Here at Tenor Dad & Co. we are always looking for fun and exciting things to do, and so this past weekend we drove down to Woodstock, VT for their annual Wassail Weekend. This festival was discovered last December by Nini, who was out doing her driving job and was the first car stopped by the police when they closed the roads for the parade. Being first in line, she had a wonderful view of the parade of horses and as she sat there for over an hour, she thought that it might be fun to attend this festival with family and friends while not at work and not trapped in her vehicle.
Our goal was to drive down in time for the book reading at the local library, but we were late as usual and by the time we found parking (which was no small feat) the story time had already started and so we gave up on that and headed for lunch.
We got some recommendations from the locals as to where we could find lunch, but everywhere we went either had no seating at all, or a long line out the door and a huge waiting list, so we wandered down to the green where we had heard there was chili. And I guess there was chili, but by the time we arrived it was pretty much gone. We did get some food, and proceeded to stand around outside in the freezing cold eating and waiting for the parade.
The parade. This was the main reason we were there, and definitely the highlight of the weekend, and it did not disappoint. We got front row seats (well, there were no seats…or rows either for that matter) for a great display of horses and riders dressed in fabulous costumes. Ruby was thrilled (Ruby quote of the parade: “Wow! I’ve never seen a unicorn in real life before!”) and Edward stopped trying to escape/destroy things for a few minutes to pay attention to the animals. We all had a great time.
After the parade they lit the “yule log,” which apparently is code for “giant bonfire,” and some guy with an accordion was leading a Christmas Carol sing-along, so that was awesome too. We stood around the fire, finally getting warm and singing along at the tops of our lungs. Good times.
The last thing we wanted to see was an a cappella show at the church, but something went horribly wrong. I don’t know if there was a schedule misprint or what, but a handbell group was scheduled for 2:45, and the singing for 3:00. We arrived at the church at 2:50 and the handbells were playing, and there was a crowd out to the door of people waiting for the singing. At 3:00, we wondered if the handbells were going to go long, and how they were going to get all of the people out of the church, and all of us in, in time to hear the singing. At 3:15 it was apparent that the handbells were not going anywhere, and neither were any of the people in their nice warm pews.
We finally gave up and left at 3:20 after some guy yelled at us because our kids were being too fidgity. It kind of left a sour taste in our mouths about the whole thing, and I don’t know if the a cappella group ever went on, but I think we still had a good day overall.
I guess, looking back on it all, I would totally go again if I lived closer, and I would probably pop in and out to the events that I wanted to see over the 3 days (there were Friday and Sunday events as well), but living 90-120 minutes away, it might not be worth the drive just for the 20-30 minute parade, even though the parade was awesome. So all of that being said, if you happen to be near Woodstock, VT next December and you notice something going on, stop and check it out. Just get there early for the chili.