By Alice Levitt and Suzanne Podhaizer

Flynn Moves On

After 26 years of hosting an annual Fine Wine & Food Festival, the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts has decided to move in a new direction. This year's event, originally scheduled for Sunday, September 19, has been canceled.

"We just made the decision within the last couple of days," says Membership and Special Events Manager Paula Roberts. Although last year's festival was a success, she says, the Center's staff decided it was time for some fresh ideas. "I don't know the people who originally conceived [the festival] because I wasn't here then, but I don't think anybody thought it would last 26 years," she says. "I think that says a lot."

Back then, there were only a few ways for artisan food producers to get the word out about their products, and the FWFF provided a cherished opportunity. Now, says Roberts, producers can do the same thing at myriad farmers markets. Not to mention that, over the past quarter-century, a bunch of other opportunities for wining and dining have cropped up.