Arts, Dining & Entertainment

Old traditions celebrated, new features added to Vermont Holiday Festival at Killington Grand

KILLINGTON—The Killington Pico Area Association hosted its 15th annual Vermont Holiday Festival, and continued many fun traditions and added new ones to build upon for years to come this past weekend, Dec. 7-8.

The Vermont Holiday Festival, held at Killington Grand Hotel, spanned three days and included visits from Santa Claus, sleigh rides, a beautiful indoor forest, face painting and more.  

The event kicked off Thursday night with an enthusiastic crowd of local member businesses and tree sponsors. The Rutland High School Jazz Band set the mood with a repertoire of Christmas standards and fun rock pieces. Judges reviewed the decorated trees looking who to award for Best Theme, Most Creative and the Best in Festival Tree: Boss Office Works took home Best Theme for the North Polar tree; Killington Diner won Most Creative for its upside-down December’s Faire tree; and the Snowed Inn won Best in Festival for its spectacular Blue Ice tree.   

A new feature to Thursday night was the silent auction. This was very successful and allowed guests to bid on everything from apparel and home goods to special experiences. 

On Friday, the Vermont Holiday Festival opened for the general public. This was a special night for the KPAA, to see the magic of Christmas on each child’s face as they entered the Indoor Forest and spied Santa as he walked around his workshop. Visitors on Friday were treated to several school musical concerts performed by Killington Pre-K, Killington Elementary School, Barstow Memorial School, and Lothrop Elementary School. As in years past the KPAA accepted food donations in lieu of admission and this year, we again filled a box truck because of the generosity of the community.  

On Saturday the event continued and saw the most amount of children participate in Santa’s Workshop. Children became honorary elves and donned a Santa’s Helper smock before beginning work on a holiday keepsake. This year children created and decorated their own snowman before sitting down and listening to a winter story. Santa’s sleigh bells announced the arrival of the man of the hour and children’s faces lit up as Santa entered the room and spent time speaking to each one of them.  

At the conclusion of the event, the KPAA locked the doors and began the important task of counting raffle tickets. As visitors threw their tickets into the “candy canes” in front of each tree, they were not only entering a chance to win that tree and all the goodies hanging from it, but they are also casting a vote for the coveted People’s Choice Award. This year the award went to The Garlic, with second runner up to Spa at the Woods, and third runner up to Wobbly Barn.

The Vermont Holiday Festival is an event close to the KPAA’s hearts because not only does it energize the local business community, it engages a wider range of local families and community members. KPAA Board President Hannah Abrams said, “The Killington Pico Area Association is an organization dedicated to innovating, so expect the Vermont Holiday Festival to continue to grow and change in years to come.”

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