Hundreds shopped, sipped and bid at Wine Women & Shoes in Geyserville

More than 400 women shopped, sipped, nibbled, bid, laughed and bolstered access to health care Saturday at a delightfully elaborate benefit full of heart and soles.

The occasion, Wine Women & Shoes, presented by E. & J. Wines at Geyserville’s Clo du Bois winery, is the signature annual fundraiser for Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County.

Greeters welcomed guests and offered them a flute of bubbly and the chance to have photos shot of them and their shoes. The latter were entered in a “Best of Shoe” contest judged by footwear designer and retailer Donald J. Pliner.

There was a plentiful marketplace that boasted tastes from local purveyors of wine and food, and all manner of fashionable accessories from merchants who shared sales proceeds with Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County.

At lunchtime, a conga line moved the guests into a great tent, where they savored a meal created by Park Avenue Catering.

Fulfilling the guests’ wishes and whims was a corps of 50 local personalities recruited as “Shoe Guys.”

There was a fashion show featuring community leaders in clothes from local boutiques.

The emcee, state Sen. Mike McGuire, whipped up the crowd to bid generously in the live auction conducted by Abra Annes.

A paddle raise generated donations to further boost the foundation’s access-to-care initiatives in northern Sonoma County.

Everyone held their breath for the moment that revealed the winner of the “closet” of jewelry and other treasures worth about $24,000.