Opening Weekend Highlights

I figured I better quick get a post up on our opening weekend before our second weekend comes!  It's hard to pick just a few highlights from our opening weekend, but I am going to do my very best to keep it to a few.  I posted some pictures on Facebook as well, but wanted to get in writing a quick recap. Considering we had a lot of details come together at the last minute, we felt overall that the weekend was incredibly successful thanks to our awesome staff, "Schrambassadors," and customer support. All the last minute things we had hoped to have in place that we didn't by the time we opened didn't seem to matter!  We had a good steady flow of traffic all weekend and had great feedback from our customers.

A few highlights:

• All the new friends!  We were so humbled to see a strong turn-out, not only from our friends and family, but from all sorts of other folks who have been enthusiastic and anxiously awaiting our opening! We look forward to getting to know many of you better and see your faces more often! 

• The various modes of transportation.  Not only did people travel by car, but we had bikers and bicyclists stop by the winery too.  One guy was out for a bike ride, saw our winery signs, and decided to buy a few bottles of wine to bring home to his wife.  How great is that?  We even had a group from down the road come via wagon pulled by their Norwegian horses.  Fun!   

• Our first case sale!  We were excited to meet a crew of Minnesota wine enthusiasts who came out on Friday night and bought a case of wine!  Definitely a reason to celebrate.

• The support of  the other small local, family owned Waconia businesses.  It is so encouraging to live in a town with so much support of one another.  As Schram Vineyards, we aspire to join the ranks of other well known family names in towns and create the same strong reputation of our brand.  Thanks to all the local businesses for stopping out to see us.  We look forward to seeing more of you!  

• The regulars.  We must have done something right if we saw some folks come twice over the weekend! 

• The ribbon cutting!  Even though Aaron's shoes were untied and his pants were ballooned out by the wind, we loved doing the ribbon cutting to make our opening official. We were so touched by Chamber President's, Kellie Sites, kind words thanking us for making our home and establishing a business in Waconia.  As the third winery in the town, we are definitely cementing the town as Waconia Wine Country!  

• Seeing this guy with a huge smile on his face all weekend.  Any one who talked to Aaron over the weekend surely heard the passion and enthusiasm he has for this business.  Such a high to see all the hard work from the past five years come to fruition.  Most importantly, we had fun!

Thank YOU to everyone who made it a fun and successful opening weekend!  You are all appreciated!