Yeah, and you know, as you talk about that, what about those growers and slash members? How many members do you have in your alliance?

Well, I like to talk about, uh, the number of, uh, winery tasting rooms that we have in the state of Illinois, and again, keeping in mind when we started, there were seven wineries, uh, mostly in the Southern Illinois region, and they tho- they had the forethought to think about an industry many decades in the future.

We've experienced a significant am- amount of growth since those early pioneers decided to make something of the wine and grape industry, and we printed an Illinois wine guide.

The, our most recent printing was in 2024, and we listed, I believe, 132 different tasting rooms throughout the state, all the way from, uh, the very northern part, uh, near Wisconsin.

Um, we've got a nice concentration of wineries in the Galena area, you know, all the way down south to the Shawnee Hills.

Uh, some of those producers are also growers, but 1- 132 is, is a nice, uh, number to talk about.

And, you know, last, I forgot to mention this to you when you were here on Friday, but, uh, we had, uh, heard a little heads-up that we were successful in a grant application, and then the governor's office just released the Tourism Marketing Partnership Grant Awards last week, so we did see that formal recognition.

How do folks get more information about what you're doing? And if they wanna do that, what's the easiest way to connect with resources?

Lisa Ellis is executive director of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance, an area of the state with lots of growth.

When we started, there were seven wineries, uh, mostly in the southern Illinois region, and they th- they had the forethought to think about an industry many decades in the future.

And so we've experienced a significant am- amount of growth since those early pioneers decided to make something of the wine and grape industry.

And we printed an Illinois wine guide, uh, the ...

Our most recent printing was in 2024, and we listed, I believe, 132 different tasting rooms throughout the state, um, all the way from, uh, the very northern part, uh, near Wisconsin.

Um, we've got a nice concentration of wineries in the Galena area, you know, all the way down south to the Shawnee Hills.

What's going on over there? Yeah,

the Artisans Building.

We've got air conditioning, places that people can sit and chill, bring the kids.

We've got plenty of wine, and we have entertainment all weekend from 4 to 7.

We try to finish before the...

the stages and the grandstand.

Tonight, we have Ben Bedford.

How many different wines do you have over there?