One night, in the winter of 1991, Bob and Eleanor Stanton sat at Table 8 in the softly-lit dining room of The Lucky Star. They'd dropped by for dinner as they often did, relaxing against the cream-colored cushions, sipping wine and chatting with owner, Herman L. Butt III (Butch).

On this evening, talk slowly turned from idle chit-chat to an idea for a party, a big party. Perhaps a crab cake cook-off... Maybe a wine tasting. Neither Butch nor the Stanton's was sure which they would prefer. They simply knew they wanted a party in their front yard and they knew they wanted the money raised to go to charity.

A few weeks later, on a business trip to the northeast, Bob found the answer. While waiting for a meeting, he happened to glance at a story about a wine auction in a local newspaper. The auction had been a huge success, with hundreds of wine lovers crowding around tables to bid on bottles of wine, the proceeds going to public radio. Bob stopped reading, looking up, he eyed the crowded lobby, ripped out the story and folded it into his briefcase.

Today, the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic has grown into a celebration of wine, attracting hundreds of enthusiasts from across the country to attend one of its events. The Grand Auction, held each year on the seven acres of rolling green fields outside of the Stanton's Bayville Farms home, is the largest and most successful of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Gala Dinner, featuring award-winning chefs from restaurants around the country, emerged as the premier dining event in Hampton Roads. Each February, hundreds gather in Norfolk to taste wine and attend seminars from premier sommeliers at the Grand Tasting. Last year, alone, the CBWC raised more than $250,000 for charity.

That's a far cry from the $11,000 collected in 1991, when some 200 people strolled through a white tent outside of the Stanton's home in Bayville Farms.

"We were just a bunch of people that got together to have a party and give money away," Bob said in a recent interview, sitting at Table 8 in The Lucky Star. "When we did it that first year, we didn't even have a plan for a second year. It just took off on its own."

Not everyone thought it would happen.

When Bob returned from his trip to Connecticut, he told Butch of his idea. Together, they gathered a dozen community leaders together and unveiled their idea. The response was less than enthusiastic. What did they know about holding a wine auction? Who would come? How would they possibly raise money? Bob and Butch pressed on and with the help of Jerry Kantor of Broudy-Kantor and Jimmy Rogers of Associated Distributors, developed a $30,000 budget and set the date. Butch contacted friends at WHRO, the regional public television and radio affiliate. The station would provide volunteers and publicity. In return, they would receive the proceeds.

In a meeting hosted by Eleanor and attended by 12 friends sitting around Eleanor and Bob's dining room table the auction came to life. The group started telling others about the auction. Within weeks, the $50 tickets were gone.

"They went out of here like hotcakes," Butch said.

In the years that followed, the grand auction grew, attracting between 500 and 600 wine lovers a year. Organizers added the gala dinner and the tasting, both successes from the start. Together, the three events began raising more than $100,000 for charity. Clearly, this was no longer a front yard party. Bob and Butch hired Liz Rountree as the executive director. They began looking for other charities, focusing, at times, on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Johnson and Wales University.

In 1997, they discovered the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation, a charity that has helped more than 30,000 high school students attend college.

The foundation, which provides counseling to students about college admission requirements and assistance in finding scholarship money, is the primary beneficiary of the CBWC. Last year alone, the CBWC donated $170,000 to the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation.

In all, more than $2 million has been raised and donated to various local charities by this party that started 14 years ago in a horseshoe-shaped booth at The Lucky Star.

"This is has become a major event," Butch said. "It's like a social show out there."

"This is the best party of the year" added Bob. "It's great to see the people there. It's a neat experience. It's not like we planned for it that to happen. It just did."


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