Live music, silent auction, wine and more as the Friends of Sims Library will host the eighth annual “Wine with Friends.”

“Wine with Friends” is a fundraiser event for the library that will include wine tasting, a silent auction, food and live music from Jonathan Lyons on baritone sax, and Justin Burdette on guitar. Library Director Eric Johnson mentions that the event has not really changed since last year.

“The only new thing we had was last year when we had Todd Delaune, who is the owner of Red, White & Brew Downtown,” said Johnson. “He introduced all the wines and he will be coming back this year to do that. We had trivia contests when we talked about the wine with prizes. He’s quite entertaining so it was a lot of fun, but pretty much we stay with what people seem to like which is the wine pairings with small plates of food.”

If in attendance, there will be plenty of time to talk to people while also bidding on items and trying the first six flavors of wine.

“Starting with your choice of a couple of wines when you come in, we have a little bar set up, so people can mingle and they can look at the silent auction items and talk to each other and have a glass of wine and hor d’oeuvres,” said Johnson. “Then when they sit down at the tables, we have five plates of food with five different wines that go with the food.”

The wines change each year, but in the past they have included numerous white, red and rosé wines. Of the five plates of food, there may be a salad plate, pasta plate or some type of meat. 

“We’ve done shrimp and then a dessert and each one has the appropriate wine to go with it,” said Johnson. 

If looking to attend, the cost is $35 and tickets have to be bought ahead of time. Johnson explains that people enjoy the event and attendees also learn about wine.

“People love it,” said Johnson. “It’s a value for the cost, but they get quite a bit of wine, and the food is usually delicious. You learn about wine, but it’s not a scholarly presentation. It’s a fun presentation.”

The presentation includes fun facts about wine including where it is from and what grapes are in it.

“You learn just enough to make the wine interesting,” said Johnson.

Along with learning fun facts about wine, a silent auction is held that offers things for everyone.

“The silent auction is great,” said Johnson. “We have everything from wine implements and bottles of wine to art. We’ve had a dinner package. We’ve had memberships in the art center. We’ve have a historical walking tour of Hammond. So, it’s a mix of things, tangible things, and events and gift certificates. It’s various price ranges, so something for everybody.”

According to Johnson, they raised between $3600 to $4000 for the library last year.

“That’s usually evened out on the wine tasting itself, the tickets, and the silent auction,” said Janie Branham, head of serials. “Usually, its about half and half.”

Johnson is looking forward to this year and thinks they are doing something right.

“As they say, this is the eighth one so we’ve been successful,” said Johnson. “We started out with 40 to 45 people the first year and now we’re somewhere up to 60 and 70 at this point. A lot of people just keep coming back every year.”

“Wine with Friends” takes place in the library on Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets will not be sold at the door. If looking to attend, they ask that people purchase tickets online at southeastern.edu/libraryfriends.