Happy New Year, friends. I’m late getting around to mentioning it, as unfortunately 2026 started pretty poorly. But I’m willing to hit reset and start over, things are looking up NOW, so I’ll look forward to a good year from another arbitrary spot in our orbit.

This year, we spent the first week of the New Year skiing in Vermont. The snow was great, the camaraderie was wonderful, and on New Year’s Eve we participated in the ritual burning of a sea monster.

In 1977, Sandra Mansi took the photograph below. This photo has been said to definitively demonstrate the presence of a plesiosaur in Lake Champlain. Like the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, “Champ” roams Lake Champlain, and many a cryptozoologist has spent his or her life chasing the elusive creature.

Burlington, VT, sits on Lake Champlain, and in addition to a collection of performing arts all over the city on New Year’s Eve (acrobats, dance, music – it was a fun scene!), this year they set fire to Champ. I got the impression that burning some form of Champ is an annual event, but it was entirely foreign to us, so we had to check it out.

We participated in several events through the afternoon before making our way to the waterfront shortly after dark. The ECHO center, a children’s science museum on the waterfront, had been converted to a multi-story bar, concert and dance venue, where we got a good view of what Champ might look like on a good day. Here he is photobombing a pic of my wife and son.

When we made it out to the waterfront park, we found that there were two sea monsters, necks arched into the shape of a heart. Because we live on the Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland, we concluded that the additional monster must be “Chessie”, our own local plesiosaur. For argument’s sake, Chessie is on the left, Champ on the right.

It was COLD out there, below 10 deg F with a brisk wind off the lake, and snow cover everywhere. But the crowd was festive, the band was talented (they must have had heaters going – having played outside plenty of times, I can’t see how those guitarists’ fret hands were still working and not getting ‘sticky’ on the strings…), and the skies were clear.

Opposite the live band, a DJ was playing dance beats on a large structure resembling a pirate ship, and he had a propane release button that allowed the ship’s stacks to belch flame on command in time to the beat. It was a festive atmosphere all over.

Eventually we settled down near Champ to watch the New Year’s fireworks at 8pm, for a family-friendly celebration. Events are 21+ after 9pm, but we were happy for the early celebration. It was cold, and we had an hour and a half to drive to get to our lodging in Stowe! The fireworks weren’t anything particularly special, but they were fun, and pretty, reflecting off the lake.

Then, the main event – a woman emerged from the crowd and walked through the snow spinning torches as if she were a Polynesian fire dancer. A man spit fire across another torch, or from one of hers, throwing fireballs toward Champ/Chessie, until they ignited! On one level, it was a shame – a lot of craftsmanship had obviously gone into the construction of these creatures. They would have been at home on the prow of a pair of Viking longships. On the other hand, we were there to see them BURN!!

Champ went up first. Soon, we realized that sparklers and firecrackers were embedded in the monsters, as they crackled and threw off sparks. The wind started to blow embers into the crowd (even more exciting!) as the wooden skin burned off and revealed the structure underneath. Soon Chessie was burning and sparking too. Both creatures transformed from turquoise sea-beasts to flame-wreathed dragons.

And then, Champ’s head fell off, lolling to one side with only one flimsy piece of its structure remaining. Chessie broke lower down, and then soon it all collapsed into a small bonfire. With every spark and ember, we left 2025 behind.

I don’t know that Champ or Chessie deserve the symbolic attack, but traditions are what they are. When in Burlington… I just choose to think of it as a destruction of 2025, creating a clean slate for the New Year. The monsters just happen to be the vessel through which transformation is achieved. Shame though, as they really looked cute together.

Get Out There