Bacchus on the Beach celebrates wine, stone crab on Longboat Key

Bacchus on the Beach would've done its Roman namesake proud. The Longboat Key Club event put fine wine and indulgent food front and center, and dozens of attendees ate, drank and danced on the sand on Nov. 19, just like the god of wine would've wanted.

Attendees spent most of the evening with their shoes off and their wine glasses full of sips from dozens of wineries. Longboat Key Club staff kept plates full, too, but the real feature was the mound of stone crab in the middle,  for which the event is known. 

Proceeds from the evening went to the University of South Florida's hospitality program. They'll use the money for equipment and course funding. The partnership started at 2019's Bacchus on the Beach, though the Longboat Key Club and USF had been working together for long before that. The Longboat Key Club is the teaching hotel of USF's hospitality program, so many students have come through to do classes, internships and even careers. 

"They need that experiential learning," said USF Coordinator of Food and Beverage Joe Askren. "They may not know all the opportunities in the hospitality industry, but here they can discover a lot of them." 

Several USF students staffed the evening, welcoming guests and overseeing the silent auction. 

Elsewhere under the tent, attendees snagged dinner and dessert and converged under the stars near the Gulf of Mexico.