When Karen Dillon took the reins of the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph in May 2019 she knew there were challenges ahead. The staff were just two, competition was fierce with many other arts organizations in the region, and filling the 575-seat auditorium would require outreach beyo…
In 1966, when Tom McNeil, a sophomore at Michigan State University, enrolled in a course on piano tuning, he had no clue piano tuning and repair would become a crucial part of his life story.
History is a slippery thing — once it has flowed past us, we must rely upon the storytellers to tell us how it was. But history has often been told by the ones with the time and means to put pen to paper — and unfortunately, that is often not the whole story or even, in many cases, the truth…
Around the state
BARRE — Officials have announced the greater Barre area has been picked for a $300,000 grant that will be used to try to reduce the number of women living in poverty in the area.
Thanksgiving is next week, and the management and staff at Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice (CVHHH) would like to offer our sincere thanks to our donors and community. When the coronavirus turned life as we knew it upside down, you stood by our side. Since March, individuals and loc…
Way back in September, when you could still travel a little on occasion, my wife and I went to Cape Cod for a few days. Always curious about the local foods of wherever I visit, I was excited to find a historic grist mill still working in the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts. Situated on a qu…
Spays and neuters are one of our most common surgeries, but also one of the things that people have the most questions about. They are also one of the things with the most grey areas. We do support sterilizing our non-breeding pets for many reasons, but your veterinarian can discuss all opti…
I think it’s important to take time to count my blessings. I try to take time each day to reflect on how grateful I am for living the life I do. And on a sunny afternoon near Thanksgiving, I like to sit outside and reflect on everything I have to be grateful for. Here are some thoughts about…
Currently open public art exhibits, galleries and museums throughout the region.
Patti Casey and the Wicked Fine Players join forces for good in a benefit concert that will be streamed, by ticket only, Friday-Sunday, Nov. 20-22.
The theme for 2020 seems to be “I’m not sure how this is going to go” (that is if you rule out obscenities.) Thanksgiving is coming up, and of course, I’m not sure how this is going to go. I know that gatherings outside your bubble aren’t going to be popular, but inside my bubble, I’ll still…
For nearly a decade, I’ve been adding to a brush pile in the woods behind my home. A depository of pruned branches, dead flowers, discarded logs, old leaves and an occasional Christmas tree, the pile is a decaying testament to seasons and chores long past. Over the years, the pile has settle…
Movie theaters may be closed for now, but for the next several months you can screen a series of mini film festivals right in your own home.
If Vermont were to have an official state singer it would be Patti Casey. The popular singer-songwriter and guitarist’s songs grace three state videos, “Ceres Returns” with the song “Into This Night,” the Agency of Agriculture’s “A Vermont Fall: Bittersweet Beauty” with “A Willing Heart,” and “Fall Foliage In Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom,” with the song “Down From Canada.”
Currently open public art exhibits, galleries and museums throughout the region.
Here are some Good Reads recommendations from the Waterbury Public Library for the month of November:
Three-hundred bus loads of tourists were scheduled to visit the Morse Farm Maple Sugar Works sugar shack and gift shop in East Montpelier this foliage season.
"Banjo Dan" Lindner, from Montpelier, is aging gracefully saying only, “I’m in my 70s, that’s all you are going to get from me.” He talks candidly about his musical future and isn’t ready to retire explaining, “I still think I can entertain and be worthwhile.”
Around town
BARRE — It’s been different, but municipal clerks reported Election Day went relatively smoothly.
I was gazing at my dog this weekend, thinking of all we have gone through together and how she has cute grey hairs in her eyelashes. Then I realized that my cat is 15 and my dog is 12. They are not just into senior years, but bordering on geriatric. They are both at the age where we lose pet…
Although the Rutland Free Library has been reopened to the public since June 2 after closing for more than two months as consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not necessarily back to business as usual — but you can still borrow a book.
What follows are some reading selections from the staff of Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier:
BARRE — Forty-one years ago, the Rev. Neal Laybourne and his wife Leisa drove 975 miles from Deerfield, Illinois, to Barre.
BARRE — After 30 years at the Central Vermont Council on Aging, Beth Stern is ready for a new challenge.
MONTPELIER — Advocates for survivors of domestic and sexual violence have set up a clothesline with messages from those survivors to help bring awareness.
Vermont didn’t see a big increase in the number of youth weekend deer hunters this season, but the new novice hunter program saw far more people involved than wildlife officials expected.
Currently open public art exhibits, galleries and museums throughout the region.
Two hundred years ago an admitted murderer was publicly executed in St. Albans. Luther Virginia was a free African American who lived part-time in Highgate, and part time with his family in nearby Quebec.
Good Reads
Reflecting on 2020 and issues and experiences that it has brought to the forefront, Fleming staff and student interns selected artworks and objects from the museum’s permanent collection and wrote personal responses to them for “Reckoning.” Thoughtful and heartfelt, the responses offer viewers an intimacy in seeing artwork that especially moved, captivated, or pained them.
OFF THE LEASH
I don’t know about you, but this year I’m celebrating even the smallest of victories. And successfully growing lemongrass in my garden this summer is one of them.
Fear and love are the two most gut-wrenching emotions we can conjure, and it is for this reason that horror and romance stories are some of the oldest and most popular genres through history. Since ancient myths and folklore shared through storytelling, fear has been an especially powerful w…
WDEV radio in Waterbury opened for business in 1931 during the early years of the Great Depression. The station has survived numerous challenges including the Depression, the Great Recession of 2008, World War II, Walkmans, iPods, subscription radio services, podcasts, and internet music streaming.
The following are recommended selections from the Waterbury Public Library:
With the selection of “The Hate U Give” as the 2020 Vermont Reads and the current state of race relations in America right now, the Vermont Humanities Council is leading important discussions across the state that are reshaping how people think about systemic racism, and more.
Jukebox, the highly successful informal, intimate program mixing the music of today with beloved classics, from J.S. Bach to the Talking Heads, will open the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s abbreviated and virtual 2020-2021 season.
Currently open public art exhibits, galleries and museums throughout the region.
MONTPELIER — While the colors are expected to be as vibrant as ever, this year’s foliage season isn’t likely to generate the level of tourism revenue it normally does, owing to traveling restrictions stemming from the pandemic.
No doubt about it, it is dark. I now feed the horses in the dark and have to scramble to get all of my creatures exercised before dark. My dogs get extra stir crazy when they don’t get long walks in the woods or fields during the week, so when they get room to run they make the most of it.
It’s not like long-distance runner April Rogers Farnham, of Plainfield, needs an excuse to get up and run. She regularly sets out, often with friends in tow, for pre-dawn runs on the trails and hilly, dirt roads around her northern-central Vermont home. She even inspires many others through …
Currently open public art exhibits, galleries and museums throughout the region.
If you’re a Facebook friend of Wolcott entertainer Jon Gailmor, then you’ve been treated nearly every day for several months to a song he’s posted. The Elmore singer-songwriter’s daily contribution has given followers a smile and the remembrance of some great material.
When it opened in Montpelier in 1884, the three-level building that was located between today’s City Hall and the Rite Aid pharmacy was called “The Golden Fleece.” It was named for a grand opera house in Paris, at one time considered to be a model of elegance. In honor of its name, a stuffed…
As the autumnal equinox rolls around every year, briefly balancing day and night before the gradual move toward winter, the now 20 year tradition of “Rock Solid” exhibitions at Barre’s Studio Place Arts also connects viewers to long-term time as well as to the moment.
You might think there’s a handful of musicians named Danny Coane performing around Vermont on any given week.
I have to say, picking green tomatoes is a depressing way to end the summer. But there was little choice. A couple of early hard frosts quickly killed off our tomato plants. Better yet, we were away on our honeymoon when it happened. When we returned, we scrambled in the dark, flashlights in…
