By Leeann Froese
With a career in wine that has led me to this place, it seemed fitting to me that the first post I should make With Town Hall is about the 2013 Wine Blogger’s Conference, 
which was held in Penticton BC in June 2013. This was the first conference located in Canada, and local Penticton organizers worked extremely hard to make it happen. A special shout out goes to Allison Markin from All She Wrote, who drove this effort for two full years and worked with various groups to make the conference happen.
The 2013 Wine Blogger’s Conference was the first place that we revealed ourselves as Town Hall, so I have decided my first few posts before this blog gets all serious *wink* will be to recap the conference experience. At the conference, we shared the news of our emergence as a company with the attendees and our colleagues in the trade.
The positive feedback and support has been totally overwhelming and we are now at the point where we can formally reveal ourselves, and we will do this with regularity via this blog.
But first, let’s recap the @townhallbrands ♥'s bloggers experience from the Wine Blogger’s Conference 2013.
I attended the conference along with Sujinder Juneja from our team, and we car pooled to the conference with Kathleen Rake of Between the Vines who was also a conference presenter.
It so happened that we were travelling to the conference on my birthday, so I was treated extra special. I joked that it was nice of the folks at Zephyr Adventures to throw a conference just for my birthday…
The conference took place at the Penticton Lakeside Resort. The central location and lake views made it a terrific way to show off our southern wine region to the bloggers who came from all over North America.
When in Penticton we stopped in at M gallery | book. The owner, Jeannette Montgomery, also a writer and blogger, established M Gallery Book in 2012 to showcase work from emerging Canadian talent who are redefining Canadian art and literature. She does all this with a welcoming smile. Since it was my birthday, I bought myself a piece of art. It is a collage piece from Canadian artist Lucas Glenn.
Also when in Penticton, it was deemed vital to stop in and eat at chef Paul Cecconi’s new Brodo Kitchen. Brodo offers fresh, simple food. Our group enjoyed a flight of soups, and sandwiches, and there are also salads. As a special treat, chef gave us strawberry shortcake made with fresh, local strawberries, in honor of my birthday. We also enjoyed a glass of Haywire wine as we dined at their communal table.
This little tour and taste on Penticton’s main street was a great way to get our energy levels up and taste buds tickled for what was to come at the conference.
Next post… details of the first day of the conference.