Spillian

01/06/2025

Who said your wedding can't feel like summer camp?

Bring back that feeling of playing with your friends under the sun, singing and dancing to songs amid a campfire, and making memories that will last forever. Let your wedding be fun, let it be silly, and most of all, let it be what YOU want it to be. Like summer camp, a wedding is about people coming together as a community and sharing in something special. Spillian would love to make that happen for you.

So let's take a chance under the warm sky, and start making those memories now.

Revel with us.

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featuring many wonderful guests and our lovely couple Maria & Peter

01/05/2025

Twelfth Night silliness begins…the Lord of Misrule is up to no good. And the play begins!

01/03/2025

Last chance for this weekend! Shakespeare, silly hats, and a roast pig!

What more could you ask for?

A special deal? You got it! Use the coupon code League when you register and get 25% off your total!

(Come for the day/evening...and we also have rooms still available!)

Join us.

Tix and info: https://spillian.com/event/twelfth-night-a-feast-of-fools-january-4/

01/02/2025

Faeries are among us, if you know where to look…

From The Brothers Grimm to Peter Pan, stories have been full of magic, faeries, romance, and dashing tales of fantasy. It’s no shock that many have wished for their life to be like a fairytale as well, to fill their cup with the sweetest taste of dreams.

At Spillian, we are here to make that dream a reality. Whether that means a toadstool circle at your altar, the chimes of bells that hang from the branches of a tree, or the sparkle of meadow dew in your champagne. The real fantasy is that it's up to YOU to decide - whatever it is that may be.

Revel with us.

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12/31/2024

Happy New Years from Spillian!

We hope to see you again next year. In the meantime, please revel on us tonight.

Here's to new beginnings, and may love and laughter fill your year!

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featuring our lovely couples Val & Ryan, Ashton & Mariah, and Sierra & Nathan

12/28/2024

We've just spiffed up a whole section on our website about our website offerings and we're pretty darn psyched about it. We've hosted closing in on 250 weddings so far, and boy, have we had fun! So many amazing folks and truly memorable experiences.

And we've still got a few weekends open in 2025!

Celebrating at Spillian A place to imagine your tribe, your love, your joy. We help you go deep into your dreams. Imagine a whole new kind of reveling.

12/27/2024

Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too?

At Spillian, we want you to enjoy your day - as WELL as your dessert! Whether you go for a classic wedding cake, a series of pies, or your own creative spin on the sugary centerpiece. Treat both your sweet tooth and your unique sense of style, we'll help you make it your own!

Revel with us.

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12/24/2024

Get ready to marry your best friend, no matter who they are.

There will be many forces in the world trying to keep things traditional. But we ask: What does that mean, and why does something like that matter? At Spillian, the only thing important to us is your journey, your love, and your happiness together. Gender, s*x, race, religion, culture, none of those things should stop anyone from being with who they belong with.

We want to celebrate you, with you, and with all the people you love and care about. Whatever hurdles you might be facing, please consider us a spot of comfort, like a warm ray of sun on a cloudy day. We are there to stand with you while you never stop being your bravest self.

Spillian is about love, without an asterisk.

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featuring our lovely couples Isa & Jack, , and Olin & Jem

12/20/2024

Tomorrow!
Saturday, December 21
A Catkills Yule: Celebrate the Solstice with us!

Our yule log won't be quite this big, but we've got splendid play and feasting inspired by yule traditions, Spillian Style. Fires will be blazing, wassail will be ready to quaff, and an evocative menu from Chef Christian for both veg and meat lovers!

Last chance to buy tix: click on the Imaginarium link in our bio.
Our rooms are all sold out, but we do have a few spaces at the table...

Image: An illustration of people collecting a Yule log from Chambers Book of Days (1832)

12/18/2024

For Wiccans and Pagans and everyone in between, come have the handfasting of your dreams!

Handfasting has been a time honored tradition since the 17th century, in which two people promise their love to each other by binding their hands together in a knot with a ribbon or rope. A handfasting can mean many things to many different people, but the most important part is what it means to YOU.

Whether you’d like to go down the route of a classic wedding betrothal, or pick the off-beat path of an unofficial ceremony, Spillian is here to join your hands together in a show of love and dedication.

image by
Katelyn Rose Photography

featuring our lovely couple Isa and Jack

12/16/2024

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder:
A Bohemian Valentine
Saturday, February 15, 2025

Join us for the third annual Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: A Bohemian Valentine as the Green Fairy presides at a Bohemian celebration of love.

Come wanderers, vagabonds, and adventurers…and come as your favorite bohemian! Think Monmartre in Paris, think Plaff’s Beer Cellar in Manhattan, think the early days of the Bohemian Grove in Sonoma County… Artists, writers, and defiers of convention all.

There will be an array of glorious Parisian flavors throughout the evening (for both vegivores and carnivores). There will be dancing. There will be sparks and sparkles of romance. Wit and wonder. Along with really bad puns. And not a cherub in sight.

Cocktails 5 PM

Strut your best bohemian weirdness, with featured cocktails:
Absinthe la Louche
The Bohemian
Death in the Afternoon: Invented and named by Papa Hemingway himself

La Dance à la Boheme 6 PM

With a bit of the Green Fairy flicking off your bourgeois inhibitions, it’s time to learn to dance! We can’t promise cancan (we’re not actually sure that we couldcould!), but we will be on hand to teach basic fox trot and tango steps so you are fully prepared to sweep your Valentine off their feet in the most elegant of ways on the dance floor. Both are actually surprisingly easy to master and you will feel the élan just dripping off you.

Dancing and Dining 7-10 PM

An array of Bohemian Paris inspired flavors throughout the evening at stations throughout the mansion. They will, of course, include our Moulin de la Galette buckwheat galettes (a Montmartre tradition for hundreds of years), made as you watch with your choice of fillings; along with savories and sweets that will amuse your tastebuds throughout the evening. This way, a new taste is awaiting you and your love each time you decide to take a moment to muse upon the exquisite nature of your dancing and the delights of the live band playing hits of Paris in the 30’s. We are thrilled to announce that the Joe Plowman Trio will be providing music for us!

Tix and Info at https://zurl.co/MaF04

12/16/2024

The Winter Wonder Games:
A Frosted Festival for Misfits
With Legendary Outdoor Guide Will Soter
Saturday, February 22, 2025

Come and join in on a most excellent winter fest, led by our friend the magical Will Soter, who knows the Catskills with a rich and delightful intimacy. We’ll compete with fire and fire water, play in the snow, explore Spillian’s forests, feast on a dinner worthy of the forest king, and wind up the evening with bonfires and s’mores in Spillian’s meadow.

The Winter Wonder Games

Savor the delights of frost and fire (and a little mostly-friendly competition) on Spillian’s mountain for the afternoon. Including...

Will’s Winter Fire Challenge
A Foraging Wander
Slip Sliding Away
The Winter Cocktail Contest

7 PM: A Forest Feast from Chef Christian Van Etten
We’ll be offering flavors for both vegivores and carnivores!

9 PM: Meadow Bonfire and S’Mores
Discover a Midwinter Night’s Dream in Spillian’s Meadow, all lit up with lights against the pines and snow, a boisterous bonfire, and s’mores. Because they’re necessary.

Space is limited, so make your reservations early! Check the Imaginarium link in our bio for tix and info.

12/14/2024

Join us for a A Catskills Solstice Yule
Saturday, December 21, 2024

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE! Come for the afternoon and evening, or just the evening. Seating is limited, so advance reservations are required.
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The word solstice means “sun stands still.” In the spirit of what can imaginally open in a momentary pause, we invite you to join us for an evening evoking the half-forgotten memories of how ancestors celebrated the sense of promise of the returning light on the year’s darkest day. Join us to remember and revel in the season.

1 PM: Bringing in the Yule
• Making the Yule Log: We’ll head out into the woods to find and adorn a yule log to burn in the evening.
• Pomanders: Oranges were a sign of the sun on winter solstice, and we’ll arm you with oranges and cloves to make your own pomander to take home with you.
• Medieval Gingerbread: More candy than bread, and a little like the coolest edible play-dough you’ve ever seen, we’ll make sculpted gingerbread shapes using a recipe straight from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
• The Orchard Wassail: We’ll have traditional wassail on hand, and with drums and noise makers will wander out to encourage the apple trees at Spillian to thrive and bring us glorious fruit in the coming year.
• The Bar will open at 1 PM if you need some liquid courage, and we’ll have some Spillian-made snacks on hand for noshing in the afternoon.

5 PM: A Yule Feast & Festivities
A traditional yule feast echoing medieval merriment around our extraordinary mahogany dining table, all dressed for the occasion. This table is a true place of convivium, where tales are topped, ideas are birthed, and friendships created. We will have both carnivore and vegivore menu choices, just let us know which would prefer when you buy your tickets.

• Cocktail hour featuring wassail and other bar treats.
• Lighting the Yule Log with ceremony and ritual in the Great Room fire place.
• The Yule Feast topped by a flaming figgy pudding.
• After Dinner: Feel free to gather around the fire to dream with the Yule Log.

TIX & INFO: https://spillian.com/event/a-catskills-solstice-yule-december-21/

12/14/2024

Songwriters Changing the World:
Carsie Blanton & Friends
Saturday, January 18, 2025

In July, we had the delight of having the extraordinary artist Carsie Blanton perform in the Spillian meadow, singing songs of hope and protest. This winter, we are honored to support Carsie as she spreads her inspirational fire with fellow songwriters, donating the use of the mansion as she leads a private and free workshop for her colleagues on the intersections between songwriting and activism for several days in January.

Their last night here, join Carsie and an intimate group of songwriters for dinner and an in-house concert as they share fresh work and new ideas from their Spillian songwriting retreat. Expect songs in-progress, insights into the creative process, new collaborations, and thoughtful conversation over dinner.

Please join us for this very special evening. Space is limited, so advanced reservations are required.

Carsie Blanton is a songwriter with hooks, chutzpah, and revolutionary optimism. “It is possible to face the world as it is - rapidly heating, ruled by grifters, ravaged by profitable wars - and still have hope,” she says of her 2024 release, After the Revolution. “Not the narrow, grasping hope you might hang on an election or a billionaire, but a patient, zoomed-out hope.” Of After the Revolution, NPR’s Fresh Air says “"Protest music tends to be strident or self-righteous or just bluntly angry. But Blanton, a folk singer with a rock attitude, knows how to construct songs with real melodies and storylines that don't obscure her messages."

With her unique mix of humor, craft, and social critique, Blanton has amassed a small menagerie of viral hits such as Rich People, S**t List, and Fishin’ With You and a dedicated fan base. In addition to fifteen years on the road with her band, Blanton volunteers as a political organizer, and was recently published in The Nation. You can support her on Patreon.

Click the Imaginarium link in our bio to learn more!

12/12/2024

The Hallowed Haggis: A Robert Burns Celebration
Saturday, January 25, 2025

We all know January–the time of the year when holiday delights have faded into the snow and the dark cold nights of winter threaten despair… We have an antidote: The Hallowed Haggis: A Robert Burns Celebration.

Come push against the darkness, and join us for our fifth annual seriously silly celebration of the words and song of the Ploughman Poet, Robert Burns. Indulge your whimsy, and join in the revelry as we enjoy the smoky taste of great whiskey, the play of candlelight against silver, the wail of the bagpipes, the Spillian Haggis Games, and a great feast of the Hallowed Haggis… Hilarity will ensue.

What the hell is Haggis, you ask? Its liver, tongue and other unmentionable bits together with Scottish oats, onions, stock and herbs all cooked together into “the great chieftain o’ the pudding race.” Put away your mocking thoughts, and know that this is one delicious bit of pie. And, in deference to those who think it is truly terrifying, we will offer haggis to taste alongside Chef Christian’s superb takes on much more accessible Scots carnivorous and vegetarian fare….

Join us as we push back winter’s dark cloak with games, verse, drinks and superb food, all invoking – and evoking – your inner Highlander.

Three ways to play:

Come for the evening: Robert Burns Supper & Festivities
Come for the day: Haggis Games, Robert Burns Supper & Festivities
Stay the night: The Full Haggis – The Haggis Games, Supper, Festivities and Overnight Stay

Please join us! Space is limited, so advanced reservations are required.
MORE INFO: click the Imaginarium link in our bio!

12/12/2024

What will your enchanted feast be like?

Think of the herring pie from Kiki’s Delivery Service, lembas bread from Lord of the Rings, or a coffee with cherry pie from Twin Peaks. Talk about food, glorious food!

There are many elements that make up a wedding, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed come the day of. But you should be able to enjoy the feast that’s made for YOU. Pick out your grandmother’s brisket, your step-brother’s famous salsa, or even a mouthwatering dish written out from your favorite book! Whatever it is, we will make it, and we’ll make it with love.

At Spillian, your feast means that it’s YOUR feast. We’ll make sure your stomach remembers it well into your dreams forever more.

images:
Katelyn Rose Photography

12/11/2024

Wild Ideas Creative Retreat
Friday, February 7 – Sunday, February 9, 2025
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Your chance to escape to the magic creative energy of Spillian for a weekend to work on that wild idea that has been burning a hole in your brain. Join us for a gentle convivium and chance for solo time to imagine deeply.
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Grab a corner, a table in the tavern, a seat by the fire, or a chair in your room and have lots of time and space to work and explore and bring your wild idea to life. Maybe it’s a book, or a set of poems, drawing, or a digital design…quiet projects that you can go deep into as everyone here goes deep into theirs.
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We’ll provide sustenance throughout the weekend – a light dinner on Friday; breakfast, lunch and a bigger feast on Saturday; and breakfast on Sunday.
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Grant yourself permission to hole up in your room and come down from your garret and grasp your vittles in your ink-stained hands and disappear back upstairs; or claim a corner in the library; or even just nap your way into dreaming your wild idea forward. We’ll gather for meals (unless you want to hide), with a special invitation on Saturday night to share the feasting table with your fellow dreamers and share a bit of what’s inspiring or stymieing you. This is free-flow, a reveling in ideas and the quiet that births them retreat. You’re welcome to come and stay for the weekend, or come to take advantage of Spillian’s space and sustenance and lay your creative head elsewhere.
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Learn more at the Imaginarium link in bio!

12/10/2024

Wild Ideas Creative Retreat
Friday, January 10 – Sunday, January 12, 2025

Your chance to escape to the magic creative energy of Spillian for a weekend to work on that wild idea that has been burning a hole in your brain. Join us for a gentle convivium and chance for solo time to imagine deeply.

Grab a corner, a table in the tavern, a seat by the fire, or a chair in your room and have lots of time and space to work and explore and bring your wild idea to life. Maybe it’s a book, or a set of poems, drawing, or a digital design…quiet projects that you can go deep into as everyone here goes deep into theirs.

We’ll provide sustenance throughout the weekend – a light dinner on Friday; breakfast, lunch and a bigger feast on Saturday; and breakfast on Sunday.

Grant yourself permission to hole up in your room and come down from your garret and grasp your vittles in your ink-stained hands and disappear back upstairs; or claim a corner in the library; or even just nap your way into dreaming your wild idea forward. We’ll gather for meals (unless you want to hide), with a special invitation on Saturday night to share the feasting table with your fellow dreamers and share a bit of what’s inspiring or stymieing you. This is free-flow, a reveling in ideas and the quiet that births them retreat. You’re welcome to come and stay for the weekend, or come to take advantage of Spillian’s space and sustenance and lay your creative head elsewhere.

Learn more at the Imaginarium link in bio!