7th green at Green Mountain National Golf Course 

And no... the headline does not refer to some of the beverages served in local establishments!

For the last 2 days, Killington has not experienced torrential rains. Both the Green Mountain National and Killington Resort Golf Courses have been soaked over the last several weeks. But a couple of days of partly sunny skies combined with temps in the mid 70's are making a huge difference.

I was fortunate enough to play at Green Mountain National this morning. Course conditions were excellent The fairways had dried out enough to allow carts on them using the 90 degree rule. Earlier in the week the greenskeeper had the greens vericut and lightly top dressed with sand. The greens were in pretty good shape today. A couple of more cuts and a roll, and they will be in fabulous shape for next week (assuming we don't have any more torrential rain.) I played my quarter-final round in the Presidents Cup this morning versus Nick Chiarella from Dominick's Pizza (behind Cafe Toast at the rear of the parking lot with Choices. Good hand made pizza by the way... well worth a try) I had my low round of the year so far, which was a good thing because I was giving Nick 6 strokes. The match went to the 17th hole where I rolled in my par put to close out Nick 2 and 1.

With any luck, we are moving out of the very rainy pattern. With fall foliage season just around the corner, I would like to get a few more rounds of golf in sunny, warm, weather.

If you have a chance to get out on the course, keep it in the fairway...and don't forget your sunscreen!

Cutting in ceiling trim in Room 5. 

The only good thing about the last several weeks is that I had planned on spending a lot of time in doors at the inn painting. Of course, I never would have guessed that watching paint dry would become a short term occupation.

Since mid July, the Killington area has been unusually wet. The mountains in Vermont are called the Green Mountains for a reason, but we have basically had thunderstorms and periods of torrential rain almost every day in Killington since the Wine Festival.

The good news in all of this is that I had planned on working indoors the last couple of weeks, catching up on inn renovations that got pushed aside by my volunteer work in June and July. The good news is that Mary and I got 2 rooms completely remodeled, and a third room refreshed with new ceiling paint. The bad news is that golf has been pushed aside, but that picks up again next week weather permitting.

Last week, Mary did get out on Green Mountain National for the Lady's Club Championship. Mary's play was "challenging", but so it goes. This years Lady's Champion at Green Mountain is Nina Tasi, a good friend of ours and former innkeeper. This coming week, it's my turn. In addition to the men's club championship, I also have a semi-final match to play for the club's presidents cup. As I have not played in over a week, it should be interesting.

Hopefully the weather pattern in New England will dry out in the next few weeks. If you have a chance to get out on the course, keep it in the fairway...and I hope you need to use sunscreen!

2008 Check Ceremony at the Birch Ridge Inn. Team Killington member Dr. George Lyons, Innkeepers Bill Vines and Mary Furlong, Team Killington organizers Dick and Noel Gluck, and team member Charlotte Lang. (L-R) 

Congratulations to all of the "Team Killington" members who participated in the VT-NH Race for the Cure to raise money for the Susan G Komen foundation this past weekend. Special thanks go out to team organizers Dick and Noel Gluck. For the last 10 years, Dick and Noel have been gathering their family and friends together each July to help raise money to fight breast cancer. Late Sunday afternoon, after the "race", team members joined Dick and Noel at their home for a post race barbeque. This year, Team Killington had over 100 members and raised close to $10K to support the Komen Foundation.

Mary and I are happy that we have been able to support Dick and Noel's effort for Team Killington over the years. Once again this year, we donated the proceeds from a special "Team Killington Brunch" to the effort. This years contribution, made possible by all those who attended the brunch at the end of June, came to $869.68

Around town, Killington is slowly drying out from last weeks heavy rains. I did have a chance to visit Green Mountain National Golf Course yesterday for a round of golf with some friends. The course was pretty soft from all the rain (read no run). But everything surely is green and lush! Until the next post, keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.

Sampling wine in the tent at the K1 Gondola Base 

Over the last several weeks, some times I have felt like I was trying to drink from a fire hose. I have spent the last 6 weeks working as the producer for the Killington Wine Festival as part of my duties as a member of the board of directors of the Killington Chamber of Commerce. It has been a wild ride...a lot of people got to enjoy Killington, and some very nice wine was consumed along the way.

While there were many events associated with the Killington Wine Festival over the weekend, the primary event was the "Grand Tasting at 4241". This year it was a split event between a tent at the base of the K1 gondola, and the restaurant at top of Killington Peak. 100 or so wines were set up for sampling in the tent. Almost 200 were available at the peak.

I arrived at the mountain in the early morning to coordinate setting up the days activities. At 1:00 PM, when the gates opened, over 300 people were queued in line to begin tasting. I had a great team of volunteers at the gate checking people in. Things were going great until around 1:45 when I got a message from Killington Operations that they would be shutting down the K1 Gondola at 2:00 PM for 15 minutes of so to let a thunderstorm pass.

Right on time at 2:00 PM, there was a clap of thunder and the gondola stopped running. By this time we had 200 people in the tent at the base of K1 and 250 people in the peak restaurant. Everybody was having a great time because we had lots of wine to sample, and some great food made by chamber volunteers and vendors participating in the festival. Then the rains came!

One of the reasons we selected the site at the K1 Gondola for the tent was because it offered good drainage. It has a slight downward slope that would not collect water...very important as the tent was installed on Wednesday afternoon. After all, we were trying to build a wine pavilion, not a coy pond. Then the rains kept coming!

At about 2:15, torrential rains blanketed Killington. In the tent, we did not think much of it...everyone was carrying on, drinking wine, eating cheese, listening to an ensemble of players from the Killington Music Festival. Then the rain came down harder!

By 3:00, the gondola has now been down for an hour. Chris Nyberg, the president of Killington, and I have a quick conversation about evacuating Killington Peak. We really did not want to truck 250 people down the mountain in a driving thunder storm. We decide we are going to hold everyone in place to ride the storm out at the peak, hoping for a break in the weather to allow the K1 Gondola to run again. Then the rain started to come down so hard, I was beginning to look for the ghost of Charlton Heston. It was raining so hard it seemed biblical...

Then the dam broke! The Red Sea parted...Literally!

The down hill grade of the tent funneled a nice river of water throughout the area. 1 to 2 inches of water swept down hill, mixing with the red clay under surface, producing a nice wine colored slurry as it passed through the tent. It was not enough to cause any damage, but enough to make everyones feet very wet. Ladies in stylish summer shoes were particularly hard hit. But by now, everyone had been tasting wine for 2 hours. The great mood of the crowd was not going to be defeated by a little water. Besides, everyone in the tent could head home....the people on the peak might be stuck for the night...

And then, just after 4:00, as if on queue, the skies broke, the rain stopped, the thunder storm had moved a safe distance away, and the peak evacuation could begin.

At about 4:20 the first survivors from Killington Peak arrived at the K1 Base. They were grinning from ear to ear! They had been trapped for almost 3 hours on the top of Killington for a spectacular natural light show with 200 different kinds of wine to sample, and stories to tell for years to come.

In running the event, I would have preferred a clear, sunny day...but then again that does not have quite the drama of a good Vermont thunderstorm.

I intend to head out for a few rounds of golf this week as I catch up on life. I will post picture out takes from the wine festival in the coming days as I process the photos. Until then, keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.

Tent for Wine Festival in place at the K1 Gondola Base 

Work is just about completed to prepare for the Seventh Annual Killington Wine Festival which is to be held this coming weekend. Overall, at last count, 261 wines were scheduled to be poured at the industry and public tastings scheduled for Thursday and Saturday respectively at K1...and that does not include the wines selected for the Reserve Tasting on Friday Night at the Killington Grand Hotel.

On Wednesday, a large tent was erected in the base terminal area of the K1 Gondola. 90 or so wines will be served in the tent during the festival. In addition, the tent will also feature a cash bar, and live music with performers from the Killington Music Festival.

But the tent is not the half of it. Work was also completed on Wednesday at the restaurant on the top of Killington Peak. Multiple bottles of 171 different wines were loaded on the K1 Gondola in preparation to being poured during the event. With the weather forecast indicating a nice weekend, with any luck I will be able to find several nice new wines to add to the inn's wine list.

If you can't make it to Killington this weekend to sip some of the grape, then at least keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sunscreen.

The Killington Wine Festival returns for a 7th year. 

The 7th annual Killington Wine Festival returns to Killington this summer from Thursday July 17th through Sunday July 20th. Vermont wine distributors have invited over 30 wineries from around the globe to participate in one of the summers signature events produced by the Killington Chamber of Commerce. 300 different wines will be sampled over the course of the event.

The festival begins with an Industry Tasting on Thursday the 17th. Hotels, restaurants and bars from all over Northern New England have been invited by their wine sales reps to participate in this unique multi-distributor wine show.

The weekend kicks off for the general public on Friday evening at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel with a wine tasting of Estate and Reserve wines from some of the world's leading winemakers. This event will take place from 6-8pm on the Terrace Patio. The price is $50/person and reservations are recommended. Food for the event is being sponsored by US Food Service.

Also on Friday evening: The Crush Jazz and Wine Bar unfolds poolside at the Grand Hotel at 6pm. As the sun slowly sets behind the slopes of Killington, a truly spectacular setting, enjoy sipping wine and listening to jazz. Come and meet the vintners behind some of the weekend's wines. Admission is free, wine is being sold via a cash bar. Appetizers for the event are sponsored by Sysco Food Service.

The Grand Tasting at 4241' starts Saturday afternoon at 1pm at the base of K1 gondola. A huge tent filled with wineries from around the world will be set up at the entrance to K1, where about half of the wines for the event will be sampled. After circulating through the tent, take the gondola and rise 4,241 feet to Killington Peak and the Peak Restaurant, where the rest of the wines will be sampled. $45/person, price includes K1 Gondola ride. Reservations recommended as this event has sold out in past years.

Through out the festival, wine tasting dinners will take place at many Killington restaurants. Hemingways is on tap for Friday evening. On Saturday evening, we (The Birch Ridge Inn) will be holding our wine festival dinner. (You can take a look at the menu here.) The Vermont Inn in Mendon will also be hosting a wine dinner on Saturday Evening. Peppino's Italian Restaurant will offer casual wine tasting dinners throughout the week.

Saturday night is not the end, however. Wake up slowly on Sunday morning and make an appearance at the Bubbly Brunch. Chef Frizzie will be serving his amazing brunch at the Birch Ridge Inn, while I will be pouring sampling portions of sparkling wines from around the globe. The Bubbly Brunch will run from 11:00 AM through 1:30 PM. The price is $10 for a "Bubbly Sampler" plus the normal cost of brunch items.

After Brunch, we are all heading out for a leisurely round of golf on a Sunday afternoon at Killington's Green Mountain National Golf Course. The Killington Wine Festival wraps up the weekend with "Nine and Wine", a 9-hole golf outing with specially selected "golf friendly" wines. The price is $35 and it includes wine, dinner, Nine and Wine golf tournament (with cart) and award ceremony. Sign up individually, or better yet bring your foursome.

It should be a nice weekend in the mountains. You can contact the Killington Chamber of Commerce for more information on reservations for each event at 802.773.4181. And of course, you can also contact Mary and I at the Birch Ridge Inn for more details too!