Overview Kirkland Uncorked is a three-day July wine festival at Kirkland's Marina Park on Lake Washington, where a 21-and-over Tasting Garden pours more than 70 Washington wines into keepsake glasses beside an all-ages beachside makers market, and the weekend doubles as a fundraiser for an animal rescue. It started in 2005. Bold Hat Productions, the Seattle producer behind Fremont Oktoberfest, the Fremont Fair and the U District Street Fair, produces it. On site Tastes come as 5-ounce pours in a glass guests keep, and the tax-free Wine Shop sells full bottles of whatever they liked; the festival calls it the most popular stop before guests head home. Bubbles on the Beach pours the only sparkling wine on the grounds, into take-home flutes. In 2026 the Tasting Garden opened Friday evening, ran noon to 10 on Saturday and closed Sunday at 5. Outside it, 40-plus craft vendors line the Beachside Makers Market. Saturday brings the Food Truck Feast and the Championship Grill Off, a World Food Championships qualifier for the Pacific Northwest where cooks compete for a Golden Ticket to the national finals, and the weekend runs live music and a dog contest. Audience It is a local crowd. Guests come from Seattle, Bellevue and the wider Puget Sound, and the market, the dog contest and the food trucks bring families down to the waterfront for the day, while the Tasting Garden holds the adults. Track record In 2026 the festival benefited Motley Zoo Animal Rescue, a volunteer-run, foster-based nonprofit that has placed more than 4,500 animals in homes. Before that it partnered with Homeward Pet Adoption Center, and more than $30,000 went to Homeward over a three-year partnership. Brand presence Sponsorship is sold by piece of the festival. A presenting sponsor sits over the whole weekend; below it, single sponsors take the Tasting Garden, the Beachside Makers Market, the Wine Shop, the Grill Off and Bubbles on the Beach, where the sponsor's logo goes on the sparkling flutes guests carry home. The festival runs on volunteers, and their crew carries a sponsor too.