July 1, 2019, Register Staff
The Napa Valley Vine Trail Coalition has announced several significant new donations supporting continued engineering, design and construction of the 47-mile paved biking and walking path between the Vallejo Ferry and Calistoga.
Visit Napa Valley, the official tourism marketing organization for the Napa Valley, presented NVVTC with a check for $150,000 at their May 2019 board meeting. Visit Napa Valley has pledged $2.5 million on behalf of the tourism industry in support of the Vine Trail. To date, more than $1.7 million has been contributed towards building and promoting the trail.
A second sum was a $100,000 grant from the Community Fund of Napa Valley Community Foundation, made possible by an anonymous donor. The grant was made as a fund-a-need pledge at NVVTC’s annual LOCO-MOTION fundraising event on March 9.
“The entire Vine Trail Coalition and our 30 community organization board members are incredibly grateful for the generosity and support of both Visit Napa Valley and this tremendous anonymous donation via the Napa Valley Community Foundation,” said Chuck McMinn, Board President of NVVTC. “Every dollar raised is a dollar closer to turning our vision into a reality.”
In addition to these donations, the NVVTC received two grants from the DeLong-Sweet Family Foundation: a $40,000 grant in November followed by a $10,000 grant in May for a bench plaque near mile marker 26.75, just south of Yountville, honoring long-time Vine Trail board member Dieter Deiss and his wife Gundi Deiss.