hors d’oeuvres, coffee, and entertaining animal encounters/keeper talks.

Madison Street

Madison Avenue is North America’s preeminent luxury district, home to boutiques from top fashion and jewelry designers, celebrated restaurants, spas, and salons offering pampering treatments, four internationally recognized hotels, and over one hundred art galleries. A stroll along this esteemed boulevard will delight all senses with its timeless elegance yet distinctive New York flair.

Visitors are invited to stroll down Madison Street during spring and fall to sample wines at 16 shops, Art Stops, and restaurants located along its entirety. Each location will offer three tastings as well as locally prepared nibbles. In addition, visitors will receive a reusable wine glass and a map detailing all participating venues. Famous Liquors has provided some exquisite offerings, including Nola Grace Sauvignon Blanc, Buttery Pinot Noir featuring vanilla and berry notes, and Fruity Beaujolais as part of this year’s event!

Attendees of this wine walk will also enjoy live music by local rock band One Foot in the Groove. Tickets to participate can be purchased online. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce and Development, which promotes Forest Park’s distinctive downtown shopping district.

For those seeking a more accessible, less hectic experience, the Park District also hosts various community festivals and events throughout the year, such as Taste of Maple. This festival celebrates the area’s long tradition of maple syrup production with parades, arts & crafts booths, food, entertainment, and a pancake breakfast!

The Park District also hosts free summer concerts at Forest Park’s Ginkgo Pavilion, an inviting space that features both indoor and outdoor seating – perfect for enjoying the sunshine during those scorching hot months of summer! Additionally, this venue has a full-service bar open both for lunch and dinner service.

Forest Park offers plenty to see and do for all visitors, whether that means visiting the world-famous St. Louis Zoo, exploring some of the city’s premier art museums, or taking in an opera performance – there’s always something exciting going on in this vibrant neighborhood!

The Park

Forest Park is one of St. Louis’ most beautiful urban green spaces and hosts an annual wine walk that brings wine connoisseurs and eager shoppers alike to its charming shopping district at its core – also serving as a major fundraiser for its chamber of commerce.

Though Forest Park’s stunning beauty draws many visitors, it also plays host to exciting events throughout the year. One such event is the Best of Missouri Market, which showcases locally made goods from across Missouri, such as handicrafts, jewelry, and fresh-grown produce; catch performances by the St Louis Shakespeare Festival as well. And don’t miss the Great Forest Park Balloon Glow and Race! This free event brings families together while giving everyone an evening filled with music, balloons, and food!

The Park is home to numerous restaurants, such as the award-winning Cheesecake Factory and popular Gigi’s Cupcakery, as well as festivals such as the 4th of July Parade and Forest Festival. Furthermore, runners, cyclists, and other athletes frequent its terrain, which serves as host for the annual St. Louis Pace Series, Midnight Ramble, and different run/walk fundraisers.

Park offers much to culture and food lovers alike, while it also makes an idyllic natural setting for nature enthusiasts. Home to multiple large lakes, botanical gardens, and the 1904 World’s Fair Pavilion, initially, the River des Peres ran through it freely before it was subterranean in a wooden box for sanitation reasons prior to the Fair.

Wine enthusiasts can experience Central Park through an intimate guided wine tour during the summer, complete with a wine glass and itinerary. Please arrive on time for registration to avoid being turned away; each participant will also enjoy sampling various types of wines before receiving a light dinner as part of this experience.

The Grand Garden

The Arboretum’s signature feature, the Grand Garden, provides visitors with an experience they won’t soon forget – it has a series of garden rooms, water features, and fountains, intuitive wayfinding elements, elegant terrace for weddings or other special events, as well as its classical European precedents in terms of its original symmetry as well as English picturesque asymmetrically balanced landscape gardens all come together to form its design.

Forest Park Wine Walk celebrates its ninth year by drawing wine lovers and shoppers alike to its charming downtown shopping district twice annually. Organized by the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development with over 15 participating businesses along Madison Street, this year’s Wine Walk is expected to draw around 2,500 attendees.

At this event, guests will receive a wine glass and map that guides them to each participating business on Madison Street so they can sample wine while shopping and sampling food at each location along the street. Live music will also be featured, making for a fantastic shopping experience, rain or shine! The event will take place regardless of the weather.

One of the highlights of a wine walk is visiting Manistee National Forest Museum. This unique museum provides an educational journey into its rich history and significance for Michigan as it houses furniture, paintings, and costumes from its collection spanning years of history. Open from May through November with something for all visitors, visitors are sure to be impressed!

Visitors to Manistee can experience a range of activities, ranging from hayrides and clown bands to touring Manistee’s historic railroad car ferry, which serves as a national landmark and can last two to three hours, perfect for all members of the family.

Over the Top, Grand Garden will bring spring blooms, whimsical cocktails,, and breathtaking views to America’s Finest City this spring. Transformed into an enchanted garden bar this season by Top of the Hyatt’s full-scale transformation, Over the Top Grand Garden features larger-than-life botanic displays as well as backdrops that lend themselves perfectly to floral fantasies.

Food & Drink

Forest Park in Springfield is an oasis for locals and visitors alike, providing an array of leisure activities – from historic theater performances to summer concert series performances – from golfing and tennis courts to an indoor skating rink and The Boathouse restaurant serving tasty fare. There are even plans for new cricket fields and two basketball courts soon!

Forest Park Zoo is known for being an enjoyable family destination; however, Wine Safari provides an exclusive adults-only evening of wine tasting and wildlife encounters. This innovative fundraising event brings wines from different regions together with animals native to them, giving guests the experience of traveling the globe without leaving The Zoo. The $50 ticket includes wine samples from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. (while supplies last), delectable hors d’oeuvres and coffee; captivating animal encounters with trained caretakers of The Zoo’s dedicated animal care and education teams,, as well as compelling keeper talks conducted by these staffers, fascinating animal encounters conducted by The Zoo staff as well as participation in a raffle of donated prizes from Boston Bruins, Spirit of Springfield and Max Hospitality organizations – perfect for an afternoon event!

Wine Tasting will take place along a one-mile paved walking path located between Parking Lot 1 and the Visitor Center of The Arboretum, wheelchair-accessible yet with some hills. Wine tasting, as well as food purchases from Ginkgo Restaurant and Ma Maw’s Kitchen, will also be available; participants must present valid photo identification to enter, with tickets sold non-refundable in advance.