Atascadero fundraising dinner brings in $125,000 for local causes

By Mike Chaldu · Thu Jul 02 2026

Kiwanis & Mayors' Winemakers Dinner held at Pavilion on the Lake with food, wine, and a silent auction

ATASCADERO — An avid crowd gathered at the Atascadero Lake Park on Friday evening, June 19, for a night of wine and hors doeuvres, a gourmet dinner, bidding on silent auction items — all in the name of charity.

For the 17th year, the Atascadero Kiwanis Club presented its annual Kiwanis & Mayors' Winemakers Dinner at the Pavilion on the Lake to raise funds for numerous local charities and causes.

The dinner, which drew 256 attendees, is the Kiwanis' biggest event of the year, according to Club President Steve Wrightson, who points out it couldn't have happened without the people and businesses of Atascadero and Paso Robles.

"I want to emphasize that while Kiwanis is a facilitator and we take great pride in that, the entire community responsible for this happening," he said. "We have 32 wineries every year who donate time and donate wine,

businesses donating services, and good community members offering things like stays in their vacation homes for our silent auction, and our sponsors. We couldn't do this without them."

Wrightson appreciated the guests that arrived to the dinner.

"Like we do every year, we're lucky to have some honored guest," he said. "We had the mayors of Atascadero [Charles Bourbeau] and Paso Robles [John Hamon]. We had County Supervisors Heather Moreno and John Peschong, members of the City Council. I couldn't keep track of all the great people there."

Of course, the aim of the dinner was to raise funds, and Wrightson said this year the event raised $125,000, nearly on par with the last two years' record-setting amounts.

In past years, Kiwanis focused on a primary charity for most of that year's money raised (with lesser amounts going to others), but this year for the first time, the Kiwanis declined to name just one main beneficiary.

"I guess technically Kiwanis was the main beneficiary, but not focusing on one gives us more flexibility to donate throughout the year," Wrightson said. "All the beneficiaries haven't been determined, but we will be donated from our fund as the year goes. We have a long list of beneficiaries; we have the snow slide for the Winter Wonderland, academic and vocational scholarships, and the Senior Center. Or, as we like to call it, 'all things Kiwanis.'"

Among the many other causes Kiwanis contributed to are El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO), ALF Food Pantry, Boys & Girls Club, and LIGHTHOUSE Atascadero.

The dinner was also marked by a silent auction where participants submitted online bids of the items. Auctioneer extraordinaire Doug Filippone again kept things moving as the bids came in.

"I think we had over 100 items in the auctions, donated by local businesses and individuals," Wrightson said. "It was remarkably profitable, as we had a lot of people bidding."

Now in its 57th year of service, the Atascadero Kiwanis Club has raised over half a million dollars through this event since started the event in 2011.

With this year's dinner now past, Wrightson said the club will now concentrate on what he calls the Kiwanis' "second-biggest" fundraiser of the year — running a food booth at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, from July 15-26.

"After that, in a couple of months, we start preparing for next year's Winemakers' Dinner," Wrightson said.