Entering its eighth season as Flathead Valley Community College’s primary scholarship fundraiser, the Festival of Flavors had a big start last weekend at its kickoff event.

The Napa in Bloom event on March 21 raised more than $25,000 for scholarships through the college’s foundation.

Colleen Unterreiner, the executive director of institutional advancement, said the foundation’s obvious goal was to top last year during the yearlong Festival of Flavors.

“Last year our total raised was somewhere around $175,000,” she said. “We’d like to exceed that. I don’t want to share my goal just yet, though.”

Along with endowment funds, community scholarships, the foundation and other sources, Flathead Valley Community College gave out more than $588,000 last year in 407 separate scholarships. The majority of those were need-based.

The college’s tuition is near $3,800 annually and most of the scholarships were in the neighborhood of $1,000 or more apiece.

“We really do try to give a majority of scholarships on a need basis,” Unterreiner said. “We want students to leave here with a minimum of debt so they can live their lives or maybe even buy a car for their next step.”

The Napa in Bloom event was hosted by Napa Valley chef Dominic Orsini and featured five courses paired with wines to 125 people. He spent a week giving lessons to Culinary Institute of Montana students.

Of the money raised during the Festival of Flavors in 2014, $145,000 went directly to student scholarships, $27,000 to travel and innovation grants for students and professors to showcase research at national conferences, and an additional amount that is likely to be allocated to those categories.

The Festival of Flavors will continue July 8 with Claws for Celebration, a New England-style clambake, and Sept. 25 through Oct. 3 with private dinners, restaurant dinners and finally the Grand Wine Tasting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell.

Visit www.fvcc.edu/festival or call 756-3632 for more information.

Reporter Ryan Murray can be reached at 758-4436 or rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.