Heading the bill each winter at the Ahwahnee (formerly the Majestic Yosemite Hotel) are the annual Bracebridge Dinners, lavish Christmas celebrations featuring more than 100 performers and a seven-course feast, all of it prepared, served, and presented in a way that will transport you to 18th-century England. The December show, a loose adaptation of an episode from Washington Irving's Sketch Book, has been held every year at the Ahwahnee since 1927. The four-hour program features music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance rituals, traditional yuletide decorations, and plentiful food, song, and mirth. The event is held for less than a dozen nights in mid- to late December, so tickets tend to sell out fast.
Other winter events at the Ahwahnee include the New Year’s Eve gala, which features a six-course meal, live music , and dancing; celebrations are also held that night at sister Yosemite venues Yosemite Valley Lodge and The Wawona Hotel. (Ed. note: The Wawona Hotel will close indefinitely in December of 2024 for repairs.)
Two annual winter events revel in the region’s excellence in the realm of the delectable: the Vintners' Holidays and Chefs' Holidays. For both, the hotel’s Great Lounge is transformed into a culinary classroom. Vintners' Holidays—a toast to winemakers’ fall harvests with two-day sessions of wine tastings, seminars, and a gala five-course dinner—is held in November and December. At Chefs' Holidays in January, California's finest chefs strut their stuff during an hour-long skills demonstration; the master culinarians then prepare a dinner for all. One of the perks for attendees is insider access to the Ahwahnee's kitchen. Beneath its 35-foot ceilings are food-related antiques like the original 1927 walk-in refrigerators, which were kept cool with 500-pound blocks of ice from nearby Mirror Lake, and the 80-plus-year-old oven, where all the hotel’s bread is still baked.
