Annual Westminster West Community Fair to be held on Sept. 9
WESTMINSTER WEST - The Westminster West Community Fair will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9, and includes the popular adults 5K road race, a grilled chicken lunch, an online silent auction, and Golden Elephant sale.
The fair, which started in 1988, runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is a popular community event and fundraiser for the Congregational Church of Westminster West.
Race registration starts at 8:30 a.m., with the race starting at 9 a.m., which is also when the Golden Elephant sale opens.
There will be a parade, starting at 10:30 a.m., with the theme "Whistle While You Serve," in honor of longtime Westminster West resident Alison Latham, who has written and published The West Parish Whistler community newsletter for 30 years.
A community raffle that is part of the fair features a weekend in York, Maine, two nights in the Brattleboro Holiday Inn, or a painting by Ric Campman. There are also two different ways to bid on the silent auction.
Other activities include a kids' fun run, a talent show, live music from George Ainley and his musician friends, a gardening contest, fairy house building, and face painting. The chicken lunch (with a vegetarian option) and hot dogs will be available for purchase.
Landmark College science professor discusses new book
PUTNEY - The first presentation of the fall 2023 Landmark College Academic Speaker Series will feature a familiar face for local nature walk enthusiasts.
Rich Grumbine, an associate professor of natural science at Landmark College, will share his journey creating a field guide for the identification of local wildflowers in a talk entitled "Which Plant Is That? Discovering the Wildflowers of Putney, Vermont" on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 5 p.m., in the Brooks M. O'Brien Auditorium/Lewis Academic Building.
Grumbine's talk will include statistics about the town's wildflower flora, stories about the process of developing the guide, and a chance for the audience to learn basic botanical terminology and apply that knowledge in identifying one or two local wildflower specimens.
This event is a public event. For additional information or questions about venue accessibility, contact Solvegi Shmulsky at [email protected]. Driving directions, a campus map, and more information about the Landmark College Academic Speaker Series are available at landmark.edu.
Tim Stevenson discuses new book at Putney Library
PUTNEY - Tim Stevenson, founder of Brattleboro-based Post-Oil Solutions, will give a free book talk and signing at Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m.
Stevenson's new book, Transformative Activism, is described as "a guide to growing into the spiritual maturity we need to be effective agents of transformative change in a collapsing world." According to a news release, the book "invites us into practices that foster the human liberation we seek through the perspective of his lifelong experience as an activist and community organizer around issues of peace, social justice, feminism, and the climate crisis, as well as the 40 years he has been a practitioner of Buddhist values and a daily meditator."
Stevenson is also the author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age, and writes a bi-weekly column in the Brattleboro Reformer. He's been involved with such projects as draft resistance and welfare rights, the fights against Brattleboro's Home Depot and Vermont Yankee, a feminist day care center, and creating a progressive community newspaper.
Free trees offered
BRATTLEBORO - Town residents are eligible for trees to plant in their yard through Community Canopy, an Arbor Day Foundation program.
Residents can register for up to two free trees at vtcommunityforestry.org/trees. The online sign-up process guides participants to the best locations to plant trees to help cool their homes, reduce energy usage, and save money. Residents can also sign up by calling the Arbor Day Foundation at 855-234-3801.
The trees must be reserved in advance and will be available for pick-up on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Brattleboro Department of Public Works, 211 Fairground Rd. The tree giveaway is being coordinated by the Brattleboro Tree Advisory Committee and the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program, a partnership between the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and University of Vermont Extension.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.