Golden Gate Salmon Association Announces 2nd Annual Sonoma Salmon Celebration Dinner and Fundraiser

The Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) will host its 2nd Annual Sonoma dinner with special guest vintner and water conservation advocate Mike Benziger, Friday, March 13.

The special event will be held at Ramekins Event Center, 450 W. Spain St. in Sonoma. Doors open at 5:30pm. It will be a great night featuring hors d’oeuvres, Benziger Family wines, cocktails, dinner, silent and open auctions, and the chance to compare fish stories with all the folks we share the water with and raise funds for GGSA and its salmon restoration projects.

GGSA will also update attendees on the current state of salmon affairs.

“After last year’s success, it was an easy choice to honor Mike Benziger this year,” said Victor Gonella, founder and treasurer of GGSA, “Mike is well known in the region for his water conservation practices and bio-dynamic farming. Conserving and wise water policies are needed to keep the iconic salmon industry strong, along with California’s water dependent economy. As a farmer, Mike Benziger understands this. So, it is our great pleasure to honor him. Additionally, we are grateful to Darius and Sarah Anderson for supporting GGSA by providing the Ramekins location.”

Mike Benziger is the managing general partner of the Benziger Family Winery and Imagery Estate Winery in Glen Ellen. Long known for his astute bio-dynamic farming principles and water reuse practices, Benziger is a leader in understanding the importance of water conservation and best practices as it applies to agriculture.

In 2010, Mr. Benziger was the recipient of the prestigious National Resource Defense Council water steward award.

Tickets are limited and are available by calling 855-251-GGSA (4472) or by visiting www.goldengatesalmonassociation.com. Tickets are $125 per person, and will NOT be sold at the door. Table Sponsor packages are $1,200 and include reserved VIP seating for eight and $100 worth of raffle tickets.

The Golden Gate Salmon Association (www.goldengatesalmonassociation.org) is a coalition of salmon advocates that includes commercial and recreational salmon fisherman, businesses, restaurants, tribes, environmentalists, elected officials, families and communities that rely on salmon. GGSA’s mission is to protect and restore California’s largest salmon producing habitat comprised of the Central Valley river’s that feed the Bay-Delta ecosystem and the communities that rely on salmon as a long-term, sustainable, commercial, recreational and cultural resource.

Currently, California’s salmon industry is valued at $1.4 billion in economic activity annually and about half that much in economic activity and jobs again in Oregon. The industry employs tens of thousands of people from Santa Barbara to northern Oregon. This is a huge economic bloc made up of commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen (fresh and salt water), fish processors, marinas, coastal communities, equipment manufacturers, the hotel and food industry, tribes, and the salmon fishing industry at large.