Revelers Wassail at Tandem Ciders

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Dan Young, Wassail’s master of ceremonies (left) inspires revelers by the bonfire (right). Photos by Julie Stevens and Abby Chatfield

By Abby Chatfield

Sun contributor

Locals know a secret about Leelanau County winters. The season lends reprieve from chaos, re-rooting and grounding us after the busy, crowded summer season. Having this sacred place to ourselves for a fleeting moment allows for deeper camaraderie and connection to place.

Tandem Ciders co-owners Dan Young and Nikki Rothwell have hosted a wassail celebration at their tasting room on Setterbo Road north of Suttons Bay since 2009, offering an opportunity for locals to connect with each other under the constellations in the depths of Leelanau’s winter.

At Tandem Cider’s 16th annual wassail celebration, buoyant echoes of raucous partiers standing around a bonfire are somehow harmonious with the silence that vibrates from the black, night sky of deep winter. A collection of familiar faces represents a community slow to change, slow to grow, until the Covid migration occurred. These are faces that connect our past to this place we call home.

The Wassail is an ancient English tradition of revelers blessing apple orchards with drinking and singing to coax a good harvest the coming year. The louder they get, the better to frighten away wicked orchard spirits. Wassailing recognizes human’s symbiotic relationship to nature. The tradition is a way to express our appreciation for the apple harvest and, at Tandem, a way to connect to Leelanau’s land and community.

Guests follow a torch-lit parade from Tandem’s tasting room to the apple orchard, where they toast the oldest tree, voice gratitude for last year’s harvest, and chant their hopes for the upcoming season. Standing around a bonfire built on a frame of logs over five feet tall with flames at times up to 20-feet high, they drink to the health of the apple trees, bells and cheers almost matching the decibel of the fireworks, a show that feels more like one long grand finale.

Laura Nardon, a Leelanau local whose husband is a longtime employee at Tandem Ciders, said, “To me, the wassail is one of our biggest holidays. It is a time to gather with the community and celebrate the bounty of this land. I feel a great connection with this holiday, as we thank the trees and encourage the spirits! It is naturally joyful in nature. Making lots of noise together, many a good cheer and fireworks!”

One popular aspect of the event is how early it begins and ends. It is ideal for locals, allowing them to emerge from hibernation for a few hours before heading home by their scheduled bedtimes. By midnight, only the Master of Ceremonies and a handful of folks remain around the fire.

Lifetime Leelanau resident, Julie Stevens, said, “I have missed a few here and there, but I have attended probably 10-ish of them? Sometimes in rain. Sometimes it is very cold and snowy. And I go because it feels like the real new year celebration! Fireworks. Giant fire. Making noise to awaken the orchards. And all at a sensible hour,” she laughed. “I love my Tandem people, and it always brings people out to the county who I rarely get to see.”

A favorite moment of this year’s Wassail for her was “sharing one of Susan Odom’s delicious minced meat hand pies she was sneaky handing out with some folks,” laughed Stevens. According to more than one insider, Odom of Hillside Homestead stashed the hand pies in a carpet bag inside a pillowcase full of hot baked potatoes and was secretly handing them out to neighbors. “It really feels like a local’s event, after the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s a time for us all to get together and enjoy this time of year,” Nardon said.

Elizabeth Channer and her family live just a mile away and attend every year. “We see it as a yearly neighborhood gathering because we live right down the street, though it has become quite a large gathering way beyond our neighborhood!” Channer shared. “So, we see our local crew, and Dan does this whole story/blessing of the orchards which feels like a nice midwinter reminder of what’s around us and the important function of the land we are nestled in. We’re a bunch of homebodies, so it sort of forces us out of our hibernation to go see people we haven’t seen in a while.”

Only a couple of other annual Wassails take place in Michigan, such as at Virtue Cider in Fennville and Plainsong Farm near Rockford. But not for lack of desire, based on the rising popularity of Tandem Cider’s annual celebration. Young credits a solid group of long-term employees who know the drill and help things run smoothly during the event. Nardon has attended every Wassail since 2012, with the exception of just one. “Something I love is seeing how much the apple trees have grown year after year. My first year there were just a few apple saplings sticking through the snow in the side yard. Now those trees tower over us and there is a whole orchard in the back.”

“It used to be a sit-down dinner in the backroom,” Nardon recalled. “Everyone would eat in shifts.” After dinner, the group continued outside for the fire. Chili is now served outdoors, and the fire is bigger, although more safely constructed. Fireworks are also an integral part of the celebration now. “The size does not change the feeling. I think it’s great that it’s such a popular event,” said Nardon.

“It’s grown by word of mouth and happening upon. No advertising really,” Young added.

Stevens felt there were a lot of new faces at the event but many were familiar to her. Channer confessed, “Well, to be honest I miss the quieter days of wassail. Where the kids could sort of run free on a winter night. It has gotten so busy the last few years now I feel like I’m constantly wrangling people. We keep going though because I feel like it will create these core memories for my girls of community and ritual around nature. I remember this one year just being silly with girlfriends. Nikki Rothwell just picked up growlers that were tucked in the snow and poured a pint for us, unworried about who the growler belonged to.” Channer laughed, “We always go home with little burn holes in our coats from the fire for the ongoing reminder of the night.”

Adrienne Maresca, a longtime resident of Leelanau and repeat wassail attendee, excitedly towed along a couple of friends to experience it for the first time, but she was disappointed by how much she felt it had grown since last year. “So big. So many people. Not my jam. It felt diluted.” However, Young feels that in some ways, it hasn’t changed at all. “It’s still a meeting of all our local people,” he said. The annual event will organically evolve and remain inclusive to all, according to Young.

Nardon shares a favorite memory of her son from a wassail a couple years ago. “He was up on JP’s shoulders during the fireworks show and looked over and said ‘I’ve waited my whole life for this.’ It’s so great to see how important the event has become to our kids as well.”

Visit Tandem, open all year, at 2055 N Setterbo Rd, Suttons Bay, MI 49682.

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