I was lucky to be in Ithaca for the end of the farmers’ market season on Saturday and the not-to-be-missed Rutabaga Curl, now in its 21st year.
Contestants hurl rutabagas toward a traffic marker. The one that gets closest wins.
Ithaca’s mayor, the charismatic Svante Myrick, does the opening curl.

The event begins with the kid curlers:

This is Ithaca, after all, so there are protesters.

I’m not much of a sports fan, so I come for the performance of the Rutabaga Chorus by Ithaca’s Vociferous Cruciferous Choir to the tune of Handel’s Messiah (its last-minute rehearsal).

I went once before in 2012 (unfortunately, the links seem to have disappeared).
But my favorite lines remain the same: “Rutabaga! Rutabaga! Repeat refrain, forever and ever. Rutabaga.”
Happiest of holiday seasons.