This Friday, wine and food connoisseurs in the area will have a unique opportunity to sample wine and hors d’oeuvres hand-picked by Christine Healey of Christine’s Gourmet Steak and Wine.

For $55, patrons will be treated to live music by rock/country band 3 Way Street and nine pairings of fine wine and hors d’oeuvres at the Wine & Food Festival presented By Christine’s at The Event Center Downtown.

“I think it'll be a great culinary experience for people that have not really been to these things,” Healey said. “A wine and food festival is basically to celebrate the wine and the food that pairs very well with it and for foodies, as we call them, it's going to be a very nice treat.”

Starting off with a 2009 Barossa Chardonnay with an Anti Pasto Skewer, the night will feature wine brands like Boxhead, Mil Piedras and Van Ruiten paired with food like smoked hardwood duck wonton and lobster bread pudding.

“How we set it up is we've done different wines from Australia, California and Argentina,” Healey said. “And what I've done is basically, I've tasted the wines and I've paired them up with different foods to go with the wines themselves."

Friday will be the first wine and food festival of this size that Healey has done, expecting close to 200 people, compared to the crowds of 30 or 40 that come to the smaller tastings.

“It's something that you probably wouldn't find in Auburn/Opelika that often,” Healey said. “The only places you're ever going to find stuff like that is at some of the restaurants, where they're very limited to wine dinners."

Even bigger things are in the works for Healey and company, who have plans to make wine and food festivals like his one a biannual happening.

“What we're planning on doing is doing this one first and then after that, my plan is to actually get four other restaurants or you know, personal chefs to do it and we're going to do a big one twice a year,” Healey said. “That's my hope. We're a small town, but we can still do big things."

The Wine & Food festival will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 15. For more information on the Wine & Food Festival presented by Christine’s and the full menu, visit eventcenterdowntown.net