1The No Closing Cost option is valid on most owner occupied, 1–4-family residential properties. Property and hazard insurance are required and are the responsibility of the borrower. For mortgages with less than 20% down payment, Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is required and customer is responsible for PMI premiums. Other applicable fees/charges, including deed stamps or deed transfer taxes, are not mortgage closing costs and will not be paid by the Bank. If a customer elects to obtain owner title insurance, the customer is responsible for the owner title insurance premium. Condominiums and single-wide mobile homes are not eligible for a no closing cost mortgage. Double-wide mobile homes are eligible for the no closing cost mortgage only if permanently attached to a foundation. Should the no closing cost mortgage be closed or discharged within the first three years, the Bank may collect the third-party closing costs from the customer that were waived when the loan was opened. If a customer selects an attorney to represent him/her, customer is responsible for attorney fees. Community Bank will not pay for a survey, nor any other item that is ordinarily paid for by the seller. ADDITIONAL “NO CLOSING COSTS” PRODUCT DISCLOSURE: “No closing costs” means no: origination fee/points; application fee; flood check fee; credit report fee; appraisal fee; mortgage recording fee; abstract update or title search fee; lender title insurance fees; bank attorney fee; mortgage recording tax.
APRIL 26-MAY 3, 2023
COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY
Norwich University gave an honorary degree to Brig. Gen. Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse, 96 — one of the last surviving Black WWII fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife o cials have stocked certain rivers, ponds and lakes with “trophy trout,” some of which are more than 18 inches long. Reely big!
e Ben & Jerry’s scoopers who want to form a union announced last Friday that they had scored a key pledge from their employer. e company agreed to a list of “fair election principles,” which allows the 40 or so employees at the flagship Burlington store to unionize more quickly — potentially without a formal election.
e scoopers announced their progress during a rally on the Church Street Marketplace, where they were joined by labor leaders and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“I’m very proud that we have here in Vermont a company like Ben & Jerry’s that has long stood for progressive principles, today saying they’re willing to sit down and negotiate a good contract with their workers,” Sanders said.
e workers plan to join a New York-based chapter of Workers United, the same union behind organizing drives at Starbucks around the country, including a location in South Burlington. Unlike Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks and other large companies that claim to have a social justice mission have resisted their workers’ efforts to organize and refused to adhere to the fair election principles, said Richard Bensinger, a nationally known labor activist and organizer who spoke at the event.
e scoopers have called on Ben & Jerry’s to better reflect its social justice mission in the workplace.
“We are incredibly proud of them for working with us in this manner,” scooper Rebeka Mendelsohn said on Friday.
e company’s posture offers a model for other corporations to follow, said Adam Franz, a barista at the South Burlington Starbucks where workers voted last year to unionize but have yet to obtain a contract.
“America today is at a crossroads. Inequality is higher than it’s been for decades, with skyrocketing prices and stagnant real wages coinciding with ever-increasing profits for the rich and powerful,” Franz said. “However, across the nation, workers have not taken this challenge lying down.”
During the event, a barista from Black Cap Coffee & Bakery, a local chain, announced that 23 workers at its Church Street location are also taking steps to unionize. ey informed their bosses earlier that day, barista Kelemua Summa said, and hoped the shop would follow Ben & Jerry’s lead.
In a text message, Black Cap owner Laura Vilalta said she recognizes workers’ right to unionize. “We will be looking at everything,” she wrote.
Read Derek Brouwer’s full story at sevendaysvt.com.
Last October, an older man with a straight nose, tan cap and bushy gray hair walked into Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library and penned a ghost story by hand. His tale was stirring enough to be judged the winner of the eccentric “T.P. James’ Write Like the Dickens” contest, which challenged locals to write a supernatural story in the style of Charles Dickens.
Six months later, the contest’s organizers still don’t know who this writer is.
“He just wrote the piece and left,” Rolf Parker-Houghton said. “He’s just contestant No. 4, mystery guy, like right out of a Dickens story.”
Parker-Houghton and his wife, Cynthia, run the University of Brattleboro, a made-up insti-
That’s how many apartments are in the new South Burlington building the University of Vermont Health Network constructed to house its employees.
MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM
1. “ e Tangled Tale Behind the Abrupt Resignation of Middlebury Union High School’s Principal” by Alison Novak. e backstory of Justin Campbell’s decision to leave his job had not been told — until now.
2. “Shooting Victim Found on Downtown Burlington Sidewalk” by Sasha Goldstein & Mary Ann Lickteig. Police believe the man was wounded inside an apartment.
3. “Rochester Grocery Store to Close, Leaving Residents in the Lurch” by Anne Wallace Allen. When Mac’s Market shuts its doors, locals will have to drive at least 25 minutes for groceries.
After years of delays, a new developer has signed on to build a five-story hotel at the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport. Finally taking o .
A movie is in the works about the Arizona man who was inadvertently invited to a 2019 bachelor party at Okemo Mountain Resort. Gnarly.
tution that, for years, has put on free, whimsical activities based on local history. ey’ve buried and dug up fake UFOs, planted treasure in the woods, and hosted workshops to build musical instruments. e writing contest, first held a decade ago, pays homage to publisher, author and apparent con man T.P. James, who lived in Brattleboro in the 1870s.
James famously claimed that Dickens spoke to him during a séance and chose him to write the ending to the British author’s unfinished work, e Mystery of Edwin Drood. James then seemingly did write an ending to the book — and published it to wide distribution.
In that vein, the University of Brattleboro’s contest gives local writers an hour to write their own Dickensian mystery by hand. Four people competed.
4. “Cyclist Killed in Crash With Truck While Riding in Rasputitsa Race” by Ken Picard. A 54-year-old Massachusetts man died on Saturday morning during the gravel bike race.
5. “True Grit: Gravel Biking in Vermont Is Gaining Traction and Building Community” by Ken Picard. is cover story was published days before a rider died in the Northeast Kingdom race.
I love our Bernard as much as anyone but can we please stop expecting one ancient man from Vermont to fix America for us
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Parker-Houghton, whose pretend academic title is Dr. Balderdash, did manage to capture the mysterious author on a video he shot for French documentarians who were creating a piece on T.P. James. He recently posted still images of the writer on Facebook, hoping someone might recognize the man.
“It was a perfect mystery to have,” Dr. Balderdash noted.
Too perfect, perhaps?
Parker-Houghton insists the situation is an authentic whodunit. He wants to find the writer so he can bestow the $100 grand prize and publish the winning piece.
Anyone with leads can email him at rolf.parkerhoughton@gmail.com. Put “T.P. James Man” in the subject line.
GRAMMAR POLICE.
publisher & editor-in-chief Paula Routly
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NEWS & POLITICS
editor Matthew Roy
deputy editor Sasha Goldstein
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stAff writers Derek Brouwer, Colin Flanders, Rachel Hellman, Courtney Lamdin, Kevin McCallum, Alison Novak, Anne Wallace Allen
ARTS & CULTURE
coeditors Dan Bolles, Carolyn Fox
AssociAte editor Margot Harrison
Art editor Pamela Polston
consulting editor Mary Ann Lickteig
Music editor Chris Farnsworth
cAlendAr writer Emily Hamilton
stAff writers Jordan Barry, Melissa Pasanen, Ken Picard, Sally Pollak
proofreAders Carolyn Fox, Angela Simpson
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Katherine Isaacs, Martie Majoros
DIGITAL & VIDEO
digitAl production speciAlist Bryan Parmelee
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DESIGN
creAtive director Don Eggert
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director of sAles Colby Roberts
senior Account executives
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ADMINISTRATION
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Luke Awtry, Daria Bishop, Marc Nadel, Tim Newcomb, Oliver Parini, Glenn Russell, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
FOUNDERS
Pamela Polston, Paula Routly
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[Re From the Deputy Publisher: “RIP, Twitter?” April 26]: I empathize with Cathy Resmer’s search for a new Twitter since the ownership change, and I’m happy to report that I think I just found it.
Substack has a ton of writers, researchers, thinkers, former tweeters and otherwise interesting people who produce on its platform. A lot of the names are recognizable. The platform allows them to gain paid subscribers, and a lot of them are apparently making a living providing newsletters that their fans find valuable.
Substack has reacted to Twitter’s changes by adding a Notes feature. I recently downloaded the Substack app, started following some writers I either know or who cover topics I’m interested in, then hit the Notes tab. There I’ve found a steady feed of short posts, comments, links and photos in a Twitterlike infinite scroll. I’ve already discovered excellent new podcasts and news sources. Most people on Notes are posting short bits or previews from their newsletters. That the platform enables its creators to actually get paid by their audience makes it a more honest-feeling place than Twitter, with its ad-based business model where all revenue presumably goes to one controversial owner.
Substack’s users can view the Notes feed for free, but it allows creators to promote their work in a way that builds their own base of paying subscribers. Since there is no obligation to become a paid subscriber of anyone, the Notes feed feels a lot like the Twitter feed.
It just needs more adopters. I, for one, would certainly follow Seven Days’ ’Stacks.
Jason StarrI found Kevin McCallum’s cover story [“Electric Avenues,” April 12] to be informative and well written. Of all the interviews and conversations, I was particularly struck by what Renewable Energy Vermont president Peter Sterling said about those who disagree with the aggressive green-energy strategy for Vermont.
As a 20-year environmental activist, Sterling surely knows that this drive for wind and solar technologies, in place of fossil fuels, will never produce enough
electricity to run our modern economy. After all, they produce electricity less than half of the time. He must also surely know that batteries are unbelievably expensive and getting more expensive. To believe otherwise is fantasy. China already has infrastructure in place and owns rare earth mineral mines in Africa and South America that control lithium needed for batteries. In addition, China manufactures a large majority of solar panels sold in America.
Finally, Sterling surely knows our national grid is sick and getting sicker, becoming more unreliable as a result. But he will never tell you that.
Sterling suggests that unwilling Vermonters should fall in line with the disastrous renewable energy projects on the table or they are “big f*****g hypocrites.” Perhaps Sterling should look in the mirror.
Dave Spaulding MONTPELIER
[Re “Vermont State University President Resigns; Library Plan Shelved,” April 14, online]: When I returned home to Vermont to teach at Vermont Technical College in the 1970s, it had six high-quality, two-year technology programs: architectural and building engineering, civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, surveying, and
agriculture. My typical class size was 30 to 40 students.
These two-year technical programs attracted students who thrived in the hands-on learning environment of classroom interaction combined with work- and mathrelated real-world laboratory assignments and weekly quizzes. The new computerized online learning may work for courses like history and literature, and perhaps for highly motivated students, but most engineering technology students need the handson, work-related learning environment.
There are several ways for the Vermont State Colleges System to save money, rather than gutting the libraries and the students’ intercollegiate sports programs [“Vermont State Colleges Sta , Students Protest the Plan to Eliminate Librarians, Books,” February 22]. It seemed clear during the pandemic that many students do not do well with online and Zoom courses. Does the VSC board truly believe it is providing Vermont students with “the quality education they deserve, and the state of Vermont needs,” as stated on March 23 by the chair, et al.?
Or is the goal of the board and Deloitte Consulting to offer technical college courses online and to ultimately sell o the several hundred acres of campus real estate to cover the deficit and the cost of Deloitte’s “hybrid” VSC conversion? If so,
then this new Vermont State University/ Deloitte conversion will likely be the demise of Vermont Technical College, once one of the finest two-year technical colleges in the country.
William Rice RANDOLPH CENTERSome in Montpelier are vigorously pushing that we pave over paradise to build tens of thousands more houses [“Site Work,” March 8]. They tell us that we need to build, build, build — even if it causes the destruction of our natural environment and changes the look, feel and character of Vermont. The mountains and meadows, forests and fields, wildlife and waters are part of who we are. Yet we are being told that sacrificing them is worth it for more houses. Those of us who cherish our majestic open lands are shamed for not being OK with destroying them for housing.
S.100 will override municipal environmental protections and force dense housing over the rural lands in some towns. At the same time, it will remove some of the environmental protections put into place through Act 250 decades ago. Vermont would look very di erent were it not for Act 250 and other local environmental protections.
Housing advocates talk as if nothing is more important than building more houses. All other problems, including the existential threat of climate change made worse by the loss of our natural environment, take a back seat to housing, if they get a seat at all.
Vermont is blessed with magnificently beautiful and priceless natural resource lands. Vermonters have long had a reputation for cherishing and protecting the natural world. Let’s not stop now. Please tell your legislators to scrap this developers’ dream bill.
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For three years, Jon Murad has auditioned to be Burlington’s top cop. Will he finally get the role?
BY COURTNEY LAMDIN
Way to Start Up
e winner of a new pitch competition for UVM students will take home more than $200,000
Low-Barrier Shelter Needs a New Operator — Again
Checkout Time
A pandemic-era motel housing program is ending, and advocates forecast a wave of suffering
PCB ‘Fix’ Drives Levels Higher at Wilmington School
Last Call
Farewell to Burlington’s VFW “canteen”
Franklin County State’s Attorney Rejects Calls to Resign
Green
FEATURES 24
Flying High New England Center for Circus Arts 2023 graduates to perform their “final thesis”
Like, Totally!
Author Peter Shea guides the way to Vermont’s first solar eclipse in nearly a century
Spirit of the Stacks UVM’s Book Nook enters a new chapter
Bold Moves
New works by Paula Higa Dance explore themes of migration and identity
Career Coda
After half a century of leading local ensembles, a Marshfield couple prepare a musical farewell
Sub Text eater review: Venus in Fur, Vermont Stage Holding Spaces
Kate Burnim’s paintings at the Supreme Court Gallery reveal the in-between
Feeling OK
Burlington musician and radio host Emmy McDonnell explores how music shapes identity
Measure of Success
Good Measure Brewing’s new pub serves convivial eats in Northfield
Going Greens Spring foraging in Burlington’s Intervale beyond ramps and fiddleheads
Right as Rain Dodging spring showers at Burger Barn in Jeffersonville
Saturday, May 6th
Sale Hours: 10am to 5pm
SUPPORTED BY:
Amber Naramore and Adam TownleyWren were living in Hawaii when they first encountered images of their future home, Historic Brookside in Orwell. e couple moved into the mansion in October and are slowly renovating it themselves. Eva stopped by on a sunny spring day for a tour.
Find a new job in the classifieds section on page 83 and online at jobs.sevendaysvt.com.
COMPILED BY EMILY HAMILTON
THURSDAY 4
e ancient Ukrainian tradition of the kobzar — traveling bards who were largely wiped out under Joseph Stalin — is alive and well at e Kobzar’s Prayer for Ukraine, a special fundraising concert at All Souls Interfaith Gathering in Shelburne. Musician and storyteller Jurij Fedynskyj plays traditional songs on the bandura and raises funds for war relief.
SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 66
FRIDAY 5 & SATURDAY 6
Wine lovers and theater fans alike enjoy a fabulous flight of performances at Tastings: An Evening of Six Short Plays at Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero. Six playwrights, including Vermont’s Lesley Becker, present stories of love, betrayal, drama, hilarity, climate change and even a certain lake monster for audiences with discerning palates.
SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 67
SATURDAY 6
Brethren, ready thyself for the Fyre and Lightning Consort’s appearance at Plainfield Town Hall Opera House. e medieval and Renaissance trio gets townsfolk reveling with lively tunes from the British Isles, played on the harp, lute, whistle, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy.
SEE STORY ON PAGE 46
SATURDAY 6 & SUNDAY 7
FRIDAY 5-SUNDAY 7
Waking Windows isn’t gone, and it’s definitely not forgotten. It just looks a little different this year: Festivalgoers can find a pared-down, but no less eye-popping, slate of performers at the Monkey House and Rotary Park in Winooski.
Featured acts include Pile, Underground System and Rough Francis, and the weekend ends with a pizza party.
SEE SPOTLIGHT ON PAGE 57
WEDNESDAY 10
Montpelier’s Savoy eater screens Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire, a dramatic and paradigmshifting documentary that aims to educate viewers about forest fires, how we should reimagine our response to them and what lessons Vermont can take from the American West. A Q&A with director Trip Jennings follows.
SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 72
Gardeners get their preorders in for the annual Tree Sale at Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston. ose who have ordered online roll up during their assigned time slot and leave with a truck full of apple, peach, blueberry, grape, cherry, fig, pear or plum plants at this horticultural extravaganza.
SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 67
Ripton artist and former professional kite maker Winslow Colwell presents “#Skylights,” a solo show at Town Hall eater’s Jackson Gallery in Middlebury. is collection takes the humble kite to new heights, with light boxes, lanterns and other paper constructions that boggle the eye with their size, complexity and artfulness.
SEE GALLERY LISTING ON PAGE 55
Sally Pollak was in the middle of reporting two stories for the Burlington Free Press in fall 2016 when she received — and ignored — an email warning that she was about to lose her job. Two days before her 58th birthday, Gannett made it official. “An HR flunky in from out of town told me my position had been eliminated,” she wrote in a well-observed essay, titled “Last Word,” published in Seven Days on November 9, 2016.
She had covered sports, features and food — in that order — for the Gannett-owned daily for 25 years.
A few months later — and not for the first time — I asked if she would be interested in coming to work at our local independent weekly. Sally wasn’t done talking to Vermonters and telling their stories, so she said yes. She’s spent the past seven years at Seven Days, finishing what she started.
Next month, after a long, varied career in journalism, she is retiring on her terms. She sounded almost surprised when she remarked, in her singsongy, Julia Child-like voice, “I’ve been on deadline for 40 years!”
There’s a bit of the old-fashioned, smokefilled newsroom movie in the story of Sally’s career, which includes the distinction of being the first female sportswriter at the Free Press The fourth of five girls, she was a tomboy — and still is! — but wasn’t on any teams growing up in New Haven, Conn. Instead, she roughhoused outside with the neighbor kids and watched countless games with her mom, an “incredible athlete,” as Sally described her, who played multiple sports in college.
Her father was a professor at Yale Law School. When Sally was 15, he moved the family to Philadelphia for a similar job at the University of Pennsylvania. Four years later, in 1978, thenpresident Jimmy Carter appointed him to be a federal judge.
Sally was still in college, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, when she heard about a clerk job back home at the Philadelphia Inquirer. It was a lowly position, answering phones, putting away mail, basically “doing anything to support the writers and editors,” but “it clicked,” she recalled. She spent most of her time on the sports desk, receiving copy that reporters called in while covering games across the country. Back when the daily newspaper was the sole source of box scores, player statistics, horse-racing results and other breaking news, she was responsible for making sure all of that information was timely and accurate.
It was “deadlines like you can’t believe,” Sally recalled.
The newspaper had a union, too, which guaranteed her a shot at reporting opportunities when the Inquirer expanded to cover new areas in and around Philly. In addition to her desk duties, she started writing about high school sports and, in the process, developed an eye for “little neighborhood stories.”
One night Villanova was playing the University of Vermont and a
Burlington Free Press reporter was covering the game for the Inquirer. He called in and got Sally, who asked: “Are you a sportswriter in Burlington?” When he answered affirmatively, she said, “I want your job.”
Within a few years, she had it.
Sally already loved Vermont — from childhood trips and summers working at Camp Killooleet in Hancock. In fall 1989, after a visit with relatives in the Adirondacks, she screwed up her courage to saunter into the Burlington Free Press on a Saturday and chat up the sports editor.
There were no job openings at the time, but seven months later, she got an invitation to “try out.” That involved getting dropped off at a baseball playoff game at Mount Mansfield Union High School, returning to the Free Press and writing a story about it. Worse than the deadline pressure? At the urging of her mom, “I wore a dress,” Sally recalled, horrified.
Ultimately, though, she scored a job, shattering the glass ceiling as the Freeps’ first full-time female sports staffer. Down-to-earth and unpretentious, Sally was well suited to her beat of high school football. She ditched the dress for jeans and a flannel shirt — the uniform she has worn, in one form or another, ever since.
If anyone could get an interesting quote out of a 16-year-old boy, it would be Sally. She recalled that former attorney general T.J. Donovan, then a point guard for Burlington High School, was always full of them. Covering young athletes naturally led to human interest stories. But before she moved to the “features” department at the Free Press, in 1995, Sally went back to the Inquirer for a year to cover high school sports in a big city. Being courtside with a notebook to witness the rise of a young Kobe Bryant was thrilling, but she really missed Vermont.
She also wanted a child and knew that being a single mom was
THERE’S A BIT OF THE OLD-FASHIONED, SMOKE-FILLED NEWSROOM MOVIE IN THE STORY OF SALLY’S CAREER.
incompatible with the schedule of a sportswriter. She returned to Vermont and the Free Press, adopted a baby girl, and moved to a different part of the newsroom. When longtime food writer Debbie Salomon left the paper, Sally started writing for the Savorvore section, sometimes incorporating her daughter, Sophie, into her eating adventures.
With or without a toddler in tow, Sally brings a childlike curiosity and sense of wonder to her reporting that has not waned over the decades. In our last conversation, she was marveling at the mechanics of a manure pit she’d just visited and puzzling over how to translate the story into captions for a cartoon.
Writing never gets easier, she noted. But, over the years, Sally developed a voice that is funny, intimate and conversational.
In short, she fit right in at Seven Days and agrees the paper has been a good place for her to wind up her work in Vermont journalism. Over the past seven years, she has written about anything and everything that catches her eye, from Olympic runners to quirky collectors to chefs in recovery from substanceuse disorders. Her “Life Stories” pieces, memorializing interesting Vermonters who have died, are a testament to her fearless reporting and deep knowledge of the state. The younger members of our reporting staff have learned a lot from watching her talk her way into almost anything and turn a story around quickly.
Sally calls it a luxury and a privilege to have had a job that allows her to be “out and about, meeting people and doing stuff. You’re not sitting at a desk; there’s always some action.” But after 40 years of reporting stories, she yearns to be in the place she loves — without an assignment or a deadline.
“Oh, my God, imagine that,” she said. After June 8, she won’t have to.
Paula RoutlyIf you like Seven Days and can afford to help pay for it, become a Super Reader!
Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your address and contact info to:
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21ST Annual Vermont
Employee Ownership Conference
June 1, UVM Davis Center, Burlington
Keynote speaker: Derek Peebles
Senior Director Policy & Advocacy for Inclusive Economy at American Sustainable Business Network.
The VEOC conference is back this year for a day of in-person learning featuring:
• 19 workshops with professional advisors and consultants
• Plentiful chances to network, socialize and relax
• Online participation options for select workshops
Scan to learn more and register:
Would-be entrepreneurs at the University of Vermont received a bracing shot of good news last Thursday: A new business competition has been founded that will yield annual awards worth more than $200,000.
The Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup contest, which starts in the fall semester, establishes a cash award for the undergraduate or team that comes up with a great idea and a solid plan for turning it into a business. Team members can be from any department or major at UVM, but at least one must be a senior who, after graduating, will make a full-time job of establishing the business.
Chip and Louise Meyers are California residents who created and named the
prize in honor of Chip’s parents, who graduated from UVM in the 1950s. The couple plan to donate $250,000 annually for a decade to pay for the award. Finalists and winners are also promised mentoring and professional advice worth thousands of dollars from local entrepreneurs, investors, accountants and lawyers.
The first-place cash prize, which is expected to be worth about $212,000, is intended to provide living expenses for the young entrepreneurs while they turn their business idea into a going concern. The rest of the $250,000 goes to administrative expenses and a $2,000 award that semifinalists receive before the finals to help them prepare.
“I’ve found if you’re doing a startup, usually you’re scraping by. You have your
full-time job, and you’re working on this on the side,” said Chip Meyers, a serial entrepreneur who owns a technology business. He noted that Hula, the Burlington coworking and tech incubator space owned by entrepreneur Russ Scully, has pledged to provide free o ce space to the winners. “We wanted to make sure they really did this for two years and gave it the full shot,” Meyers said.
The size of the Meyers Cup cash prize is unheard of in Vermont, where awards in most business competitions max out at $20,000 or so. Other programs rely on providing participants free access to experts, investors and well-connected mentors who can help businesses take o .
Burlington is again seeking an organization to run its low-barrier shelter after its nonprofit operator said it will walk away from the program later this year.
ANEW Place announced on Tuesday that it will cease management of the year-round shelter at the former Champlain Inn by September 30. e organization hopes to find an operator that is better equipped to manage the program at its current location on Shelburne Road, executive director Joe Domko said.
e strain on staff prompted the decision, Domko said. He also noted that the building has chronic maintenance needs due to intense use.
“ ese are the toughest folks to
serve in a meaningful way, and we’re doing so with the least amount of resources,” he said.
Guests don’t have to be sober. Between 50 and 70 people stay nightly. ree other nonprofits have run the low-barrier shelter since it first opened in 2014. ANEW Place took over in 2019, when the shelter — then a 37-bed facility at King Street and South Winooski Avenue — operated seasonally. During the pandemic, the program sheltered people in RVs parked at the North Beach Campground and in tents.
In fall 2020, ANEW Place purchased the former inn with $2.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds. Its operation is funded mostly through an $800,000 federal grant.
e organization can’t fill 100 or so staff hours at the shelter each week and is struggling to retain managers; a larger group would be more suitable, Domko said.
In a statement, Samantha Sheehan, communications director for Mayor Miro Weinberger, thanked ANEW Place for helping “vulnerable neighbors during this time of great need” and said the city is seeking a successor.
e news comes as the state is preparing to slash a pandemic-era program that houses about 2,800 people in motels. After July 1, only about 150 families will be allowed to remain in that program. ➆
A pandemic-era motel housing program is ending, and advocates forecast a wave of suffering
STORY & PHOTOS BY KEVIN MCCALLUM • kevin@sevendaysvt.comVicki Mindle stood in the rain outside the Hilltop Inn in Berlin last week waiting for a bus that never came.
She was headed to the grocery store but, protected only by a maroon hoodie, was getting wetter and more miserable by the minute.
Mindle, 66, has been staying at the motel under a state program designed to keep homeless people safe during the pandemic. But any gratitude she felt for the emergency accommodations has been overtaken by frustration that she hasn’t found permanent housing.
“I’ve been trying to get out of this place for a year and a half!” Mindle grumbled, rain dripping off her chin.
That may soon happen — but not in the way she hoped.
Lawmakers are preparing to pull the plug on a pandemic-era program that provides Mindle and about 2,800 other formerly homeless people with a roof over their heads. While state officials say they are working hard to find housing for the families living in approximately 75 motels across the state, many people will end up back on the street.
“There just aren’t enough units, there aren’t enough beds out there for us to help every single person. That’s the reality,” said Chris Winters, the new commissioner of the Department for Children and Families.
The threat of the program’s demise has stoked panic among advocates for the homeless, current motel residents and some lawmakers. Despite the hundreds
of millions of dollars being spent to boost services, expand shelters and build more affordable housing, those advocates worry the impending changes will strain an overtaxed safety net to the breaking point.
“There will be a lot of folks without a place to go very soon, and I’m gravely concerned about their future,” said Sue Minter, a 2016 candidate for governor who now serves as executive director of Capstone Community Action, a nonprofit that tries to help people out of poverty.
Homeless service organizations and the shelter system are already operating beyond capacity and are incapable of absorbing a surge of residents, Minter said. In addition, other pandemic-era programs meant to provide rental support, food assistance and medical insurance to struggling families are also ending or tightening eligibility this spring, further exacerbating the crisis, she said.
Staff members, meanwhile, are exhausted from two and half years of helping people through a pandemic. They’re under added stress following
I CAN’T IMAGINE,
RICK DEANGELIS
When elevated levels of airborne PCBs were found in several rooms at Wilmington’s Twin Valley Elementary School in late March, state officials thought installing carbon air filtration units would reduce the level of toxic chemicals.
But after the work was done, contractors retested for PCBs in mid-April — and got higher results in every room sampled.
recent high-profile episodes of violence against homeless service workers. In February, Gabriel DeAngelis, a shelter worker in Montpelier, was stabbed; in April, Leah Rosin-Pritchard, a shelter manager in Brattleboro, was killed by an ax-wielding resident. The incidents have made recruiting new staff for the difficult work next to impossible.
“Everyone is quite on edge,” Minter said.
The anticipated surge in demand for services at a time when homeless support systems are already under intense pressure has led some activists to predict a wave of human suffering this summer unparalleled in state history.
“People are going to be at serious risk of losing their lives,” said Brenda Siegel, a former candidate for governor who advocates for the homeless. “The horror of it, from a human perspective, is going to be in our faces.”
In the gym, for example, the first round of testing showed a concentration of 570 nanograms per cubic meter of airborne PCBs; the second round measured 1,050 nanograms. In the library, PCB concentrations jumped from 400 to 710 nanograms.
Twin Valley principal Rebecca Fillion said state officials believe there could be a PCB source in the school’s HVAC system, which was running at full capacity during the retesting.
In a letter to the school community on April 28, Fillion wrote that the results were “unexpected” and the news was “difficult ... to receive during these last important weeks of school.”
The situation at the Wilmington school illustrates the complexity of Vermont’s first-in-the-country initiative to test hundreds of schools for PCBs. The chemicals, manufactured by agrochemical company Monsanto until 1977, are known to pose health risks.
The Vermont legislature mandated the statewide testing in 2021. So far, more than one-third of several dozen schools tested had PCBs at a level that requires rooting out the source and addressing the problem. That has proven to be labor-intensive, costly and imprecise.
Twin Valley has already shelled out more than $18,000 for the air filters, according to Fillion.
The program’s cost and potential to disrupt schools led some lawmakers to introduce a bill to pause the initiative. Doing so would allow the state to better align the testing with Vermont’s broader school construction priorities, the lawmakers say. The House passed the measure in March, and it’s now before the Senate. ➆
Siegel has been interviewing anxious motel residents and sharing videos of their stories on social media in an effort to convince lawmakers to extend the program. On Tuesday, she held a press conference about the issue on the same Statehouse steps where she slept for 28 days in 2021 to call attention to the plight of homeless people.
The current motel program, largely paid for with federal funds, is being scaled back to pre-pandemic eligibility rules. About 790 households need to be out by June 1, while those with disabilities — about 860 households — will get an extension to July 1. Only about 150 families currently in motels are expected to be able to stay there after July 1. To be eligible, they must be facing “catastrophic” situations, such as being in the third trimester of a pregnancy, according to state officials.
Gov. Phil Scott has been trying to wind down the program for more than a year. Lawmakers now appear to be coming around to his view that the state can’t afford to continue a benefit that began during a pandemic emergency that has ended.
Last month, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a draft budget that eliminates funding for the transitional housing program begun in summer 2022, which itself replaced a previous version launched at the start of the pandemic. Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia), the powerful chair of that committee, noted that the state has already spent $200 million in federal funds on the effort. She said lawmakers need to strike a balance between the needs of people enrolled in the program and the need to steer limited resources to construction of more permanent affordable housing.
Kitchel stressed that the Senate’s version of next year’s budget contains $51 million in other assistance for homeless residents. This includes $26 million for the general assistance program, which pays a variety of expenses for people in emergencies, $13 million to support the state’s shelter network and $3.8 million more to expand it.
The draft budget also includes more than $80 million for the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board to develop new affordable housing. That’s on top of the nearly $400 million the state has already spent on the housing effort since the start of the pandemic.
But many of those units are still in development and not yet ready to accept new residents. Senators acknowledged that gap while expressing optimism that people’s housing needs could be met in other ways.
Past efforts to move people from motels to new accommodations have been successful, especially when the nudge came with financial incentives, Kitchel noted. In some cases, tenants who are moving out have been eligible to receive up to $3,300 in security deposits paid by the state.
“With some money, people can actually be resourceful and perhaps come up with the answer to their problem in a way that state government can’t,” Kitchel said.
Seven Days has reported, however, that some landlords have improperly withheld security deposits — money that people were relying on to get back on their feet.
Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-ChittendenSoutheast) expressed confidence that the Agency of Human Services would not allow a large number of the state’s most vulnerable people, such as those with disabilities, to be kicked to the curb.
“I’d feel terrible if we thought 1,000 people were going to be put out on the street, but I don’t think that’s reality,” she told her colleagues during a committee meeting last month.
In an interview, Lyons said she believed that state case managers are working tirelessly to find housing and other services for the homeless. When lawmakers shored up the emergency housing program by adding $18.3 million during the midyear budget adjustment process, they made it clear that they wanted priority given to people with young children, those with chronic illnesses or disabilities, and the elderly, she said.
“I don’t want a single mother with two kids going back to living in a car. I don’t want someone in a wheelchair being sent out of their shelter,” Lyons said.
Lyons acknowledged, however, that she didn’t know how many of the people currently housed in motels would be made homeless again, because the administration has yet to provide a clear transition plan.
“This is one of the most frustrating situations we could possibly imagine,” she said.
Siegel thinks that lawmakers who believe available beds and services will materialize in a matter of weeks are engaged in “magical groupthink.” Anne Sosin, program director of the Center for Global Health Equity at Dartmouth College, agreed. “The numbers don’t add up,” she said.
Oregon and other states have adopted transition plans that give priority to keeping people sheltered until other programs come online, but Vermont lawmakers and administration officials have shown little
Harriet Cady Armstrong, 79, was living in her car before finding a room at the new Good Samaritan Haven shelter in Berlin.willingness to adopt a similar approach, she said.
“There is just very little political will and creativity to find a solution to move us forward,” Sosin said.
But some lawmakers have expressed deep concern that people will not find alternative living arrangements before the program lapses. Sen. Nader Hashim (D-Windham) proposed an amendment to the budget bill last week that would have set aside $20 million to keep the motel program going until the winter, when cold-weather funding to place homeless people in hotels would become available again.
Hashim said ending the program without other housing options amounted to telling vulnerable people, “Good luck; you’re on your own.”
“If we are concerned about mental health, crime and poverty, having that shelter taken away is not going to solve those problems,” Hashim said.
on waiting lists for other emergency housing through organizations such as Good Samaritan Haven or for subsidized apartments offered by local housing authorities.
Rick DeAngelis, co-executive direc tor of the Barre-based Good Samaritan Haven, said the earlier state and federal funding had allowed his organization to expand its services. A $5.1 million grant helped the group buy and remodel a former Berlin motor lodge that now houses 31 people every night as a home less shelter. But it’s completely full, and there’ll be no way to handle the overflow when the motels empty, he said.
“I can’t imagine, at the scale we’re talking about, that all people are going to find a decent, safe solution,” said DeAn gelis, whose son was the shelter worker stabbed in Montpelier in February.
Hallock praised lawmakers’ focus on creating additional permanent affordable housing but doubts that many of her resi dents will be able to afford those units. People working minimum-wage jobs or collecting $900 a month in disability payments often can’t pay the required rent even on subsidized apartments, she said.
“If this ends in May, without giving us more time to transition, I guarantee that more than 50 percent of the people in my building will be out on the street,” she predicted.
The proposed amendment failed, in part because of concern over the cost. To house each person in a motel, the state is paying an average of $148 per night, or nearly $4,500 per month, according to the Department for Children and Families.
“I can think of a lot of different ways we can spend that money for supportive housing,” Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden-Southeast) said.
The fight’s not over. The Senate approved its budget bill last week, but the House still needs to concur. That process is often one of the last tasks lawmakers do in the session, which is scheduled to wrap up in mid-May.
“From the sound of it, this program is going to end, and it’s going to break my heart,” said Linda Hallock, manager of the Hilltop Inn. “I’ve tried to support these people and calm them as much as I can, but I’m afraid for them.”
Virtually all of the 90-some residents living in the 73-room Hilltop Inn are
A coalition of central Vermont service providers is urging communities to plan for the expected influx by setting aside places where people can legally camp. The City of Montpelier is considering an emergency order at its May 10 meeting. (Burlington, too, is considering a new camping ordinance for city-owned property.) To prepare, service providers are stockpiling tents and sleeping bags to hand out to the people they serve.
Rep. Tom Stevens (D-Waterbury), chair of the House Committee on General and Housing, considers that approach unconscionable.
“To cut people loose and say, ‘Here’s a tent and a sleeping bag’ is callous, espe cially after we reached out a hand and did what I think is the morally correct thing to do, which is to say, ‘We will give you shelter,’” Stephens said.
Losing their shelter will likely set back people who were able to deal with mental health or substance-abuse issues while in stable housing, Winters, the DCF commissioner, acknowledged. His agency is working with service providers and communities to limit that damage, but he knows it’s coming.
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STORY BY DEREK BROUWER • PHOTOS BY DARIA BISHOP
It was still light out on Saturday when Chris and Sonny, veterans of wars a generation apart, sat down together at the honey-hued bar top and ordered their first round.
Behind them, a DJ hooked up equipment for karaoke — the bar’s main draw on Saturday nights. Chris and Sonny, who wouldn’t give their last names, claimed that karaoke wasn’t their thing. But as soon as the speakers were plugged in and AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” started playing, both men sang the chorus from their stools.
Years ago, the pair met in this rectangular room inside this squat triangle of a building in downtown Burlington, home of the Howard Plant Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 782. Chris started coming to the VFW after two tours in Iraq; Sonny, since he survived the Vietnam War.
Saturday was their last night at the bar. The VFW is selling its property on South Winooski Avenue to Champlain Housing Trust, which plans to tear down the clubhouse later this year and build 38 income-restricted apartments, including five for homeless veterans. The project, supported with public funds, will cost nearly $20 million.
The deal marks a new chapter in the 102-year history of Vermont’s oldest VFW post. The VFW will own a 2,500-square-foot suite on the ground floor of the new building when it opens
in 2025. “The plan is to create a space where we’re able to do all the things we do now — and more,” said the post’s commander, racial justice activist and U.S. Army veteran Mark Hughes.
Ahead of the demolition, the post’s leaders decided not to renew the organization’s liquor license, which expired on Saturday. The “canteen,” as members refer to the bar — a well-known but, in Hughes’ view, secondary function of the post — was facing a quiet, unmarked decommissioning until some regulars caught wind of the news and organized a last-minute potluck to make the final night feel more like a party. For many of them, promises about the post’s future were overshadowed by a sense that too few appreciate what’s being lost.
“It’s really sad that this place is going,” Sonny said from his seat at the bar. “I get really upset about the whole situation.”
Only a handful of veterans, and none of the post’s leaders, attended the sendoff. They were joined by a larger number of “auxiliary” members — people with relatives who served overseas — as well as unaffiliated devotees of the Burlingtonarea karaoke circuit. Together, all 30 or so nestled around the bar and at folding tables, drinking under the establishment’s bright lights.
On the back wall, next to a jukebox that had gone dark, the names of 200 or so current members and dozens of deceased ones were etched into nameplates inside a glass case. The rosters appeared to be out of date. A shuffleboard table hugged the long wall, as did an empty table and chair left to honor prisoners of war and service members missing in action. The narrow entryway was lined with pamphlets for drug treatment, suicide prevention, counseling and housing services.
The Pomerleau real estate family constructed the building for the VFW in 1980; in exchange, the Post gave the Pomerleaus its historic, columned Follett House. (The white Greek Revival mansion overlooking Lake Champlain on College Street had needed extensive repairs.) The city donated the South Winooski Avenue land for the VFW, as Nancy Paquette Austin, daughter of then-mayor Gordon Paquette, pointed out between sips of her martini.
But now the clubhouse needed its own repairs, and its heyday as a social hub had passed. There used to be dances in the ballroom. There used to be live
IT’S REALLY SAD THAT THIS PLACE IS GOING.
SONNY
music. Lately, even the small TVs behind the bar had gone dark; the VFW dropped its cable subscription a while back. A bucket of break-open tickets remained as a mindless diversion.
“This place,” Chris reminisced, “used to be...”
“Packed!” Sonny finished his thought.
Sonny wore a black leather jacket that made him look like a 73-year-old Fonzie, as a younger woman told him playfully. Chris, 40, has a round face and a scorpion tattoo on his right shoulder.
“It’s sad. It’s sad,” Chris repeated. He plunked down cash for five more break-open tickets, determined to win the $204 jackpot on the canteen’s final night.
Coming to the VFW bar, Chris said, is like going to a wedding reception: Everyone knows each other and feels safe enough to let loose. “That’s this place, every frickin’ weekend!” he said. In a town bursting with $8 pours and
bougie bar snacks, the VFW offered PBR, poured from a can into a glass, and microwaved personal pizzas, for $3 each.
Down the bar, 73-year-old Ozzie Mendez, a Vietnam vet, sipped beer quietly as he tried to hear his friends speaking over performances of Charlie Daniels and Alanis Morissette songs. He often spent Friday and Saturday nights at the canteen.
“We sit there together. We drink together. We have a shot together,” he said with a smile.
“We don’t really talk about our war stories or anything like that,” the man sitting next to Ozzie, Jeff Bissonnette, explained. “It’s just mutual respect ... It’s very comfortable here.”
Jeff, 46, sees the camaraderie among people who understand each other as “almost like a form of counseling.” He was stationed in South Korea in the ’90s. He tries to convince veterans of his age
to go to the local VFWs, but many aren’t interested.
The tunes stopped briefly so Lenora Travis, an auxiliary member, could pass artificial roses to her favorite ladies and a photo book to Susan Brennan, president of the auxiliary. The white-haired Susan, in a floral jacket, drank nonalcoholic Budweiser and idly cracked break-open tickets. She tends bar sometimes and called the final bingo game last Friday night. “I cried all day yesterday,” Susan said.
As dessert cakes were plated and passed around, Dawn Burdo was getting warmed up. She tapped out an elegy to the VFW for her Facebook page — “A Fair Well To a Great Place,” she wrote — then gripped the microphone and sang the Afroman classic “Because I Got High.” Her waist-length silver hair swayed gently behind her as she sang. Dawn’s next selection was “Buzz, Buzz,” a song about a woman’s vibrator. She’d recruited a partner to sing the suggestive onomatopoeia alongside her.
Chris, meanwhile, was in deep — too deep — on break-open tickets. As the canteen’s 11 p.m. closing time neared, the bucket of unopened tickets was nearly empty. Hundreds had been sold. Then Sonny won the jackpot, and Chris was beside himself.
Soon, the DJ himself was singing a convincing rendition of Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
But something touched me deep inside the day the music died.
Chris, Sonny and some others were discussing whether they might walk to another bar downtown once the song ended. They wanted to carry on together a little longer. ➆
Ozzie Mendez Judy Wright tending bar Brenda Reardon and Susan Brennan Dawn Burdo Memorial table From left: Judy Wright, Susan Brennan and Chris looking at a photo albumFranklin County State’s Attorney John Lavoie is rejecting calls to resign following an internal investigation that found he made off-color remarks in the workplace and inappropriately touched employees.
Lavoie, a longtime deputy state’s attorney who was elected top prosecutor in November, was asked to step down by the Executive Committee of State’s Attorneys after a law firm substantiated what it called a “pattern of harassment and discriminatory conduct” by Lavoie against employees in his office and others.
John Campbell, executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, declined to recount Lavoie’s specific comments and actions but said they were offensive and derogatory toward people who worked for and with him.
“It creates an atmosphere that is not only uncomfortable and unwanted but is destructive,” Campbell said.
ere were dozens of such remarks reported by employees and others, as well as at least two instances of unwanted, nonsexual touching, Campbell said during a Statehouse press conference on Tuesday.
Lavoie attended the event and then immediately held a press conference of his own in which he downplayed or denied the allegations and suggested the complaints were politically motivated.
“ e idea that I would even say something racist or sexist, that I absolutely deny,” Lavoie said. “I do acknowledge that my sense of humor is often inappropriate.”
He declined to detail the nature of his comments but acknowledged that someone who didn’t know him and his sense of humor might find it “shocking and dismaying.” He denied ever touching anyone inappropriately.
As an elected official, Lavoie can only be removed if the legislature impeaches him, Campbell said.
at’s on the table, according to House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington). In a statement, Krowinski said she was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations and was reviewing lawmakers’ options, “including the possibility of impeachment proceedings.”
Those contests have aided some founders in creating successful companies, including Mamava, Benchmark Space Systems and Vermont Tortilla. But they don’t provide enough money for people to work full time on their startups.
Champlain College has a pitch competition in which individuals can win $500. Last Thursday, UVM’s Grossman School of Business held its annual contest, in which winners bring home up to $1,200.
Adults no longer in school have options to enter similar competitions, including the Lake Champlain Chamber’s LaunchVT. A cohort of seven companies will pitch their business ideas to investors at an event in mid-June. The winners last year took home $15,000.
Some business contests are more whimsical. FreshTracks Capital, a Shelburne-based venture capital fi rm, holds a one-day event, Peak Pitch, each winter. Entrepreneurs make their case to investors while standing in the lift line or riding up the chairlift at Sugarbush Resort.
Do North Coworking, which is a liated with Northern Vermont University-Lyndon, is also launching a pitch competition this year. Do North manager Jared Reynolds, who also runs a forest industry business contest, is raising money from sponsors for a new event in September that will allow any startup to participate in workshops and compete for cash prizes.
But without a bigger purse, entrepreneurs who win those contests often have to keep their day jobs. That was the case for Akshata Nayak, who was part of a LaunchVT cohort last year.
In 2021, Nayak founded a company called Little Patakha that creates children’s
books and other learning materials aimed at teaching youngsters to appreciate cultural diversity and overcome stereotypes. She and her husband co-own a wellness center where both work as nutritionists; her husband is also a chiropractor.
Taking time away from her job to reinvent Little Patakha — which she’d started as a language learning company — put a strain on the family’s finances, Nayak said.
“You’re either supporting yourself at your job or you have a spouse trying to support both of you and the family, so it puts you in a lot of financial pressure,” she said.
Most rewarding for Nayak were the connections she made through LaunchVT. She had started her business without a sound grasp of financial fundamentals.
have an environmental or social justice component.
The contest will stretch over the course of a school year. Applications are due in September, and 10 semifinalists will be chosen to present their ideas to a panel of local experts in November. Those judges will select three to five individuals or groups, each of which will get $2,000 to develop their concept further. They’ll all receive business training from November until April, when they’ll pitch their ideas to a panel made up of Chip and Louise Meyers, their three sons, and two people from UVM. That group will select a winner.
“This is really going to help set us apart in the entrepreneur field,” said Barbara Arel, the acting dean of the Grossman School of Business, which will administer the award.
Chip and Louise — a tax attorney and former IRS litigator — met when they were attending the University of Southern California. They chose UVM to honor Chip’s parents, who met at the school and had a house in Stowe for 30 years. The family loves Vermont, both said, and Chip’s parents are buried in a cemetery in Stowe. Two of his father’s fraternity brothers, now in their nineties, attended the Meyers Cup announcement at UVM on April 26.
“I didn’t know how to do projections; I didn’t know how to speak about it confidently because I didn’t know the basics,” she said.
Her new mentors gave her pointers. She’s still working with them. “I am way more confident about it than I was before,” Nayak said.
The new UVM competition will provide students with that kind of one-onone relationship. Associate professor Erik Monsen, who has been teaching entrepreneurship at UVM’s Grossman School of Business for eight years, is working with the Meyers family and the local business accelerators that will provide technical assistance and mentoring for students in the competition.
Monsen said the group is looking for businesses that plan to stay in Vermont and
In the course of working with UVM over the past 18 months to design the prize program, the Meyers became familiar with Chittenden County’s fast-growing startup ecosystem, which includes mainstays such as Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, Hula and FreshTracks.
In the past few years, investment in Burlington-area companies has accelerated dramatically. Capital from inside and outside Vermont totaled $637 million in 2021 and $584 million last year, according to Cairn Cross, who cofounded FreshTracks. In 2020, that figure was just $106 million.
The number of investments — a signal that the Burlington area is seeing growth in a diverse collection of industries — has grown too, Cross noted. Entrepreneurs have access to sizable new pots of money such as the Dudley Fund, which launched last year with the aim of injecting $12.5 million into Vermont startups.
“I can’t get over the support and infrastructure that is there for somebody to try to do a startup business,” Chip Meyers said.
Chip’s focus is UVM, where his parents, who grew up in the New York metro area, learned to love the outdoors. He wants to help the school thrive.
“In terms of recruiting athletes, this is just like recruiting young entrepreneurs,” Chip said. “These kids are all over the world. To say, ‘Come to UVM, and you can really fulfill your dreams’ — that’s what I am hoping they’re going to get from this.”
IF YOU’RE DOING A STARTUP, USUALLY YOU’RE SCRAPING BY. CHIP MEYERS
AUGUST 17, 1955-
APRIL 17, 2023
RICHMOND, VA.
Cindy Vosburgh, 67, went to heaven on Monday, April 17, 2023, after a valiant battle with COPD. Born on August 17, 1955, to Gerald and Beverly Vosburgh, Cindy grew up in South Burlington, Vt., attended South Burlington High School and graduated in 1973. After graduation, Cindy headed west to California and Arizona and, eventually, headed back to the East Coast and settled in Richmond, Va.
Cindy was predeceased by her parents, Gerald and Beverly. She leaves a sister, Susan Maciejewski (David), of Fort Mill, S.C.; nephews Tom Maciejewski of Fort Mill, S.C., and Michael Maciejewski (Youlia) of Charlotte, N.C.; and a brother, Robert Vosburgh (Jackie Lowe), of Williston, Vt.
e family would like to thank a special friend of Cindy’s, David Chick, for his help and companionship during Cindy’s battle with COPD, as well as the nurses and staff at Legacy Hospice, and a very heartfelt thank you to a special nurse, Rachel Neal, of Legacy Hospice.
Cindy’s ashes will be interred at a later date at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington, Vt.
JULY 19, 1944-APRIL 8, 2023 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.
Sally Deming Howe, an avid athlete, musician, gardener, world traveler and retired guidance counselor in the Winooski school system, died on Saturday, April 8, 2023, at her home in South Burlington, Vt., surrounded by family. She was 78 years old. e cause was cancer.
Sally combined a love of the outdoors and adventure with an acute intellectual curiosity. She loved to be in motion and could rarely be found not engrossed in an activity. Her luminous vitality, the joyful power and grace with which she pursued her many enthusiasms, her warmth and humor, and the depth of her caring about the welfare of others are legendary among all who knew and loved her.
Born on July 19, 1944, Sally was the younger daughter of Joan Deming Howe and Paul Willard Howe of Redding, Conn., where she grew up. On her mother’s side, she is a great-great-granddaughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Sally graduated from Joel Barlow High School in Redding, class of ’62, and from Vassar College, class of ’66. After college, she worked in New York City as a social worker. In 1968,
JULY 24, 1946-APRIL 1, 2023 DANVILLE, VT.
John Baldwin passed away in his home on April 1, 2023.
A private person by nature, John was amusing, with a dry, subtle and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor. His official passing date was April Fools’ Day — coincidence, perhaps? John was a “car guy,” an avid hill-climb car racer, a skier, a techie and a cat lover.
As a New Yorker magazine junkie, he always kept a dictionary open to support his crossword puzzle habit. He was a good friend and neighbor who paid attention
she married Stephen W. Pollak and settled in Vermont, where she would spend the rest of her life. Sally and Steve had two sons, Seth and Noah. ey divorced in 1991. She earned her master’s degree in education and worked for three decades as a guidance counselor in the Winooski Public Schools. She traveled to Russia and Japan on teacher exchange programs. In 1992, she met Rick Hubbard, who would become her life partner and
companion on many travels and other adventures.
Sally’s athletic achievements included prowess in horseback riding, running, triathlons, cross-country skiing, long-distance hiking and bicycling.
In 1994, she completed the New York City Marathon. A lover of outdoor adventure, Sally joined Rick in hiking large parts of the Appalachian Trail; 1,200 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail; and the GR5 trail in Europe, from Lake Geneva
to the Mediterranean. Along with a group of friends, they hiked, bicycled and canoed many times in the Northeast and Canada.
ey cross-country ski raced in masters age-level groups in Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Italy and Canada, and bicycled and hiked in England, Europe, Peru and New Zealand. eir most recent adventure, in autumn 2019, was a trek in the mountains of Nepal.
A fine amateur cellist,
Sally delighted in playing music and performed for years in the string sections of the University of Vermont Orchestra, the Burlington Civic Symphony and with a string quintet of friends. She sang in choruses in New York City, with the Aurora Chamber Singers of Burlington and at Temple Sinai in South Burlington, where she was an active member of the congregation.
Sally is survived by her 31-year life partner, Rick Hubbard; her two sons; her sister, Imogen Howe of Redding, Conn.; her niece, Katie Haddock of Brooklyn, N.Y.; two grandsons; several cousins; and many devoted friends.
ere will be a celebration of her life for family and friends in Stowe, Vt., in early July and another in West Redding, Conn., in September.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sally’s memory to any of the following organizations would be gratefully accepted: Temple Sinai, 500 Swift St., S. Burlington, VT 05403; Stowe Nordic, c/o George Jackman, 291 E. Tamarack Rd., Stowe, VT 05672; Burlington Civic Symphony, PO Box 2005, S. Burlington, VT 05407; or Aurora Chamber Singers, PO Box 64753, Burlington, VT 05401.
and he was very proud of his heritage. In fact, he even named his cat Miss America.
to the world and created his own unique place in it.
John was born in St. Johnsbury, Vt. His ancestors were some of the first pilgrims to settle in Vermont,
After his 1964 graduation from St. Johnsbury Academy, he joined the U.S. Air Force, was trained as a medical equipment engineer, and was assigned to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He attained the level of staff sergeant, and he continued to hone his mechanical and technical skills. Upon his return, John settled in Burlington, where he became part of an eclectic social circle of friends who still get together more than 50 years later.
In 1971, the Agency for International Development hired him to go to Vietnam
to repair hospital X-ray equipment. After returning to Burlington, he became the traveling X-ray technical equipment engineer for a network of hospitals in Vermont and the North Country area of New York. In the 1980s, he again went overseas as a civilian technical engineer to Saudi Arabia. We’re not sure how he found a way to live in a “no women, no alcohol” country, since he loved both. However, he did report that he managed to volunteer to chauffeur important women — who were not allowed to drive — to their various destinations.
In 1996, he moved to the wooded hills of West Danville,
where he found the serenity he craved. As such, he was quite the MacGyver, having designed a system to power his home from car batteries and solar panels. Quite ingenious! He also adapted to the challenges and limitations of a long, seasonally impassable access road. John lived where he most wanted to be, in his beautiful parcel of paradise with his cat and his crosswords. John lived his life true to his values, and he will be greatly missed. He is survived by his brother, Karl, and three nieces, Gretchen, Erika and Karin.
His celebration of life will be announced in the coming weeks.
1962-2022
Celebrating the life of John P. Ketcham, March 19, 1962-July 19, 2022. (Rutland, Vt.; Austin, Texas; originally from Essex Junction, Vt.)
Please join us on May 28, 2023, 1 p.m., as we gather at Coolidge State Park in Plymouth, Vt., to celebrate John’s life with stories, food, refreshments, fun and games. Please respond to jpketcham2023@gmail.com if you can join us. Camping is available. (It’s OK if you don’t RSVP; please join us anyway and share in the festivities.)
1940-2023
ere will be a celebration of life for the Honorable James L. Morse on Friday, June 2, 2023, 2 p.m., at All Souls Gathering, 291 Old Bostwick Rd., Shelburne. Jim died on January 13, 2023, at home in Charlotte. A quintessential public servant and so much more, Jim once wrote: “At death I have a resume, but where I’m going experience doesn’t count, like a merchant mariner moving to Omaha.”
DECEMBER 2, 1948-APRIL 21, 2023
SOUTH HERO, VT.
It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of Owen Jenkins. He did everything he could to stay with us, but the cancer was too aggressive to master.
Owen was born in Troy, N.Y., on December 2, 1948, to Martha (Atkinson) and Morton Jenkins. After graduating from the University of Vermont and playing hockey in Europe, Owen taught at Essex High School and managed the new hockey rink there. Based on his experience with RPI’s summer hockey camp, he helped organize the Essex Youth Hockey program. He earned his JD at Vermont Law School in 1977 and practiced in Essex Junction until his retirement.
Owen was first and foremost a dad and husband. He cherished his children, Cait and Carin; rejoiced in welcoming Emmanuel to the family; and adored Elodie and William, the newest lights in his life. He was a kind, patient, loving husband to Wendy until the end.
celebrated one season’s 0-16 record, knowing that their children all played equally and learned the joy of hockey rather than winning. Whether he was raking monster piles of leaves for leaps from the monkey rope, building paths for snow tubing down the hill or eating lunch on pizza days at the elementary schools, while surrounded by chatter and those lucky enough to snag a seat near him — all fed Owen’s soul.
e lake was Owen’s playground, though. It was an annual event to guide a child as they “swam” to the raft and see them grin with pride. e sounds of screams from the tube as he gave daring kids “the whip” were music to him. And the sweet smiles of joy and imagination as the littlest ones sat on his lap and “drove” the boat were precious to him.
Owen is survived by his sister, Lynne, and her husband, Hughie; his brother Craig; his brother Kent and his wife, Jeanne; his sisters-in-law Linda and her partner, Allen, and Lee and her husband, Kip; nieces Jenny, Lauren and husband Kris, Kelly, and Caroline, and their families; and nephew Quinn, who held a special place in his heart. He was predeceased by his parents, his nephew Aidan, and his brother-in-law, George.
We are immensely grateful to the entire team at the University of Vermont Medical Center — across departments — who supported us in addressing Owen’s multiple physical challenges over the last two years. e incredible staff of Home Health & Hospice cared for both Owen and our family. We will be forever grateful to our friends who enfolded us in love and support through so many acts of kindness. ank you ... you know who you are.
Join us for this remembrance of Jim’s life and experience — a time of common understanding that his love for us, his respect for all living things and his quest for justice do count, and we are better off for having been here on Earth with him.
1950-2023
REALTOR, SEAMSTRESS, GAL, POWERHOUSE
A celebration of Carol Hinson’s life will be held on Friday, June 30, 6 p.m., at the Starr Farm Barns in Burlington. To get there, go north on North Avenue, and turn left on Starr Farm Road. A very short distance after crossing the bike path, bear to the right. Light refreshments and beverages will be provided. Please come ready to share a story about Carol. If you cannot make the trip but have a story you want to share, send it in an email to billsparkhill@aol.com. If you have photos of Carol you’d like to have included in a photo display, please scan and send them to dougmac2you@gmail. com. Thanks, Bill.
Owen loved being with young people. He coached youth hockey for a number of years, and grateful parents
DECEMBER 30, 1981APRIL 22, 2023 DUXBURY, VT.
We regret to announce the passing of Kelly Jean Brooks, 41, of Duxbury, Vt. She is the daughter of Martin and Susan Brooks of North Duxbury; the mother of Grace Brooks and Clay MacIver; the sister of Scott Brooks and wife Amy, Erin Dente and husband Kevin, and Sandra Moulton and husband Jeffrey; and the aunt to five beautiful young girls and one handsome boy. Her beloved dogs, Ava and Emma, are missing
Helping people was an avocation as well as a vocation for Owen. He enjoyed the relationships that he developed through his work, and many of those clients became friends who helped Owen and Wendy as much as he had helped them. He was especially passionate about helping those who faced injustice, and he took on cases of those who couldn’t pay in order to ensure that their voices were heard.
In addition to his immediate family,
If you choose to donate in Owen’s name, please consider Owen’s passions and ethics, and give to organizations that honor and support the rights of all humans, whether it be for legal, gender, reproductive, hunger or other challenges that underrepresented communities face. Several of Owen’s favorite organizations were the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Vermont Foodbank, and the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington.
ere will be no visiting hours. A celebration of Owen’s life will be planned for the future.
their best friend and caregiver.
Kelly was an avid ice fisher, a fierce competitor in many physical sports
and the No. 1 fan of the Miami Dolphins. Kelly was a one-of-a-kind personality at Zachary’s Pizza of Waterbury — with her brother — for many years. She was unlike anyone you ever met and unapologetically passionate about her many interests. We shall miss her boisterous laughter that would fill a room, her genuine beauty, and her kind and generous heart. Her family is grateful for the care and support of her many friends and for all the love and kindness being offered to our family in this time of great sorrow.
We wish to recognize David Luce and the many
Habitat for Humanity volunteers who donated many hours of dedicated labor to build a lovely home for Kelly and her children. Donations of remembrance for Kelly Brooks may be sent to Habitat for Humanity, P.O. Box 837, Montpelier, VT 05601, or online at central vermonthabitat.org/donate.
Services to honor the life of Kelly will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, 11 a.m., at the Waterbury Congregational Church, 8 N. Main St., Waterbury, with a reception following. Please hold her with fond memories in your hearts and prayers.
JULY 15, 1934MARCH 9, 2023 WOODBURY, VT.
The world lost a creative artist, writer, treasured teacher, revered Abenaki elder, activist, family member and friend when Earl George Larrabee (Peskunck) died of cancer at Central Vermont Medical Center. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.
Born to Betty and Earl Larrabee in 1934, George was one of four siblings and was raised in a three-generation household in Westfield, Mass. He remembered the home front of World War II with rationing, blackouts, and collecting paper and scraps of metal for the war drive. He had many adventures with his friend Tom Azarian.
In 1951, during the Korean War, George enlisted in the U.S. Army, had basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., joined the 82nd Airborne Division, trained at Fort Benning, Ga., was promoted to Private First Class and was a three-year army recruit. Later, when his mother was abandoned with two preteen boys, George was granted a family hardship release and remained in the Army Inactive Reserves. He was given employment in the Westfield Paper Mill to support his family.
After his mother remarried, and lacking a high school diploma, George enrolled in the Training Institute of the Ladies Garment Workers Union AFLCIO, where he received his diploma and worked as their union organizer. He studied in New York City art schools while working in the graphic arts field.
In New England, in 1955, George became interested in the American historyoriented black powder, muzzle-loading rifle field. He worked during the day while also submitting art
which were harming the Cree and Innu tribes in Canada.
George and Phyllis had a long marriage, sharing interests while surrounded by woodlands and Greenwood Lake in Woodbury, Vt. Toward the end of her life, Phyllis decided to live life on her own.
and writing to the historical New England Homestead Magazine; Muzzle Blasts, the monthly magazine of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association; and other periodicals. He joined reenactment groups and incorporated survival skills in his writing.
George was hired in 1976 by the newly established Consolidated Railroad Corporation (Conrail) and began a career in railroad maintenance (hard physical labor!). He was off work during winters, enabling his illustration/writing to continue.
George was briefly married to Carol Schnitzer in New York City. George met Carol’s friend, Phyllis Rachel Litman. George and Phyllis saw each other years later at Quarry Hill Commune in Rochester, Vt., and at Bread and Puppet Theater. They started a relationship in 1984 and admired each others’ creativity. (Phyllis was a gifted poet.)
They married in 1989 in Plainfield, Vt. Phyllis had two sons from a prior marriage, Emile and Malcolm Sawyer, who became George’s stepsons. Emile fondly remembers George’s excited storytelling about Vermont heroes Ethan Allen et al. and the capturing of Fort Ticonderoga — while dressed in 18th-century clothing, shouldering his musket — as well as George’s explanation of how he helped build a birchbark canoe. George protested, with Emile, against the Vermont contract with the Hydro-Québec megaprojects,
George learned that he was descended from Europeans and a Native American great-grandmother from Canada, where the Abenaki tribe lives. He joined the Abenaki group Clan of the Hawk of Brownington, Vt. George (Peskunck) made it his life mission to learn and teach the (very endangered) Western Abenaki language and culture — of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and adjacent Canada — and attended many Native American events. Phyllis also shared his interest. George completed a fulllength historical novel, A Visit With Chief Grey Lock Book 1, with his illustrations and photographs highlighting the Western Abenaki language and culture. A Visit With Chief Grey Lock Book 2 is being readied for publication.
George was always proud of being a member of the 82nd Airborne. He parachutejumped 15 times in his life. His last jump was in tandem with an instructor in October 2022, when he was 88 years old!
George was predeceased by his brother Daniel, and his former wife, Phyllis. He is survived by his sister, Irene, and his brother Bob; his niece, Judy, her husband, John, and their daughter, Jade; his nephew, Gary, and his wife, Sheila, and Gary’s daughters, Siobhan and Caitlyn; his stepson Emile and his wife, Esther, and Emile’s son Jaden and daughter Tacincala; and his stepson Malcolm and his son, Joey. He is also survived by his friend of over 70 years, Tom Azarian, and his cherished friend Dee Bright Star, to whom George said he was very truly hers.
Arow of uniformed police officers formed a supportive rank along a back wall of Burlington City Hall Auditorium as Mayor Miro Weinberger introduced acting Chief Jon Murad as his pick for the city’s permanent top cop in January 2022. The show of strength — a literal thin blue line — marked a shift for members of the city’s police union, who two years earlier had pleaded with the mayor not to install Murad as their boss.
But Murad’s converts did not include all members of the Burlington City Council, who, soon after Weinberger’s pitch, refused to give him the permanent job on a 6-6 vote. The mayor declined to reopen a nationwide search and said Murad would remain acting chief indefinitely — an arrangement deemed legal by a city attorney and that takes the decision out of the council’s hands. More than a year later, Murad remains the acting chief, while Weinberger waits for the right political moment to nominate him again to be the permanent one.
On paper, Murad would seem to have too-good-to-betrue qualifications to be Burlington’s top cop. A local boy who grew up in Underhill, he’s a Harvard University grad twice over who learned law enforcement as a beat cop and in the executive offices of the New York Police Department.
Once an aspiring actor who spent more than half a decade in Los Angeles, he’s a practiced communicator who appears as comfortable in front of a television camera as he does commanding a crime scene. He can rattle off statistics with the intensity of a preacher delivering a Sunday sermon.
Murad has earned the trust of his once-skeptical officers at least in part through leading by example. When the city experienced an unprecedented spate of gunfire incidents in 2021 and 2022, he showed up at nearly every scene — on Saturday, too, after a midday shooting at a downtown apartment. He has signed up for overnight shifts on the beat and worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“He loves Burlington and the people in it,” said Michele Asch, a former chair of the Burlington Police Commission. “He’s just committed to the work that he’s doing.”
But in times of crisis, even textbook qualifications may not win a police chief sufficient political support — and Murad has led the department in historically challenging times. He assumed the post in June 2020, during the
For three years, Jon Murad has auditioned to be Burlington’s top cop. Will he finally get the role?MARC NADEL
early months of the pandemic and just after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police sparked a global movement against police brutality and racial bias. In Burlington, Murad’s officers were already facing excessive-force lawsuits from several Black residents. Just weeks after Murad became acting chief, the city council voted to cut police staffing by nearly a third through attrition. Within a year, more than a dozen cops had left the demoralized department. Murad and his officers have found themselves under close, often critical scrutiny. Residents and some city councilors have objected to the way Murad deployed his reduced force and, earlier this year, deplored
the fact that off-duty officers were providing private security at a condo complex. Last summer, a trauma surgeon accused Murad of threatening to arrest him as he treated a gunshot victim at the hospital.
Murad’s critics describe him as illsuited for the job. They’ve questioned his temperament, leadership and commitment to reform in a department in which an outside consultant found serious deficiencies. Some of his fiercest detractors serve on the city’s police commission, which has expanded its oversight powers in recent years.
“At what point does the mayor take leadership here and rise above this
political fight and say this is not working for the city?” said Councilor Joe Magee (P-Ward 3), who wants Weinberger to reopen a search for a new permanent chief. “I think we’re long past that time.”
During two recent interviews with Seven Days , including a 90-minute sit-down last week, Murad spoke confidently about his leadership and his record of rebuilding the depleted department. Throughout the conversations, he made clear that he’ll continue doing the work, regardless of the political distractions.
“My confirmation is not relevant to me,” Murad said. “I have the job.”
Even as a child, Murad seemed to find the spotlight. He was a middle schooler in 1985 when he joined Lyric Theatre’s production of Oliver! as the Artful Dodger, a charismatic pickpocket and child gang leader. A Burlington Free Press reporter who attended a rehearsal that fall asked 12-year-old “Jonathan” how it felt to look out from the stage for the first time.
“It doesn’t scare me,” he said. “Facing the audience sort of feeds my energy.”
Murad grew up in Underhill, the eldest son of two University of Vermont professors. In an interview, Tim Murad described his son as having an encyclopedic brain and the ability to quote Shakespeare chapter and verse. The elder Murad remembered how his son had once auditioned for a play at UVM but didn’t tell the casting directors he was only in high school until he got the part. They let him keep it.
“To me, it’s an indication that he was always striving to do more than the norm,” Tim Murad said.
Young Murad stood out at Mount Mansfield Union High School. He was a member of the National Honor Society, won a writing competition sponsored by UVM three times and was part of the school’s Scholar’s Bowl team when it won the 1991 state championship. His classmates voted him “Best Actor” and “Class Storyteller.”
At Harvard, Murad studied English and American literature and kept acting. He was a member of Hasty Pudding Theatricals, one of the oldest theater societies in the world, whose famous alumni include renowned actor Jack Lemmon and the 32nd U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
After graduation, Murad went to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming an actor. Using the moniker “J.C. Murad,” he landed a handful of bit parts in shows such as “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place.” He played a cop nearly every time — an irony not lost on the Rake Vermont, a leftist online outlet in Burlington that panned each and every one of his performances in a January 2022 article.
Murad’s last acting credit was a 2001 role in “The X-Files.” After the 9/11 attacks that year, Murad said he asked himself what he was contributing to society by chasing a Hollywood dream. “The answer that I came up with was ‘Not much,’” he told Seven Days
He moved to New York City in 2003 to reunite with his college girlfriend, Vonnie, whom he’d later marry, landing at Newsweek as an editorial assistant. But he still felt unfulfilled and took the civil service test to become a police officer. At age 32, Murad started an entirely new career.
JON MURAD
Murad began policing as a beat cop in 2005, patrolling public housing projects in the Bronx. His résumé indicates that he was a plainclothes field intelligence officer focused on drug interdiction. He soon caught the attention of then-NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, who assigned him to the Office of Management Analysis and Planning — the so-called think tank of the NYPD.
In 2013, Murad earned a master’s of public administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He gave the graduate student address with his trademark confidence.
“Everyone changes the world,” he told his classmates, as Oprah Winfrey, an honorary degree recipient that year, sat just to his right. “It’s how we do it that counts.”
Around the same time, he started working as a technical consultant for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” a TV comedy about a fictional New York City police precinct.
In 2014, Murad got a six-rank promotion to become an assistant commissioner at the NYPD under Bill Bratton, a legend in policing circles. In a recent interview with Seven Days, Bratton said he’d spotted Murad’s talents when reading a white paper written by Murad and two other officers that examined the department’s challenges and how to address them.
Murad had a way with words, Bratton said, and he was smart.
“He’s a living Google machine,” Bratton said, then laughed as he recalled another of Murad’s quirks.
“He uses the craziest expressions in the absence of swear words. I’ve heard him use the term ‘Golly gee,’” Bratton said. “There’s this boy-next-door wonder about him.”
Murad became Bratton’s speechwriter and helped create a new communications office. Notably, his star was rising in a department — and an occupation — under fire. Earlier that year, an NYPD officer had killed Eric Garner, a Black man, by placing him in a choke hold. Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo., a month later sparked Black Lives Matter protests nationwide.
One of Murad’s vocal critics, Burlington City Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District), who is Black and grew up in New York City, said she’s disturbed by the acting chief’s connection to Bratton. The former NYPD commissioner embraced the controversial “broken windows” theory that calls for policing lower-level infractions, such as vandalism, to prevent more serious crime. Critics say that approach leads to overpolicing communities of color.
Murad said he believes “broken windows” is an effective policy.
“Stopping small things before they get big is a key, logical component of prevention,” Murad wrote in an email to Seven Days. “I believe that police exist to keep people safe, by preventing and responding to crime and disorder, with and for our neighbors.”
Bratton left the NYPD in late 2016 to join Teneo, a public relations firm. Murad followed soon after to work as his chief of staff.
But he missed policing, he said, and home. In 2018, he applied for a deputy chief job in Burlington, where his former NYPD colleague, Brandon del Pozo, was top cop. He got the position, took a 60 percent pay cut and moved back to Vermont.
In Burlington, Murad found a department that was skeptical of him. Like del Pozo, he was an Ivy League-educated NYPD alum. He had little experience working a beat and was chosen over several internal candidates to be deputy chief of operations. Members of the Burlington Police Officers’ Association went to Mayor Weinberger with their concerns, to no avail.
They repeated those concerns a year later, when del Pozo and another deputy chief, Jan Wright, resigned amid a social media scandal, leaving Murad as the logical internal candidate. Weinberger brought in an interim chief, but when she left six months later, Murad became acting chief.
Meanwhile, police officers who were once suspicious of Murad now see him as their defender against a hostile city
council. They backed him when the city’s search for a permanent chief yielded just Murad and an unnamed person; so did Weinberger. Attempts to reopen the search, led by Progressive councilors who voted against Murad’s appointment, have gone nowhere.
When the police ranks were diminished by departures, Murad showed up for the cops who stayed behind. He fought for a new union contract that gave officers sizable raises and retention bonuses, which also supported his plan to staff up. He has gone to their hospital beds when they were injured on the job and to funerals for their loved ones. He worked shifts on the beat and helped at crime scenes, including at last weekend’s downtown shooting.
As a chilly rain fell on Saturday, Murad consulted with officers who were collecting evidence outside Manhattan Pizza & Pub. He spoke with pedestrians who asked him what was going on. “There was a shooting,” Murad told one curious bystander, who nodded and said, “Things are going downhill.”
Weinberger said Murad’s tendency to “lead from the front” helped repair his relationship with the rank and file.
“He knew he was in a fragile position with them, and he worked to turn it around,” Weinberger said. “I see that as a very positive evolution.”
After Weinberger announced his plans to make Murad’s job a permanent one in January 2022, the acting chief returned to police headquarters to find his officers had planned their own coronation ceremony: They presented him with two new stars
for his uniform collar and a chief’s badge. For Murad, it was indicative of how far he’d come.
“That was a very big moment,” he said, “to have earned it from them in that way.”
When the council rejected Murad’s nomination four days later, Murad reassured his troops in an email with the subject line “The Obstacle is the Way.” It was a musing on a quotation from Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius that calls for stoicism in the face of a challenge.
“What good old Marcus meant was essentially ... a fancy way of saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” Murad wrote in the email, which he shared with Seven Days. “I am still here today. So are all of you.”
Murad has continued to go to bat for his officers by resisting an effort to increase civilian oversight. He lobbied against a March ballot measure that would have created a new “community control board” with the power to discipline police, saying it would harm recruitment efforts and strip existing officers of due process rights. Voters rejected the measure by nearly a two-thirds margin.
Murad said the city’s current oversight model — in which a civilian-led commission can recommend discipline, but only he can impose it — is “pretty darn close” to perfect. The stance has strained his relationship with members of the Burlington Police Commission, who have been pushing for more oversight power. Last year, three commissioners urged the council to reject his nomination for permanent chief, though two of them refused to discuss the issue when contacted recently by Seven
Days. The other, Grant, resigned from the body after she was elected to the city council in March.
Councilor Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) acknowledged that Murad’s “laser focus” on restaffing has turned some people off.
“He has been very defensive at times and protective of [officers],” Traverse said. “Where that has not always served his best interest as being a potential candidate for permanent chief, I do think it’s served the best interest of the department.”
Members of the Burlington police union declined to be interviewed by Seven Days but did respond to emailed questions. They described Murad as a tireless advocate for them, even as city council Progressives vilified and diminished the department. The union praised the acting chief for creating a “public safety
TV news outlets ate it up. Burlington crime reports and mug shots made the evening news. So did Murad, who carved out time to do standups for those reports. When the camera turned on, Murad would smoothly launch into his talking points without stumbling. His constant refrain: Burlington needs more cops to battle the surge in crime.
Murad has been less forthcoming with Seven Days. After repeated requests, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed for this story.
The former actor certainly understands the power of public messaging. The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont has been critical of what it describes as Murad’s inflammatory rhetoric about crime in the city. In summer 2021, the nonprofit advocacy group accused Murad and Weinberger of tying the city’s uptick in gunfire to the council’s police-cutting vote, charging that the officials’ “campaign of misinformation” wasn’t borne out by data. At the time, overall calls for service had dropped by half compared to the previous year. Violent crime was at a five-year low.
continuity plan” that added community service liaisons — who are akin to social workers — to the ranks.
“No one else was presenting tangible responses to a rapidly deteriorating public safety crisis,” the union wrote. “Chief Murad has proven himself as a competent and committed leader during incredibly adverse conditions for any Chief.”
He did so, the union said, by “demonstrating political savvy.”
Murad worked behind the scenes in the Big Apple, but in Burlington, he’s taken center stage.
He uses the spotlight to keep his officers’ concerns in the forefront, a tactic that was particularly effective when the city’s tally of gunfire incidents increased dramatically in 2021 and 2022. The department has always sent out press releases, but with Murad at the helm, the communications became more regular and included suspects’ rap sheets. The procession of press releases didn’t merely report the facts — it reminded the public that the department was short-staffed and that officers were sometimes overwhelmed with calls.
Members of the police commission have also challenged Murad’s interpretation of data. The body has zeroed in on racial disparities in officers’ use of force and has asked Murad to investigate whether bias could be at play. After reviewing body camera footage, some commissioners suspect it is, according to cochair Stephanie Seguino.
“We are observing situations in which, in particular, African Americans, we believe, are treated differently than a similarly situated white person,” she said. Murad disagrees and has said the BPD has “drastically reduced” disparities. He said he’s been transparent about use-offorce trends, which he shares with the commission in a monthly report. City staff produce an annual report that breaks down data by race.
The department has also recently begun posting online body cam footage from incidents involving use of force. Murad said members of the public can view the clips and judge for themselves.
The disagreements over alleged racial bias were exacerbated by a TV interview in May 2022 during which Murad described the perpetrators of gun violence as members of an “affinity group,” a term that refers to people with a common purpose. The TV station paired Murad’s comments with footage of young Black men at a shooting scene. Vermont legislators from the Statehouse’s Social Equity Caucus later published an op-ed
No one else was presenting tangible responses to a rapidly deteriorating public safety crisis.
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on VTDigger.org that accused Murad of spreading a “dangerous message.”
“Murad’s statements use coded speech to garner support from white people by drawing on conscious and unconscious racial-based fears that Black people are violent,” wrote the group that included Rep. Tiffany Bluemle (D-Burlington). “This can frighten both white and Black people about crime, lead to more aggressive police activity, and more police racial profiling.”
Councilor Grant, a former police commissioner, agreed.
“On one hand, he understands the power of his words,” she said, “and on the other hand, he doesn’t.”
On the wall next to Murad’s desk at police headquarters on Burlington’s North Avenue hangs a bright yellow sign with the word “Believe” in blue capital letters.
The poster is a replica of one that appears in “Ted Lasso,” the hit Apple TV+ show about an American football coach who is hired to lead a struggling English soccer club. Lasso, the central character, is ridiculed for his ignorance about the sport but eventually wins over the team and its fan base with optimism and compassion. In the show, the “Believe” sign hangs in the locker room, an enduring reminder to stay positive.
Murad isn’t much like Lasso — he doesn’t have a charming Kansas accent, for one thing — but there are parallels in their stories. Like Lasso, Murad is leading a team out of crisis, and by many measures, he’s succeeding. But he still has to convince some that he belongs.
Murad acknowledged that the past three years have been trying but said he’s settled into the job and the community. He and his wife, Vonnie, live in Burlington’s New North End with their two school-age kids, MacArthur and Cady Elizabeth.
Sitting at a conference table during an interview in his office last week, Murad used a personal anecdote to illustrate his view of public safety as a bedrock of society. His wife and daughter had recently finished acting in Lyric Theatre’s Shrek: The Musical at the Flynn. Without cops keeping the public safe, “you can’t have any of the other things that you want out of a community,” Murad said, referring to the play and public events more generally.
To Murad, in this moment, that largely means hiring more cops. Asked about his vision for the future of the department, he defaulted to familiar talking points about immediate staffing needs rather than articulating a long-term plan.
He has made progress toward his goal. Since last September, the city has gone from 51 to 58 “effective” officers, or those who are able to work at any given time. Six others are on leave — such as for military deployments or medical reasons — or are using vacation time before retirement.
Four recruits are expected to graduate from the Vermont Police Academy later this month, and Murad anticipates that more could join the next class in August.
The department is authorized to employ up to 87 officers, a number that aligns with recommendations from CNA, a Virginia-based consultant hired in 2021 to assess police operations. But Murad says Burlington needs between 95 and 100 officers and hopes the city will revisit the number.
Some officers will be deployed to carry out quality-of-life policing downtown this summer. Cops will be conducting more patrols on the Church Street Marketplace and in City Hall Park — where drug and alcohol use have become more apparent — and issuing more tickets for offenses that contribute to a sense of disorder, Murad said.
“We’re going to focus on this zone,” he said, “and make certain that we’re clearly present and that we’re establishing a different tone.”
Murad acknowledges that his department needs new ways to approach the underlying causes of some crimes. He
supports hiring unarmed personnel, including a crisis response team of clinically trained professionals who can respond to mental health and substanceuse calls. City councilors have approved of the plan, though some object to housing the team within the police department. It may be several months before it’s up and running.
“The more seamless all of that is, the more collaborative it is, the better sewn together it is, the better it will serve the community,” Murad said.
Forming a crisis response team was one of 150 recommendations in CNA’s report, which was meant to guide future police reforms. But some of Murad’s critics say his response to the document has been lukewarm or outright dismissive.
Besides believing that CNA underestimated the number of officers Burlington needs, Murad disagreed with its suggestion that sergeants should regularly audit body camera footage and provide feedback to officers, calling it “an unreasonable” request amid a staffing shortage. Progressive councilors have cited his reaction to the report as a reason they can’t support him for permanent chief.
They’ve also charged that Murad’s view of public safety is too myopic. Councilor Magee said Murad isn’t vocal enough about addressing the drug crisis at a time when the city’s overdose numbers are soaring. By contrast, del Pozo — Murad’s predecessor — was an early adopter of harm-reduction strategies.
During last week’s interview, Murad acknowledged the issue and pulled out a chart showing overdose rates. The problem seems intractable, he said.
“I don’t know what we can do until we’re properly resourced, but we can’t wait until we’re properly resourced to address that,” he said.
Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) empathizes with Murad’s situation. Del Pozo had the luxury of a fully staffed department, she said, which allowed him to work on other priorities.
“I would not want Jon to be focused on anything but keeping our head above water, honestly,” she said.
Weinberger has suggested he won’t ask the council to formally appoint Murad until he knows he has the necessary seven votes, and it’s unclear if he does. Shannon and Councilor Mark Barlow (I-North District) would vote yes, while all four Progressives would say no. Councilor Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) said he is unsure where he stands. Four other Democrats didn’t return interview requests from Seven Days.
Councilor Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7) has gone back and forth. But after the incident in which Murad confronted the surgeon, Dieng decided the acting chief has “too much baggage.”
“I am coming to realize Burlington needs a fresh person,” he said. “Someone with the ability to rebuild trust.”
Many of his supporters wonder why Murad wants this job at all, when he could easily find work somewhere else — and perhaps be better appreciated there. The question came up at a January community meeting about gun violence at AALV, which helps immigrants from Africa settle into life in Vermont. Murad had been invited to the Old North End center by Sandy Baird, an attorney and family friend. Murad’s parents were among the handful of people in the audience.
The acting chief acknowledged that the past two years had been exhausting, saying he felt as if he alone was trying to raise the alarm about increased gun violence. Murad then dropped a reference to a character from Oresteia , the Greek drama in which he’d performed during high school. He’d felt like Cassandra, he said, a prophet who foresaw tragedy but was cursed never to be believed.
But then, as so many times before, the acting chief spoke of his love for Vermont, about his wife and two children, and of his commitment to the job.
“I’m here,” he said, “and I’m not going anywhere.”
BY JENNIFER SUTTON
Nearly 20 feet in the air at the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, Colleen Agozzino stood on a trapeze and began to swing. She vigorously bent and straightened her legs, over and over, gathering speed and momentum like a pendulum. Suddenly she dropped, hanging upside down on the trapeze bar, and then rolled up and over the bar multiple times, still swinging. Even in this brightly lit gymnasium where everyone was diving through hoops, propelling themselves off a trampoline or doing handsprings, Agozzino’s movements were breathtaking.
She is a student in NECCA’s ProTrack program, a full-time, three-year training school for aspiring circus professionals. Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion — twin sisters and Brattleboro residents who performed together in Cirque du Soleil — founded NECCA in 2007 and immediately launched ProTrack, making it one of the longest-running professional circus programs in the U.S. While NECCA has offered hundreds of recreational classes to the local community over the past 16 years, it has also turned out hundreds of professional artists who perform and coach in shows and training studios around the world.
On Friday, May 5, NECCA’s 2023 graduates will cap off their training by performing as Circus Springboard in a show titled “Intertwine” at Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro. Smith explained that if the ProTrack program can be compared to college or graduate school, the touring show — three states, four performances — is the final thesis.
“Taking all your material and equipment and resetting it in a new theatrical space is both performance and traveling education,” she said.
The nine artists who will perform at Highland Center for the Arts started their NECCA training in fall 2020, at the height of the pandemic. After making it through a highly selective audition process, they dove into an intense curriculum of fitness and flexibility classes and acrobatic and aerial instruction. As in any higher education program, ProTrack students choose majors and minors; their options span more than a dozen apparatuses, including those familiar to the general public, such as trapeze, trampoline, aerial fabric and rope, and those that are more obscure — the Tippy Lyra, the German Wheel and the Static Cloud Swing.
Marine Scholtes Labrecque, 21, came to NECCA from Montréal, having studied ballet for years before switching to circus classes as a teenager. During three years of training in Brattleboro, Scholtes Labrecque, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, designed their own apparatus — “it’s my take on the aerial ladder,” they explained.
“The great thing about being at NECCA is that my skill level has grown a lot, but my style has grown even more,” Scholtes Labrecque continued. “When I started, I was a very lyrical artist because of my dance background, but then I discovered clowning — that I can be funny onstage and get laughed at and enjoy it. Those things merged together to create my own persona as an artist.”
To direct Scholtes Labrecque and their fellow “Intertwine” performers, NECCA brought in Mark Lonergan, the artistic director of Parallel Exit, a circus and physical theater company in New York. Lonergan has collaborated with NECCA
since the beginning of the pandemic — he and Forchion helped start the American Circus Alliance in 2020 — and he wanted to work with NECCA’s ProTrack students partly because Vermont is “something of a magnet for circus people, whether you’re a student or professional,” he said.
Besides NECCA, there is Circus Smirkus in Greensboro and Flying Gravity Circus in nearby Wilton, N.H. “New York has a lot of circus because it has a lot of everything, but what New York does not have is this,” he added, gesturing around NECCA’s bustling space — “the facilities, the people and the knowledge.”
Lonergan noted that even though the United States has a vibrant circus history — Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey — its “circus education for professionals is still quite young” compared to those of Canada, Australia and Europe.
“It’s important for there to be talented, skilled and well-trained circus artists in this country,” he said. The “Intertwine” performers “have been in student mode up until now, learning, absorbing, growing, pushing themselves. My role is to be their connector to the professional world.”
Accessing that world means getting a job, and that is the end goal of students in the ProTrack program. They spend much of their third and final year at NECCA preparing: creating their own acts, assembling photos and videos of their work, building resumés and websites. NECCA helps them pursue auditions and even hosts auditions for other companies, including, earlier this year, a German cruise line that presents theatrical entertainment on all of its ships.
“We as a school have always embraced variety,” Forchion said. She explained that while some circus-training programs focus only on group acts or contemporary circus, she and her sister had a different vision for ProTrack. They had both performed and coached across a wide circus spectrum, from Ringling Bros. to Cirque du Soleil to their own performing company, Nimble Arts.
“We want to train people who want to perform in different places,” Forchion said. “Some of our students would hate performing on cruise ships. Some would love it. Some would love to do burlesque or street performance.”
All of those potential jobs, no matter where they are, can be difficult to get. Among this year’s ProTrack graduates, 23-year-old Josephine Somerville of Needham, Mass., was the first to land a contract. After performing in “Intertwine” on the Tippy Lyra (an aerial ring) and the German Wheel (a cross between a ladder and a giant hoop), she will spend the next four months with Circus SNOR, a small tented circus based in Utrecht in the Netherlands.
[VERMONT IS] SOMETHING OF A MAGNET FOR CIRCUS PEOPLE, WHETHER YOU’RE A STUDENT OR PROFESSIONAL.
MARK LONERGAN
thesis”Josephine Somerville Joelle Nye PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELSIE SMITH
Just four years ago, Somerville was finishing a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience (after fast-tracking her education by combining high school with community college). She started a job in the field of behavioral health but didn’t feel fulfilled.
“I realized that circus is the thing that makes me happy,” she said. “So I decided to do the thing that makes me happy and makes other people happy.”
Somerville’s family was “super supportive” of the shift, she said. “My mom was originally an economist, and she left that to be a farmer,” so the idea of leaving a stable job to pursue a more satisfying career was not unfamiliar.
Even as Somerville and her peers applied for positions with circus companies and festivals, they spent most of their time rehearsing for “Intertwine,” which
is both a showcase of their individual acts and a “collaborative art project.” That’s according to Layton Hahs, 26, who came to NECCA from Cape Girardeau, Mo., and performs on the aerial sling.
“Everybody here is incredibly skilled, and you’re going to see some amazing feats of human strength and flexibility,” Hahs said. “But it’s also our last big hurrah as a group. I think what will really bring the audience in is the connection we have. Everyone can relate to the feeling of togetherness and cooperation.” ➆
New England Center for Circus Arts’ Circus Springboard presents “Intertwine,” Friday, May 5, 7 p.m., at Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro. $5-15. necenterforcircusarts.org
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personalized surgical decisions and care I received enabled me to own my recovery and to ful ll my life goals.
e University of Vermont Medical Center is a community of caregivers and scientists united by a common goal: Your best health.
BY STEVE GOLDSTEIN • sgoldstein@sevendaysvt.com
Peter Shea of Burlington has been fishing since grammar school, but on August 21, 2017, he caught something he’d never seen before. “Holy mackerel!” the trout fisherman exclaimed as he caught sight of the sun, obscured by moon shadow and reflected in the pond in which he stood.
That glimpse of a partial solar eclipse made a deep impression on Shea, now 76. His mindset shifted from the piscine to the celestial. He’d already expressed his passion for trout in many books on the subject, some published by his own company, Wind Knot Publishing. Now he focused his new passion on producing a book to celebrate a much more unusual phenomenon for Vermont — a total eclipse of the sun in 2024.
The slim volume, Vermont’s Total Solar Eclipse: April 8, 2024: Event Guide & Souvenir, contains the essential information about the eclipse, which is almost a year away but already engendering a lot of excitement. According to news reports in early April, lodging is being booked in the diagonal path of the “total” across northern Vermont and watch parties are already forming.
Shea’s guide instructs readers on how to make their viewing successful as well as safe. The main no-no: Don’t stare — with the naked eye. Included with the book is a pair of glasses made of a flexible resin called black polymer that blocks harmful ultraviolet rays.
Shea has worked at many things in his life, including cofounding mapping company Northern Cartographic and serving as director of corporate support at Vermont PBS (now Vermont Public). He’s also a well-known raconteur, meaning that he can charm a speckled brown straight into a hot, bacon-greased skillet.
To hear Shea tell it, astronomy is not so different from fly-fishing — both require exquisite focus. Seven Days caught up with him on dry land to discuss the Big One.
SEVEN DAYS: Are you an astronomer with a fly-fishing hobby or a fisherman with a cosmology fixation?
PETER SHEA: I read a lot of physics, [and] I understand only a small percentage of what I read because I don’t really have the math to back it up. But I enjoy it — especially cosmology. It’s not a professional but a personal interest.
SD: How did that come about?
PS: I was fishing a pond in central Vermont with a friend the day of the 2017 partial eclipse. It was over 90 degrees and it was so bright, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and I think we were penciled in there for about 65 percent coverage or obscuration of the sun. We noticed a slight dip in temperatures. I was watching the water — I wasn’t about to look at the sun. I saw the reflection, and I yelled, “Holy mackerel!” I knew that the eclipse coming up in Vermont was total, and I made a resolution that I’m going to do something about it.
SD: Why is this “total” a big deal?
PS: Well, for one thing, it has not been observed in Vermont for almost 100 years. The last time we had a total eclipse was in 1932, and we had tens of thousands of people and scientists visiting the state here to record it. The other thing is, if you don’t catch this one, you’re going to have to wait more than 50 years to catch the next one. These are very rare occurrences.
SD: So this will be your first experience with totality?
PS: I am so excited, I can’t even see straight. The sun looks a lot smaller than you’d think. It’s a fireball, so you can’t properly see its size.
SD: Your book includes “official 802 solar glasses.” Why are they special?
PS: They just block everything out except the brightest light that can penetrate. You can look at the sun with these — otherwise, you could burn your eyes easily. The glasses knock out probably 99 percent of light. As it progresses in Vermont, the eclipse is gonna run about two and a quarter hours from start to finish. You’ll be able to watch at various points. But once you hit totality, it turns to complete nighttime. You can take off your glasses, and all you’ll see is this obsidian disk surrounded by a shimmering corona.
SD: Describe the “diamond ring” effect. PS: Just as the moon completely obscures the sun, the very last bit of light is going to be a singular point. It’s going to be up there at around 11 o’clock on that disk. It’s just a single point of light, and the ring around the sun is observable. It gives the appearance of a diamond ring.
SD: And then there’s “Baily’s beads.”
PS: Just before the light goes completely total, the diamond ring has disappeared. You see shimmering little, little, tiny balls. This is not personal observation; I have not seen one. So this is what I’ve read. These little, tiny beads. It’s the mountains and valleys of the moon, the irregular surface of the moon, that create this effect.
SD: How will ambient temperature be affected?
SD: Best places to watch?
PS: If I had the legs and inclination, the top of Camel’s Hump would be my pick; Mount Mansfield’s another. You can’t beat with a stick the Burlington waterfront and the ECHO Center. Knight Island State Park is good. It’s gonna go right through St. Albans, and the dead center line is gonna go right through the [Northwest State Correctional Facility]. A great time for a jailbreak.
Montpelier is going to have a full totality, as will St. Johnsbury. Barre is right at the edge. It’s interesting, because parts of Barre will be in totality for about 30 seconds, but the southern part of town won’t see totality at all.
SD: What if it’s cloudy?
PS: Oh, I don’t think it has to be particularly clear; it could be partly cloudy. So I think wherever you are, it won’t be ignored. I mean, it will turn to nighttime — it’s nothing subtle, like a partial eclipse. You will not be able to ignore it.
PS: You’re definitely going to have temperature drop; sidewalks and buildings tend to retain some heat. But you’re definitely going to feel like the whole world walked into the cooler.
SD: And what about the fish — how will they react?
PS: It’s unfortunate that the totality only lasts for a little over three minutes in any location. The fish are going to think it’s dusk, and that’s a beautiful time to fish. I remember fishing out in Yellowstone Park during the big fires out there in 1988. There were ashes falling out of the sky and the smoke was thick, so it produced a dusk all day long.
So I would predict, for those three and a half minutes, those trout are going to think it’s nighttime and are going to get interested in feeding for a while — and probably be shocked when the light comes back. ➆
This conversation was edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Vermont’s Total Solar Eclipse: April 8, 2024: Event Guide & Souvenir by Peter Shea, Wind Knot Publishing, 12 pages. $12.95.
IF YOU DON’T CATCH THIS ONE, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT MORE THAN 50 YEARS TO CATCH THE NEXT ONE.
SHEA
UVM’s
Jacques-Paul Marton joined the staff of the University of Vermont in 2007 as a custodian — a word the dictionary defines as “one that guards and protects or maintains.” Marton, 66, has lived up to that definition on many levels: As the founder and steward of UVM’s Book Nook since 2010, he cares for, protects and maintains a Little Free Library that has made a big mark on campus.
Marton’s recent retirement marks a new chapter for the Book Nook, the transformation from one man’s passion project into a community-run endeavor.
Located in a comfy corner of Brennan’s Pub on the first floor of the Dudley H. Davis Center, the Book Nook is not your average Little Free Library. While that term typically designates small, adorable book cabinets stationed along neighborhood sidewalks, the Book Nook is an inviting space of its own, furnished with a thick-cushioned chair, a roomy couch, soft lighting, and décor featuring Marton’s own motivational quotes and poetry.
The books, some 1,500 of them, fill seven maple bookcases, each with six shelves, that Marton helped make himself. Shelburne Farms donated the wood, which bears the marks of old sugaring tap holes.
BY MELISSA CRONINOpen the same hours as Brennan’s Pub, the Book Nook is a space for all, including the public, to explore. People are free to leave a book or take one at no cost.
“The Book Nook is a corner of warmth among all the aluminum and hardback chairs” of Brennan’s Pub, said Anthony Magistrale, a UVM professor and former chair of the English department. For Veronica Beauregard, who manages the
art. Even the construction of the maple bookcases took seven months of cutting, sanding and hammering, with woodworking help from friends at the Wake Robin retirement community in Shelburne.
Now UVM students will take over Marton’s work. By fall, the Book Nook will be formally embedded in the Davis Center Art Program as a space managed and curated by student staff, according to Maddie White, assistant director of marketing for the Department of Student Life and the Davis Center.
Marton is delighted to know that students will continue his work of filling the shelves with knowledge and humanity. “The books I choose are ones that tie the reader to the author’s soul, and to the reader’s soul,” he said.
goal of Student Life “was to facilitate and support a good idea,” she said.
And so the Book Nook was born, growing from those two sad bookcases to Marton’s lovingly curated collection of words.
Growing up in a farming community in New Jersey, Marton admitted, he had “no interest” in books besides a select few, such as Old Yeller and My Side of the Mountain. But his life turned a page during his junior year at William Paterson College (now University), when a wellread sociology professor inspired him to read more.
“I was entranced by his breadth of knowledge. I started reading everything I could find,” Marton recalled, from the antiquities to modern literature. Some of his favorites: Homer, Ovid, Dante, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Richard Wright, James Baldwin.
For Marton, books are healing. “Knowledge can get you through so many troubles,” he said.
He was referring, in part, to his personal struggles with clinical depression, which began during his second semester of graduate school. He was studying social research at the New School in New York City when “things started falling apart,” he recalled. Depression is still “something I live with every day,” he added.
The need to focus on his treatment prevented Marton from finishing his graduate degree. Later he ran a housecleaning and catering business with his wife, Wendy, in New Jersey. But these stressful occupations weren’t good for his mental health, he said, so Marton and Wendy moved to Vermont in 1999 with the hope of leaving stressors behind.
Books saved him, Marton said, in the wake of an attempted suicide in his forties. “They were all healing,” he said.
nearby Cat Pause convenience store and eats lunch in the Nook every day, it’s a space “to carve out a little piece of calm,” she said.
Being the Book Nook caretaker has involved many tasks for Marton, such as forging connections with local libraries and tag sales to get first dibs on handselecting titles. He made a habit of arriving at UVM an hour before his shift to stock new books, tidy up the shelves or create
The Book Nook’s story began in 2010, when UVM’s Student Life stationed a couple of bookcases in Brennan’s Pub. They sat empty for a couple of weeks before Marton decided to bring in books from home and put up a “Free” sign. The books didn’t take long to disappear.
Things grew from there. Katherine Strotmeyer, then Student Life and Davis Center assistant director of marketing, recalled Marton walking into her office and saying, “I have a good idea.” The
“It only takes one book to become a special part of a person’s life,” Marton continued. Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, in particular, resonated with him. “It made me laugh and cry like no other novel,” he said. “I did see myself reflected in Don Quixote’s misadventures. I did charge at windmills in my life. Fortunately,” he added, Wendy and his therapist “saved my life many times. I am lucky to be alive.”
Marton was drawn to the “positive and supportive” community at UVM, he said. Overseeing the Book Nook as it grew over the years, and interacting with the students who browsed its shelves, made him feel like he was back in school.
“The Nook has done so much for me,” he said.
UVM senior and Davis Center building manager Krista Fillion started visiting the Book Nook as a first-year student. She
IT ONLY TAKES ONE BOOK TO BECOME A SPECIAL PART OF A PERSON’S LIFE.
JACQUES-PAUL MARTONBook Nook enters a new chapter Jacques-Paul Marton PHOTOS: OLIVER PARINI
spends an hour each week there doing homework or reading, as well as watching how people react when they encounter the Nook for the first time. A typical reaction, she said, is an exclamation like “Yes, it’s really free!”
“The Nook reminds you to keep on the quest for knowledge,” Fillion said, calling it a space of “learning for leisure.”
Marton’s challenge over the years has been choosing the right books. It’s not enough to fill the shelves; he must keep “everything fresh and compelling,” he said. He “zones in” when selecting free books from sources such as the Pierson Library and Wake Robin in Shelburne, the South Burlington Public Library, and Burlington’s Friends of the Library.
Thousands of books have found their way into the hands of eager readers in the 13 years since the Book Nook’s beginning. Strotmeyer, now communications and community outreach director at UVM’s Cancer Center, gives Marton all the credit — but he won’t take it.
“Many hands went into building the Book Nook,” Marton said. “The project could not have happened — and could not continue to happen — without the support of the entire UVM community. That includes emeriti and the many friends and families of the university and local libraries.”
When asked if he’ll be an ongoing presence at the Book Nook, Marton beamed. “It’s given me so much,” he said. “I can’t see myself leaving UVM.”
The titles Marton chooses are ones that he feels speak universally to readers. He aims to help “students become who they want to be through the humanities,” he said. “Art informs. This is what’s going to carry humanity.
“Books can be mentors,” Marton added. “They can break you out of a sort of prison if you were brought up in a narrow environment.”
Marton has come a long way since Old Yeller . The Book Nook’s shelves hold diverse and eye-opening reads: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, On Being Gay: Thoughts on Family, Faith and Love by Brian McNaught. The books are organized by category and subject: fiction, memoir, environment and sustainability, religion and spirituality, classics, racial and ethnic identities, poetry, gender studies, writing and publishing, world literature, philosophy.
Though he’s retired, he plans to return to the Book Nook once a week for as long as he’s able — “even if Wendy has to push me in a wheelchair,” he said.
He plans to start a monthly student poetry reading and has allocated new space for artwork with social justice themes. And he looks forward to attending future community book sales to freshen up the Book Nook’s shelves.
“I’m never far from the Nook,” Marton said. ➆
The Book Nook, at Brennan’s Pub in the Dudley H. Davis Center, University of Vermont, in Burlington, is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Saturday, 8 a.m. to midnight; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight.
Due to construction at Brennan’s, the Book Nook will be inaccessible this summer.
To donate books, use the Book Nook drop-off box or contact jpmarton@uvm.edu or dcart@uvm.edu.
In June 2021, my husband and I sandwiched a hike up Paine Mountain in Northfield between morning and afternoon stops on the same downtown block in the town below.
Heading to the mountain, we picked up thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies and coffee made with freshly roasted beans from Carrier Roasting at 17 East Street. On the way home, we sat outside on stools in the wooden keg-ringed seating area in front of Good Measure Brewing’s tasting room, located one door down from Carrier but at the same address. The two storefronts were painted with “COFFEE” and “BEER” signs in similar white capital letters, hinting at a connection.
We quenched our thirst with glasses of the brewery’s signature Social Club New England pale ale and distinctively funky, fruity Trim Tab dark American wild ale. Soft pretzels from the small menu of bar snacks took the edge o our hunger.
A couple of weekends ago, we planned a return trip to Northfield to hike and revisit the block to check out the third in what is now a trio of signs. The newcomer, painted over the door of the not-quite-year-old Good Measure Pub at 21 East Street, promises “FOOD.”
Pouring rain kept us off the mountain, but it did not deter us from making the 50-minute Sunday afternoon drive to the pub. We were far from the only people seeking a convivial, cozy spot on “a good day for ducks,” as I heard one patron describe it.
An opening in the wall between the “BEER” and “FOOD” venues connects the brewery’s original small tasting room with the pub. While each retains its own vibe, they o er the same wide-ranging menu, with everything from nachos and wings to hefty hot sandwiches and burgers — plus, of course, the brewery’s beer.
The common denominator of 17 and 21 East Street is Scott Kerner, co-owner of Carrier Roasting with Ross Evans and
Matt Borg and of Good Measure with its head brewer, Andrew Leichthammer.
Kerner’s wife (who is Evans’ sister) grew up in Northfield, and the couple settled there in 2017, a year after Kerner and Leichthammer opened Good Measure with a small tasting room. Carrier Roasting’s café followed in 2019.
The café recently reopened after a renovation prompted by the relocation of Carrier’s roasting and shipping operation to a di erent Northfield location.
It now has more seating and a sleek new interior where patrons can enjoy co ee drinks and baked goods from entrepreneurs such as West Danville’s Belladore Gluten-Free Bakery and Woodbury’s Local Donut. Sliding doors open into the Good
Measure tasting room, so all three spaces are physically connected.
Kerner, 47, previously co-owned Three Penny Taproom in Montpelier, Mule Bar in Winooski and the Mad Taco, which was founded in Waitsfield. Before the pandemic, Kerner and Leichthammer had discussed taking over the 21 East Street space from Cornerstone Burger, which had operated there since 2016.
When Kerner sold his stake in Three Penny in 2021, he recalled, it was the first time in 13 years that he hadn’t owned a restaurant, and he realized he missed that. “This is what I do. This is what I know,” he said.
Buying the restaurant building next
door to the brewery and co ee shop felt right. “I live here. I’m gonna raise my kids here. I’m invested in Northfield,” Kerner said.
In the pub on our Sunday afternoon visit, a constant flow of customers circulated among the high-top tables, the bar and a few regular tables in the back of the restaurant. Hockey, football and motocross played on the three bar TVs; country music crooned over the speakers.
Among the diners were students from nearby Norwich University, locals meeting friends and a family with young children. They sipped house brews and dug into elaborately sculpted trays of nachos
In January, GINA BUCHANAN and her partner, SHANE RIVERA-BUCHANAN, officially launched ENCANTO KITCHEN, offering Puerto Rican catering and thricemonthly Saturday takeout meals. Served from the kitchen at the MILL MARKET at 1580 Dorset Street in South Burlington, the meals for two might consist of pinchos of pork or chicken marinated and grilled with guava barbecue sauce and skewered with tomatoes, served with rice and beans for $28; or empanadillas — savory turnovers with a choice of meat or vegetarian fillings — served with seasoned yellow rice for $22. Orders for Saturday pickup must be placed by Wednesday at encantokitchenvt.com.
Buchanan, 51, moved to Vermont in 2003 but was raised in “a very traditional Puerto Rican household” in Brooklyn, N.Y. Like many young people, she said, “I loved the stories, but I never appreciated the culture.” As an avid home cook, however, she absorbed the traditional recipes constantly simmering in the family kitchen.
The idea for the business grew from what Buchanan calls her “empty state” situation — the empty nest left by her two twentysomething kids moving out of state. In December, celebrating her first holidays without her son and daughter at home, Buchanan decided to cook seasonal Puerto Rican favorites and offer takeout meals to friends.
Her specialties include the slowroasted, citrus-and-garlic-marinated pork shoulder called pernil; arroz con
gandules (rice with pigeon peas); Puerto Rican-style empanadas; and mofongo (mashed, seasoned fried plantains). They received such a positive response that she decided to gauge broader interest.
So far, “Vermont has taken very well to a Puerto Rican kitchen,” Buchanan reported.
A late April nature walk in Burlington’s Intervale started out unexpectedly high-tech. As the 18 participants gathered, Duncan Murdoch, the Intervale Center’s natural areas stewardship coordinator, asked them to scan a QR code with their phones. Everyone stared at their screens for a few minutes reading the Intervale Center’s ethical foragers pledge.
The pledge states that “foraging for highly nutritious food and medicine is encouraged” on the roughly 350 acres of floodplain land managed by the nonprofit. “But,” it continues, “we ask of you to be thoughtful about how we ‘take’ what the land has to offer so that we don’t deplete and destroy the species that make up our beautiful natural community.”
Specifically, the pledge sets guidelines for Vermont’s most prized early spring edibles: oniony ramps, also called wild leeks, and the furled fiddleheads of the ostrich fern. It asks visitors not to gather ramps, which have largely disappeared from the area likely due to overharvesting, and encourages limited fiddlehead collection only outside signed restoration areas.
The preamble did not surprise attendees of the Sustainable Foraging Walk offered through City Market, Onion River Co-op’s community programming. It was the explicit draw for Sienna DeVoe-Talluto of Shelburne, who said she was equally interested in learning how to identify edible species and “how we can interact with plants sustainably.”
During the 90-minute walk, Murdoch easily demonstrated that there remains a cornucopia of edibles to gather — and that early spring, when plants are young and tender, is prime season.
After a brief stop to nibble on the tips of hostas that had been planted near the nonprofit’s farmhouse headquarters, Murdoch carefully dug a full dandelion rosette and root from the grass. Now is the perfect time, he said, to eat dandelion greens, which get more bitter as the weather warms. Their roots, he added, make a nice tea.
When foraging edible and medicinal plants, Murdoch advised, the general rule is: “Don’t take a whole lot, and
leave a bunch.” He did share several exceptions to that rule, especially for non-native, invasive plants, such as garlic mustard and Japanese knotweed.
Stinging nettles, Murdoch said, are native but prolific and can generally be harvested liberally, too. He demonstrated how he pinches off the tips, leaving the rest of the plant to grow. Use gloves, he cautioned, and always cook the greens to remove the sting.
The walk was well-timed to harvest scalloped leaves of garlic mustard before it flowers and spreads seed. Murdoch likes to sauté the young greens with garlic and butter. “Please take as much as you want,” he urged.
Murdoch also pointed out delicate violet flowers, which make a “gorgeous” tea; dug up burdock root, which can
be used for tea or eaten stir-fried; and picked a redspeckled Japanese knotweed shoot, which he described as reminiscent of rhubarb. “What strikes me is how much food is here in the wild,” he said.
After sampling knotweed, Miranda and Joey Chase of Shelburne had different reactions. “It tastes like sour candy. I want more of it,” Miranda said. Joey remained dubious, influenced by “three years digging it out of my parents’ yard.”
Hyla Howe of Essex Junction observed that our food choices have significant environmental impact. “Instead of buying spinach, you could just eat garlic mustard,” she said. “It’ll cut down on fossil fuels and get rid of invasives.” ➆
INFO
Learn more at intervale.org/ blog-source/sustainableforaging. Only eat foraged plants after confirming they are edible. Duncan Murdoch recommends Northeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles From Beach Plums to Wineberries by Leda Meredith (Timber Press, 2014).
Freeze-dried foods are wildly popular on social media and among backpackers, astronauts and doomsday preppers. Now, Essex Junction has a new storefront dedicated to the crunchy novelties: DRIED N’ TRUE SWEETS & TREATS.
The small shop, which opened in early April in the front of Studio Fisk Aveda salon at 14 Park Street, sells a wide variety of freezedried candy and local and organic fruits and vegetables.
CASEY FISK and her family started freeze-drying produce from their 900-squarefoot garden in 2020 as a pandemic project. They gave the results away, and soon people were asking to buy their freeze-dried treats.
“Our plan was to do this as a family, not so much to sell stuff,” Fisk said. “Then it just became more.”
They launched an online shop, and Fisk, 42, started offering the treats at her Park Street salon. This spring, she turned an unused front part of the salon into the retail space, which she believes is the first brick-and-mortar freeze-dried store in Vermont.
Fisk works full time in the salon, so hours are limited to when her husband, BRYANT FISK, and her children, AYDIN
LEGRAND, GAVYN
and
, can run the shop.
The freeze-drying process removes moisture — and creates its signature crunch — by converting a substance’s water content directly from ice to vapor. When stored correctly, freeze-dried food has a shelf life of up to 25 years, though Dried N’ True’s products, sold in deli containers to protect them from crushing, are not recommended for long-term storage.
“You can freeze-dry almost anything,” Fisk said. “The flavor is intensified, especially berries. And you don’t lose any of the nutrients.”
Freeze-dried treats also morph into unexpected shapes and textures: Gummy worms “get really huge,” Fisk said, and Jolly Rancher hard candies change into “gigantic balls of fluff.”
Dried N’ True offers samples of its products, including the top-selling Skittles, Werther’s Original caramels and Jell-O.
Follow us for the latest food gossip! On Instagram: Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry; Melissa Pasanen: @mpasanen.
and stacked burgers and fried chicken sandwiches on glossy, dark bronze buns, served with slender fries piled like golden pickup sticks.
Two couples from Northfield caught up over drinks, wings and nachos. The latter, Donna Norris joked, are “why we come back.” Her husband, Brian, put in his vote for the hot dogs and noted that he appreciates the locally brewed beer. Their friend Jeff Thurston registered his sole quibble: “I wish they’d beef up their French fries,” but Donna protested that she loved them thin.
The four friends said the brewpub’s food and ambience bring a lot to
downtown Northfield. “It’s a great place for the community,” Kathy Thurston said.
“It’s a great little eatery,” Donna agreed.
Kerner said he felt comfortable taking on the new restaurant venture at a tough time for the industry because of his strong team, including executive chef Todd Cassell. The two have worked together since the early days of Three Penny Taproom and Mad Taco. Their goal at the new pub, Kerner said, was to make “food that everybody would like.”
Affordability is also top of mind, he said. Even though the burger features Vermont beef and a locally baked La Panciata bun, the no-frills version with fries costs $9. If you go for a similarly “plain Jane” hot dog and fries ($6),
Outdoor dining in mud season is risky business. Warm days tempt us with sunshine and premature picnic tables, which are all the more glorious because the bugs aren’t yet out for blood. But 70-degree streaks can quickly revert to drizzly 40-degree ones, as I experienced on a recent trip to Jeffersonville’s Burger Barn.
This month — rain or shine — the Seven Days food team is heading out before the summer rush to revisit some of our favorite outdoor dining spots around Vermont: snack shacks, seasonal windows, food trucks and fancy patios. Burger Barn’s multicolored food trailer on Route 15 is on the way to some of my fair-weather haunts, including Hyde Park’s Green River Reservoir State Park and the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Its unassuming parking lot is filled with umbrella-covered picnic tables — and, at the height of summer, hungry diners.
“I always tell our counter girls that the first rule is: Don’t look at the line,” Burger Barn co-owner Kierstin Colaceci said. “You look at that line, you’re gonna get nervous. But if you just look at the one person in front of you, everything’s gonna be all right.”
Now in its 15th season, cash-only Burger Barn has built a reputation for its range: There are currently 33 burger options on the menu, from simple hamburgers to the unexpected Nuts About Thai, which comes topped with cabbage, carrots, sautéed onions and peppers, and spicy Thai peanut sauce. All are made with six-ounce grass-fed beef patties, sourced from Boyden Farm just five minutes up the road.
The menu also offers veggie burgers, seafood, breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, gluten-free buns and 15 different cheeses, though Cabot Creamery cheddar is the default, Colaceci said.
Two years ago, the roadside biz
upgraded its longtime trailer — green and yellow with a cow-spotted roof — to a larger one with fresh equipment. The new color scheme is downright tropical, with siding and trim in various shades of periwinkle, yellow, orange, green, pink and teal.
“It’s a party barn now,” Colaceci said.
Even on a cold, rainy day when I could see my breath — and a snowblower still sat on the deck near the walk-up window, just in case — Burger Barn was a bright spot.
Unknowingly, my dining companion and I ordered two of what Colaceci considers “the big three” most popular menu items: the Ethan Allen ($9) and El Alamo ($11). We split a pint of hand-cut fries ($4.25), which were perfectly crisp until I soaked them with vinegar from one of the condiment station’s spray bottles.
Burgers in hand, we rushed to the car. I was happy for a dry seat, and I didn’t mind that the Ethan Allen’s juicy grilled apples, melty Cabot cheddar and cranberry-garlic mayo were soon dripping all over me. I managed to steal a bite of the impressively large El Alamo, topped with bacon, deepfried onion rings, banana peppers, Cabot cheddar and barbecue sauce. Thankfully, the burgers came with plenty of napkins.
Burger Barn is now open daily, and the picnic tables are out for nicer days. The season hits full steam when school lets out, Colaceci said, “but I get calls all year long, [asking] whether or not we’re closed.”
This year, the barn was open all winter. The cars may not spill out onto the roadside or park in a nearby field as they do on prime summer days, but plenty of folks are willing to brave the elements for a burger.
Burger Barn, 4968 Route 15, Jeffersonville, 730-3441, facebook.com/burgerbarnvt. Cash only.
you can even squeeze in a pint of Good Measure’s Riser American cream ale ($4) for a total of $10, Kerner pointed out.
The hot dogs, he promised, are extra special, from a Las Vegas-based, cheffounded company called Snap-O-Razzo that makes maple wood-smoked linked dogs the old-school way. “I love hot dogs,” Kerner said.
I regret not ordering one of those dogs, but I don’t regret what we did order. We had a hard time choosing, tempted by the pork schnitzel sandwich with mushrooms and gravy ($16); the fried fish tacos with pickled jalapeño and lemon mayo ($10 for two); and the Rhodey hot dog ($8) topped with meat sauce, shaved onions, tangy mustard and celery salt. (If
I’d known how special the hot dogs were, I would have gone for that last one.)
In the end, we settled on the Sweet Tom smash burger ($15), topped with housemade sweet tomato jam, Swiss cheese, red onion and pickled jalapeño; and the Nashville Hot chicken sandwich ($16), layered with caraway slaw, garlic pickles, Fresno hot sauce and hot honey Dijon.
The latter definitely fell on the spicy side, though it wasn’t as hot as those in Nashville, my husband observed, where “They’re so hot, it’s a dare.” Both burger and sandwich came with the excellently crisp, well-browned fries. (Sorry, Jeff, but I agree with Donna.)
We also shared the fried local oyster
mushrooms ($11), which I strongly recommend. The savory, meaty (but not actually meaty), crisp-coated fungi come scattered with herbs and Parmesan. Kerner said he adds them to sandwiches and burgers, and I can see how they would take everything up a notch.
If you crave something green, as we did, the harvest beet salad ($15) with beets, apples and goat cheese, is plenty big enough for two.
Naturally, we paired our meal with beer. My husband repeated his 2021 order of Social Club ($6 for 16 ounces) and had a pint of Sine Wave, a New Zealand pale ale ($7). I created a tasting flight of three four-ounce pours (each $3): Barn Coat, a very light, slightly sweet American farmhouse ale; the fruity, tart and yeasty Such a Delight sour ale created by assistant brewer Clara Walsh; and Proper, a warm, toasty American brown ale that drank like a hug from an old friend.
Kerner said Good Measure has always been about making beers in approachable styles with lower alcohol levels and high flavor — “balanced beer that doesn’t overwhelm the palate,” in his words. The brewery’s flagship brown ale, cream ale and extra special bitter, he said, “are not the sexiest styles, but if you do them right, they last the test of time.”
A pair of Norwich University studentathletes sitting near my husband and me said they sometimes drink beer at the pub, but that Sunday was a margarita day for a belated birthday celebration.
Josh Skelley, a senior from Buffalo, N.Y., always gets the Cubano sandwich ($16): “It’s a party in your mouth,” he said. His friend Garrett Field, a junior from Florida, said he usually indulges in the GMPB burger topped with peanut butter, bacon and pickles ($15), which he described as “the best thing ever.” But today he wanted a double patty, which would have added $4, so he saved a couple of dollars by settling on the Think Fast ($17), with two patties, American cheese, pickles, onions and special sauce.
Cost is a factor for them, Skelley and Field said, but on that score they find Good Measure competitive with the closest chain restaurant, which is 20 minutes away.
“It’s much better food, and it’s also got good vibes,” Field said. “I’d much rather go here.” ➆
IT’S A GREAT PLACE FOR THE COMMUNITY.
Every now and then, we are called to leave the familiar behind and venture into the unknown. We might hike a new mountain, head o to college, make a career change or immigrate to a distant country. With each adventure, we face challenges and rediscover ourselves and our world.
Paula Higa’s personal journey from Brazil to Vermont held so many surprises that the dance artist was inspired to create a new work. The Migrant Body Project, composed of two short films and a live performance, explores the complexities of human mobility.
“Every time you open a door, it’s a new scene, a new environment,” Higa said. “We are always experiencing new territories.”
The live performance, titled The Migrant Body, premieres Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6, in the renovated barn at Isham Family Farm in Williston. Five Vermonters will perform Higa’s choreography to music by Canadian composer Owen Belton. They’ll read poetry and prose by dramaturge Mario Higa, the choreographer’s husband and longtime collaborator. Colchester visual artist and educator Susan Smereka has designed some of the set.
Higa, who lives in Williston, is an assistant professor and resident choreographer in the dance program at the University of Vermont. Her works explore concepts of feminism and discrimination by mining intersections between dance and the visual arts. She has been presenting pieces
locally since 2011 and with her company, Paula Higa Dance, since 2016.
Informed by ballet and contemporary dance, Higa’s choreography is athletic, rhythmic, emotive and daring. Dancers seem to cradle and protect each other in one moment, then spar and strike in the next. Sculpture, video projection, everyday items and the natural world influence dancers’ interactions.
“Paula’s work is extremely thematic,” said Carolyn Connor, a UVM dance graduate who has been in Higa’s company since its inception. Because Higa begins with a theme rather than with movement or music, each of her works is very di erent, Connor explained.
Higa’s 2021 film, “Aquela Que Eu
The One I Wanted to Be, examines dichotomies of power and impotence, desire and aversion, and conflict and cooperation.
The 18-minute film received an Outstanding Achievement Award for a Screendance
Short from the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and the Bronze Award for Best Screendance Short from the Independent Shorts Awards.
The Migrant Body Project, which Higa launched in 2021, grew out of her own move to the U.S. with her family in 2004. Before Vermont, they lived in Texas and Tennessee. Every new place was “a new beginning, a new birth because of how many things we had to learn,” she recalled. Not until her move to the Green Mountain
State in 2009 did she become acutely aware of both her privilege in Brazil and lack thereof in the U.S.
“If I go back to Brazil, I am a white woman. But here, I’m BIPOC,” Higa remarked. “It was something that I had never experienced before.” Living in Vermont deepened her awareness of what it is to walk in others’ shoes, she said, and made her “more aware of how society treats minorities.”
In 2022, Higa created the experimental film “Sub Pelle Mea” (“Under My Skin”), the first component of the Migrant Body Project. Viewable on her website, the 3:45-minute short examines “the delicacy and translucency of skin,” Higa said, and its role in identity. She wonders how we’d treat each other if we didn’t have skin. She created the film in collaboration with Boston artist Debra Weisberg, UVM dance lecturer Julie Peoples-Clark, Monkton videographer and video editor Cal Hopwood, and the UVM Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
To create the second short film, “The Migrant Body,” Higa broadened her inquiry to encompass the universality of human mobility. For her, birth is the initial immigration: “You were in that environment, breathing water, living in water, and then you were pushed out to land.”
“We are always looking for something else, and that entails sometimes going from one place to another,” added her husband, Mario, a professor of LusoHispanic studies at Middlebury College. “Since the beginning … this is evolution: people going forward by moving around.”
The 12.5-minute film, which premieres this fall at UVM on dates yet to be announced, takes place in a lake, on the shore, in mud, on a grassy field and in a white room — environs that evoke birth as well as our evolution from water-dwelling creatures to modern humans. The locales also reference the three elements by which people immigrate — land, water and air. “These were the natural elements I was working with,” Higa explained.
Filmed at Shelburne Farms and at two Burlington City Arts spaces, 10 dancers run, reach, interact and open doors as symbols of change, migration, opportunity and discovery. Their energetic movements are informed by gestures from daily life. “I think the gesture is my aesthetic,” Higa remarked. “I love hands. I talk with my hands.”
Higa codirected the film with Hopwood and ultimately credits the film’s completion to dancer, administrator and educator Haley Bradstreet Olszewski, who
New works by Paula Higa Dance explore themes of migration and identity
produced the film. “Without her, this film really wouldn’t have been possible,” Higa said. The short was recently selected to screen at the Florence Dance on Screen Festival in Italy in May, and Higa is submitting it to other festivals and competitions.
To create the project’s third and final element, the live performance, Higa expanded the film’s choreography and altered the work for the stage. She invited Smereka to design set components that suggests land, water and air, and she asked Mario to compose additional poetry and prose.
In “The Migrant Body” film, a narrator reads Mario’s poem “The Yellow Chrysanthemum,” a meditation on restlessness and desire. In the performance, dancers recite this poem and four more by Mario that are by turns silly, poignant and serious.
Cooper will dance that solo in the live performance. “It’s very emotional,” she said. Though she has never lived in another country, she, like many people, felt alone and uncomfortable during the pandemic. While rehearsing the dance, “I’m thinking a lot about the isolation that people feel when they move from place to place,” she said.
Professional composer and recording engineer Belton created the music for the live performance and the sound score for the film, which includes sound effects as well as his music. The Vancouver resident has composed for renowned Canadian choreographer and dancer Crystal Pite, numerous national ballet companies, and many short films and theater plays.
South Burlington’s Kristi Kilpatrick designed the costumes, and Bennington’s Thomas Dunn designed the lighting.
Higa received funding for the Migrant Body Project from the Vermont Community Foundation and the New England Foundation for the Arts. She received in-kind support from Shelburne Farms and Burlington City Arts.
Compared to Higa’s previous works, “this one is much more rooted in dance theater,” Cooper said. “There’s more spoken word and audience interaction.”
Five of the 10 dancers in the film will perform in the show, and all are Vermonters. Cooper will dance with Candace Fugazy, Calvin Walker, Olivia Schrantz and Charlotte Feinberg.
One notable Brazilian Canadian is in the film but not the live show. Professional dancer and choreographer Márcio Vinícius Paulino Silveira, who lives in Montréal, gives a riveting solo in the film’s final scene.
Silveira is proud of all he has accomplished since moving to Canada more than 10 years ago, he said, but wants to reconnect with his homeland. “Making the move of going to another country comes with a lot of sacrifices,” he reflected. “The weight of those sacrifices are different now than when I first moved here.” The film’s theme resonated with him and suggested ways to express his roots in his own art.
Exploration and discovery are central to Higa’s creative process — and often lead her down unexpected paths. “I think art pieces never really end the way they started,” said Olszewski, who has danced with Higa for nearly as long as Cooper. “Migrant Body started with the idea of skin and its delicacy but also its strength, elasticity, all those things. And then you apply that to the body, the migrant body: your strength, your elasticity, your flexibility, and having to change and adapt … Skin is constantly changing. You’re constantly changing.”
The Migrant Body marks the launch of the farm’s annual summer arts series, First: Earth Project, a nonprofit endeavor that champions community, the performing arts and the natural environment. The season continues with Vermont Repertory Theatre’s performance of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors , May 25 through 27; the Alyx Hilshey Family Magic Show, June 10; and Williston Community Theatre’s Little Shop of Horrors , June 22 through 24. More events will be announced later. ➆
Saturday, May 6 | 7 PM
Saturday, December 4 | 11 AM - 3 PM
Ballet Vermont’s (re)BOUND brings provocative and dynamic choreography from three Vermont dance makers to the stage.
MAY 5 | 7 PM John Gorka
JUN 3 | 7 PM
HIGHLANDARTSVT.ORG
802.533.2000 2875 HARDWICK ST, GREENSBORO, VT WonderArts
IN-PERSON
■ Bleu Lavande Lavender Farm Tour
■ Soda Plant Tour
■ Slow Birding with the Bird Diva
■ Exploring Lake Champlain Aboard UVM’s Hybrid Research Vessel Marcelle
■ Trees, Forests, and Forestry with the Chittenden County Forester
■ Shelburne Farms: The Art and Science of Cheddar Making
■ Shelburne Museum Tour: Built From the Earth: Pueblo Pottery
■ The Lost Mural: An International Treasure in VT
■ Planning a Pollinator Garden
■ Summer Medicinal Herb Walk
■ The Natural Muse: In Among Trees (An outdoor Poetry workshop)
■ The History of Sheep in VT
■ UVM Morgan Horse Farm Tour
■ Cooking Demo: Summertime Sauces, Condiments, and Quick Pickles
■ Labyrinth Walking for Peace and Clarity
■ Historic Walking Tour of UVM
■ Attaining Fluid Motion in Walking: An Intro Feldenkrais Workshop
■ Beginning Yoga
■ New York Historical Society Virtual Tour: Scenes of New York City—The Elie and Sarah Hirschfield Collection
■ Hügelkultur 101: Sustainable Raised Bed Gardening
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UVM is a community of adult learners who enjoy year-round courses and events that are diverse, interesting, fun, and affordable.
EVERY TIME YOU OPEN A DOOR, IT’S A NEW SCENE, A NEW ENVIRONMENT. WE ARE ALWAYS EXPERIENCING NEW TERRITORIES.
PAULA HIGA
This July, central Vermont will lose two pillars of its musical community when Steven and Kathy Light of Marshfield move to Minneapolis. For the past 50 years, the Lights have enriched the region with performances of a unique range of music: medieval and Renaissance melodies with their ensemble the Fyre and Lightning Consort, Jewish klezmer music with Rick Winston’s Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band, and Javanese gamelan with the community group Gamelan Sulukala.
The Lights will perform their last concerts with all three groups over the course of a month, starting with Fyre and Lightning on Saturday, May 6. The performance will feature Steven, who founded the ensemble in 1974; Kathy, who joined six months later; and Ellie Hayes, a member since 1981.
During the concert, Steven and Kathy will play an astonishing array of instruments, which is typical for the 70- and 71-year-old. Steven will perform the program’s medieval and Renaissance music on the lute, recorders and cornemuse, a French double-reed wind instrument;
for the Galician, Irish and Scottish tunes, he’ll play traditional bagpipes and double bass. Kathy will play harp, recorders and a hurdy-gurdy, a medieval folk instrument. She’ll also sing.
That will be Fyre and Lightning’s final concert after 50 years of performances. The klezmer band, too, will fold after 42 years following its final concert on Saturday, May 27.
Only the gamelan ensemble will survive the Lights’ departure. Since they founded Gamelan Sulukala in 2013, Steven has led on the drums and Kathy on the bonang barung, which consists of rows of circular gong chimes. After the Lights’ final performance on Saturday, June 3, the 16-member group will be led by Peter Cressy, a percussionist; and Jessa Loranger, who studied gamelan as a graduate student.
Steven is also leaving behind his position as events coordinator of Plainfield Arts, a series he and Kathy started in 2015 in the newly renovated but underused Plainfield Town Hall Opera House. The series, which has since drawn sellout audiences and a loyal following, will continue under the leadership of Karl
Bissex and a group of board and community members.
Vermont has been the Lights’ home since they met at Goddard College in 1971. In a phone interview, Kathy described the prospect of moving as “heartbreaking, bittersweet. Change is a big challenge.”
Steven added, “It’s completely impossible to reconcile the pros and the cons.” The couple are moving to Minneapolis to be with their two daughters and five grandchildren, who range in age from 12 to 2-year-old twins.
“Maybe it’s time for us to go to their stuff,” Kathy said. “Our kids came to all of our stuff.”
The core of that “stuff” was early music. Steven and Kathy both came to Goddard — he from the Bronx, she from a Detroit suburb — to study the discipline. At the time, the busy campus hosted Bread and Puppet Theater as artists-in-residence and a village gamelan handmade from iron and rolled steel by ethnomusicologist, multiinstrumentalist, teacher and composer Dennis Murphy. (Gamelan Sulukala play a fancy court gamelan that was donated to the college and collected dust for 10 years before the Lights resurrected it.)
Murphy, who died in 2010, would become the Lights’ longtime mentor and a member of both Fyre and Lightning and Nisht Geferlach. The last song on the Fyre concert program, “Big Green Tree,” is his composition.
The music teacher had an outsize impact on the couple’s approach to musical styles. “Dennis’ attitude was that music
skills are transferrable,” Steven recalled. “You want to learn as much as possible, and you don’t need to stay in your lane.”
After graduating in 1975, the Lights spent three years living with Larry Gordon, a renowned singer and choral leader, on a commune in Plainfield with the memorable name of New Hamburger. They also joined Word of Mouth Chorus, the progenitor of Village Harmony. Founded by Gordon, who died in 2021, the chorus specialized in the Sacred Harp tradition (aka shapenote music) and Renaissance music. Word of Mouth toured with Bread and Puppet Theater; the Lights participated in tours from the 1970s through the puppet company’s 1980 performances in England, France and Italy.
Hayes, who plays a stringed instrument called the vielle, recorders and penny whistle with Fyre and Lightning, also went on that European tour; she met the Lights when she joined Word of Mouth in the late 1970s. Eventually, she also sang with Kathy in the women’s chorus Anima, played trombone and piano with Nisht Geferlach, and joined Gamelan Sulukala.
Asked about the prospect of Fyre and Lightning’s end and the Lights’ departure, Hayes, who lives in South Woodbury, summed up feelings echoed by many local musicians.
“I feel like I’m walking to the edge of the world with them. This is their identity; this is what they’ve been doing for 50 years,” she said. “We’ll just be happy if we can get through the concert without falling apart.”
“It’s a very bittersweet feeling,” agreed Winston, who lives in Adamant. The 75-year-old Goddard alum met Steven in Murphy’s gamelan class.
“Everybody’s gone through having good friends leave, but [the Lights] are such an important part of the community here,” he said. “And their efforts to resurrect the Plainfield Opera House have been very successful and very appreciated.”
Winston founded Nisht Geferlach in 1981 (the same year he cofounded the Savoy Theater in Montpelier), when the organizer of the now-defunct Barre Ethnic Heritage Festival expressed concern that she had programmed Polish, French Canadian and Italian groups but no Jewish music. Winston, who grew up with Yiddishspeaking grandparents in Yonkers, N.Y., rounded up the Lights, Murphy, Hayes, Anne Zuckerman, and native Yiddish speaker and singer Avram Patt to form a klezmer band.
“We thought we were just getting together for this one job,” Winston recalled. While the band’s members have changed over the years, the Lights have remained stalwarts. They play trumpet and clarinet, the melody instruments.
Winston called both Steven and Kathy
After half a century of leading local ensembles, a Marshfield couple prepare a musical farewell
“devoted” music teachers. Steven taught music at what is now Northern Vermont University in Johnson from 2006 to 2021, a career that overlapped with his 32 years of teaching instrumental music at Hazen Union School in Hardwick until 2012. Kathy taught music at the pre-K-12 Cabot School, Rumney Memorial School in Middlesex and Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury. At Hazen, a junior and senior high school, she taught chorus for 12 years.
“They influenced generations of Vermonters,” Winston noted. The Brian McCarthy Jazz Orchestra’s eponymous saxophone player, who often plays with jazz great Ray Vega, learned his instrument with Steve at Hazen. And Andy Gagnon, the Stowe schools’ instrumental music director, studied voice with Kathy and instrumental music and composition with Steven.
The Lights’ teaching abilities particularly struck M.T. Anderson, a National Book Award-winning author who lives in East Calais and has played in Gamelan Sulukala since 2014.
“They really understand what it’s like to learn. They’re extremely good at gently ushering people forward,” Anderson said.
And, he added, they have a good “sense of management,” a useful talent when leading a community group that has included everyone from teenagers to people in their late seventies. Members’ concerns can be equally wide-ranging, from Anderson’s self-confessed musical “snobbery” — he has written books about Dmitri Shostakovich and George Frideric Handel — to a former member’s tendency to knit during performances when she got bored.
“They find ways to bring together different levels of expertise and engagement and form a community out of it,” Anderson said of the Lights. “There’s an incredible generosity to them. They really do give everything for the community.”
At the Gamelan Sulukala concert on June 3, he added, “We’re all going to be in tears.”
Fortunately, the Lights aren’t gone yet. As Hayes said, “They’ll be around for the next couple months, and we’ll make the most of it. If they were leaving tomorrow, it would be horrible.” ➆
The Fyre and Lightning Consort, Saturday, May 6, 7 p.m., at the Plainfield Town Hall Opera House.
Nisht Geferlach Klezmer Band, Saturday, May 27, 7 p.m., at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier.
Gamelan Sulukala, Saturday, June 3, 7 p.m., at the Haybarn Theatre, Goddard College, in Plainfield.
Learn more at fyreandlightning.org.
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For his 2010 play Venus in Fur, David Ives wraps a central theme of psychosexual power dynamics in a crazy quilt of theatrical genres to produce a head-spinning comedy. If Ives is almost recklessly playful, the two actors in the Vermont Stage production bring such vitality to their roles that the play pulses with tension from start to intermissionfree finish. Part joyride, part rumination, the show explores the balance of opposing forces.
Pleasure and pain make up one such pair, but so do performance and reality. Director Cristina Alicea remounts her 2014 production with the original cast of Jordan Gullikson and Deanna McGovern. This version o ers a new trove of insights. The seduction theme remains: Look what I’m willing to do for you. But these performances add a new implication: If I’m willing to do this, who am I?
Ives puts quite a lot of ingredients in his blender, from light erotica to a hint of farce to stone-cold mythology. But ultimately there’s no explanation for the play’s events, which occur on a rainy night in a present-day New York City theater director’s studio. We don’t need one, because when the plot sputters, comedy fills the gaps.
Thomas is getting ready to go home after a disappointing day of auditions for the play he’s directing. It’s his own adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870 novella Venus in Furs. Thomas is on the phone telling his girlfriend he can’t find a female actor with the intelligence, beauty and style to play the main character, Vanda, a 19th-century Austrian noblewoman. He’s almost out the door when a woman rushes in, late, harried and soaked from the rainstorm outside. She’s there to audition.
Her arpeggio of excuses does not hint at future reliability, or at any grasp of 19th-century refinement. But the flash of lighting at her entrance may signal supernatural forces at work. As she complains about the creepy guy who rubbed against her on the subway, spouts o about the unfairness of casting, entreats Thomas to give her a chance and finally just won’t budge, it’s clear she’ll do anything to read the part. That showcase of persuasion is actually a preview of just what the character will need to complete her sexual relationship with the play’s other character. Oh, yes. The actor’s name is Vanda. Thomas finally agrees to let her audition, even though it means he’ll have to read the other role, since everyone else has left. And then the flustered Vanda gives her long hair a light shake, arches her throat and reads her first line in a perfect continental accent with the composure of an
eater review: Venus in Fur, Vermont Stage BY ALEX BROWN • alex@sevendaysvt.com
aristocrat. The transformation is dizzying, and one of many to come.
The hall of mirrors shimmers to the end. We’re watching actors playing actors playing characters playing a game of sexual domination and submission. And they transform repeatedly as they embellish the personae they develop. The symmetry of sadomasochism is the play’s primary geometry, but Ives ri s on the opposition in a host of power relationships. The funniest of these subversions is his twist on the actor-director relationship, and
when Vanda starts telling Thomas where to stand, the revolution has finally come. The play compresses an entire relationship into an audition, complete with a bold bit of improv and some role switches. Ives conjures a sense of freedom, plus a hint of surrealism, to make the story a springboard for surprise.
Alicea elicits strong performances to investigate how need registers as both the power to have a desire fulfilled and the weakness of requiring another to fulfill it. She stages the play with the audience seated on each side of a long alley,
emphasizing the viewer as voyeur. Her blocking is confident and elegant, with the slow, measured movement of 19th-century languor.
McGovern’s performance is rich, daring and startling. She invokes theater’s profound magic power, becoming someone else before our eyes. Every switch in mood or character is so swift and sure that once she has changed, the person she was seems like a hallucination. Vanda requires a performer to go beyond the core acting craft of expressing a desire, because Vanda wants everything. McGovern makes her appear capable of getting it.
As Thomas, the submissive character, Gullikson undergoes inherently milder transformations. The wish to be dominated never plays as soul-searing abjection; Gullikson falls to his knees but no lower. Still, he conveys the oscillation of power, training a hypnotized gaze on Vanda and peeling away Thomas’ defenses so the director can comprehend his own play. To lose one’s will is to understand it, at last.
The creative design features lighting from Jamien L. Forrest that underlines both the script’s supernatural highs and its subtler unpredictability. Scenic designer Je Modereger uses a wall of industrial windows to showcase the storm, which sound designer Thom Beaulieu orchestrates. The costumes by Suzanne E. Kneller are oddly lacking in magical aura, leaving every spark of transformation to the actors.
If Ives is taking on the objectification of women, the play spends a lot of time with one posing suggestively in a leather corset. Whether Vanda is breaking from the script or immersing herself in its fantasies, her character is the product of a male playwright teasing us all — and maintaining the power of the last word.
Alicea pulls the bowstring taut, then tauter, but Ives never really supplies an arrow. Instead, McGovern and Gullikson dazzle by twisting the power dynamics between actor and director, male and female, master and servant, even femme fatale and earnest fiancé. Viewers encounter conflicting clues about the mysterious Vanda, but her identity — and even her real desires — eludes us. The suspense gripping the audience is pure sensation, richer than story. There’s no climax, dramatically or sexually, which is perhaps Ives’ funniest flourish. ➆
Venus in Fur by David Ives, directed by Cristina Alicea, produced by Vermont Stage. rough May 14: Wednesday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 p.m., at Black Box eater, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, in Burlington. $31.05-38.50. vermontstage.org
IVES CONJURES A SENSE OF FREEDOM, PLUS A HINT OF SURREALISM, TO MAKE THE STORY A SPRINGBOARD FOR SURPRISE.
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realities — and the inclusion of geometric forms with no clear purpose. The latter might be seen as expressions of mental states or social circumstances rather than functional objects.
The 36-inch-square painting “Untitled (or that which we carry)” exhibits all these qualities. A relatively large figure is painted in the foreground: a young, dark-haired man dressed in a loose blue shirt, tan slacks and a black beanie. He’s also wearing a white mask, his face turned away from the viewer. He appears to be holding a cellphone but isn’t looking at it.
What’s most intriguing about the fi gure, however, is that he has no feet. Burnim left his body, and the red chair he’s sitting on, unfinished. Instead, the man’s crossed legs dangle into a distant farmscape surrounded by a pink sky. This rural vista, too, is cleaved even as it shares common ground. The second reality shift: a cluster of white, wall-like rectangles poking up in the top half of the painting.
“Painting a figure definitely introduces a narrative,” Burnim said. But in this case the story is elusive. She said the painting came about from collaging diverse elements together, “but there’s some connection to them,” she suggested.
The almost comically named “Structural Misgivings,” a 45-by-50-inch oil on panel, encloses a female figure in a ba ing — if not nightmarish — space surrounded by myriad tall walls. None has a door. The claustrophobic image allows one portal of blue, presumably sky, at the top, but the black-and-white diamond-patterned floor seems to be buckling, as if from an earthquake. The woman, clad in a tan coat and black gloves and carrying a large white bag, is turned away from the viewer. Without access to her expression, we are left to guess her response to this ominous space.
Montpelier artist Kate Burnim titled her current exhibit of paintings “Liminal Arc” for good reason: She’s fascinated with in-between spaces. And by that she means not just physical space but temporal, psychological and emotional, and
even shifts in direction during her artistic process. Physical evidence abounds on each of her canvases, if one knows how to look.
In roughly two dozen enigmatic paintings at the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery in Montpelier, Burnim presents a multitude of questions and challenges.
She likes to leave clues for the viewer — “the visual record of these investigations, the decisions made, reconsidered, and the new decisions made along the way,” as Burnim puts it on her website. This can result in coexisting images or picture planes on the same canvas — read: parallel
In other figurative works, Burnim presents subjects with direct gazes and self-assured stances, even in non-realist settings. “Repair,” one of the largest works in the exhibit at 48 by 79 inches, is dominated by the figure of a black-clad girl with long blond hair and an attitude that seems to say, “And so?” A stick-figure girl is sketched in at the rear, while inexplicable
rectangular shapes border the right side of the painting. The ground, a vast field of white, is hemmed in by a distant wall.
“Repair” is one of the paintings that, according to Burnim, speak to the questions of youth and the world they are inheriting. “What are we leaving them?” she asked rhetorically. The young people she depicts are in a liminal space themselves — between childhood and adulthood.
Burnim excels at conveying a sense of loneliness and impermanence even in unpeopled works. The exhibit includes her semiabstracted landscapes set in the Burlington rail yards, in blocky architecture and in scenes glimpsed from a moving train. “By the Lake,” 32 inches square, presents recognizable shapes of a warehouse, silo and streetlights but is
otherwise rendered in abstract gestures of color. Burnim pairs the real and the intuited with seemingly effortless fluidity.
Though she is deeply engrossed in the formal aspects of painting — palette, composition, mark making, adding and removing paint — Burnim seems equally focused on the storytelling potential of her works. The commonality of her paintings here — liminal space — invites viewers to envision their own.
“There’s a part of painting that is always a mystery,” Burnim said. “Sometimes I need to just get out of the way.” ➆
‘ABENAKI: FIRST PEOPLE EXHIBITION’: The council and members of Alnôbaiwi (in the Abenaki way) and the museum open a new exhibition featuring the Abenaki Year, the seasonal calendar of people who lived in the area for more than 8,000 years before Europeans arrived, as well as works by contemporary Abenaki artisans and a replica of a 19th-century Abenaki village. Opening reception: Saturday, May 6, 2 p.m. May 6-October 31. Info, 865-4556. Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington.
‘EUFLORIA’: Watercolor paintings by Annelein Beukenkamp and glass vases by Janet Zug. Watercolor demo: Saturday, May 27, 2-4 p.m., followed by closing reception 4-6 p.m. May 5-June 1. Info, 863-6458. Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery in Burlington.
‘(EXTRA)ORDINARY’: Small framed boxes by Jennifer Koch that feature collaged objects from her collections; and digital prints by Jordan Douglas from analog images of objects in his father’s house and studio. Opening reception: Friday, May 5, 5-8 p.m. Closing reception: Saturday, May 13, 2-5 p.m. May 5-13. Info, 373-7096. new new art studio in Burlington.
CHIP HAGGERTY: “Thank You Notes,” large-scale paintings on brown bag paper. Art walk reception: Friday, May 5, 4-7 p.m. May 5-June 3. Info, haggerty@pshift.com. The Front in Montpelier.
‘A THIRTY-YEAR CONVERSATION ABOUT ART’: Works in a variety of mediums by Alexandra Bottinelli, Cheryl Betz, Larry Bowling, Maggie Neale, Elizabeth Nelson, Kathy Stark, Janet Van Fleet and Ann Young. Third Floor Gallery. Artists talk: Tuesday, June 13, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Preregister. ‘ONE
+ ONE IS GREATER THAN TWO’: Works by 29 artists that depict multiples, patterns and relationships. Main Floor Gallery. May 10-June 24. Info, 479-7069. Studio Place Arts in Barre.
‘DESIGN MADE VISIBLE’: A multidisciplinary group exhibition exploring the table as metaphor. Reception : Thursday, May 4, 5-7 p.m. May 3-June 22. Info, 496-6682. The Gallery at Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield.
RORY JACKSON: “Seasonal Majesty,” a solo exhibition of new paintings by the local artist. Reception: Thursday, June 8, 5-6:30 p.m. May 9-June 27. Info, 989-7419. Edgewater Gallery on the Green in Middlebury.
NEW MEMBERS EXHIBITION: Fused-glass work by Garrett Sadler, wood crafts by Guy Rossi, landscape paintings by Brian Hewitt, pastel paintings of animals and nature by Lynn Austin, and sculpture and realist paintings by Liza Myers. Reception: Friday, May 5, 5-7 p.m. May 5-October 31. Info, 247-4956. Brandon Artists Guild.
LYNN GRAZNAK: “I Dream the Ghosts of Houses,” video art by the multidisciplinary artist. Reception and felted-puppet workshop with the artist: Friday, May 5, 5-7 p.m. RSVP. May 5-31. Free. Info, 295-6688. Junction Arts & Media in White River Junction.
Jordan Douglas and Jennifer Koch pack a lot into a brief exhibition — just a week long at the new new art studio in Burlington. In a play on the word “extraordinary,” the title speaks to the overwhelming abundance of everyday stuff in a person’s life. An accumulation might result from intentional collections or from simply never throwing anything away; visual chronicles of both are evident in “(extra)ordinary.”
Douglas, a photographer and teacher at Saint Michael’s and Champlain colleges, presents glimpses of objects from his artist father’s home and studio, several steps removed. That is, Douglas photographed individual items with traditional black-andwhite film and made contact sheets of the negatives. He then scanned the strips and made 16-by-18-inch digital prints of them, with items arranged in grids.
Stephen Douglas was a fascinating, eccentric character who, early in his New York art career, illustrated theater playbills and portraits of celebrities, his son explained. In the 1960s, he followed an Indian guru before marrying and moving to Westchester. In more recent years, he lived alone in a decrepit house infested with rodents and cluttered with things — Douglas called it “dadtritus.” Now suffering from dementia, the elder Douglas lives in a rehab facility; the task of clearing out his house fell to his children.
As Douglas photographed objects, he began to make decisions about grouping them together, he said. Not only do the items appear as ghostly vestiges of a life — his father’s — but in some way the items relate to each other.
“To have a memory of all these bits and pieces of this world [my father] constructed over 54 years, I realized they were having a conversation with each other,” Douglas said. “That became really exciting, because I like to stretch the bounds of photography, including aspects of process.
“Though they’re imbued with meaning, they’re also intriguing objects,” he added. “When I photograph them in black and white, they become tones, gestures, shapes.”
Douglas’ documentation of possessions has a precedent; he photographed items from his brother Gavin’s life when Gavin died suddenly several years ago. Some of these images were exhibited at Burlington’s Penny Cluse Café in early 2019. After his mother, Linda, died in December 2022, Douglas said, he began a similar series memorializing her via objects left behind.
Burlington artist and custom framer Jennifer Koch collects things: bones, buttons, dice, brushes, pencils, crushed eyeglasses (“Some I find walking or riding my bike before the street cleaners come in,” she explained), paint chips and more. In recent years Koch has primarily exhibited collaborative prints made with her husband, Gregg Blasdel. But this week she’s showing constructions in shadow-box frames that employ items from her treasure troves. She calls them “Charms.”
“I started making them in 2021. They’re really an extension
of my work with found materials,” Koch said. “These are mining the culture of stuff that I’ve been collecting for more than three decades. They’re more intimate, quiet, using materials that were once useful and giving them new life in another context.”
One construction features pencils bent at impossible angles and arranged à la pickup sticks. Another looks like an enlarged seed packet for dahlias adorned with blobs of acrylic paint. Yet another is a vintage black-and-white landscape print with a scattering of nearly 30 dice. The works are modest in size, Koch said — 8 by 12 or 13 by 10 inches.
Why call them “Charms”?
“I like Merriam-Webster’s definition of the word: actions or things believed to have magical powers; something to bring good luck; a trait that fascinates, allures or delights,” Koch said. “But I hate to overexplain the work. I’d rather the viewer have their own experience.”
Viewers can do just that Friday, May 5, through Saturday, May 13, at new new art studio, 4 Howard Street in Burlington. Receptions bookend the exhibit: May 5, 5 to 8 p.m., and May 13, 2 to 5 p.m.
DELIA ROBINSON: “Magical Thinking,” narrative daydream-inspired paintings by the Vermont artist.
Reception: Sunday, May 7, 3-5 p.m. May 6-June 4. Info, 533-2000. Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro.
‘THE ART OF HANDMADE PHOTOGRAPHY’: A group exhibition in a variety of genres, mediums, styles, sizes and approaches by more than 30 local and national photographers, juried by Dale Rio. May 5-July 2. Info, 251-6051. Vermont Center for Photography in Brattleboro.
KATHY BLACK, MICHAEL HEFFERNAN, SUSAN CALZA & HARRISON HALASKA: Paintings and video installation by the regional artists in four galleries.
Reception: Friday, May 5, 5-7 p.m. May 5-June 3. Info, 603-448-3117. AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H.
ART & ANTIQUE APPRAISAL DAY: Members of the public can bring up to five items for a professional appraisal by Mark “Buggyman” Ducharme, Amy Rutledge Jebrine, Ethan Merrill or Maria Roosevelt. Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, Saturday, May 6, noon-4 p.m. $10 per item. Info, 644-5100.
ARTISAN MARKET & MAKERIE: A spring tea-andtreats event including artworks; workshops in pinecone flowers, card making, mini pour paintings and more; door prizes; and refreshments. Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. $5. Info, 775-0356.
COLLAGE COLLECTIVE: Cut, paste and create with other collage enthusiasts either in studio or over Zoom. Open to all levels. Materials available at the studio. Expressive Arts Burlington, Monday, May 8, 6:30-9 p.m. Donations. Info, info@ expressiveartsburlington.com.
GALLERY TALK: WE LOVE HUE: Why is color so essential to the human experience, and how is our relationship to it changing? A discussion with Jonathan Mikulak and Michael Jager, creative director and founder and chief creative officer, respectively, of Solidarity of Unbridled Labour. Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington, Wednesday, May 3, 5:30 p.m. Free. Info, 656-0750.
OPEN STUDIO: Draw, collage, paint, move, write and explore the expressive arts however you please during this drop-in period. Available in studio and via Zoom. Most materials are available in the studio. All are welcome; no art experience necessary. Expressive Arts Burlington, Thursday, May 4, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Donations. Info, info@ expressiveartsburlington.com.
OPEN STUDIO: Make art alongside other artists, socialize, get feedback and try out new mediums. No experience required; art supplies provided. Hosted by the Howard Center Arts Collective, whose members have experience with mental health and/ or substance-use challenges. ONE Arts Center, Burlington, Monday, May 8, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Free. Info, artscollective@howardcenter.org.
STORYTELLING ROUNDTABLE: In collaboration with Vermont Folklife, multimedia artist Juan Hinojosa leads an evening of storytelling on the theme of newcomers and immigration and gives a tour of his exhibition “Paradise City.” Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Thursday, May 4, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 257-0124.
STUDENT ART SHOW: An annual exhibition of works displayed along wooded paths, including mosaics, paintings, stained glass and photography. Sales benefit the artists, with a portion allocated to the school art program. In the event of rain, the exhibition will move indoors. Rock Point School, Burlington, Friday, May 5, 5-7 p.m. Info, 863-1104.
ART AT THE HOSPITAL: Acrylic paintings by Matt Larson and Julio Desmont (Main Street Connector, ACC 3); photographic giclées by Jeffrey Pascoe (McClure 4 & EP2 Healing Garden); photographs by Sharon Radtke (EP2); and oil paintings by Judy Hawkins (BCC). Curated by Burlington City Arts. Through May 31. Info, 865-7296. University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.
‘ART/TEXT/CONTEXT’: An exhibition of art objects that prominently feature words, images, symbols, and gestural or abstract marks, and that considers their power to prompt critical reflection or spur social action. JOSEF ALBERS: “Formulation: Articulation,” featuring studies by the late German American artist (1888-1976) that show how perception of color is affected by the environments in which it is viewed. SHANTA LEE: “Dark Goddess: An Exploration of the Sacred Feminine,” large-scale black-and-white photographs that encourage inquiry beyond the limited roles to which society assigns women. Through May 20. Info, 656-0750. Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, in Burlington.
‘BLACK FREEDOM, BLACK MADONNA & THE BLACK CHILD OF HOPE’: Designed by Raphaella Brice and created by Brice and Josie Bunnell, this mural installed for Burlington’s 2022 Juneteenth celebration features a Haitian-inspired image of liberation. Through June 18. Info, 865-7166. Fletcher Free Library in Burlington.
‘CO-CREATED: THE ARTIST IN THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES’: Interactive projects that examine how artists are engaging with the rapidly changing field of artificial intelligence and its uniquely collaborative character. JULIA PURINTON: Nature-inspired abstract oil paintings. LBG Room. SARAH STEFANA SMITH: “Willful Matters,” photographic and sculptural black-and-white abstractions that explore ideas of Blackness and boundlessness by the contemporary artist and scholar. Through May 6. Info, 865-7166. BCA Center in Burlington.
COLOSSAL SANDERS: “Something’s Gone Terribly Wrong,” handmade art toys that examine human folly: destroying the natural world and its inhabitants, wrecking cars, and just plain ignorance. Through May 31. Info, 338-7441. Thirty-odd in Burlington.
‘CONNECTIONS’: Howard Center Arts Collective presents an art installation of painted mailboxes and mosaics, inviting viewers to reflect on the benefits of old-fashioned mail delivery and to consider whether mailboxes have become relics of the past. Through July 31. Info, artscollective@ howardcenter.org. Howard Center in Burlington.
‘ECLECTICISM’: A group exhibit of poster designs by Champlain College students under the guidance of artist and faculty member Stella Marrs. Through May 4. Info, gallery@champlain.edu. Champlain College Stair Nook Gallery in Burlington.
ETHAN HACKER: “Instance and Obstruction,” photographs by the Champlain College student, part of his senior capstone project. Through May 4. Info, gallery@champlain.edu. Champlain College Art Gallery in Burlington.
SARAH ROSEDAHL: “Coffee Break,” paintings of farm animals enjoying a cup. Curated by SEABA. Through June 27. Info, 859-9222. Speeder & Earl’s Coffee in Burlington.
‘ABENAKI CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE VERMONT
COMMUNITY’: A series of murals designed by Scott Silverstein in consultation with Abenaki artists Lisa Ainsworth Plourde and Vera Longtoe Sheehan and members of Richmond Racial Equity; the 10 panels celebrate the Abenaki origins of practices still important to Vermont culture. Through May 31. Info, radiate.art.space@gmail.com. Richmond Town Hall.
DEB PEATE: “Whimsical Heads,” wall sculptures featuring William Morris textile designs and vintage jewelry. Through July 1. Info, 863-2569. Healthy Living Market & Café in South Burlington.
EL EMIGRANTE: Paintings of imagined landscapes by the Mexican migrant working in Vermont, and a display of his story from the comic “Algo Adentro/ Something Inside.” Artist talk: Friday, May 19, 4:30-6 p.m. RSVP. Through June 30. Info, wellness@ opendoormidd.org. Brownell Library in Essex Junction.
‘EMERGENCE’: Spring-themed paintings by members of the Vermont Watercolor Society. Through May 14. Info, 899-3211. Emile A. Gruppe Gallery in Jericho.
GREG NICOLAI: Black-and-white and color photographs. Curated by Burlington City Arts. Through June 23. Info, 865-7296. Pierson Library in Shelburne.
ROSS SHEEHAN: “Defects and Other Objects,” works on paper and canvas featuring patterns that exist in eyes, teeth and fingerprints, as well as small mixedmedia sculptures. Through May 31. Info, 846-4140. South Burlington Public Library Art Wall.
‘VERMONT VERNACULAR’: Paintings, mixed-media works and photography by Linda Finkelstein, Kathleen Fleming, Susan Larkin and Phil Laughlin. Through May 30. Info, gallery@southburlingtonvt. gov. South Burlington Public Art Gallery.
CINDY LEE LORANGER: Vibrant pop-style and abstract mixed-media works with a jazz-appreciation theme. Through May 15. Info, 479-0896. Espresso Bueno in Barre.
ELIZABETH RICKETSON: Abstract-expressionist paintings of representational subjects by the Vermont artist. Through May 8. Info, 225-6232. Filling Station in Middlesex.
HILARY ANN LOVE GLASS: Mixed-media drawings and paintings of flora and fauna. Reception: Friday, May 12, 4-7 p.m. Through June 30. Info, 229-6206. North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier.
KATE BURNIM: “Liminal Arc,” paintings that contemplate space, time, separation and togetherness, boundaries, transition, and memory. Through June 30. Info, 279-5558. Vermont Supreme Court Gallery in Montpelier.
MICHAEL STRAUSS: “Selected Works,” vibrant paintings of life in Vermont by the South Burlington artist and writer. THE PRINTMAKING INVITATIONAL
2023: A showcase of prints by Vermont artists Brian Cohen, Maureen O’Connor Burgess and Daryl Storrs, curated by Phillip Robertson. Through May 25. Info, 262-6035. T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier.
ROBERT CHAPLA: “Paradise Paved: Same Song Different Verse,” paintings of roads and built environments, curated by Studio Place Arts. Through May 20. Info, 479-7069. AR Market in Barre.
‘WILD THINGS’: A group exhibition of 21 pieces by 19 artists that explore the relationships of nature, fantasy, eroticism and spirituality. Through May 6. Info, hexumgallery@gmail.com. Hexum Gallery in Montpelier.
‘BFA TWO’: A culminating bachelor of fine art exhibit featuring works by Lynna Page, Deanna Santo and Dylan Young. Reception and artist talk: Wednesday, May 3, 3 p.m. Through May 13. Info, 635-1469. Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, Northern Vermont University, in Johnson.
DEB PEATE: “Whimsical Heads,” featuring William Morris textile designs and vintage jewelry. Through May 7. Info, dpeate@yahoo.com. LEGACY COLLECTION: A showcase exhibition of paintings by gallery regulars as well as some newcomers. Through December 23. SMALL MEMBERS’ GROUP SHOW: An exhibition of works by 16 member artists, curated by the artists themselves. Through May 7. Info, 644-5100. Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville.
‘HOME AND HOW WE MAKE IT’: An exhibition of 30 miniature rooms, as well as woodworking, textiles and paintings that define visually and conceptually what home means. Through June 1. Info, 888-1261. River Arts in Morrisville.
LIZ KAUFFMAN: “Affinity,” abstract paintings that explore harmony and tension in color and form. Through May 16. Info, 635-2727. Red Mill Gallery, Vermont Studio Center, in Johnson.
PATTY HUDAK: “Gyring, Spiring,” a solo exhibition of nature-inspired oil paintings by the Vermont artist. Through May 6. Info, 646-519-1781. Minema Gallery in Johnson.
2023 BCA COMMUNITY FUND: Artists are invited to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 to support a Burlington-based project that promotes a vibrant creative community and contributes to the greater public good. Application at burlingtoncityarts.awardsplatform.com. Online. Through May 22.
AIA VERMONT COMMUNITY OUTREACH
GRANT: The $1,500 Carol Miklos Community Outreach Grant was created to support initiatives and special funding requests that have the potential to foster engagement with architecture and design in Vermont’s communities. Deadline: June 1. Application at aiavt.org. Online. Free. Info, 448-2169.
ARTS ON THE GREEN: Calling artists and artisans to the fourth annual outdoor arts market and festival in Chelsea. The September 2 event includes vendor booths, live music, food trucks, auction tent and family art activities. Find application details at chelseavtarts.com. Deadline: July 30. Online. $50 for vendor booth. Info, chelseaartscollective@ gmail.com.
‘CELEBRATION’: Artists are invited to submit one or two pieces of artwork in any medium that expresses the theme of celebration, for a summertime exhibition at Jericho Town Hall. Details and registration at jerichovt.org. Online. Through May 26. Info, catherine.mcmains@gmail. com.
CROWDSOURCED CINEMA VT TEAM
SIGNUPS: This statewide community film project remakes a feature film, scene by scene. This year, help us remake Toy Story. No experience necessary. Online. Through May 6. Free. Info, 651-9692.
MURALIST NEEDED: Arts So Wonderful seeks a volunteer artist to recreate four downtown Burlington murals. If interested, or for more info, contact artssowonderful2@gmail.com. Arts So Wonderful Gallery, South Burlington. Through May 8.
RABBLE-ROUSER ART GALLERY SHOWCASE: Black, Indigenous, people of color and queer artists are encouraged to apply to an open themed monthly exhibition. Art can be unconventional, multicultural, political, seek to break societal constructs, question norms, foster social change or just make people ponder.
Send artwork samples or portfolio along with name, medium, artwork description, and size and price per piece, if applicable, to culture@ rabblerouser.net. Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft Co., Montpelier. Through June 30. Free. Info, 225-6227.
SOLO & SMALL GROUP SHOWS: Studio Place Arts in Barre invites artists to apply for 2024 exhibitions in its second- and third-floor galleries. Application info at studioplacearts.com. Deadline: June 3. Online. $10 nonmembers. Info, submissions.studioplacearts@gmail.com.
SOUTH END ART HOP REGISTRATION: Artists and vendors are invited to sign up to participate in Burlington’s largest art festival in September. Details and application at seaba.com. Online. Through July 31. Info, 859-9222.
SYLVIA BARRY ART CONTEST: The annual competition for students is designed to encourage the artistic endeavors of local youth. Open to permanent residents of Grand Isle County in grades K-8 attending GISU or home schools. Details at islandarts.org. Deadline: May 19. Online. Free. Info, islandartscontest@gmail. com.
‘TEXTURE!’: The next exhibit at Sparrow Art Supply Gallery in Middlebury will feature artworks that are rough, soft, scratchy, silky, furry, glossy, spiky and more! Guidelines at sparrow-art-supply.square.site. Deadline: May 14. Online. Free to enter; $10 if accepted. Info, 989-7225.
‘WHEELS!’: The Museum of Everyday Life invites wheel-related contributions to an upcoming exhibition: personal artifacts accompanied by a narrative, raw ideas for displays, fully realized art objects, theoretical writings and more. To contribute, or for more info, contact Clare Dolan via the “contact us” form at museumofeverydaylife. org. Online. Through May 12.
‘YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY SPINELESS’: Artists are invited to contribute to an upcoming show that highlights invertebrates, large and small, frightening and beautiful. Traditional and nontraditional mediums, including installations, are acceptable. For more info and applications, email submissions.studioplacearts@gmail.com.
Deadline: May 27. Studio Place Arts, Barre. $10 nonmembers. Info, 479-7069.
SCOTT LENHARDT: An exhibition of graphic designs for Burton Snowboards created since 1994 by the Vermont native. Through October 31. Info, 253-9911. Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in Stowe.
‘A CELEBRATION OF TREES’: Artwork by 80 local artists in a variety of mediums that convey heartfelt appreciation for trees, in collaboration with the Middlebury Tree Committee. Through May 13. Info, 989-7225. Sparrow Art Supply in Middlebury.
‘INTRODUCING!’: A group exhibition featuring new Edgewater artists Tracy Burtz, Melanie Considine, Marcia Crumley, Larry Horowitz, Julie Keller and Sasha Dorje Meyerowitz. Through May 25. Info, 4580098. Edgewater Gallery at the Falls in Middlebury.
WINSLOW COLWELL: “#Skylights,” paper constructions, light boxes, kite art and folded lanterns by the Ripton artist. Through June 10. Info, 382-9222. Jackson Gallery, Town Hall Theater, in Middlebury.
‘IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ARTS’: A showcase of work by artists in grades pre-K-12 from Vermont schools and homeschoolers. Through May 26. Info, 775-0356. Chaffee Art Center in Rutland.
‘EMERGENCE’: A group exhibition of monoprints, woodcut prints, paintings and collages by studio artists and friends. Through May 28. Info, 295-5901. Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction.
JOHN LEHET: “Spring Hopes Eternal,” seasonal nature-based photography. Through July 3. Info, 295-4567. Long River Gallery in White River Junction.
CHUCK TROTSKY: “Vocabulary,” paintings by the Vermont artist. Through May 9. Info, 525-3366. Parker Pie in West Glover.
‘IN FOCUS’: A group exhibition of photographs by Rob Boskind, Lawrence Cincotta, Karl Ehrlich, Steve Malshuk, Elinor Osborne and Ralph Zimmerman. Through June 17. Info, 334-1966. MAC Center for the Arts Gallery in Newport.
MARDI MCGREGOR: “Angel Dances: An Ancestry of Art,” paintings and collages inspired by the artist’s grandparents and travels around the world. Through May 6. Info, 748-0158. Northeast Kingdom Artisans Guild Backroom Gallery in St. Johnsbury.
ROSS CONNELLY: “Variables,” photographs by the Hardwick-based photographer and retired journalist. Reception: Friday, May 12, 5-7 p.m. Through June 30. Info, oliveylin1@gmail.com. 3rd Floor Gallery in Hardwick.
‘TEETERING BETWEEN’: Paintings, photography and sculpture by Molly Boone, Linda Bryan, Harrison Halaska and Mike Howat, curated by Samantha M. Eckert of AVA Gallery and Art Center. WILLIAM
BETCHER: “Ghosts: Civil War Portraits,” a reanimation of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes of soldiers and women in the 19th century using modern technology. Through June 4. Info, 748-2600. Catamount Arts Center in St. Johnsbury.
‘KEITH HARING: SUBWAY DRAWINGS’: Samples from the more than 5,000 chalk drawings the New York City artist made from 1980 to 1985 in subway stations. Through June 11. CATHY CONE: “Portals and Portraits,” modified tintypes and mixed media by the Vermont photographer that speak to the power and limitations of memory. Through June 11. DANIEL CALLAHAN: “En-MassQ,” works from two series in which the Boston-based artist painted his own face and the faces of others and detailed the performances with photographs, writing, and audio and visual vignettes. Through June 11.
JUAN HINOJOSA: “Paradise City,” collaged figures made from found objects that reflect on the challenges of immigrants creating a new home in a new place. Through June 11. MITSUKO BROOKS: “Letters Mingle Souls,” mail art that incorporates imaginary letters addressed by survivors to their deceased loved ones and explores the impacts of mental illness and suicide. Through June 11.
OASA DUVERNEY: “Black Power Wave,” a window installation of drawings by the Brooklyn artist, inspired by images of Chinese Fu dogs, the cross and the Yoruba deity Èsù. Through May 6. Info, 257-0124. Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.
CHARLES W. NORRIS-BROWN: “Distant Thunder Studio, “ original artworks from the late artist’s graphic novel Thunder Basin within a recreation of his studio as an interactive exhibition. Through June 10. THE SPRING SALON: Artwork in a variety of mediums by 35 area artists. Through June 3. Info, 289-0104. Canal Street Art Gallery in Bellows Falls.
JOHN R. KILLACKY: “Flux,” an exhibition of objects from a wordless, process-based video inspired by scores, propositions and performative actions of Fluxus-era artists; cinematography by Justin Bunnell, editing by C. Alec Kozlowski and sound composition by Sean Clute. Through August 30. Info, 257-7898. CX Silver Gallery in Brattleboro.
SIMI BERMAN: “Other Worlds,” paintings in mixed media. Through May 14. Info, 387-0102. Next Stage Arts Project in Putney.
ALBERTO REY: “Cultural Landscapes,” a major exhibition featuring the artist’s Battenkill River project, including large-scale paintings, drawings, notes and photographs; as well as Rey’s Cuban heritage and bicultural identity. Through June 25. Info, 367-1311.
SPRING SOLO EXHIBITIONS: Artworks by Domenica Brockman, Janet Cathey, Priscilla Heine, Rose Klebes, Lorna Ritz, Elise Robinson, Angela Sillars, Courtney Stock, Gregg Wapner, Susan Wilson and Chloe Wilwerding. Through May 7. Info, 362-1405. Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester.
‘A HISTORY OF BENNINGTON’: An exhibition of artifacts that invites viewers to examine how history informs and affects our lives. Through December 31. ‘NEBIZUN: WATER IS LIFE’: An exhibition of artwork by Abenaki artists of the Champlain Valley and Connecticut River Valley regions to illustrate the Abenaki relationship to water, our awareness of water as a fundamental element necessary for all life, and concern about pollution of our water. Curated by Vera Longtoe Sheehan. Through July 26. Info, 447-1571. Bennington Museum.
CAROLINE TAVELLI-ABAR AND MARJORIE
RYERSON: “Full Circle,” ink and watercolor abstract paintings, and poetry; and “Mother Nature’s Liquid Gift,” a retrospective of water-inspired photography and poetry. Through May 31. Info, artetcvt@gmail. com. ART, etc. in Randolph.
JASON MILLS: “Digestive,” a retrospective of abstract paintings by the Vermont artist. Through May 19. Info, 889-9404. Tunbridge Public Library.
JOHN DOUGLAS: “My World in Black and White,” photographs by the Vershire artist. Through June 10. Info, 889-3525. The Tunbridge General Store Gallery. outside
‘¡PRINTING THE REVOLUTION! THE RISE AND IMPACT OF CHICANO GRAPHICS, 1965 TO NOW’:
A Smithsonian American Art Museum traveling exhibition featuring 119 artworks by more than 74 artists of Mexican descent and allied artists active in Chicanx networks. Through June 11.
KENT MONKMAN: “The Great Mystery,” four new paintings by the Cree artist along with five works in the museum’s collection that inspired them, by Hannes Beckmann, T.C. Cannon, Cyrus Edwin Dallin, Mark Rothko and Fritz Scholder. Through December 9. Info, 603-646-2808. Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N.H.
‘PARALL(ELLES): A HISTORY OF WOMEN IN DESIGN’: A major exhibition celebrating the instrumental role that women have played in the world of design, featuring artworks and objects dating from the mid-19th century onward. Through May 28. Info, 514-285-2000. ‘VIEWS OF WITHIN: PICTURING THE SPACES WE INHABIT’: More than 60 paintings, photographs, prints, installations and textile works from the museum’s collection that present one or more evocations of interior space. Through June 30. Info, 514-235-2044. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.
online
‘RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE’: The Shelburne Museum presents children’s printed textiles from the collection of J.J. Murphy and Nancy Mladenoff, featuring 21 playful, colorful handkerchiefs with motifs including insects, alphabets, circus clowns, shadow puppets, the solar system and a lumberjack beaver. Through May 13. Info, 985-3346. Online. ➆
The Burlington home of Emmy McDonnell is distinctly her own. Adorning the living room
floor is a royal blue carpet with the image of a snow leopard down the middle. Pendulous pothos plants frame the substantial front window, and young adult fantasy novels fill the bookshelves. An antique bust that doubles as a lamp is topped with a rave light bulb and illuminates some of the concert posters that embellish every wall in her home — Bon Iver, the Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Shakey Graves.
Evident in McDonnell’s décor is the formative nature of music and literature. This nostalgia propels the 24-year-old’s moonlight career as a musician, radio host and bedroom producer.
When not working as the small business advocate at the O ce of the Vermont Attorney General, McDonnell produces a radio show, “Are You Okay?,” which airs every Thursday on 99.3 FM WBTV-LP through local organization the Media Factory. The music and talk show explores how the songs we listen to throughout our lives shape who we are. A burgeoning
songwriter, McDonnell probes similar themes in her own music.
She first took an interest in the Media Factory as a senior at the University of Vermont. McDonnell was writing her capstone thesis on radio DJs, always secretly hoping to be one. Shortly after graduating in 2021 as a public communications major, she moved back to her childhood home on the seacoast of New Hampshire.
Since her parents were then residing in Miami, McDonnell lived alone and worked from home while the world was still in the throes of COVID-19. With her newfound free time, McDonnell rediscovered her love of books from her childhood. Within the pages of the Twilight and Divergent series, she felt safe to be emotional in a familiar place.
When McDonnell moved back to Burlington in 2022, the first thing she wanted to
do was get involved with the Media Factory. “Are You Okay?” was born that September.
The show’s title stems from McDonnell’s youth: She was often asked if she was OK because she listened to a lot of sad songs. One of those songs was “My Eyes,” from the Lumineers’ 2016 album, Cleopatra While the album and most of its songs are sad, both continue to bring her joy. She now starts every show by asking her guests the inevitable question, “Are you OK?”
“People surround their lives around books that make us cry or music that makes us sad, and we all chase repeating the nostalgia that comes from that,” McDonnell said. “It’s not a coincidence that I do my best writing when I’m sad.”
On “Are You Okay?,” she interviews authors, life coaches, local musicians and other personalities. While the show centers on music, McDonnell invites both musical and nonmusical guests to figure out why
people are so attracted to hard emotions and to understand the motives behind creative endeavors.
McDonnell’s on-air presence is airy and inquisitive. She weaves wit into the dialogue while still keeping a serious yet relaxed space for people to share their experiences. In a recent episode, McDonnell interviewed Maleek Gillard and Ella Yentsch of Fresh Pressed BTV, a group that promotes local music. The guests discussed the community that they’ve created by emphasizing startup artists and people who are new to the industry — including McDonnell herself.
“Emmy and her show are Burlington treasures!” Gillard and Yentsch shared via Instagram. “This was our first public interview so we were nervous at first, but Emmy welcomed us with open arms and was so kind and easy to talk to.”
As a woman-identifying artist, McDonnell admits that she feels new and uncomfortable in the Burlington music scene. While she is no stranger to the Queen City, she views other people as more established — she has never even taken music lessons. But she believes that, regardless of skill
I’VE SPENT SO MUCH OF MY LIFE NOT SINGING — WHAT A SAD THING TO DO.
EMMY MCDONNELLBurlington musician and radio host Emmy McDonnell explores how music shapes identity Emmy McDonnell LUKE AWTRY
level, everyone should have the chance to be heard.
“It bothers me so much that more people don’t sing,” she said. “We have created such a hostile space where you have to be the best singer in the room to sing, or you have to perform an amazing dance routine to dance, and it bothers the fuck out of me.”
While playing her first live set at Burlington’s Radio Bean, she initially felt paralyzed by fear. Because she didn’t consider herself a singer, McDonnell spent her entire childhood only playing guitar, not even singing while she was alone.
“Instead of waiting until I get so good at singing, I’m just gonna sing,” she decided. “Who says I can’t? I’ve spent so much of my life not singing — what a sad thing to do.”
“Cheers to Feeling Stuck!,” McDonnell’s first single, is a step closer to the music she has always wanted to create. It took her almost a year to record and get to a point where she was ready to share it with the world. The song is a fresh take on the singer-songwriter subgenre. Over electronic beats, she fuses elements of indie rock and hip-hop with the influences of musicians such as Bon Iver.
Her vocals are fiercely original, with layers of staggered, dulcet harmonies. Electronic beats and samples illuminate McDonnell’s lyrics while also elevating the song with upbeat horns and synthesized waves.
“I’ve fought so hard for everything in
(Spotify mix of local jams)
from a night spent with old friends. “We were eating dinner and drinking wine and feeling sorry for ourselves, and we all cheered our glasses to feeling stuck,” she recalled. “I just thought to myself, That’s a song.”
As a lyricist, McDonnell considers her words to be the most important part of her music. In “Cheers to Feeling Stuck!,” she feels like a close friend urging you to chase whatever it is you feel is important.
“Fell in love with the fight,” she sings at the refrain — a reminder that even though life is tough, it can still be rewarding. “The glass is half empty / But I’m feeling half full,” she sings, her fiery voice and harmonies highlighted as the instruments fade out for a moment.
A persistent synthesizer keeps the beat while she sings, “So meet me / to cheers to feeling stuck / celebrate our fantasy.”
While the line is surely a nod to nostalgia and the memories that resurface in her songwriting, it is also indicative of a relatable moment. It may also be a reassurance that it’s OK not to know what’s next; there is value in simply trying something new.
“For now, it’s just the one song. But I’m always writing,” McDonnell said. “I used to say I’m working on an EP, but in reality, I’m just writing to write.”
my life, and I’m not afraid to take up space,” she said. “Music is the only thing where I haven’t felt confident to sell myself in — until this song.”
The inspiration for the song’s title came
“Cheers to Feeling Stuck!” is streaming on all major platforms. “Are You Okay?” airs ursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on 99.3 FM WBTV-LP.
Where to tune in to Vermont music this week:
“WAVE CAVE RADIO SHOW,” Wednesday, May 3, 2 p.m., on 105.9 the Radiator: DJS FLYWLKER and GINGERVITUS spin the best of local and nonlocal hip-hop.
“EXPOSURE,” Wednesday, May 3, 6 p.m., on 90.1 WRUV: Local bands play live in studio.
“ROCKET SHOP RADIO HOUR,” Wednesday, May 3, 8 p.m., on 105.9 the Radiator: Local musicians join host TOM PROCTOR in studio.
is week’s live music highlight from photographer Luke Awtry
WAKING WINDOWS, VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN WINOOSKI, FRIDAY TO SUNDAY, MAY 5 TO 7: It’s the beginning of May, which means it’s Waking Windows time. ough the festival is significantly smaller than in past years, the lineup is stacked, and there will be rockin’ around the Winooski rotary all weekend — both officially and unofficially. e heart and soul of Waking Windows for me are the local acts that have been involved since the early days. I’m talking about longtime regulars Blowtorch (pictured), Swale, Rough Francis, Maryse Smith and Paper Castles, to name a few. And, of course, on the decks will be cofounder and legendary Vermont DJ/new dad Brian Nagle, aka Disco Phantom — WW wouldn’t be what it is without him. Waking Windows is truly special, and, regardless of size, it remains one of the best weekends of live music in Vermont.
“THE SOUNDS OF BURLINGTON,” ursday, May 4, 9 p.m., at wbkm.org: Host TIM LEWIS plays selections of local music.
“CULTURAL BUNKER,” Friday, May 5, 7 p.m., on 90.1 WRUV: Host MELO GRANT plays local and nonlocal hip-hop.
“ALL THE TRADITIONS,” Sunday, May 7, 7 p.m., on Vermont Public: Host ROBERT RESNIK plays an assortment of folk music with a focus on Vermont artists.
WED.3
Bent Nails House Band (rock) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Bluegrass & BBQ (bluegrass) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Dan Ryan Express (jazz) at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, 5:30 p.m. Free.
Fresh Pressed Wednesday with Blackwater, Beans, Fossil Record (indie, jam) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9 p.m. $5/$10.
Jazz Jam Sessions (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.
Jazz Night with Ray Vega (jazz) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.
Justin Plakias & Friends (jam) at Red Square, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.
Les Dead Ringers (jazz) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m.
Free.
Live Jazz (jazz) at Leunig’s Bistro & Café, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free.
The Sweet Lillies (Americana) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.
Wednesday Night Dead (Grateful Dead covers) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. $5.
THU.4
Dan Parks, Mark Steffenhagen (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 6 p.m. Free.
Dana Robinson, Gallison Hill Band (singer-songwriter, bluegrass) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Dirty Grass Players, Pappy (bluegrass) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $12/$15.
Grace Palmer and Socializing for Introverts (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
Ira Friedman (jazz) at Hugo’s Bar and Grill, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Lincoln Sprague (jazz) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 5 p.m. Free.
Local Tone Collective (jam) at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.
Moondogs, Dentist, Earthworm (rock) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10.
Satyrdagg, the Most Wanted (jazz, folk) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9:30 p.m. $10/$15.
FRI.5
Barbie N Bones (rock) at the Depot, St. Albans, 9 p.m. $5.
Birdcode (jazz) at Bleu Northeast Kitchen, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.
Blackwater, Dick Richard, Brunch, Hand in Pants (punk) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7 p.m. $10/$12.
Bruce Sklar Jazz Quartet (jazz) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.
Nashville’s the LONE BELLOW TRIO have partnered in the past with high-powered producers such as the National’s Aaron Dessner and Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell) to create a brand of soaring Americana they refer to as “little redneck symphonies.” For their latest LP, Love Songs for Losers, the band members went DIY and produced the album themselves, recording it at the (possibly haunted) former home of Roy Orbison. Touching on everything from broken hearts to the opioid crisis, the album marks a sonic departure for the band as it incorporates elements of synthwave and outright rock into its sound. The Lone Bellow Trio play the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington on Wednesday, May 10, with singer-songwriter STEPHEN WILSON JR.
Chad Hollister (singersongwriter) at Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.
Danny & the Parts (Americana) at Stone’s Throw Pizza, Richmond, 4 p.m. Free.
Dave Mitchell’s Blues Revue (blues) at Red Square, Burlington, 2 p.m. Free.
Elizabeth Begins (singersongwriter) at Gusto’s, Barre, 6 p.m. Free.
Hamjob (rock) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.
King Me (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m. Free.
Little Stranger, Jarv (hip-hop) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 9 p.m. $15/$18.
Mark Legrand & Sarah Munro, the Nailers (singer-songwriter, pop) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 6 p.m. Free.
Mean Waltons (bluegrass) at Taps Tavern, Poultney, 6 p.m. Free.
Mikaela Davis (singer-songwriter) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $18/$22.
Mullets of Rock (rock) at 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 3 p.m. Free.
Neon Ramblers (bluegrass) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $12/$15.
Phil Abair Band (covers) at the Old Post, South Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.
Smokin’ Gun (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m. Free.
Toast (funk) at City Limits Night Club, Vergennes, 9:30 p.m. Free.
Ursa and the Major Key (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
Waking Windows Festival (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 5 p.m. $55.
WD-40s (rock) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, 5 p.m. Free.
SAT.6
Adam Ezra Group, GoldenOak (folk) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7 p.m. $20/$22.
Chris Lyon Band (folk) at Martell’s at the Red Fox, Jeffersonville, 9:30 p.m. Free.
Earthworm, Comatose Kids (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10/$15.
Family Junket (fusion) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 10 p.m. $12/$15. Free Range Band (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m. Free.
Jerborn (acoustic) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.
Jessica & Brendan (folk) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
Jolly Roger Band (rock) at Gusto’s, Barre, 9 p.m. Free. Lagrogg (rock) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.
Left Eye Jump (blues) at Red Square, Burlington, 2 p.m. Free. Little Stranger, Jarv (hip-hop) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 9 p.m. $15/$18.
Nebrak Bros (rock) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Paul Asbell (jazz) at Bleu Northeast Kitchen, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.
Ramblin’ Dan Stevens (blues) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, 6 p.m. Free.
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, Lucy Kaplansky (singer-songwriter) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $30/$35.
Sunday Brunch Tunes (singersongwriter) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 10 a.m. Waking Windows Festival (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 5 p.m. $55.
TUE.9
Barbacoa (Duo) (surf rock) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsfield, 5 p.m. Free. Bluegrass Jam (bluegrass) at Taps Tavern, Poultney, 7 p.m. Free. Grateful Tuesdays (tribute) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. $20.
Honky Tonk Tuesday with Pony Hustle (country) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9 p.m. $10.
Nancy Smith and Friends (singer-songwriter) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free. Winona Forever, No Fun Haus, Will Keeper (garage rock) at Monkey House, Winooski, 8 p.m. $10/$15.
WED.10
Bent Nails House Band (rock) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Bleary Eyed, Greg Freeman, Brody Price, Noah Kesey Magic Band (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9:15 p.m. $10/$15. Bluegrass & BBQ (bluegrass) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Cormega, Blaq Poet, Blak Madeen, Mister Burns (hip-hop) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $25/$30.
Shane’s Apothecary (folk) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m. Free.
Soulshine Revival (Allman Brothers Band tribute) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $15/$18.
Stefani Capizzi (soul) at Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.
Super Stash Bros (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
Tsunamibots, Brand New Luddites, Lurking Class (surf rock) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9 p.m. Free.
Waking Windows Festival (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 5 p.m. $55.
Yves Tumor, Pretty Sick, Frost Children (rock) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $35/$39.
SUN.7
CombustOmatics (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 3 p.m. Free.
Jeff & Gina (folk) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 1 p.m. Free.
Jester Jigs (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
Jazz Jam Sessions (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free. Jazz Night with Ray Vega (jazz) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.
Les Dead Ringers (jazz) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.
Live Jazz (jazz) at Leunig’s Bistro & Café, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free. The Lone Bellow Trio, Stephen Wilson Jr. (Americana) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $25/$30.
Molly Parden, Kevin Klein (singer-songwriter) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10/$15.
Nathan Byrne (singer-songwriter) at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, 5:30 p.m. Free.
Wednesday Night Dead (Grateful Dead covers) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. $5. Willverine (electronic) at the Wallflower Collective, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.
WED.3
DJ Two Sev (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, midnight. Free.
THU.4
DJ Chaston (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 11 p.m. Free.
Mi Yard Reggae Night with DJ Big Dog (reggae and dancehall) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 9:30 p.m. Free.
Vinyl Night with Ken (DJ) at Taps Tavern, Poultney, 6 p.m. Free.
FRI.5
DJ Craig Mitchell (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.
DJ Kata (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
DJ LaFountaine (DJ) at Gusto’s, Barre, 9 p.m. Free.
DJ Taka (DJ) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 11 p.m. $10/$15.
Gimme Gimme Disco (DJ) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $20/$23.
SAT.6
Blanchface (DJ) at Manhattan Pizza & Pub, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
DJ A-Ra$ (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, midnight. Free.
DJ Earl Bennett (DJ) at City Limits Night Club, Vergennes, 7:30 p.m. Free.
DJ Raul (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
DJ Taka (DJ) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 11 p.m. $10/$15.
Matt Payne (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
Meow Mix (DJ) at Club Metronome, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
Molly Mood (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
SUN.7
DJ Two Sev (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 11 p.m. Free.
MON.8
DJ four-d (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
DJ JP Black (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.
TUE.9
Local Dork (DJ) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
WED.10
DJ Two Sev (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, midnight. Free.
WED.3
Irish Sessions (Celtic, open mic) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
Lit Club (poetry open mic) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Open Mic (open mic) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.
Open Mic with JD Tolstoi (open mic) at Taps Tavern, Poultney, 7 p.m. Free.
THU.4
Open Mic (open mic) at Whammy Bar, Calais, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Open Mic (open mic) at Orlando’s Bar & Lounge, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.
FRI.5
Red Brick Coffee House (open mic) at Red Brick Meeting House, Westford, 7 p.m. Free.
MON.8
Open Mic Night (open mic) at Despacito, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
WED.10
Irish Sessions (Celtic, open mic) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
Open Mic (open mic) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.
Open Mic with JD Tolstoi (open mic) at Taps Tavern, Poultney, 7 p.m. Free.
WED.3
Improv Comedy Show (comedy) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.
Standup Comedy Open Mic (comedy open mic) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m.
Weird & Niche (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $5.
THU.4
Comedy Wolf: Open Mic (comedy) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
Hari Kondabolu (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $25.
Mothra! A Storytelling/ Improv Comedy Show (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.
Scott Seiss (comedy) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 6:30 p.m. $30/$35.
FRI.5
Hari Kondabolu (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $25.
SAT.6
Hari Kondabolu (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $25.
Maureen Hancock (comedy) at the Depot, St. Albans, 4 p.m. $30/$45.
MON.8
Comedy Open Mic (comedy open mic) at the 126, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
WED.10
Comedy Jam (comedy) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Nice to Meet You! (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5.
Standup Comedy Open Mic (comedy open mic) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m.
WED.3
4Qs Trivia Night (trivia) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6 p.m. Free.
Nerd Nite Trivia (trivia) at Citizen Cider, Burlington, 6:30-9 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free.
Venetian Trivia Night (trivia) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.
THU.4
Karaoke Night (karaoke) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at McGillicuddy’s Five Corners, Essex Junction, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free.
Trivia Thursday (trivia) at Spanked Puppy Pub, Colchester, 7 p.m. Free.
SAT.6
Green Mountain Cabaret (burlesque) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.
SUN.7
Venetian Karaoke (karaoke) at the Venetian Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
MON.8
Trivia with Craig Mitchell (trivia) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.
TUE.9
Karaoke hosted by Motorcade (karaoke) at Manhattan Pizza & Pub, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.
Karaoke with DJ Party Bear (karaoke) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9:30 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at the Depot, St. Albans, 7 p.m. Free.
Trivia Tuesday (trivia) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 7 p.m. Free.
Tuesday Night Trivia (trivia) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.
WED.10
4Qs Trivia Night (trivia) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6 p.m. Free.
Nerd Nite Trivia (trivia) at Citizen Cider, Burlington, 6:30-9 p.m. Free.
Trivia Night (trivia) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free.
QUEEN: Solo Sketches
KINGDOM KIDS: Improv based on YOUR stori A Night Of Drag And Musical Theater
HEADLINER ies
MAY 4 –7, 2023
YOUNG TRADITION FESTIVAL
Evening Concerts
THURS MAY 4 & FRI MAY 5 7PM
Contest Winners’ Concert
SAT MAY 6 1PM
Mentor-Student Showcase
SAT MAY 6 6PM
Tribute Concert honoring Pete Sutherland
SUN MAY 7 3PM
...and other events in the community
Contois Auditorium
Burlington, VT
SPONSORS:
4T-vtfolk042623 1 4/21/23 1:02 PM
(SELF-RELEASED, CASSETTE, DIGITAL)
makes this album the band’s most cohesive project yet.
Lease violations, rent nonpayment or underpayment
From their inception, Burlington country outfit Eastern Mountain Time have featured a rotating cast of collaborators who revolve around singer and songwriter Sean Hood. Since the band’s fine 2016 debut, Back Home, its catalog has continuously improved, as has Hood’s singing. On the project’s latest LP, More Buses & Trains, Hood has grown into the quaver of his instrument, sounding more comfortable than ever.
Hood writes humble, honest tunes that o er a modern take on the Bakersfield sound while still honoring the genre, a combination that is Eastern Mountain Time’s true strength. As ever, his style is far more Gram Parsons than Waylon Jennings — sensitive, wry and distinctly psychedelic around the edges. The refinement of that high, lonesome tone
For a brief period in 2017 and 2018, current music teacher and Middlebury College graduate Tevan Goldberg penned a political column for the Middlebury Campus called “Sharp Left.” Equal parts passionate and idealistic, the five-part series presents Goldberg as well read, snarky and eager to dismantle dominant structures.
Don’t get me wrong: Seven, released in 2021, was a strong set of polished songs, but it just didn’t hang together in the organic way that More Buses & Trains does. Surely that cohesion is thanks to Hood’s experience working with the outstanding musicians he’s collected over the years. They include longtime collaborator and sonic mad scientist Wren Kitz, whose field recordings interspersed throughout the record add intrigue and depth.
The album’s sequencing is superb. The warm refrains of opener “Garden” give way to “Sick Again,” a lush and sad full-band ballad. Which brings us to another important set of fingerprints: drummer and coproducer Willoughby Morse, whose chops and taste helped make this project so great. This is a crew with a lot of talent and ideas, but the album’s mixes are always spacious, never cluttered.
Even during More Buses & Trains’ remarkable middle passage, which
features some big arrangements, the songs remain stripped down. The careful guitar work of Jim Osborn shines on more than half of these tracks, moving fluidly from soaring leads into quiet textures. His performance on the title cut is especially nice.
The austere minimalism of the album’s three-song closing act is a bold move. After many listens, I’m still not sure if I like it, but I am absolutely positive that it works. “Black Dogs” is a hypnotic memory fragment, and “Down in My Own Way” is extremely Townes Van Zandt, a slow-burning dispatch from a beautiful loser. Both tracks are quiet and sparsely arranged, but album closer “Would” takes things even further, rendering a sweet love song into an almost mournful crawl.
More Buses & Trains is a delightful, worthy contribution to a nostalgic subgenre. More importantly, it serves the two most important functions of classic country: It’s great background music for a packed dive bar, and it rewards close listening when you’re heartbroken at home.
More Buses & Trains is available at easternmountaintime.bandcamp.com.
that moniker as a “fictional bird-like entity,” I like to think “Red Heron” refers to the bandleader’s associations with socialism and a desire to untangle its tenets from the stigma the word carries. I’m reminded of something Tim Curry’s Wadsworth says in the film Clue: “Communism was just a red herring.”
guitars and a solitary drum softens as a buttery organ slides in.
For more details and to access the application form, visit: VTLANDLORD.COM
GRANT FUNDED BY: DHCD/ERAP-HSS
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It was no passing fancy. Goldberg is currently the projects director at Burlington nonprofit Democracy Creative, a design studio focused on participatory government, citizen engagement and empowerment. Its South End meeting space regularly holds Thought Club, a weekly neo-salon that delves into Marxism, climate action and other socially conscious topics.
All this gives listeners a deeper context in which to understand Goldberg’s work with the eclectic Queen City five-piece Red Heron — and even the rock band’s punny name. Though Bandcamp explains
Red Heron’s debut EP, Nobirdy, is five tracks of breezy ’70s soft rock revival, incorporating shades of gospel, country, blues and jazz and flourishes of psychedelia. Recorded live at Burlington’s Tank Recording Studio with coproprietor Ben Collette, Nobirdy is a nimble first outing.
The equally literary and folksy opener, “A Musical Instrument,” tells the tale of “the great god Pan,” whose creation of the panpipe heralded eons of rustic musical tradition. As a Harvard Divinity School dropout, Goldberg is understandably interested in how humans’ creation of deities intersects with the arts. With a reverent tone, Red Heron fuse old-time Americana storytelling with a laid-back groove. The starkness of picked acoustic
The next track, “Sylvia,” is pure nostalgia. Like a stripped-down, lightly countrified tribute to the ambling “Easy” by the Commodores, the song features swung beats and syncopated keys that envelop Goldberg’s impassioned vocal performance. Could it be an ode to poet Sylvia Plath? Nature references abound, as in Plath’s work, and Goldberg sings of the title character’s tragic death.
Another slow jam, “Shadow on the Wall,” ruminates on existential themes. “Guess it didn’t really matter much at all / Those heartaches and carnivals after the fall,” Goldberg croons, assigning as much meaning to joy as to pain. Later, he declares, “Sky, oh sky / Look what you brought / Man, oh man / Look what you wrought,” tacitly drawing connections between what the natural world has given humanity and, perhaps, how badly we screwed it up.
Charming and chameleonic, Red Heron create accessible music with thoughtful, erudite lyrics that stir curiosity without being alienating.
Nobirdy is available at redheron1. bandcamp.com and on all major streaming platforms.
JORDAN ADAMSMondays - Thursdays until May 25th
Must mention Spring Special at time of booking. If booking online, add “Spring Special” into the notes. Based on availability. Subject to change. Reservations required.
The books of Judy Blume are radical. Countless kids learned about menstruation and bra
fittings from Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret., her 1970 novel about a sixth grader sitting uneasily on the cusp of puberty. (For boys, Blume covered the equivalent taboo topics in Then Again, Maybe I Won’t.)
It’s tempting to put that radicalism in the past and say Blume’s groundbreaking middle-grade novels now seem tame. But take a look at the news: In March, Republicans in Florida’s legislature advanced a bill that would prohibit discussion of menstruation in schools before the sixth grade. Margaret and her friends would only just make the cut.
Book banners are busy again across the nation, claiming to protect children’s “innocence.” In this environment, Blume’s matter-of-fact approach to touchy subjects does, indeed, seem radical. Director Kelly Fremon Craig’s new adaptation of Margaret, the first one Blume ever green-lighted, is clearly more than a nostalgia piece. But how faithful is the much-heralded movie to the book’s legacy?
In 1970, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is dismayed when her parents decide to move from the city to the burbs of New Jersey. She’s also increasingly troubled by something that sets her apart from other kids: Her Jewish dad (Benny Safdie) and Christian mom (Rachel McAdams) have raised her without a religious identity.
In her new home, Margaret makes friends with her imperious neighbor Nancy (Elle Graham), who initiates her into a circle where bras, “bust-increasing” exercises and a general preoccupation with puberty are de rigueur. She embarks on a school project to explore various religions, along with a private spiritual practice — highly informal conversations with God in which she asks the Almighty to grant her an ample chest.
Meanwhile, Margaret’s mom, Barbara, has quit her job and is doing her best to live the American dream as a housewife. But pot roasts and PTA craft projects aren’t really her speed. Each in her own way, mother and daughter are weathering a generational sea change in definitions of femininity.
I stay as far as I can from Disneyfied film versions of the classics of my childhood. (A movie in which that little terror Ramona Quimby is cute ? C’mon, now.) Blume’s books particularly resist prettying up because they’re so down-to-earth: firstperson narratives that one can almost imagine finding in a child’s diary, though clearly guided by an adult intelligence. Flowery language and moral messaging are off the table. These books speak directly to kids, like an embarrassingly confessional friend.
Craig’s adaptation, by contrast, is clearly designed to speak not just to kids but also to their moms and even grandmothers who grew up on Margaret. The subplot about Barbara feels like an attempt to shoehorn an adult perspective (and star) into a story that was limited to Margaret’s point of view on the page.
While McAdams is likable in the role, and it’s nice to see a mom given her due, the jokes about Barbara’s bad cooking and her interactions with her prissy, coi ed peers don’t bring much that’s new or fresh to the film. In fact, they feel like throwbacks to ’80s movies, especially when accompanied by the generic whimsy of Hans Zimmer’s score. (Interestingly, Blume also got less naturalistic when she wrote about adults:
Her 1978 sex farce, Wifey, is rich in the sort of broad, sitcom clichés that she eschewed in her books for children.) As Margaret’s possessive grandma, Kathy Bates rubs up against caricature, too, though sheer force of personality makes her fun to watch.
Margaret feels way less Hollywood and more real when it focuses on its tween characters. Fortson is such a perfect choice for Margaret that she could probably carry the movie all by herself. With tense, bushy brows and eyes that are quick to show joy or pain, she doesn’t play to the camera. Yet she makes all of Margaret’s volatile feelings beautifully legible to the viewer.
The movie takes the complex internal politics of kids seriously. We understand why Margaret is drawn to the preening Nancy, for whom femininity is a neverending competition. (Who will “develop” first? Who will get the attention of the designated Hottest Boy?) And we respect Margaret for those quiet conversations with God, in which she fumbles her way toward a value system that isn’t dictated by the many Nancys of the world.
To her credit, Craig doesn’t impose any tidy conclusions on Margaret’s spiritual journey. The choice of religion (or none) remains hers, as her parents intended. While Margaret skirts hokeyness occasionally, especially in its treatment of the
adult characters, it comes close enough to the novel’s authenticity to be a bit radical in its own right.
MARGOT HARRISON margot@sevendaysvt.comJUDY BLUME FOREVER (2023; Prime Video): is new documentary from Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok explores the author’s legacy through interviews with her and her fans, some of whom are now authors themselves.
THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (2016; Sling TV, rentable): Blume resisted selling the film rights to Margaret for many years. She has said this acclaimed comingof-age debut feature from director Craig, starring Hailee Steinfeld, convinced her to change her mind.
“FREAKS AND GEEKS” (one season, 1999; Hulu, Pluto TV, rentable): Films and TV about tweens have rarely been as honest and naturalistic as Blume’s books are, but this cult series comes close with its depiction of middle schoolers in the early 1980s.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3: The intergalactic crew regroups after a crushing loss in yet another Marvel Cinematic Universe extravaganza. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista star. James Gunn wrote and directed. (150 min, PG-13. Big Picture, Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Marquis, Palace, Paramount, Roxy, Star, Sunset, Welden)
LOVE AGAIN: Have you ever thought about sending texts to a beloved dead person? What if that phone number were reassigned … to someone really attractive? Jim Strouse directed this rom-com starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan. (104 min, PG-13. Essex)
R.M.N.: This drama from acclaimed Romanian director Cristian Mungiu examines the workings of anti-immigrant prejudice in a small Transylvanian town. (125 min, NR. Catamount)
WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? A friend’s arranged marriage prompts a young filmmaker (Lily James) to examine her own attitude toward romance in this rom-com from director Shekhar Kapur. (108 min, PG-13. Catamount, Savoy)
AIRHHH1/2 Matt Damon plays the salesman who convinced then-rookie Michael Jordan to wear Nikes in this drama directed by Ben Affleck. (112 min, R. Majestic, Palace, Stowe, Welden)
ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET.HHH1/2 Kelly Fremon Craig directed this adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic about a tween (Abby Ryder Fortson) puzzling over the mysteries of spirituality and puberty. (105 min, PG-13. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Palace, Roxy, Star; reviewed 5/3)
BEAU IS AFRAIDHHH Joaquin Phoenix plays a troubled man processing his mother’s death in an unclassifiable epic that has divided audiences. Ari Aster (Midsommar) directed. (179 min, R. Essex, Roxy, Savoy)
BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY OF THE ONCE AND FUTURE HEAVYWEIGHT
CHAMPION OF THE WORLDHH1/2 Khris Davis plays the boxer in this inspirational biopic from director George Tillman Jr. (The Hate U Give) (129 min, PG-13. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Palace)
CHEVALIERHHH1/2 Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays 18thcentury Black French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George, in this biopic from director Stephen Williams. (107 min, PG-13. Roxy)
COCAINE BEARHH1/2 Elizabeth Banks directed this comedy-thriller about a bear that terrorizes the countryside after going on a coke binge. (95 min, R. Sunset; reviewed 3/8)
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG
THIEVESHHH1/2 Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez play adventurers in the world of the fantasy role-playing game. (134 min, PG-13. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Palace, Roxy)
EVIL DEAD RISEHHH1/2 In the horror series’ fifth installment, two estranged sisters (Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland) learn the true meaning of family by fighting off demons. (97 min, R. Bijou, Essex, Majestic, Palace, Sunset, Welden)
GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANTHHH An Afghan interpreter (Dar Salim) helps an injured American sergeant (Jake Gyllenhaal) survive a trek in this war thriller directed by Ritchie. (123 min, R. Essex, Majestic, Palace)
HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINEHHHH Environmental activists plot to disrupt the flow of oil in this thriller from Daniel Goldhaber (Cam). (103 min, R. Roxy)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4HHHH Keanu Reeves once again plays a hit man battling a global organization in Chad Stahelski’s action flick. (169 min, R. Majestic)
POLITE SOCIETYHHHH A martial artist in training (Priya Kansara) plans a “wedding heist” to save her younger sister from the wrong marriage in this action-comedy. (103 min, PG-13. Majestic, Savoy)
THE POPE’S EXORCISTHH Russell Crowe plays the Vatican’s chief exorcist in this horror flick inspired by real case files. (103 min, R. Palace)
RENFIELDHH1/2 Dracula’s henchman (Nicholas Hoult) tries to get out from under the thumb of his master (Nicolas Cage) in this horror comedy. (93 min, R. Majestic, Palace, Stowe)
SHOWING UPHHHH Michelle Williams plays a sculptor juggling daily dramas in the latest from Kelly Reichardt (First Cow). (107 min, R. Roxy)
SOMEWHERE IN QUEENSHHH Ray Romano directed this comedy in which he plays the overbearing dad of a high school basketball star. (106 min, R. Essex, Palace)
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIEHH1/2 Chris Pratt voices a Brooklyn plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom in this animated adaptation of the Nintendo game. (92 min, PG. Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Marquis, Palace, Paramount, Playhouse, Roxy, Star, Stowe, Sunset, Welden)
SUZUMEHHHH1/2 In this animated adventure from Makoto Shinkai (Your Name.), two young people try to close mysterious doors that are unleashing disasters on Japan. (122 min, PG. Palace, Savoy; reviewed 4/19)
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (Sunset)
ELEMENTAL: REIMAGINE WILDFIRE (Savoy, Wed only)
GKIDS PRESENTS STUDIO GHIBLI FEST 2023: PONYO 15TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex, Sun only)
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (Catamount, Wed 3 only)
SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (Sunset)
(* = upcoming schedule for theater was not available at press time)
BIG PICTURE THEATER: 48 Carroll Rd., Waitsfield, 496-8994, bigpicturetheater.info
BIJOU CINEPLEX 4: 107 Portland St., Morrisville, 888-3293, bijou4.com
CAPITOL SHOWPLACE: 93 State St., Montpelier, 229-0343, fgbtheaters.com
CATAMOUNT ARTS: 115 Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 748-2600, catamountarts.org
*ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com
*MAJESTIC 10: 190 Boxwood St., Williston, 878-2010, majestic10.com
MARQUIS THEATER: 65 Main St., Middlebury, 388-4841, middleburymarquis.com
*MERRILL’S ROXY CINEMAS: 222 College St., Burlington, 864-3456, merrilltheatres.net
*PALACE 9 CINEMAS: 10 Fayette Dr., South Burlington, 864-5610, palace9.com
PARAMOUNT TWIN CINEMA: 241 N. Main St., Barre, 479-9621, fgbtheaters.com
PLAYHOUSE MOVIE THEATRE: 11 S. Main St., Randolph, 728-4012, playhouseflicks.com
SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com
STAR THEATRE: 17 Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 748-9511, stjaytheatre.com
*STOWE CINEMA 3PLEX: 454 Mountain Rd., Stowe, 253-4678, stowecinema.com
SUNSET DRIVE-IN: 155 Porters Point Rd., Colchester, 862-1800, sunsetdrivein.com
WELDEN THEATRE: 104 N. Main St., St. Albans, 527-7888, weldentheatre.com
Note: These capsule descriptions are not intended as reviews. Star ratings come from Metacritic unless we reviewed the film (noted at the end of the description). Find reviews written by Seven Days critic Margot Harrison at sevendaysvt.com/ onscreen-reviews.
WHAT IS AFFORDABLE? A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOUSING: Townsfolk join the City of South Burlington Affordable Housing Committee for discussion inspired by the book Fixer Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing System by Jenny Schuetz. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 5:30-7 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: TERESA
MARES: Conscious consumers learn why farmworkers and labor rights should be factored into conversations about sustainable food systems. Norwich Public Library, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 649-1184.
QUEEN CITY BUSINESS
NETWORKING
INTERNATIONAL GROUP: Local professionals make crucial contacts at a weekly chapter meeting. Burlington City Arts, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, 829-5066.
CLIMATE ACTION FILM
FESTIVAL: e first in-person
CAFF in three years features refreshments, 90 minutes of shorts about environmental activism and opportunities to connect with local organizations. Proceeds benefit 350Vermont. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7-9 p.m. Pay what you can. Info, tavit. geudelekian@suncommon. com.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
DESK: VETERANS OUTREACH
PROGRAM: Representatives post up in the main reading room to answer questions and provide resources. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 2-4 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
film
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: Sparkling graphics and vibrant interviews take viewers on a journey alongside NASA astronauts as they prepare for stranger-than-sciencefiction space travel. Northfield Savings Bank 3D eater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, ongoing, 10:30 a.m., 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $14.50-18; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.
‘THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE’: Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey grace the silver screen in the story of a former prisoner of war who is brainwashed as an assassin. Catamount Arts Center, St. Johnsbury, 6 p.m. Free. Info, 748-2600.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: Sparkling graphics take viewers on a mindbending journey into phenomena that are too slow, too fast or too small to be seen by the naked eye. Northfield Savings Bank 3D eater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, ongoing, noon, 2 & 4 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $14.50-18; admission free for members
All submissions must be received by ursday at noon for consideration in the following Wednesday’s newspaper. Find our convenient form and guidelines at sevendaysvt.com/postevent
Listings and spotlights are written by Emily Hamilton Seven Days edits for space and style. Depending on cost and other factors, classes and workshops may be listed in either the calendar or the classes section. Class organizers may be asked to purchase a class listing.
Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.
and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: Viewers are plunged into the magical vistas of the continent’s deserts, jungles and savannahs. Northfield Savings Bank 3D eater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, ongoing, 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $14.50-18; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.
‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: Sandhill cranes, yellow warblers and mallard ducks make their lives along rivers, lakes and wetlands. Northfield Savings Bank 3D eater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, ongoing, 11:30 a.m., 1:30 & 3:30 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $14.50-18; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.
MAH-JONGG OPEN PLAY: Weekly sessions of an age-old game promote critical thinking and friendly competition. Manchester Community Library, Manchester Center, 12:30-3:30 p.m. Free. Info, 362-2607.
CHAIR YOGA: Waterbury Public Library instructor Diana Whitney leads at-home participants in gentle stretches supported by seats. 10 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
ELL CLASSES: ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS & INTERMEDIATE
FIND MORE LOCAL EVENTS IN THIS ISSUE AND ONLINE: art
Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.
See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.
Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/music.
= ONLINE EVENT
STUDENTS: Learners of all abilities practice written and spoken English with trained instructors. Presented by Fletcher Free Library. 6:30-8 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, bshatara@ burlingtonvt.gov.
IRISH LANGUAGE CLASS: Celticcurious students learn to speak an Ghaeilge in a supportive group. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
SPANISH CONVERSATION: Fluent and beginner speakers brush up on their español with a discussion led by a Spanish teacher. Presented by Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. 5-6 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, programs@damlvt.org.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: M.J. BOSIA: Concerned citizens learn how attacks on trans and queer rights are used nationwide to distract from true social threats such as income inequality and antidemocratic policies. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 223-3338.
THRIVE QTPOC MOVIE NIGHT: Each month, Pride Center of Vermont virtually screens a movie centered on
ere were almost two decades between Dartmouth College professor of history Annelise Orleck writing Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought eir Own War on Poverty and director Hazel GurlandPooler adapting it into a documentary for PBS, but the message has never stopped being relevant. JAM hosts a special screening of the film, which tells the story of grassroots labor organizer Ruby Duncan and her efforts to mobilize her fellow Las Vegas workers in support of welfare rights. Viewers interested in learning more can ask Orleck about Duncan, economic justice and more at the Q&A that follows.
ursday, May 4, 7-10 p.m., at Junction Arts & Media in White River Junction. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 295-6688, uvjam.org.
queer and trans people of color. 6:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, thrive@pridecentervt.org.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’: e latest dark comedy from an award-winning playwright follows two generations of a Jewish family, separated
by 70 years, as they reckon with the Holocaust and antisemitism in our own time. Sylvan Adams eatre, Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montréal, 1 & 7 p.m. $62-67. Info, 514-739-7944.
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: e Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture presents 13 days of new films from the Indian
subcontinent and its diaspora. Virtual options available. See saffm.centrekabir.com for full schedule. Various Montréal locations, 6:30 p.m. Prices vary. Info, 514-620-4182.
BARN OPERA IN RUTLAND: Central Vermont opera lovers rub elbows with the Barn Opera team, learn about upcoming projects and hear Italian-language performances. Opera House, Rutland, 6-7 p.m. $10. Info, 772-5601.
CHAMBER MUSIC ALIVE!: Student players close out the school year with a stunning showcase. Robison Concert Hall, Mahaney
Arts Center, Middlebury College, 7:30-9 p.m. Free. Info, 443-5224.
STUDENT PERFORMANCE RECITAL: University of Vermont music students prove their chops in a variety of genres.
University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 656-3040.
ZACH NUGENT UNCORKED: The sought-after guitarist plays a weekly loft show featuring live music, storytelling and special guests. Shelburne Vineyard, 6-8:45 p.m. Free. Info, 985-8222.
outdoors
NATIONAL PARK VOLUNTEER INFORMATION SESSION &
Check out these family-friendly events for parents, caregivers and kids of all ages.
• Plan ahead at sevendaysvt.com/family-fun
Post your event at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.
INTRODUCTION TO VERMONT DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
SERVICES: Vermont Family Network teaches webinar attendees how to apply for government support. 10-11 a.m. Free; preregister. Info, 876-5315.
BABYTIME: Librarians bring out books, rhymes and songs specially selected for young ones. Pre-walkers and younger. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
STEAM SPACE: Kids explore science, technology, engineering, art and math activities. Ages 5 through 11. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 5-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
AFTERSCHOOL ACTIVITY: LEGO &
BOARD GAME TIME: Blocks and boards make for a fun, creative afternoon. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 2-3 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
BABY TIME: Parents and caregivers bond with their pre-walking babes during this gentle playtime. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
BABYTIME: Teeny-tiny library patrons enjoy a gentle, slow story time featuring songs, rhymes and lap play. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
CRAFTERNOON: BUTTERFLY MOBILE: Little artists create a hanging sculpture inspired by Alexander Calder. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
LEGO BUILDERS: Elementary-age imagineers explore, create and participate in challenges. Ages 8 and up, or ages 6 and up with an adult helper. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 3-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
PLAY TIME: Little ones build with blocks and read together. Ages 1 through 4.
ORIENTATION: Outdoorsfolk learn about opportunities to maintain trails, greet visitors, or lead familyfriendly art and science activities.
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, 3-4 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, mabi_visitorservices@nps.gov.
NORTHERN FOREST CANOE
TRAIL: Paddlers learn about the features and maintenance of their favorite 740-mile waterway. REI, Williston, 6-7 p.m. Free. Info, 316-3120.
sports
GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE
TENNIS CLUB: Ping-Pong players swing their paddles in singles and doubles matches. Rutland Area
Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 1010:45 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
CHESS CLUB: Kids of all skill levels get one-on-one lessons and play each other in between. Ages 6 and up. KelloggHubbard Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free. Info, 223-3338.
NATURECAMP AFTERSCHOOL: Nature educator Ange Gibbons teaches kids how to spot animal tracks, build campfires, identify edible plants and other outdoor skills. Ages 10 through 12. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 3-5:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 426-3581.
QUEER READS: LGBTQIA+ and allied youth get together each month to read and discuss ideas around gender, sexuality and identity. Waterbury Public Library, 6-7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 244-7036.
PEABODY AFTERSCHOOL FUN FOR
GRADES 1-4: Students make friends over crafts and story time. George Peabody Library, Post Mills, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 333-9724.
PRE-K STORY TIME: Little ones and their caregivers hear a different farmthemed tale every week in May. Snacks included. Ages 3 through 5. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, 9:30-11 a.m. $10-12; preregister. Info, cpeavey@ billingsfarm.org.
‘’YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN’: Burlington High School students bring the “Peanuts” characters to musical life in this hilarious, joyful production. Hunt Middle School, Burlington, 7-8:45 p.m. $5. Info, 825-5975.
COMICS WORKSHOP WITH DARYL
SEITCHIK: Teen artists learn and create with a professional cartoonist. Ages 11 through 18. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 4-5:30 p.m. Free. Info, 540-2546.
PRESCHOOL YOGA: Colleen from Grow Prenatal and Family Yoga leads little ones in songs, movement and other fun activities. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
Christian School, 7-9 p.m. Free for first two sessions; $30 annual membership. Info, 247-5913.
talks
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: ANNELISE
ORLECK: A Dartmouth College history professor looks at the costs of globalization from the perspective of low-wage workers. Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 254-5290.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: BRIDGET
BUTLER: The “Bird Diva” of Vermont unveils the lost history of women in ornithology. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 388-4095.
MUSIC AND MOVEMENT WITH MISS EMMA: The star of “Music for Sprouts” and “Mr. Chris and Friends” leads little ones 5 and younger in singing, scarf play and movement. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
PRESCHOOL MUSIC WITH LINDA
BASSICK: The singer and storyteller extraordinaire leads little ones in indoor music and movement. Birth through age 5. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
PRESCHOOL PLAYTIME: Pre-K patrons play and socialize after music time. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Books, songs, rhymes, sign-language lessons and math activities make for well-educated youngsters. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 10-10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
FUSE BEAD CRAFTERNOONS: Youngsters make pictures out of colorful, meltable doodads. Ages 8 and up. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free. Info, 223-3338.
NATURECAMP AFTERSCHOOL: See WED.3. Ages 7 through 9.
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Energetic youngsters join Miss Meliss for stories, songs and lots of silliness. KelloggHubbard Library, Montpelier, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 223-3338.
WEE ONES PLAY TIME: Caregivers bring kiddos 3 and younger to a new sensory learning experience each week. Morristown Centennial Library, Morrisville, 10 a.m. Free. Info, 888-3853.
PRESCHOOL PLAY & READ: Outdoor activities, stories and songs get 3- and 4-year-olds engaged. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
LAPSIT STORY TIME: Babies 18 months and younger learn to love reading, singing and playing with their caregivers. Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10-10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 745-1391.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: ED
GENDRON: A photographer and filmmaker investigates why war reenactors may be moved to bring history to life. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 748-8291.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: LUIS
VIVANCO: Cyclists and history buffs find common ground during a University of Vermont professor’s lecture on the fascinating story of how the bicycle came to Vermont. Manchester Community Library, Manchester Center, 7 p.m. Free. Info, pvignola@mclvt.org.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: ROLF
DIAMANT: The historian explains how abolitionism, the Civil War and the Reconstruction period
‘’YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN’: See THU.4.
SPRING TEEN ZINE CHALLENGE: High schoolers cut, paste and doodle art and text from community kids into collaborative collage books. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-5 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
TEEN FRIGHT NIGHT: Kids 13 through 18 hang out, eat popcorn and watch a freaky flick. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Participants ages 6 and under hear stories, sing songs and eat tasty treats between outdoor activities. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 426-3581.
STORY TIME: Preschoolers take part in stories, songs and silliness. Latham Library, Thetford, 11 a.m. Free. Info, 785-4361.
ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: Kids 5 and under play, sing, hear stories and take home a fun activity. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10-11 a.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 745-1391.
SING-ALONG: Kids of all ages enjoy original and traditional music from Ed “the Music Man” Morgan. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10-11 a.m. Free. Info, 745-1391.
‘’YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN’: See THU.4, 2-3:45 p.m.
ELEANOR PELOSI STEPHENSON: The launch event for the new picture book Our Hearts Can Soar features story time with the author and arts and crafts. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 1011:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
KIDS CHESS CLUB: Little grand masters build their skills. Ages 5 and up. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
gave rise to the concept of national parks. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6955.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: JAG Productions founder Jarvis Antonio Green stars in a one-man performance about depression, family and why life is worth living. Briggs Opera House, White River Junction, 7:30 p.m. $20-43. Info, 332-3270.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: Vermont Stage presents David Ives’ seductive thriller about an erotic director and an unusual actress — again, starring the original cast from the
WED.3 » P.66
Free; preregister. Info, nliuzzi@ southburlingtonvt.gov.
SATURDAY STORIES: Kiddos start the weekend off right with stories and songs. Ages 3 through 7. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
SATURDAY STORY TIME: A Dorothy Alling Memorial Library storyteller reads to little ones out in the sunshine. Williston Town Green, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
TOUCH-A-TRUCK: Kids of all ages get up close and personal with fire truck, ambulances, construction vehicles and the people who drive them. No sirens 9-10:30 a.m. Colchester High School, 9-11 a.m. Free. Info, 264-5640.
MUSICAL STORY TIME: Song, dance and other tuneful activities supplement picture books for kids 2 through 5. Morristown Centennial Library, Morrisville, 11 a.m. Free. Info, 888-3853.
JEDI TRAILS: Star Wars fans of all ages take to the forest in search of 500 lost Baby Yodas. Poultney River & Rail Trail, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, admin@comealiveoutside. com.
MEET CURIOUS GEORGE!: Everyone’s favorite silly monkey makes an appearance for Children’s Book Week. Phoenix Books, Rutland, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free. Info, 855-8078.
VERMONT YOUTH ORCHESTRA SPRING
CONCERT: Audiences enjoy the thrills and chills of a monster movie-inspired program including tunes from The Lost World and Jurassic Park. The Flynn, Burlington, 3 p.m. $17-22. Info, 863-5966.
JEDI TRAILS: See SAT.6. Pine Hill Park, Giorgetti Athletic Complex, Rutland.
STORIES WITH SHANNON: Bookworms ages 2 through 5 enjoy fun-filled reading
blockbuster 2014 run. Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $31.0538.50. Info, 862-1497.
words
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: DANA
WALRATH: A multidisciplinary author and artist discusses how she creates genre-bending works such as her graphic memoir Aliceheimer’s. Rutland Free Library, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 773-1860.
FIRST WEDNESDAYS: JASON
LUTES: e graphic novelist discusses his acclaimed book Berlin, which charts the rise of fascism in post-World War I Germany. Goodrich Memorial Library, Newport, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 754-6660.
crafts
ADULT CRAFTERNOON: Handy locals make suncatchers out of melted beads. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 2-3 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 878-4918.
KNITTING GROUP: Knitters of all experience levels get together to spin yarns. Latham Library, etford, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 785-4361.
dance
RAINBOW VISION DANCE FEST!:
e Capital City’s newest queerowned pole and contemporary dance studio hosts three days of classes, culminating in a showcase and DJ dance party. See calendar spotlight. River’s Way Movement Studio, Montpelier, 5-9:30 p.m. Donations. Info, 522-4008.
environment
NEIL PAPROCKI: A conservation biologist presents his research on the understudied rough-legged hawk. Presented by Vermont Institute of Natural Science. 5:30-7 p.m. $10 suggested donation; preregister. Info, 359-5000. etc.
DUNGSE JAMPAL NORBU: A
Tibetan Buddhist discusses how lojong, or mind training, can help develop wisdom and compassion. Shambhala Meditation Center, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, 658-6795.
NIGHT OWL CLUB:
Astronomers and space exploration experts discuss the latest in extraterrestrial news with curious attendees.
Presented by Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. 7 p.m. Free. Info, 748-2372.
THE ROYAL RENDEZVOUS GREAT
GATSBY STYLE: Party people dress in their Prohibition best for this swanky gala on the lake. Proceeds benefit Feeding Chittenden. Spirit of Ethan Allen, Burlington, 6 p.m. $75; preregister. Info, 658-7939.
YOUNG TRADITION FESTIVAL: Vermont’s young up-and-coming musicians and dancers get their time in the spotlight at a four-day celebration of intergenerational arts education. See vtfolklife.org for full schedule. Burlington City Hall Auditorium, 7-9 p.m. Prices vary; $35 for festival pass. Info, ytv@vtfolklife.org.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3.
‘STORMING CAESARS PALACE’: A new PBS documentary tells the story of the Black Las Vegas women who revolutionized the welfare movement. Q&A with author Annelise Orleck, whose book of the same name inspired the film, follows. See calendar spotlight. Junction Arts & Media, White River Junction, 7-10 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 295-6688.
‘WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS?’: Long-suppressed documentary footage tells the story of the first American rock band to go on tour behind the Iron Curtain. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7-9 p.m. $6-12; VTIFF membership benefits apply. Info, 660-2600.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
GESINE BULLOCK-PRADO: e chef shares her newest cookbook full of meals for stick season through mud season, My Vermont Table: Recipes for All (Six) Seasons. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 6-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
games
THE CHECK MATES: Chess players of all ages face off at this intergenerational weekly meetup. Manchester Community Library, Manchester Center, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 549-4574.
SIMPLIFIED TAI CHI FOR SENIORS: Eighteen easy poses help with stress reduction, fall prevention and ease of movement. Manchester Community Library, Manchester Center, 3:15-4 p.m. Donations. Info, 362-2607.
lgbtq
POP-UP HAPPY HOUR: Locals connect over drinks at a speakeasy-style bar. Hosted by OUT in the 802. Lincolns, Burlington, 5:30-7 p.m. Free. Info, 860-7812.
montréal
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: e annual Asian Heritage Month extravaganza features art shows,
Capital City citizens are in for a supremely soulful and sensual weekend at Rainbow Vision Dance Fest, the inaugural shebang by Montpelier’s newest queerand sex-worker-owned pole and modern dance studio. Dancers of all levels enjoy three days of classes taught by some of the best in the business, from pole dance and burlesque to jazz and belly dance. e weekend hits its climax at a showcase featuring performances by River’s Way teachers and guest artists, followed by a joyful dance party soundtracked by DJ Luscious B.
RAINBOW VISION DANCE FEST!
ursday, May 4, and Friday, May 5, 5-9:30 p.m.; and Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. & 8-11 p.m., at River’s Way Movement Studio in Montpelier. Donations. Info, 522-4008, riverswaymovement.com.
film screenings, play readings, food tastings and more. See accesasie.com for full schedule. Various Montréal locations. Prices vary. Info, 514-298-0757.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH
REPUBLIC’: See WED.3, 7 p.m.
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3. music
FIRST THURSDAY CONCERT
SERIES: ELIJAH KRAATZ & TRIO DE RUMBA: e Romani-inspired world music act plays songs of
longing and hope. Ten percent of bar sales benefits Inclusive Arts Vermont. Shelburne Vineyard, 6-8:30 p.m. Free; cash bar. Info, 985-8222.
JAZZ GUITAR ENSEMBLE & POST
BOP ENSEMBLE: Student musicians play tunes to jive to from Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock and more. University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 656-3040.
‘THE KOBZAR’S PRAYER FOR UKRAINE’: Traveling bard Jurij Fedynskyj plays the bandura to
opens. e Flynn, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $39-69. Info, 863-5966.
THOUGHT CLUB: Artists and activists convene to engage with Burlington‘s rich tradition of radical thought and envision its future. Democracy Creative, Burlington, 6-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, tevan@democracycreative.com.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: See WED.3.
‘HAMLET’: e Middlebury Department of eatre presents Shakespeare’s timeless tale of revenge with a twist: All 10 actors get a turn playing the title role. Wright Memorial eatre, Middlebury College, 7:30-9:30 p.m. $5-15. Info, 443-6433.
‘SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS’: Six strangers at a meditation retreat must face their demons despite their vow of silence in this hilarious and profound play. See calendar spotlight. Town Hall eater, Middlebury, 7:30 p.m. $17-37. Info, 382-9222.
‘THE TWELFTH NIGHT SHOW’: A new adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy, developed at Weston eater’s 2022 writer’s retreat, sets the action in New York City’s arts scene alongside an original folk rock score. Artistree Community Arts Center eatre & Gallery, South Pomfret, 7 p.m. $25-30. Info, 457-3500.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: See WED.3.
RUMMAGE SALE: Sales of books, toys, clothes and gifts benefit the United Church of Fairfax’s mission work. Fairfax Community Center, 1-6 p.m. Free. Info, 849-6313.
INTEGRATIVE PAIN
MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE: Interdisciplinary health care professionals get educated on the cutting edge of research into treating chronic pain. Davis Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. $125275; preregister. Info, uvmihinfo@med.uvm.edu.
raise funds for the war effort. All Souls Interfaith Gathering, Shelburne, 7-10 p.m. Donations. Info, 363-8287.
VIOLIN MASTERCLASS WITH BELLA HRISTOVA: Locals soak in the skill as a Vermont Symphony Orchestra guest violinist teaches three high school students what she knows. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 4:30-6 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
THE WALLFLOWERS: e rock band led by Jakob Dylan delivers roots-rock refrains. Paper Castles
FIRST FRIDAY FIBER GROUP: Fiber-arts fans make progress on projects while chatting over snacks. GRACE, Hardwick, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, info@ruralartsvt.org.
SCRAPBOOKING GROUP: Cutters and pasters make new friends in a weekly club. Manchester Community Library, Manchester Center, 10 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 549-4574.
‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND’: City Center Ballet travels through the looking-glass in this wacky and whimsical show for all ages. Lebanon Opera House, N.H., 7 p.m. $11-44. Info, 603-448-0400.
RAINBOW VISION DANCE FEST!: See THU.4. etc.
STEPS’ SOCIAL: KALEIDOSCOPE:
Steps to End Domestic Violence hosts its first-ever benefit party, featuring refreshments, live jazz, a raffle and a silent auction. Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 6-9 p.m. $50; cash bar. Info, 658-3131.
YOUNG TRADITION FESTIVAL:
See THU.4.
film
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
BENEFIT BAKE & CERAMICS SALE
FOR FARM STAND TOGETHER: Sales of locally-milled loaves and hand-thrown dishes benefit food-insecure Vermont families. Backdoor Bread, Charlotte, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. Info, admin@ farmstandtogethervt.org.
games
MAH-JONGG: Tile traders of all experience levels gather for a game session. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 1-3 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION
EXERCISE PROGRAM: Those in need of an easy-on-the-joints workout experience an hour of calming, low-impact movement. Waterbury Public Library, 10:3011:30 a.m. Free; preregister. Info, 244-7036.
GUIDED MEDITATION
ONLINE: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library invites attendees to relax on their lunch breaks and reconnect with their bodies. Noon-12:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, programs@ damlvt.org.
language
‘DER TOLLSTE TAG’: German language students perform Austrian author Peter Turrini’s modern take on The Marriage of Figaro. English synopsis provided at the door. Le Château, Middlebury College, 7:30-9:30 p.m. Free. Info, 443-3248.
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3.
BALAKLAVA BLUES: Ukrainian folk meets punk and dubstep at this dance-worthy benefit show for Razom. Chandler Center for
the Arts, Randolph, 7:30 p.m. $25-55. Info, 728-9878.
CLAIRE BLACK: The acclaimed Burlington pianist presents a program of rarely performed piano solos by composers including Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann and Béla Bartók. Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley, Norwich, 7-9 p.m. $20. Info, 649-8828.
COLCHESTER COMMUNITY CHORUS: The Chittenden County choir’s spring concert celebrates the work of local musicians, including a guest appearance by Colchester’s own Bob Degree and the Bluegrass Storm. Colchester High School, 6:30-9 p.m. Free. Info, 233-8236.
‘LOVE’S GONNA CARRY US’: Folk artists, activists and former Pete Seeger collaborators Annie Patterson and Peter Blood lead a sing-along concert full of songs of joy and resilience. Proceeds benefit Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects. Middlebury United Methodist Church, 7 p.m. $20 suggested donation. Info, 377-7425.
outdoors
AUDUBON SPLIT ROCK TRAIL
BIRD WALK: Enthusiastic ornithologists go on an easy, threemile hike. Meet at the parking area on Adams Rd. Carpooling encouraged. Split Rock Trail, Pittsford, 7-10 a.m. Free. Info, birding@rutlandcountyaudubon. org.
SPRING BIRDING: Folks of all interests and experience levels seek out feathered friends in flight. All supplies provided. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, 7-9 a.m. Free. Info, 229-6206.
theater
‘CIRCUS SPRINGBOARD’:
NECCA students demonstrate mind-boggling dynamic feats. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, 7 p.m. $5-15. Info, 533-2000.
Find even more local events in this newspaper and online: art
Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.
film
See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.
Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/ music.
Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: See WED.3.
‘GOING UP THE COUNTRY’: Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre presents a play exploring how the counterculture movement of the 1960s affected Vermont, featuring live music. West Rutland Town Hall Theater, 7:30 p.m. $20. Info, 775-0903.
‘HAMLET’: See THU.4.
‘SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS’: See THU.4.
‘TASTINGS: AN EVENING OF SIX SHORT PLAYS’: Comedy, drama and wine flights collide at this sampling of works by playwrights including Vermont’s Lesley Becker and Connecticut’s Jan Mason. Snow Farm Vineyard, South Hero, 6-8 p.m. $18. Info, 279-8099.
‘THE TWELFTH NIGHT SHOW’: See THU.4.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: See WED.3.
TREE SALE: Home growers pick up preordered apple, peach, blueberry, grape, fig, pear and plum plants at this horticultural extravaganza. Scott Farm, Dummerston, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Prices vary; preregister. Info, orders@scottfarmvermont.com.
bazaars
RUMMAGE SALE: See FRI.5, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
crafts
MAKE AND TAKE: FELT TOY
PIZZA FOR CREATIVE PLAY: Grownups unleash their creativity by making felt food for a kid in their lives. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 1-2 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 923-5535.
‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND’: See FRI.5, 1 & 7 p.m.
‘THE MIGRANT BODY’: Brazilian American choreographer Paula Higa directs this show about self-discovery, geography, loss and home. Isham Family Farm, Williston, 7-8 p.m. $10-20. Info, phdance73@gmail.com.
MONTPELIER CONTRA DANCE:
To live tunes and gender-neutral calling, dancers balance, shadow and do-si-do the night away. N95, KN94, KN95 or 3-ply surgical masks required. Capital City Grange, Berlin, beginners’ lesson, 7:40 p.m.; dance, 8-11 p.m. $5-20. Info, 225-8921.
RAINBOW VISION DANCE FEST!: See THU.4, 10-1 a.m.
‘(RE)BOUND’: Ballet Vermont brings together skilled dancers and three local choreographers for an engaging and thoughtprovoking performance.
Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, 7 p.m. $15-25. Info, 533-2000.
GREEN UP DAY: Volunteers across the state pick up litter and beautify their communities. See greenupvermont.org for townspecific details. Various locations statewide. Free. Info, greenup@ greenupvermont.org.
etc.
MEDITATION AND BUDDHIST
DISCUSSION GROUP: Locals calm their thoughts and discuss a short reading. Refreshments are served. Shambhala Meditation Center, Burlington, 11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 658-6795.
INCLUSION FESTIVAL: Minorityowned businesses and a diverse lineup of musicians, dancers and storytellers make for a multicultural shebang. Bombardier Park West, Milton, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. Info, miltononthemovevt@gmail. com.
YOUNG TRADITION FESTIVAL:
See THU.4, 1-9 p.m.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’: Vermont
Public presents an advance screening of the last of three episodes of the highly appraised show filmed last summer at the Shelburne Museum. Reception follows. 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 5:30 p.m. Donations; preregister; limited space. Info, 985-3346.
‘CHAMPION’: The Metropolitan Opera live streams the newest work by Terence Blanchard, the Grammy-winning composer of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, which follows a Black boxer through a life of triumphs and regrets. Catamount Arts Center, St.
Johnsbury, 12:55 p.m. $16-25. Info, 748-2600.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
games
BEGINNER DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Waterbury Public Library game master Evan Hoffman gathers novices and veterans alike for an afternoon of virtual adventuring. Teens and adults welcome. Noon-4 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
CHESS CLUB: Players of all ages and abilities face off and learn new strategies. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
Find even more local events in this newspaper and online:
art
Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.
film
See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.
Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/ music.
Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.
time. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
POKÉMON CLUB: Players trade cards and enjoy activities themed around their favorite strategic game. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 4-5 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
TEEN NIGHT: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS:
Local wizards and warlocks ages 12 and up play a collaborative game of magic and monsters. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 5-6 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: See FRI.5, 2-2:30 p.m.
DANCE PARTY MONDAYS: Little ones 5 and under get groovy together. Siblings
SHELBURNE 5K/10K & HALF
MARATHON: Runners enjoy a scenic route along rolling country roads past museums, orchards, vineyards and farms. The Field House, Shelburne, 8-11:30 a.m. $30-50; preregister. Info, rayne@ racevermont.com.
WALK AND ROLL FOR BRAIN
INJURY: The Brain Injury Alliance of Vermont hosts its 21st annual fundraiser. Food, drink and all-ages fun follows. Veterans Memorial Park, South Burlington, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 244-6850.
BELTAINE FESTIVAL: The Green Mountain Druid Order celebrates Gaelic May Day with a magical faire, maypole ceremony, potluck feast and jam session around the fire. Dreamland, Worcester, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Free. Info, 505-8011.
‘DER TOLLSTE TAG’: See FRI.5. lgbtq
DAN SAVAGE’S HUMP! FILM FESTIVAL: This sex-positive medley of indie erotic shorts rolls into town, featuring something for everybody and every body. Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas, Burlington, 6:30-8 & 9-10:30 p.m. $25. Info, info@ humpfilmfest.com.
PRIDE HIKES: RED ROCKS PARK: All ages, orientations and identities are welcome on a nature walk full of spring wildflowers, lake views and migratory bird sightings. Red Rocks Park, South Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, sarah.hooghuis@ audubon.org.
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’: See WED.3, 7 p.m.
welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10-10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 745-1391.
SING-ALONG WITH LINDA BASSICK: Babies, toddlers and preschoolers sing, dance and wiggle along with Linda. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 1111:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
BEADED BOOKMARKS WITH CASEY: A local beadworker helps young bookworms with a craft. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
CRAFTYTOWN: From painting and printmaking to collage and sculpture, creative kids explore different projects and mediums. Ages 8 and up, or ages 6 and up with an adult helper. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 3-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
KID PHYSICS WORSHOP: Small scientists use their new knowledge
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3, 2:30 & 6:30 p.m.
BLUEGRASS NIGHT JAMBOREE: The Kowal Family Band, Bob & Sarah Amos and other superstars of the local Americana scene present an evening chock-full of traditional tunes. Catamount ArtPort, St. Johnsbury, 7-9 p.m. Donations. Info, 748-2600.
BRETT HUGHES AND THAT BLUEGRASS BAND: The local honky-tonk legend and friends deliver infectious energy and affecting lyricism. Ripton Community House, 7:30-10 p.m. $15-25 suggestion donation. Info, 388-9782.
FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS: The singer, activist and writer of “Mister Rogers” fame draws from 400 years of Black spirituals in this moving performance. Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Middlebury, 7 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, 770-9270.
THE FYRE AND LIGHTNING
CONSORT: The medieval and Renaissance trio gets the townsfolk reveling with tunes played on the harp, lute, whistle, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy. Plainfield Town Hall Opera House, 7 p.m. $5-30 suggested donation. Info, 498-3173.
THE JOHNNY CASH TRIBUTE
SHOW: Audiences may think the Man in Black himself is in the building during this toe-tapping concert. Smilie Auditorium, Montpelier High School, 7-9 p.m. $25. Info, thejohnnycashtributeshowvt@ gmail.com.
‘A LAREDO SALUTE’: Longtime Vermont Symphony Orchestra music director Jaime Laredo waves his last baton in this farewell concert featuring violinist Bella Hristova. The Flynn, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $8.3554.23. Info, 863-5966.
about the laws of physics to make moving crafts. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 5-5:45 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
PLAYGROUP & FAMILY SUPPORT:
Families with children under age 5 play and connect with others in the community. Winooski Memorial Library, 10-11 a.m. Free. Info, 655-6424.
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Little ones enjoy a cozy session of reading, rhyming and singing. Birth through age 5. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
TODDLERTIME: Kids ages 1 through 3 and their caregivers join Miss Alyssa for a lively session of stories, singing and wiggling. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 9:15-9:45 & 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
NATURECAMP AFTERSCHOOL: See THU.4.
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: See THU.4.
ROBIN’S NEST NATURE PLAYGROUP: Outdoor pursuits through fields and forests captivate little ones up to age 5
LOUISE BICHAN: MUSIC AND STORIES FROM SCOTLAND: An Orkney Islands-born musician and her band bring a taste of the Glasgow session scene to the Green Mountains. Seven Stars Arts Center, Sharon, 7-9 p.m. $2025. Info, 763-2334.
NORTH COUNTRY CHORUS: Sixtysix singers present a program honoring Matthew Shepard, a victim of an infamous homophobic hate crime. South Church Hall, St. Johnsbury, 7:30 p.m. Donations. Info, president@northcountry chorus.org.
PLAY EVERY TOWN: Prolific pianist David Feurzeig and guest cellist Linda Galvan continue a four-year, statewide series of shows in protest of high-pollution worldwide concert tours. First Congregational Church, Cornwall, 3 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, 321-614-0591.
SPRING EPHEMERAL
WILDFLOWER WALK: Lake Champlain Land Trust points out the area’s earliest wildflowers during a sunny jaunt through the woods. Rock Point Nature Trails, Burlington, 10-11:30 a.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, rockpointcenter@diovermont.org.
WARBLER WATCH: Springtime songbirds return to the trees for birders to spy. Little River State Park, Waterbury, 7-9 a.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, gmas@greenmountainaudubon. org.
FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP
FACILITATOR TRAINING: The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont teaches volunteers how to lead meetings for caretakers. Time and South Burlington location provided upon registration. Free; preregister. Info, 876-7949, ext. 101.
and their parents. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-noon. Free; donations accepted. Info, 229-6206. mad
HOMESCHOOL COMPUTER CLUB: Home students learn everything from basic tech techniques to graphic design in this monthly class. Waterbury Public Library, 11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
HOMESCHOOL RED CLOVER BOOK: Home-taught elementary students read and discuss a new nominee over lunch. Waterbury Public Library, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
BABYTIME: See WED.3.
SAT PREP WITH WALKER TUTORING: Tutors Addison and Jacob help high school students get ready for the big exam at monthly sessions. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 4-6 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
STEAM SPACE: See WED.3.
ANNUAL BIKE SWAP: Cyclists trade their old rigs of all kinds for a new ride. Onion River Outdoors, Montpelier, 9 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 225-6736.
ANNUAL CAR SHOW & OPEN
PRACTICE: Racers strut their stuff in advance of the track’s 64th season. Thunder Road Speedbowl, Barre, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Info, info@thunderroadvt.com.
GET BACK ON YOUR BIKE: AARP and Local Motion host a “bike rodeo” where cyclists can get a tune-up, practice their skills and go on a guided ride. Leddy Park, Burlington, 9-11 a.m. Free. Info, 866-227-7451.
‘BED SHEET INTERPRETATIONS’:
Bread & Puppet Theater presents a performance that evolves into something slightly new every week. Free bread is available and affordable art is on sale after the show. Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, 3-4 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, 525-3031.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: See WED.3, 2 & 7:30 p.m.
‘GOING UP THE COUNTRY’: See FRI.5.
‘HAMLET’: See THU.4.
‘SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS’: See THU.4.
‘TASTINGS: AN EVENING OF SIX SHORT PLAYS’: See FRI.5.
‘THE TWELFTH NIGHT SHOW’: See THU.4.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: See WED.3. words
ANNIE CHAPPELL: A writer and environmentalist reads from her recent memoir, Away Up the North Fork: A Girl’s Search for Home in the Wilderness. Norwich Bookstore, 3 p.m. Free. Info, 649-1114.
BABYTIME: See WED.3.
LEGO BUILDERS: See WED.3. MOVIE MATINEE: Film lovers have a family-friendly afternoon at this screening of an animated favorite. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:15-5 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.
CHESS CLUB: See WED.3. NATURECAMP AFTERSCHOOL: See WED.3.
LEGO CHALLENGE CLUB: Kids engage in a fun-filled hour of building, then leave their creations on display in the library all month long. Ages 6 through 8. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 244-7036.
PEABODY AFTERSCHOOL FUN FOR GRADES 1-4: See WED.3.
PRE-K STORY TIME: See WED.3. K
FRIENDS OF ILSLEY LIBRARY
BOOK SALE: Books of all genres for all ages go on sale out in the sunshine, and all proceeds fund library programming. Middlebury Town Offices, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 388-4095.
VERMONT BOOK AWARDS: The Green Mountain State’s finest poets, novelists and nonfiction authors are recognized at a reception worthy of the history books. Alumni Hall, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, 7 p.m. $3575; cash bar; preregister. Info, info@vermonthumanities.org.
THE RACE AGAINST RACISM: High school students from across
the state amplify the conversation about racial justice in Vermont with a day full of notable speakers, live performances and a scenic 5K. Vermont Statehouse, Montpelier, 1-4:30 p.m. $5-10. Info, heathermc@mpsvt.org.
DAIRY DAY AT THE FARM: Visitors hop on a wagon ride and hang out with a herd of Brown Swiss cows as they parade from pasture to the milking parlor. Shelburne Farms, 1-4 p.m. $5 per car; free for walkers. Info, 985-8686.
TREE SALE: See SAT.6, 9 a.m.-noon.
dance
‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND’: See FRI.5, 1 p.m.
SPRING BOOK, POSTCARD & EPHEMERA FAIR: Bibliophiles meet authors, taste beer and browse thousands of old, rare and antiquarian titles along with maps, letters, postcards and prints. St. Albans City Hall, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Info, 527-7248.
YOUNG TRADITION FESTIVAL: See THU.4, 3-6 p.m.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
ITALIAN CINEMA DAY: Screenings of The Truffle Hunters Big Night and L’immensità are served with a side of delicious food and drink. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center,
Burlington, 2-9 p.m. $6-30; free for VTIFF All Access members. Info, gail@vtiff.org.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS
PRACTICE: New and experienced meditators are always welcome to join this weekly practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hahn. Sangha Studio — Pine, Burlington, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Free. Info, newleafsangha@gmail.com.
COTS WALK: Fundraisers walk 3.5 miles, visiting Committee on
Temporary Shelter locations along the way to see how their donations support shelters and other services for their houseless neighbors. Battery Park, Burlington, 1-4 p.m. Free. Info, 864-7402.
KARUNA COMMUNITY
MEDITATION: A YEAR TO LIVE
(FULLY): Participants practice keeping joy, generosity and gratitude at the forefront of their minds. Jenna’s House, Johnson, 10-11:15 a.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, mollyzapp@live.com.
montréal
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’: See WED.3.
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3, 2:30 & 6:30 p.m.
LINDA RADTKE: The singer and historian dresses in turn-of-thecentury suffragette garb for the Friends of the Library annual tea. Waterbury Public Library, 2 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
NORTH COUNTRY CHORUS: See SAT.6, 3 p.m.
EVE JACOBS-CARNAHAN: Activists and craftivists learn about the history of politically active knitters while working together on a banner for Warren’s Independence Day parade. Joslin Memorial Library, Waitsfield, 3-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 496-4205.
FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP FACILITATOR TRAINING: See SAT.6.
25TH COMMUNITY BANK N.A.
150: The racetrack’s 2023 season opens with a nail-biting competition. Thunder Road Speedbowl, Barre, 1-5 p.m. $10-25. Info, info@ thunderroadvt.com.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: See WED.3, 5 p.m.
‘GOING UP THE COUNTRY’: See FRI.5, 2 p.m.
‘SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS’: See THU.4, 2 p.m.
‘THE TWELFTH NIGHT SHOW’: See THU.4, 2 p.m.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: See WED.3, 2 p.m.
words
TOUSSAINT ST. NEGRITUDE:
The Black, queer artist and poet leads listeners on an Afrofuturist adventure through words and music. Stage 33 Live, Bellows Falls, 7-8:30 p.m. $10-15; limited space. Info, stage33@stage33live. com.
HATE-FREE VERMONT FORUM:
The Office of the Vermont Attorney General and the Rutland Area NAACP host a conversation on hate crimes, bias incidents and how to respond. Virtual option available. Randolph Union High School, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free; preregister for Zoom attendance. Info, 828-3171.
FIBER ARTS FREE-FOR-ALL:
Makers make friends while working on their knitting, sewing, felting and beyond. Artistree Community Arts Center Theatre & Gallery, South Pomfret, 6-8 p.m. Free. Info, theknittinkittenvt@ gmail.com.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN
WORLD 3D’: See WED.3.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
SOURDOUGH 201, PART 1:
In the first of three workshops, home bakers learn how to grow a deliciously unique starter from scratch. Presented by City Market, Onion River Co-op. 5:30-7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, info@citymarket.coop.
ADVANCED TAI CHI: Experienced movers build strength, improve balance and reduce stress. Holley Hall, Bristol, 11 a.m.-noon. Free; donations accepted. Info, jerry@ skyrivertaichi.com.
LAMOILLE VALLEY VAPE
AWARENESS TOWN HALL:
Substance-abuse prevention professionals and school leaders discuss the rise of e-cigarettes and how to address it. Green Mountain Technology & Career Center, Hyde Park, 7-8 p.m. Free; preregister by May 5. Info, 851-1160.
LAUGHTER YOGA: Spontaneous, joyful movement and breath promote physical and emotional health. Pathways Vermont, Burlington, 2-3 p.m. Free. Info, chrisn@pathwaysvermont.org.
LONG-FORM SUN 73: Beginners and experienced practitioners learn how tai chi can help with arthritis, mental clarity and range of motion. Holley Hall, Bristol, 11 a.m.-noon. Free; donations accepted. Info, wirlselizabeth@ gmail.com.
YANG 24: This simplified tai chi method is perfect for beginners looking to build strength and balance. Congregational Church of Middlebury, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted. Info, wirlselizabeth@gmail.com.
ENGLISH CONVERSATION
CIRCLE: Locals learning English as a second language gather in the Digital Lab to build vocabulary and make friends. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, noon-1 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
FRENCH FOR HOSPITALITY
CLASS: Cashiers, servers and other service workers pick up some vocab over two classes so as to better say bienvenue to visitors from Québec. Preregister for Burlington location. 3:30-4:30
Middlebury Acting Company tries and fails to unwind in Small Mouth Sounds, the critically acclaimed play by Bess Wohl. It tells the story of six strangers at a meditation retreat in upstate New York who must help each other battle their demons despite the vow of contemplative silence they’ve all taken. Full of awkwardness, humor and heart, the play, directed by Melissa Lourie, asks audiences to contemplate the mysteries of the universe — with words and without. The production contains brief nudity.
‘SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS’
Thursday, May 4, through Saturday, May 6, 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, May 7, 2 p.m., at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury. $17-37. Info, 382-9222, townhalltheater.org.
p.m. Free; preregister. Info, bsbvermont@gmail.com.
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH
REPUBLIC’: See WED.3, 7 p.m.
SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3.
VOCAL/ORGAN STUDIO RECITAL: Students of university organist Amy Shortt present an evening of tunes from the classical world, Broadway and beyond. University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 656-3040.
BETTY KELLER: Citizens learn why ranked-choice voting makes sense via a talk and mock election by a League of Women Voters representative. 7-8:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 274-8180.
ADDISON COUNTY WRITERS
COMPANY: Poets, playwrights, novelists and memoirists of every experience level meet weekly for an MFA-style workshop. Swift House Inn, Middlebury, 6-8 p.m. Free. Info, jay@zigzaglitmag.org.
CURRENT EVENTS
DISCUSSION GROUP: Brownell Library hosts a virtual roundtable for neighbors to pause and reflect on the news cycle. 10-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6955.
Find even more local events in this newspaper and online: art
Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.
film
See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.
Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/ music.
Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
QI GONG FOR VITALITY & PEACE: Librarian Judi Byron leads students in this ancient Chinese practice of mindful movement and breath. Waterbury Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Free; preregister. Info, judi@waterburypubliclibrary.com.
FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP: Francophones and Frenchlanguage learners meet pour parler la belle langue. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 5 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
SOCIAL HOUR: The Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region hosts a rendez-vous over Zoom. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, ellen.sholk@gmail.com.
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’: See WED.3, 7 p.m. SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3.
COMMUNITY SINGERS: A weekly choral meetup welcomes all singers to raise their voices along to traditional (and not-so-traditional) songs. Revels North, Lebanon, N.H., 7:30 p.m. Pay what you can. Info, 603-558-7894.
UPPER VALLEY BIPOC NETWORK SOCIAL: Vermonters and New Hampshirites of color gather to connect with friends and colleagues. Childcare available. Hilton Garden Inn, Lebanon N.H., 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 603-448-1203.
MORRIS & MORE: Dancers of all abilities learn how to step, clog and even sword fight their way through medieval folk dances of all kinds. Revels North, Lebanon, N.H., 6 p.m. Pay what you can. Info, 603-558-7894.
SWING DANCING: Local Lindy hoppers and jitterbuggers convene at Vermont Swings’ weekly boogie-down. Bring clean shoes. Beginner lessons, 6:30 p.m. Champlain Club, Burlington, 7:309 p.m. $5. Info, 864-8382.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘THE CRUCIBLE’: National Theatre’s production of Arthur Miller’s drama about the Salem witch trials streams live from the London stage. Town Hall Theater, Middlebury, 6 p.m. $10-15. Info, 382-9222.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
THE MUSIC OF 210: Student composers showcase a semester’s work. Robison Concert Hall, Mahaney Arts Center, Middlebury College, 7:30-9 p.m. Free. Info, 443-5221.
VOCAL STUDIO RECITAL: Students from the vocal studio of Adam Hall present a variety of classical and contemporary pieces. University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 656-3040.
outdoors
FAIRGROUNDS EAST BIRD WALK: Birders of all experience levels take a slow jaunt through the words in search of feathered friends. BYO water, snacks, cameras, field guides and binoculars if possible. Fairgrounds Trailhead, Poultney, 7:30-10:30 a.m. Free. Info, jptilley50@gmail.com.
BETTY KELLER: See MON.8. Barre Area Senior Center, 1-2:30 p.m. Free. Info, 274-8180. tech
DROP-IN TECH HELP: Experts answer questions about phones, laptops, e-readers and more in one-on-one sessions. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 5-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.
TUE.9 « P.70
ANNE WEBER: The epic poem gets a modern reinvention in Epic Annette: A Heroine’s Tale, a new biography-in-verse of French World War II revolutionary Annette Beaumanoir. Norwich Bookstore, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 649-1114.
CHUCK COLLINS: A nonfiction author’s debut novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun tracks the aftermath of an environmental activist’s shocking death. Presented by Phoenix Books. 7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 448-3350. THE MOTH STORYSLAM: Local tellers of tales recount true stories in the hopes of winning an appearance on NPR. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $17.50; preregister. Info, susanne@themoth.org.
POETRY GROUP: A supportive verse-writing workshop welcomes those who would like feedback on their work or who are just happy to listen. ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 11 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 846-4140.
WILLIAM GADDIS ‘THE RECOGNITIONS’ BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION: The Burlington Literature Group reads and analyzes this influential postmodernist novel over 13 weeks. 6:30-8 p.m. Free. Info, info@nereadersandwriters.com.
ASHLEY MESSIER: The executive director of the Women’s Justice and Freedom Initiative explains how she became an advocate for prison abolition. Presented by Vermont Humanities. 7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, jpelletier@ vermonthumanities.org.
APPROACH SALES
EFFECTIVELY WITH CONFIDENCE TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS & THRIVE: Mercy Connections hosts a workshop on interpersonal skills for salespeople. Noon-1 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 846-7081.
QUEEN CITY BUSINESS NETWORKING INTERNATIONAL GROUP: See WED.3.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS DESK:
AGEWELL: Seniors stop by the main reading room to ask questions and learn about programs available to them. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 2-4 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.
CURRENT EVENTS: Neighbors have an informal discussion about what’s in the news. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 878-4918.
GREEN MOUNTAIN CHAPTER OF THE EMBROIDERERS’ GUILD OF AMERICA: Anyone with an interest in the needle arts is welcome to bring a project to this monthly meeting. Holy Family Parish Hall, Essex Junction, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, gmc.vt.ega@gmail.com. etc.
LIFE STORIES WE LOVE
TO TELL: Prompts from group leader Maryellen Crangle inspire true tales, told either off the cuff or read from prewritten scripts. Presented by Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. 2-3:30 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 878-4918.
See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.
‘ELEMENTAL: REIMAGINE
WILDFIRE’: An award-winning documentary takes a searing look into the truth about forest fires and humanity’s response to them. Savoy Theater, Montpelier, 6:30-8:30 p.m. $10. Info, 703-395-5248.
‘JOURNEY TO SPACE 3D’: See WED.3.
‘MAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES’: A new documentary about the iconic jazz drummer’s seven-decade career makes its Vermont premiere. Town Hall Theater, Middlebury, 7 p.m. $1416. Info, 382-9222.
‘MYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD 3D’: See WED.3.
‘NORMA RAE’: A textile worker labors to unionize her factory in this film based on an inspiring true story. Catamount Arts Center, St. Johnsbury, 6 p.m. Free. Info, 748-2600.
NXT ROCKUMENTARY FILM SERIES: ‘BOB DYLAN: DON’T LOOK BACK’: The next installment in this screening series from Next Stage Arts and Next Chapter Records follows the folk messiah along his 1965 UK tour. Next Stage Arts Project, Putney, 7 p.m. $10 suggested donation. Info, 387-0102.
‘WILD AFRICA 3D’: See WED.3. ‘WINGS OVER WATER 3D’: See WED.3.
HOMEBREWING 101 WITH THE GREEN MOUNTAIN MASHERS: Certified cicerone Rob Friesel teaches hopheads the basics of making beer at home. City Market, Onion River Co-op, Burlington South End, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, info@ citymarket.coop.
BOARD GAME NIGHT: Lovers of tabletop fun play classic games and new designer offerings. Waterbury Public Library, 6-8 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.
MAH-JONGG OPEN PLAY: See WED.3.
CHAIR YOGA: See WED.3. ROOTS OF PREVENTION AWARDS CELEBRATION: The Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community recognizes outstanding contributions to community wellness. Burlington City Hall Auditorium, 5:30-7:30 p.m. $10 suggested donation; preregister. Info, 652-0997.
ELL CLASSES: ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS & INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS: See WED.3. IRISH LANGUAGE CLASS: See WED.3.
PAUSE-MIDI: ALLONS-Y!: Four Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region members present their recent educational road trip through the vineyards, medieval villages and ancient cave paintings of southwestern France. Noon-1 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, eriktrinkaus1@gmail.com.
lgbtq
MOMENTUM MONTHLY
VIRTUAL SOCIAL HOUR: LGBTQ folks ages 55 and up gather to make new friends and connect with old ones. Presented by Pride Center of Vermont. 6-7 p.m. Free. Info, eeka@pridecentervt.org.
FESTIVAL ACCÈS ASIE: See THU.4.
‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’: See WED.3. SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL OF MONTRÉAL: See WED.3.
ZACH NUGENT UNCORKED: See WED.3.
GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE TENNIS CLUB: See WED.3.
‘EVERY BRILLIANT THING’: See WED.3.
‘VENUS IN FUR’: See WED.3. words
AFTER HOURS BOOK CLUB: Patrons discuss Delicious!, a mouthwatering coming-of-age story about a food writer, by Ruth Reichl. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.
FFL BOOK CLUB: ‘AN
IMMENSE WORLD: THE HIDDEN REALMS AROUND US’: Fletcher Free Library patrons break down Ed Yong’s joyful look into the world of animals who can sense heat, magnetic fields and electric currents. 6:30-8 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, bshatara@ burlingtonvt.gov.
POETRY POTLUCK: Wordsmiths and readers bring a dish and a poem (their own or others’) to share. Whirligig Brewing, St. Johnsbury, 7-9 p.m. Free. Info, acampbell@catamountarts.org.
In June 2022, with help from national service program Report for America, Seven Days added a reporter to our news team: Rachel Hellman. Her beat? Vermont’s small, rural towns. Since she was hired, Rachel has written more than 60 stories about 52 of them.
We’re excited to announce that Rachel is staying for another year at Seven Days — and we need your help to fund her reporting!
In 2022, Report for America paid for half of Rachel’s salary; donations from Vermont Co ee founder Paul Ralston and another local donor o set the rest. This year, Report for America covers a smaller percentage of the cost of employing Rachel. Once again, it’s up to Seven Days to raise the rest — a larger amount.
Our generous donors from last year have agreed to match the first $10,000 in contributions. If you appreciate Hellman’s reporting and want to support it, please consider making a one-time, tax-deductible donation to our spring campaign by May 12.
To fund Rachel’s reporting on rural towns, visit sevendaysvt.com/donate-rfa
Want to send a check?
Make it out to Report for America and put “for Seven Days” in the notes. Mail it to: Report for America Seven Days Campaign
c/o e GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services 9450 SW Gemini Dr, PMB 46837 Beaverton, OR 97008-7105
If you send a check, please let us know it’s coming. Contact Gillian at 802-865-1020, ext. 115, or gillian@sevendaysvt.com.
All contributions to Report for America are tax-deductible. Contributions do not influence editorial decisions.
“I support a free and robust press as an essential element of democracy and community. Plus, Rachel does great work.”
— CHRISTY MIHALY, EAST CALAIS (CAMPAIGN DONOR)
THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS FOR AS LITTLE AS $16.75/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE). SUBMIT YOUR CLASS AD AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS.
THE RETIREMENT DILEMMA:
Come hear local experts on the complex topic of retirement financing. Turning retirement savings into a retirement lifestyle is a skill, and it’s easy enough to learn. Walk away with a deeper understanding of what you can do to secure your retirement plans and guarantee your needs are met! Tue., May 9, 6 p.m. Location: e Board Room at the South Burlington Public Library. Info: erik@ckfinancialresources.com, sevendaystickets.com.
BLOCKPRINTING BOTANICALS:
Carve botanicals to print onto paper and fabric. Join visual artist Jen Berger to learn the basics of carving linoleum. Bring your own 4-by-6-inch image or make one in the group. Leave with your own reusable linoleum block, prints and the knowledge to make many more.
Sat., Jun. 17, 11 a.m. Cost:
$65. Location: Horsford Gardens & Nursery, 2111 Greenbush Rd., Charlotte. Info: attherootvt@ gmail.com, sevendaystickets. com.
BRUNCH BAKING WORKSHOP:
Join Janina of Red Poppy Cakery and Scott Weigand of Brave Coffee and Tea for a delicious experience! Elevate brunch and learn about brewing the perfect coffee and tea. We’ll enjoy the fruits of our labors at the end and take home some Brave coffee or tea for future brewing. Sat., May 20, 9:30 a.m. Cost: $50. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203-400-0700, sevendaystickets.com.
CHARCUTERIE BOARDS: Join Stephanie for a hands-on demo charcuterie class, featuring local cheeses, meats and products. By the end, you will be proud of your board and brag about it to family and friends. Invite your friends!
Stephanie guides everyone as you create an aesthetically appealing, delicious charcuterie board. 21+. Fri., May 26, 5:30 p.m. Cost: $65.
Location: Maverick Market at 110, 110 Main St., Suite 1C, Burlington. Info: info@localmaverickus.com, sevendaystickets.com.
CUPCAKES AND COLOR STREET:
Ladies’ night! We will decorate an assortment of four different cupcakes in different styles and then try out Color Street patented real nail polish strips with help
based on mentoring, peer support and lifestyle habits. Every Wed. from May 3-Jul. 19, 5:45-6:45 p.m. Cost: $45/1-hour session, weekly for 12 weeks. Location: Williston Recreation Paths, 250 Library Ln., Williston. Info: Kasie Enman, 802238-0820, firststridesvermont@ gmail.com, firststridesvermont. com.
from a pro. Guests will also be able to demo and purchase some other Color Street items.
Fri., Jul. 23, 6:30 p.m. Cost: $40.
Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203-400-0700, sevendaystickets.com.
FLOUR BY JOANNE CHANG:
COOKBOOK BAKING WORKSHOP: We’ll tackle a handful of recipes from the book family-style, sending everyone home with a full belly, something sweet to share and a copy of Flour by Joanne Chang. To order the books in time, registration closes early, so don’t wait too long to confirm your spot. Tue., Jun. 20, 6 p.m. Cost: $85. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203-4000700, sevendaystickets.com.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
CLASS: In this workshop, we will talk about what makes this great American classic so irresistible. You will then assemble and decorate your very own eight-slice version to take home and enjoy for the weekend. In addition, you will receive a copy of Janina’s recipe for this dessert following the class. u., Jun. 15, 6 p.m.
Cost: $10-45. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203400-0700, sevendaystickets.com.
TEA PARTY FEATURING BRAVE
COFFEE AND TEA: Tackle a handful of recipes for the perfect teatime and learn more about brewing the tea to go with it, served hot, iced or infused into lemonade. We’ll enjoy the fruits of our labors toward the end of the workshop and take home some Brave Tea for future brewing. Sat., Jul. 22, 11 a.m. Cost: $40.
Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203-400-0700, sevendaystickets.com.
THE BASICS OF CAKE
DECORATING: Learn the basics of filling, crumb-coating, getting nice smooth edges and some rosette piping. You’ll take home great new techniques plus a six-inch cake that serves 12. You can select your flavor! Glutenfree, vegan or both are available. Please disclose allergies when registering. Tue., Jul. 25, 6 p.m.
Cost: $85. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury Village Historic District. Info: 203-400-0700.
FIRST STRIDES VERMONT: A unique beginner running and walking program for women+
TEA IS A TREE: TASTING & GROWING: Taste fresh tea imported from around the world along with local herbs that blend well with green, black, white and other teas. Horsford’s lead gardener, Sophie Steck, will educate about the florals, herbs and botanicals you can grow in Vermont’s climate to pair with Camellia sinensis Sat., May 20, 10 a.m. Location: Horsford Gardens & Nursery, 2111 Greenbush Rd., Charlotte. Info: 802-425-2811, sevendaystickets.com.
FREE FRENCH CLASSES: Free 1-hour French for Hospitality classes! e Alliance Française will offer fun and easy ways for you and your business to kindly welcome our many Québec visitors this season. Learn basic French phrases and helpful gestures. Email us today to sign up. Bienvenue! Mon., May 8, 15, 22 & 29, 3:30 p.m. Location: BCA , 135 Church St., 2nd Floor, Burlington. Info: btvescargot@gmail.com.
AIKIDO: THE POWER OF HARMONY: Discover the dynamic, flowing martial art of aikido. Relax under pressure and cultivate core power, aerobic fitness and resiliency. Aikido emphasizes throws, joint locks and internal power. Circular movements teach how to blend with the attack. We offer inclusive classes and a safe space for all. Visitors should watch a class before joining. Beginners’ classes 5 days/week. Membership rates incl. unlimited classes. Contact us for info about membership rates for adults, youths & families. Location: Aikido of Champlain Valley, 257 Pine St., Burlington. Info: Benjamin Pincus, 802-951-8900,
bpincus@burlingtonaikido.org, burlingtonaikido.org.
VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: We offer a legitimate Brazilian jiu-jitsu training program for men, women and children in a friendly, safe and positive environment.
Julio Cesar “Foca” Fernandez Nunes; CBJJP and IBJJF seventhdegree Carlson Gracie Sr. Coral Belt-certified instructor; teaching in Vermont, born and raised in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! A two-time world masters champion, five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu national champion, three-time Rio de Janeiro state champion and Gracie Challenge champion. Accept no limitations! 1st class is free. Location: 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 802-598-2839, julio@bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.
CHINESE MEDICAL MASSAGE: is program teaches two forms of East Asian medical massage: Tui Na and shiatsu. We will explore Oriental medicine theory and diagnosis, as well as the body’s meridian system, acupressure points, and yin-yang and five-element theory. Additionally, Western anatomy and physiology are taught. VSAC nondegree grants are available. FSMTB-approved program. Starts Sep. 2023. Cost: $6,000/625-hour program.
Location: Elements of Healing, 21 Essex Way, Suite 109, Essex Jct. Info: Scott Moylan, 802-288-8160, scott@elementsofhealing.net, elementsofhealing.net.
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE IN VERMONT: Spring is finally here! Is that not a powerful incentive to refine our connection with nature, people and within/ without our own body-mind-self? With Alexander Technique, you do whatever you do or something new with less strain, pain, fragility, and more ease, poise, endurance, confidence. May 2-31.
Cost: $20/for private lesson or $90 for a group. Location: Studio GeorgetteGP for Alexander Technique and Acting, 171 Orr Rd., Jericho. Info: Georgette Garbes Putzel, 802-735-7912, georgett@ mac.com, garbesputzel.com.
ECO-RESILIENCY GATHERING: is is a free monthly space to gather with others who are interested in exploring ecological questions, emotional elements of climate change, ideas of change, building community and creating a thriving world. Come together, share, engage and learn. Each month we center on topics related to the ecological and climate crises. Wed., May 10, 6 p.m. Location: Online. Info: Ariel K. McK. Burgess, akmckb@gmail. com, sevendaystickets.com.
THE BIKE BLOOM GROUP RIDES: Old Spokes Home and the
Intervale Center are cohosting the Bike Bloom, a celebration of accessible outdoor recreation through affordable bikes and public, free-to-use lands. e fundraising event hosted by Old Spokes Home ends at the Intervale Center Barn and culminates with a party and bike show. Sat., May 20, 5:30 p.m. Location: 331 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington. Info: 802-863-4475, sevendays tickets.com.
THE ACTOR’S LAB: EXPERIMENTAL: A mosaic approach to explore the art of the actor in pre-character state. Exploration on various themes: body and space, word and space, presence, etc. Teacher wants to share her professional experience from France, Canada, Vermont, New York City and Italy. Excellent training for the serious and creatives. Join us! Tue. & u. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Cost: $120/12hour lab. Location: GeorgetteP Studio, 171 Orr Rd., Jericho. Info: Georgette Garbes Putzel, 802735-7912, georgette.etc@gmail. com, garbesputzel.com.
APPRENTICESHIP IN
SHAMANISM: Rare opportunity to apprentice locally in a shamanic tradition. Receive personal healing, learn to create your own Mesa, cultivate a relationship with the unseen world and discover your personal guide(s) who will help you “re-member” your new path of expanding possibilities. Weekend-long sessions: Jun. 16-18; Sep. 22-24; Jan. 12-14, 2024; Jun. 21-23, 2024. Location: Heart of the Healer, St. Albans. Info: omas Mock, 802-3694331, thomas.mock1444@gmail. com, heartofthehealer.org.
REPARENTING YOUR INNER
CHILD: A day of exploration and transformation to nurture
and welcome our Inner Child with our Adult Self and Divine Mother. rough instruction, exercises, sharing and journeys to the heartbeat of the Medicine Drum, we’ll transform limiting beliefs and distorted patterns we soaked up as children for more freedom and joy! Sun., Apr. 30, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Cost: $100. Location: Lightheart Sanctuary, 236 Wild Apple Rd., New Haven. Info: Maureen Short, 802-4534433, maureen@lightheart.net, lightheart.net.
SPRING SAMPLER GROUP
RETREAT: Explore the variety of services Wild Trails Farm offers during a unique Spring Sampler group weekend event. Enjoy relaxing retreat sessions led by our skilled practitioners, nourishing food and restorative time out in nature on 400-plus private acres in southern Vermont. Fri., May 26, through Mon., May 29. Rooms start at $750, plus 9% lodging tax. Location: Wild Trails Farm, 400 Ruusunen Rd., Springfield. Info: Jo Bregnard, 802-875-2275, retreats@wildtrailsfarm.com, wildtrailsfarm.com.
200-HOUR YOGA TEACHER
TRAINING: Join us for our Yoga Alliance-certified vinyasa yoga teacher training. is eight-weekend course is designed to deepen your practice and your knowledge of yoga’s history, philosophy, poses and more. At the end, you will graduate as a certified yoga instructor, ready to teach! 8 weekends from Sep. 22-Dec. 10; Fri. 6:15-9:45 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Cost: $3,000/8-weekend training. Early-bird specials, payment plans & discounts avail. Location: YogaSix South Burlington, 57 Fayette Dr., S. Burlington. Info: Rachel Nunez, 802-872-1157, southburlington leadteacher@yogasix.com, yogasix.com/south-burlington.
A UNIQUE STYLE: SVAROOPA
YOGA: Gentle, deep and profound, this unique style of yoga releases the core muscles wrapped around your spine, creating changes in your body and mind. is affects joints, aches, pains and your inner state of mind. Transcend the athleticism of modern yoga by exploring the yogic mystery hidden within. Free half-hour session to learn the basics and propping. New class forming for beginners. Private sessions and yoga therapy also available by appointment.
Ongoing classes Sun., 3-4:30 p.m.; & Wed., 6-7:30 p.m. $21 for a single class; $108 for 6-class card to be used within 7 weeks. Location: Zoom. Info: Annie, 802-333-9477, annie@center 4integrativehealth.org.
HATHA YOGA CLASSES IN
MONTPELIER: Daily evening hatha yoga classes in Montpelier. 26 and 2 series. Call for more information. All levels welcome! 5:30-7 p.m. daily. Location: Hatha Yoga, 26 State St., 2nd Floor, Suite 4, Montpelier. Info: 802-223-1987.
AGE/SEX: 5-year-old neutered male
ARRIVAL DATE: March 29, 2023
SUMMARY: Tucker was originally a foster dog through All Breed Rescue; Tucker’s foster took on his care after the organization closed but was unable to keep him long-term. Transitioning to the shelter setting has been hard for sweet Tucker, and he would love to get into his next home as soon as possible. Tucker loves to run outside, play ball and lounge around on the couch. He’s affectionate with his people and enjoys chewing a good bone. If you can make this golden boy your one and only, he would very much appreciate being picked up by his new people sooner than later.
DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Tucker is uncomfortable around other dogs and is reactive to them — he needs to be the only dog in his new home. He has no known history with cats, but we think he’ll be most successful without a cat. His history with kids is unknown, but he may do well with older teens.
Visit the Humane Society of Chittenden County at 142 Kindness Court, South Burlington, Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. or Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 862-0135 or visit hsccvt.org for more info.
All HSCC dogs are available for Foster-To-Adopt! When you Foster-To-Adopt a dog, you can bring a dog home for a week and get to know them before committing to adoption (and if it isn’t a good fit, we can make an appointment for the dog to come back to HSCC)!
Sponsored by:
BURLINGTON
Burlington Hill Section, furnished, single room, on bus line. No cooking. No pets. Linens furnished. Utils. incl. Call 802-862-2389.
WINOOSKI IN-LAW
SUITE
1-BR w/ large yard, large LR & kitchen, full BA. New fi xtures, beautiful fl ooring & tasteful paint.
Private entry & parking.
Heat, HW, parking & plowing incl. NS/no pets. Additional person is $100 extra/mo. Avail. May 1. Refs. req.
CENTRAL VT
HOMESHARE
OPPORTUNITY
Share Plainfi eld home w/ equine enthusiast & her dog. Furnished BR,
shared BA. $650 all incl. No additional indoor pets, though outdoor animals considered. Outdoor smoking considered. Visit homesharevermont. org for application or call (802) 863-5625. Interview, refs., background check req. EHO.
RURAL SHELBURNE W/ VIEWS
Share Shelburne home w/ woman in her 80s who enjoys classical music. $650/mo. + electricity/Wi-Fi + sharing yard work & snow removal. No pets. Private BA. Application at homesharevermont. org or call 802-8635625. Interview, refs., background checks req. EHO.
WAITSFIELD HOMESHARE
Gorgeous views from Waitsfi eld home shared w/ well-traveled senior man seeking shared cooking & companionship. Rent-free; small utility share. Private BA. No pets. Application at homesharevermont. org or call 802-8635625. Interview, refs., background checks req. EHO.
housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online
OFFICE/RETAIL SPACE AT MAIN STREET LANDING
on Burlington’s waterfront. Beautiful, healthy, affordable spaces for your business. Visit mainstreetlanding.com & click on space avail. Melinda, 864-7999.
DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY
Receive maximum value of write-off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pickup. Call for details. 888-476-1107.
(AAN CAN)
GOOD TO YOU NUTRITION
Anti-diet registered dietitian specializing in eating disorders, all ages welcome. Learn more at goodtoyou nu trition.com or contact Anna Barasch, MS, RD at anna@goodtoyou nutrition.com.
MASSAGE $80 FOR 60 MIN.
Book a massage at mindfulcounselingand massage.com. $80 for 60 min. $120 for 90 min.
Discounted packages & gift certifi cates for purchase online. Dorset St., S. Burlington.
PSYCHIC COUNSELING
Psychic counseling, channeling w/ Bernice Kelman, Underhill. 40+ years’ experience. Also energy healing, chakra
All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, handicap, presence of minor children in the family or receipt of public assistance, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate, which is in violation of the law. Our
services: $12 (25 words) fsbos: $45 (2 weeks, 30 words, photo) jobs: michelle@sevendaysvt.com, 865-1020 x121
print deadline: Mondays at 3:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com
865-1020 x115
readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels he or she has encountered discrimination should contact:
HUD Office of Fair Housing 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 (617) 565-5309
— OR —
Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633
1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov
balancing, Reiki, rebirthing, other lives, classes & more. 802-899-3542, kelman.b@juno.com.
WICCAN OFFICIATE
Wiccan-ordained ULC offi ciate. Weddings, handfasting, smudging, dowsing, new home clearings, baptisms, hospital visits, deathbed blessings & funerals, green burials, herbal medicines, tinctures, salves, etc. Contact jaccivanalder@gmail. com or 802-557-4964.
BATH & SHOWER UPDATES
In as little as 1 day! Affordable prices. No payments for 18 mos. Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & military discounts avail. Call 1-866-370-2939. (AAN CAN)
GUTTER GUARD INSTALLATIONS
Gutter guards & replacement gutters. Never clean your gutters again! Affordable, professionally installed gutter guards protect your gutters & home from debris & leaves forever. For a quote, call 844-499-0277. (AAN CAN)
HOME ORGANIZER/ DECLUTTERER
Refresh for spring w/ Declutter Vermont! Experienced professional. Clients recommend. Services: organizing by room/home, downsizing for moves, selling/ donating items, etc. For free consultation, email decluttervermont@ gmail.com.
INTERIOR PAINTING SERVICE
S. Burlington-based painter seeking interior projects. Quality work, insured w/ solid refs. On the web at vtpainting company.com or call Tim at 802-373-7223.
NATIONAL PEST CONTROL
Are you a homeowner in need of a pest control service for your home? Call 866-616-0233. (AAN CAN)
REPAIRS FOR HOMEOWNERS
If you have water damage to your home & need cleanup services, call us! We’ll get in & work w/ your insurance agency to get your home repaired & your life back to normal ASAP. Call 833-664-1530. (AAN CAN)
SAVE YOUR ASH TREES
Save your ash trees from EAB before it’s too late! Free tree evaluation & estimate for systemic multiyear control. Contact 802-752-5596, ashtreemedic.com.
APPEAL FOR SOCIAL SECURITY
Denied Social Security Disability? Appeal! If you’re 50+, filed SSD & were denied, our attorneys can help. Win or pay nothing. Strong recent work history needed. 1-877-311-1416 to contact Steppacher Law Offi ces LLC. Principal offi ce: 224 Adams Ave., Scranton, PA 18503. (AAN CAN)
FOOD TRUCK FOR SALE
For Sale: Church St. food cart & business. Vending season is around the corner! Located outside the bars between Main St. & College St. $49,999 w/ payment options avail. Email: info@
facadebydesign.com. Call: 951-554-20
LONG-DISTANCE MOVING
Call today for a free quote from America’s most trusted interstate movers. Let us take the stress out of moving! Call now to speak to 1 of our quality relocation specialists: 855-7874471. (AAN CAN)
$5,500; asking $2,000. Contact mbrvermont@ gmail.com.
SAT., MAY 6, AT 75 CHAPIN RD., ESSEX
Big vintage collectibles & household sale, old comic books, beer letterheads, mysteries, lots of memorabilia. 7
a.m.-1 p.m. 75 Chapin Rd, Essex. Info, jyba@ comcast.net
4G LTE HOME INTERNET
Get GotW3 w/ lightningfast speeds + take your service w/ you when you travel! As low as $109.99/mo. 1-866-5711325. (AAN CAN)
BLUE STAR GAS RANGE 36-in. Blue Star gas range, 6 burner, convection baking option, well-maintained. Original paperwork. 2012 purchase price was
BCI WALK-IN TUBS
Now on sale! Be 1 of the 1st 50 callers & save $1,500! Call 844-5140123 for a free in-home consultation. (AAN CAN)
DISH TV $64.99
$64.99 for 190 channels + $14.95 high-speed internet. Free installation, Smart HD DVR
incl., free voice remote. Some restrictions apply.
1-866-566-1815. (AAN CAN)
MALE ENHANCEMENT
PILLS
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MEN’S WATCHES
WANTED
Men’s sport watches wanted. Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Patek Philippe, Here, Daytona, GMT, Submariner & Speedmaster. Paying cash for qualifi ed watches. Call 888-3201052. (AAN CAN)
DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: ★★
Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. e numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A one-box cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.
DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: ★★★
Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. e same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.
ANSWERS ON P.78
★ = MODERATE ★ ★ = CHALLENGING ★ ★ ★ = HOO, BOY!
“OH GEEZ!”
ANSWERS ON P. 78 »
Try these online news games from Seven Days at sevendaysvt.com/games.
NEW
NEW EVERY DAY:
Guess today’s 5-letter word. Hint: It’s in the news!
WE’LL BUY YOUR CAR
Cash for cars. We buy all cars. Junk, high-end, totaled: It doesn’t matter! Get free towing & same-day cash. Newer models, too. 1-866-5359689. (AAN CAN)
training. Individualized, step-by-step approach. All ages, styles, levels. Rick Belford, 864-7195, rickbelford.com.
GUITAR LESSONS
All levels welcome! Jazz, rock, funk, Indian, classical. Technique, theory, songs, self-expression through music. Studentcentered lessons, also improvisation & composition concepts. Touring musician w/ extensive teaching experience. Info: Xander Naylor, 802-318-5365, contact@xandernaylor. com.
10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6111
Application 4C0329-17I-2 from Cabrera Properties, LLC, Attn: Andrew and Elizabeth Cabrera, 1640 Cochran Road, Richmond, VT 05477 and Cabrera Properties LLC, Attn: Andrew and Elizabeth Cabrera, 15 Corporate Drive, Essex, VT 05452 was received on March 31, 2023, and deemed complete on April 17, 2023. e project is generally described as construction of a 2,100 square foot building addition to an existing commercial building, expansion of the existing paved parking area, relocation of existing storage containers, and the construction of a 4,338 square foot warehouse building on the rear of Lot 15. e project is located at 15 Corporate Drive in Essex, VT. is application can be viewed online by visiting the Act 250 Database: (https://anrweb.vt.gov/ANR/Act250/ Details.aspx?Num=4C0329-17I-2).
MY BELOVED TUBA
Yamaha Maestro YEB 632s E flat tuba. Great condition & beautiful tone. $4,000. Call 802-673-5398.
GUITAR INSTRUCTION
Berklee graduate w/30 years’ teaching experience offers lessons in guitar, music theory, music technology, ear
GIRLS NITE OUT ANNOUNCES AUDITIONS FOR ‘SUITE SURRENDER’ Suite Surrender auditions. 8 individuals, all ages. May 21, 1-4 p.m., & May 23, 6-9 p.m., 180 Battery St., 2nd fl oor, Burlington. More information: girlsniteoutvt.com or email events.kyla@ gmail.com.
No hearing will be held, and a permit will be issued unless, on or before May 19, 2023, a party notifi es the District 4 Commission in writing of an issue requiring a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defi ned in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c) (1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing, must state the criteria or sub- criteria at issue, why a hearing is required, and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. To request party status and a hearing, fill out the Party Status Petition Form on the Board’s website: https://nrb.vermont.gov/documents/ party-status-petition-form, and email it to the District 4 Offi ce at: NRB.Act250Essex@vermont. gov. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.
For more information contact Stephanie H. Monaghan at the address or telephone number below.
Dated this April 27, 2023.
By:/s/ Stephanie H. Monaghan Stephanie H. Monaghan District Coordinator111 West Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452
802-261-1944
stephanie.monaghan@vermont.govACT 250 NOTICE
MINOR APPLICATION 4C1349-1
10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6111
PLACE AN AFFORDABLE NOTICE AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LEGAL-NOTICES OR CALL 802-865-1020, EXT. 142.
hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. To request party status and a hearing, fill out the Party Status Petition Form on the Board’s website: https://nrb.vermont.gov/documents/ party-status-petition-form, and email it to the District 4 Offi ce at: NRB.Act250Essex@vermont. gov. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.
Application 4C1349-1 from 764 Shelburne Road LLC, c/o Gary Bourne, 414 West Grove Street, Middleboro, MA 02346 was received on March 30, 2023 and deemed complete on April 24, 2023. is permit amendment specifi cally authorizes the fi rst phase of development for a multi-unit residential building to be situated at 764 Shelburne Rd., 760 Shelburne Rd., and 31 Swift St. in South Burlington, VT, only including demolition and removal. No construction is approved through this permit amendment. is permit amendment authorizes the demolition and removal of all preexisting structures, all surfacing, all above ground and below ground utilities, and all underground fuel storage tanks and associated infrastructure. e structures approved for removal include the former Pizza Hut, the former Bourne’s Service Center, the Shell gas station fuel pump canopy, the Shell gas station convenience store, and a shed (the Project). e Project is located at 764 Shelburne Rd., 760 Shelburne Rd., and 31 Swift St. in South Burlington, Vermont. is application can be viewed online by visiting the Act 250 Database: (https://anrweb.vt.gov/ANR/Act250/Details. aspx?Num=4C1349-1.
No hearing will be held and a permit will be issued unless, on or before May 15, 2023, a party notifi es the District 4 Commission in writing of an issue requiring a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defi ned in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required, and what additional evidence will be presented at the
For more information contact Kaitlin Hayes at the address or telephone number below.
Dated this April 26, 2023.
By: /s/Kaitlin HayesKaitlin Hayes
District Coordinator
111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 (802) 622-4084 kaitlin.hayes@vermont.gov
BOOSKA MOVERS- PUBLIC AUCTION
Booska Movers will be holding a public auction on May 18th, 2023 at 9:00am. Location, 430 Meadowland Dr. S. Burlington, VT 05403
Anyone wishing to satisfy the account of Bud Allen of Hinesburg, VT can do so by contacting our offi ce at 802-864-5115 before May 17th close of business. 5:00pm.
BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL - OPENINGS
BURLINGTON CITY COMMISSIONS/BOARDS
ree Openings
Design Advisory Board – alternate
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Design Advisory Board
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Development Review Board – alternate
Term Expires 6/30/24 One Opening
Development Review Board – alternate
Term Expires 6/30/26 One Opening
Development Review Board
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Electric Light Commission
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Fence Viewers
Term Expires 6/30/24 ree Openings
Fire Commission Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Green Mountain Transit – alternate
Term Expires 6/30/26 One Opening
Green Mountain Transit
Term Expires 6/30/26 One Opening
Board of Health
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Housing Board of Review
Term Expires 6/30/26 One Opening
Parks and Recreation Commission
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Planning Commission Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Police Commission Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Public Works Commission
Term Expires 6/30/26 Two Openings
Retirement Board Term Expires 6/30/26 One Opening
Board of Tax Appeals
Term Expires 6/30/26 Four Openings
Vehicle for Hire Licensing Board
Term Expires 6/30/24 One Opening
Vehicle for Hire Licensing Board
Term Expires 6/30/25 Two Openings
Board for Registration of Voters
Term Expires 6/30/28 Two Openings
Applications may be submitted to the Clerk/ Treasurer’s Office, 149 Church Street, Burlington, VT 05401 Attn: Lori NO later than Wednesday, May 31, 2023, by 4:30 pm. If you have any questions, please contact Lori at (802) 865-7136 or via email lolberg@burlingtonvt.gov.
City Council President Paul will plan for appointments to take place at the June 20, 2023 City Council Meeting/City Council With Mayor Presiding Meeting.
CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE A REGULATION IN RELATION TO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSION— SECTION 4 LOCATION OF YIELD-RIGHT-OF-WAY SIGNS
Sponsor(s): Public Works Commission
Action: Approved
Date: 4/19/2023
Attestation of Adoption:
Phillip Peterson, PE
Public Works Engineer, Technical Services
Published: 05/03/23
Effective: 05/24/23
It is hereby Ordained by the Public Works Commission of the City of Burlington as follows:
That Appendix C, Rule and Regulations of the Traffic Commission, Section 4, Location of right-of-way signs, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington is hereby amended as follows:
Section 4 Location of yield-right-of-way signs. Yield-right-of-way signs are authorized at the following locations:
(1)-(2) As written.
(3)Reserved. At the intersection of Hyde Street and School Street causing traffic on School Street to yield.
(4)-(19) As written.
** Material stricken out deleted.
*** Material underlined added.
BCO Appx.C, Section 4 4/19/23
CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO
THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE A REGULATION IN RELATION TO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSION— SECTION 7 NO PARKING AREAS. SECTION 26 MOTORCYCLE PARKING
Sponsor(s): Public Works Commission
Action: Approved
Date: 4/19/2023
Attestation of Adoption:
Phillip Peterson, PE Public Works Engineer, Technical Services
Published: 05/03/23
Effective: 05/24/23
It is hereby Ordained by the Public Works Commission of the City of Burlington as follows:
That Appendix C, Rule and Regulations of the Traffic Commission, Section 7, No parking areas; and Section 26, Motorcycle parking, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington is hereby amended as follows:
Section 7 No parking areas
No person shall park any vehicle at any time in the following locations:
(1)-(308) As written.
(309)Repealed On the south side of Pearl Street and extending 20 feet west of the crosswalk at the intersection with George Street.
(310)-(581) As written.
Section 26 Motorcycle parking.
No person shall park a vehicle at the following locations unless engaged in loading or unloading the vehicle:
(1)-(19) As written.
(20) On the south side of Pearl Street starting 20 feet west of the crosswalk at the intersection with George Street and extending 8 feet west.
** Material stricken out deleted.
*** Material underlined added.
BCO Appx.C, Section 7 and 26 4/19/23
CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE A REGULATION IN RELATION TO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSION—SECTION 9. FIFTEEN MINUTE PARKING. SECTION 12-1. NO PARKING EXCEPT VEHICLES LOADING OR UNLOADING.
Sponsor(s): Public Works Commission
Action: Approved
Date: 4/19/2023
Attestation of Adoption: Phillip Peterson, PE Public Works Engineer, Technical Services
Published: 05/03/23
Effective: 05/24/23
It is hereby Ordained by the Public Works Commission of the City of Burlington as follows:
That Appendix C, Rule and Regulations of the Traffic Commission, Section 9, Fifteen minute parking; and Section 12-1, No parking except vehicles loading or unloading, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington is hereby amended as follows:
Section 9 Fifteen minute parking
(a) No person shall park a vehicle longer than fifteen (15) minutes, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., Sundays and holidays excepted, in the following areas:
(1)-(12) As written.
(13) In the space in front of 134 North Street On the north side of North Street in the first space east to the driveway for 134 North Street.
(14)-(126) As written.
Section 12-1 No parking except vehicles loading or unloading. No person shall park a vehicle at the following locations unless engaged in loading or unloading the vehicle:
(1)-(32) As written.
(33) On the north side of North Street in the first space east of Rose Street between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, for a maximum time limit of thirty (30) minutes.
Reserved (34)-(52) As written.
** Material stricken out deleted.
*** Material underlined added.
BCO Appx.C, Section 9 and 12-1 4/19/22
CITY OF ESSEX JUNCTION DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
BOARD PUBLIC HEARING MAY 18, 2023 6:30 P.M.
This meeting will be held in person at 2 Lincoln Street in the conference room and remotely. The meeting will be live-streamed on Town Meeting TV.
• JOIN ONLINE: Visit www.essexjunction.org for meeting connection information.
•JOIN CALLING: Join via conference call (audio only): Dial 1(888) 788-0099 (toll free) Meeting ID:
839 2599 0985 Passcode: 940993
PUBLIC HEARING
Final site plan to remove an existing duplex and construct 18 residential units with parking at 161 Pearl Street in the HA District, by 161 Cheeseman, LLC, owner.
Final site plan to remove existing residential buildings and construct new building with 34 studio apartments with parking at 227-229 Pearl Street in the MF/MU1 District, by 227 Pearl Street, LLC, owner.
Conceptual site plan to construct 3-story mixeduse building with commercial on 1st floor and 34
residential units with parking at 8 Railroad Street in the VC District, by Franklin South, LLC, owner.
This DRAFT agenda may be amended. Any questions re: above please call Terry Hass – 802-878-6950
ESSEX TOWN PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA\ PUBLIC HEARING 05/11/23-6:00 P.M.
Virtual or in Person
Municipal Conference Room, 81 MAIN ST., ESSEX JCT., VT
Consent Item: 1. Thomas Winrock LLC & Karen Harlow Revocable Trust are proposing a 215± s.f. boundary line adjustment between the properties located at 138&144 Osgood Hill Rd., C1 Zone. Minutes: 4/27/2023. Visit our website at www. essexvt.org.
• Zoom link: https://www.essexvt.org/1043/ Join-Zoom-Meeting-Essex-PC
• Call (audio only): 1-888-788-0099 | Meeting ID: 923 7777 6158 # | Passcode: 426269
• Public wifi is available at the Essex municipal offices, libraries, and hotspots listed here: https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/ public-wifi-hotspots-vermont
NOTIFICATION OF PERIOD OF PUBLIC COMMENT
Pursuant to 18 V.S.A. § 8907 and the Administrative Rules on Agency Designation, the Vermont Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) hereby notify the public of the Application for Redesignation of Howard Center (HC).
A 14-day period of public comment is provided for DMH and DAIL to gather information about Howard Center (HC) as part of the process to decide whether or not the State of Vermont will renew the agency’s designation to deliver developmental and mental-health services to adults, children, adolescents and families in Chittenden County. Comments from consumers, parents, family members and other concerned citizens about your experiences with services provided by HC are welcomed. Public comments will be accepted for the two-week period from Wednesday, May 03, 2023, until the close of business on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. In particular, DMH and DAIL are interested in knowing:
1. What are the strengths and challenges of the agency?
2. Does the agency work well with other agencies in the community?
3. Do people get the mental health and developmental services that they need?
4. Do people get mental health and developmental services when they need them?
5. Do you have any recommendations for improvements?
Please send written comments or contact us by phone no later than Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
For Mental Health Child, Adolescent and Family Services Community Rehabilitation and Treatment, Adult Outpatient, and Emergency Services
Mail: Department of Mental Health, 280 State Drive, NOB 2 North, Waterbury, Vermont 056712010
Attn: Puja Senning
Phone: 802-241-0413
Fax: 802-241-0100
E-mail: Puja.Senning@vermont.gov
For Developmental Services: Mail: Developmental Disabilities Services Division
Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living, 280 State Drive, HC 2 South, Waterbury, Vermont 05671-2030
Attn: Chris O’Neill
Phone: (802) 793-4213
Fax: (802) 241-0410
E-mail: Chris.ONeill@vermont.gov
PROPOSED STATE RULES
==================================
By law, public notice of proposed rules must be given by publication in newspapers of record. The purpose of these notices is to give the public a chance to respond to the proposals. The public
notices for administrative rules are now also available online at https://secure.vermont.gov/ SOS/rules/ . The law requires an agency to hold a public hearing on a proposed rule, if requested to do so in writing by 25 persons or an association having at least 25 members.
To make special arrangements for individuals with disabilities or special needs please call or write the contact person listed below as soon as possible.
To obtain further information concerning any scheduled hearing(s), obtain copies of proposed rule(s) or submit comments regarding proposed rule(s), please call or write the contact person listed below. You may also submit comments in writing to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, State House, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 (802-828-2231).
Vermont Medication Assistance Program Rule. Vermont Proposed Rule: 23P014
AGENCY: Agency of Human Services, Department of Health
CONCISE SUMMARY: This rule establishes eligibility for the Vermont Medication Assistance Program (VMAP) that covers the cost of necessary medication for individuals living with HIV. This rulemaking proposes the following changes: 1) Updates the recertification of eligibility application process to conform with the Policy Clarification Notice 21-02 issued on October 2021 by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Specifically, the rulemaking removes an extra recertification step for beneficiaries at the six month mark and proposes a yearly recertification requirement. 2) Simplifies and updates the rule for consistency with the program’s management. 3) Reorganizes the rule for clarity.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Natalie Weill, Dept. of Health, 108 Cherry Street, Burlington, VT 05401 Tel: 802-863-7280 Fax: 802-951-1275 Email: ahs.vdhrules@vermont.gov
URL: http://www.healthvermont.gov/about-us/ laws-regulations/public-comment.
FOR COPIES: David Englander, Dept. of Health, 108 Cherry Street, Burlington, VT 05401 Tel: 802-8637280 Fax: 802-951-1275 Email: ahs.vdhrules@ vermont.gov.
STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 23-PR-01605
In re ESTATE of Linda J. Harris
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
To the creditors of: Linda J. Harris late of Burlington, Vermont
I have been appointed to administer this estate. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.
Dated: May 1, 2023
Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Carrie Dellaporta
Executor/Administrator: Carrie Dellaporta c/o Matthew C. Little, Esq. PO Box 555 South Hero, VT 05486 (802) 378-5533, matt@mcllaw.net
Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 05/03/2023
Name of Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division Address of Probate Court: 175 Main Street, PO BOX 511, Burlington VT 05402
STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 23-PR-02380
In re ESTATE of Daniel Paul Fortier
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
To the creditors of: Daniel Paul Fortier, late of Colchester, Vermont
I have been appointed to administer this estate. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.
Dated: March 30, 2023
Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ George J. Fortier, Jr.
Executor/Administrator: George J. Fortier, Jr. c/o Paul R. Morwood, Esq., 333 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT 05403, morwood.paul@gmail.com
Name of Publication: Seven Days
Publication Date: 05/03/2023
Name of Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division
Address of Probate Court: PO BOX 511, Burlington VT 05402
STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 23-PR-01218
In re ESTATE of Beth A. Danon
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
To the creditors of: Beth A. Danon, late of Hinesburg, Vermont
I have been appointed to administer this estate. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.
Dated: April 26, 2023
Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Mary P. Kehoe,
Executor/Administrator : Mary P. Kehoe, 21 General Greene Road Shelburne, VT 05482, (802) 383-8383, mary@kehoelawyer.com
Name of Publication: Seven Days
Publication Date: 5/3/2023
Name of Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division
Address of Probate Court: 175 Main St , P.O. Box 511, Burlington VT 05401
STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT
PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT
DOCKET NO.: 23-PR-02132
In re ESTATE of Leonel J. Bourgeois
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
To the creditors of: Leonel J. Bourgeois, late of Burlington, Vermont
I have been appointed to administer this estate. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.
Dated: March 21, 2023
Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Suzanne Bishop
Executor/Administrator: Suzanne Bishop C/O Glenn A. Jerrett Esq.; Jarrett | Hoyt, 1795 Williston Road, Suite 125, South Burlington, VT 05403; 802-8645951; glenn@vtelaw.com
Name of Publication: Seven Days
Publication Date: 5/3/2023
Name of Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division Address of Probate Court: PO Box 511, Burlington VT 05402
WRIGHT & MORRISSEY, INC GENERAL CONTRACTORS INVITATION TO BIDDERS PROJECT: Colchester High School Restroom Renovations, 125 Laker Street, Colchester, VT
OWNER: Colchester School District 59 Rathe Rd, P.O. Box 27 Colchester, VT 05446
ARCHITECT: Black River Design 73 Main Street Montpelier, VT 05602
CONSTRUCTIONMANAGER: Wright & Morrissey, Inc. 99 Swift Street, Suite 100 South Burlington, VT 05403 Phone: 802-652-2154 Cell: 802-238-2133
Email: msammut@wmorrissey.com & bids@wmorrissey.com
Fax: 802-865-1253
BID DUE: May 18th, 2023 @ 2PM.
Pre-Bid Conference (non-mandatory): Monday May 8th at 3:00 PM
• This project involves the renovation of multiuser restrooms.
• Bids will be received for the following work:
•Demolition
•Masonry
•Doors, frames and Hardware
•Acoustical Ceiling
•Light gauge metal framing, drywall finishing and painting.
•Ceramic tile and resilient flooring
•Toilet Accessories
•Plumbing and HVAC work
•Electrical including fire alarm work.
• Wright & Morrissey, Inc. is seeking qualified subcontractor bids for all trades for the above referenced project. Women and minority owned businesses, small locally owned businesses and Section 3 businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.
• This project is subject Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates and reporting.
• Bid Documents may be obtained by contacting msammut@wmorrissey.com. Documents will be available May 3rd 2023.
RFP FOR WESTFORD ELEMENTARY REROOFING PROJECT
Essex Westford School District is seeking competitive bids from qualified Roofing Contractors to re-roof approximately 15,000sf of existing membrane roofing at Westford Elementary School. Sealed bids shall be delivered no later than Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 2:00 pm.
For complete information go to: https://5il.co/1tm4g
Seven Days is recording select stories from the weekly newspaper for your listening pleasure.
Ben Cohen’s Cannabis Company Tries to Undo the Harm of the War on Drugs 11 MINS.
Rick Ames Brings His One-Man Show About Cemeteries to Burlington 6 MINS.
The Conversation Artist: Podcaster Erica Heilman Seeks the Meaning of Life, One Interview at a Time 32 MINS.
Proposed State Program Would Help Vermonters Save for Retirement 8 MINS.
Soundbites: Rocking Out for Mark Ransom 8 MINS.
Lawmakers Consider Pausing Vermont’s Ambitious, Costly and One-of-a-Kind Plan to Address PCBs in Schools 25 MINS.
The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Recognizes Stowe Adventurer Jan Reynolds 27 MINS.
A New BCA Exhibit Presents the Possibilities — and Pitfalls — of AI-Generated Art 30 MINS.
Vermont’s EMS System Is Struggling to Survive. Can It Be Saved? 30 MINS.
Andrew Tripp Is an All-Star Union Organizer — and a KickAss X-Country Coach, Too 25 MINS.
How does it work?
1
2 3
Go to sevendaysvt.com/aloud and click on the article you want to hear.
When the article loads, scroll down past the first photo and find the prompt to “Hear this article read aloud.”
Press play! You can pause at any time, skip ahead, rewind and change the speaking speed to suit your needs.
Start listening at: sevendaysvt.com/aloud
Then, tell us what you think: aloud@sevendaysvt.com
“I just wanted to pass along the praise from my HR manager, who was overjoyed with how many solid applicants we received from our postings on Seven Days Jobs. Everyone we hired for these seasonal positions was very friendly, hardworking and cared about the success of our holiday season. is year in particular we used Seven Days as our main form of advertising, and we were highly rewarded for this strategy.
Dakin Farm advertises with Seven Days as a way to reach candidates and food lovers in our community. We appreciate that the newspaper is free and widely distributed. As a local family-run business, we also love how Seven Days shares incredible stories from Vermonters.
Our account executive, Michelle Brown, has been wonderful to work with. e whole sales team is very helpful and great at sending reminders about upcoming promotional opportunities without being too pushy. ey truly care about the success of their customers!
I greatly appreciate the support from the team and would recommend advertising with Seven Days to any local company.”
CAROLYN CUTTING Marketing Manager, Dakin Farm
POST YOUR JOBS AT: JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB
PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X121, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM
Details and to apply: Employment Opportunities poolworld.com/about-poolworld/employment/
Audubon Vermont is Hiring! We are looking for an Offi ce Coordinator. Please visit vt.audubon.org/about-us/ job-opportunities for more information.
• Join our six-month nursing residency program. Get all the fundamentals needed to build a lifelong career in nursing.
• Get valuable education and clinical training as you work.
• Serve with our tight-knit team in the heart of beautiful Lamoille County.
• Please apply by June 18.
Vermont Tent Company is currently accepting applications for the following positions for immediate employment, and future summer/fall employment starting in May. Full time, part time, after school and weekend hours available for each position. Pay rates vary by position with minimum starting wage ranging from $19-$23/ hour depending on job skills and experience. We also offer retention and referral bonuses.
• Tent Installation
• Drivers/Delivery
• Inventory Maintenance Team
– Warehouse
• Load Crew Team
• Tent Maintenance Team
Interested candidates should submit an application online at vttent.com/employment. No phone calls, please.
We are seeking an experienced Front End Loader Operator and a Fulfillment/Food Residuals Crew Member to join our team. A leading compost & potting soil producer for over 30 years, we provide a fun and dynamic environment. Staff enjoy competitive wages and a generous benefits package.
Visit our website for more information: VermontCompost.com/Careers
We are looking for part-time budtenders to work in our Montpelier retail cannabis dispensary, Gram Central. It’s an exciting time for the Vermont cannabis industry and we want to find people who share our enthusiasm. A budtender’s primary responsibility is interacting with customers and providing information about our products. This includes, but is not limited to effects, dosage, timing, modes of ingestion, and the dangers of overconsumption and keeping cannabis away from children. Budtenders will be trained on inventory management and safety and security protocols.
The ideal candidate will have retail experience, cannabis knowledge, and experience working with a POS system. Excellent people skills are an absolute necessity.
Please submit a resume and brief introduction to matthew.s@gramcentral.com with the subject “budtender.”
For more info, visit copleyvt.org /careers or call J.T. Vize at 802-888-8329
This position is responsible for maintenance, custodial, repair, security, and customer service work at the City’s Paquette Ice Arena facility, including, the ice surface and refrigeration equipment, and all public and o ce spaces. In addition this position will be responsible for general maintenance and repair of other Parks and City buildings as directed.
To learn more and to apply for this position, please visit: bit.ly/BTVparksRecMaint
This position is responsible for assisting Park Maintenance Workers in the day-to-day care of our parks. This is including but not limited to, the care and maintenance of turf, beaches, paths, playgrounds, buildings & athletic fields.
To learn more and to apply for this position, please visit: bit.ly/BTVParkSEASONAL
The City of Burlington is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applicants who can contribute to our growing diversity.
Lake Champlain Access Television
LCATV is looking for motivated professionals to capture high quality video and audio of community meeting and events in Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties. These are part-time positions which require evening and some weekend work, travel, a valid driver’s license, some lifting, and high levels of self-motivation and creative problem-solving abilities. If you are interested in joining the LCATV team, please email your resume to buddy@lcatv.org
Richmond VT
Participate in the amazing local food system! Seeking a detail-oriented & outgoing person to work in inventory management and our market.
Wage range: $16-19/hour, D.O.E.
A 4-day (10hr) workweek (Wed-Sat).
For more details visit: maplewindfarm.com or contact: Eric Boatti: work@maplewindfarm.com
This position will provide accounting and analytical support to various departments within the agency. Applicants should have a great working knowledge of general ledger systems and Excel while also being able to apply their critical thinking skills to complete a myriad of tasks.
WHAT WE OFFER:
• Generous medical, dental, vision, life, and accident insurance – WCMHS covers 82.5 – 92% of premium costs
• Matching 403(b) – begins at 4.25% & increases based on years of service
• Employee assistance plan
• Generous sick and vacation accruals. Full-time regular positions receive 12 days vacation and 12 days sick time annually
• 12.5 paid agency closure days annually
• Mileage reimbursement for agency related travel
• Fun and engaging environment, the ability to give back to the local community, and opportunity for professional growth
QUALIFICATIONS:
• Education: BS in Accounting
• Desirable: BS in Accounting and a minimum of one to three years of relevant experience
Market Garden Assistant
Full description and to apply: trilliumhillfarm.com/ employment.html
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
For details and to apply: 350vermont.org/ jobs-internships
Lane Press prints, binds, and mails high-quality magazines for publishers nationwide. We’re widely known for our craftsmanship, and we’re looking for dedicated, collaborative, and friendly employees to join our team. Apply today!
WE HAVE IMMEDIATE NEEDS FOR:
Customer Success Manager: Lead a 4-person team of specialists who work with our customers and ensure their experience with Lane shines!
Pressroom Manager: Direct and manage all pressroom functions, including daily operation of presses and ancillary equipment.
Prepress Specialist: Be part of a 4-person team that services our customers’ needs. Focus on receiving & processing page files.
General Maintenance Technician: Maintain, troubleshoot, and repair controls, facility systems, and mechanical/electrical aspects of manufacturing equipment.
Pressroom Trainees, All Shifts: Learn to perform technical, manual, and machine tasks in our pressroom. Train under veteran press operators.
Bindery Production Crew, All Shifts: Work on our bindery production line, performing tasks to complete magazine binding and prepare finished magazines for shipping.
Come meet us at the VermontJobs.com Spring Job Fair!
Sat., May 13 | 11am-4pm | University Mall, So. Burlington
See you there!
Lane offers competitive wages and comprehensive benefits to all full-time employees.
Learn more & apply: careers.lanepress.com
Lane Press is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
• Experience: Not-for-profit accounting experience preferred. Applicants should have extensive knowledge of Excel and general ledger systems. Should possess strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
SALARY RANGE: $59k to $72k.
Send resumes to: moselle.main@wcmhs.org
This career opportunity is dynamic & unique. We are a small family-owned company that sells acupuncture and herbal supplies exclusively to licensed veterinarians throughout the United States. This is a customer service job which requires strong communication skills both verbal and written. Applicants will be fulfilling orders and supporting Veterinarians and their staff via telephone, our online web store (Veterinary Chinese & Western Herbs and Supplies ), and email.
Accuracy with fulfillment is critical in our business, so being naturally detail-oriented and conscientious are very important. The ideal applicant would have a personal interest in veterinary medicine, holistic healthcare, and would be interested in learning about Chinese Veterinary medicine, including learning some Pinyin (in the form of learning the Chinese names of single herbs and herbal formulas).
All applicants must have strong computer and typing skills and be comfortable supporting our clients via telephone, email, and our online web store. QuickBooks knowledge would be very helpful as we manage our inventory and process our orders in QuickBooks. Benefits: Pay is commensurate with experience. The first six months are a trial period to ensure that the job is a good fit for both employee and employer. After completing the six month trial period successfully, our generous full-time employee benefits begin. Applicants must submit a well thought out, well-written cover letter for us to even consider their application. Send resumes to: tfafard@comcast.net
You’re in good hands with...
“Seven Days sales rep Michelle Brown is amazing! She’s extremely responsive, and I always feel so taken care of. I can only imagine how many job connections she has facilitated for local companies in the 20 years she has been doing this.”
CAROLYN ZELLER Intervale Center, Burlington
Generator is a stateof-the-art makerspace with six workshops, maker studios, STEAM classrooms, & event spaces available to the community.
Make this industrial space safe, equitable, & available to all.
generatorvt.com/ jobs
NBNC is hiring for a Forest Preschool Director for the 2023 - 2024 school year and beyond. This hybrid teaching and administrative position is responsible for the overall leadership of NBNC’s licensed, nature-based preschool.
Our nature immersion program is guided by the idea that children learn with a sense of wonder and enthusiasm when they spend ample time in nature. The FPS Director guides the FPS team to facilitate child-centered play and learning with nature, promoting best practices of a nature-based early childhood program.
This full-time, school year position includes paid holidays, leave, sick time, and personal days; a retirement plan; NBNC program fee waivers; and a great team and workplace culture. Learn more & apply: northbranchnaturecenter.org/ employment/
Saint Michael’s College is inviting applications for the position of Executive Director of the Boucher Career Education Center. This leadership position reports to and acts as a strategic partner to the Vice President for Academic Affairs in all aspects of conceiving and offering high impact career development, planning, and readiness programs and initiatives. The Executive Director will lead the development of an innovative and holistic vision for career readiness and preparation, provide oversight and strategic direction for the Boucher Career Center, engage and strengthen relationships with local, national and international employers, assess the effectiveness of programs, report on student success data and employment trends, and further grow the impact of programs designed to teach and encourage self-analysis and career planning.
For a complete job description, benefits information, and to apply online, please visit: bit.ly/SMCEDBCE
Sheehey Furlong & Behm P.C. Burlington, VT
Sheehey Furlong & Behm, an established, growing law firm located near the Burlington waterfront, is accepting applications for a legal assistant.
The successful candidate will be detail-oriented, possess strong written and verbal skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Proficiency in MS Office applications is required. 1-3 years of legal experience is preferred. Competitive pay and comprehensive benefits package.
Forward cover letter & resume to hiring@sheeheyvt.com, with the subject “Legal Assistant.”
RCSWD is seeking energetic professional who doesn't mind wearing multiple hats. Experienced in handling a wide range of operational and administrative duties that support related tasks and able to work independently with little or no supervision. This position comes with a competitive employment package, to include: Blue Cross-Blue Shield health insurance, retirement plans, vision, holidays, personal, sick time, and more. Compensation is very competitive and based upon experience. Is responsible for the operations of the programs at the regional transfer station. This includes accepting the following items: MSW, C&D, yard waste, plastics, food waste, tin/aluminum, cardboard, paper, new paper, magazines, glass, white products, tires, etc. This position will be able to work and fill in at all positions including HHW. For more detail on this position and documents to complete go to rcswd.com/about-us/pages/jobopportunities. Send your resume, 3 professional references, and competed job application to: Mark S. Shea, District Manager at mshea@rcswd.com
For more information call (802) 775-7209 ext. 202
Scout coffee shops in Burlington and Winooski are looking for a baker to help us launch a new in house pastry program. We offer good pay, paid time off and a thoughtful and supportive work environment. Some experience required.
Send resumes to: andy@scoutandcompanyvt.com
The Stern Center in Williston is seeking a full-time, in-person instructor to join our highly experienced and collaborative team of teachers. If you’re a qualified educator with training and experience in structured literacy instruction, this rewarding role allows focus and impact, teaching one-on-one to make a positive difference every day. Preferred candidates will have training in Orton-Gillingham and/or Wilson, and/or have Special Education certification. This position includes the Stern Center’s 6-week summer program through the 2023-24 school year. Our ideal candidate will have exceptional communication and organizational skills, understanding of researchbased interventions, and experience in developing individualized learning plans.
The Stern Center for Language and Learning is a non-profit organization with a fortyyear history of dedication to learning for all through direct support to learners and transformative programs for educators. We invite you to learn more at sterncenter. org. To apply, email Marilyn Schaefer at mschaefer@sterncenter.org
Evernorth is a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and community investments in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We have an exciting opportunity for a Loan Officer to join our Lending team in Vermont. This position is responsible for all aspects of the loan origination process including new business development, loan underwriting, credit write-up and approval, and closing in coordination with other team members.
The successful candidate will be a self-starter with excellent big-picture thinking and problem-solving skills who can collaborate with others to design and implement efficient and effective business processes. Knowledge of Community Development Financing Institution (CDFI), preferred. We believe in equal access to affordable housing and economic opportunities; the power of partnerships based on integrity, respect, and teamwork; and a collaborative workplace with professional, skilled, and dedicated staff.
For a full job description and to apply, please visit: bit.ly/EvernorthLOAN
3 mornings per week (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday) approximately 15-20 hours. Fun and flexible job, perfect for a creative person who likes to work independently
Please contact Nathalie at the number below: 518-420-3786
CCTV Center for Media and Democracy is a nationally recognized and locally appreciated community media center making the transition from a founding executive director to a co-director leadership model to include a Director of Operations and Director of Projects. The Director of Operations is a newly created position responsible for supervising and working with the Business Manager, Technical Services Director/team, and the Development Director/team to ensure financial security and continuity of operations.
The Director of Operations oversees four key areas: Financial Management, Technical Support, Revenue Development, and Human Resources. Finance and Budget experience is required, Business Development is suggested.
Come be part of the team that moves this organization into the next decade to serve our community and staff in the pursuit of community building and media justice. For complete job description, including salary range & resume scoring rubric visit: cctv.org.
Hayward Tyler, a leading manufacturer of industrial pumps & motors in Colchester, is seeking candidates to fill the following positions:
haywardtyler.com/job_listing/businessdevelopment-manager /
haywardtyler.com/job_listing/ mechanical-design-support-engineer/
haywardtyler.com/job_listing/mechanical-designer/
haywardtyler.com/job_listing/ lead-aftermarket-design-engineer/
* For graduating seniors who are considering staying in Vermont, you may be eligible for $5,000 in student loan debt relief. To qualify, you must graduate in Spring of 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree, secure a job in Vermont, and live in Vermont. You’ll get $2,500 toward loan repayment at the end of year one and $2,500 at the end of the second year. To read more about the program and how to apply, visit: uvm.edu/engagement/ greenmountainjobs
We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits package. If you meet our requirements and are interested in an exciting opportunity, please forward your resume & salary requirements to:
Hayward Tyler, Inc. – Attn: HR Department 480 Roosevelt Highway , PO Box 680, Colchester, VT 05446
Email: Careers@haywardtyler.com
Equal Opportunity Employer
CCTV is an Equal Opportunity Employer
If you’re a positive, food-loving, high performer and a dynamic leader, then we want to hire you! At Positive Pie we strive to create a fun, lively, and professional environment for all, and our management team is the foundation of this. We focus on making great food and creating a positive and inclusive culture for our staff. As our GM/AGM, you will be given the opportunity to lead our team, reinforce our culture, hit financial targets and grow sales.
Responsibilities: The GM/AGM supports the company by maintaining an outstanding work environment through leadership, direction, positivity, emotional intelligence, training, and development. They are responsible for managing day to day restaurant operations, in conjunction with the management team, and focusing on developing a guestcentric culture that consistently delivers positive guest service and superior food quality, while ensuring compliance with policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
Desired Skills:
• Experience in mangement/ supervising in a restaurant
• Experience in business financials
• Experience in many service functions including bar and table service, host, expo, back of house functions and counter / delivery service.
• Refined social skills including charisma and an ability to develop rapport with customers and staff.
• Excellent communication skills, emotional intelligence and a great attitude.
General manager: Salary $70-75k, depending on experience, and an opportunity for performance based bonus.
Assistant General Manger: Comparable hourly rate. This position is available to start immediately. Please send resume directly to carlo@positivepie.com.
Landscape positions open to all motivated people who love to be outdoors! Driver’s license a plus. Mowing, trimming, pruning, weeding etc. Competitive pay! Apply: splarsoninc@aol.com.
Assistant Director of Annual Giving
Coordinator of Multicultural Initiatives
Executive DirectorTruth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Center
For position details and application process, visit http://jobs.plattsburgh. edu and select “View Current Openings”
SUNY Plattsburgh is an AA/EEO/ADA/VEVRAA committed to excellence through diversity and supporting an inclusive environment for all.
We offer competitive wages & a full benefits package for full time employees. No auction experience necessary.
• Full Time Automotive Auction Clerk: MS Office, Excel, computer, and cashier skills a must! Title & Sales paperwork knowledge a plus. Assist in processing, launching & managing auctions.
• Marketing Director: Develop, grow, & sustain our reputation of providing amazing results for our clients.
• Auction Site Techs: Part-time positions open. Tasks: sorting, cataloging, photographing & managing assets.
Thomas Hirchak Company is an at will employer. See details at: THCAuction.com
Email Us: Info@THCAuction.com
Saint Michael’s College Library invites applications for the position of Associate Director for Systems and Web Development. Reporting to the Library Director, this individual supports and oversees library systems and the digital infrastructure that forms the foundation for all library services, including the library management system, discovery system, and website. The Associate Director for Systems and Web Development ensures optimal performance of the library's integrated, cloud-based management platform, works closely with other members of the library staff on a range of technical and systems related tasks, and manages and supports the Library’s Discovery layer, link resolver, and single-sign-on authentication system. Within a team environment, shared responsibilities include Research & Instruction services, teaching, and serving as on-duty substitute for the Circulation Supervisor, opening and closing the library as needed. Job description, benefits information, and to apply: bit.ly/SMCADSWD
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital is seeking full-time or per-diem physicians, an experienced full-time ED physician assistant, and experienced registered nurses to join its growing ED team. Join us while we expand our services to the community. NVRH employees enjoy a wide range of opportunities for growth, a competitive salary and more.
NVRH offers excellent benefits, including student loan repayment, generous paid time off, health/ dental/vision, 401k with company match & more! APPLY
Part-Time, As-Needed, $20/hr, If you believe labor is the hope of the world; if you believe workers are key to ending the exploitation of people and the planet, then join us to help build Vermont’s labor movement! Successful candidates will be kept on a roster of On-Call Organizers, whom we may contact to give short-term assistance to various organizing campaigns. You may do anything from writing phone banking scripts to canvassing to organizing new shops.
You will have the opportunity to work with a tight-knit team of officers and organizers and develop skills in relationship building, public speaking, strategic research, and campaign execution.
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Some organizing experience, preferably in labor organizing
• Some experience as a non-managerial worker, preferably a rank-and-file union member
Interested candidates may email a resume with references to Executive Director Liz Medina, vslcaflcio@gmail.com
The Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is committed to creating an organization representative of the diversity within the working class and capable of creating change. To that end, we are actively seeking applications from qualified candidates from groups currently underrepresented in our organization for this position. The Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is an equal opportunity employer.
INVEST IN YOURSELF
Our apprenticeship program is a paid opportunity to become a phlebotomy technician with NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.
APPLY NOW www.iaahitec.org/ phlebotomy
REGISTRATION DEADLINE Monday, May 29, 2023
Questions? Call or Email 802-488-5818 rebecca.spencer@ vthitec.org
Phlebotomy
• Guaranteed paid employment on day one of training
• Direct patient care
• Team environment
• Full Benefits
• Dedicated support during the 5-week program
• Paid Certified Phlebotomy Technician Exam
Umbrella is actively seeking a new leader to join their dynamic and forward-thinking team within their Advocacy Program located in Newport. The Advocacy Program Director North is charged with leading Umbrella’s Advocacy Program in Newport serving Orleans and N. Essex counties. The program supports survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, dating violence, stalking and human trafficking by providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, legal advocacy and other support services. The Program Director is responsible for supervising and supporting three advocates as well as After-Hours Advocates and is responsible for all aspects of Advocacy North program development and management as well as grant and special project management. The Director's leadership will help to maintain a supportive, participatory, ethical and committed environment for staff and clients. Finally, the Director will lead outreach and community collaboration in Orleans and N. Essex counties.
The position is full-time & offers competitive benefits. Salary range for the position is $56,160 - $64,480 Interested applicants should send their resume and cover letter to Amanda Cochrane, Executive Director at amandac@umbrellanek.org.
Close To Home - Vermont’s only Luxury Plumbing and Architectural Hardware Showroom.
Job Description: We are seeking a highly motivated Sales Consultant to join our team. A successful candidate will be responsible for assisting clients in selections of plumbing fixtures and door hardware. In addition to providing exceptional customer service, there is a strong technical component and you will be expected to provide expert product knowledge.
Responsibilities:
• Assist clients with inquiries
• Listen to clients’ needs and provide tailored recommendations
• Build and maintain strong client relationships through follow-up and regular communication
• Keep up-to-date with product knowledge and industry trends
• Maintain sample library
• Manage pricing changes and other vendor communications
• Reviewing purchase order confirmations and addressing discrepancies
• Occasionally assist with warehouse receiving and maintaining a clean and organized showroom
Qualifications:
While we prefer experience in a luxury showroom setting, we will train the right person
• 2+ years direct customer service experience
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Ability to learn quickly and work both autonomously and as a team member
• Proficient with Mac operating system
This is a full-time onsite position (no weekends). Compensation will be dependent on experience. Paid time off and health insurance stipend available after three months successful employment.
Please send resume and your cover letter, specific to this position with Close To Home, to jill@closetohomevt.com
Our architectural firm seeks a bookkeeper/office administrator that is well-organized and comfortable dealing with financial data. This individual will oversee the accounts payable and receivable, process payroll, and conduct other finance-related tasks. They should be excellent at recording data and have the ability to produce clear financial reports.
Responsibilities: front desk, phones, project/client invoicing, tracking expenses, taxes, cash flow, receipts, financial reporting, account reconciliation, payroll.
Qualifications: 3+ years of experience in bookkeeping, business finances, excel, word, proficiency in bookkeeping practices, administrative experience, human resources/ benefits; strong organizational and analytical skills Email resumes to: kevin@scottpartners.com
Mayo
If you enjoy working in a flexible, local, team environment— where a community of compassionate caregivers helps one another to maintain the highest standards of care— let us invest in you!
Work close to the more affordable housing opportunities in the Central Vermont region, and make a difference in the lives of seniors and their families. Discover the Mayo difference! Mayo offers sign-on bonuses, shift differentials, and career ladders.
71 Richardson Street Northfield, VT 05663
www.mayohc.org
Monaghan Safar PLLC, a Burlington law firm, has an immediate opening for a full-time paralegal in an exciting and welcoming environment. Responsibilities include solving puzzles such as performing title searches, drafting deeds and other title documents, and assisting with administrative duties. Experience is a plus, but we are willing to train the right candidate. Competitive salary with a starting range of $24 per hour, plus comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, vision, paid vacation, and 401(k).
The ideal candidate has excellent computer, organizational and interpersonal skills. Interested persons please email a cover letter and resume to Margie Cain at mcain@msdvt.com.
Apply
75% off Employee Childcare
Tuition Discount! Health
Insurance Eligibility Upon Start!
Heartworks Early Education seeks
Facilities Maintenance Technician in Burlington. Perform general maintenance tasks as directed by Facilities Manager, at 6 school locations, including but not limited to:
• Seasonal building maintenance, such as snow removal, general landscaping, etc.
• Interior painting
• Update, maintain, and respond to network work order system
• Assist in network safety and security compliance
• Basic carpentry
• HVAC familiarity
• Furniture moving (lift 50lbs)
Apply: heartworksvt.com/careers
Neck of the Woods is seeking a lead or assistant Preschool teacher. We are interested in hiring someone who has experience working with children ages 0-5. Lead teachers must be at least 21 years old, and assistant teachers must be 18. Our hours of operation are 7:30-5:00. Familiarity with emergent curriculum, Reggio Emilia, child development, strengths based behavior management and a community-based philosophy is a perk. Lead teachers must have 21+ college credits in or related to early childhood education or a CDA.
All staff must meet state licensing requirements for employment, pass a background check, and be fingerprinted before beginning to work with children. Benefits include training costs covered, holidays, and earned PTO.
To apply, please send your resume and 2 references to info@ neckofthewoodsvt.com
HVAC installer (Lead installer or Helper)
Master Plumber & Plumber Helper
For work in the Chittenden County area.
• Vacation, sick time, matching 401K and more
• High school diploma or GED equivalent
A valid driver’s license is needed.Please apply at redrockmechanical.net
Creativity. Innovation. Diversity. Compassion. What we cultivate in our students is what we look for in our faculty.
More information at vermontcommons.org.
Champlain Housing Trust is growing and we need great people to join our team. Consistently ranked as one of Vermont’s Best Places to Work, CHT is a socially responsible employer offering an inclusive, friendly work environment and competitive pay commensurate with experience. Our excellent benefit package includes a generous health insurance plan, three weeks of paid vacation, 14 paid holidays, sick leave, 403(b) retirement plan with a 4% contribution after the 1st year.
The following opportunities are currently available:
Benefit package includes 29 paid days off in the first year, a comprehensive health insurance plan with your premium as low as $13 per month, up to $6,000 to go towards medical deductibles & copays, a retirement match & so much more. And that’s on top of working at one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for five years running.
CCS is thrilled to be voted as one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for the fifth year in a row and we would love to have you as part of our team. Join Us!
Great jobs in management ($47,000 annual) and Direct Support Professionals ($19-$20 per hour) at an award-winning agency serving Vermonters with intellectual disabilities. All positions include a generous sign-on bonus.
Work at CCS and support our mission to build a community where everyone participates and belongs. Apply today at www.ccs-vt.org
Make a career making a difference. Apply today: ccs-vt.org/current-openings
Champlain Community Services, Inc.
• Senior Property Accountant
• Site Manager: Elmwood Avenue Shelter Community
• IT Manager
• Maintenance Technician
• Occupancy Specialist
• Service Coordinator
Please visit our career page for details, to apply, or to join our talent community: getahome.org/career/ Equal Opportunity Employer - CHT is committed to a diverse workplace and highly encourages women, persons with disabilities, Section 3 low income residents, and people from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to apply.
Audubon Vermont is Hiring! We are looking for a Seasonal Landscape Technician. Please visit vt.audubon.org/ about-us/job-opportunities for more information.
CITY OF BURLINGTON WATER RESOURCES DIVISION
JOIN OUR TEAM!
Are you interested in a career that gives back to the community by providing critical public services? Consider applying for one of the current job openings with Burlington Water Resources. We provide on the job training, great wages and a comprehensive benefits package.
WASTEWATER PLANT MECHANIC
$29.22 - $32.58 Hourly, Regular Full Time, AFSCME Union
WASTEWATER PLANT ASSISTANT OPERATOR I/II
$25.76 - $30.55 Hourly, Regular Full Time, AFSCME Union
WATER PLANT MECHANIC
$29.22 - $32.58 Hourly, Regular Full Time, AFSCME Union
SENIOR CUSTOMER CARE ASSOCIATE
$27.41 - $30.55 Hourly, Regular Full Time, AFSCME Union
CUSTOMER CARE ASSOCIATE I
$24.28 - $27.05 Hourly, Regular Full Time, AFSCME Union
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING & OPERATIONS
$91,326 - $101,978, Annually, Regular Full Time, Non-Union
ENGINEERING MANAGER
$85,076 - $94,984, Annually, Regular Full Time, Non-Union
POLICY & PROGRAMS ADVISOR
$80,111 - $89,417, Annually, Regular Full Time, Non-Union
SEASONAL WATER CONSTRUCTION WORKER
$18.09-23.00, Hourly, Seasonal, Non-Union
Read the full job descriptions and apply at governmentjobs.com/careers/ burlingtonvt
The City of Burlington is an E.O.E.
We encourage applicants who can contribute to our growing diversity.
Join our landscaping team. Must be able to lift 40#, MUST HAVE a VALID driver's license, a love for nature and being outside in all sorts of weather, and most of all a sense of humor. We are a fun group of folks and do some amazing installations. Come join our team! sales@naturebydesign.com
For all seasonal staff, the camp season is June 4 - August 13. YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga serves more than 1,000 people each summer through camp programs, facilities use, and volunteer opportunities that engage the community in YWCA’s mission, eliminating racism and empowering women.
The Waterfront director is responsible for the safety and management of the waterfront area and staff for the summer season of Camp Hochelaga.
Salary: This position is classified as seasonal, exempt. Salary is based upon applicant's skills and experience.
YWCA Vermont seeks an experienced Food Service Professional to lead our kitchen staff in providing nutritional and healthy meals for 180 campers and staff between June and August*. This position involves visioning meals for the whole summer, food ordering, leading a team (3-5 staff), direct food and meal preparation, cleaning and dishwashing.
Salary: This position is classified as seasonal, exempt. Salary is based upon the applicant's skills and experience. Room and Board are included, but are not required if the candidate is local.
Benefits include discounted camper tuition, potential for bonuses, and continued work for events after camp season.
YWCA Vermont seeks an experienced professional to provide leadership and management for YWCA Vermont Camp Hochelaga’s Health House, as the Healthcare Supervisor to provide direct care to campers and staff seeking medical attention while at camp.
Salary: This position is classified as seasonal, exempt. Salary starts at $500 a week, and is based upon the applicant's skills and experience.
Benefits include camp meals when at camp during mealtimes, and camper tuition for applicable children.
• This is a residential position with room/board included
SEND RESUMES TO: CAMP.DIRECTOR@YWCAVT.ORG
YWCA of Vermont, Inc. does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The University of Vermont Foundation is currently recruiting for two marketing and communications professionals to amplify our ability to reach donors and increase their commitment to our work. One position will focus on improving our web presence through website and social media content; the other will help to analyze communications data to more effectively drive philanthropic engagement. Both positions are full-time opportunities with competitive salary and a robust benefits package. Visit uvmfoundation.org/ careers for more information and to apply.
VPQHC is looking for an RN to join our team as a QI Specialist! The QI Specialist will lead projects focused on improving the quality of healthcare for Vermonters, with a primary focus on patient safety and health equity. Hybrid with excellent benefits.
Read the full job descriptions and apply at vpqhc.org/ employment
Seasonal, Part time
Are you a story teller, actor, or comedian who’s a genius at dealing with the public? We’re hiring team members to lead and assist on our 2023 fall tours. Our ideal ghost guide is reliable, diplomatic, can think on their feet and loves long walks to haunted locations.
Experience is a bonus but not required. Paid training is provided.
Send resumes including headshot to: mail@ queencityghostwalk.com
At Resonant Link our mission is to use fast, safe, and reliable wireless power to help people, businesses, and the planet thrive and we’re hiring!
We’re looking for a Test Technician to join a collaborative team accelerating the future of electrification.
As a Test Technician, you’ll be collaborating with industryleading engineers at our lab headquarters in Burlington, VT, and will be responsible for executing detailed test plans in order to organize & share the results with our Mobility Team. This includes hands-on work creating custom test fixtures and using lab equipment, such as oscilloscopes, probes, thermocouples, and etc., to collect the data necessary for developing & manufacturing our Alpha Lift Truck Wireless Charger. Learn more and apply at resonant-link.com/careers!
We are offering a PAID summer arts program for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19, June 12th- July 16th. The first week consists of in-depth museum-arts training and exploration. Then each participant will work 4 - 6 hours per week in the museum, accompanied by a staff mentor who will offer support and guidance. Participants receive a stipend of $550 upon completion of the program and must be available for all training days plus at least one day a week for the following 4 weeks.
Apply here: form.jotform. com/23105685927806 or email glovermuseumdocent@gmail.com
Applications due May 15th! jobs.sevendaysvt.com
We are looking for Drivers to transport SSTA clients in a comfortable, safe and timely manner. Driver responsibilities include driving a 27’ lift-equipped van, providing reliable door-to-door transportation service to those in need. Ultimately, our drivers are difference makers, making sure clients who depend on us for their transportation needs are delivered best-in-class service!
• Ensure vehicle is safe and clean each shift
• Pick up clients from the place and at the time they’ve requested
• Assist clients with loading and unloading
• Communicate with dispatch regarding circumstances of the day
• Provide a smiling face for SSTA’s outstanding clients!
• Ensure safety practices are adhered to at all times
• A valid driver’s license with 5 years of driving experience
• A clean driving record
• Familiarity with GPS devices
• Knowledge of area roads and neighborhoods
• Ability to lift up to 50lbs
• A polite and professional disposition
• Ability to remain calm in stressful driving situations (e.g. at rush hour)
• A high school diploma
Full or Part time positions available. Flexible Schedule. Starting wage is $19.00 per hour ALL candidates must complete our application in full. APPLY ONLINE AT: sstarides.org –Click on “Employment Opportunities” tab
SSTA offers a robust benefits package, competitive pay, paid holidays, and vacation time.
SSTA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
SSTA is subject to the rules and regulations of the FTA Drug and Alcohol Policy.
Spruce Peak Arts is seeking a leader who has the vision and initiative to take the organization to the next level.
For the full position announcement, please visit: ArtsConsulting.com/Employment
The Project Manager is an integral member of the Design Value Stream that works closely with the Design Value Stream Manager to ensure successful customer interface, execution, and shipment of technically challenging new and aftermarket engineered products.
• Due to Federal Contract requirements, US Citizenship is required for this position.
• BS in Engineering or Project Management or equivalent job experience.
• 2+ years of experience managing government projects in a project/contract-based business preferred.
• Experience in managing research and development projects in engineered products preferred.
• Ability to read & interpret engineering drawings, standards and specifications
• Ability to read & interpret purchase orders, terms and conditions, and customer specifications
• Expected travel is up to 10% yearly
• Proficient in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, MS Project and the Internet
• Strong interpersonal, collaboration, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills
• Detail oriented, highly motivated, high level of initiative
• Ability to facilitate geographically distributed and cross functional project teams
* For graduating seniors who are considering staying in Vermont, you may be eligible for $5,000 in student loan debt relief. To qualify, you must graduate in Spring of 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree, secure a job in Vermont, and live in Vermont. You’ll get $2,500 toward loan repayment at the end of year one and $2,500 at the end of the second year. To read more about the program and how to apply, visit: uvm.edu/engagement/greenmountainjobs
We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits package. If you meet our requirements and are interested in an exciting opportunity, please forward your resume & salary requirements to:
Hayward Tyler, Inc. – Attn: HR Department 480 Roosevelt Highway , PO Box 680, Colchester, VT 05446
Email: Careers@haywardtyler.com E.O.E.
Apply: haywardtyler.com/job_listing/project-manager/
Engaging minds that change the world
Seeking a position with a quality employer? Consider The University of Vermont, a stimulating and diverse workplace. We offer a comprehensive benefit package including tuition remission for on-going, full-time positions.
4-H Educator of Special Projects - Ext - Statewide 4-H#S4306PO - University of Vermont Extension’s 4-H program is hiring a .80FTE, 5 year, 4-H Educator of Special Projects. This position will be responsible for successful delivery of a new, 5-year grant project, Youth Empowerment through Agriculture (YEA) that provides opportunities for teen leadership, food system career pathways, and career development. The Oh YEA! project will produce future Vermont leaders and advocates of healthy living, cultural food traditions, and food production. This position will collaborate with key community partners to engage teens in hands-on learning experiences about food equity, service learning, healthy living awareness, food systems career exploration, and cultural food systems; engage K-8 youth in a culturally relevant, place-based food system activity; and recruit, train, and support adults to help foster workforce opportunities for their youth. This position will support faculty to conduct research on volunteerism in underserved communities and culturally relevant definitions of thriving.
Bachelor’s degree and two years’ related experience, or equivalent combination, with focus in youth or family programming and working with culturally diverse audiences, is required. Experience with volunteer development and/or building community collaborations preferred. Ability to plan, organize, coordinate, teach and evaluate educational programs. Strong interpersonal skills are needed, including the ability to work with a diverse group of youth and adult volunteers and community partners, in both an independent and team environment. Computer and electronic communication proficiency is needed. Willingness to work a flexible schedule, which will include periodic evenings and weekends, and have an ability to travel, primarily within the state. Direct experience serving diverse and under-represented populations desired. Must possess a commitment to fostering and supporting a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for all.
Complete an application along with a resume, cover letter, references and two writing samples, one of which must include images or data visualization. Cover letters should provide information about how you would contribute to the diversity of UVM and the 4-H program. Position is open until filled.
For further information on this position and others currently available, or to apply online, please visit www.uvmjobs.com. Applicants must apply for positions electronically. Paper resumes are not accepted. Open positions are updated daily. Please call 802-656-3150 or email employment@uvm.edu for technical support with the online application.
The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
Seven Days
Issue: 5/3
Due: 5/1 by 11am
Size: 3.83” x 7”
Cost: $570.35 (with 1 week online)
When you work for the State of Vermont, you and your work matter. A career with the State puts you on a rich and rewarding professional path. You’ll find jobs in dozens of fields – not to mention an outstanding total compensation package.
Are you a physician looking for a flexible part-time career helping to improve the lives of Vermont’s most vulnerable people? Disability Determination Services seeks a licensed M.D./D.O. with experience in general medicine, family practice, or cardiology to consult with adjudicative staff and provide medical eligibility decisions for applicants filing for Social Security disability, SSI, and Medicaid disability. Telework available. Program training is provided with no patient care responsibilities. For more information, contact Kirsten Moore at kirsten.moore@ssa.gov. Department: Children and Families. Location: Waterbury. Status: Part-Time. Job Id #44279. Application Deadline: May 8, 2023.
Research, statistical, and program evaluation work at a professional level for the Department of Health involving epidemiological and statistical analyses. This data-position will assist in the collection and reporting of blood lead data for the state of Vermont. Tasks include, monitoring the collection of data, preparing data files to import into the surveillance system, performing quality assurance activities, running reports and conducting analysis of data as needed. For more information, contact Kelly LaMonda at kelly.lamonda@vermont. gov. Department: Health. Location: Burlington. Status: Full Time, Temporary. Job Id #47031. Application Deadline: May 7, 2023.
The Office of the State Treasurer is seeking a candidate to serve in a key role providing systems development support for the Office of the State Treasurer. The successful candidate will analyze, design, develop, test, and deploy quality software solutions that fulfill the business needs of the Retirement Division, Treasury Operations Division, Unclaimed Property Division, and the Treasurer. The successful candidate applies proven programming techniques that improve efficiency and maintainability of code; employs proven communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills to make good programming decisions; proactively works toward keeping up with technology and development best practices; works to maintain the security of systems and data; collaborates with coworkers to increase technical support knowledgebase; shares expertise and lessons learned with teammates. For more information, contact Ram Verma at ram.verma@vermont.gov. Department: State Treasurer’s Office. Location: Montpelier. Status: Full Time. Job Id #46526. Application Deadline: May 7, 2023.
Seeking full time experienced medical assistant to join our busy OB/GYN practice clinical team. Experience in women’s health is preferred but not required. Looking for someone that can work accurately and efficiently in a fast paced environment. The position requires competency in taking vitals, phlebotomy, immunization administration, assisting with medical procedures and medical intake. Candidate should also be comfortable with EMR systems, medical terminology, and general computer skills.
Looking for an individual with good interpersonal and communication skills, who understands the importance of providing quality customer service and has a willingness to be flexible with duties in order to meet the needs of the patients and the clinic. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to jobs@maitriobgyn.com.
PRIMMER PIPER EGGLESTON & CRAMER PC, a full service law firm with offices in Vermont, New Hampshire, and D.C., seeks a paralegal with at least three years’ experience to join the litigation team in our Burlington, Vermont, office. We are interested in highly motivated, tech savvy candidates with excellent document production, organizational and multi-tasking skills. E-filing and e-discovery experience is a plus. Please submit letter of interest and resume to careers@primmer.com
Looking to gain new skills in the HR field? This position may just be the position to enhance your career in Human Resources! As the HR Coordinator, you would be responsible for answering employee requests and questions, assisting with recruitment and the interview process, coordinating pre-hire and new-hire processes, and much more. Requirements include two (2) years of human resources experience, and a high school diploma, or equivalent.
Apply: RideGMT.com/careers
SRH Law PLLC (formerly known as Dunkiel Saunders Elliott Raubvogel & Hand) is seeking a motivated and skilled paralegal to join our mission-driven law firm. Two or more years of paralegal or other comparable experience is required. The Paralegal will primarily work with a team of attorneys, paralegals, and other staff at the firm on regulatory proceedings/litigation in our Energy and Environment practice area, while providing occasional support to our other practice areas including Civil Litigation, Business and Finance, and Advertising and Consumer Protection. The ideal candidate will have the ability to prioritize and manage many tasks simultaneously, with strong organizational and proofreading skills. The candidate should be proficient with Microsoft 365 and Adobe Acrobat, and comfortable efficiently learning other cloud-based software and applications that the firm utilizes. Our firm relies on teamwork and integration, and a portion of the Paralegal’s work will involve other firm responsibilities, including general administrative support, marketing, and interacting with clients.
SRH Law works with clients—including businesses, nonprofits, cooperatives, government entities, and individuals—who share our commitment to making a difference in their communities and the broader world. We take our inspiration from our clients’ good work and help them excel in their business or mission by resolving their legal issues with creativity and integrity.
Competitive salary and benefits. Pay range: $50,000 -$65,000 depending on experience. 401(k) plan with employer match, dependent care account, employer-paid health insurance, free parking, paid vacation, and excellent work life balance. All SRH staff work from our offices in Burlington, with the option of part-time remote.
Interested persons should e-mail a letter of interest and resume to applications@srhlaw.com by May 15, 2023.
True North is a therapeutic program located in the beautiful Green Mountains of Waitsfield, Vermont.
True North is a small, independently owned program, providing personalized therapeutic interventions and transition support for 14-17 year old adolescents and 18-25 year old young adults with an emphasis on assessment and family participation. This is an excellent opportunity to work for a nationally recognized therapeutic wilderness program, be part of a dynamic, supportive team and live and work in a fantastic community.
True North promotes an inclusive work environment. We seek to recruit diverse staff who will contribute a variety of perspectives in our mission to help young people and their families. We encourage applications from individuals from underrepresented groups including professionals of color and non-conforming gender identities.
Salary is competitive, and commensurate with experience. All positions must pass background checks and a drug test. See each job description for responsibilities, qualifications, and compensation package. Apply here: truenorthwilderness. com/careers/ or use the QR code listed in this ad.
OPERATIONS SUPPORT : Seeking full-time, year-round Operations Support person. The ideal candidate is an adaptable team player with a positive attitude who is willing to work both indoors and outdoors performing a variety of tasks associated with the logistics of operating the program.
Responsibilities: Tasks including food packing and rationing, gear outfitting, transportation and facilities maintenance. Candidates must be willing to work weekends and occasional evenings and are part of an on-call rotation.
Qualifications: A clean and valid driver’s license is required.
Compensation: Salary is competitive, and commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits include health, dental, vision and accident insurance, an employee assistance program, an annual wellness fund, student loan repayment reimbursement and an employer matched SIMPLE IRA.
MEDICAL COORDINATOR : Seeking a Medical Coordinator to coordinate medical needs and medication management for all students.
Responsibilities: Manage and dispense medications for students at True North. This includes close communication with parents, doctors, pharmacies, and other members of the True North team. Support medical needs that may come up for students in the field, depending on level of experience. The job is generally 9-5, Monday through Friday, and there may be flexibility of hours within the parameters of the job requirements.
Qualifications: The ideal candidate is highly organized, very comfortable with medical information, and has superior interpersonal communication skills. Nursing or other medical training is preferred but not required.
Compensation: Salary is competitive, and commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits include health, dental, vision and accident insurance, an employee assistance program, an annual wellness fund, student loan repayment reimbursement and an employer matched SIMPLE IRA.
ADVENTURE COORDINATOR: Seeking an Adventure Coordinator to facilitate day outings with students including hiking, water sports (canoeing, kayaking, and paddle boarding), backcountry cooking, yoga, disc golf, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing.
Responsibilities: Oversee and facilitate the adventure activities at True North. Adventure coordinator is a 5 day/week role with some responsibility on weekends and “on-call.”
Qualifications: Candidates must be at least 21 years old. Bachelor degree preferred. WFA certification, competency and leadership skills in the listed activities, and the ability to facilitate meaningful and intentional experiences. Certifications in any of the listed disciplines is preferred.
Compensation: Salary is competitive, and commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits include health, dental, vision and accident insurance, an employee assistance program, an annual wellness fund, student loan repayment reimbursement and an employer matched SIMPLE IRA.
ATTENTION RECRUITERS:
POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB
Full Time, Part Time (10am-2pm), and Temporary positions available!
Full Time, Part Time (10am-2pm), and Temporary positions available!
Considering a gap year before college? Looking for a job you can do while you go to college?
VHS seeks a full-time Outreach Educator based in Barre. They provide curriculum and content support to Vermont educators and students, primarily for the K-12 audience. They also co-coordinate Vermont History Day and provide educational outreach services.
Degree and/or advanced training in education with a focus on history, material culture, and/or museums with at least 5 years’ work experience. Knowledge of Vermont history, the Vermont educational system, and/or classroom experience preferred. Starting salary range of $49,000-54,000 with generous benefits package.
Gain valuable work experience at NSB!
Considering a gap year before college? Looking for a job you can do while you go to college?
Gain valuable work experience at NSB!
WE WILL TRAIN YOU!
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
WE WILL TRAIN YOU!
PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS:
Full job description and details at vermonthistory.org. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to eileen.corcoran@ vermonthistory.org
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
•High School Diploma, General Education Degree (GED), or equivalent
•Customer service skills
•Must be 18 or older
•High School Diploma, General Education Degree (GED), or equivalent
•Customer service skills
•Must be 18 or older
•Excellent communication skills
PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS:
•Previous cash handling a plus!
•Excellent communication skills
•Previous cash handling a plus!
APPLY TO JOIN TEAM NSB AT NSBVT.COM/CAREERS
APPLY TO JOIN TEAM NSB AT NSBVT.COM/CAREERS
Northfield Savings Bank, founded in 1867, is the largest banking institution headquartered in Vermont. We are commi ed to providing a welcoming work enviroment for all.
Northfield Savings Bank, founded in 1867, is the largest banking institution headquartered in Vermont. We are commi ed to providing a welcoming work enviroment for all.
The Vermont Arts Council, a statewide arts service organization based in Montpelier, seeks an experienced finance director to oversee financial operations. This is a great opportunity for a finance professional who loves art, wants to make a difference in Vermont through mission driven work, is seeking flexible, primarily remote work, and wishes to be a part of a high functioning team of dedicated professionals.
This is a part-time, 20 hours per week position with flexible hours. Salary range is $40,000 - $47,000 ($38.46$45.19 per hour).
Visit our website for a complete job description and application instructions: vermontartscouncil.org
Living with Loss: A Gathering for the Grieving
WED., MAY 3 ONLINE
Focaccia Art Workshop
THU., MAY 4
RED POPPY CAKERY, WATERBURY
e Royal Rendezvous
Great Gatsby Style
THU., MAY 4
SPIRIT OF ETHAN ALLEN, BURLINGTON
Only Cannoli’s 1st Birthday Party!
FRI., MAY 5
MAVERICK MARKET AT 110, BURLINGTON
Songwriters in the Raw: Sara Trunzo, Breanna Elaine, Troy Youngblood
FRI., MAY 5
THE UNDERGROUND - LISTENING ROOM, RANDOLPH
Sabah’s House Pop-Up and Take-Out
FRI., MAY 5
TINY COMMUNITY KITCHEN, BURLINGTON
Spring Concert
SAT., MAY 6
MCCARTHY ARTS CENTER RECITAL HALL, COLCHESTER e Fyre and Lightning Consort
SAT., MAY 6
PLAINFIELD OPERA HOUSE, PLAINFIELD
Meza Bosnian
Cuisine Takeout
SAT., MAY 6
TINY COMMUNITY KITCHEN, BURLINGTON e Retirement
Dilemma
TUE., MAY 9
SOUTH BURLINGTON LIBRARY, S. BURLINGTON
Eco-resiliency Gathering
WED., MAY 10 ONLINE
Khinkali Demo Night with Chefs
Anastasia Surmava and Tsiala
FRI., MAY 12
MAVERICK MARKET AT 110, BURLINGTON
Playing the Game
FRI., MAY 12
CONNEXION UMC, SOMERVILLE, MA
Hip-Hop Night
FRI., MAY 12
THE UNDERGROUND - LISTENING ROOM, RANDOLPH
Imagine Zero Festival
SAT., MAY 13
SOLARFEST, BRANDON
Aurora Chamber Singers: All Generations Will Call Me Blessed
SAT., MAY 13 COLLEGE STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BURLINGTON
e Vault LIVE!
SAT., MAY 13
MURMURATIONS AERIAL, BURLINGTON
Facing Change: Life’s Transitions and Transformations
WED., MAY 17 ONLINE
Brunch Baking Workshop featuring Brave Coffee and Tea
SAT., MAY 20
RED POPPY CAKERY, WATERBURY
Tea is a Tree:
e Tea Plant & Complementary Herbs
SAT., MAY 20
HORSFORD GARDENS & NURSERY, CHARLOTTE
“I am so grateful
for the sense of community and support; any time I post, I am overwhelmed with responses that leave me feeling cared for and with a sense of belonging.” —Lisa, Hardwick
(APR. 20-MAY 20)
I’ve selected a passage to serve as one of your prime themes during the rest of 2023. It comes from poet Jane Shore. She writes, “Now I feel I am learning how to grow into the space I was always meant to occupy, into a self I can know.” Dear Taurus, you will have the opportunity to grow ever more assured and selfpossessed as you embody Shore’s description in the coming months. Congratulations in advance on the progress you will make to more fully activate your soul’s code.
ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 19): Before forming the band called the Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney performed under various other names: the Quarrymen, Japage 3, and Johnny and the Moondogs. I suspect you are currently at your own equivalent of the Johnny and the Moondogs phase. You’re building momentum. You’re gathering the tools and resources you need. But you have not yet found the exact title, descriptor or definition for your enterprise. I suggest you be extra alert for its arrival in the coming weeks.
GEMINI (May 21-Jun. 20): Georges Rouault (1871-1958) was a Gemini painter who bequeathed the world over 3,000 works of art.
There might have been even more. But years before he died, he burned 315 of his unfinished paintings. He felt they were imperfect and he would never have time or be motivated to finish them. I think the coming weeks would be a good time for you to enjoy a comparable purge, Gemini. Are there things in your world that don’t mean much to you anymore and are simply taking up space? Consider the possibility of freeing yourself from their stale energy.
CANCER (Jun. 21-Jul. 22): Britain occupied India for almost 200 years. It was a ruthless and undemocratic exploitation that steadily drained India’s wealth and resources. Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t the only leader who fought British oppression, but he was among the most effective. In 1930, he led a 24-day, 240-mile march to protest the empire’s tyrannical salt tax. This action was instrumental in energizing the Indian independence movement that ultimately culminated in India’s freedom. I vote to make Gandhi one of your inspirational role models in the coming months. Are you ready to launch a liberation project? Stage a constructive rebellion? Martial the collaborative energies of your people in a holy cause?
LEO (Jul. 23-Aug. 22): As crucial as it is to take responsibility, it is also essential to recognize where our responsibilities end and what should be left for others to do. For example, we usually shouldn’t do work for other people that they can just as easily do for themselves. We shouldn’t sacrifice doing the work that only we can do and get sidetracked doing work that many people can do. To be effective and to find fulfillment in life, it’s vital for us to discover what truly needs to be within our care and what should be outside our care. I see the coming weeks as a favorable time for you to clarify the boundary between these two.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22): Virgo-born Marie Laveau (1801-1881) was a powerful voodoo priestess, herbalist, activist and midwife in New Orleans. According to legend, she could walk on water, summon clairvoyant visions, safely suck the poison out of a snake’s jowls and cast spells to help her clients achieve their hearts’ desires. There is also a wealth of more
Eva Sollberger’s
tangible evidence that she was a community activist who healed the sick, volunteered as an advocate for prisoners, provided free teachings and did rituals for needy people who couldn’t pay her. I hereby assign her to be your inspirational role model for the coming weeks. I suspect you will have extra power to help people in both mysterious and practical ways.
LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22): What are the best methods to exorcize our personal demons, ghosts and goblins? Or at least subdue them and neutralize their ill effects? We all have such phantoms at work in our psyches, corroding our confidence and undermining our intentions. One approach I don’t recommend is to get mad at yourself for having these interlopers. Never do that. The demons’ strategy, you see, is to manipulate you into being mean and cruel to yourself. To drive them away, I suggest you shower yourself with love and kindness. That seriously reduces their ability to trick you and hurt you — and may even put them into a deep sleep. Now is an excellent time to try this approach.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As she matured, Scorpio poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “I am learning how to compromise the wild dream ideals and the necessary realities without such screaming pain.” I believe you’re ready to go even further than Plath was able to, dear Scorpio. In the coming weeks, you could not merely “compromise” the wild dream ideals and the necessary realities. You could synergize them and get them to collaborate in satisfying ways. Bonus: I bet you will accomplish this feat without screaming pain. In fact, you may generate surprising pleasures that delight you with their revelations.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Some primates use herbal and clay medicines to selfmedicate. Great apes, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas ingest a variety of ingredients that fight against parasitic infection and help relieve various gastrointestinal disturbances. (More info: tinyurl.com/primatesself medicate.) Our ancestors learned the same healing arts, though far more extensively. And many Indigenous people today still practice this kind of self-care. With these thoughts in mind, Sagittarius, I urge you to spend quality
time in the coming weeks deepening your understanding of how to heal and nurture yourself. The kinds of “medicines” you might draw on could be herbs and may also be music, stories, colors, scents, books, relationships and adventures.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The mythic traditions of all cultures are replete with tales of clashes and combats. If we draw on these tales to deduce what activity humans enjoy more than any other, we might conclude that it’s fighting with each other. But I hope you will avoid this normal habit as much as possible during the next three weeks, Capricorn. I am encouraging you to actively repress all inclinations to tangle. Just for now, I believe you will cast a wildly benevolent magic spell on your mental and physical health if you avoid arguments and skirmishes. Here’s a helpful tip: In each situation you’re involved in, focus on sustaining a vision of the most graceful, positive outcome.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Is there a person who could serve as your Über Mother for a while? This would be a wise and tender maternal ally who gives you the extra nurturing you need, along with steady doses of warm, crisp advice on how to weave your way through your labyrinthine decisions. Your temporary Über Mother could be any gender, really. They would love and accept you for exactly who you are, even as they stoked your confidence to pursue your sweet dreams about the future. Supportive and inspirational. Reassuring and invigorating. Championing you and consecrating you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): Congratulations on acquiring the Big New Riddle! I trust it will inspire you to grow wiser and kinder and wilder over the coming months. I’ve compiled some clues to help you unravel and ultimately solve this challenging and fascinating mystery: 1) Refrain from calling on any strength that’s stingy or pinched. Ally yourself solely with generous power. 2) Avoid putting your faith in trivial and irrelevant “benefits.” Hold out for the most soulful assistance. 3) The answer to key questions may often be, “Make new connections and enhance existing connections.”
supported by:
Amber Naramore and Adam Townley-Wren were living in Hawaii when they first encountered images of their future home, Historic Brookside in Orwell. e couple moved into the mansion in October and are slowly renovating it themselves. Eva stopped by on a sunny spring day for a tour.
CARMEN SEEKS WALDO
Down-to-earth single mom. Take care of my son on my own and have it under control. Great taste in music, know what I want to eat and my sense of humor is on point. Don’t ski or snowboard but am active. Ice hockey was my sport growing up. Love concerts, the outdoors, road trips and the Red Sox. PinkflydHockeyLover42, 40, seeking: M, l
HIPPIE FROM THE HEART
Earthy, independent, curious. Love storytelling. Moth! Creating worlds on tablecloths. What world do we go to after this one? Love music; hoping to finally learn how to play my guitar. Love ancestry shows. Love summer! Birchtree2023 69, seeking: M
HAPPY, HEALTHY ADVENTURER
I’m a newly retired middle/high school science teacher. I loved the subject and adored the kids, but it was time to explore new horizons because I’m blessed with good health and full of energy. I love the outdoors, listening to live music, dancing, singing and laughter. Life is good. Finding someone who fills my heart would make it even better! Mountainmeadow, 68, seeking: M, l
KINDNESS
I enjoy warm, creative people. A sense of humor and radical politics are necessary. Do you love music and have a curious, open mind? Let’s be friends. ComicMellow, 45, seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp, Gp, l
You read Seven Days, these people read Seven Days — you already have at least one thing in common!
All the action is online. Create an account or login to browse hundreds of singles with profiles including photos, habits, desires, views and more. It’s free to place your own profile online.
l See photos of this person online.
W = Women
M = Men
TW = Trans women
TM = Trans men
Q = Genderqueer people
NBP = Nonbinary people
NC = Gender nonconformists
Cp = Couples
Gp = Groups
BORN IN THE CITY
Because I am just that delightful, I’m looking for someone who enjoys traveling, exploring cultures and languages of every kind — the heart, the mind, nature, all forms of life and spirit. I’m active in arts and community. How do you use your imagination, your courage, your strength? Let me know. we_are_about_to_begin 62, seeking: M, W, Q, NC, NBP, l
LAKE HOUSE
I am a very active, recently retired professional who is seeking an honest, fun-loving guy to spend time with. I love outdoor activities such as fishing, kayaking, hiking and snowshoeing, and I am open to trying new things. If you have a sense of humor and love adventures, we should connect. lakehouse 66, seeking: M, l
LOVE TREATING OTHERS WELL
I’m incredibly grateful for life. Whatever the life experience, I know I will come out the other side, maybe somewhat scathed but always able to find joys and move forward. Humor is woven into the fabric of my being and draws me to others. New experiences and consistency bring balance. A campfire is the best. Bluebirdwings27 68, seeking: M, l
SOMETHING’S MISSING
Do you feel great about your life and all that is around you? Content with where you are, but there is just that “something” that you know you’re missing? You wake up wondering how all this time could go by without looking for or finding “your person,” because why? Not really looking? I’m ready for the search. Thoughts802 57, seeking: M, l
WHAT’S IN A NAME
I am a youngish 68-y/o woman. I love life and am very blessed. People find me easy to approach. I consider myself an extrovert but have a quiet side. I enjoy being outdoors. I have traveled a bit and enjoyed living in Turkey — it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
WhatsInaName2023, 68, seeking: M
WARM, SMART, CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER
I am looking for additions to what I already have: a whole and gratifying life. I am a self-made woman, talented artist. I love to explore cultures different from my own. I love physical touch when it’s based on communication and not need. I am looking for a life partner who appreciates my independence. In turn, I would applaud theirs.
FractleReflection 69, seeking: M, l
SEXY, HIP, COMPASSIONATE, INTELLIGENT WOMAN
I’m a spiritual, perceptive, intelligent woman who likes romance and deep conversations. I’m a teacher and counselor. I play the guitar and write songs, mostly blues. Appreciate art. I love Hawaii! Looking for a man who’s a good listener and communicator, romantic, loyal, spiritual, and enjoys music. A companion or friend. Someone to wine and dine, discuss, and cuddle with. SpiritWoman 66, seeking: M, l
FEMALE SHAPE-SHIFTER
Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength, intuitive, concerned with their mate. There’s no one a wildish woman loves better than a mate who can be her equal. To love a woman, the mate must also love her wildish nature. Female_ Shape_Shifter 69, seeking: M, l
A HARDWORKING, PLAYFUL SOUL
I love to be curious about life but realistic. I enjoy laughing at myself. I love my animals and enjoy time with them. I am a great cook and love making a good curry. Music is important to me. I love all kinds of music. I am looking for an honest and openhearted man willing to learn and grow together. sheshe61, 58, seeking: M, l
REAL LOOKING FOR REAL
I love to laugh, love music and am attracted to intelligent, strong men who can get things accomplished. I love the stillness of the morning hours, nature, and traveling and learning about different cultures. Hoping to meet a gentleman who enjoys the same. daylily, 62, seeking: M
CLEAN AND SIMPLE CRAFTER
Hello, gentlemen. I am a creative maker looking for a good friendship. I don’t imbibe nor inhale smoke. I enjoy clean, quiet, thoughtful conversation. I’m happy with my life and hope to find a pal to share short hikes or a relaxed cup of tea. If we enjoy each other’s company, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it! Quiet_quality 55 seeking: M, l
GENUINE, HONEST, RESPECTFUL, GOLDEN RULE
I am happy, well traveled, educated and outgoing. I enjoy gardening, fishing, animals, dining, theater, travel, reading and movies. Age is just a number, and I’ve been blessed with good health and a great family. I’m looking for a classy, respectable, educated, fun-loving lady with whom I can share time walking a beach or trail, boating, cuddling, and traveling. howie 84 seeking: W, l OUTDOORSY, CREATIVE, LOVING LIFE!
Have you ever met someone where you immediately just feel a real connection, maybe those butterflies? With me, that’s pretty much how it has to be, wouldn’t you agree? I’m into evolving and being a better person every day, creating art, enjoying outdoor (and indoor) adventures, and chilling on my sunny dock. Seeking a young heart to enjoy life together. Blueskies 62, seeking: W, l
JUST A NORMAL MAN WANTING
Hi. A normal guy with an oral fetish looking for adult women OK with a touch of kink who can say they are into a bit of kink, too. Questions? Ask. synodontis, 58, seeking: W, l
ME
You. Southoftheborder 37, seeking: W
LAID-BACK, MATURE GENTLEMAN LOOKING FOR...
50-something mature male looking for a woman or couples who are needing/wanting a little extra.
7plusyou, 55, seeking: W, Cp
OLD-SCHOOL UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Been told I am a great communicator. I love to support the passions of intelligent, focused women. I can lead or follow. I used to teach dance. I play several instruments and sing. I am a homebody and an introvert, yet I can be very outgoing with the right company. A great smile and laugh are my Achilles’ heel. MacOdin 54, seeking: W, l
LIFE IS TOO SHORT
Looking to have some discreet fun. Can be with a married woman. A couple is fine. Let’s just see where it goes. skiguy5457, 57 seeking: W
OLD-SCHOOL
If I were a poet, I’d write you a sonnet explaining the meaning of love and life, or if I were a musician, I’d play compositions — touch hearts like tiny knives — but I’m just a lonely man who doesn’t understand any of the above. I’m lost in confusion to the illusion of love. Though I do know as love grows, it’s like a rose. (Half of sonnet.) —Doggy. Doggy 60, seeking: W, Gp
WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE, TOGETHER?
Attractive, intelligent, creative, sincere IT professional by day, musician some nights and weekends. When I’m not doing those, I love to be outdoors absorbing some natural energy. I enjoy many things about my life; what’s missing is a companion, friend, partner if we connect deeply. Get in touch. Let’s see how our lives and our ways mesh. cpsx90 57, seeking: W, l
OPEN, LOVING, RESPECTING, ADVENTURESOME, HEALTHY
I’m an open male seeking an openminded and free-spirited lady who doesn’t need a male but wants a partner in these adventures in learning. Life is nothing more than a series of experiences that mold us into something new. This lady should be herself, know herself, and be able and willing to communicate her/our wants and desires. tothefuture, 80, seeking: W, l
OLD-SCHOOL, LOYAL AND NONJUDGMENTAL
I like good companionship and an educated person. Honestly is a must. I am a classy guy who has been around the block. I like music and movies. I enjoy talking to someone for hours, as long as they’re interesting. I like keeping active. I enjoy playing pool and bowling. I read quite a bit. Whispers, 65, seeking: W, l
ENERGETIC ARTIST
LOOKING FOR PARTNER
Hello. I am curious about you and what you bring. Getting to know each other is my idea of a good time. I am sure we both have great qualities and long lists of pleasures, but it is the blending of our attributes that leads the way to joy. Let’s explore together.
JumpInRick, 67, seeking: W, Cp, Gp, l
BODHISATTVA HIPPIE
I’m kind, loving, compassionate and empathic. I love art and music and film and nature and space travel and spirituality. I really enjoy my solitude, but lately I have been longing for companionship. Being introverted, I just don’t get out much anymore! Shivaji 62, seeking: W, l
LAID-BACK, LOOKING FOR FUN
Hey, you. Looking for a guy who’s tall, handsome and funny? Well, he left a few minutes ago, but he taught me everything he knows and walked off into the sunset for some reason.
Mustang5892 28, seeking: W, l
LOOKING FOR A FWB
Looking for a FBW when time allows. Looking for someone in the same situation. Looking for someone to chat with. Someone to get excited to see messages or emails from, leading to some excitement and physical play. Fill the void that we are not getting at home. Fit4fun, 49, seeking: W
ATHLETIC, OUTDOORSY, CEREBRAL, PASSIONATE, LEFTIST
Seeking peer for outdoor activities, dancing, travel and maybe more. I enjoy music. Love to dance, big dogs. Friendship first. I’m labor-socialist organizer (with a master’s in labor, political economy, history). “Retired” into an engaged life, reading, hosting a radio show and enjoying outdoor activity. SkiDog 76, seeking: W, l
FABULOUSLY FUTCH
Tall, smart trans woman looking for my people. I live in Middlebury. Any background in punk or politics is a plus — let’s make some noise! sashamarx, 53, seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp, l
SEEKING WOMAN OR COUPLE
Mature man seeks relationship to share my fem side. Seeking married or committed couple in a long-term relationship, or a single woman, to visit periodically perhaps once a month, to share friendship and explore a service role. Sincerity, discretion, a sense of humor, a twinkle in the eye and maturity are desired attributes. Mellow_Fellow, 73, seeking: W, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp
BBW LOOKING FOR SOMETHING NEW
Been out of the dating scene for quite a while and want to meet new people! Looking for friends who could turn into more. Open to FWB. I’m honest to a fault, love all animals, and think they all deserve love and kindness, just like any of us. BBW420 39 seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Cp, l
SNOW AND SUN EQUAL FUN
Borders and boundaries are sexy. We’re pretty cute. We like to have fun, and we bet you do, too. Happily married couple (W, 35; M, 45), open-minded and looking to explore. Love playing outdoors. Looking to meet a couple, man or woman for fun and adventure. Ideal meetup is a cottage in the mountains with great food and lots of great wine. SnownSun 46, seeking: Cp, l
We are an older and wiser couple discovering that our sexuality is amazingly hot! Our interest is another male for threesomes or a couple. We’d like to go slowly, massage you with a happy ending. She’d love to be massaged with a happy ending or a dozen. Would you be interested in exploring sexuality with a hot older couple? DandNformen 66 seeking: M, TM, NC, Cp, l
If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!
dating.sevendaysvt.com
REZ IN WATERBURY, 4/30
You and your friend/relative left shortly after my group of six arrived; we caught each other’s eye more than once, and I had no clue how to stop you and introduce myself. Your eye contact convinced me you’re someone I was meant to know. Me: six feet tall, short-clipped beard, blue jacket, greenish shirt. Can I treat you to lunch somewhere? When: Sunday, April 30, 2023. Where: the Rez, Waterbury.
You: Woman. Me: Man. #915765
HOW CAN I MISS YOU?
I stopped at Mac’s Quick Stop on South Main Street in St. Albans about eight months ago. You smiled really big and said “Hi!” in a really flirty way. You were about five foot eight, blond and gorgeous and were driving a white GMC work truck. I have found myself missing you like you are a part of me. What. e. Hell. When: Saturday, September 17, 2022. Where: St. Albans. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915764
BLUE EYES ON THE BOARDWALK
8:30 a.m. You were walking a dog for your roommate; I was looking at birds. We chatted briefly, exchanged names. You told me what “rovering” is. Was there a little spark there?
Wishing I’d had the nerve to ask you for your number. When: Saturday, April 29, 2023. Where: Waterfront Park.
You: Woman. Me: Man. #915763
FEMALE LIFTIE AT MORSE HIGHLANDS
Always enjoyed seeing you as I did laps on Morse Highlands, squeezing in snippets of conversation each time I was getting on the chair. I was usually in a black/ blue plaid coat and electric blue pants. Maybe it was you who waved to me on a last day going up Mogul Mouse and you were at top of Magic Carpet. Connection?
When: Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
Where: Morse Highlands Lift at Smuggs. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915762
JEFFERSONVILLE CUPBOARD DELI, THURSDAY 4/27
A warm ursday evening. Both of our gas pumps were giving us all kinds of hell at the same time, causing a stereo cacophony of beeping. Is it your pump or mine? anks for the laugh, sharing your smile and conversation, and sending me into the evening with a laugh. Would love to see you again under quieter circumstances.
When: ursday, April 27, 2023.
Where: Cupboard Deli, Jeffersonville.
You: Woman. Me: Man. #915761
SHAW’S PARKING LOT
I saw you in the parking lot, and you helped me find my car (which was, like, 10 feet away from me). You were wearing a hat and had a lot of tattoos. I was wearing a blue shirt and a black skirt. You seemed cool. If you see this and want to hang out sometime, let me know. When: Friday, April 28, 2023. Where: Shaw’s parking lot. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915760
RECORD STORE DAY, MONTPELIER
We had an awkward interaction when you asked if I needed help finding anything. I was the guy with the short mullet and glasses. We kept making eye contact and smiling at each other after that. I asked you about the difference between the two copies of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. I bought the remastered version. When: Saturday, April 22, 2023. Where: Buch Spieler, Montpelier.
You: Man. Me: Man. #915759
BEAUTIFUL BROWN EYES
Dear woman, I viewed you from my window as you did your job at my neighbors’ last week. Always lovely to see you! Could we share burgers and beers on my back deck some pleasant evening? e past is behind us. Let’s choose friendship and peace instead. Always... When: Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Where: central Vermont. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915758
Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums
De Rev end,
I’m a mother of three adult children, and I love them dearly, but I miss having a baby around. I’ve always dreamed of being a grandmother, but my kids have made it clear that they aren’t going to have any children of their own. I know that’s their decision, but how can I get over my grandbaby fever?
Gran Nah (WOMAN, 58)
VERMONT COMPOST
Did we have a moment of connection while you helped my dad and me load up compost into a red Tacoma last week, or was it just a beautiful spring day? If both, LMK. When: Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Where: Vermont Compost. You: Gender non-conformist. Me: Woman. #915757
CALEDONIA SPIRITS HOST, 4/14
I loved talking to you while trying the honey vodka. We were sharing housing ideas. You in Montpelier, me in Vergennes. I am kicking myself for not getting your number. Loved your glasses. Let me know if you want to share a hike and tea. Or, as you said, travel with someone. I thought there was a connection. When: Friday, April 14, 2023. Where: Caledonia Spirits distillery. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915756
APRIL 7, HG, THE MACHINE
We talked about Genesis, our love of hockey and, of course, Pink Floyd. We seamlessly called the songs. You wore a Canadiens cap. I had on a yellow dress. Trying to make it to public skate but have been ill. Can’t get your smile out of my mind. Had a wonderful time. When: Friday, April 7, 2023. Where: Higher Ground. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915755
‘AIR’ AT PALACE 9
You were watching Air on a Sunday evening. You were one of only three people there, including myself and my mom. I thought you were cute and would have started a conversation had I been alone. Did you like the movie? What brought you to the theater that night? Let’s talk about it if you were interested, too. When: Sunday, April 16, 2023. Where: Palace 9. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915754
MANUAL TRANSMISSION 2004 CRV
What was I thinking?! I should have given you my contact info. LMK if you would like it. When: Sunday, April 16, 2023. Where: Champlain Farms on North Ave. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915753
HARRIET’S DAD, SOUTH BURLINGTON
Harriet was thirsty. Your smile, so warm. I am curious if you are single. If not, then your partner is super lucky. If yes, then perhaps we could take Harriet for a walk sometime? Please share when you respond why I had my vest on during a 80-plus-degree day so I know it’s you! When: Sunday, April 16, 2023. Where: South Burlington bike path. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915752
On behalf of all the childless-by-choice people in the world: ank you. It’s fantastic that you respect your kids’ decisions and don’t try to harangue them into changing their minds. Trust me, I’ve heard horror stories. Not all moms are as accepting of the situation as you seem to be.
Do other family members or friends have babies or young children that you could “borrow” occasionally? Ask to join that family on an outing now and then. You could also offer babysitting services.
Perhaps your children have friends who could use a helping hand with their kids?
If you don’t have any tots in your immediate circle, you could look into picking up a side gig in childcare.
HOT AT HUNGER MOUNTAIN CO-OP
9:30 a.m. You: masc.-presenting, short dark hair, tattoos, black tank top, black suspenders, tan Carhartts. Me: masc.-presenting, brown hair, goatee, flowers and skulls outfit. Briefly made eye contact when you were looking at breads. Care for a spring fling? When: Sunday, April 16, 2023. Where: Hunger Mountain Co-op, Montpelier. You: Man. Me: Genderqueer. #915751
BUMPER-STICKERED JEEP
I was jumping into my Jeep when traffic was stopped on Route 116 in Hinesburg. You rolled down your window and gave me a thumbs-up, saying you loved all my bumper stickers. I said thanks. e light turned green before I could ask if you were single. I am! You wore a suit and blue tie and drove a Volkswagen. When: Friday, April 14, 2023. Where: Route 116, Hinesburg. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915750
GORGEOUS SMILE OFF THE BELTLINE
Hi. Pulled up next to you at the intersection of North Ave. at the exit off the Beltline with my friend. Made eye contact with you, and you smiled at me, which made my night. Up for meeting up sometime to see how things go?
When: Saturday, April 15, 2023. Where: North Ave. intersection off the Beltline.
You: Woman. Me: Man. #915749
CAPTIVATING EYES
Our paths crossed at the elevator. I think I caught you by surprise as I stepped out and you were stepping on. When our eyes met, it felt like maybe we knew each other. We probably don’t, but it would be nice to change that. Spy back if you can! When: ursday, April 6, 2023. Where: Bare VT elevator. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915748
MISSING THE PRETTIEST OPTICIAN
I’m missing the prettiest optician in Burlington. If you see this, please contact me by telegram. When: Friday, February 10, 2023. Where: Vision Center.
You: Woman. Me: Man. #915747
JET-BLACK HAIR, PARKWAY DINER
You came in with a couple of friends and sat at the counter. I had just flown in and was sitting with my parents. We kept glancing at each other, and I thought you were cute AF, but I couldn’t really figure out how to say hi. Maybe we can go for a walk or something. When: Sunday, April 9, 2023. Where: Parkway Diner. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915746
LOOKING FOR THE LAST DIGIT
I was the cute bartender in Waterbury you left your number for when you closed your tab. Unfortunately, you spent too much energy drawing that little smiley face and only ended up writing nine of the 10 digits! I was totally gonna text you but couldn’t, so tragic. If you see this, reach out! When: Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Where: Waterbury. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915745
FRIENDLY MAN AT TINY THAI
To the friendly, kind and generous man (or couple) seated next to us: Your dinner suggestion was not only helpful but really good; the friendly banter was fun; and your generosity was amazing. ank you so much. When: Saturday, March 18, 2023. Where: Winooski Tiny ai. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915744
INTERVALE RUNNER
We said hello when you and your doggo cruised by my garden plot. Come by again in a few months for all the cut flowers! Maybe let’s go for a run together in the meantime? When: Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Where: the Intervale. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915743
GORGEOUS MOUNT PHILO HIKER
Hi! I was the redhead hiking behind you on a sunny Saturday. We both sat at the same vista. I walked by you and said hi. You replied with a warm smile and a hello. I was so nervous/enraptured. You were beautiful — nose ring, maroon hiking shirt and green/blue jacket. Want to hike together next time? When: Saturday, April 8, 2023. Where: Mount Philo. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915742
THURSDAY DANCE FRIEND
I really enjoyed having you as a mirroring dance friend. Want to walk in the woods, too? When: ursday, April 6, 2023. Where: ursday night dance. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915741
GORGEOUS MAN PICKING UP BOOK
I was browsing in the bookstore, and you came in to pick up a book you had ordered. You were just there for about 30 seconds, but your beauty electrified me. I kept my cool façade and can’t bring myself to regret it, because I’m a proud woman. But if you’re reading this, just know you’re a lovely creature. When: Friday, April 7, 2023. Where: Crow Bookshop. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915740
at way, you could get your baby fix with the added bonus of a little extra cash. You can sign up on a website like care.com or put out the word on a neighborhood forum, if you have one. ere are also a number of volunteer opportunities that benefit kids. Check with your local hospital to see if it’s looking for help in the pediatric ward. Some hospitals take on volunteer baby cuddlers. Seriously. Google “baby cuddler program near me” and see what pops up.
While you’re at it, look into what it takes to become a foster grandparent. I found local options listed at AmeriCorps (americorps. gov), the United Way (unitedwaynwvt.org) and Green Mountain Foster Grandparent Program (volunteersinvt.org).
Good luck and God bless, The Rev
48-y/o bi-curious male seeks incredibly naughty characters. Exotic, smutty and taboo fantasies are more fun! Almost anything goes! Perverted tales and hot confessions? Kinky individuals with deviant desires? Yes, please! Be excited. All sexualities, totally inclusive. I think you’re wonderful. Please share your fantasies! #L1662
Discreet oral bottom. 54y/o SWM, 5’8, slim, dark hair, blue eyes. Seeking any wellhung guys, 18 to 55 y/o, who are a good top and last a long time for more than one around. Phone only, but text.
Champlain Valley. #L1660
Do you find yourself smiling a lot? Are you a happy woman who would like a happy man? Strong, kind and understanding. Are you into hugs 100/100, health, hay rolling, 420, guitar and song? Do you live with and help Mother Nature? A note with a postal address gets more info and a photo. #L1656
56-y/o world-traveled Canadian single dad, home educator, homemaker, cook and breadwinner seeks cooperative feminine wife with traditional Christian values to increase family size and tackle half the duties and responsibilities of an uncomplicated home life.
#L1657
Seal your reply — including your preferred contact info — inside an envelope. Write your pen pal’s box number on the outside of that envelope and place it inside another envelope with payment. Responses for Love Letters must begin with the #L box number.
MAIL TO: Seven Days Love Letters
P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402
PAYMENT: $5/response. Include cash or check (made out to “Seven Days”) in the outer envelope. To send unlimited replies for only $15/month, call us at 802-865-1020, ext. 161 for a membership (credit accepted).
Submit your FREE message at sevendaysvt.com/loveletters or use the handy form at right.
We’ll publish as many messages as we can in the Love Letters section above.
Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required!
I’m a horny, male senior who is cute, fit and fun. Seeking a female. #L1661
Widower man, 60-plus, looking for a good woman for FWB or LTR, any race. Hopefully more after time together! Waiting ladies, I will return your call! Name and number, please.
#L1659
Woman, 58. Not married. No children. Searching for a man in the same position. Home away from busy world. Rockers on porch. Gardens. Sunsets. Love. Hope. Been a while. Phone number, please. #L1655
I’m a male seeking a female. I’m 80 y/o. I play tennis, golf, pickleball, etc. Looking for a woman who is also active for friendship, etc. #L1654
72-y/o male, cozy home in the country, financially secure, healthy, trim, seeks kind, empathetic, liberal, openminded, country-loving female. Great communicator, abhors narcissism, fun, kind, respectful, feminist, intelligent, secure, loving. Divorced 20 years. Hope not too late to start fresh.
#L1652
I’m a 75-y/o male seeking a female, 50-plus, to come and live with me to do housework and cooking. Help to take care of my two dogs and go for walks together. I have a nice house to share. #L1649
73-y/o male, single, nice country home in central Vermont. Like to travel all over Vermont and beyond. Financially secure. College educated. Keep healthy and energetic. Would like to meet a nice lady 64 to 85 who would like to explore a possible connection. Promise to always be respectful and sincere with some excitement along the way. Hope that a special classy feminist type will respond. Phone number, please. Maybe something special could develop. #L1658
I’m a baby boomer and nonsmoker seeking a woman for companionship and a future. Older, healthy, handsome SMC graduate is active and genuine, loves the outdoors, and cares about how I treat a woman. Not into drugs or alcohol. Enjoy a female experiencing happiness.
#L1653
I’m a GWM seeking others for NSA fun. Looking for tops. I’m fun and adventurous. 40 to 60ish is preferred. Call or text.
#L1643
Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below: (OR, ATTACH A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER.)
I’m a AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL) seeking a AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL)
You are a kind, clever, worldly woman who’s always down for a harebrained adventure or a night in streaming something you’ve seen twice before. I am an idiot, seeking another to be an idiot with. Be willing to commute.
#L1648
54-y/o full-figured woman who wants love. I am pretty, confident and ready to be loved! In search of a male, 49 to 60, who will treat me well. Should like to travel, camp and make love in all places. Please write me! #L1647
You are a man in his 60s who’s tired of online dating but still believes there is someone out there who will strike a chord deep within you. Someone expansive, alluring, interesting, reverent and irreverent. Reach out and find me. #L1646
58-y/o male seeking a fullfigured woman. You can be yourself and not worry. I love the company of full-figured women. I’m the guy who loves bigger women. Let’s see what happens. Write to me with a phone or text number. #L1645
Required confidential info: NAME
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MAIL TO: SEVEN DAYS LOVE LETTERS • PO BOX 1164, BURLINGTON, VT 05402 OPTIONAL WEB FORM: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LOVELETTERS HELP: 802-865-1020, EXT. 161, LOVELETTERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM
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