Charlotte celebrates Charlotte
What has more than 600 legs? And more than 150 chickens, 200 burgers, 150 hot dogs, 36 veggie burgers, not to mention a wide assortment of potluck dishes?
Charlotte celebrated its annual town party at the town beach on Saturday.
Why the Charlotte Town Party, of course.
The party last Saturday afternoon was a rousing success and 300 people (or 600 legs) is probably a profound underestimation of the number of Charlotters who showed up to feast, converse, swim and just generally celebrate their joy in the town where they live.
Bill Fraser-Harris, the prime mover behind the annual municipal revelry at the town beach, said it was the largest attendance yet, thanks to the contributions of Fat Cow Farm (burgers), Misty Knoll (chicken), Stoney Loam (greens), Backyard Bistro and Elizabeth Moore/Ridgeline Real Estate (gelato), Adams Berry Farm (popsicles) and Stones Throw (pizza).
The Hokum Bros. underscored the merriment with their jaunty and lighthearted music.
Brian, Melissa and Kevin Fortin deftly tended a large grill and kept the food coming so the only holdup was the wait for people to fill their plates.
“The Fortins grilled almost as well as they mow,” Fraser-Harris said. The Fortin family has had the town contract for mowing for a couple of years.
The newspaper had some fun with a headline raffle at the Charlotte Town Party.
The raffle had no guidelines but was intended to encourage creativity by having people who stopped by The Charlotte News’ table at the party and to submit their original fictional headline for the newspaper.
More than 30 creative headline entries were received including, “Floating pickleball barge moors off Charlotte Town Beach,” “Taylor Swift plays free concert at Old Lantern” and “Turtle causes biggest car crash in history.”
The four winners picked by the paper’s Not Ready for Olympic Judging Judges were:
- Carol Haag, “Epic event happened that three old men could not explain.”
- Janet Yantachka, “Charlotte has the best town party in Vermont.”
- Josie Kaestner, “Sighting of Champ off Charlotte Beach at town party.”
- Saval Crow, “Selectboard votes yes on fighting climate change in Charlotte.”
The winners received gift certificates from Backyard Bistro, Charlotte Country Store and Pelkey’s Blueberries, and an inflatable river raft donated by Meredith Moses.
Thanks for the donations and to everyone who participated.