Asylum Hill Congregational Church’s Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and the casting and costume committee has been working for months to get hundreds of costumes ready. This year they created brand new costumes for the King and Queen, designed from scratch to replace the 30-year-old originals.

By Melissa Cole

The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival at Asylum Hill Congregational Church has been drawing crowds for decades, including many from West Hartford, and this year the beloved holiday pageant marks a milestone: its 60th anniversary.

Event co-chair Dylan Armstrong, who also plays the one of the kings, sums up the magic in one moment.

“As one of the three kings, my favorite moment is when I’m processing down the center aisle and I look up, and there’s just a sea of the assembled cast,” Armstrong said. “Up there, there’s the king and queen, there are Beefeaters way up top, the Scottish ladies are over here, and it’s just filled with color and beauty.”

As you can imagine, this show is no easy feat to put on. One of the biggest challenges is costumes: making sure they fit the cast, and that every one has all of its buttons, zippers, jewels and other embellishments.

That’s where the casting and costume committee comes in. Since the summer, members have been working to get hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of costumes in tip-top shape for the big show. This time of year, they gather every Monday night for a bit of a sewing party; mending, altering, taking in or letting out, and chatting as they go.

The committee noticed that the king and queen costumes, created about 30 years ago, had quite a bit of wear and tear and so it was time for new ones.

“We went to Mood Fabrics in New York City to get the velvet,” said committee member Sally Tresselt. “We were looking for a plum color in the purple palette, but not too bright, to stick with the medieval theme.”

For the bodice, they found exactly what they wanted.

“This cotton velveteen has a certain sheen to it,” Tresselt said. “It’s just wonderful.”

The ladies also found a coordinating patterned upholstery fabric for the skirt, and they plan to add a strand of tiny pearls and more gold piping throughout.

Luckily, committee member Kathy Valede has a background in apparel design and pattern making, so she was able to rebuild the garments from scratch.

“We re-engineered all the pieces,” Valede said. “I went to school for apparel design, so I made the patterns from scratch to fit the average size range, which is probably a 12 to 16 or 18. That way, all these different women would be able to fit into them over the years.”

The king’s costume is also getting a big makeover in the same plum hue, with touches of fur and velvet. The fabric is laid out on Tresselt’s kitchen table, waiting to be stitched.

Armstrong said the Boar’s Head has to be a mix of tradition and a little surprise for the people who come back year after year.

“The Boar’s Head needs to be the same and different every year,” he said. “This is another way somebody can say, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t been in five years, and it’s completely different. Look at the king and queen and their beautiful new costumes.’ People want that tradition, but they also want to see that there’s always something new going on.”

Committee member and longtime sewer Carolyn Cass said the whole weekend is magical for everyone in the show, from the littlest members to the senior cast.

“The weekend the show is going on, it’s like being at camp. We’re all stuck there together. Once you’re there, you stay the whole day,” she said. “It’s wonderful. It’s hard to find a situation in the world right now where kids of all ages and adults of all ages, from all different backgrounds, are together doing the same thing.”

When asked whether they’re feeling the crunch getting the costumes finished, with the show less than two months away, they laughed.

“Oh yeah, but we’re going to do it. We’ll be fine. It’s a labor of love.”

Tickets for the show (which runs Jan. 9 and 10) can be purchased ahead of time here.

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