“The generosity has been unbelievable,” its founder says.

The weekend’s gray clouds were no match for the 16th La Jolla Art & Wine Festival, which uncorked color and sound in The Village Sept. 28 and 29, attracting more community, creativity and charity than in previous years. 

“I can’t thank this town enough,” founder Sherry Ahern said. “The generosity has been unbelievable.”

Ahern established the La Jolla Art & Wine Festival to support programming at the five public schools in La Jolla; to date, the festival has donated more than $1.2 million to the schools.

Final numbers for 2024 are not yet available, but Ahern is hoping each will receive at least $50,000.

The two-day Art & Wine Festival shut down most of Girard Avenue and its side streets to cars but opened them to more than 170 artists, a ticketed Wine & Beer Garden with 35 vendors, silent auction, exotic cars, a Family Art Center and musical and other entertainment.

The festival also featured pet adoptions, local groups raising awareness for their missions, a food court and more.

More than 50,000 people strolled the artists’ tents or sipped and danced in the wine garden, Ahern estimated. 

The brick-and-mortar Village merchants love the event, she said, adding she received appreciative messages from restaurant and shop owners who experienced an influx of business, exposure to new customers and more.

The 450 volunteers “work their tails off” to make the weekend a success, Ahern said. “We could not do it without all of [them]. It’s absolutely astonishing to me, the kindness and generosity of giving up an entire weekend.”

Aside from the money donated to schools, Ahern said the festival brings La Jollans “together as a community. … It’s a positive thing.”