Future in Bloom: After 32 years, the Manhattan Wine Auction has become the community’s annual celebration of its schools, its mission, and itself.
by Mark McDermott Any early evening on a late spring day in Manhattan Beach is already a wonder to behold. The briskness in the air and the golden sheen of the day’s slow-departing sunshine anoint the coming night with a feeling of celebratory ease. But on one such night every May or early June, an actual celebration occurs. It is a gathering unlike any other, without which Manhattan Beach would be a lesser place. At the Manhattan Wine Auction, nearly 2,500 of the town’s ebullient citizenry come together in support of their schools. The event, which takes place at the Manhattan Beach Country Club, is now in its 32nd year. The Wine Auction is both the signature event of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and of the city itself. It has raised $25 million for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District over its history and has been a catalyst for the more than $120 million MBEF has contributed to MBUSD overall — including an unusual $28 million endowment that itself contributes $1.4 million each year. These contributions have made MBEF the most effective public school education foundation in the state of California. Yet as impressive as the numbers are, they don’t capture what…
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