Ken Kearns of the Binghamton Morris Men has for many years organized our annual Gilbertsville morris tour. But last fall, knowing Ken was going to be very busy with other things this spring, I told him I thought it would be nuts for him to try to run G’ville too and that someone else should do it. He asked, “Are you volunteering?” and without hesitation I responded, “No!”

But no one else was either, so eventually I agreed to do it. How hard could it be? We’d done the same thing every year since 2018 (skipping 2020–21) and nearly the same thing since 2003. All I’d have to do is make a few phone calls, tell them, “We’re doing the same thing as last year”, they’d say, “Okay”, boom, done.

So then I went to call Red Shed Brewing, whose Cooperstown taproom is where we’d been ending the Saturday touring since 2018. I went to their website to get their phone number and got the announcement that the Cooperstown location had been closed.

And I called the Tunnicliff Inn, which had served us lunch every year since 2003. “Can’t do it this year,” they told me.

And we invited the Toronto Morris Men, the Bouwerie Boys Morris Dancers from New York, and the Newtowne Morris Men from Boston, as usual. Not as usual, the Toronto Men declined. Seems in the current American political circus climate they didn’t feel it was safe or appopriate for them to enter our country. Which made me angry, though not at the Toronto Men.

So it all ended up being much more complicated than expected, with a couple of scouting trips out to Cooperstown and more phone calls and emails than I’d planned on. With a lot of help from Ken and other members of the team, we pulled it together and last weekend the 47th Gilbertsville Tour happened.

Not only was Toronto absent, but some other people we’re used to seeing from Bouwerie and Newtowne couldn’t make it. Altogether our count was 30 — way below usual, but good enough. In BMM kit were homeboys Ken Kearns, Luke Willis, Peter Klosky, Rich Holmes, Roberta Wackett, and Tom Keays; away members Alex Naar, Axel Naar, Greg Skidmore, Maggie Ericson, and Peter Darvin; and guests Alan Peel, Jim Voorhees, and Jud McIntire.

Friday we arrived and found rooms at the Major’s Inn. There was dinner and beer, dancing for ourselves, and singing into the wee hours.

There was fine weather for dancing on Friday and Monday. Unfortunately the dancing was Saturday and Sunday. It rained Friday night and Saturday morning. At around 10:00 am, half an hour before the Winster processional, it stopped raining, so we danced outdoors.

Six morris dancers with white vests, shirts, and trousers, decorated with red, blue, and yellow ribbons, are dancing around a circle in a street that is wet from recent rain. To their right someone is making a video, and on the far right are two musicians playing melodeons. Behind them are more morris dancers, some dressed similarly and some in black vests, watching. At the back is a large Tudor revival inn.

Binghamton Men in Gilbertsville

The crowd was small, maybe about 20 people — which may not sound so small given how tiny Gilbertsville is, but after nearly 50 years dancing there we’ve become a cultural tradition there and when the weather’s not so bad the turnout is larger. Just as we left for Pathfinder village it started raining again, but it stopped before we reached the Hannah Cooper memorial where we paused for the G’ville newcomers to have the mandatory monument viewing. We danced indoors at Pathfinder Village.

Six morris dancers with white shirts and trousers and grey suspenders, decorated with red and blue ribbons, are dancing in a gymnasium. Behind them are a melodeon player, and an audience watching from chairs.

Newtowne at Pioneer Village

Then we drove to Cooperstown, and had lunch while the rain resumed and then mostly stopped again. There was some drizzle for the Pioneer Park stand but we danced and it abated, and didn’t return.

We had a few people staying and watching at Pioneer Park. Three of them were family of new Newt Galen Oey-Langen, and they followed us to Council Rock Brewing where we sang and replenished fluids before our final dancing of the day.

Six morris dancers with white shirts and trousers and black vests, decorated with multicolored ribbons, are dancing in front of a building with a sign reading 'Council Rock'. Behind them is a musician playing a melodeon, and various other morris dancers and a couple of other people watch from the rear.

Bouwerie Boys at Council Rock Brewing

The Feast was great as usual. More songs were sung and various speeches were made.

Notably, in amongst all this singing, there were songs from members of Bouwerie. They’re not known as a singing team, but apparently there’s been an effort spearheaded by Jack Skidmore to change that. With Toronto’s fabulous singing absent, that was appreciated.

Again as usual, Sunday morning consisted of breakfast and socializing and not much else. There was just one stand scheduled, back in G’ville at noon. It stopped raining by then, but it was cold enough we decided to move the dancing indoors. Then brunch, then cleanup and we all went home.

It was a great weekend. Saturday’s lunch and the beer stand at their new venues and everything else just went as smoothly as possible, and the weather was wet and cold but didn’t interfere much, and the company generally was wonderful. The reduced attendance had its benefits: less crowding of the sleeping rooms, easier logistics, a more intimate atmosphere more conducive to interacting with individual people. I had at least as much fun as I ever have had at Gilbertsville.

The dances Binghamton performed:

Bampton:

  • Banbury Bill
  • Binghamton Stick Dance*
  • Bobbing Around
  • Eynsham Poacher*
  • John Barleycorn*
  • John Peel*
  • Johnson the Butcher*
  • The Quaker
  • The Royton*
  • Step and Fetch Her
  • Trunkles
  • Yankee Doodle*

* Bampton style dances created by BMM

Ducklington:

  • Jockey To the Fair [with Jack Skidmore of BBMD]

Chipping Campden:

  • Country Dance [with Tim Shaw of BBMD]
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