Leaf peepers crowd into Vermont for peak foliage season

WOODSTOCK, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s estimated that 2.5 million people visit Vermont during the fall foliage season, and this weekend is one of the busiest.

The tables, stores and sidewalks are packed in downtown Woodstock.

“It’s the weather, the people, the restaurants, being able to be outside,” Lynn McGary said.

McGary and her family are visiting Vermont from North Carolina. We chatted briefly in front of a Revolutionary War reenactment at the library.

“As we go in and out of the valley, you see beautiful colors. We are planning on going to maybe Okemo and Killington after this just to see the difference,” McGary said.

Coincidentally, I had just come from Killington. This holiday weekend is the last one the gondola is open until the skiing starts. That’s where I met South Carolina resident Jenn Ash.

“I’ve never been before. This is a trip of a lifetime,” said Ash, who is six days into an eight-day trip through Vermont and New Hampshire.

The snow on the ground near the top of the mountain was a bit of a surprise.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It is really great to see all the people. People have been so incredibly nice. And I get a chance to see all of the destinations, too.”

But one destination that’s off limits again this year is the Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret, and also the Jenne Farm in Reading. It’s the second year in a row that roads leading to the farms have been closed because of too much fall foliage traffic.

But pretty much every back road this time of year is a destination in itself.

“I can send people in several different directions to get the same kind of beauty that they would get at either Jenne Farm or Sleepy Hollow,” said Beth Finlayson of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, who says the last three weeks have been record-breaking. “A thousand visitors a day every day at the welcome center.”

All those visitors bring big wallets. It’s estimated the state will take in roughly a half billion dollars during the six-week fall foliage season.

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