BELLOWS FALLS — Popolo plans a month of events at its restaurant and the adjacent Windham Ballroom featuring movies, cocktail parties, and concerts from a broad array of regional and national touring musicians.
The fall season kicks off on Friday, Nov. 1, with a Day of the Dead party featuring “dark rock-art practitioners” Intercept. The night includes a high-dollar costume contest judged by Popolo staff and Intercept members with first and second prizes totaling $450.
According to an event announcement from Popolo, Day of the Dead “lets you have a family holiday on Halloween - trick or treat with abandon - and still have a rousing, good grown-up time the next night.”
Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and dinner reservations are still being accepted in both dining rooms. “If you're scared of parties, fear not: the ghouls are in another part of the building,” Popolo reassures.
On Sunday morning of Nov. 3, the doors of The Windham Ballroom open again for the start of the brunch-time series “Music At High Noon” with area bands Rusty Belle and The Break Maids. Both country bar bands performed at The Windham earlier in the year to capacity crowds.
The Music At High Noon series features a concert, full brunch menu, and cash bar. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the music starts at noon. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, or $25 for the best seats in the house.
The following Sunday, Nov. 10, Music At High Noon brings you roots gardener Bow Thayer. In two unplugged sets, Thayer and his acoustic trio will parade you through stripped-down versions of songs from his album “Eden,” as well as new tunes from his upcoming album.
On Sunday, Nov. 17, the brunch crowd is treated to After The Rodeo and some new-fashioned “jazzicana”: a big dose of Americana with a soupçon of jazz. The band is heralded in these parts as a supergroup of high quality musicianship and vocal stylings.
The trio - guitarist and vocalist Pat Melvin (PossumHaw, Kelly Ravin Trio), mandolinist Matt Schrag (Dixie Red Delights, Hot Pickin' Party), and guitarist D Davis (Red Hot Juba) - hail from bands well known in the North Country and are just now building a following in Vermont.
Finally, on Sunday, Nov. 24, folk icon Mark Erelli honors the Valley with a brunch-time show. Erelli's not some grizzled road dog from the sepia-toned past, but it's difficult to imagine the modern folk scene without him.
The intimacy of The Windham Ballroom amplifies everything happening on stage. Tickets for this show are $18 advance, $20 on the day of the show, and $30 for the best seats in the house.