Smithfield VA Events reaches $2 million milestone
Published 5:49 pm Thursday, May 8, 2025
Smithfield VA Events celebrated crossing the $2 million threshold for the cumulative donations given since 2012. Here, grant recipients pose for a group photo with their ceremonial checks.
The crowd cheers as the exact total amount of donations since 2012 – $2,067,288 – is revealed.
Pictured from left are Dave Hare of TowneBank, Helen Plant, Betty Montgomery and Marleisa Montgomery of the Genieve Shelter, a 2024 Bacon & Bourbon Fest grant recipient, and Kelly McCann, also of TowneBank.
From left are Dave Hare of TowneBank, Cheryl and Rick Rowlands of the Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program and Beth Buckner of COP’s Food for Thought literacy program.
From left are Dave Hare of TowneBank, Marie Berkeley, Beth Edwards and Hayley Beckner of Girls on the Run, and Kelly McCann of TowneBank.
Pictured from left are Smithfield VA Events President Larry Saint in cardboard cutout form and board members John Payne, Amy Novak, Tammy Burgett, Amanda Emanuel, Hannah Arnold, Christi Chatham, Judy Winslow, Connie Chapman, Mark Summit, Leigh Abbot Leaman and Ann Gledhill.
Pictured from left are Wine & Brew Fest “Superstar” volunteers John Lapaugh, Brenda Lovell, Marsha George, Cut-out Larry Saint, Eric Emick, Patrick Clark, Elizabeth Moose, Jonathan Echols, Debra Webb, Haley Beckner, Faye Schultz, Emily Sheppard, Marcie Spoonhoward, Sharon Schminke, Kathy Strozak, Noah Emrick, Wesley Brown, and Jill Gwaltney.
Jim Abicht, Randy Pack and Debra Webb received trophy-sized replicas of the Wine & Brew Fest pig statue in recognition for their past service as board members. Pictured second from left is a cardboard cutout of Larry Saint, president of Smithfield VA Events’ board, who was unable to attend in person.
Mark Summit, a Smithfield VA Events board member, provided live drumrolls during the celebration.
Kelley Healey, vice president of Bryants Grading LLC and a Smithfield VA Events board member, served as master of ceremonies for the celebration of the nonprofit’s $2 million donation threshold.
From left, Smithfield High School Junior ROTC boosters Teyaka Booker and Tiffany Abramowski represented the group with cadets Cameron Abramowski and Ryan McEathron.
Dawn and Leonard Provost were among the representatives from sponsor TowneBank.
Miniature replicas of the Wine & Brew Fest pig statue were presented as gifts to retired Smithfield VA Events board members Jim Abicht, Randy Pack and Debra Webb.
Ryan West, at left, and Joey Marade represent West Sportswear.
Andrea May, at left, and Audrey Perkins represent the Isle of Wight Education Foundation.
From left are Heather Stafford, Rachel Watson, Savannah Wise and Hardy Elementary Principal Shante Denson representing the Hardy Parent Teacher Association, which received a $10,000 grant from this year’s BOB Fest.
From left are Marleisa Montgomery, Helen Plant and Betty Montgomery of the Genieve Shelter, which received a $10,000 grant from last year’s Bacon & Bourbon Fest.
Joe Kreiger, at left, and Russell Savage of the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department represented their agency, which received a $10,000 grant from this year’s Wine and Brew Fest. 1666 - From left are Marleisa Montgomery, Helen Plant and Betty Montgomery of the Genieve Shelter, which received a $10,000 grant from last year’s Bacon & Bourbon Fest.
From left, Beth Edwards, Hayley Beckner and Marie Berkeley represented Girls on the Run, which received a $5,000 grant from last year’s Bacon & Bourbon Fest.
Festival Director Gina Ippolito and some of her family members celebrate the $2 million donation milestone. From left are Tom, Nelson, Gina and Grayson Ippolito, all of Smithfield. (Submitted photo)
Smithfield VA Events staff, from left, are Festival Management Assistant Bailey Biggs, Special Project Manager Jan Clark, Volunteer Manager Cristin Emrick, Logistics Manager Julian Evans, Bookkeeper Deb Frank and Site and Equipment Manager Jeff Phelps. (Submitted photo)
This year’s Wine & Brew Fest marked a milestone for Smithfield VA Events, the nonprofit that organizes it and two other annual festivals at Windsor Castle Park.
Over the 13 years since the inaugural Wine & Brew Fest in 2012, the April event, annual BOB Fest in January that highlights Bloody Marys, oysters and Brunswick stew and the yearly Bacon & Bourbon Fest in October have raised a cumulative $2 million – $2,067,288 to be exact.
Just over 180 community organizations have received grants funded with a portion of that money since 2012.
Smithfield VA Events staff and volunteers and past grant recipients celebrated the milestone at The Smithfield Center on May 7.
This year’s Wine & Brew Fest, which brought in roughly $80,000, funded $10,000 grants to the Smithfield High School Band Boosters, SHS Chorus, Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department and the DeGood Foundation, which funds the Isle of Wight County chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The library provides a free age-appropriate book in the mail every month to enrolled children from birth to age 5.
The April 12 festival was the 31st event Smithfield VA Events hosted on the grounds of the Windsor Castle manor house that was once home to Smithfield founder Arthur Smith. The festivals have been held every year since 2012 except during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The other $40,000 raised during the Wine & Brew Fest was distributed in smaller amounts to volunteer groups or charities selected by individual volunteers or board members.
“It’s transformational for our community and it’s really a testament to the power of community-led events to create real lasting change,” said Jim Monroe, vice president of corporate affairs for town anchor employer Smithfield Foods, which donates a half-pound of bacon per attendee at the Bacon & Bourbon Fest.
This year’s BOB Fest gave $10,000 grants to the Smithfield Rotary Foundation and the Hardy Elementary School Parent Teacher Association. Last year’s Bacon & Bourbon Fest, which also brought in just over $80,000, funded a $10,000 grant to the Genieve Shelter, a Suffolk nonprofit that provides refuge to victims of domestic violence, and $5,000 grants to the Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program’s “Food For Thought” literacy program and to Girls on the Run, a program that teaches elementary and middle school girls through a curriculum that incorporates running.
“At the core of Smithfield VA Events is their theme ‘party with purposes,’ giving back to the community – our community,” said Dave Hare, a nearly 40-year town resident and Chesapeake region president of TowneBank, which Hare said had alone contributed $250,000 to Smithfield VA Events over the years.
Festival Director Gina Ippolito said Smithfield VA Events began when Andrew Gregory, who would become one of the nonprofit’s founding board members, was on Smithfield’s Town Council and informed her that Windsor Castle Park would open in 2010. Ippolito said Gregory met with her, Randy Pack, Judy Winslow, Jim Abicht, Amy Novak, Mark Hall and Renee Rountree – who would all become founding board members – at Pack’s Smithfield Station restaurant to begin planning how to use the park as an event space, and decided on a wine and brew fest.
Two years later, the inaugural event drew around 1,400 people and raised $40,000. That first festival was organized under the Smithfield Rotary Club since Smithfield VA Events didn’t have nonprofit status at that time.
The first BOB Fest and Bacon & Bourbon Fest followed in 2014.
Smithfield VA Events now has a 15-member board and several paid staff members.
The celebration of the $2 million threshold also marked the introduction of Bailey Biggs, Smithfield VA Events’ new festival management assistant.
“We are hoping she can grow into my position,” Ippolito said.
Ippolito said Smithfield VA Events will be working on succession planning over the next several seasons.
“It is time to start the process of turning this organization over to the next generation of leadership,” Ippolito said. “We are actively seeking new volunteers now as well to guide and lead us into the next decade.”
Editor’s note: This story is updated to correct that the event was on May 7, not May 6, and to correct that Kelley Healey is now vice president of Bryants Grading LLC.
