Mountain Lion fans celebrated as the Liberty Bell High School state 1B state championship game was live-streamed at the Twisp River Tap House on Saturday.
Fireworks, football, fir trees and fresh snow fed into the festive atmosphere of the weekend that was jam-packed with wintery family fun. There were so many activities competing for time (and money) this weekend, where to start …
Let’s talk a little bit about The Merc’s holiday play, which is a re-imaged version of the classic “Nutcracker” ballet. The play hosts a massive cast of mostly kids who manage to perform a bewildering number of roles, requiring countless costume changes and scenes that all harken to the original storyline of the famous dance, but with less grace and more glitter.
Perhaps a little less elegant than its forebearer, this “Nutcracker” rendition sprinkles the magic of the holiday season with doses of comic relief and silly interludes that leave the audience with ear-to-ear grins and giggles. Hats off the cast, crew and directors for pulling off a light-hearted and entertaining holiday classic, a local gift that everyone should not miss. Special accolades to the lead role played by Nova Gehring as Clara, whose first lead role warmed the heart of the stage.
Next, the valley’s own first ever 1B football championship! I’ll let the front page cover this story, but I just want to congratulate all the players, coaches and supporters of this year’s accomplishments. Like always, when our valley kids rise to stardom, it always fills the village with a sense of pride. Fireworks welcomed the team back to town late Saturday evening as the booms descended on Twispians who were dreaming of sugarplum fairies they had just seen dance at The Merc.
For fans unable to attend, the game was live-streamed at the Twisp River Tap House, where onlookers of all ages gathered with frosty (or warm) beverages to root on the hometown champions. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Well, unless of course you were skiing first tracks at the opening of Loup Loup Ski Bowl. Due to the coincidence of the game and the second Twisp Christmas Bazaar among other festivities, the most epic opening day the Loup Loup Ski Bowl was met with little competition for fresh tracks in deep, light fluffy powder that left skiers and boarders coated in white glory. Even late arrivals (like my family) were able to find untracked fun late into the day. The slopes were in good shape, with few obstacles. But like all good things that come to an end, we need to keep our snow dances going to keep the slopes covered so our season can flourish well into the New Year and beyond.
To wrap up the holiday harbinger of a weekend, our family was joined by close friends on a hunt for the perfect tree. As forestry majors, my husband and I are a bit selective when it comes to a tree — we almost exclusively find a perfect “true fir” or an Abies lasciocarpa (subalpine fir). On occasion, we’ve come home with a spruce because one can’t deny the stately stature of the spruce, however the true firs are the most highly sought and worthy of ornaments.
As our children have gotten older, they too have started to become quite particular in selecting shape and fullness of the tree. With all the deep snow this year, getting into the higher elevations was less likely, so for the first time ever, we relented and cut down a Douglas fir tree, the most ubiquitous and common of our non-pine friends. So far, she’s holding up the ornaments with vigor, drinking a lot, hasn’t dropped too many needles — the only catch is keeping the puppy away from the ornaments.
