Who are you supporting?
Vinotok is an autumn equinox festival celebrating nature, community and the harvest. The week of events includes a Harvest Mother Celebration at our local Farmer’s Market; a Mythology Workshop on the symbolism of our celebrations; women’s gatherings; a Storytelling evening with elders of our community; a Liar’s Night competition; an all organic, locally grown farm to table Community Feast; street theatre performances with a host of ancient and archetypal characters; and the Burning of the Grump Bonfire to release our grievances.
Support sacred activism that honors nature and community by donating to our truly grassroots, volunteer organized harvest festival. For 34-years we have celebrated the innate transitions in our world. We honor the arrival of fall and winter as well as the completion of a fleeting summer.
Support an opportunity for a community to come together to revel with each other. Pay homage to the bond between generations within our community. Share the history of the people that treasure living here. Bring forth the storytelling traditions from our community’s ancestral ranching and mining heritages, and unite them with the stories we are creating in the present.
Support a time of year where grievances against one another and ourselves are forgotten. Help us gather a community to celebrate the wildness, understand we are connected to the rhythms of nature. This will let us teach ourselves and our visitors to revere the bounty of a summer with harvest of wildflowers and food.
Support us as we gather to be thankful for what we have been given. We will dance around a fire in abandon, to let go, and begin afresh our human role in the every-cycling circle of life.
What We Need & What You Get:
We are asking for the basic operational expenses required to run a week of festivities.
We need $16,200 for:
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Grump Materials: For our local artist to build a one-of-the-kind work of art that is burned to represent our release of last year’s grumps ($1,000)
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Bonfire Materials: So that we may provide a safe fire for our community including such items as fire ignition materials and fire extinguishers ($1,000)
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Feast Food: To pay our local farmers what is costs to feed 350 people at an organic, volunteer led feast ($4,000)
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Pochenka Materials: So that we may purchase the necessary supplies to for traditional Pachinko, a sustainably and humanely harvested roast pig to our Community Feast ($250)
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Spirits: So our bellies may be warm while we wait for autumn with local and hand-crafted wine, mead, cider and ale ($1,000)
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Feast Rentals: To provide tables and chairs to efficiently seat 350 people at our Community Feast, and chafing dishes to keep our food warm ($900)
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Costumes: So we embody our natural surrounding and continue to provide our cast with the attire they need to set the tone ($500)
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Decorations: To transform our town into a magical realm ($200)
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Cast Provisions: Nourishing food for our performing and volunteering cast of 100 so they may not pass out from famish and feel honored for their vast contributions culminating in thousands of hours of volunteer time ($1,000)
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Sound System: So, all can hear our declarations from the stage as we put the Grump on Trial ($350)
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Recycling, Compost and Trash: So our Green Team reaches our goal of zero-waste and we take care of our town by leaving it better than we found it ($530)
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Printing: So that we might let our community know how to participate in the celebrations with posters and schedules ($220)
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Space Rentals: To thank the non-profits – Mountain Theater and Mountain Heritage Museum - that donate space at severely reduced rates ($290)
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Porta Potties: So our 4,000 participants keep the town sanitary and we don’t have to resort to actual medieval toilet practices ($2,000)
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Insurance: So our town lets us build a 16-foot high bonfire in the center of downtown ($2,500)
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Permit: So our town is aware and on board with our celebrations ($225)
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Road Closures: So that we may feast and parade and celebrate in the streets ($200)
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Liquor License: So, we can legally sell you wine and ale while you consume fantastic fresh local food at the Community Feast ($25)
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Non-profit annual fee: To keep our organization grassroots as it should be ($10)
You get in return for your donation:
EVENTS
We strive to keep our events accessible to all by keeping our prices as low as we can for entry. Two of our biggest events – the Celebration of the Harvest Mother and the Trial of the Grump and Bonfire are free for all participants, yet the fire is one of our biggest expenses.
- Celebration of the Harvest Mother
Vinotok Week begins at our Farmer's Market with local harvests and organic produce, meats, bread, juices, canned goods and more available. Join our booth to make your head wreaths, fill out your Grumps, get costume help, receive body art, get a schedule / info, and buy feast tickets. The Celebration of the Harvest Mother is presented by the Dance Collective and features mummers, stilt walkers, belly dancers, jesters, and forest creatures presenting a chosen, local woman as the year's Harvest Mother with live music. All past Harvest Mothers, Harvest Babies and current pregnant women of the community, are welcome to be honored.
- Vinotok: Myth, Meaning & Ritual Workshop
Vinotok Founder and Master Storyteller Marcie Telander tells the secrets, ancient lore, origins and mystery of this community’s favorite festival and the all-community Harvest Celebration that is unlike any other in America.
- Harvest Blessing & Mandala Creation
We create a Harvest Mandala at the Vinotok Fire Circle in a partnership with our local food organization Mountain Roots. The mandala is a living work of art, created by participants bringing a small, nature-based token or momento of the harvest season to incorporate into the design. We honor all those who work with food and the earth – growers of vegetables, ranchers, garden volunteers, preparers and servers of our food — who provide not only for the Vinotok Community Feast, but also for sustenance in our everyday lives.
A celebration of the goddess within every woman. A female lead and attended luxurious workshop of poetry, blessings, rune readings, storytelling and more.
- Frank Orazem Memorial Storytelling Evening
A gathering around the pot-bellied stove, like in the old days, to listen to stories from our town’s past. Told by favorite members of the community who honor the oral narrative of our ancestors. Our stories, like much of the west, are tied to the history of immigration and a shift in how we interact with our natural environment. This night of storytelling evokes the old timers who lived brutal lives excavating the mountains and the waves of new people who now make their lives in the same mountains.
- The Botsie Spritzer Memorial Liar’s Contest
A local pub is transformed by community members, the town gather to tell and hear tall tales, whoppers and adventure stories from the community with prizes for the best liar. The Green Man is announced.
A locally harvested, organic community feast. The evening begins with 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. Immediately following, the community enjoys a feast of seasonal, organic, regional and sustainably grown vegetables and meats. With a cash bar of hard apple cider, mead, wine and spiced rum. Live music by local musicians follows, wreath making station, and poetry and short story reading by local writers.
- Mumming by the Vinotok Theatre Troupe
The cast and crew of Vinotok produce a mini theatre inside local restaurants to invite people to watch and participate in the trial of the Grump.
- Trial of the Grump Street Theatre
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.
- Andy Bamberg Celebration Bonfire
This tradition of burning an effigy filled with the past years wrongs was first enacted by the original miners in our valley. As nonunionized workers in the early 20thcentury they were only worth their physical capacity. Once a year the mining boss would look away and allow the common people a day of protest. They would burn an image of the “boss” with impunity.
We continue this tradition with a bonfire in the center of our town, we invite everyone who danced in the streets with us and watched the Trial of the Grump to follow us and celebrate with a spectacle you will not see the like of anywhere else.
CHARACTERS
This goddess on Earth is chosen from the pregnant women in town. She is our symbol of fertility and grace. The center of the Vinotok troupe she determines the fate of the Grump. Dressed in white she speaks for the Earth and brings new life to us as winter approaches.
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 to the flames our grievances, to make room for what we want in the new year. This utterly unique art installation takes months to plan and prepare is unveiled only on the final night of festivities. Filled with personal written wrongs of the last year, and designed to represent the threats to our environmental, and personal freedom.
Chosen as a symbol of nature, one man each year is bestowed the honor of Green Man. He must represent qualities of joy, honesty, love, wildness, and respect. He must be of community and invested in the valley’s growth and protection. He is the symbolic partner of the Harvest Mother, and leads the trial accompanied by twelve maidens.
An embodiment of a geographic location, the Red Lady is chosen by our local grassroots environmental organization to provide a human element to our mountains. Constantly under threat from those who see mountains not for their beauty but for their resources this theater of activism is essential to preserving our landscapes. This individual embodies the story of the longest successful community lead preservation campaign. Our Red Lady allows the mountain to become human so that we may never forget how important she is to our landscape and community. Embody and encourage relationship to wilderness within and without. She honors those who can’t speak for themselves; plants, animals, humans, watersheds, and mountains.
The Dragon represents primordial, wild, unfettered nature in its most original sense.
The Knight represents technology. In the beginning of the play, this technology is misused. Yet at its end, the Knight vows to protect the Red Lady, the earth and to forego his ways of thoughtless advancement
The Magistrate represents fairness and balance
A youth selected from the community to represent the future and hope of the land.
Vinotok’s Theatre Troupe is additionally full of 12 maidens, representing the 12 months of the year, female energy and the evolving seasons; 12 torchbearers as the male, protective energy for the town; 12 flagbearers as the markers of and holders of space; as well as a host of other Maidens, Lads, Mood Makers, Spirit Watchers, Forest Creatures, Fire Spinners, Drummers, Musicians and Dancers.
GREEN INITIATIVES
As a celebration of the environment it is our responsibility to reduce our trash as much as we possibly can. For this we have a constant aspirational goal of zero waste from our festivities that we are always working towards. We have an enormous volunteer crew we call our Green Team. They organize our recycling, compost and trash. It is not a task to take lightly and is essential to our values. We perform a grand experiment in sustainability in our microcosm. We show visitors to our valley that conscious living is possible. If we can’t do it here, where can we?
A local is honored for their contribution to the wellbeing of our natural world. This takes place at The Feast and they join us for the celebration as recognized environmental crusaders.
The Impacts:
Vinotok is a community event that works to cultivate a culture of respect for our planet and our people. Our performance fosters a devotion to understanding nature where we impart the principles of protecting and preserving, as we recognizing the fragile balance of nature at the Autumn Equinox. For our people we focus on community, balance, transformation, diversity and inclusion.
We create a space for the community to come together, feast and celebrate. Vinotok supports and promotes local and regional food producers by providing a platform for their organic labors to feed 350 people. With food grown as naturally and as locally as possible we break bread among new neighbors and old friends. Because of your donations we can ensure our farmers are paid upfront, our space guaranteed and our prices remain affordable.
Vinotok is an active response to current issues, needs, nuances, moods and challenges both local and global. Vinotok demonstrates to the world a possibility of balance in a future that considers nature when approaching growth. Through your contributions we can continue to strive towards our zero-waste goals for nearly 4,000 participants with more efficient systems and increased oversight.
We nurture grassroots, creative leadership within our community.We mentor each new generation, sharing our values of respect for nature and people, inclusion, diversity, transformation and balance. We honor and foster individual creativity and vision by bringing in over 200 volunteer members of this community to offer their talents and experience. We have costume designers, sculpture builders, graphic artists, volunteer coordinators and culinary experts who all donate their time. With your donation we can free up funds raised from our events to recognize their hours of unpaid efforts with artists stipends and community acknowledgment.
Vinotok began over 34 years ago as an idea that has since generated ongoing seasonal celebrations throughout the valley. For nearly four decades we have fostered generations of Harvest Mothers and Babies. It has truly become a generational tradition. These additional funds will help our full-time community keep this our culture intact. Vinotok is a statement of who we are, what we hope to maintain, and who we constantly aspire to become.
Risks & Challenges:
We are a seven-day ceremony with events each day or evening, and over thirty individual volunteer gatherings that come together to prepare for the celebrations. Maintaining our events faces increasing challenges each year.
Having previously entirely relied on event-based funding our celebration is dependent on many variables. If it snows on our feast less people attend and we lose crucial funding. If there is music the same night as Liar’s Night, we lose revenue. As our town grows, and our insurance costs rise, and our dependence on the support of local businesses becomes uncertain, we need donations to keep our authenticity. Every year our expenses grow as more and more regulations are placed on us to provide these events to our community.
Keeping costs of participation intentionally free or very low is vital to how we operate and integral to our values. We do not want this to become an exclusive event. We need your donations and participation to make certain this remains an event for the entire community.
Vinotok is planned each year by a volunteer council of thirty active full-time residents, making decisions through consensus to overcome hurdles, tighten up our operations, and improve our celebrations. Your donations allow us to cover the basic expenses it takes to put on the week of celebrations. This takes pressure off of our events and allows our volunteers a less stressful and more sustainable experience by not relying entirely on their output for income. Extra funds allow us to support them in financial ways as they strive to provide this grassroots experience for the community.
Your donations free up any income we make from our events to be used on unanticipated safety and permitting expenses which arise each year; improve our Zero Waste Initiative Plan; provide well-deserved Artist Honorariums for the creatives that concoct our costumes, sculptures, printed materials, and performances and more. These creatives have been generously donating their time and talent for decades of time and it’s time we are able to show them our appreciation.
Other Ways You Can Help:
Come serve or prepare food at the Community Harvest Feast, help us decorate for Liar’s Night, gather natural decorations for all our events, help clean up, be a part of our Zero Waste Initiative.
- Attend the full week of events
There's way more to Vinotok than just the bonfire. Begin with the Celebration of the Harvest Mother; attend A “Myth, Meaning and Ritual” workshop;bring an offering for the Harvest Blessing & Mandala Creation, womenfolk join our Goddess’ Red Tent; listen to old-timer’s yarns around the pot-bellied stove of the museum; come get wild on Liar's Night.
- Bring your music, poetry and stories
If you write poetry, short stories, essays, rants, songs or compose spoken word, we invite you to share your creativity at the Community Feast on Friday night, around the fire. We also invite musicians of all kinds to bring their instruments for community jam sessions.
The Community Feast is generously prepared by local talent. Feast on locally and regionally grown, organic food for economic prices. Enjoy, wine, spiced rum and hard apple cider at our cash bar. In order to accomplish our Zero Waste goal no eating tools are provided, help us by bringing your own and one to share.
Children are welcome at Vinotok activities. Celebration of the Harvest Mother at the Farmer's Market on Sunday, the creation of the Harvest Mandala on Tuesday, Storytelling on Wednesday at the Mountain Heritage Museum, the Community Feast on Friday, and Vinotok Day are all good kid opportunities.
If you are not part of the mumming crew one of the best ways to experience it is to be in a restaurant on Elk Avenue from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Vinotok Theatre Troupe perform the mumming play. If you’re really feeling the spirit, offer the Troupe wine and bread from your table, as is the ancient tradition.
- Wear a costume, make a head wreath, be in the streets
Community members are encouraged to dress for any Vinotok event. Forest creatures and pan descendants also welcome. This is especially true for Liar’s Night, the Community Feast and Vinotok Day. Make your own head wreath at the Vinotok Renaissance Booth at the Farmer's Market on Sunday (where there will also be a body art booth available), and at the Community Feast on Friday. Grab a poet’s shirt, lace up your corset, make a jester’s hat.
On Vinotok Day as the mummers make their way through the restaurants, they will also be dancing in the streets. Dress up and meet them in the streets to dance to the live drums. While only the Vinotok Theatre Troupe will be mumming the restaurants, the streets should be full of community members dancing in costume.
Vinotok is for everyone. We’ll see you in the streets.