Tyler Leasher knew nothing about wine and the fine art of wine festivals.

Leasher is an intern at Rockome Gardens, located in Arcola, and has been given control of this year’s wine and cheese festival.

“I’m very excited about it,” he said.

His excitement stems from this being the first time he has organized a festival relating to wine and cheese.

Before this event, he knew absolutely nothing about the history of wine, where it comes from, and most importantly, how wine and cheese festivals work, which he admitted that this was one of the more difficult tasks about planning the festival.

“I had to do background research in wine to make sure I knew what I was doing,” he said. “I didn’t realize Illinois used to be one of the top winemaking states.”

One of Leasher’s favorite parts about the whole process is learning all the new information and meeting the winery owners.

“They’re a great group of people (who) started the wineries on their farms. (They have) great stories on how the winery came about,” he said.

Although Leasher had a favorite part about planning the event, there were also downsides like timing because some wineries cannot attend.

“Wineries are in harvest at the end of September,” he said.

According to Rebecca Peterson, an employee of Rockome Gardens, the wineries involved in this festival are to be remained confidential until the festival begins at noon Saturday.

She said that she usually enjoys the event because “a bunch of different people come together and gather to have a good time.”

Since this is Rockome Garden’s second wine and cheese festival, Peterson said she does not expect many people to show up. However, according to Leasher, there will be more attractions than just wine and cheese.

A performance by the band, Blue Suede Shoes, will be featured Saturday along with Elvis and Johnny Cash impersonators. On Sunday, there will be jazz music.

Leasher said there will also be an art and lawn festival, a renaissance fair and a train show at Rockome this weekend.

Once a visitor enters the festival, they will get a wine tasting manual and five tasting tickets. With those tickets, he/she can go to any of the six different wineries featured and choose which wine to taste, along with which cheeses to sample. Additional tickets are $1 each.

The admission fee is $8. To participate in the wine tasting event, there is a $7 additional fee. The festival will last from noon until 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.