[sevdie]

How is Burlington during the holiday season? Any gangs of trick- or- treaters on Halloween or streets and houses covered in lights on Christmas? I g uess I'm just trying to get an idea of how it would be living in Burlington year 'round. Any feedback is welcome.

[chaz longue]

The extent and nature of the celebrations varies with the neighborhood and the household. We get the little kids and thier parents on Halloween and a few groups of older kids - usually it's people we know and neighbors etc. Halloween is my wife's birthday, so often we'll do something for her and then send our high school aged kids off to a supervised party or we'll have one ourselves. There are a few places in the countryside where folks do a huge pumpkin display on a hillside. One of them is the Audubon Nature Center which offers a "haunted forest" every year. They have groups of volunteers come in over a weekend and carve a thousand pumpkins, and create theatrical tableaux. Then people buy tickets and tour the site starting at dusk. The money goes to charity. It's pretty cool.

Christmas is similar - some neighborhoods have amazing decorations, some less so. I suspect the overall effect here is somewhat more subtle than in some parts of the country. The Church Street Marketplace has gorgeous little tiny white lights and an elaborate lighting ceremony every year. They offer free pony rides up and down the marketplace. There's seldom a lot of accumulated snow in town at that time of year, but after it snows, the marketplace is breathtaking with the tiny lights and the snow and the rest of the decorations. There's often live music. Tubachristmas, or carolers. And the canned music is Bach rather than Mitch Miller...

In the countryside it's more likely to look like "The Holidays", because away from the lake a bit, the snow stays put.

Search the www for the keywords mentioned above and I think you'll find some interesting photos.

I've been wandering the waterfront recently taking the dogs for a walk and so on. It really is amazing what they've done over even the last 3 years. I want to get down there and take more photos - the place looks like Sausalito CA now for goodness sake. There's a restaurant now right on the dock of the Municipal Boathouse. We had a fish taco the other day and watched the sun set and the yachts dock. Ducks, Canadian tourists, The Adirondack Mountains, the dragon boat crews paddling thier hearts out, kayaks, people fishing, and a local beer. Nice.

[sevdie]

This is some great detailed information,thanks. So, most of the snowfall in Burlington is after December? The more I come to this forum, the more I like Burlington. I can't wait to come up there for a visit.

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by sevdie

This is some great detailed information,thanks. So, most of the snowfall in Burlington is after December? The more I come to this forum, the more I like Burlington. I can't wait to come up there for a visit.

We'll often have snow before December. It's just that it tends not to stay on the ground in town the way it does out of town due to the lake effect and the variance in temperatures day to day in December.

In Burlington we may or may not have a white Christmas. We'll have had snow by that time, and usually in significant quantities, but there may not be much on the ground over the holidays. In the country a white Christmas is more likely.

The locals refer to Burlington as part of the "banana belt".