Vinotok’s Grand Finale!

Celebrate nature, community and the harvest in this grassroots and homegrown festival centered around the turning of the seasons and the Autumn Equinox. 

Bring your music, poetry and stories

Liar’s Night on Thursday, September 19 transforms Kochevar’s as community members gather to tell and hear tall tales, whoppers and adventure stories from raconteurs with prizes for the best liar. The Green Man is announced. This is perhaps our most naughty, raucous evening. If you write poetry, short stories, essays, rants and songs or compose spoken word, we invite you to share your creativity at the Community Feast & Medieval Fair on Friday night, September 20, around the fire cauldrons. At this time we also invite musicians of all kinds to bring their instruments for community jam sessions.

Gather, celebrate and eat together

Everyone is welcome to the Community Feast & Medieval Fair on Friday, September 20! Doors open at 3 p.m. with booths for face painting, runes and making your own head wreath. We’ll have stilt walkers, jugglers, acro yoga, flutists, wandering minstrels and acoustic musicians to entertain you. Submit your grumps and beckonings at this time, too. 

Feast celebrations begin at 5:30 p.m. with a Blessing of the Feast and the start of food service. Enjoy an organic meal of locally and regionally sourced food including Sausages from Calder Farm, Roasted Root Vegetables with Herbs (GF/V), Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette (GF/V), Quick Pickled Radishes in Apple Cider Vinegar (GF/V), Cabbage and Carrot Slaw (GF), Kale Salad with Quinoa (GF/V), Herbed Compound Butter (GF), Mixed Greens Salad (GF/V), Summer Squash and Zucchini Salad (GF), Roasted Kohlrabi (GF/V), Seasonal Fruit Crisp (GF) and Breadery Bread (subject to change). There is a cash bar of hard apple cider, mead, wine and spiced rum. Food service ends promptly at 7 p.m., so please plan on being in the Feast line by 6:30 p.m. Remember to bring your own utensils, plates and drinking vessels as none are provided. Food does sell out. 

At 7 p.m., Marcie Telander, D.Div., performs the ancient, non-denominational Handfasting Ceremony where couples, families, friends, partners and the entire community join in sharing vows and promises of re-commitment for a healthy, transforming future. Our local Squires will also be inducted. At about 7:30 p.m., enjoy the new production of the Indictment of the Grump followed by fire-spinning performance. To close out the night, hang around the cauldron fires with live music by local musicians (bring your musical instruments), poetry and short story reading by local writers (bring your words) and camaraderie and conversation. Rain or shine—wear your warm Vinotok best! 

Advance tickets for feasting are sold out. However, we have plenty of General Admission tickets available for $10—at the door only, cash or check only. While there’s no food included in this ticket, please come and enjoy the headwreath, facepainting and rune drawing booths at the fair, after-dinner street theatre, firespinning performances, cauldron fires and hanging out with the community! Please respect that no outside alcohol or pets are allowed. Service animals are welcome.

Volunteer!

Volunteer for the Feast and join a tribe of dedicated people who make this happen every year! Vinotok still needs more helping hands to work in the liquor tent, take tickets, prep/cook the feast, gather material and run the head wreath booth and disassemble the fair! We truly can’t put on a smooth, seamless event without your help. To join us, please contact Betty Sue Gurk at (970) 680-3660 or vinotokvolunteer@gmail.com and find your spot.

Grumps

In Slovenian traditions, effigies were burned on the boss man’s lawn as a rib. These effigies have morphed into the Grump, a symbol of what we want to release from the previous year—what has blocked us. It is giving our grievances to the flames and making room for what we want in the new year. Grump boxes can be found at CB Ace Hardware, Mountain Earth Organic Grocer, CB Mountain Heritage Museum, The Secret Stash, Kochevar’s Saloon, The Talk of the Town, The Daily Dose, Rumors Coffee & Tea House, the Crossroads Fire Altar. Grump boxes will be collected Saturday, September 21. 

Wear a costume, make a head wreath. Be in the streets!

Community members are encouraged to dress in Medieval/Renaissance attire for any Vinotok event. Forest creatures and pan descendants are also welcome. This is especially true for Liar’s Night, the Community Feast and Vinotok Day. Make a head wreath from natural materials you find on a nice long walk in the fall woods. You may also make your own head wreath at the Community Feast on Friday. Grab a poet’s shirt, lace up your corset, make a jester’s hat. On the evening of Vinotok, the Vinotok Theatre Troupe will be celebrating in the streets. Dress up and meet them to dance to live drums.

Final Vinotok Events Schedule:

Thursday, September 19

The Botsie Spritzer Memorial Liar’s Contest. Doors at 7 p.m. Lies begin at 9 p.m. at Kochevar’s Saloon. $10. 

Kochevar’s is transformed, and community members gather to tell and hear tall tales, whoppers and adventure stories from the community. Prizes for the best liar. The Green Man is announced! A naughty, raucous evening. This is a 21+ event.

Friday, September 20

Community Feast & Medieval Fair. 3 – 10:30 p.m. Crossroads Fire Circle. $30 in advance; $35 at the door; $15 children 12 & under. General Admission (no food): $10.

A medieval fair for the whole family, with minstrels, acro yoga, jugglers, craft booths and more! And an al fresco feast of organic, locally, regionally and sustainably sourced farm-to-table food. Cash bar of regional wines, hard cider, mead and hot spiced rum. 

Saturday, September 21

Street Theatre by cast and crew. 5 – 8 p.m. (ish). Free.

Cast and Crew of Vinotok take to Elk Avenue for street theatre before the Trial of the Grump. 

Trial of the Grump: 8 p.m. (ish). The Crossroads. Free.

The community puts the Grump on trial with harvest maiden dances and a play of the Harvest Mother, Dragon, Knight and Green Man. The performance is amplified and lit so the community can hear and see the tale on the temporary stage. 

Vinotok is for everyone. We’ll see you in the streets.

Vinotok’s week-long celebrations takes over $25,000 to create. We intentionally keep our suggested event donations low, so everyone in our community can attend. Please help us host this grassroots celebration and consider donating to Vinotok. You may do so via Venmo @Vinotok.

Safety Note: Let it be known that those who are obnoxious, unruly, uncouth, destructive, disruptive, immature and generally mindless to maintain themselves in public will not be tolerated. There will be no toxic items or hazardous materials in the cauldrons. Let our community festival live.