In 1972, Jeffrey Kahn moved from Pennsylvania to Vermont with 30 friends and formed a commune in Sharon. After leaving and moving to Woodstock, he tried carpentry and an herbal toothpaste business, but nothing felt right until he had the idea to open what is now one of the best-known stores in Woodstock. Unicorn, located on Main Street, opened in December 1978 and has been splendidly eclectic from the start. This year, Unicorn is celebrating its 40-year anniversary, and Jeffrey is thrilled.

Jeffrey had one main focus when he opened the store: everything from the “sublime to the ridiculous” must be included. Before opening, he was trying to think of a name and was waiting for a sign. One day, while staring at a bookcase, the title, Sign of the Unicorn jumped out. Jeffrey headed to the library to read up on Unicorns. He discovered they represent beauty, magic, purity, fantasy; all the elements of the store he wanted to create.

So, Unicorn was born!

To Jeffrey, one of the most critical elements in running Unicorn is that it be an entertainment business as well as an outstanding retail store. His motto is displayed at his store: Don’t Grow Up, It’s a Trap! The long-term staff – with their ability to connect with and entertain the customers – have been instrumental in the success of the store. Linda White has been the store manager for 34 years and isn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon. “If we can transfer a sense of joy and excitement about the things we sell, we are not only entertaining people, we are making them happy,” Jeffrey says as Linda nods and grins.

From gifts, gadgets, and games Unicorn has something special for everyone. The cases at the back hold gorgeous jewelry and handcrafted specialty pocketknives. The front of the shop is packed with toys for every age as well as Vermont-made crafts. The wall of greeting cards contains everything from the hilarious to the edgy, to the beautiful and magical pop-up cards. When you enter Unicorn, it doesn’t matter your age, you feel you have just walked into the most glorious toy store for grown-ups and children alike, or perhaps stepped into the movie Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

Sourcing his inventory in person is an essential ingredient to his store. At trade shows, he gets to know and build relationships with suppliers and creators. When choosing stock, he relies on gut instinct along with 40 years of buying experience. Examining each potential piece, he decides whether he can convey the fun, beauty, or magic of that item. At Unicorn, the computer is used merely for bookkeeping and a video featuring Kahn demonstrating new products.

Evolving with the town

Over the years, Jeffrey has seen and been part of the evolution of downtown Woodstock. When the store first opened, everything but the Woodstock Pharmacy was closed on Sundays. While encouraging tourists to visit the area, Woodstock offered little to do on Sunday, which he thought unfair to the visitors. So, he chose to open on Sundays, and as he had thought, the store was crowded. He received a few angry anonymous letters and several vocal complaints, but slowly as business owners noticed the success of Unicorn they followed suit.

Jeffrey has entertained many celebrities over the years including Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Housman, Charles Bronson, Michael J. Fox, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and more recently, Scarlett Johansson. On one occasion, Carly Simon came in, picked up a simple three-string guitar and serenaded everyone in the store.

James Hagen, the original landlord, thought the idea of Unicorn “a little crazy,” but he took a chance on Jeffrey and watched him fly. A couple of years later, Hagen sold the building to Laurence Rockefeller. The first time Rockefeller and his wife, Mary, came into the store, he looked around and said, “Mr. Kahn, do you really think you are going to last here?,” Jeffrey answered, “I sure hope so, Mr. Rockefeller.” To which Rockefeller replied,” Well, I hope you understand the rent is due the first of the month.”

In 2000, along with two partners, Jeffrey bought the large brick building from the Rockefeller estate. After 40 years, he can’t imagine doing anything else, not only the fun of his store but also his love of the Woodstock community. Currently, Jeffrey is chair of the Woodstock Village Trustees. “Everyone pitches in; it is a town of so many volunteers. You need to give in this town, and you receive in ways that have nothing to do with money but to do with the richness of life.”

The ever-changing inventory and the excitement Jeffrey conveys to customers are essential hallmarks of Unicorn and a reflection of his relationship with Woodstock.

Hundreds of people came to the Woodstock Green this past September to show their affection for the store, and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Unicorn with a giant party. Music, dancing, and unicorns were all over. Now Jeffrey says he is looking forward to the next ten years and an even bigger 50th-anniversary celebration!

Revels North is a theatre company steeped in tradition, according to their history on their website, revelsnorth.org. “Revels” began in 1957 when John Meredith Langstaff staged the first production of Christmas Revels in New York City, where its traditional songs, dances, mime, and a mummers’ play introduced a new way of celebrating the winter solstice. By 1974, Revels North was founded as a non-profit arts organization providing year-round, multi-generational programming which celebrates the power of traditional song, dance, storytelling, and ritual.

Revels has been a profound positive experience for those in the Upper Valley for over 40 years. Upper Valley local and Quechee resident, Heather Nowlan, and her two children, Monet, 12, and Teelin, 9, had such an incredible experience the first time she saw a performance that she jumped at the chance to be involved. “My first experience with Revels was as an audience member, with my two children, at the 2016 Christmas Revels show at the Hopkins Center in Hanover. After that performance, we all were so moved by the music, the story, and by watching members of our community perform that I knew I wanted to find a way for us to be involved with Revels North,” says Heather.

Heather knew Nils Fredland, the Artistic Director for Revels North, through the Upper Valley Waldorf School where both their children attend and his wife is a teacher. Nils encouraged her to go to the family contra dances in the area and to join the cast of the Summer 2017 Revels. Having grown up in a family that was focused on music and dance, Heather jumped at the opportunity. She was the Children’s Chorus Manager and both Monet and Teelin performed.

Nils also suggested that Heather’s daughter, Monet, audition for the 2017 Christmas Revels where she again had an excellent experience in the Children’s Chorus making new friends, meeting the guest artists, and the other teams that were part of the production. “It was a rich, rich experience [for Monet], a kind of multi-generational experience that was very positive,” Heather says.

Finding their way to Quechee

Heather first moved to the Upper Valley in 2000 and lived in Cornish, New Hampshire, for most of that time until she moved to Quechee in February 2017. “I was drawn to the Upper Valley in 2000 by an internship at Saint Gaudens National Historic Site through the SCA [Student Conservation Association]. I later became an interpretive park ranger at the National Headquarters of SCA. I worked there for the next five years as both a recruiter for their national conservation crews and internships and as an AmeriCorps grant writer. When I became a mother in 2006 that became my full-time job,” Heather says.

After her husband, Lawrence Nowlan, passed suddenly in 2013, Heather also took over management of his collection of sculptures at LJN Sculpture in his Windsor, Vermont, studio. She was also inspired to move closer to Upper Valley activities, the Quechee community, and the Waldorf School.

Since moving to Quechee, the Nowlan’s have been actively taking part in many aspects of the community. “It’s been great for my little family,” she says. “We do most of the activities that are part of Quechee anyway; we love to ski and swim, and my son likes to play golf. There are these things that we are going to do anyway, so it makes it really easy for us to do all those things we enjoy… moving for us was a way to be closer to the school and the school community. The people that I’ve met here in Quechee have been so great and so fun, I love it.”

Teelin was on the Quechee Ski Team this past year and enjoyed it so much that even on freezing cold early mornings, he would still beat his mother to the door, dressed and anxious to go. Both Teelin and Monet are also on the Quechee Swim Team, and Teelin is at the Q-Crew summer day camp. Not only does living in Quechee make it easier for her children to participate in all these activities, but Heather also is enjoying her time within the welcoming and friendly Quechee community.

Expanding her involvement in Revels North

This past spring, Heather was approached to join the Revels North board as a member who has children currently participating and brings the perspective of a parent and active community member. She was happy to join and help support such a fantastic company.

“The Revels community has been so beneficial to be involved with, and I am proud to be part of such a wonderful group that enhances the arts in the Upper Valley and gives the opportunity to sing, dance, and perform to so many,” Heathers says, and joining the board was the perfect next step for her family’s involvement with the organization. Heather is looking forward to working with others who share like-minded goals for the Revels organization. Both Monet and Teelin are cast in this year’s coming Christmas Revels. While the whole production is still in development, it will have a Venetian theme.

To learn more about the Revels North visit www.revelsnorth.org.

Pat and Barry Sanders are often seen running along Quechee Main Street, in fact, they are known for it, at least by other Quechee residents.

Pat and Barry met running, so it’s only fitting that they are continuing the tradition. They were working at the same company where Pat was head of human resources. In fact, Pat was the first person Barry met at the company. She had organized a “lunch bunch” running group for employees and Barry joined. The rest, as they say, is history.

A love of sports
Barry says that running every day in the morning is a great way to find the time to connect as a couple, to just chat without interference and catch up on day-to-day business. Pat is the real runner among the two. She ran the Montreal Marathon and qualified for the Boston Marathon with an impressive time of 3:18. She ran two more Boston Marathons after that as well as one in Newport and two Maine Coast Marathons, eventually moving on to triathlons for a while.

Now, Barry says, five miles seems to be the magic number for them and he has a hint for the “running geeks” in the area. “From the Club to the Strong House Spa and back is just about five miles, and if you go the other way from the Club to almost all the way to Taftsville Bridge and back that is as well. So, you can do a five-mile loop either way and run along Quechee Main Street. A flat and scenic run.”

Running is not the only activity Pat and Barry enjoy together, they also ski. Barry grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Pat in Groveland, Massachusetts, both skied throughout their lives and had even come to Vermont to ski. Because of their familiarity with the area and the middle ground between families, when Pat and Barry got married in 1995, they chose the Woodstock Inn as the perfect setting. “It is such a beautiful place, and I remember many of their employees are still at the Inn, and some have moved to the Club,” Barry says.

Settling in Quechee
When the Sanders’ decided they were ready to purchase a second home, Barry put a two-hour limit on the distance, and Quechee fit right in, plus they knew the area well. In 2004, they found the perfect house when a colleague Pat worked with years before had become a local insurance agent, and he said he knew of a home that was likely coming up for sale, as word-of-mouth is so often the case with those that find homes in Quechee. Barry says that he and Pat are on the 50/50 plan, wherein they spend about 50 percent of their time up here and the other half back at home in Massachusetts.

It’s been an incredible experience for them both and their dogs. Previously, Barry and Pat had an Australian Shepherd mix who was a gorgeous blue merle color named Bear. In fact, his coloring was the inspiration for the name of Barry’s management consulting company, Merle Management. Barry says that often, others know the dogs before they know the people, and that’s because it’s a wonderful area for dogs. So many people have dogs or love visits from neighboring dogs, and their new dog, Dewey (named after Dewey’s Mill, of course), is equally in love with Quechee as they are!

The Quechee area is full of places the two of them love to visit and activities they both enjoy. “We like Friday nights at Davidson’s Bar, friends, friends-to-be, staff; it’s the best place to relax and hear good stories. We enjoy Sundays too on Dewey’s Deck,” says Pat.

As a former competitive dance skater, Pat still looks for opportunities to skate and shared an excellent winter activity with me. When Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont, freezes over, they plow around the outside. It’s about a four-mile loop around the lake, but, of course, not everyone has to make that whole trip! You can rent Nordic-style skates that you strap on to your boots. Apparently, they are much easier to skate on for longer distances.

Pat and Barry are avid golfers, both in Quechee and Massachusetts. Barry explains that one of his favorite places in all of Quechee is the 18th tee of the Highland Golf Course. “In the fall with the foliage, with the balloons going up, it’s one of the prettiest golf spots in all the world. You’re about to tee off, and you see the hill into the Lake Pinneo valley, and every once in a while you see a balloon rising. If we have guests visiting, we always try to play that course.”

Barry had one more piece of advice to share with all of us, “If you’ve never seen fireworks at eye-level, it’s the most amazing thing. If you watch them from a hill, at eye-level, it’s a whole new dynamic.”

Graduating Hartford High School senior, Natalie Charron, is known throughout the Quechee area by many different people in various facets. She had grown up running around the Quechee Club. Natalie spent hours swimming and skiing, and at 15 she began working as a hostess there, later becoming a health desk attendant. Most who have spent time at The Club have run across Natalie and, rumor has it, simply adore her.

Her love of music

Natalie is an accomplished musician. She began playing the piano at the age of 7 and stopped when at 10 she picked up the saxophone in the fifth grade. “We were starting band, and they were demonstrating all the instruments and the saxophone just seemed the coolest,” Natalie says about her choice in learning a new instrument. “I loved the way it sounded, and I knew that I could use it to play a lot of the music that I enjoy listening to, such as rock and jazz. I enjoy listening to Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman – even though he’s a clarinetist,” she says.

While she didn’t stop playing the piano, the saxophone has remained her primary instrument throughout middle and high school band. Natalie has also been very active in honors ensembles. In sixth grade, she began auditioning for the district band festivals and, not only was accepted that year, but has made it every year since. She has also participated in the All-State Band Festival for the past three years, the All-New England Festival at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire, for the past two years, the New England Music Festival Association or NEMFA this previous year, and the district jazz band for the past two years. “Auditioning for and participating in these festivals has been a great experience in which I get to play challenging music and work with talented students and conductors. I look forward to them every year,” she says.

Natalie is applying to music programs at Northeastern University, Boston University, Ithaca College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Vermont as she hopes to continue playing the saxophone after college as well. I asked her if she was excited about graduating and heading to college, and she answered with an enthusiastic “yes!”

One thing she is looking forward to is finding others who want to create a jazz band as she hasn’t had that experience yet. Natalie would like to continue playing her sax in jazz bands as much as possible. Also, she is looking forward to “just more people. More people around, more things going on.” As someone who grew up in the Upper Valley, I can entirely relate!

Volunteering at the Montshire

Others may recognize Natalie from seeing her play her saxophone during one of her favorite Upper Valley summer activities, volunteering at the Montshire Museum of Science. Every summer since she turned 15, Natalie has been a volunteer helper with the preschool camps. She has a lot of fun helping with both the Nature Camp where preschoolers get to explore and observe local plants and animals as well as the Science Camp where the kids get to play with predictions and experiments. “I’ve loved volunteering at the Montshire. I get to work with children and have the opportunity to help teach them,” she says.

With everything that Natalie is involved in, she will likely be a missed presence in the Upper Valley, particularly in the Quechee area, when she leaves for college. “It’s been wonderful growing up in an area with so many great people around who have been so kind and friendly to me. I’m grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me while living here, such as learning to ski, attending The Quechee Club summer camp when I was younger, working at The Quechee Club, and volunteering at the Montshire Museum” she says.

I just have one suggestion for The Quechee Club before Natalie heads off to college – maybe a going away jazz recital is in order?

Christopher and Andrew Emerson have quite the connection to Quechee. The brothers grew up on Long Island, NY, with their parents Michael (Mike) and Elizabeth Emerson. They skied in Quechee competitively, were accepted into impressive military academies, and continued to both excel in college and ski competitively. I had the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth about her sons as well as her Quechee experience.

Before Elizabeth and Mike met, Mike’s parents had retired to Quechee. While both found it a beautiful place to visit, the commute was five-plus hours in the best of times, and it made it difficult. That changed when the family came for a visit when Christopher was 11 and Andrew was 5. As soon as they put skis on the boys, it was evident that it was going to be one of their great passions in life, and Mike and Elizabeth jumped on board.

In 2004, Mike and Elizabeth purchased a home in Quechee. And in 2005, they signed the boys up for the Quechee Ski Team, which meant regular weekly trips up for practice beginning in December and ending in March. There were some long commutes. Once it took them 11 hours to get to Vermont, and Mike had to turn around early the next morning to carpool teammates to Burke Mountain to train.

The boys both made a lot of friends and enjoyed coming up in the summer to visit as well. The Emerson’s didn’t make the trip as frequently during the warmer months, but when they did, golf was part of their activities.

“I thought it was wonderful because – when they were younger – Quechee welcomes young players to golf,” Elizabeth says.

Elizabeth and Mike don’t just follow the boys around while they are here. “We met the other [ski team] parents, and, as you know, Quechee is a very wonderful, social community.”

Their love of skiing continued during college

Christopher had skied for the Quechee Ski Team until college. He surprised his parents by asking them to fill out the forms for him to apply to West Point Academy. Neither Elizabeth nor Mike knew he had an interest in a military education.

At West Point, Christopher skied competitively and ended his career there as the captain of his team. The West Point Ski Team went to the National Collegiate Championships twice, both his freshman and senior year.

A few years later, Andrew, the younger of the brothers, pulled another surprise on his parents when he asked them to fill out the forms for him to apply to the Naval Academy. Andrew now skies competitively for Navy, “which is much harder to do because finding mountains in and around Maryland is a challenge!” says Elizabeth.

Christopher graduated from West Point and went to flight school at Fort Rucker in Alabama. From there he graduated as a first lieutenant Apache pilot. He then had his pick of several different locations to be based, and picked one from which he could still make the commute to Quechee in about 5 hours. “He was just in Quechee last weekend,” says Elizabeth.

You never know who you might meet with a Quechee connection

As always, the Quechee connection extends much farther than our own backyard. Elizabeth and Mike went to drop Christopher off at West Point for ‘R day’ or report day, and had to wait from 6am to 6pm for the formal parade. Wandering around and looking a bit lost, they ran into an older gentleman who was one of four West Point alumni there to greet incoming students and parents. “I don’t know how we got onto this,” Elizabeth says, “but his sister lives in Quechee, and he visits three times a year. We’ve struck up a lovely friendship, and he comes to visit us every time we are both in Quechee, based on that one encounter at West Point.”

Now, isn’t that a beautiful Quechee story?

Juanita Zerda, Tony Carlin, and their two boys, Liam, 11, and Juan, 9, have their home base in Winchester, MA, but own a second home here in Quechee. Like many Quechee homeowners, they were drawn here after visiting with a friend and seeing all that Quechee has to offer.

Although this time it was not a friend who owned a house up here, which is often the story, but instead a friend who had been here for a corporate retreat and remembered how much they liked it here. After visiting a few times, Juanita and Tony rented a house the following winter and decided to purchase a home. By the end of that winter, they had bought a house just in time for spring. The next year, Juanita’s friend also purchased a house in Quechee, right nearby!

As an avid snowboarder, Tony was often traveling to the White Mountains in the winter, and it made sense for the whole active family to spend wintertime up here. Juanita snowboards too, and both boys downhill ski. During the five years, they’ve owned a home here, the family has taken advantage of golf and tennis lessons as well as just about everything else Quechee has to offer, Juanita explains, “we love everything about being in Quechee.”

Both boys are on the Quechee Ski Team and, for the first time, are learning to snowboard. “The boys have always skied,” says Juanita, “this is the first year they are also snowboarding. They are part of the ski team during the day. When practice finishes at 2, they get on their boards, and we snowboard between 2 and 4 pm.”

When winter ends, this family keeps going! Some of their other favorite activities include finding swimming holes and areas with rocks to jump off, and mountain biking on Hurricane Hill in Hartford, Vermont. It is not surprising that Tony and Juanita’s family would be an active one, though. The two met through martial arts.

Tony grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, while Juanita grew up in Colombia. It might seem a little unlikely that these two would meet, but when Juanita came to Boston College in Massachusetts, to complete a master’s degree, she continued practicing Aikido, a martial art she had practiced for many years. Tony, too, practiced Aikido, and the two met at the same Dojo in Cambridge, MA. It was love.

Until recently, Tony also taught Aikido as well as working as a business development executive in the information technology (IT) world. Whereas Tony is in the IT game, Juanita works with an action-oriented policy group in Boston, The Rennie Center, regarding educator effectiveness in the classroom. Their professions provide a little insight into the differences between Juanita and Tony, their jobs and separate love of golf.

Tony, having grown up in Northern Ireland, spent his youth golfing nearly every day. “It’s part of who he is,” Juanita says. Liam and Juan go out with their father, but Juanita does not golf. “I still haven’t been seduced by the sport, and I don’t think it’s going to happen. I kind of like that they have their little space together.”

When the family is not in the Upper Valley, Liam and Juan are both avid lacrosse players. Outside of sports, Liam plays the Spanish guitar, and Juan plays rock guitar.

As for living in Quechee, “my husband and I will certainly retire here. Our hope (in the future) is to one day to get a bigger house and have our center be there. It’s just a great place.”

Audrey and Ted Raycroft are Quechee, Vermont homeowners who, for most of the year, reside in Sherborn, Massachusetts, as do the co-owners of their Quechee home, Suzanne and Adam Craig. When Raycroft began looking for a house, she did not set out intending to share with a friend; that happened by a little twist of Vermont fate. As time goes by, however, she has found it is a wonderful way to have a second home and, often, increases the fun of trips to Vermont.

There is an extended network of families and individuals from Sherborn, who own homes in and around the Quechee area. These fellow friends and families are the reason why  the Raycrofts and Craigs, as well as their kids were already very familiar with the area, having visited many times.

Raycroft, a realtor in Sherborn, and Ted, a software salesman, had been talking about places to purchase a second home. As a family, they spent a lot of time on Cape Cod and considered buying there, but, as Raycroft says, “the Cape is very one dimensional for us. And it’s great, I love an ocean fix, I love a beach fix, I love being on water;” however, she pointed out, “once the beach season is over, there is little left to do.”

Quechee, on the other hand, “is more three dimensional so to say, because it’s more of a year-round destination for us, as opposed to the Cape. We all like the outdoors in winter, but one of my favorite times in Vermont is the summer too,” she says before listing off a wide variety of activities in the area her family enjoys. The Quechee Club amenities such as golf and tennis are important to their family, as is the ability to go fly-fishing and hiking. The freedom of Vermont summers is enjoyable, especially for their kids, although Raycroft explains, “now that my kids are older, they are into the bridge jumping thing. It makes me so nervous!”

One thing in particular that makes Quechee special in her mind is the location. A lot of people they know who own homes in Vermont live a good distance off the interstate, driving 45 minutes or an hour. She loves the fact that you can just drive right up the highway and hop off and you are in Quechee.

“I love the proximity to Woodstock and resources there. I love the proximity to Hanover, especially when we are there in the winter and can catch hockey games, at Dartmouth, and the little town of Hanover is obviously very charming and gives you all the restaurant-type amenities. It’s great because you have so much available while you are there,” she says.

The house the Raycrofts eventually purchased with the Craigs is one that they first looked at themselves. Raycroft had been looking at several houses with her agent Derek Cosentino, when she fell in love with a house that was going to be, in the end, too expensive when she included the things that needed to be done. So she passed and kept looking. Nothing caught her attention, most of the houses they were looking at were on wooded lots, and she wanted views and mountains, she wanted to be able to see Vermont.

Then, while visiting a mutual friend for a girls’ weekend, they were standing in the window looking out, she realized she could see the beautiful house for sale, and asked her friend about the road below. Realizing how close they were, Raycroft texted Cosentino, asking if they could get in for a look in the next two hours. The eight women went for a walk, and four of them peeled off from the group to go look at the house, among the four was Suzanne Craig.

The house was a farmstead lot, so there was a smaller building lot that came with it. After seeing the property, Craig offered to buy the smaller lot from Raycroft if she bought the house, but Raycroft pointed out that if she did that, Craig would be outside of what she wanted to spend too. So instead, Raycroft suggested they buy it together. Neither of them had ever thought of doing so before, either with each other or with another family, but feel that it has worked out great.

“You never feel like you aren’t using it enough, everything is a 50/50 arrangement of course. We are literally just below the cornfield belonging to the house of the mother of our other mutual friend,” she says.

Instead of doing what many in this situation might do and completely split the time at the house, the two families often stay at the house at the same time. They’ve even taken to vacationing elsewhere together!

The best, though, is always the benefits the kids get. “I love that they are making their little memories there, being with their families in the house.”

A skier, swimmer, and a dedicated honors student, Victoria Carlson of Wenham, Massachusetts, does it all! Carlson’s ties to Quechee precede her. Her grandparents, Deb and Dick Carlson, built a house at the top of the Quechee Ski Hill in the early 1970s. Her great-grandmother, Ann Williams, named the road the house is on, Williams Lane. Her father, David, and his brother, Dan, learned to ski on the Quechee Ski Hill as kids. So, when David and his wife, Carol Harlow-Carlson, had Victoria it was only natural that she would spend a great deal of time in Vermont!

Carlson’s love of skiing started with lessons at age 3 with the Quechee Ski Bees. Getting to lessons was easy, she would ski down from their house with her parents, and as she got older by herself. Not only did she learn independence and responsibility, she got herself to her lessons and eventually to ski practice. Carlson joined the Quechee Ski Team when she was 7 or 8 as part of the Mountain Team. Now, her other passion, synchronized swimming has taken some of her time away from being a competitive skier, and these days when she can she trains with the ski team.

Synchronized swimming

A high school sophomore, Carlson is a very busy, disciplined teenager. On Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, five hours on Saturdays, and six hours on Sundays, she’s in the pool training for qualifying meets to compete in the U.S. Nationals and Junior Olympics in synchronized swimming this coming spring.

Carlson competes in both team and solo synchronized swimming. It’s a complicated and difficult sport, combining swimming, dance, and gymnastic skills in a team of eight, a combo of 10, a duet of two, or as a soloist. Synchronized swimming requires advanced swimming skills, great strength, endurance, flexibility, grace, artistry, and precise timing, as well as incredible breath control. It’s about interpreting the theme of the music and telling a story. Even in team competitions, individuals are required to show off certain moves, which are scored separately and added to the final team score.

As a soloist, Carlson has to be a higher-performing swimmer. Rather than being synchronized to other athletes, a soloist is synchronized to the music while demonstrating athletic skill, creativity, and her ability to tell a story through her swimming and emotional connection with the judges.

She first hit the water at 2-years old, swimming away in a pool in a quarry in Rockport, MA. Carlson officially started swimming lessons when she was 3. As a second grader, she passed a poster for synchronized swimming at the YMCA every time she went for swimming lessons. She asked to try, and her parents enrolled her in an “Intro to Synchro” class at the Y. She took that class a few times, went to view the Synchro Team’s “water show,” and was inspired to join the Intermediate Team the following year.

Carlson swam for The Selkies of the YMCA of the North Shore until the end of last year. For the past two seasons, she also swam for New England Synchro, another competitive team that combines athletes from other nearby towns. Last year, she and her New England Synchro team came in first in their age group at the U.S. Nationals. This coming year, she will be swimming with ANA Synchro in Andover, MA.

Given all her swimming requirements, Carlson isn’t able to compete on the Quechee Ski Team anymore. “She would love to compete [for Quechee] all winter, but the reality is that as she has become a more competitive swimmer she has had to make choices,” says her mom. Several years ago, in the heart of the ski season, she had a hard time thinking of herself as a swimmer in the winter, she was a skier, but once her competitive swim season rolled around in the early spring, it was hard to think of herself as anything but a swimmer. She is, able to compete on her high school ski team, allowing her to continue participating in a sport she excels at and loves.

The Quechee experience

Her experience spending so much time in Quechee has given her many gifts. She will be a lifelong skier, able to handle any terrain, any conditions, anywhere. Also, a sense of freedom and security, as a tween and teenager, she roamed the ski hill with her friends, coming home only for lunch, and perhaps to dry off a bit. While she and her friends felt like they were completely on their own without parent supervision, there were plenty of people watching out for them—family, friends, the ski patrol, and the lifties. “I never felt like my kids weren’t safe when they were free skiing, even when they were just out with their friends,” says Harlow-Carlson.

I asked Harlow-Carlson what her favorite part about Quechee is, and, besides the wonderful freedom of the ski hill, she mentions the friendships they have developed over the years. “We have fostered friendships with the families we have met through Quechee… there is a common denominator when you find families that also choose to travel up north every weekend of the winter, together as a family, to spend time outdoors. We love the group of friends we have made,” she says.

Family dinners, ski trips, driving each other’s kids to races at 6 a.m. on a cold weekend morning, all add to the experience for Harlow-Carlson. “We cheer for each of them when they do well, we pick them up after devastating falls. We have built some incredibly special relationships that we will have for the rest of our lives.”

Community, support, children, that’s what Quechee is all about.