Wednesday, November 18, 2009

4th Annual Walk of the Santas


Celebrate the Valley, Inc., in the Mount Snow Valley of VT, announces the Fourth Annual Walk of the Santa’s Weekend, December 11-13.This event was chosen by the Vermont State Chamber of Commerce as a Top Ten Winter Event for the 07-08 season.

The “walk” will take place at Mount Snow Ski Resort December 12th. The weekend will be full of fun, family activities as well as discounts through the valley at shops, restaurants and lodging properties. Saturday activities include an Inn to Inn Cookie Tour, a scavenger hunt through local businesses in an attempt to win prizes, discounts on lift passes for Santa’s skiing or riding in costumes, a ginger bread house display at memorial hall and Santa’s arrival at Memorial Hall in Wilmington.

Prizes will be awarded at a the Matterhorn Inn on Sunday December 13th for best Santa and Mrs. Claus, the winner of the Scavenger Hunt and door prizes for attendees and participants. Also at the Matterhorn, have your own or your child’s picture taken with Santa for a small cash donation which will go to the charity receiving this years portion of the weekends proceedings.

Participants will sign up on Friday evening and are presented with Santa identity cards, which allow them to register as an official participant, as well as qualify them for discounts at local shops, restaurants and lodging properties. A portion of our proceeds will go to a local charity. For more information you can call James P. Angus or go to www.celebratethevalley.com.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Honora Winery & Vineyard Announces Plans for Historic Barn in Wilmington Governor to Speak at Reception

WILMINGTON, VT—Honora Winery & Vineyard will unveil the vision for a major new culinary tourism and community space for Southern Vermont at a “Walking, Talking & Tasting Tour” community reception and press briefing on Monday, November 30 at 11:00 a.m. Governor Jim Douglas and other invited officials have been invited to speak about the importance of tourism for Vermont and the enormous potential in agriculture and culinary tourism. The kick-off will officially launch the fundraising effort to help bring this new food venture to fruition.



Patty Farrington, owner of the building and owner of Honora Winery & Vineyard, said the historic barn was originally purchased in 2004 to operate retail and manufacturing activities. “Since then, we’ve reconstructed the barn to its original foundation footprint and realized there could be a better purpose for the 30,000 square foot space.”



“We’re committed to the new vision that will be an important economic engine for the area. The concept captures the widespread interest in good food and good living and capitalizes on the increasing dollars being spent on culinary travel and food education.”



“Here in Southern Vermont we have all the resources to offer cooking classes, cooking and baking demonstrations, creative dining experiences, food festivals, winery visits and quests for travelers interested in regional specialties. What’s missing is an agricultural and culinary center and food hub to turn this wonderful opportunity into thousands of dollars for our region and Vermont tourism.”



Special guests will include the Junior Iron Chef team, Hakuna Matata, from Wilmington’s Twin Valley High School that won Best in Show at the Junior Iron Chef Competition in Burlington last year for their Veggie Huevos Mullenos
. Team members include Stevie Cunningham-Darrah, 
Shannon Lozito, Chelsea Schneider.



Grafton Village Cheese Company will be conducting a cheese tasting and Honora Winery & Vineyard will offer a wine tasting. Sharon Myers, the Purple Chef, will be providing lite fare.



The reception will take place at 211 Vermont Route 9 East, the site of the historic barn that is situated across from the White House in Wilmington. Community members and media are cordially invited to attend. For more information, please call 802-258-3992.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Mount Snow Makes Snow, and lots of it

WEST DOVER, VT - (November 4, 2009) - There is an unfamiliar sound in the Mount Snow Valley, it's the sound of silence. With Peak Resorts investing $9 million in state of the art fan guns, gone are the days of loud air-water equipment, in is the quiet hum of progress.

Mount Snow's veteran team of snowmakers hit the slopes Tuesday night putting North America's finest fleet of snow making machines to work.
Firing up a total of 111 guns Mount Snow is continuing their early season push, having already opened with lift service on October 17th, the earliest in its history.

With an early season window of cold temperatures the decision was made to begin an aggressive campaign with the intention of opening with top to bottom lift service the second week of November. Mount Snow plans to open with two of its mountain faces spinning lifts, both the Main Face
and Carinthia. Carinthia will open with a full terrain park on Nitro
featuring boxes, rails and jumps.

For more information on snow making progress or to book packages and tickets visit mountsnow.com or call 1-800-245-SNOW.