Forest Grove’s UnCorked returns for 16th year

Forest Grove’s annual UnCorked festival will close part of Main Street on Saturday, Aug. 16, for what the nonprofit event organizers describe as an evening full of wine tasting, carefully crafted food and local musical talent, with proceeds going directly to a veteran-focused organization. 

Now in its 16th year, the 21-and-over ticketed event highlights locally crafted food, wine, beer and spirits as well as live music and fine arts, all while supporting other local nonprofits. The event is scheduled to take place from 4–9 p.m., with a limited $13 online admission fee through Aug. 10 and a $15 entrance fee for guests purchasing tickets upon arrival. 

“People get to experience 50 local artisans and get to raise money for veterans while having fun and having live music,” said president and project manager of UnCorked Dawn Houser in an interview with News in the Grove. “What we're really here to do is support all of our small businesses and our veterans,” Houser continued.

Since its founding, UnCorked has raised more than $53,000 in funds for veteran-focused charities. For the past four years, UnCorked’s profits have been benefiting the Dauntless Veterans Foundation, a Forest Grove veteran-owned nonprofit that helps rehabilitate veterans by training them in agricultural fields. 

“Dauntless Wine is a veteran-owned and operated winery with an explicit mission to help veterans rehabilitate through agriculture,” said Dauntless Wine Co. founder and owner Ben Martin in an interview with News in the Grove. “Through our nonprofit adult veterans foundation, we award grants to veterans who are or aspiring to be farmers,” Martin continued.   

The relationship between UnCorked and Dauntless formed after Dauntless initially participated in UnCorked as a vendor. According to Houser, the two organizations’ shared values and goals led to their ongoing partnership.  

“Dauntless became a vendor quite a few years ago, and they called us and told us what they were about and the mission of their winery,” said Houser.   “They give proceeds from their actual winery also to veterans associations and we just really liked what we saw… and it was kind of just a natural pairing after that,” Houser continued. 

One of the fundraising features of the UnCorked event is an annual raffle, where prizes donated by local vendors are auctioned off in support of the Dauntless Veterans Foundation.  

“The raffle is to raise extra funds to give to charity,” said Houser. “It is created by donations from all of our vendors,” she continued. 

Houser says that the donations from each of the vendors and local businesses overflow half of a wine barrel, which is included in the raffle if guests wish to keep it. 

The raffle includes several bottles of wine, a night stay at an Airbnb, free tastings, artwork, a wine-themed quilt created specifically for the event and local artisan pottery, according to Houser. 

100% of the raffle proceeds will be donated to the Dauntless Veteran Foundation in addition to the minimum 15% of gate proceeds, often 20% on a "particularly good year,” according to Houser.

According to Houser, UnCorked “never really has quite enough help,” which is why they rely on the support of volunteers to ensure the event runs smoothly.   

“We are always looking for volunteers because we could at least use help setting up and especially breaking down at the end of the evening,” Houser said. 

Guests should expect to pay normal tasting fees if they wish to taste the wine provided at the event, according to UnCorked Forest Grove’s website. 

This year’s event will feature a new band addition to their live music entertainment, according to Houser. 

“We have a great, great new band coming in called Unpaused,” said Houser. “They're just a really good classic rock cover band,” she continued. 

As the event enters its 16th year, Houser says that its mission of supporting local businesses has remained the same as it was when it initially began. 

“​​What we're really here to do is support all of our small businesses and our veterans,” said Houser.  “I just want people to come out and support our vendors. We have some really great vendors and most of them are family-owned and they just deserve all of our support,” Houser continued.