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But wait, there’s more. For those itching to see an honest-to-goodness winter wonderland, minus the parking lots and meters, Montgomery’s upcounty will show off its real wonderland in the form of a Countryside Artisans Holiday Tour. This three-day affair, Friday through Sunday, consists of a self-guided tour along winding roads near Sugarloaf Mountain and the Agricultural Reserve, with stops at 14 art and craft studios.

The following are a few highlights.

Barbershop we’re not

Imagination Stage may be offering four versions of a cappella, but never, ever compare these ensembles to a barbershop quartet. Barbershop’s signature style is ‘‘straight harmonies,” points out Steve Langley, a member of the a cappella group Reverb that will perform at Imagination Stage.

Potomac Fever ensemble bass vocalist Mark Blaylock is equally adamant.

‘‘We’re quite different in that we very often have different rhythms and have other things going on across our voice parts,” he explains. ‘‘In barbershop music, typically everyone is singing the same words and changing chords all together.”

While Blaylock acknowledges that ‘‘Some of our close harmony songs may be considered more in the genre of barbershop,” he says, ‘‘I like to think that we offer a much greater variety in style and presentation.”

The 12 members of this branch of the 200-member Gay Men’s Chorus have learned that without accompaniment, their task is not singing-in-the-shower simple.

‘‘It takes a higher caliber of singing ability to be a part of an a cappella choir,” Blaylock observes. ‘‘You need a terrific ear. We communicate with pitch and tempo.”

Each week, the singers rehearse with the Gay Men’s Chorus’s Musical Director Jeff Buhrman, but during concerts, they are on their own, using eye and body language to guide each other when one singer goes adrift.

On the downside, the singer ‘‘has no where to hide. Everyone knows when you messed up,” Reverb’s Victor Pinkney says. But no matter: If your sharps are turning into flats, the relationship is a ‘‘team effort,” with everyone in this seven-member group pitching in. Reverb singers will take over each other’s parts or sing a little louder when necessary. And if somebody forgets his lines, ‘‘we just work around it,” Pinkney laughs.

Also performing at Imagination Stage will be the eight-member Coral Cantigas, a part of the 30-member ensemble of the same name. Because these men and women sing in Spanish, says Musical Director Diana Saez, ‘‘Members must have good rhythm and syncopation, especially when performing Venezuelan songs, which are sophisticated and challenging.”

Regardless of the language or the music, when performing a cappella, the sound of a song can change dramatically depending on who stands next to whom. A cappella is further complicated by the physical position of the group.

‘‘When the group huddles together in a tight group, the sound is smooth – usually done when performing tunes like ‘Summertime’ by [Ira] Gershwin,” Blaylock notes. ‘‘The hardest is when the group forms a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, and the singers are only hearing the sounds on each side.”

Reverb started in 1990, becoming a bona fide group after the group of friends performed at a Christmas event, then for Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month. Without an official musical director, Reverb is truly collaborative. Once a week, says Pinkney, ‘‘We sit around in a semi-circle and sing.”

Saez created Coral Cantigas 16 years ago, after moving to Rockville and realizing no secular Latin choral groups existed in this area. Early on, the group had ‘‘no money and little support,” but now it has grown into an established choral group with a board and sometimes ‘‘we get paid,” she says.

Membership in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington as well as an audition are required for admission to Potomac Fever. Although very competitive, ‘‘It’s not cut-throat,” Blaylock insists, but Potomac Fever’s musical director and members must approve.

The fourth group Almost Recess was on tour and unable to be interviewed for this story.

Road trip

Leaving asphalt parking lots behind, suburbanites can travel to Montgomery’s upcounty for the Countryside Artisan Holiday Tour. Local artisans will open their studios, offering holiday cheer — soup and cider — and hopefully, engaging visitors in commerce.

Moving from suburban Potomac a little more than six years ago was a much-needed change for Claire Howard of Lindenwood Farmgoods in Poolesville. She immediately embraced the lifestyle she describes as ‘‘quiet, [with] no lines at the post office or the grocery store.”

Now Howard lives in a renovated 19-century farmhouse and paints in a studio that once housed chickens. For the tour, this former interior designer plans to sell pretty paintings for people to give as gifts and hang in their family rooms.

Like Howard, Ellen Pearl of Comus decided her own Green Acres was the place to be. In the 1990s, the stockbroker left a bull market to sell antiques at flea markets in Georgetown and Capitol Hill. She was ‘‘disgusted by the poor quality” of the mass-produced imports from Morocco and Spanish-style tables flooding the fleas.

What Pearl saw at the fleas and her ‘‘confidence” inspired her to design what she calls ‘‘bumpy funny tables” and start a viable home business. On bases made out of steel forge, which can hold a 300-pound man, she creates unique tops of materials — stones and tiles — she finds on vacations and around Comus.

So there you have it whether city or countryside some sort of wonderland is happening from one end of the county to the other.

Bethesda’s Winter Wonderland is set for Friday at 8 p.m. with four a cappella groups performing at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda; on Saturday celebrations continue from 1 to 4 p.m. at Veteran’s Park, located at the corner of Woodmont and Norfolk Avenues.

The second Winter Wonderland follows from 6 to 9 p.m. at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., with performances, studio tours and a hot chocolate bar. The Capital Accord Chorus will perform as well. Call 301-634-2222 or visit www.glenechopark.org.

Countryside Artisans Holiday Tour 2007 is set for Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit www.countrysideartisans.com for a map and brochure.

Bethesda's Winter Wonderland is sponsored by Bethesda Urban Partnership.