On Friday, Oct. 27, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Strolling of the Heifers presents the original global climate change “co-opera,” SOS: Secret of the Seasons, at the River Garden, 157 Main St.
Based on songs written by SIT Professor John Ungerleider and Bill Conley, the SOS co-opera is a reflective, participatory musical journey that engages the audience with the external and internal challenges that global climate change is bringing to our lives, according to a news release.
Audience dialogue between thought-provoking songs is designed to move participants from fear and denial to hope and action in response to the threat of global warming.
The title song asks about the local impact of climate change: “Will it still feel like my home, when the leaves don't turn to red and gold, and the ice doesn't cover the fishin' hole?”...
Obituaries • Erica Lesley (Witherell) Bray, 43. Died Sept. 28 in Boston of alcoholic cirrhosis. Born Sept, 17, 1974, on Nantucket, Mass., she was the daughter of Mia Hull and David Witherell. She grew up in Attleboro Falls, Mass., and Keene, N.H., and was a 1992 graduate of Keene...
This was the football game that fans of the Brattleboro Colonels were waiting to see. It wasn't just that the Oct. 13 game at Natowich Field was the rivalry game with the Mount Anthony Patriots for the Albert Elwell Trophy and a year's worth of bragging rights, or that...
The Northeast Fiddlers Association is planning a repeat of last year's well attended “fiddle meet” with another gathering at the Moose Club in Bellows Falls on Sunday, Oct. 22, beginning at noon. The Association is inviting local fiddlers, musicians, and folks who enjoy listening, dancing, and socializing to traditional fiddle music to join them for the event. All fiddle meets begin with an hour-long jam. Fiddlers, (or other instrumentalists) sign up on a numbered list when they arrive and then...
The Brattleboro Music Center's popular Movin' Into Music program returns this month - and the first class is free. Geared toward children ages 1 to 5 and their parents or caregivers, the program offers fun and original music classes that include singing, dancing, musical games, and a variety of props. Siblings and drop-ins are welcome, and the program is ongoing, so registrations are accepted at any time. Main sessions are held Fridays starting Oct. 20, from 10 to 10:45 a.m.
Twenty-nine neighbors from Guilford and Vernon recently gathered to discuss issues and values they hold in common in this troubling, tumultuous political time and to begin organizing to effect much-needed change. The lively conversation naturally raised both local grassroots and national concerns. Anyone interested was invited and did join in, including Progressives, Democrats, Independents, and disaffected Republicans. The success of this community meeting will be followed up by another, tentatively scheduled for late October and will focus on one of...
Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, a nonprofit, community mental-health agency for southeastern Vermont, will host a community concert with the Me2/Orchestra on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre. The event is in honor of the agency's 50th anniversary, with the goal of promoting community awareness and destigmatizing mental health disorders and treatment. More than 115,000 Vermonters are estimated to have experienced a mental illness during the past year. Many of these individuals are unwilling to seek...
All Souls Church in West Brattleboro will launch its film series “Looking Inward at White Power and Privilege” with two screenings of A Class Divided on the weekend of Oct. 20-22. The first film in the series documents an elementary school teacher's experiments with inequality and the lasting results on her students. The first showing will be Friday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. The second will be Sunday, Oct. 22, at noon when viewers are invited to bring a bag...
Brattleboro sets dates for leaf pickup BRATTLEBORO - Friday, Oct. 20, and Friday, Nov. 3, are curbside leaf pickup days. Leaves and clippings must be in brown paper leaf bags and waiting at the curb by 7 a.m. Acceptable waste includes only leaves, grass, clippings, garden waste, and twigs (no household trash). No branches larger than 1 inch around and 2 feet long are allowed. Brown paper leaf bags are available for purchase at local businesses. Workshop on downtown parking...
The Dummerston Conservation Commission will present a forum, “Deer in the Woods: Too Many, Too Few, or Just Right?” on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m., at The Learning Collaborative, 471 Route 5, Dummerston. The topic of deer population control is a critical issue for the health of Windham County's forests. This event promises to flush out the underpinnings of this concern, according to a news release. There will be a moderated panel of experts in the field. They include:
I am not an addict dependent on illegal substances, but I am fast becoming an addict for grassroots change. While I am sympathetic to the comments of David Boyer of Newfane in a recent letter in the Reformer, they are not being directed to the proper authority. The Brattleboro Police Department and the Brattleboro Selectboard are able to carry out and enforce laws that are supported by Vermont legislation, and therein lies the rub. Many of you know me as...
Tickets are on sale for the 20th annual Empty Bowl dinner and auctions Sunday, Nov. 5, at Alyson's Orchard in Walpole, N.H., to benefit the food programs of Our Place Drop-in Center. The event gets underway at 5 p.m. and includes a soup supper featuring signature soups from local restaurants and silent and live auctions featuring items and services donated by local businesses and individuals. Tickets are $35 each and are on sale at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls,
On Friday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m., Stone Church Arts presents the American Jazz group, the Joe Davidian Trio. The concert will take place in the beautiful Immanuel Episcopal Church, the stone church on the hill at 20 Church St., with its warm acoustics and 9-foot Steinway, according to a news release. Davidian, a bandleader and pianist, is a Vermonter now living in New York City. He performs regularly, including appearances with jazz legends Chester Thompson, Ira Sullivan, Joe Lovano,
School for International Training will launch its 2017-18 Sustainability Speaker Series with several public events this month, including free lectures on the SIT campus by well-known sustainability advocates including Tony Hillery of Harlem Grown, 350.org Board Chairman KC Golden, environmental anthropologist and researcher Tatiana Schrieber, and others. For a complete schedule of events, visit graduate.sit.edu/sit-campus-events. The series is part of SIT's ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and education. It is funded in part by a $100,000 grant SIT received earlier...
More than 250 works by over 200 international, national, and local photographers will be on view for bidding from Friday, Nov. 3, at 5:30 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 26, when In-Sight Photography Project once again brings its stunning eye-opener of a photography exhibition and benefit auction to Brattleboro. The Vermont Center for Photography, In-Sight's neighbor at 49 Flat St., will host the 24-day exhibition in its gallery daily between noon and 5 p.m. The show and auction will also be...
Ruggles & Hunt, purveyors of clothing, gifts, home furnishings, and creative toys, with stores in Walpole, N.H., and Brattleboro, is putting on a fashion show at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. Proceeds support the museum's work with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in Head Start classrooms throughout southern Vermont, according to a news release. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and include admission to the fashion show, one drink, and...
What started as a “third-rate burglary” ended with the resignation of a president of the United States. On Sunday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m., the 1976 film All the President's Men will be shown free of charge on the big screen at the Latchis Theatre, followed by a panel discussion on the importance today of investigative journalism. On the panel will be Randy Holhut, deputy editor of The Commons; Susan Smallheer, long-time reporter for the Rutland Herald; and Kate Casa,
Renowned vocalists Samirah Evans and Evelyn Harris bring their celebrated tribute to Nina Simone and Etta James to Historic Memorial Hall in Wilmington on Saturday, Oct. 21. Evans and Harris debuted the show last year to a sold-out audience at Next Stage in Putney - followed by another standing-room-only performance in Holyoke, Mass. The same band, composed of Miro Sprague (piano), David Picchi (bass), and Jon Fisher (drums), returns as their accompanists. The program includes solo performances and duets of...
The public is invited to “Bellows Falls 3rd Friday” on Oct. 20, from 4 to 8 p.m., an opportunity to stroll through various venues in Bellows Falls and vicinity for art, music, literary events, food, and late-night shopping. “BF3F” is back with renewed energy and has the following events scheduled for Friday: • Flat Iron Exchange hosts Putney artist Fiona Morehouse with her exhibit, “Home is Where The HeART is.” An artist reception takes place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
America's favorite round-headed kid and his friends will take over the Brattleboro Union High School Auditorium stage when the BUHS Players present the hit Broadway musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, on Oct. 20 and 21 at 7 p.m. All seats are $6 at the door. Originally produced on Broadway in 1967, this highly popular show based on the “Peanuts” comics created by Charles M. Schulz and with book, music, and lyrics by Clark Gesner, played for 1,597 performances...
On Oct. 27-29, an expected 75 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people living in small towns and rural communities around the Northeast will gather for the third annual Out in the Open Summit for rural and small-town LGBTQ folks. The Summit is convened by Green Mountain Crossroads, a Brattleboro-based organization connecting rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, knowledge, and power. Out in the Open is open to any LGBTQ-identified person of rural and/or small-town experience. “GMC is thrilled...
Act 46 is about the consolidation of school districts. For most readers, this encompasses the districts within the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU). The first thing to remember about Act 46 is that, although it pertains to all public schools, it largely concerns only elementary schools. Most towns in Vermont, including Brattleboro, set up consolidated (union) high schools and, to a lesser extent, middle schools, many decades ago. Vernon has already been exempted from consolidation with WSESU. Thus, the issue...
We have had the opportunity to review the video of the Vermont State Board of Education's latest meeting wherein the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Study Committee and administration's delegation presented its merger draft for approval. Watching the video was extremely distressing. The lack of honesty and the ad hominem attacks on those who see things differently, particularly from those who are bearers of a public trust, were particularly troubling. Lest you dismiss this as another disgruntled objection to Act 46,
As a Dummerston resident and a payer of property taxes in Brattleboro, I am concerned about the impact that the merger of the town school district will have on my Brattleboro taxes and on the town of Dummerston school district. Brattleboro currently has the lowest education property tax rate in the area. If merged, Brattleboro's taxes will increase because Brattleboro will have to pick up the proportional share of costs to: • Expand educational offerings in surrounding towns. • Assume...
The annual Deerfield Valley Food Pantry Benefit Motorcycle Ride was a resounding success! We had beautiful weather, a record 105 registrants participating, and we raised $3,765.50. All in all, an outstanding day. Many, many thanks to Valley View Saloon for coordinating and sponsoring our event - without that support, our benefit would not have evolved into the great event it is! Thank you to event sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who participated in our event. The Deerfield Valley Food Pantry serves...
I encourage everyone to get out and vote against the proposal to merge the Windham Southeast school operations into one unified district. This vote will occur on Tuesday, Nov. 7 in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford and Putney. If passed, local school boards for each of our towns will be dissolved. A new Supervisory Union “super” board will decide all kinds of things that local school boards do now, with participation of local parents and community members. School boards are often known...
I have been a Vermont resident for exactly 32 years this month and I would not want to live anywhere else. Susan Crowther won't have to worry about this Yankee buying any property in Tennessee, because it's never going to happen. Now, I am no fan of polar vortices, to which my husband will readily attest. The geography around Elizabethton, Tenn. sounds lovely, and I think you will find nice people anywhere you go. But I love this area and...
As guests filed in to the Selectboard meeting room in the Municipal Center on Thursday night, awaiting the start of Secretary of State Jim Condos' “Got Transparency? 2017 Transparency Tour,” a few attendees flipped through the handout detailing the evening's talking points. “I like this already!” said Brattleboro resident Dale Joy. That night, Condos - with the assistance of his staff members Jenny Prosser and Eric Covey - discussed transparency and open government, as well as Vermont's Public Records Act...
Good day to you! The coming week is going to feature mainly sunny skies, warmer-than-normal temperatures, and low humidity. In other words, there's not too much to discuss this week. However, even with this week's dearth of atmospheric activity, such a respite may be coming to a close by the time we get into the middle of next week. Our pattern is beginning to look more active, with cooler and wetter risks entering our daily sensible weather mix. In other...
In early 2015, it looked like longtime Brattleboro manufacturer G.S. Precision Inc. was set to leave Vermont. But a team of local, state, and federal officials crafted an elaborate financing package to prevent that from happening. Not only did G.S. Precision stay, but the company has just put the finishing touches on a $17 million expansion. On Oct. 12, officials and G.S. Precision executives gathered to celebrate that expansion and its substantial economic impacts: There were more than 300 jobs...
Steve Glabach, lifelong Dummerston resident, died Oct. 6 after a sudden illness. At the time of his death, Glabach was one year into a three-year Selectboard term, was vice-chair, and had served on the Board since March 2012. According to state statute, the Selectboard must post a notice within 10 days of a vacancy, then appoint an interim board member to serve until Town Meeting. Then, in March, voters will elect someone to complete the remaining two years of Glabach's...
To a casual observer, the scene outside Lynde Motorsports on the afternoon of Oct. 10 was just like any other day at 79 Flat St. Lines of motorcycles parked out front. A lot of blue denim and black leather. Snacks. Ice cream. All sorts of people talking, laughing, hugging. This was my third visit to Lynde Motorsports. The first time was in early August, to interview Stanley Lynde about the frequent flooding at his shop - that was the impromptu...
Now in its fourth year presenting special productions for Halloween, Shoot the Moon usually adapts a scary literary classic for the stage, such as Dracula or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This year, however, the innovative theater company is instead performing an adaptation of a famous - or rather, infamous - work of science fiction. For the next three weekends - on Fridays and Saturdays Oct. 20, 21, 27, and 28 and Nov. 3 and 4 - Shoot the Moon...