The Ashokan Center will host their annual Winter Hoot – a down-home and down-to-earth music gathering where are all welcome with joy to spare, over February 3-5 in Olivebridge, NY.
Located 20 minutes south of Woodstock and 25 minutes west of Kingston, The Ashokan Center offers an opportunity to reconnect with your local community through their twice a year Hoots.
The Hoot began in 2013 when Mike Merenda, Ruth Ungar, and their friends at the Ashokan Center and throughout the local community decided to pull together and try their hands at producing a festival. With the success of the first event, now twice a year, the Hoot Heroes continue to build a Hoot, a celebration of music & nature for all generations.
The Ashokan Center’s friendly and skilled Outdoor Education staff will lead blacksmithing workshops, indoor kids zone activities, and a laid-back instrument petting zoo where anyone can try their hand at a variety of musical instruments.
Food is vended festival-style by Ashokan Chef Bill Warnes and Veggie Oasis, plus local beer, cider, wine, and non-alcoholic Immuneschein spritzers.
Globe-trotting ice sculptor Thomas Brown will entertain onlookers outdoors all day, creating a unique and ephemeral work of art to be illuminated at night. Late night improvisational jazz duets will be provided by London-born saxophonist and composer George Winstone with guitarist Ben Monder (of the Bad Plus.)
The event is a showcase and fundraiser for the Ashokan Center, a unique nonprofit organization with a 55 year history of youth outdoor education and 42 years of cultural preservation at summer Music & Dance Camps for adults and families. This past year the center has expanded outreach to offer local in-school and after-school arts and nature programming, and increased access to its 385 acres of forests through guided hikes, day passes, and community events like the Hoot.
Friday, February 3rd kicks off with a dinner, documentary, and discussion as Saturday overflows with music & dancing all day into the night plus blacksmithing, mini concerts in the pewter shop, used clothing swap, kids zone activities, local food & libations. Sunday, February 5th closes with hiking, yoga, and a farewell singalong.
Admission tickets and lodging are on sale now, with passes in advance $50 for the weekend, $35 for Saturday only, $25 for Friday dinners and $10 for Friday Film Screening tickets. At the Door, “Pay what you want” admission is available – no one is turned away for lack of funds.
You can see past Hoot lineups here.
The Ashokan Center Winter Hoot Schedule of Events
Friday, February 3
3:00pm Gates Open (get cozy or go for a hike!)
4:00-6:00pm Donor Gratitude Reception and Hoot Kickoff
6:00pm COMMUNITY DINNER (by reservation)
7:00pm Inhabit DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING. Inhabit takes us on a tour of best practice permaculture: regenerative farms, suburban gardens, organic orchards, food forests, appropriate technology, inner city regeneration in the poorest of communities, commercial mushroom production, flood mitigation… It is a feast of practical information and a flowering of hitherto untold possibilities, showing us that we have the skills and knowledge to restore the earth and that it’s not only possible it’s already happening.” Maddy Harland, Permaculture Magazine
8:30pm DISCUSSION AND Q&A with filmmaker Costa Boutsikaris and inspiring local growers/farmers who contributed to the dinner!
9:30pm JAM SESSION
Saturday February 4
Kids Zone Activities – 12-5pm
Attire Rotation – 10am-5pm donate gently used clothing and shop sustainably
Instrument Petting Zoo in the main lobby
Nursing Nook – relax in the balcony with rocking chairs, free water, and changing tables provided
Pewter Shop Sessions – Short acoustic sets in the beautiful Pewter Shop see schedule
Music lineup
Mister Chris • 11:00 am • all-ages joy
Dr. Mack • 12:00pm • she’s got your back!
Family Square Dance • 12:30pm • fun & easy
The City Stompers • 1:15pm • fiddle & footwork
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason • 3:00pm • folk medley
Jude Roberts • 4:30pm • melodic songwriter
Rachael Yamagata • 6:00pm • engaging & terrific
The Mammals • 7:30pm • americana quintet
Square Dance • 9:00pm • all fun no fear
George Winstone w/ Ben Monder • 10:45pm • jazz improvisation
Thomas Brown Ice Sculptor • All Day
Blacksmithing 3-6pm
Sunday February 5
9:00am GUIDED HIKE WITH DEL ORLOSKE, YOGA WITH SARA TRAPANI
10:15am COMMUNITY SING
Noon FAREWELL