Holiday weekend sparks return of high foliage traffic

Traffic going in and out of Woodstock Village on Route 12 near Billings Farm, Saturday. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Fall foliage traffic has surged to levels the New England region hasn’t seen for two years. The holiday weekend of Oct. 9-11 was of course the catalyst for this, but in many places, the crowds continued into the week. 

In Woodstock, Vermont, the downtown crowds quickly gathered, filling restaurants, stores and village sidewalks. Courtney Lowe, president of the Woodstock Inn & Resort, said the very busy weekend continued what’s been a strong leisure travel market since June. The resort is seeing more elderly couples now, since many switched their reservations from 2020. 

“There’s a pretty large migration of reservations coming from last year to this year, so that did fill us up pretty quickly in this time period,” Lowe said. 

Another theme: The bus tours are back, and are adding to the crowds in a big way. That’s a large part of the pent up demand bringing the huge surge in traffic throughout the week. 

“People want to get out and about,” said Jeff Kahn, owner of the Unicorn. “The number of bus tours has doubled, tripled, from most recent years.” 

Overall, Kahn said he’s seen repeat visitors, but also travelers who are coming to Woodstock for the first time — and lots of each. 

“Forty-three years in, I never expected to still be working 7 days a week, but this week it was required,” he said. 

Kim Smith, co-owner of 37 Central Clothiers and the Red Wagon Toy Co., said it was a super busy weekend, and a popular one for ice cream. Smith runs Woodstock Scoops, an ice-cream pop-up shop, just across the street from her stores.

“It was just a beautiful weekend, and we sold lots of maple creemees,” she said. 

In a sign of business looking up, Lowe said the resort has seen an increasing number of people booking over the long term, into next summer and fall. 

“It helps you build a base for the following year,” Lowe said. “I feel like every inn, every lodging business in Vermont, has been extremely busy this whole time period."

— Gareth Henderson