Newfane Heritage Festival, route 30, route 11 color update – Saturday, 10/9/21

[ctyanky]

Another great Vermont fall foliage festival today in beautiful Newfane! We got to the village in record time, just over 2 hours, and I am sooooo glad we got there when it started. People must have had pent up foliage festival fever due to the festivals being all canceled last year! Lots of nice crafters but on a smaller scale compared to others I have been to at their Heritage Festivals. This year, all the food vendors were across the street which worked much better. On the way back home coming thru Newfane, the cars were parked a good mile down route 30 and it was insane! I am sure this was a record day for the festival, I've never seen so many folks coming in!

Anyways, the color was early and spotty up until around Jamaica. As we headed higher in elevation, the foliage was just getting better and better, just after Stratton, Bondville, Winhall and up to route 11. I'm not even sure it was 50% so you have quite a few more days in Vermont for color in this particular area.

The highlight of the day was peak foliage at Bromley across from the mountain and parking areas! The valley/mountains south of 11 were glowing!!!!!!!!! If you happen to be in the area, I would get up in Bromley soon because it was truly gorgeous. Very strong color and cars were parked alongside the road with folks perched with their cameras in amazement! Route 100 south from there is early and pretty green into Brattleboro! More great foliage cometh in the next couple of weeks for sure in southern Vermont. And from what I've seen so far, it looks reallllly good!

Very southern VT has a ways to go but north of 11 I would say mid stage. Whatever colors are appearing are rich and vibrant and I foresee a prolonged season in southern VT especially this week with no wind! I haven't been up to Manchester yet but we have a couple more treks up in the southern tiers. I expect those areas past Manchester, are in solid mid stage by now. Route 7 north of Manchester should be really nice! I can't wait to go back up there! I will probably approach the state by route 7 on the western side next and head north from there into Dorset and Danby, over to Okemo and then back to CT.

My last Vermont fall foliage festival in Newfane today until the fall fairs roll in again in 2022.

CT

[Colorado Mom]

So glad u had fun CT. Can't wait to do some of the festivals next year. I'm keeping track of all of them. Thanks for the info

[MinnieB]

I went up route 7 yesterday and while there was some color still a lot of green. Maybe 50% at Mt. Tabor and northward. Killington is peak right now, very nice. A couple of mountains had a lot of leaf drop, but the rest were bright and colorful. There was an art festival yesterday and today in Rutland if you are out that way. And in Woodstock there is an arts and crafts/food truck festival. I stopped at that one yesterday. Expect brutal traffic if approaching Woodstock from the west on Rt. 4. The festival is east of downtown right across from Worthy Burger.

[ctyanky]

Hi Minnie, the information you gave me on route 7 is valuable. We may delay Manchester and north until next weekend. We are going to Woodstock in two weeks, mainly to hike Mt. Tom, so crowds may not be an issue. I've been to the Rutland craft fair a few years ago. It was really small but had nice crafters. I've never been to the Woodstock one but have read about it. I think I have enough Vermont fall craft decor by now, my house is full out decorated with Vermont displays inside and out. I saw a nice bag yesterday at the Newfane festival with fall leaves and Vermont stitched on it in gorgeous colors but I resisted. We did have some yummy cinnamon buns at the food fest that were soooo good!

[MinnieB]

CT, The mountains surrounding Manchester have color though it was a bit foggy that day, so hard to say how the color was. I stopped at the golf course and took one pic. There just wasn't much to shoot there this year. My favorite trees at that course were already bare. So, a bit of a mixed bag. I didn't stick around very long in Manchester itself.