ATHENS - The Athens Brick Meetinghouse Committee is sponsoring a Quilt Show and Craft Fair on June 22, and they are seeking quilters to “Fill our Pews” and crafters to set up booths on the lawn.
The show will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Route 35 and Meetinghouse Road in Athens, with an entry fee of $10 for a booth, due by April 15.
Interested quilters and crafters may contact Pamela Russo at [email protected], or 802-869-2557. This event, and two concerts planned for the summer, will raise money for maintenance and stabilization of the 202-year-old Meetinghouse.
...View the raptors and wildlife of Brattleboro through photographic images at the Brooks Memorial Library from Feb. 26 through March 22. Photographs by Dara Carleton Wildlife Photography will include bald eagles, ospreys, cormorants, song birds, small critters, and water fowl images all taken within a 30 minute drive from...
On Town Meeting Day, the first Tuesday in March, citizens across Vermont come together in their communities to discuss the business of their towns. For over 200 years, Town Meeting Day has been an important political event as Vermonters elect local officers and vote on budgets. It has also...
an>Food Connects will hold its Local Food Trade Show, an annual event matching local farmers and producers with wholesale buyers from southern Vermont and New Hampshire. Even though this area is abundant in high quality, locally produced food, it is sometimes difficult for wholesale buyers to access these products. Food Connects provides a aggregation and distribution food hub for the region, simplifying the process for more than 100 buyers to purchase hundreds of local products from more than 60 local...
Parks Place Community Resource Center is starting off the new year with a new director, a new president of the board of directors, and two new board members. Katie Dearborn, a board member since 2015, was voted in as president for two years, and in February, the organization hired Megan Applegate as executive director. The organization has also welcomed Liz Ainsworth and Ellen Lawrence to the board. Dearborn, the branch manager for Mascoma Bank in Walpole, N.H. and an active...
As a town resident with a long involvement in the arts, one of the founders of a literary arts nonprofit (Write Action), and an arts advocate through both writing journalism and serving on boards of a number of arts organizations, I am writing about the effort of a growing number of artists and appreciators of art - and just plain citizens - to support the creation of an arts fund for the town. It is something that is long overdue.
There is no end to the demand for new programs or additional or upgraded infrastructure in our community. A lot of the proposals can be very desirable but lack funding. In pursuit of funding, advocates routinely target people categorized as having the “ability to pay.” Who are these people with the “ability to pay,” and how did they get it? While there is certainly a very small number of people in this community who got it handed to them, I...
College news • The following local students were honored for academic achievement in the fall 2018 semester at Northern Vermont University: From Brattleboro, Victoria Higley, President's List, Griffin Lynde, Dean's List, Shealine Rivera Caraballo, President's List, and Christian Ruse, Dean's List; from Dummerston, Haley Frechette, Dean's List; from Searsburg, Felicia Mizula, Dean's List; from Stratton, Michael Johnson, Dean's List; and from Vernon, Matthew Miller, Dean's List. To be named to the Dean's List, a student must achieve between a 3.50...
Instrumental musicians from throughout the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union will gather at Brattleboro Union High School on Tuesday, March 12, for the 32nd annual All District Band Night. Learning activities that begin in the afternoon will culminate in a 6 p.m. concert in the BUHS gymnasium. No admission will be charged for this concert. Participating schools include Putney Central School, directed by Josh Fields; Academy School, directed by Nick Lawrence; Vernon Elementary School, directed by Joyana Damon; Dummerston School and...
New England Youth Theatre's Junior Company invites audiences to their production of A Wrinkle In Time by Tracy Young, adapted from the novel by Madeleine L'Engle and directed by Katrina Spenceman and Julia Tadlock. The show will be performed at 7 p.m. on March 8, 9, 15, and 16, and at 2 p.m. on March 9 and 16 at NEYT, 100 Flat St. Audiences young and old are invited to revisit this classic story about one of literature's most enduring...
At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, All Souls Church will present “Love's Harvest,” a benefit concert of airs, arias, madrigals, and tonos by the Night's Black Bird trio from Allentown, Pa. Admission at the door is $15 and includes a gala reception; proceeds will help support ASC community-based programs and the Meeting House. Night's Black Bird, founded in 2017, first performed at All Souls in 2018. This year's program of 16th- and 17th-century songs, with accompaniment on lute, Baroque...
Students from 31 Vermont high schools representing 11 counties will travel to the Barre Opera House on March 7 to recite poems on stage in the Vermont Poetry Out Loud 2019 Semifinals. Two of those students are Yiwen “Eva” Wu from Vermont Academy and Ada Melton-Houghton from Brattleboro Union High School. They will vie for the state championship in this prestigious poetry recitation competition, which is administered by the Vermont Arts Council under the auspices of the National Endowment for...
The Saxtons River Watershed Collaborative and the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District is offering a workshop for educators on Thursday, March 14, from 3:45 to 6:30 p.m., at the Bellows Falls Middle School to learn about rivers through the use of a stream table. This interactive tool is a perfect way to engage students and the public in river science, engineering, and the geosciences. The stream table is an effective educational tool for all ages, according to a news...
Brattleboro Solidarity is hosting a weekend of film and discussion around perpetual war. On Friday, March 8, the group will screen the 2006 film Why We Fight at 6 p.m., and on Saturday, March 9, they will continue the discussion with a study from 2 to 5 p.m. Both events will be held in the Community Room at the Brooks Memorial Library. What does perpetual war mean? What is the purpose of these current wars and interventions? How does it...
I read with great interest Deborah Luskin's commentary about the woeful lack of high-speed internet and reliable cell service in our state. We want to lure out of state workers with a cash incentive, only to offer them an electronic version of the old Vermont saying “You can't get there from here.” I suppose they could gaze out the window and admire the natural beauty of our state while waiting for slow connections to work. That might be pleasant to...
For palates accustomed to traditional grape varietals, opening Portuguese bottles can bring a welcome frisson of adventure. The red wines described here - most of which are easy to find locally - represent a range of flavors, grapes, and styles. • Confidencial Tinto Reserva 2014 ($8): True to its name, the blend is proprietary, but it contains the juice of at least 10 different grapes, including the heavy-hitting cabernet sauvignon and syrah. A warm, brambly wine with more fruit than...
This was the rare Town Meeting Day where the most important action was happening in the voting booths, rather than on the floor. No contested races for town offices appeared on this year's ballot. Instead, while the 140 voters in the Dummerston School gym were having multiple discussions over budget items, in the back of the gym, ballots were being cast regarding whether the town would bond, along with the town of Putney, to buy an existing gravel pit, the...
Good day to you, hearty and heart-full New Englanders! After our light to moderate snowfall this past weekend, we have entered a fair, but cold, wintry pattern as a large trough slowly passes west to east through southeastern Canada. This has allowed unseasonably cold temperatures to visit our hills and dales, and this will last through Friday and begin to ease on Saturday. Aside from some scattered snow showers Wednesday afternoon and evening, we are essentially cold and dry through...
Voters gathered on March 4 and 5 for Annual Town Meeting voters, approving a $5.96-million school budget and passing an amended fiscal year 2020 municipal general fund budget of $1.89 million with $1.57 million to be raised by taxes. Voters amended the budget up in order to provide more coverage from the Windham County Sheriff's Office. During the 3{1/2}-hour meeting Monday night at Vernon Elementary School, residents considered more than 20 binding articles. “Vote with whatever color you have,” Town...
The fact that this issue of The Commons is our 500th doesn't mean it's appreciably different from what we did last week or will do for our next. But if big, round numbers are useful in any way, they provide us a context with which to gauge our journey together in this improbable undertaking in community journalism. Starting from the very beginning, when The Commons was more of an ideal and a concept than it was a consistent and predictable...
The Crowell Gallery at Moore Free Library, 23 West St., invites one and all to take a photographic journey through the Republic of Georgia with Dummerston photographer Stephen Tavella. With 16 images, Tavella hopes to convey a sense of that which is uniquely Georgian, despite Greek, Roman, Arab, Persian, Mongol, Turkish, Russian, Christian, Muslim, eastern and now western invasions and influences spanning two millennia. Tavella has been exploring and photographing landscapes and cultures from around the world since his days...
“I like solving problems,” says Vermont businessman Robert Johnson. His latest conundrum is what to do with a white elephant of a church in downtown Brattleboro. Under Johnson's initiative, the First Baptist Church on Main Street is undergoing a major renovation that will transform the site into Epsilon Spires, a center for the arts that will be opening later this year. “With its Estey organ, double balcony, and exemplary acoustics, this historic church building has served the town as a...
The Vermont Jazz Center welcomes guitarist Russell Malone to its stage on March 16. He will appear with his established quartet including pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Luke Sellick, and drummer Anwar Marshall. Perhaps best known for his Grammy-nominated work with vocalist Diana Krall, Malone is one of the leading guitarists on the jazz scene today. Malone is a hard-swinging guitarist also known for his evocative ballad playing. His signature sound is a full-bodied tone with long, fat, sustained notes, reminiscent...
Justly renowned for their fortified wines - port and madeira - Portugal's grape growers and winemakers have long sought to chart the contours of great red table wine. Though some have planted a few hectares of well-known, “noble” European grapes such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, and the rest, many have stuck by their native varietals - touriga nacional, touriga franca, baga, and tinta barroca, among many others. In the past few decades, their oenological explorations have begun to bear...
The snow is piling up, and we need something to warm us up! The gardens are buried, most of the farm stands are closed, but we can still serve up delightful meals with the bulk of the ingredients sourced locally. On a recent Saturday, I surveyed the results of my hunter-gathering efforts at Harlow's winter market in Westminster, Allen Bros. Farm Stand, and the Brattleboro Food Co-op, and I discovered that I had compiled a beautiful rainbow of produce grown...
When town and state police officers raided apartment 4 at 33 Oak St. on Feb. 28, they arrested the four inhabitants and confiscated the weapons and drugs, based on tips from confidential informants. For neighbors, it was at least a temporary relief from a nightmare that had been running for almost a year. The house had been known as an active drug house since last spring, and neighbors had worked together to solve the issue, including neighborhood-watch observation of the...
The Selectboard and Town School Board both got a makeover on Town Meeting Day. In the unofficial results announced by Town Clerk Hilary Francis after the polls closed on March 5, incumbent Selectboard member Tim Wessel moved up from his one-year seat to claim a three-year term on the board. Wessel defeated Ben Coplan, 980–438. Two new people will join the board. In a four-way race for two one-year terms, Elizabeth McLoughlin (1,022 votes) and Daniel Quipp (644) were the...
Before voters at this year's Annual Town Meeting started wrestling with financial decisions, they took time to do something nice for one of the town's most beloved residents. The March 5 meeting began with the presentation of a resolution honoring longtime resident Shirley Squires for her many years of volunteer efforts on behalf of townspeople. After Sara Coffey, the newly elected state representative for Guilford and Vernon, provided a brief update of legislative activities, she surprised the 88-year-old Squires by...
The Vermont boys' high school basketball playoffs start this week, but only one local team will have a home game. • Twin Valley knew what it was playing for heading into the final week of the regular season - win the last three games of the regular season, and they would clinch the top seed in Division IV. Bellows Falls foiled that plan with a 51-41 win in Whitingham on Feb. 26. So, when the two teams met for a...
It's a buzzword that conjures sunny visions of hayrides and wine tastings. Agritourism, however, serves two purposes: it educates the public about farming and the local food system, and then it supports farmers by increasing sales opportunities and building a loyal customer base. The term is a multicolored umbrella covering an array of on-farm attractions, events, or services, any of which could be helpful to the bottom line of maple-sugaring operations in Windham County and other regions in Vermont. The...
Six new exhibits open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Saturday, March 9. They include large paintings by a reclusive Vermont artist who hasn't exhibited publicly in nearly three decades, glass creatures based on children's drawings, detailed narrative paintings, collaborative fiber art, an immersive mixed-media installation, and paintings documenting several generations of an African-American and Cape Verdean family on Cape Cod. An opening reception and light brunch, free and open to all, will take place on Saturday, March...