Issue #734
20th Empty Bowls Dinner dedicated to the memory of Alan Steinberg
The southern Vermont Empty Bowls steering committee is planning the 20th annual Empty Bowls Dinner this fall - benefitting Foodworks, the region's heavily utilized food redistribution program, operated by Groundworks Collaborative.
The local Empty Bowls effort was started in 2003 by Alan Steinberg-who died earlier this year-and a team from Brattleboro Clayworks, planning the first annual Empty Bowls Dinner in October 2004 with the slogan: "Believe that we here on Earth can learn to feed each other."...
Next Stage presents Priya Darshini’s Periphery, Alejandro Brittes Quartet
Next Stage Arts presents the Hindustani- and Carnatic-influenced New Age music of Priya Darshini, and the Argentinian Chamamé of the Alejandro Brittes Quartet, on Friday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m., at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill. "A double bill of world music from vastly different traditions gives our...
Fall happenings around the region
Medieval Faire in Putney postponed to Oct. 28PUTNEY - Due to rainy weather forecast for this weekend, The Grammar School has postponed its annual Medieval Faire to Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The campus at 159 Grammar School Lane will be transformed into a medieval...
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Newfane Heritage Festival returns to village common for weekend of crafts, food, and music
Since 1970, volunteers have made the Newfane Heritage Festival in the heart of this historic village a fall season destination. Once again, people will celebrate community, crafts, and entertainment. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Indigenous People's Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7 and 8, rain or shine. Jan Anderson is the coordinator. The sound of music will fill the air on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, thanks to Barnstormerz, Bourbon Shuffle, and Bard Owl,
County artists awarded funds from Arts Council program
The Vermont Art Council recently announced the 22 recipients of its most sought-after award, the Creation Grant, which supports Vermont artists in creating new work. Two recipients were People's Choice Creation grantees, a new process involving the public's vote. Four Windham County artists were among the recipients. They are: • Sean Kirby, of East Dover, to support the creation of a feature screenplay based on the real life of Vermont dairy farmer Romaine Tenney, entitled "I Am My Domain." •
Estey Organ Museum plans annual re-homing session
For anyone who has wished for a parlor organ in their parlor, or sought parts to repair a reed organ, or searched for well-aged pieces of black walnut, they are invited to Estey Organ Museum's (EOM) sixth annual re-homing season, in partnership with the Brattleboro Historical Society (BHS). This season's events will be held Oct.7 and 14, from 2 to 4 p.m., at the museum at the rear of 108 Birge St., in Brattleboro. For more information, visit esteyorganmuseum.org. These...
Around the Towns
Guilford Cares begins new Tai Chi class GUILFORD - Guilford Cares presents a new Tai Chi Class starting Thursday, Oct. 5, at 10:30 a.m., at Broad Brook Community Center, 3940 Guilford Center Rd. Clàudia Prat is the instructor for this class. In these sessions, participants will learn some of the basics of tai chi chuan (also known as tai chi), an ancient Chinese martial art that provides extensive health benefits, and practice some of the moves of the Yang style,
Gianna Robinon is featured artist for October at Crowell Gallery
For the month of October, the Crowell Art Gallery presents an exhibit by Gianna Robinson entitled "The Ways of Water: Never Destroyed, Always Changing Form." An artist's reception will be held Oct. 14, from 3 to 5 p.m., in the gallery. Three years ago, a news release states, Robinson took her first solo show down from the Crowell Gallery in August 2020, having enjoyed a successful response from the community. Sometime later that same night, her son Matthew passed away.
Folk performer will come to Grafton
Spencer Lewis offers a concert with solo guitar and violin at Grafton's historic Brick Meeting House on Saturday, Oct. 7, playing three sets from 1 to 4 p.m. Lewis's music has been described by critics as "music that paints the rural landscape and quiets the mind." The Times Argus describes it as "a soothing blend of folk, pop, and classical influences where guitar and violin merge into an ambience of melody, with sounds building from ripples to brooks to rivers...
Bandwagon Summer Series presents Soggy Po’ Boys at West River Park
The Next Stage Bandwagon Summer Series and Twilight Music present an evening of music by the Soggy Po Boys, on Sunday, October 8 at 3 p.m. at West River Park, 333 West River Rd. (Route 30). The Soggy Po Boys have "spread the good news of New Orleans music" across the northeast and beyond since 2012, according to their website. Stu Dias (vocals, guitar), Eric Klaxton (clarinet, soprano sax), Josh Gagnon (trombone), Nick Mainella (tenor sax), Mike Effenberger (piano), Brian...
DVFiber connects Readsboro to high-speed fiber internet
Readsboro is now connected to high-speed internet service for the first time, thanks to DVFiber. One gigabyte speeds are available now for 160 Readsboro households and businesses, and all remaining on-grid locations will be connected in the next few months. A celebratory event will be hosted in November. Customers interested in getting connected can check availability at dvfiber.net and begin the process of signing up. The town of Readsboro, through its support of DVFiber, is offering a $50 discount on...
A is for ‘absent’
Her name was Shirley Myers, and she was a gift in my life when I needed one. I was in middle school and a loner, unlike most kids that age, because my mother suffered from depression and was hospitalized for long stretches. Ms. Myers was a calm teacher and a gentle soul and, somehow, I started going to her classroom after school to talk with her. It was quietly comforting to be with her, and we formed a bond that...
Museum honors Major, teams with BrattRock during Gallery Walk
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) welcomes the public to a celebratory closing party for the exhibit "I Land Therefore I Am," on Friday, Oct. 6, during Gallery Walk, Brattleboro's townwide, first-Friday celebration of the arts. Visitors may drop by the museum anytime between 5 and 8 p.m. to meet artist Anina Major and curator Sadaf Padder and to sample Caribbean snacks courtesy of Jamaican Jewelz. Windham Wines will provide a cash bar. Admission is free. Adding to the...
The Root celebrates its 10th anniversary
The Root Social Justice Center team invites the community to celebrate 10 years of the organization's work to center Blackness at what organizers describe as "a grand celebration where we elevate BIPOC leadership and joy, connect over delicious food, dance to music that moves body and soul." The parade and a party are multicultural and intended for the whole community. The celebration begins at 11 a.m. at the center, at 28 Williams St., where people are invited to make signs...
Climate: code red
The current state of the climate is in a "code red for humanity." So stated the August 2021 report of the United Nation's authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As the U.N.'s secretary-general, António Guterres, noted, "The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable." The only way we can avoid going beyond the internationally agreed threshold of 1.5 degrees C of global heating - which we are "perilously close" to exceeding - is by "stepping up our...
Slaters stop Terriers, 27-20, in a battle of Division II’s two top football teams
The two top teams in Division II football in Vermont faced each other at Hadley Field on Sept. 30, and fans were treated to a game that was not decided until the final seconds. Fair Haven edged Bellows Falls, 27-20, in the Saturday matinee that likely will serve as a preview of the state title game in Rutland on Nov. 11. The Slaters and Terriers are evenly matched; very little separates these two teams. "It was anybody's game," said BF...
Gilfeather Turnip Day is Oct. 21
Come celebrate Vermont's state vegetable at Gilfeather Turnip Day on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival, now in its 21st year, raises funds for the Trustees of the Wardsboro Library to support ongoing library programs. It is their largest community fundraising event. Tents big and small set up on Main Street will be filled with craft and farmers' market vendors and the turnip cart will be filled with multiple bushels of freshly dug turnips. Turnips...
Harmony Collective hosts ‘Women in Punk’ exhibit by Rachel Eleanor Brown
"Women in Punk," a collection of new work by Harmony Collective artist Rachel Eleanor Brown, opens Friday Oct. 6, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the Collective's Elliot Street gallery during Gallery Walk. It will be on display for the month of October. The aim of the show is to visually celebrate the role of women in punk rock during the 1970s and '80s. "Punk rock is an attitude birthed by women who played with loud and aggressive honesty," wrote...
Milestones
College news • Jessica Tatro, a biology major in the Class of 2024 from Brattleboro, was named to the Dean's List for the spring 2023 semester at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Obituaries • Jane Arend-Denko, 60, of Bellows Falls. Died suddenly on Sept. 12, 2023, at her home. She was born on May 6, 1963 in Waterbury, Connecticut, the daughter of Jan and Leola (Bullock) Arend. She attended school in Connecticut and received a master's degree from...
Four new exhibits open at BMAC on Oct. 14
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) welcomes museum members and the public to celebrate the opening of four new exhibits that feature ceramics, textiles, and cardboard sculpture on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 11 a.m. The new exhibits include "Home Bodies," a collaboration between ceramic artist Fawn Krieger and textile artist David B. Smith; "And To This World" by printmaker Michael Smoot; "Sounds Deep" by sculptor Art Costa; and "Paper Made," a group show by nine artists working in fiber...
Fall concerts, fun, and flannel
The Southern Vermont Flannel Festival - held in Rockingham on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 14 and 15 - not only promises to be just about the perfect foliage experience (if the weather holds). It also has the added bonus of drawing visitors to one of the best preserved, historic spots in New England. A fundraiser for the civic and commercial projects of the Great Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce, the festival was started in 2019, just before the Covid pandemic.
State senator becomes lawyer by taking road less traveled
On his very first try, state Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, passed the bar exam - and did so in an unconventional way. Vermont is one of the few states where people can still study for the bar exam by using an apprenticeship model, called the Law Office Study Program (LOS) in the state. The LOS allows participants to "read the law," studying 25 hours a week for four years with a Vermont attorney or a judge instead of going to...
We can break the car’s cultural grip
At midnight on Jan. 1, 1971, it became illegal under federal law for U.S. TV stations to air cigarette ads. At the time, roughly 38% of adults smoked, down from a high of 45% in 1954. While it took until 2018 for most states to ban public smoking, there was a significant and steady decrease in smoking over those four decades. Along the way was the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking and lung cancer, and in the 1990s came...
In praise of pie … and everything apple
If baking hundreds of apple pies can make one as affable as the ladies of the Dummerston Congregational Church and the Newfane Congregational Church, we should all grab a bushel. Despite the devastating effects of the May frost on the apple crop statewide, in Dummerston, pie lady Sallie May says her group will bake "as many pies as we can" for the church's 54th annual Pie Festival. "Because of the problem with obtaining good-quality apples due to the late freeze...
Can the Supreme Court decide to be ethical?
Over the summer, the approval rating of the U.S. Supreme Court bottomed out at a record low of 40% in a nationwide Gallup poll, representing widespread dissatisfaction felt by many across America with its highest court. The court's losing streak began in 2021 when it upheld a restrictive abortion law in Texas that culminated with the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, as more than a dozen states imposed near-total bans on abortions. Before that, from 2017 to...
Ranks of the unhoused keep growing in state
The number of unsheltered people in Vermont is increasing, according to Chris Winters, commissioner of the Agency of Human Services' Department of Children and Families (AHS/DCF). "We're seeing as many people coming into homelessness now as are exiting - even more," Winters reported at the Sept. 27 meeting of the Joint Fiscal Committee. Statewide, as of Sept. 27, there are 874 households in what has been dubbed the "June 30 cohort" sheltering in motels through the state's Transitional Housing Program.
For two farm families, an era ends
Growing up at Lilac Ridge Farm, which her family began in 1937, Helen Thurber vowed she'd never wed anyone who worked in that grueling before-sunrise-to-after-sunset business. "I thought, 'I can't live that kind of life,'" she recently recalled. Then Helen met her brother Stuart's friend, Charles Robb, at his family's farm a mile up the road. Fast-forward a few years. "As we headed down the aisle, my dad whispered to me, 'I didn't think you were ever going to marry...
Pushing himself
Richard Heller's "Paintings of Paintings," an exhibit that includes 15 of his paintings and drawings, will be on display until Tuesday, Oct. 31 at Gallery in the Woods. On Friday, Oct. 6, from 5 to 8 p.m., the gallery, at 145 Main St., will host an opening reception. "I came into this by accident," notes Heller, a longtime Brattleboro Union High School art teacher. "By documenting my work, I thought, 'Maybe these have something else.'" Heller, 65, has been making...
Invite to a planetary-wide party
At Gallery Walk this Friday, Oct. 6, visitors will be greeted by a giant 8-foot-tall fluorescent-blue David Bowie sculpture displayed prominently in the window of Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts. This sculpture, part of an installation "We're at a Party Called Life on Earth," is part of Fran Bull's exhibit "The Art Life," which includes sculptures, etchings, prints, and paintings on display until Sunday, Oct. 15. "In this work, I bring together stock characters of commedia dell'arte, circus, carnival, literature, theater, and...