Crested Butte�s Vinotok Honors Eastern European Roots

The autumn equinox, a time of balance between day and night, heralds in the celebration of Vinotok in Crested Butte, Colorado. Meaning �fall wine festival� in Slovenian, Vinotok culminates on September 18 after several days of celebrating and commemorates the bounty of the summer harvest and gathering of the community before the long winter ahead.

It is a time of village feasting, of forgetting the woes of yesterday and honoring traditional Eastern European roots. In the midst of the 25th annual celebration, from September 13 to 18, is a colorful array of medieval characters, a street theatre performance, storytelling, traditional food and music.

The origins of Vinotok began when creator and now �Godmother� of the event, Marcie Telander, sat around the pot belly stove at Tony�s Conoco, now the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, listening to the �old-timers� of Crested Butte tell stories from their native lands of Austria, Hungary, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Italy and Slovenia.

A common thread emerged. Many of these cultures had a wine festival in the fall when, as they were putting down wine for the upcoming year, the old wine from the previous year had to be drunk.

They roasted a goat, told tales and danced polka. A fire was always present, a vestige of ancient cultures asking the sun to not stay away too long. It was typically on the fall equinox, a time of planetary balance, and in those cold countries, the start of the new year. They celebrated what they harvested � the hay, children and stories of those who had created roots in a new land.

For more information about top events in Colorado take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Colorado.

For more information on Vinotok and other events in Gunnison-Crested Butte visit http://gunnisoncrestedbutte.com