Hilton Head Monthly Magazine

As executive director of the Hilton Head Area Hospitality Association, Ann-Marie Adams is a general leading an army of volunteers to accomplish her ambitious mission. When Adams came to her post in 2006, she didn’t think the four-hour event that was WineFest gave association members enough bang for their buck.

The association was supposed to produce an event that would draw tourists — “put heads in beds” — and generate “dining out experiences.” A simple festival couldn’t do that, Adams said, and the association might as well stop hosting it altogether.

But the association’s decision makers, “saw the passion for what I wanted to create for the island,” she said. “We are now an event that has peripheral events.”

By extending the festival’s events over a four-day period in conjunction with the island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Adams thinks Hilton Head is better positioned to attract visitors in mid-March. Adams said that the Charleston Food + Wine Festival, March 5-8, won’t steal visitors away. The two festivals work in tandem, she said, to attract visitors to the state and showcase its culinary offerings.

“As a trade association we promote the talent we have on the island,” she said, adding that the Charleston event is “very different in scope and scale,” featuring celebrity chefs.

While it’s the association’s charge to present the festival, Adams acknowledges the Hilton Head/Bluffton Chamber of Commerce’s marketing of the island as a destination through the Convention and Visitors Bureau as a component of its success.

Despite the recession, Adams said the festival “has generated huge positive front-end ticket sales through ResortQuest Hilton Head Island,” and has 24 years of marketing to a five-state drive area behind it. “We’re luckier than most,” she said. “It certainly is a challenging year.”