Tickets for Charleston Wine + Food Festival on Sale

Tickets to the 2012 BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival (March 1-4) are officially on sale as of 9am this morning! It's the 7th year for the Festival and a ton of new additions and features have been added to celebrate "Lucky No. 7" including new venues for Signature Events, new events that get to the heart (and soul) of the city, new and tried-and-true celebrity chefs (in addition to the amazing talent of local chefs that continue to shine), and the new Signature Charity to benefit from all the festivities.

New host venues for the Festival's Signature Events were added to showcase Charleston in locations that truly represent the city's culture and landscapes and include the Opening Night Party at the South Carolina Aquarium, the Lowcountry Gospel Brunch at Lowndes Grove, Festival After Hours at the Bus Shed at the Charleston Visitor Center and the BBQ, Blues & Brew at the Maritime Center. This will also allow expansion of the Culinary Village at Marion Square, one of the most popular events of the Festival.

Joining the stellar lineup of local chefs and restaurants that will be represented throughout the festival will be several 2011 James Beard award winners and talent featured in major publications and media including Hugh Acheson, John Currence, Andrea Reusing, Ashley Christensen, Tory McPhail, George Mendes, Andrea Immer Robinson, Julian Van Winkle, and many others.

New events include the Soul Food Shuffle, a bus tour and tasting of legendary Gullah/Soul Food establishments, an event at Bowen's Island, one of the South's most recognized and visited oyster and seafood outlets, beer dinners, spirit dinners, and a sustainable seafood dinner.

And if all of this isn't enough to get your palates salivating, all proceeds will benefit the chef driven anti-hunger campaign, Feed the Need, a coalition of area chefs committed to help relieve the economic stress of feeding the hungry at four local shelters.

Read all about it......information, tickets, hotel packages and lots of other tasty tidbits can be found at charlestonwineandfood.com.