Our friend Becky Wehle (who also happens to be the
Interim President & CEO, and granddaughter of the founder) invited us to
join her for one of GCV&M’s Yuletide in the Country tours. Unfortunately,
our schedule was so booked we could only go on the very last evening. Luckily, however, our recent snowfall gave even more charm to the grounds, and helped set the
stage for transporting us back to the mid-1800s for a few hours.
We were warned to dress warmly, and were glad we did,
since some of the tour exposition takes place outdoors, between houses. All in,
we visited eight structures, and I was impressed with the number of actors and
volunteers engaged in the cast. I particularly enjoyed the way the story wove
together the characters in the different scenes – it really made the village
come to life as an integrated community. An actress friend of mine (and
sometimes Concentus singer), Katharine Sanford, played one of the characters,
but unfortunately, not on the night I attended. I won’t give away the plot,
since it tends to remain the same for a couple of years (it might have a minor
scene change or two), and it really was fun to watch the drama unfold.
After the final scene, where we were subtly reminded of
the pagan influence on Christmas, we retreated to the Meeting Center, where we
warmed up over a festive buffet dinner supplied by the Caledonia Village Inn.
We did a bit of last minute holiday shopping in the gift store, and decided it
was time to become members – not just for the purchase discount, but because I definitely
plan to return in March for the Maple Sugar Festival and in August for Laura
Ingalls Wilder days!
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