Crested Butte--Part One--Vinotok Autumn Festival

I was away last weekend visiting Crested Butte, Colorado, with my husband, for an early anniversary getaway. Since moving to Colorado six years ago we have been trying to take trips to all its four corners and in-betweens of this beautiful state. Crested Butte has been on our list to visit and we felt that the autumn season would be a good time to visit the town as well as see some beautiful fall foliage along the way. We were not disappointed! (All photos will enlarge if clicked on)

Crested Butte has been fondly referred to as "The Gateway to the Elk Mountains," "Colorado's Last Great Ski Town. " and "The Wildflower Capital of Colorado." It sits at an elevation of 8,885 feet (2708 meters) and is located 28 miles north of the city of Gunnison, and a 228-mile distance from Denver, which was a 4-hour car trip for us.

We were impressed by the size of the 12,162-foot (3,707 m) Mt Crested Butte summit that is the site of the Crested Butte Mountian Ski Resort.

We stayed on Mount Crested Butte in the Elevation Hotel and Spa.

We could see the ski resort chairlifts close to our hotel.  Vail Resorts has recently bought the family-owned Crested Butte Mountain Resort and locals hope this won't change the ambiance of the town.

It was late afternoon by the time we checked into our hotel room and we heard from the front desk that the town was going to have a Fall Harvest Festival that evening that they called "Vinotok," which is a storytelling and fall harvest festival with ancient roots, and is a long-standing annual event in Crested Butte, that takes place on the autumnal equinox. You can read an interesting story about how this festival originated on this Colorado Public Radio link.

We had noticed some of the streets in town were closed off when we drove by and now we knew the reason. We had dinner reservations so instead of driving to town we took the free shuttle bus service that the town provides from the mountain into the historic district.

When we exited the bus the sun was on the horizon, soon to set. We heard the beat of a drum and people wearing costumes and aspen leaves in their hair walking towards the center of town. We followed the crowd and soon saw free-form dancing in the street.

All of the costumes and dancing were very colorful! We watched for quite a while as we waited for our dinner reservations.

As you can see by the video above--make sure to turn on the sound--or watch the video on this link on my Mille Fiori Favoriti Facebook page, Vinotek is a fun and happy celebration for all ages!

Around 8 pm, the Vinotok Tribe presents the "Trial of the Grump." The community puts The Grump on trial with harvest maidens dancing 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 take place on the stage.

The Vinotok Fall Harvest celebration then ends with the "Burning of the Gump" bonfire. You can also watch this video on my Mille Fiori Facebook page on this link.

We dined at Marchitelli's Gourmet Noodle where we had the specials--Osso Bucco for my husband and Rainbow Trout over risotto for me, and since it was an anniversary celebration we indulged in desserts--spumoni with cannoli and tiramisu. Everything was very delicious!

The National Historic town of Crested Butte is so pretty.

Many of its buildings date back to its early history as a coal mining town from the 1880s.  We went back to explore more of the town on another day and that will be on my next blog post.

After dinner, we returned on the shuttle bus back to Mt Crested Butte and our hotel. 

We had driven part of the beautiful West Elk Loop Scenic Byway over Kebler pass earlier in the day to see the autumn colors--more on that in a future post-- and we were tired from our long and festive day.

We were happy to spend this full moon and the first day of the autumn night in Crested Butte!  Come back soon to see more!

See my Part Two blog post about the Historic Town of Crested Butte here.

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