Celebrating the Valley Floor
Annual Moonlight Progressive Dinner is Monday night
By Leslie Vreed, Telluride Daily Planet
A beloved community tradition takes place Monday beneath the full moon. Walk, ski or hike on a short groomed trail along the Valley Floor to the annual Moonlight Progressive Dinner. The staged meal goes from 5:30-8 p.m., and begins behind the Shell Station.
The idea for the event grew out of founder Cindy Farny’s experiences in Aspen, where she grew up and was an avid cross-country skier. She loved the progressive dinners local skiers enjoyed each winter. “They were really, really, fun,” she recalled. “I always dreamed it would be fun to do this on the Valley Floor.”
A year after the community collectively purchased the Valley Floor, “we held the first Progressive Dinner,” Farny said. She timed it to coincide with the full moon in January — the so-called Wolf Moon — “such an inspired time to do it, the best time, because the moon rises early enough that you can see it,” and it illuminates the dark.
“What I really like about the date is that it’s never fixed,” Farny said. “It changes, depending on when the moon is full. I think that’s why people like this evening; the point is to draw attention to the night sky in winter. It’s lovely to see the moonlight reflecting on the snow, and the snow on the mountains.”
The event is held in any weather. “Sometimes there’s a blizzard,” Farny said, “and the moon just peaks out.”
For 13 years, Farny hosted the Moonlight Progressive Dinner, “chopping 75 pounds of potatoes and two cases of leeks with five friends” to make the potato-leek soup to go along with the bread, cookies and hot cider that would be offered free to all comers that night. “Soup’s a comfort food, and most anyone can eat it,” Farny said. “If you’ve got bread and soup, you’re pretty happy to have dinner out.”
In recent years, Farny turned over hosting duties to the local nonprofit Sheep Mountain Alliance (SMA). Today the soup is supplied by La Cocina de Luz, a special potato-green chile variety “that they only make on rare occasions, but they make it for us every year,” said SMA’s program director, Ruthie Boyd. Cookies are from The Butcher & The Baker — “this year, we’ll have chocolate chip, gluten-free chocolate chip, and ginger molasses” varieties, Boyd said — and as always, bottomless mugs of warm apple cider will be available.
There’ve been other changes in recent years too: culinary “aid stations” are now arrayed over just a quarter of a mile, to better accommodate attendees of all abilities.
The fact that it is now held along “a little groomed loop,” as Boyd called it, makes the event highly accessible. “That’s really important for us, because some people don’t want, or can’t, go very far or walk very far in snow.”
“There’s live music,” Farny added. “Someone brings a guitar.” This year, there will also be cross-country skis available for free on a first-come, first-serve basis to those who might like to try a new skill (the groomed trail is readily navigable for those in snow boots).
The annual coming-together “is mostly based around the love that the community has for the Valley Floor, and how special it is to celebrate our lands, particularly in winter. It’s exciting to get out and be part of it,” Boyd said. “You get to see hundreds of community members. A lot of locals plan on attending every year, which we love, and it’s fun and exciting for visitors to attend, too. It all feels very joyful and lighthearted.”
Farny hopes she can attend this year, but if she can’t make it, “my pots and pans will be there,” she said with a laugh, and “I supply the firewood,” which is used to stage a bonfire. “So, I’ll still be a part of it. People come in groups. It’s really quite social,” Farny added. “You can walk around,” or mostly stand around and nosh and catch up with friends. Whatever you do, the mystery and beauty of the dark in this special place “is magic.
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