Bloggers from across North and South Carolina met at the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard in Tabor City, North Carolina for the first meet & greet of 2017 for Carolina Blogging. Wine tasting, conversations with like-minded bloggers, food and a guest speaker are just some of the highlights to recap meet & greets of 2016 and our successful event at the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard.
A quick bit of history on the meet & greets of Carolina Blogging. Back in 2015, Carolina Blogging hosted about 40 bloggers and vendors at the Gastonia Conference Center in Gastonia, North Carolina. Guest speakers shared tips of the trade and best business practices with bloggers who’s skill levels ranged from beginner to seasoned entrepreneur. Since this event Carolina Blogging has helped its members put together 3 other events where bloggers had an opportunity to step out for a night to meet others from the area, enjoy some food and discuss best practices. Carolina Blogging switched gears a bit when bloggers saw an opportunity to fulfill a need for a local cause while also highlighting a local business. Small businesses of the Carolinas like Coco Darlings, Women Managing Stress and Grapefull Sisters Vineyard have all been locations featured at a meet & greet. We’ve helped to send Christmas Cards to the Troops and collect gently used books for The Little Free Library on Wanda.
The location, Grapefull Sisters Vineyard in Tabor City, North Carolina –
On February 4th, 2017 Carolina Blogging hosted the first meet & greet of the year. The location was scouted out by Sarah Eckert as a unique opportunity for bloggers to meet at a vineyard that had been previously covered on UNC-TV. Plus, the vineyard owners Sheila and Amy are relatives to Sarah! This made it an easy discussion within the Carolina Blogging Members Group to pick a date to visit.
The Grapefull Sisters Vineyard is unique because it has a bed and breakfast named the Inn d’Vine on site as well as a campground on the property. Year round travelers from near and far are welcomed to taste some of the 7 varieties of wine along with jam samplings. During the summer, Grapefull Sisters Vineyard hosts events both inside the Inn and outside under the covered sun porch or on picnic tables and chairs on the lawn. Upcoming events at the vineyard include the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard 3rd. Annual Alzheimer’s Fundraiser.
Image courtesy of CarolinaBlogging.com
Our Guest Speaker, John Choquette –
At our February event, Carolina Blogging invited a local author from North Carolina to speak. John Choquette of Raleigh, North Carolina and his wife Anna made the trip, enjoyed wine tasting and John spoke about his recently pushed three book series, The Burlwood Forest Trilogy which consists of books Burlwood Forest, Through The Woods and Many Fields. John did a wonderful job speaking about his trials as a new author, his educational opportunites after earning a B.A. in journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the experiences he has picked up along the way after writing his books. John is also owner of Pumpernickel Art. Read more about John and his work in our exclusive interview, Interview with John Choquette, Local Author in North Carolina.
Be sure to follow Carolina Blogging on Facebook as we read some of Burlwood Forest to you on camera!
Meet & Greet –
It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet some of our Carolina Blogging South Carolina members at the meet & greet. We’ve hosted most of our events in North Carolina and got a chance to bring an event down to our South Carolina bloggers. In the business of blogging it is easy to become acquainted with a blogger via social media and follow them. Having the opportunity to meet them in person and putting a face to a name has been our most favorite part of any of the meet & greets we have hosted or attended. To date I do believe this meet & greet had the most “food bloggers” in attendance. If there’s one thing we know best at Carolina Blogging, it is food! Thank you for all that came out to make our first event of 2017 a success!
#carolinabloggerselfies – From left to right: Mindy from Sweet Tea & Pasta, Caroline from Pinch Me, I’m Eating, Melissa from Adventures of Frugal Mom and Sarah from Carolina Blogging
Here is a peek at our video recap of the event…
Read an exclusive recap written by Carolina Blogging member Mindy from Sweet Tea & Pasta – Blogger Meet & Greet at the Grapefull Sisters Vineyard.
Rejection is never fun, but Choquette’s enthusiastic perspective and go-get-it approach helped me realize that the only thing stopping me is me. Sure I may not have a degree in journalism, but why should I let that keep me from pursuing my goal to write for Our State magazine? My desire to savor all that North Carolina has to offer and then share that fondness and my discoveries with others embodies the Our State mission. – Sweet Tea & Pasta.com
A special Thank You and Recognition –
Thank You – Melissa from Myrtle Beach for Families for helping to scout swag donations and for putting together this amazon post on 10 Spots for Off-Season Fun in Myrtle Beach.
Thank You – Janice from An Open Suitcase for getting our swag from Myrtle Beach to the vineyard!
Thank You – Melissa from Adventures of Frugal Mom and Mikaela for all of your help from the setup, photos, planning and more!
Carolina Blogging would like to thank the following businesses for donating items to our swag bags and door prizes…
- Medieval Times of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
- WonderWorks Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- USS Battleship North Carolina
- Cape Fear Museum
- Tastefully Simple
- North Carolina Azalea Festival
- Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Grapefull Sisters Vineyard
- GreenWorks
- FishfulThinking.com
- 710 North Myrtle Beach
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