It all started with Karl Dise, 38 years ago. He said: "Let’s have a big Christmas feast and party and dance." And that’s what we did in 1986. So now we’ve been doing it now for 38 years!
The Winter Solabration is a celebration of the Winter Solstice in music and dance. The dance consists of traditional American community dances – contras, squares, and a few circle and couple dances – all carefully taught and walked through so that all can participate. At the beginning of the evening there is wassail and community singing for everyone, followed by the sword dancers (doing the English rapper sword dance), and a guest performing group. Then there’s storytelling, a Grand March, dancing, and other special performances throughout the evening, which include a mummer’s play, the Maroon Bells Morris Dancers, and more!
Things have changed and evolved over the years. The feast part was difficult. We did it for two years. Everyone bought a color-coded ticket with a recipe printed on the back. They made that dish and brought it to the event. If you prepared the mushroom casserole, for instance, a volunteer heated it in a microwave, and then put it in a chaffing dish and served it, along with all the other (presumably identical) mushroom casseroles. The organizers bought enough Cornish game hens for everyone, then got volunteers to thaw, split, and cook them, and they were served with Sauce L’Orange. Yummy!! But it was a huge amount of work requiring an entire fleet of volunteers. And then the clean-up! Cleaning the chaffing dishes and silverware (you can’t have plasticware at a feast!) and packing them all up for a volunteer to return to the rental company. Cleaning all the casserole dishes and getting them returned to the owners (volunteers labeling and washing). Etc, etc, (whew!), etc.
We loved the feast, and felt that it was an important part of the event, but it soon evolved into a dessert or snack potluck. (Way easier!) And it’s been that way ever since. Some things change from year to year, but the Winter Solabration has become an important holiday tradition in Denver.