Bridgestone Brand Teams up With San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival to Provide Safe Ride Program

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is teaming up with Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) to provide a Safe Ride Program to attendees at the Festival's Grand Tasting Event, taking place on Saturday, November 20.

The Bridgestone Safe Ride Tent is located towards the front entrance of the food and wine festival's Grand Tasting Event, with shuttles picking up at the roundabout in the Embarcadero Parking Lot.  Guests receive complimentary transportation aboard one of three Supershuttles, courtesy of Bridgestone, which will provide rides to designated areas in San Diego County, including the Downtown area to Del Mar, Mira Mesa, and San Diego State University.  The Supershuttles pick up passengers every half hour from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., with all shuttle service ending promptly at 5:30 p.m.  If guests live outside the service area, Festival Management will call a taxi service for them.

"Through our company's Think Before You Drive initiative, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations actively promotes safe driving. We're excited to display our Bridgestone brand tires at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival and to support the Festival's Safe Ride program. We want everyone to have a great time and make it home safely," said Phil Pacsi, Vice President, Consumer Tire Marketing, BATO.

In addition to the Safe Ride Program, Bridgestone is providing a special pavilion area for attendees.  This area gives people a chance to take a break, soak in the scenery, and check out Bridgestone's latest passenger tire offerings.  Bridgestone also promotes several of its safety programs during the Festival, including "Think Before You Drive" which delivers simple road safety messages to drivers; "Safety Scholars" which awards $5,000 college scholarships; and "TireSafey.com" which teaches proper tire maintenance in the interest of public safety.

Designated Driver tickets for the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival's November 20 Grand Tasting Event give ticket-holders access to all the same gourmet food samples as normal ticket-holders.  Ticket prices begin at $65 for regular entry at 12:00 p.m. and $90 for early entry at 11:00 a.m., with the Festival concluding at 4:00 p.m.  Grand Tasting Event tickets, which give ticket-holders access to wine, beer, and spirits, begin at $125 for regular entry (in advance), $150 for regular entry (at-the-door), and $150 for early entry and $175 for VIP tickets (both available in advance only). Tickets may be purchased online at www.WorldOfWineEvents.com or by phone at 619-342-7337.

BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS TIRE OPERATIONS:

Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is a business unit of Bridgestone Americas, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. Reporting into the BATO business unit are the company's Latin American tire operations; the U.S. and Canadian consumer tire businesses; the U.S. and Canadian commercial tire businesses; and Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, which operates the largest network of company-owned automotive service providers in the world. BATO develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires. The business unit is focused on retail, wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off road, motorcycle, agricultural and other tires to its customers in the Americas. In addition, through its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions unit, retreading customers have access to industry-leading research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales expertise, providing them with a total tire solution.

SAN DIEGO BAY WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL

The 7th Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is an international showcase of the world's premier wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities, and gourmet foods. Held November 17-21, 2010, the event benefits the American Institute of Wine & Food culinary arts scholarship program. Over 170 wineries, 70 of San Diego's top fine dining restaurants and 30 gourmet food companies and exhibitors will participate in the 2010 Festival. For more information visit www.WorldOfWineEvents.com. Produced by World of Wine Events and Fast Forward Event Productions. For more information call 858-578-9463.

SOURCE San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival