Saxtons River Distillery Marketing and Promotions Manager Drew M. Kacik has some advice for people new to gin: “Don't be scared to kind of mix it with things and just experiment.”
Kacik provided cocktail recipes from the Chamber of Commerce event.
¶Gin
¶Muddled honeydew melon and cucumbers...
Constable Thorn resigns GUILFORD - The town's long-time constable, Walter Thorn, resigned from the position on June 8, Selectboard Chair Sheila Morse announced at the June 27 regular Board meeting. She and the other Board members unanimously voted to accept Thorn's resignation and thanked him for his many years...
As a result of continued strong demand for quality services and a desire to meet the increasingly diverse needs of Brattleboro and surrounding communities, the Mulberry Bush will begin offering a wider array of programs starting this September and will operate under a new name - the Mulberry Bush...
Route 30 to be closed on July 13, 14 BRATTLEBORO - Route 30 will be closed on July 13 and 14, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., near the construction site of the new Interstate 91 bridge over the West River. Traffic will be detoured over Upper Dummerston Road on both days. PCL Civil Constructors, the main contractor on the bridge project, said in a news release that work is continuing on the new span. The new bridge deck over...
Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida is among the 80 international artists spending the next few weeks at Marlboro College's hilltop campus for the 66th season of Marlboro Music, the storied retreat where master artists and exceptional young professionals explore music together with the rare opportunity to enjoy unlimited rehearsal time, according to a news release. Performances are Saturday evenings at the new time of 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m., from July 16 through Aug. 14. There will also...
With the demolition of the former Frankie's Pizza building and the filling-in and smoothing over of the building's footprint, Harmony Place sports a temporary new look. A project of the nonprofit group Parks and Plazas Inc. - an off-shoot of the Brooks House development effort - Harmony Place now has a patch of green space and will host various pop-up activities this summer, according to a news release. According to the release, however, this is just the beginning for the...
The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance's (SeVWA) summer water-quality monitoring program held its second round of testing July 7, according to a news release. Volunteers are collecting samples from 30 sites on eight rivers and streams every other week through the end of August to test for E. coli, a bacterium found in the guts of all warmblooded animals, including humans. Most E. coli won't make people sick, but the bacterium can become pathogenic and cause illness. Also, the presence of...
Bartleby's Books will host a free concert with La Méchante et le Connard during the Village Stroll on Saturday, July 16, at 6 p.m. The duo has performed in Wilmington twice before, according to a news release. This performance will be their only Vermont appearance this summer. Their albums will be for sale at Bartleby's during and after their performance. La Méchante et le Connard, storming in from Paris, is anything but what their name suggests. In French, La Méchante...
College news • Collin Owen of Dummerston graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., and earned a B.S. in geology. • Jessica Merrill of Londonderry, Connor Pearce of South Londonderry, and Sam Colleran of Vernon were all graduated from Ithaca (N.Y.) College in May. • Carolina Curvo of Brattleboro was named to the Dean's List for the spring 2016 semester at Regis College in Weston, Mass. • Elkanah Linder, a doctor of pharmacy student from Townshend, was named to the...
It is difficult to believe that the world is not spinning out of control. As I write, I am listening to President Obama's news conference following the killings of police in Dallas, an event that occurred in the same week that two horrendous killings of black men were committed by police officers and captured on social media. I am in a family cabin in Green River, a summer dwelling we have owned for more than five decades - an old...
About 55 registered voters showed up at the Congregational Church basement on June 29 for a Special Town Meeting to vote on whether they should come back 41 days later and vote again. The residents said “yes,” so, on Aug. 9, they will return and decide by Australian ballot whether the town should raise $175,000 through taxes to help fund a new Central Fire Station for the West Dummerston Volunteer Fire Department. Selectboard members hope the town's fundraising campaign can...
Municipal tax rate set DUMMERSTON - The Selectboard set the 2016 municipal tax rate at the July 6 regular Board meeting. “$727,574 is the amount we need to raise through taxes,” Board Chair Zeke Goodband said. To achieve this, and “leave a little cushion,” Goodband said, the Board unanimously voted to set the rate at 0.2774 cents and the local agreement (education) rate at 0.0060 cents. According to information from the official minutes, the state set the residential education tax...
It all started because a few Brattleboro Savings & Loan customers innocently paid for their burgers and fries by handing their debit cards to the cashier at Wendy's in Keene, N.H. For those 38 people, their account information was used to create duplicate debit cards that, in some cases, were used to buy gift cards in Texas. The recent security breach at the Keene Wendy's is an unavoidable - and costly - consequence of modern technology, and it illustrates the...
A turbine developer is defending the embattled Stiles Brook Wind proposal, saying critics have relied on “many inaccuracies” and “false claims.” Iberdrola Renewables, which wants to build 28 turbines on a ridge in the towns of Windham and Grafton, issued a July 8 letter in which the company rebuts concerns about the project's wildlife, water quality, flooding, and health impacts. The latter topic has spurred emotional debate often focused on low-frequency sound emitted by turbines. But, in the letter addressed...
On Saturday, July 16, at 8 p.m., the Open Music Collective (OMC) will celebrate its seventh year with a special guitar summit featuring Mike Baggetta and David Goodrich, with Claire Arenius on drums and Jamie MacDonald on bass. They will play a mix of originals plus better-known songs presented in new and creative ways, according to a news release. Originally from Western Massachusetts, Baggetta has been living in New York for long enough to cement his status as a top...
Most people visit art museums to look at art. Other than the occasional performance art piece or “live painting” event, very few people get to create art in a museum, especially those not self-identified as artists. Last month, about 25 people gathered at tables in groups of four to six to create art at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (BMAC), but under the guise of playing surrealist games. Roger Clark Miller hosted the event, acting as instructor, master of...
Brattleboro native Sam Amidon will perform a solo concert of reimagined folk songs accompanied by banjo and guitar, fiddle tunes, and storytelling on Thursday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the newly renovated Next Stage in Putney. Now living in London, Amidon tours the U.K., U.S., Europe, and Australia with his performances of reimagined traditional songs from the public domain, as well as the occasional contemporary pop song - rearranged into his own unique and mesmerizing compositions, according to a...
“Blending my passions has been a dream of mine for a long time,” says magician Jonas Cain, who will take the stage at the Hooker-Dunham Theater on Sunday, July 17, at 2 p.m., with his latest production, “It's a Magical Life!” This 75-minute solo performance is much more than your run-of-the-mill magic show. Cain will combine all the things he does best: magic, comedy, poetry, and music. “It's one part magic show, one part poetry reading, one part saxophone recital,
Good day to you, denizens of Windham County! Luckily we received some rain over the weekend, although some certainly saw more than others. As of this writing, all of Windham County is still in a moderate drought. Unfortunately, we don't have much rain on the way over the next seven days, with Thursday and this weekend providing the best chances. On Wednesday the humidity will be building in advance of a cold front that will be slowly slicing across New...
After months investigating the potential relocation of an emergency seasonal shelter and food shelf to a permanent home, Groundworks Collaborative announced Monday that it has abandoned plans for 39 Frost St. “We made this decision without the comfort of a plan B,” Groundworks Executive Director Joshua Davis said. He said money directed the decision to not purchase the 3,300-square foot property; the organization simply can't afford to redevelop the property. Groundworks must now find another site for the emergency shelter,
For me, one haunting detail - amid so very many - stands out from the video of Philando Castile's shooting by a police officer during a traffic stop in Minnesota on July 7. Not only did Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, watch him die in front of her eyes, she did so all the while maintaining measured, neutral, calm affect with the officer who was holding the gun and screaming at her. She still called him “sir.” And even so, she...
As you anguish over recent events in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights, and Dallas, let me be blunt. The prospect of state-sponsored violence against black and brown people by law enforcement in Vermont looms ever-present. Now is not the time to anguish, but to act! The single-most-important constructive action to reduce this threat in Vermont is to ensure that every sworn law-enforcement officer understands negative, implicit racial bias - the attitudes and stereotypes that unconsciously affect our understanding, actions, and decisions...
After years of declining enrollment, a “renaissance” may be under way at Marlboro College. The number of new students submitting deposits for the fall term has increased by nearly 50 percent compared with the prior year, in part due to the success of a new “Renaissance Scholars” free tuition program aimed at drawing students from outside the New England region. Also, the college just finished what President Kevin Quigley is calling “the most successful [fundraiser] we've had in our history.”
For the second straight year, Brattleboro won the Vermont 15-year-old Babe Ruth Baseball championship. Last year, Brattleboro swept through the state tournament behind a power trio of pitchers - Leif Bigelow, Ian Fulton-Black, and Ben Betz. Those three have graduated to American Legion Baseball, but this year's Brattleboro 15-year-old all-stars are writing their own story of success. Brattleboro manager Patrick Keppel admits his team doesn't have the star power of last year's team, but they have something even more important...
A group of player/creators have gathered at Immanuel Retreat Center for the World String Orchestra Intensive led by Eugene Friesen. This intense immersion into creating new repertoire for strings utilizing classical techniques plus folk and pop styles from around the world, improvisation, and collaboration will be on display in a public concert on Saturday, July 16, at 7:30 p.m., at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. Doors will open at 7 p.m. The 15 players selected for this weeklong intensive...
As of Sept. 1, sheriff's deputies won't be protecting either of Windham County's courthouses. County Sheriff Keith Clark says he isn't renewing his department's courthouse security contract because the state's offer for fiscal year 2017 doesn't come close to covering his costs. Clark agreed to a two-month extension covering July and August, and state officials say they are seeking security providers who are interested in taking over after that. “While we are disappointed that the two sides could not come...
Today, I did something I have not done before. I attended a memorial service for a 29-year-old man who died in a motorcycle accident last Sunday. It is not an experience I want to repeat. Since my first funeral in the late '50s, I estimate that I have attended an average of seven funerals a year for 55 years or so. That's close to 400 of them. At some of them, I gave the eulogy. The service I attended today...
Saxtons River Distillery unveiled its newest product, Snowdrop Gin, during a Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce business mixer on June 30. Named for the “first flower of spring,” the company describes the gin and its 18 botanicals as “an expression of this new life springing from the mountains and valleys of Vermont.” The botanicals include juniper (a hallmark of gin), coriander, thyme, star anise, orris root, cardamom, nutmeg, sarsaparilla root, rosemary, allspice, fennel seed, grains of paradise, orange peel, damiana...
Governor Peter Shumlin has named former Brattleboro resident Michael S. Pieciak commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation. “It's been mostly congrats,” the 33-year-old Michael Pieciak said with a laugh during a brief phone interview. “I'm happy to serve.” The Department of Financial Regulation oversees the regulation of financial activities in the state and ensures consumers are treated fairly, Pieciak said. Shumlin appointed Pieciak to lead the department on July 5. His predecessor, Susan Donegan, left last month. Pieciak grew...