December 15, 2005

TIMESTRAVELS

Yosemite’s Bracebridge Dinner

By Mike Cleary
Special to the Times

The title of this particular tale is “My Christmas in Itchy Green Tights.”

Fifteen years ago, I must have done something right or all the stars were in their proper alignment because I received an invitation to be the Visiting Squire at one of that year’s Bracebridge Dinners at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.

It is exciting enough to just attend a Bracebridge Dinner but it’s another thing entirely when you get to actually play a part in this famous pageant.

Here’s a quick history of Bracebridge. The Ahwahnee Hotel opened its doors to the public in 1927. Donald Tressider, president of Yosemite Park and Curry Company, envisioned a Christmas program that would become a tradition. Garnet Holme, a California pageant director, created the Bracebridge Dinner by basing it loosely on a Washington Irving sketch. At the time, a young photographer named Ansel Adams was a cast member. A fine pianist, Adams took over for Holme two years later. He then turned the reins over to Eugene Fulton in 1946, who remained the producer/director until his death in 1978. Today, his daughter, Andrea Fulton, is at the helm.

The Bracebridge Dinner and the Ahwahnee are a perfect fit. For several hours each evening, the hotel’s magnificent dining room is transformed into a Squire’s English Manor House. Guests are spun back in time to the late 17th century when the team of Cromwell and the Puritans had just lost in overtime. This brought about a spirited change in the Christmas traditions. Irving wrote: “There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with conviviality and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.” In other words, a little mischievous merriment, rollicking songs and drink became part of the Restoration mix.
 
The Bracebridge Dinner embraces Irving’s message with a seven-course dinner including fish, peacock pie, the boar’s head and the baron of beef and pudding and the wassail. All the courses have symbolic significance. While the Squire’s family and the visiting squire and his lady sit at the head table overlooking the more than three hundred in attendance, an assembled cast of accomplished singers and actors sing and perform during the dinner. The cast also includes local residents of the park and their friends.

The costumes are as good as anything you’d see in a Broadway production. In fact, my wife Mary Ann and I attended an hour-long fitting for our costumes. Mary Ann was resplendent in a gown of the period. I wore a tunic that resembled the upholstery in a 1976 Cadillac with a sleeveless cape, buckled shoes, feathered cap and the aforementioned itchy green tights.

That evening in 1990, with a blanket of snow on the valley floor, we took our places for the grand entrance. Horns blared and the assembled, already cued to stand and bow when the squires passed, rose to greet us, including our daughters, Kelly and Amanda, and my saint of a mother-in-law. I joke that I am one of the few husbands today who can boast that his mother-in-law once had to bow to him.

It was a magical evening and one Mary Ann and I will never forget. Our daughters will also never forget me driving us into a snow bank on the way home, but that’s another story for another time.

This year there are eight Bracebridge Dinners on the calendar. For many years, the National Park Service held a lottery to handle the thousands of requests. That, fortunately, is no longer. You can check out www.bracebridgedinner.com for more information.

While you’re online, you’ll hear a sampling of the music from the dinner. It’s from a “A Yosemite Christmas” featuring the Andrea Fulton Chorale. This two-CD set was recorded at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and can also be purchased online. That way you can listen at home and recreate your own 17th century dinner. I’d send you my boar’s head recipe, but I think Mary Ann hid it.

As for places to stay: the Ahwahnee Hotel and Yosemite Lodge offer packages that include lodging and Bracebridge Dinner tickets. You can also purchase the dinner tickets separately and make your own hotel arrangement. A good choice might be the comfortable Yosemite View Lodge (800 321-5261) in El Portal. Cheers.