Talk to Patty Marschel about how Wine Around the Square got started and she’ll tell you that it was the Murfreesboro and Rutherford County communities catching on to an idea of helping women with breast cancer, not anything she did - even if it was her effervescence and the illness of her dearest friend that got the ball rolling.
You could say a 2005 engagement party cohosted by Patty and John Marschel, and several other couples, was the genesis of Wine Around the Square. About ten minutes into the party, Susan Loyd, her best friend, college sorority sister, and former business partner, pulled Patty aside and said, “Don’t tell anybody, but I have breast cancer.”
“Well, the rest of the night was just a fog,” Patty explained in her warm, melodious voice full of an infectious joy of life. “We were supposed to grow old together.”
Susan’s diagnosis led to Patty agreeing to co-chair the “then…Susan G. Komen Golf Tournament” in Murfreesboro. The golf tournament hadn’t been much of a success, but Patty decided to make it THE breast cancer fundraiser in the county, as there was no other.
Beginning and Growth of Power of Pink
The go-getter that she is, Patty rallied her friends and brought in the women’s tennis group as well as more women golfers at Stones River Country Club. The day of that first event there were chandeliers draped in pink tissue paper and feather boas, golf carts bedecked in pink décor, and both the golf course and the tennis courts were filled with women wearing a rainbow of shades of pink rallying together for their sisters dealing with breast cancer. The event raised $14,000 - more than ever before. However, that was only the beginning. Adding friends Rita Ash and Leslie Akin to her planning team, they decided to reach out to more women in the community the next year.
To reach women who didn’t play golf or tennis, in 2007, the trio hosted a wine and cheese party with a fabulous auction at the home of Amy Watts. It was the foundation for Wine Around the Square (WATS).
Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Foundation took over the event in 2010 because it had grown too large for three full time working women, adding Anne Davis, who was Executive Director of the Foundation at that time, to the team. Men were invited for the first time in 2011.
“We outgrew every big house in town! The last year we had it at Rick and Mitzi Michaelson’s house,” added Patty. “We were bumper to bumper.”
After outgrowing its original idea, the planning team knew a change was needed. Inspired by a wine festival she attended in Florida, Rita Ash suggested moving the event to Murfreesboro’s Court Square and named it Wine Around the Square (WATS).
Now the flagship fundraiser for The Power of Pink Fund, WATS has inspired the growth of additional events such as the POP golf and tennis tournament, as well as school-based fundraisers that benefit the Power of Pink Fund. Scheduled for October 25, 2025, this year’s event has already raised $190,000, with a goal of surpassing $316,000.
Since 2011, when the Foundation assumed management and broadened its mission, WATS has fueled the growth of the Power of Pink Fund. With support from Anne Davis and her “Bus Buddies,” Rita, Leslie and Patty, they contributed by strengthening and expanding the idea to start a mobile mammography service in Rutherford County.
Today, two coaches, outfitted with 3D mammography, serve 26 Middle Tennessee counties, ensuring women—both insured and uninsured—have access to life-saving screenings. Through the ASTR Foundation, the Power of Pink Fund provides vital support with diagnosis, lodging, and transportation for patients in need, extending care to both women and men in our community.
Over sixteen years, more than $2 million has been raised to fund 24,000 mammograms, provide 779 education books, and cover hundreds of treatment rides each year..
Patty’s Commitment to Community
Originally from West Tennessee, Patty attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. It was there she met both John, her husband of 56 years, and her roommate Susan.
After marrying, Patty and John moved to Murfreesboro. Wanting a part-time job, she reached out to Susan and her husband Phil Loyd, who had just purchased the Cotton Patch located in the Jackson Heights Shopping Center.
“That part time job lasted about a week,” Patty laughed. The Loyds and Marschels became partners, expanding the Cotton Patch to five stores and three states until the mid 1990s, when they “retired from retail”. Since then, Patty has had a successful Real Estate career for the past 30 years, first with Bob Parks Realty, and now with Onward Real Estate.
Believing in putting down roots in the community, she has continued to be a guiding light as WATS has continued to flourish. But she feels the event is more about the heart of the community.
“It is not me,” she states emphatically. “It is people like Charlie Patel and the Stones River Total Beverages team who donate all the wine and other spirits, the 150+ volunteers who make WATS happen, and all the businesses and organizations that support us, as well as the entire community. Most importantly, WATS could never be what it is today without the total commitment of the Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Foundation (ASTR Foundation). It is due to the support of the ASTR Foundation that the fundraiser has been able to grow each year and make a mark in breast cancer awareness and available screening.”
Patty invites everyone to raise a glass at WATS to support the Power of Pink in Middle Tennessee helping all women in the fight against breast cancer.
“Come join us on October 25 in downtown Murfreesboro,” said Patty. “Together we can save the lives of grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.” Susan is now a twenty-year breast cancer survivor and the two are now enjoying growing older together.