Last time, we regaled you with a story on the seventh annual La Jolla Art & Wine Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, at various locations on Girard Avenue between Torrey Pines Road and Prospect Street. You’re already expecting to savor the works of more than 150 juried artists from around the world who work in media from jewelry to photography; you’ll delight in the roster of represented wineries from California, Baja and beyond; and you’ll be among the 45,000 patrons who’ve had the event on their itineraries for months.
Your heart is in the right place, too. While admission is free, the sales proceeds go to underfunded programs such as art, music, science, physical education, technology and on-site medical care at Bird Rock, La Jolla and Torrey Pines elementary schools and Muirlands Middle School. Since its inception in 2009, the festival has raised nearly $340,000 for this support.
But while art and wine drive the event, one installment speaks to the gamesmanship that seems to evolve wherever like-minded people get together. And like the rest of the proceeds, this money will go to a worthy cause (research into childhood brain cancer). The event is called Masskrugstemmen German for “beer-stein holding” – and now that you have an idea of the object of the game, an explanation is in order.
First of all, Masskrugstemmen isn’t a product of the art and wine festival. Far from it. It’s actually a national sport, of sorts, imported from the German state of Bavaria in search of the individual who can hold a full stein outstretched and parallel to the floor the longest. The glass contains a liter of beer, and if you try to involve your thumb or free arm or spill any liquid, you’re out. Some 5,000 watched New York’s Jim Banko compile a time of 17 minutes and 11 seconds at a charity event in Central Park to win this year’s US National Masskrugstemmen Championship, held in September – his nearest competitor faded out at 9 minutes and 9 seconds. Fourteen men vied for the title. A full stein weighs about 5 pounds. Jim Schropp of Encinitas held up his end of the bargain last year at the local inaugural event, hoisting a stein for over 17 minutes under the auspices of University City’s BraveCort Foundation. The contest was held in memory of La Jolla resident Andrea Dahlberg’s son Cort, 8, who died of brain cancer. Last year’s event raised $250,000 for the cause, a combination of ticket sales and corporate donations. The money went toward a research project between UCSD/Moores Cancer Center/Rady Children’s Hospital, Arizona State University and San Diego-based Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute to develop blood tests to diagnose pediatric brain cancer. “My husband and I wanted to do something to support the pediatric cancer research community,” Dahlberg told Village News last year as she approached festival promoter Sherry Ahern about making the contest a festival event. Dahlberg said Ahern was receptive to her fundraiser request, as “she has always wanted to do something with the festival at night. “It’s our heart — and our passion,” said Dahlberg last year, adding, “We want to make sure the money goes to research as opposed to overhead.” This year’s Masskrugstemmen will be held Saturday, Oct. 10, from 8 to 11 p.m. at the festival’s wine and beer garden, located at Girard Avenue and Silverado Street. Admission is $40. Free samples from the 15 represented breweries will be available, as will food and live entertainment. Like the rest of the festival, the beer stein tilt celebrates the community, and it does what people do best – suddenly, one person’s tragedy is a region’s cause for hope.