After most of the college students have left town for the holiday break, Ithaca residents take part in a little-known, quirky ritual called the International Rutabaga Curl. The yearly event takes place on the last day of the Ithaca Farmers Market in December and involves rolling a rutabaga down the aisles. The object is to get the vegetable as close as possible to a big orange traffic cone.

 

Each year people volunteer for the Vociferous Cruciferous Choir that performs Handel’s “Rutabaga Chorus.” (It’s basically Handel’s “Messiah,” with new lyrics.) The event even has its own song: “The Rutabaga Curl” by Joe Crookston.