WALDEN, Vt. -
It may be a gray day in Walden but the Northeast Kingdom Fall Foliage Festival will get started Monday regardless of the circumstances.
"Happens no matter what," Janet Mckintry said.
Mckintry is setting up for the festival at the Walden Methodist Church. So are several arts and crafts vendors who will be selling the works of their hard labor tomorrow like Glendon fox.
"It's hard work but we like it. We like the people," Fox said.
Fox has been coming to the festival for more than a decade which has been held here for more than 50 years. It's a tradition that has a powerful purpose.
"People from across the country and in the local areas can come and meet their neighbors. Make friends see how things were done around here," Mckintry said.
The Northeast Kingdom Fall Foliage Festival has been bringing people together for decades upon decades, but for McKintry it's the first time she's organized the event without the person who brought it all together in the first place.
"This year we're doing tomorrow's foliage day in honor of my mother who started the foliage North East Kingdom all week (festival) many years ago. And she died in May," Mckintry said.
On soggy days it's not always easy to hold the festival. Not as many people come to enjoy the outdoors or see what crafters have to sell. But for Janet there is still plenty to offer.
"You get the smells, you get the sounds you get the sights. It's fun," Mckintry said.
There's too much history to give up on all those things that her mother started because of a little wet weather.
