Brush cutting and weed pulling aren't the best of activities these four women volunteers of Avinger like to do, but, as the saying goes, it comes with the territory.
So there they were last week-Elaine Moulton, Ronnie Politi, Sue Maxinoski and Shelby Trimble-out in front of an historical home and along State Highway 49 clearing brambles.
The four are the founders of the CRESS Foundation, a community benefit organization. They, their husbands and a few extra volunteers were the ones making up the crew of 12 this day doing the brush work.
Their work was one of the last details of preparation for the fourth annual Avinger Wine Festival Saturday, Sept. 17.
The festival is their big volunteer activity. It is a day to support the community and youth scholarships with a celebration of wine, food, art and music.
The four items are equally important, Elaine Moulton said.
"We limit the wineries we invite to 14, but we take all the food, art and music we can. The purpose is to bring as many people out to enjoy the day and support the community," she said
In its first inception four years ago, the original wine festival for Avinger drew more than 1,000 people to an alcohol-dry town of 444. Its sign-in registers recorded visitors from 60 cities and four states.
And so the most important question is how they do it, these volunteers.
"We were determined to talk a lot about the wine festival to everyone we met," Moulton said. "We became known as those four women. They'd see us coming and say, 'Uh-oh, here come those women again.'"
Now the City Council is accustomed to seeing the four or several of them at every meeting.
Shelby Trimble said, "They see us sitting there and start every meeting by saying, 'Ladies, what can we do for you?'"
This shows the spirit of cooperation, for the the foundation members aren't residents of Avinger. They are from Eagle Landing, which is a bit outside the city limits.
'We can't vote or run for office," Politi said. "What we can do is let them know what we want to give and help with. Big or small, we let them know."
And for certain, the big thing CRESS does is the wine festival each year.
"No small undertaking. It is a crazy amount of work," Moulton said. "At the finish of one, we start planning the next year's. We survey the vendors and volunteers to find out what we need to do next year for the better."
This year's festival will have a couple of new wrinkles. First, an antique auto show will be introduced as a trial.
"The auto enthusiasts call it a 'show and shine' event for themselves. It's not a full show," Moulton said. "We're happy to try because it will help us bring more people here, which is our purpose."
In a move for festivalgoers' enjoyment, food vendors will be mixed in with the vendors of art and handcraft.
"We have almost 30 vendors this year, which is more for us," Moulton said. "So we're going to meld them altogether for a better atmosphere. It's more of a celebration than ever, and we want the vendors to feel it's worth the trip here."
The festival will continue its successful practice of limiting the number of wineries invited to 14. The 14 will be treated to a well-organized festival in which they'll find helpers ready to assist them set up upon arrival and a refreshment area set aside for them for moments of relaxation throughout the day.
Live music will include Linda Shaddix as a vocalist and Leslie Riseden and Chris Colston, who both play the guitar and sing. Margaret Durrum, whose specialty is the acoustic guitar, will also perform.
The CRESS Foundation was formed four years ago when the four women sat down to dicusss how they could help the community, especially its students and artists.
"We were sitting at a table and the idea came up of a wine festival. About how to put Avinger on the map, support art and students. We each had business-like backgrounds, and we are verbal. We knew we could encourage, tutor, mentor and find answers for young people with questions," Moulton said.
"And the idea to make this into a foundation was important to let people see we were serious," Politi said.
Then Trimble added the key factor.
"We worked to build a reputation, to show how organized we are," she said. "We've even had two other towns come to us and ask us how to start a wine festival. We tell them the first thing to understand is that it will not be easy. It's a lot of work."
The four have learned a lot, they said.
"We've found you can't just delegate. You find some things just have to get done and you have to do it yourself. That's why we were out there doing that brush clearing work. To show that we could," Moulton said.
And the four added a final key to the success of any community effort is volunteers.
"We have more than 40 volunteers who help with the festival," the founders said. "Friends and neighbors who are excited about what we're doing and why. They just come up to us and say, 'Sign me up!'"