Event in a Tent, a combination of musical performances and a gathering of community, comes to Brattleboro on June 30.
“Southern Vermont should get ready for an outdoor festival like they never have seen before,” said Hugh Keelan, performer and organizer of the event.
Music New England presents the celebration that Keelan said, “fuses live music with other genres of performing art and audience participation to create a singular entertainment experience.”
The day begins with a wide assortment of outdoor festivities and workshops, and culminates when everyone joins together in a large tent for a grand concert of many types of music.
Laurie Greenwood of Hinsdale, N.H., recently retired as a safety officer at Brattleboro Union High School. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2005, and it returned in 2007 and 2008. But she has been cancer-free for two-and-a-half years, and hopes to stay that way. On Friday night, she...
It is time for a change in the Vermont Attorney General's office, and that is one of the reasons I am voting for T. J. Donovan in the Democratic primary for attorney general. Donovan has been a successful litigator as Chittenden County state's attorney, and those skills will serve...
Obituaries • Alvin Edward Anderson, 60, of Grafton. Died June 19 at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, after a long illness. Husband of Twila Akerman for nine years. Father of Heath and Clint Anderson. Stepfather of Amy Corcoran and Benjamin Tenney. Brother of Cynthia Thayer, and Wayne, Thomas and Lester Anderson. Born in Springfield, the son of Lillian (Parkhurst) and the late Walter Anderson, he graduated from Bellows Falls High School in 1971. He was a machinist and union leader...
Diana Lischer-Goodband of Dummerston is the winner of the 2012 Ralph Nading Hill Jr. literary prize awarded annually by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Life magazine. Lischer-Goodband's winning poem “Dreaming of Apples” begins: “I dream of applies like some people dream of money, love and success.” The poem follows the seasons in a Vermont orchard from winter, through spring blossoms, to ripening fruit, and finally, the harvest. The names of old apple varieties weave throughout the poem: “Hudson's Golden Gem,
Neighborhood Market opens for third season BRATTLEBORO - The Neighborhood Market on Elliot Street is a market of Post Oil Solutions and started its third season on June 26. The market is similar to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where people agree to pay farmers for a 15-week share of fresh, local and affordable produce. Payments can be made weekly, monthly, or by the season. The market takes place in the Elliot Street Cafe parking lot from 4-6 p.m. each...
Brattleboro Post 5 opened the American Legion baseball season on June 18 with a 2-1 win over Bellows Falls Post 37 at Hadley Field in the season opener for both teams. While Post 5 got seven hits off Post 37's pitching, they only managed two runs. The first run came in the fourth, on a RBI double by Brattleboro's Evan Parro. Girard Roberge drove in another run later in the game. Winning pitcher Sawyer Olson had five strikeouts. Post 37's...
Vermont has contributed many good ideas to the nation, but one of our best ideas celebrates its 150th anniversary next week. On July 2, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law what became known as the Morrill Act, after then-Rep. Justin Morrill, its principal author. Morrill, a Republican from Strafford, served in the U.S. House from 1855 to 1867, and then served in the U.S. Senate from 1867 until his death in 1898. The son of a blacksmith, Morrill wanted...
Union Institute & University (UI & U), a nonprofit, private university offering graduate degree programs ,will feature its master's degree with a concentration in counseling psychology program at a Visiting Day. The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Saturday, June 30, at the Brattleboro Academic Center in the Vermont Agricultural and Education Center (VABEC) on Old Guilford Road. A light continental breakfast will be served. The Visiting Day offers prospective graduate students the opportunity to attend a...
The weather since last year's apple harvest has defied traditional patterns. Vermont saw a white Halloween, followed by a snowless winter and a remarkably warm March before a chilly April and May. In addition to being a source of endless frustration to those who favor the predictability of Vermont's seasonal changes, the erratic spring weather has damaged this year's apple crop. According to Evan and Andrea Darrow of Green Mountain Orchards in Putney, the warm weather in March prompted the...
The Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce announced today the 2012 recipients of its Skills for Success scholarships. Five area high school graduates were each awarded $500 by the business organization to help further their post-secondary school education. This year's awardees are: • From the Windham Regional Career Center, Raven Solomon of Brattleboro, who will attend Vermont Technical College to study civil and environmental engineering technology. • From Kindle Farm School in Newfane, Erik Starr of Windham, who is going to...
We are now one step closer to being able to take the train to Montreal after the recent announcement by Vermont's congressional delegation of a successful application by the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the New England Central, owned by RailAmerica, for funds to upgrade track north of St. Albans to the border. The TIGER IV grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was given to improve the track structure to speed freight trains and raise weight limits for freight.
CCMA, the annual conference of over 400 retail cooperators from across the nation, was recently held in Philadelphia. Each year, awards are given based on peer selection, to honor individuals and stores for their service to the wider co-op community. This year, the Putney Consumers Cooperative was presented with the Howard K. Bowers Fund Award for Cooperative Excellence, the gathering's highest honor. This prestigious award was accepted by Robyn O'Brien, general manager of the Putney Co-op. For the past 10...
For the third year in a row, Guilford will celebrate community on Saturday, June 30, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Broad Brook Grange, which is sponsoring the event, in Guilford Center. There will be a 5K road race, whiffle ball, music, food, activities for kids, and a special unveiling and dedication of a Guilford 250th commemorative plaque at the nearby museum. Registration for the 5K run begins at 8:30 a.m., and the race begins at 10 a.m. The...
Green Mountain RSVP has the following volunteer opportunities available around Windham County. For more information on these volunteer positions, and to register as a Green Mountain RSVP volunteer, call 802-254-7515. • Vermont Foodbank's Brattleboro warehouse needs volunteers to help sort and pack incoming food donations, and someone to greet visitors and answer the phone. • Senior Solutions in Brattleboro needs two gardening volunteers, plus someone to help a senior with paperwork and organizing; the volunteer will be trained. • The...
A century after celebrating itself with a 1912 theatrical extravaganza called the “Brattleboro Pageant,” the town will honor its past, present, and future this Fourth of July with a variety of free family Independence Day activities. The 39th annual kickoff parade downtown will feature not only its usual bands and marchers, but also several re-creations of scenes from the 1912 pageant, which dramatized local history and hopes before a crowd of thousands at Connecticut River's now flooded Island Park. The...
Please allow me to comment on Phil Innes's June 15 article on pit bulls and dogs in general [“The pit bull quandary,” Viewpoint, June 13]. There are so many people these days who love the idea of owning a big, beautiful canine with little awareness of the commitment and consistency required in owning such a pet. Pure breeds, and pure-breed mixes, such as pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans, and German shepherds to name a few, particularly need proper training and discipline...
Owing to the Independence Day holiday, the Wednesday, July 4 issue of The Commons will be printed and distributed on Tuesday, July 3. Deadline for news and advertising will be Thursday, June 28 at 5 p.m. The staff of The Commons wishes readers a safe, meaningful, and enjoyable holiday.
It's graduation season, and over the past few weeks, we've all heard a lot of wise and inspirational advice. There are zillions of quotes out there being used to guide us in the right direction as we graduate from high school, telling us things like “follow your dreams” and “you are the future.” Since it seems like that's the way to go, I wanted to start off my speech with a bit of advice from perhaps one of the wisest...
This weekend, British history is coming alive in the park. Sponsored by King Arthur Flour and Vermont Country Deli, the Vermont Theatre Company (VTC) presents its 23rd annual Shakespeare in the Park, Henry V, in Brattleboro's Living Memorial Park at 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, June 28, 29, and 30, and July 1. Henry V tells the tale of the transformation of a callow young prince into a wise and just king. The drama is based on the life of...
The Greater Falls Prevention Coalition thanks area retailers for their participation in the “sticker shock” activities that took place in May. “Sticker shock” is an effort to raise awareness about the consequences of purchasing alcohol for minors. Two middle school students, along with GFPC's parent outreach coordinator, worked with the owners and staff of Sunoco/Final Cut, Penguin, and Shell (Vermont Liquor Store) retail stores in Bellows Falls. The students placed bright warning stickers on large packs of alcoholic beverages informing...
I noticed something funny as I was preparing my thoughts for this day. If you look up the word graduation on thesaurus.com, it offers you the word commencement as a synonym. That makes sense: sometimes it's called a graduation ceremony, and sometimes it's called a commencement ceremony. However, if you dig a little deeper, you find that to graduate means to complete an education. But to commence means to begin something, which is the opposite of completing something. So the...
For most of us, looking at photographs from the Holocaust would be painful and difficult, something to turn away from. But when Lori Schreiner had a chance encounter with such a photograph on a back page of the New York Daily News, it changed her life. She found the photograph of a Polish Catholic teenager, Czeslawa Kwoka, a compelling call to give witness. Schreiner would spend time over the next four years responding to that image by applying palette knife,
About 100 skateboarders and spectators braved the nearly 100-degree heat on June 21 to participate in the global celebration of skateboarding known as Go Skateboarding Day. Skateboarders showed off their moves on ramps and rails donated by Townshend-based Catamount Ramps. Companies Vew-Do and Wat-aah also held demonstrations and donated products. Committee members of Brattleboro Area Skatepark is Coming (BASIC) cooked hotdogs and hamburgers. The skatepark's poet laureate, Lynn Martin, was honored for her work and poem, Freewheelin' Teens. BASIC organized...
With a theme of “Growing Together in Vermont,” Saxtons River will kick off its annual Independence Day celebration on July 4 with a 5K firecracker road race at 8:30 a.m., followed by a parade at 9:30 a.m. In addition to the race, sponsored by Pleasant Valley Brew Pub, the day's activities include a street fair with water polo, a hula hoop contest, and music on the bandstand. Miniature golf, an egg toss, a pie contest, and baseball games featuring a...
I have followed the dog-related issues that have plagued Brattleboro over the last few years. The June 13 edition of The Commons made me recall a Boston Globe interview with award-winning filmmaker Steven Latham regarding his most recent film Shelter Me. Discussing the 6 to 8 million animals currently in U.S. shelters that have created a shelter pet crisis, Latham was asked, “What is causing this overflow of shelter animals?” His response: The utter irresponsibility of people. They abandon them...
Walk to the highest mountaintop and listen. Somewhere, off in the distance, you will hear one singing its song. Its lone voice drones on, rising and falling. Somewhere, someone is using a chainsaw. Its sound is so common that it should be the state bird. Long ago, people used hand saws and axes to fell, limb, and split their wood. It was slow and tedious. Today, only cranks cut their cordwood by hand. The chainsaw is too useful to be...
Popolo, a new restaurant in the former Windham Hotel, will hold its grand opening on Saturday, June 30 with an all-day party that features five free bands and free hors d'oeuvres. At 3 p.m. on the restaurant's deck overlooking the river valley, the event kicks off with bluegrass by the Stockwell Brothers. At 5 p.m., Travis Adams performs lounge standards and his original work in the lobby. At 7 p.m., in the lobby, Blue Dune offers a dinner-hour set of...
Next time a fire alarm goes off in Brattleboro, the town can thank Dale Shipp. For the alarm. Not for the fire. Shipp, fire alarm superintendent for the Brattleboro Fire Department (BFD), has spent 40 years maintaining, organizing, repairing, and upgrading the town's municipal fire alarm system, which consists of more than 25 miles of cable and 290 alarm boxes, as well as the town's traffic lights. He also has acted as the town communications officer in emergencies and maintains...
I would like to tell you all a story that is probably unlike any that you have ever heard: the story of a high school graduate - me - told through my wallet. My wallet isn't like any other. It's more than just a flap of tired, fake leather with a couple of dollars in it. In fact, it is more of a time capsule, containing paper-thin keepsakes from my many adventures throughout my years as a student, with zero...
“Today was one of the most inspirational days in Brattleboro I have ever experienced.” Those were the words of Ken Schneck, a Brattleboro Selectboard member and dean of students at Marlboro College, who organized Sunday's Concrete Quilt mural painting in the High-Grove parking lot. More than 20 community artists, some as young as 4 years old, came out to the mural, which is modeled after the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The mural transformed a graffiti-covered wall into a public commemoration of...