Labor Day — the traditional if not the literal start of autumn in Vermont — has come and gone. With the busy holiday weekend and summer behind them, local businesses and attractions are gearing up for the busiest time of year in the state and region each year — foliage season, which customarily runs from the last weekend in September through the third weekend in October.
“I always say that if you come to Woodstock on the first Wednesday in October, you’ll be safe to see foliage,” Beth Finlayson, the executive director of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, told the Standard on Tuesday morning. Finlayson reported that 24,800 people visited the Chamber’s Welcome Center on Mechanic Street in the heart of Woodstock Village in October of last year. The figure, which represents a combined census of individual and bus tour visitors to the welcoming facility, is likely to be matched this year, Finlayson offered. She said town officials are expecting eight to ten tour buses per day to visit the village core between Saturday, Sept. 27, and Sunday, Oct. 19. The average tour bus totes up to 45 visitors from throughout the United States and the world, Finlayson noted. “We’re looking forward to a busy season,” she concluded.
A sizable number of those visiting tour groups find their way to the nationally renowned Billings Farm & Museum and the adjacent Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park each autumn. According to the farm and museum’s cheese manager and bus groups coordinator, Charlene Peavey, 33 touring buses will visit Billings during the 10 days from Oct. 4-13, and a total of 40 will visit the site between Oct. 4-23. The numbers for the earlier end of the foliage time are a little lower, with Peavey and Billings Farm & Museum advancement director Jen Flaster reporting that they expect 21 touring bus groups to visit between Sept. 21 and 30. Peavey estimated that the average bus visiting the farm and museum carries 30-40 passengers.
In the hospitality sector, Heather Adams of the Village Inn of Woodstock and The Vic tavern, and David MacKay, the co-owner of both The Shire motel in Woodstock Village and the Jackson Inn in West Woodstock, are happy with the numbers they see stacking up to date for the upcoming foliage season.
“We are very booked for foliage,” Adams said on Labor Day. “From Sept. 19 through Oct. 20, we are 100-percent booked — not one room is available for one night in that time period. We do have a scattering of rooms available on either side of those dates and we still have plenty of openings for reservations here in our restaurant.” Adams added that she had “barely just gotten the word out,” but The Vic, the inn’s popular tavern and cocktail lounge, will be open on Thursdays from Sept. 11 through the end of foliage season, expanding on the spot’s customary hours of 5-8 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
MacKay was also pleased with the booking numbers he has seen thus far for the upcoming foliage show. “We expect to be as strong as or stronger than last year,” MacKay told the Standard on Monday. “The Jackson may be just a tick below last year, but that could just be a factor of the booking windows getting a little tighter. People may be booking a little closer [to foliage] than they may have in the past. But we are getting a generally strong turnout.”
The new dining area at the Jackson Inn, operated by the same people who own the acclaimed Oakes & Evelyn restaurant in Montpelier, is “highly regarded as one of the best dining destinations in the Upper Valley,” according to MacKay, who added that he hopes the recently added breakfast menu will bring more people out to the Jackson location.
According to the fall foliage tracker app operated by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing at vermontvacation.com, the earliest foliage color changes in Vermont will not reach nature watchers’ eyes in the Upper Valley until approximately Oct. 4. The foliage middle period is projected to run from Oct. 8-9, while the peak foliage experience over the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday weekend beginning October 10 will continue through Sunday, Oct. 19, and perhaps linger a little while thereafter.
To use the Vermont Tourism Department’s website to track the pageantry of fall colors across the Vermont sky and landscape, visit the state’s online tracking page at vermontvacation.com/Vermont-seasons/fall/foliage-forecaster.
