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Christmas on Main Street, Volant PA, Nov 13 2021

Well now I'm a bit worried as it has been more than a week since Volant and no one has posted anything.

It was a multitude of things.

The weather was cold and rainy, which translated into No Donuts.

The regular parking area was blocked off and we struggled to find a place so we lost a couple attendees to that, as well as the weather.

COVID really hit some of the businesses on Main St. hard and there were a few that had closed down (tea shop, winery,) and others that were not the same. The Kitchen Shoppe is under new management and is more of a gift shop now.

It was also abnormally busy. Most of the stores were butt to gut and you could barely walk in and look around.

There is also some sort of apparent turmoil between the elders of the town and the fairs and festivals committee. The town council closed the bathrooms by the fire department, there was one small port a potty that we could find for the whole place. The complaint is that the festivals bring too many people and too much traffic to Main St.... ( I would think that bringing money into the town would be more important), but the woman told us it was the older people that lived on the Main Drag that complained the most.

The cheese house and apple castle were fantastic as always and it was great to see everyone! Nothing that happened was the fault of anyone but the changing times. It truly is not as it use to be.

Ashley and I ended up stopping at Ryder's with her parents on the way out and I think we were back to our hotel by 3, so we only spent about an hour in Volant, and didn't buy a thing..

Nonetheless, we still had a good time and always love seeing everyone.
 
4x4dreamer summed it up very well. (y)

The donuts and winery are the main reasons I go to Volant, and neither were available.
Me and Toots did not stick around long in Volant.

Me and Toots did find donuts at an Amish home about halfway between Volant and New Wilmington.

Then got a late lunch at Ryder's. We left Ryder's about 2:15, probably just before 4x4dreamer got there.
I was home at 3:15.

Maybe next year we do Volant first, to beat the crowd.
Then go to Cheese House and Apple Castle later?

Or skip Volant? I will investigate other things to do/see in the area.
 
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Well I think if there are no donuts again next year, the place you found will be getting a lot of business
 
I know I somewhat joked about it the past two years, but it now seems like a good idea. If we can somehow find out if the donut making folks come to the pumpkin festival in October I think we should highly consider making the trip in October as the weather is much more tolerable 3-4 weeks earlier and we've seen "Christmas on Main Street" for a decade now. I know it's kind of tradition at this point, but making the trip in October might yield a bit of variety. Even if the shops are somehow ultra packed like this year at least the weather should be better. Just a thought, but might be worth exploring.
 
On October 10 2020, I took a scouting trip to Volant.
Stopped at Apple Castle to find the place was very busy and parking lot was full.
Maybe because of the Pumpkin Festival, maybe because the store remodel was new, maybe both?
I don't know if the donut ladies were in Volant that day, I didn't spend any time in town.

On June 12 2021, I was in Volant for the Strawberry Festival.
No large crowd at Apple Castle. No line for donuts in Volant.
Parking lot in Volant was almost full, but not as bad as this past November.

Maybe we do the Volant meet in June?
October is our annual Avalanche Pizza meet.
All ideas and opinions are appreciated.
 
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