Seven Days, August 28, 2024 by Seven Days

Dollars for Scholars

Cops: Dispute in Bar Led to Killing

An argument over buying drinks led to a fatal shooting outside a bar on Burlington’s Church Street early Saturday, police said. Aaliyah Johnson, 22, was charged with ﬁrst-degree murder of Teville Williams, 30, of Stowe, who was gunned down just after midnight outside Red Square.

Premeditated murder carries a minimum sentence of 35 years to life without the possibility of parole. Johnson pleaded not guilty to the charge on Monday and was being held without bail.

Security cameras captured both the altercation inside Red Square and the shooting afterward. Still images included in court papers show Johnson watching Williams speak with bar security before she pulls a handgun from her purse.

the ofﬁcer she carried a gun downtown for protection and was “just tired of men putting their hands on her.”

A friend of Williams told police in a sworn statement that the men were approached inside Red Square by two women who asked them to buy a round of drinks because they didn’t have any cash. ey offered to reimburse Williams using a cash-transfer app, but Williams claimed they didn’t send the money. An argument ensued, and a third woman — Johnson, according to the friend — intervened.

Bystanders administered first aid to Williams until first responders arrived and continued lifesaving efforts. Johnson approached Officer Brady McGee, he wrote in a court affidavit.

“It was me, it was me,” McGee indicated Johnson told him, explaining that the victim had “hit me in my face, pulled my hair.” She gave McGee her purse containing a loaded Glock pistol and said she hoped the victim would be “OK.” Johnson was “crying hysterically” at the time. She told

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LAST RITES?

The Vermont Supreme Court will decide whether Burlington’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception can be demolished. Cue the wrecking ball?

POLITICAL POWER

South Burlington is considering adding seats to its ﬁvemember city council to reﬂect the burg’s growing population. Taxation with more representation.

ANIMAL PLANET

Wildlife o cials conﬁrmed that a Canada lynx was roaming in Rutland County earlier this month. It’s the ﬁrst lynx spotted in Vermont since 2018.

e friend said Johnson threw a drink in Williams’ face; she told Ofﬁcer McGee that she had spilled a drink on Williams’ shoe.

Security video from inside the bar shows Williams assaulting Johnson and grabbing her hair, according to the afﬁdavit. Bar security escorted Williams out the front door onto Church Street.

Johnson, meanwhile, was taken to a side door that connects to an alley known as orsen Way, then walked to Church Street and shot Williams, Police Chief Jon Murad said on Monday.

Read Derek Brouwer’s full stories and keep up with developments at sevendaysvt.com.

RELIEF IN SIGHT

The Biden administration has declared a disaster for seven counties that su ered damage during the early July ﬂoods. More to come?

1,327.5

That’s the weight in pounds of the blue ribbonwinning pumpkin at the Champlain Valley Fair — the heaviest in the event’s history.

TOPFIVE

WORK OF ART

Since the 1980s, Crayola has collaborated with schools across the U.S. to collect, show and store childhood masterpieces drawn with crayons. is year, the company started reuniting the artworks with their now grown-up creators in its “Campaign for Creativity.”

“Chris from Stowe” was 11 when he drew a piece titled “Merrel II” at Stowe Elementary School in 1989. It depicts a jet-powered shoe-craft of sorts, with propellers and plenty of gadgets. He attached a short description that said the creation could “go at 1,000 miles per hour, [and]

since it has plungers on the bottom it can walk up walls.”

Chris’ piece has been published on Crayola’s website and was even displayed on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square – but the company has yet to ﬁnd the elusive artist.

e project is a way of “showcasing [and] celebrating children’s creativity,” said

Vicky Lozano, Crayola’s head of marketing. So far, the campaign has reunited 20 to 30 pieces with their artists. e company, which has more than 1,000 drawings archived, wants to increase that to 50 this year.

e pieces have made their rounds through the years: exhibits, state buildings, schools and back into Crayola’s collection, where they have been “kept safe since,” Lozano said. As Crayola reconnects with childhood artists, staff have been delighted to ﬁnd they’ve taken “vastly different walks of life and careers,” Lozano said. She indicated there’s a common thread: creativity.

LEAH KRASON

COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY

Aaliyah Johnson

Billboard in Times Square

Red Square in Burlington

EDUCATION OUTDOORS

IN THE MONEY.

Paula Routly

Cathy Resmer

Don Eggert, Colby Roberts

NEWS & POLITICS

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Goldstein

Ken Ellingwood, Candace Page

Derek Brouwer, Colin Flanders, Rachel Hellman, Courtney Lamdin, Kevin McCallum, Alison Novak, Anne Wallace Allen

ARTS & CULTURE

Dan Bolles, Carolyn Fox

Chelsea Edgar, Margot Harrison, Pamela Polston

Alice Dodge

Chris Farnsworth

Emily Hamilton

Jordan Barry, Hannah Feuer, Mary Ann Lickteig, Melissa Pasanen, Ken Picard

Alice Dodge, Angela Simpson

Katherine Isaacs, Martie Majoros, Elizabeth M. Seyler

DIGITAL & VIDEO

Bryan Parmelee

Eva Sollberger

Je Baron DESIGN

Don Eggert

Rev. Diane Sullivan

John James

Je Baron

& MARKETING

Colby Roberts

Robyn Birgisson

Michelle Brown, Logan Pintka, Kaitlin Montgomery

Carolann Whitesell ADMINISTRATION

Marcy Stabile

Matt Weiner

Andy Watts

Gillian English CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jordan Adams, Justin Boland, Alex Brown, Chelsea Edgar, Erik Esckilsen, Steve Goldstein, Amy Lilly, Rachel Mullis, Bryan Parmelee, Mark Saltveit, Jim Schley, Carolyn Shapiro, Casey Ryan Vock CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Luke Awtry, Daria Bishop, James Buck, Bear Cieri, Alex Mauss Tim Newcomb, Jon Olender, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur FOUNDERS

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SUBSCRIPTIONS 6-

SUPPORT THE ROXY

[Re “Reel Drama,” August 21]: What’s a city without a cinema? Let’s turn o Netﬂix and take a stroll to Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas. Look past the summer blockbusters — there are some poignant ﬁlms playing.

The chairs are comfy. Bring a friend. Let’s keep it alive.

Mark Kaufman BURLINGTON

HOW TO HELP BURLINGTON

[Re “Reel Drama,” August 21; “Downtown Dilemma,” August 14]: We, the people in Burlington and surrounding towns, need to realize that we hold the purse strings! Working all together, we can have an impact.

We must recognize that our current dilemma related to downtown is a phase, not a trend.

In the meantime, go to the movies, eat out and patronize all the local shops. They need us now more than ever. And when you spend a dollar at the movies or in a local restaurant, chances are that it will be spent locally. So, your dollar becomes two.

Your money spent at local shops will support this amazing place with its great attributes and amazing stream of arts, music and entertainment. Your money spent with local businesses will ensure we have a vibrant local economy and all the pieces that make up what we call home. We have amazing social health organizations working to solve problems, and they are also supported by local dollars.

If you like everything Burlington offers, spend money at your local stores, restaurants, theaters and cafés. If you have an extra buck, contribute to one of our local social organizations.

$250.

Please call 802-865-1020, ext. 132 with your credit card, contact circ@sevendaysvt.com or mail your check to: Seven Days, c/o Subscriptions, 255 S. Champlain St., Ste. 5, Burlington, VT 05401

Seven Days shall not be held liable to any advertiser for any loss that results from the incorrect publication of its advertisement. If a mistake is ours, and the advertising purpose has been rendered valueless, Seven Days may cancel the charges for the advertisement, or a portion thereof as deemed reasonable by the publisher. Seven Days

Go to the movie theater — it’s fun! Spending money locally does make a di erence. It is one place where we can all work together, and together, we are mighty.

Bill Calfee BURLINGTON

Calfee is the founder of the online local shopping platform Myti, which sells 50,000 products from 40 Vermont stores.

WE WON’T ‘ADAPT’

[Re “Downtown Dilemma,” August 14]:

So Seven Days thinks it’s now incumbent on law-abiding citizens to “adapt” to drug use and rampant crime in Vermont’s largest city?

Like, seriously?

If anyone ever heard of woke ideology, it has to be that normal is now “adapting” to crime and drugs.

How the tide has turned.

In the old, pre-woke days, it would be the criminals who were expected to “adapt” to the law-abiding way of life.

And now, unbelievably, the newspaper of record in Vermont has adopted the “adapt-or-go-south” attitude.

Theodore Cohen BURLINGTON

ON LOOK-ALIKES

Thanks for the quite enjoyable article about the guy who looked like Rod Stewart [“Rod Stewart Double Who Charmed Vermont Meets the Real Deal,” August 9]. We’re all so starstruck and celebrity conscious, I’m sure this happens fairly regularly to innocent look-alikes. No worries: Both stories were good! Although I did wonder what Rod would be doing in Vermont...

My father had similar problems. Back in the ’70s and ’80s in New York City, my dad was often stopped for autographs, as people insisted he was Jerry Garcia. It was at its worst when he wore overalls, but even in regular clothes people would demand his signature. And no matter how many times he told them he wasn’t Jerry, they would say things like, “C’mon, Jerry, be a good guy!”

I’m angry that we are building a highway to “nowhere” using a plan that is decades old and has already cut down a thick green urban forest. It’s as if we are living in the past rather than imagining what the future could bring, throwing sustainability out the window.

Ron Krupp SOUTH BURLINGTON

‘UNAFFORDABLE LIVING’

There used to be an evaluator on “Antiques Roadshow” who specialized in Jerry Garcia, and we often wondered whether he knew about the fake signatures...

Harry

Goldhagen

EAST FAIRFIELD

MORE ROUNDABOUTS, PLEASE

[Re “Burlington Opens First Leg of Long-Delayed Champlain Parkway,” August 20, online]: I’ve been whirling with ease through the new roundabout on Shelburne Road in Burlington. No more bottlenecks. What if we had more roundabouts, like the ones around Montpelier?

The Railyard Enterprise Project roundabout would occur south of Curtis Lumber on Pine Street, sending cars over to Battery Street on the waterfront. It’s been in the works for years — steering cars away from the densely settled King and Maple neighborhood, avoiding disproportionate harm to low-income residents and people of color.

Another roundabout would be located where Pine Street ends at Queen City Park Road. The Pine Street “dead end” would have a major impact on people traveling to and from Burlington.

Last summer, I, along with a group of Queen City Park residents, stood at the corner of Pine Street and Queen City Park Road with a sign that read, “Pine Street Dead-Ends Here.” We passed out flyers informing motorists about the plan to dead-end Pine in order to make way for the Champlain Parkway. The drivers said it would be a serious disruption in their lives. They asked, “What’s wrong with the city?”

[Re From the Publisher: “On-the-Job Training,” August 21]: “That darn housing crisis,” unaffordable daycare, unaffordable heating oil, unaffordable groceries, unaffordable lumber. All of this because Vermont has wages that are hard to live on. Vermont needs real, good-paying jobs from large companies, like when IBM was here. Unskilled jobs will never pay enough. It’s no wonder that college students leave the state. Why would they want to live close to the poverty level in Vermont? All of this so-called “unaffordable living” is because there are not enough good-paying jobs. Senators, bring corporate America to Vermont. This will even the scales.

Ray Dauphinais BROWNINGTON

CORRECTIONS

Last week’s From the Publisher column, “On-the-Job Training,” contained a few errors: Seven Days intern Leah Krason accompanied food writer Melissa Pasanen on a single reporting trip for a cover story about Vermont diners, “Order Up,” that was published on July 3. Nina Sablan tagged along with reporter Mary Ann Lickteig to watch Olympic sculler Jacob Plihal, not rower Billy Bender, train in the rain. Sablan wrote her own story about Bender, “Something in the Water,” with coaching help from Seven Days writer Ken Picard.

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Dollars for Scholars

NEWS+POLITICS 14

Higher Ed

A cannabis studies certiﬁcate program is growing Vermont’s weed workforce

GlobalFoundries Blasted for Releasing ‘Forever Chemicals’ Not in My Town Hall

Some Greensboro residents want to stop a plan to convert a public building into badly needed homes

Green Mountain Transit Plans Major Cuts

Vermont Public Names

Vijay Singh as Next CEO

North Country Union

High School Will Use Tents Due to PCBs

ARTS+CULTURE 36

In All Honesty

Brandy Clark wants her music to tell the truth

Reuben Jackson’s Posthumous Poetry Collection Explores the Black Experience in Vermont Poetry Threeview

Book reviews: In the Cathedral of My Undoing, Kellam Ayres; Stonechat Mary Elder Jacobsen; and Loss and Its Antonym, Alison Prine

Maternity Wear and Tear eater review: Cry It Out, Dirt Road eater

Bookstock Literary Festival to Return Next Year

Pollinator Party

Touring Summersweet Garden Nursery in East Hardwick with Rachel Kane

1001 Nights:

A Space Odyssey

Saks Afridi brings “Sci-Fi Suﬁsm” to Brattleboro

No Spare Tires: Chakaia Booker’s ‘Taking Time’ at the Current

Saw It Again

Essay: A gunshot victim and lifelong Phish fan ﬁnds respite and restoration at Mondegreen

Summersweet Garden Nursery in East Hardwick, formerly known as Perennial Pleasures Nursery,

ART HOP THIRTY-TWO

MAGNIFICENT

SATURDAY 31

Reach for the Stars

Brownington’s Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village holds its annual Twilight Stars Party, an evening celebration of all things stellar. Stargazers enjoy live music by Tritium Well, a community jam session, and food, fun and games for the whole family. At dusk, everyone heads up the hill for a guided look at the cosmos through telescopes.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 63

SUNDAY 1

Ducks in a Row

Mad River Valley Rotary hosts Waitsfield’s wackiest, quackiest annual fundraiser: the Great Duck Race Donations by participants buy rubber duckies to root for as they take off from the Lareau Park swimming hole and head down the river. e owners of the first fake fowls to cross the finish line in two races win cash prizes. Donations benefit the Rotary’s charity work with local organizations.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 63

WEDNESDAY 4

Native Son

Vermont International Film Foundation screens the new, groundbreaking Canadian documentary Sugarcane at the Main Street Landing Film House in Burlington. Directed by Shuswap ﬁlmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat and investigative journalist Emily Kassie, the ﬁlm turns the tragic story of Canada’s residential schools into a loving tribute to Indigenous culture and community.

SEE MOVIE REVIEW ON PAGE 44

WEDNESDAY 4

House Party

Home is where the heart is — but also, sometimes, where the spiders and the mold and the ancient, crumbling foundations are. at’s what author and woodworker Lee McColgan discovered when he bought a ramshackle 1702 house and decided to restore it. He reads from his memoir, A House Restored: e Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial, at Norwich Bookstore.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 65

ONGOING

Make My Clay

Vermont potters Jeremy Ayers, Kate Butt and Dan Siegel present “Facets,” a new show at Axel’s Frame Shop & Gallery in Waterbury. Dedicated to the lesser-known uses of clay and ceramics, the exhibit features large-scale carved wall tiles; unconventional vessels exploring themes of gender and sexuality; and small, spontaneous sculptures.

SEE GALLERY LISTING AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/ART

, performed at Stone Valley Arts in Poultney. In the play, three wayward souls discover that the bad place is a room where they are condemned to annoy and be annoyed by each other for all eternity.

One Room Theatrics,

No Exit

Miranda Henne returns to

onstage by four-ﬁnger banjo virtuoso Greg Liszt — known for playing with the Deadly Gentlemen and

Last year, Vermonters threw away 71,113 tons of food scraps which ended up in our only landfill. Equal to 242 pounds of food scraps per person per year.

CSWD’s Organic Recycling Facility (ORF) and our six Drop-Off Centers accept food scraps from residents and businesses to keep them out of Vermont’s only landfill.

Bad News Burlington

My friends visiting from San Diego didn’t really take notice of what ails Burlington — at ﬁrst. Where they live, the tangle of homelessness, addiction, gun violence and mental illness occupies a lot more sidewalk space than in the Queen City. Biking along the waterfront last Friday afternoon, they expected to ﬁnd some variation of a shantytown as evidence of the worsening situation they’d heard about from Vermont family and friends.

“People are camped here in the woods,” I told them, but I could see from their puzzled expressions that they thought I was overstating the problem.

The next day, we woke up to the news that someone had been shot dead in front of the Church Street bar Red Square in the wee hours of Saturday morning. On a warm, dry summer night, the downtown had been packed with people, including new and returning college students.

Seven Days news reporter Derek Brouwer, who lives in my Burlington neighborhood, started his weekend by informing our readers about the incident in an online story. Later he added a telling and tragic detail: The murder was prompted by a dispute over a bar tab. There’s no easy way to say that Burlington, like so many other communities around the country, has seen better days. And I mean that literally. Every time Seven Days journalists accurately describe what’s happening in Vermont’s largest city, we get an earful from two groups: those who think that, by exposing and describing the problem, we are sensationalizing it, discouraging visitors and making the situation worse; and others who allege we are a mouthpiece of Burlington’s Progressive Party. Anonymously, one recently emailed: “a moderate or conservative paper would never say that a community is ‘adapting’ to open drug use, blatant crime with zero repercussions from the state’s attorney, or a mayor who looks the other way and tells [us] it’s all ﬁne and dandy.”

The writer is referencing the cover story we published two weeks ago: “Downtown Dilemma” by Courtney Lamdin. What set readers o was the single sentence below the headline explaining what the story is about and why they should care: “Plagued by homelessness, drugs and safety concerns, Burlington tries to adapt to a new normal.”

Some read “adapt” as a synonym of “accept,” which it’s not. The subhead was simply a description of what Courtney discovered in her reporting — how local merchants, politicians, clergy and ﬁrst responders are dealing with social problems on a scale never seen here before.

Judging from the rate at which the papers ﬂew o the racks, Burlingtonians are deeply concerned about their city. Increasingly, parents of students at the University of Vermont and Champlain College are, too. One wrote anonymously to thank us for the story, noting it “depicted similar experiences I’ve had on Church Street this last week after dropping my child o at UVM … I felt very worried

leaving my freshman daughter here. Had we known of the drastic changes since our college visits, we may have reconsidered. Hope things change quick as word is getting out…”

As I was writing this column, another UVM parent emailed with multiple complaints, including

o -campus break-ins. She said her UVM daughters “both avoid the downtown area due to safety concerns.” Then, on Tuesday UVM emailed all “UVM families” to invite them to an interactive online discussion on Wednesday, August 28, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. It promised: “We will provide updates and answer questions about safety and security related to our campus community.”

I’m friends with Beth Sightler, an Old North End resident who runs Washington County Mental Health Services — in other words, she’s no stranger to social work. On Sunday she posted on Facebook a list of recent horrors close to home that she has seen or heard about: people passed out in her driveway and injecting drugs on her porch, shoplifting, an urban road rage incident involving guns. One of her colleagues witnessed the Red Square shooting.

Her online chronicle started with a trigger warning: “This post is about drug use, violence, theft and mental illness as seen from our corner in the Old North End, this week. If you ﬁnd any of that upsetting scroll on by.”

The ﬁnal line was a question that all of us, including everyone at Seven Days, seems to be asking: “What can we do as a community?”

The job of this newspaper is to accurately inform the public — when things happen, our reporters talk to the people involved and represent as many sides of the story as they can. We aim to not just tell you what happened but also provide some context for it.

WE AIM TO NOT JUST TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED BUT ALSO PROVIDE SOME CONTEXT FOR IT.

To that end, please tell us what you’re seeing. Let us know how things are changing and if your behavior is changing as a result. Let us know, too, if you notice someone going above and beyond to ﬁx things. Have you been to a city somewhere that has managed to ﬁgure this out? Email us at feedback@ sevendaysvt.com, or call deputy news editor Sasha Goldstein at 865-1020, ext. 145.

We’re listening. Not everything makes it into print, but all of it inﬂuences our reporting on this place we care about.

Paula Routly

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People encamped on Buell Street outside the First Congregational Church of Burlington

A man cleaning trash outside First United Methodist Church of Burlington

Higher Ed

BACKTOSCHOOL

A cannabis studies certiﬁcate program is growing Vermont’s weed workforce

BY KEN PICARD • ken@sevendaysvt.com

Chris Van Den Meiracker moved to Vermont 17 years ago to build and overhaul electrical substations for the state’s energy grid. The job paid well enough to support his family, but the South Carolina native never enjoyed the work. So, shortly after Vermont’s adultuse cannabis market opened in October 2022, Van Den Meiracker took a job as a dispensary budtender.

The switch from dealing with highvoltage lines to high-potency weed aligned better with Van Den Meiracker’s interests, but the longtime cannabis consumer wanted to dig deeper into the industry. In May, the 39-year-old Jericho father of two enrolled in the Cannabis Studies Certificate Program at Vermont State University-Castleton. Students earn 12 credits by completing three courses and an internship.

“From the very beginning, we knew our program would be attractive to nontraditional students,” said professor Philip Lamy, who helped create the certiﬁcate six years ago.

In an aging state, the cannabis curriculum addresses many of the problems that policy makers have been discussing for years. The program is attracting young people to Vermont, educating them in a sector now worth tens

THE CANNABIS CURRICULUM ADDRESSES MANY OF THE PROBLEMS THAT POLICY MAKERS HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING FOR YEARS.

of billions of dollars nationally. It’s created a career pipeline for weed-savvy workers and spun off homegrown businesses. More than 1,100 people are already licensed by Vermont to work in cannabis establishments, but the industry’s demand for interns has outstripped the supply of students to ﬁll the positions, Lamy noted.

GlobalFoundries Blasted for Releasing ‘Forever Chemicals’

BY KEVIN MCCALLUM kevin@sevendaysvt.com

Labor and environmental groups are calling for GlobalFoundries to stop releasing “forever chemicals” from its semiconductor plant into the Winooski River.

Water samples submitted to state regulators since 2023 show 17 different PFAS present in wastewater regularly released from the Essex Junction plant. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of toxic synthetic compounds widely used in products such as paints, waterproof clothing, nonstick cookware and firefighting foam. ey are so resistant to natural breakdown that they accumulate in the environment.

Some experts say remediating PFAS pollution will be the most expensive undertaking humanity faces after addressing climate change.

e group CHIPS Communities United issued a press release about the test results on Tuesday. e organization is advocating for some of the $280 billion in federal funding from the 2022 CHIPS Act to be spent protecting the environment against forever chemicals generated by semiconductor plants nationwide.

The program has also helped the ﬁnancially beleaguered state university system boost enrollment from outside Vermont: Roughly half of the cannabis students live elsewhere and attend classes remotely. Though just 55 students have completed the certiﬁcate, Lamy said, more than 1,000 have taken at least one of its courses.

With the program’s growing popularity, colleges and universities around the country have been approaching Lamy seeking to duplicate his success on their own campuses.

“There are lots of programs out there,” he said. “But none of them are o ering what we have.”

How did a sociology and anthropology professor starting his 33rd year of teaching get involved in the cannabis program?

The 68-year-old baby boomer came of age in the 1960s, when smoking grass played an integral role in youth counterculture. For years, Lamy has

In response, GlobalFoundries said the group’s statement was “misleading.”

“As part of our ongoing efforts to reduce or eliminate the use and discharge of PFAS in our semiconductor manufacturing processes, we have already replaced the most concerning materials, and we have ongoing projects to reduce the wastewater discharge concentrations at our Essex Junction facility,” the company said in a prepared statement.

CHIPS Communities United is a coalition of labor and community groups. One of the members is the Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition, which has advocated for cleanup of the PFAS contamination at the Vermont Air National Guard base, just downriver from the GlobalFoundries plant. at contamination is connected to the base’s use of firefighting foam laced with PFAS. e chemicals are suspected to have polluted groundwater in the area, including at a neighboring dairy farm. e sprawling GlobalFoundries property also includes a former fire station, around which the soil and groundwater are contaminated. ➆

Oliver Duncan of Good Pot Co. in his lightdeprivation greenhouse in Addison County

Not in My Town Hall

Some Greensboro residents want to stop a plan to convert a public building into badly needed homes

BY RACHEL HELLMAN • rhellman@sevendaysvt.com

Housing is so scarce in Greensboro that some traveling nurses working at the local nursing home have resorted to camping nearby. There are virtually no a ordable rental options in the area, they say.

Proponents of the housing, including Rev. Dr. Ed Sunday-Winters, pastor at the Greensboro United Church of Christ, are unmoved. They note that the housing crisis is only worsening and Vermont’s emergency hotel program is winding down.

That may soon change thanks to a plan brought forth by the Greensboro Selectboard and a ordable housing agency RuralEdge to transform the underused town hall into 20 apartments — a place that working-class families could call home.

“We’re going to give people tents and sleeping bags, and you want to argue about town hall?” SundayWinters said in an interview. “Give me a break.”

That is, if residents will allow it. Some who live in the Northeast Kingdom burg — both well-heeled summer dwellers who populate its stately second homes and year-rounders — are up in arms over the proposal, claiming it threatens the character of the place. They’d prefer the town ﬁx up the building and that the a ordable housing be put elsewhere.

A group calling itself the Save Town Hall Coalition has gotten 180 people to sign a petition opposing the plan, arguing that the selectboard has been moving forward “without considering the potential impacts of the project on the community.” “Save Town Hall” signs have sprouted on the town green.

Such battles are increasingly common in Vermont, raising questions of equity as a shortage of houses and apartments has driven costs to new highs. That’s especially true in towns that have a large number of second homes, such as Greensboro.

Whether or not a ordable housing projects proceed often depends on how these debates play out. The Greensboro project will be put to a town vote, potentially this fall. Only registered voters can participate.

“The nature of having a seasonal community in Greensboro means that people would rather Greensboro be a

taught a course on the social and political movements of the 1960s. It includes readings and discussions about the role that cannabis and psychedelic drugs played in those movements.

Lamy also acknowledges a lifetime of independent study.

“I’ve been a longtime marijuana smoker, to be completely candid about it,” he noted.

About seven years ago, as the Vermont legislature was considering legalizing adult-use sales of the drug, Lamy and several of his colleagues at Castleton began to notice a proliferation of cannabis misinformation in the press. After nearly a century of prohibition and the failed war on drugs, Lamy was hearing many of the same myths and misconceptions circulating about weed that had been debunked years ago. They included claims that marijuana is a “gateway drug” for kids, that it causes cancer and that legalization would result in higher rates of substance abuse. Lamy found it particularly troubling that many of these claims were made by medical and mental health professionals.

“These were people who should know better,” Lamy said. “But the point is, they didn’t know better.”

In 2017, Lamy proposed a new course at Castleton called “Cannabis, Culture and Consciousness.” He would co-teach it with Brendan Lalor, a philosophy professor who specializes in cognitive science, with a research emphasis on fungi and psychedelics.

The proposed course wasn’t without its critics, some of whom argued that it would become a “drug class” that endorsed pot smoking. A few faculty members wanted to prohibit the instructors from discussing their own — or students’ — marijuana use. Despite the objections, the faculty assembly approved the course by a more than two-to-one vote.

Initially, Lamy and Lalor set it up as an upper-level class for 15 students, primarily juniors and seniors. When the course filled up within two hours of going online, the dean asked the professors to expand it to 20 students, then 25. Even then, it generated a long wait list.

“I’ve never had this, in all my years of teaching, where we had students say, ‘Can we just sit in on your class? We’ll even sit on the floor,” Lamy recalled with smile. “We knew we’d struck a chord.”

The following year, they created the 12-credit interdisciplinary Cannabis Studies Certificate Program, which added two new courses: a cannabusiness class, taught by Jody Condon and Tim Egan; and a cultivation course, taught by plant scientist Jonathan Kaplan. They

also added the 144-hour internship requirement.

Egan, who’s been teaching business at Vermont State’s Lyndon and Johnson campuses for about a decade, is a former New Hampshire lawmaker who chaired that state’s House Cannabis Caucus. With a background in media, marketing and green energy in the cannabis industry, he’s been involved for years in writing bills and lobbying for legalization in the Granite State. The cannabusiness class is now the program’s most popular, regularly enrolling students who are pursuing unrelated majors and careers.

At its core, Egan said, the cannabusiness course covers fundamentals such as marketing, branding and supply chains, with an emphasis on the unique challenges presented by this long-stigmatized product. They cover the various regulatory hurdles that exist in banking, financing, licensing and even zoning in communities that aren’t cannabis friendly.

The course also provides budding entrepreneurs with the essential tools for starting their own companies. Each student drafts a business plan, then pitches it at the end of the semester to their professors, classmates, and two people from the industry who critique and evaluate their proposal.

A few have gone on to start companies.

Oliver Duncan, a 22-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., moved north in 2020 to

attend the University of Vermont. After two years, he took a break and enrolled in the Cannabis Studies Certificate Program. He wrote a business plan and, in 2023, launched Good Pot Co., which grows cannabis outdoors and in hoop houses in Addison County.

“Coming into the legal market was a bit of a jump in size and scale for me,” said Duncan, who had grown illegally when

I’M GETTING A VIEW OF EVERYTHING, FROM CULTIVATION TO MARKETING.

CHRIS VAN DEN MEIRACKER

he was younger. Despite some crop losses from flooding, his business is turning a profit.

For Duncan, one of the best parts of the program was the networking and industry contacts he made. His cultivation instructor, Christine Motyka, now works as an inspector for the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, which regulates the market.

Egan, who codirects the internship program, has placed students in a variety of professional settings. One student who’s interested in science and cooking just

finished an internship designing recipes for an edibles company. Another is developing packaging and shipping operations for a grower they first interned with.

“This is a younger person’s industry,” Egan said. “How do we get young people to stay in Vermont? Create a workforce marketplace that they want to be in and create opportunities for them.”

Last summer, Egan lined up a student with the first-ever internship at the Cannabis Control Board. Grace Labella conducted research as part of the board’s efforts to revitalize Vermont’s medical cannabis dispensaries.

“It was incredibly valuable to have an eager student who was not only interested and knowledgeable in the subject matter but also skilled in research,” board commissioner Julie Hulburd said in an email. “I hope that we will have future opportunities for interns from the VTSU Cannabis Studies Program.”

The board and the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development are also encouraging social equity license applicants — people from populations that were disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition — and so-called legacy growers, who may have decades of know-how and experience cultivating weed but little formal business training, to work with Vermont State University. They can even apply for grants to cover the cost of their education.

Higher Ed « P.14

Philip Lamy and Brendan Lalor in Lamy’s Castleton backyard

The control board has also asked the university to become one of the stateapproved vendors that train dispensary workers. Eventually, the university’s program may train dispensary workers for other states.

Beginning this fall, the university’s Resort and Hospitality Management program will host cannabis studies courses at its Killington Resort campus.

“Our students are definitely interested in it because it’s such a rapidly growing industry,” said Kristel Killary, assistant professor and program coordinator. “Even if they’re not interested in going into that [industry], it’s a résumé builder and something to be more knowledgeable about.”

Much the way ski resorts operate bars and host craft beer festivals, Egan

Next year, Lamy hopes to add a course on the medicinal and therapeutic uses of cannabis. As he noted, its history dates back more than 5,000 years to emperor Shen Neng of China, who prescribed marijuana tea for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria and poor memory.

“We’re not discovering the medical uses of cannabis,” Lamy said. “We’re rediscovering what the ancients already knew.”

One other surprising discovery for Lamy: the number of students who are not cannabis consumers themselves and have never even tried it. Some have friends or family members who do so, while other are fascinated by the history and uses of the plant.

After Van Den Meiracker, the current student, completed his coursework in the history, culture, science, cultivation

eventually expects weed to become another business opportunity in the après-ski scene.

“When do the ski lifts all stop? At 4 o’clock. What happens 20 minutes later?” he said, referring to the traditional time — 4:20 — when stoners light up.

Lamy said he’s been surprised by the number of high school students and their parents who’ve contacted him about enrolling in the program to earn early college credit. They can, Lamy tells them, with the caveat that students who are under 21 are legally prohibited from growing cannabis or working in a dispensary. Instead, they can do an internship on a hemp farm or in other settings that don’t come in direct contact with the plant, such as at a law office or marketing and design firm.

and business of cannabis, he scored two internships: one with Family Tree Cannabis, a cultivator in Sheldon Springs; the other with the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont. At the latter, he’s helping the industry trade group raise disaster-relief funds for weed farmers and companies impacted by recent flooding.

“It’s nice because I’m getting a view of everything, from cultivation to marketing,” he said.

While Van Den Meiracker isn’t sure where he’ll eventually land in the industry, he knows that opportunities abound. He’s had two job offers already. ➆

INFO

Learn more at vermontstate.edu/academicprograms/cannabis-studies.

Flowering cannabis at Good Pot Co.

FEATURING MUSIC BY

Green Mountain Transit Plans Major Cuts

BY RACHEL HELLMAN rhellman@sevendaysvt.com

Green Mountain Transit has announced a preliminary plan to cut 25 to 30 percent of its bus routes and services in the next year. If all the changes are made, the regional transportation authority would save roughly $3 million.

The decision comes on the heels of years of financial instability due to the sunsetting of COVID-19 relief funds and the agency’s reinstatement of fares for Chittenden County-based services after a hiatus of more than three years during the pandemic.

“It’s depressing,” said Clayton Clark, the agency’s general manager. “We all joined GMT because we wanted to make public transportation better, not tear it apart.”

The bulk of the proposed cuts would be to weekend and late-night services, which are some of the most costly to provide. The agency will likely eliminate the Jeffersonville Commuter and cut some weekend trips in Williston, Essex and to the Burlington International Airport. The plan could potentially eliminate the Montpelier LINK, and the weekday airport route.

GMT will make very few changes to Routes 1 and 2 to Williston and Essex Junction, which have some of the highest ridership rates.

Clark is most concerned that some towns will pull back funding, which would worsen the situation.

“I’m going to have to go to these municipalities in a few weeks and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to cut some services, and we would like you not only to give us what you’ve previously given us but actually some more,’” he said.

The first round of service reductions is scheduled to take effect in November, with the remaining planned for February and June 2025. Clark hopes the legislature will be able to pull enough money together next session to limit the number of cuts.

The agency will schedule five public hearings in the coming months about the planned cuts. Clark encouraged residents to attend and voice concerns they may have.

“People really want to hear how this will impact riders,” he said. ➆

Not in My Town Hall « P.15

museum than have anything change,” Mateo Kehler, cofounder of Jasper Hill Farm, said in an interview. The cheesemaker is the largest employer in the area and is currently providing free housing to 17 staff members, providing them time to find more permanent situations.

Greensboro, population 811, is one of the wealthiest towns in the state. Nearly a third of its residents are 65 or older, and the average home sells for well over $500,000. Of the 75 homes in the village, or downtown core, only about 35 are inhabited year-round, according to the town’s treasurer.

In the winter, just two residents under 18 live in the village center. Enrollment at Lakeview Elementary School, which serves around 25 students from Hardwick, Woodbury, Greensboro and Stannard, has fallen so low that it almost closed this year. In summer, the town gets busier as seasonal residents open up their homes and kids splash around in Caspian Lake.

Greensboro is known for its pastoral charm. Its housing crunch, though, has been documented for years. A 2019 town plan identified affordable housing as a top priority.

That year, Greensboro’s housing committee reached out to RuralEdge, which examined a number of town-owned and private properties as potential sites for affordable housing.

The town hall was a logical choice. The American Craftsman- and Colonial Revival-style structure was built in 1912. It’s right in the heart of downtown and is home to town offices; the Hardwick Gazette and artists rent space. The town currently spends $22,000 per year on utilities for the building, but it is in “incredible disrepair,” said Brett Stanciu, the town treasurer. Remediation for lead paint, asbestos and structural issues would be costly.

From the mid-1990s to 2015, the building was used as overflow for the elementary school. In the years since, it has been neglected. The nonprofit WonderArts briefly considered purchasing the building but lost interest after calculating the cost of fixing it up.

The town hall lacks an elevator, so it is not ADA-accessible for communitywide meetings. According to the selectboard, the town cannot afford the type of repairs that are needed to keep the space functional.

“It’s tough to find locations with no private development interest,” said Kent Hansen, chair of the town’s housing committee. “New projects need to be in the village centers to be accessible. We can’t put it in farmer Jones’ field — this is a rare opportunity.”

Patrick Shattuck, executive director of RuralEdge, presented a rough sketch of the idea at Greensboro’s town meeting in 2023. RuralEdge would finance the $10 million development of a 20-unit apartment building, with eight units in the current town hall and a 12-unit addition to the historic building. The character of the building, he assured residents, would not be altered.

The proposal includes a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that would be priced between $833 and $1,387

WE’RE GOING TO GIVE PEOPLE TENTS AND SLEEPING BAGS, AND YOU WANT TO ARGUE ABOUT TOWN HALL? GIVE ME A BREAK.

REV. DR. ED SUNDAY-WINTERS

per month, including utilities. The units would not be subsidized, meaning households would be responsible for paying the full amount. Eligible residents would have an annual household income between $30,000 and $75,000.

RuralEdge would manage the property, and the town would not have to contribute. In fact, instead of spending to maintain the aging structure, Greensboro would earn about $20,000 per year in property taxes.

Town offices could remain in the building, as would the beloved Giving Closet, which provides free clothing, shoes and accessories to those in need.

Shattuck said there was overwhelming support for the housing project during his March 2023 presentation. Shortly afterward, the selectboard and RuralEdge inked an agreement that gave the developer the green light to complete a feasibility study.

That’s when some residents started to push back, according to Jennifer Ranz, a year-round resident who is one of the leaders of the Save Town Hall Coalition. She and other residents — year-round and seasonal alike — demanded that the selectboard and RuralEdge host a public question-and-answer session and then a public forum at which residents could voice their opinions.

RuralEdge completed its analysis and presented the plan at Greensboro’s town meeting in 2024. The Save Town Hall Coalition formed shortly after, and the selectboard organized town-wide meetings about the housing development.

“There was clearly an agenda from our selectboard to basically bail from their responsibility to take care of our public building, which they have been neglecting for four or five years,” Ranz told Seven Days . “Nothing about what has happened in the last year and a half has been done in a correct, transparent method.”

That’s something that selectboard members and RuralEdge reject. “At each step, we’ve gone to the community, and we’ve done every public process we can imagine,” Shattuck said.

Some residents say they cannot make a decision without architectural renderings or a study of whether the town can handle the building’s sewage. But RuralEdge is holding off on commissioning the costly renderings until the town signs a sale agreement.

“We have incurred costs in good faith based on an option agreement,” Shattuck said. “We’re kind of in a holding pattern right now.”

Opponents have accused selectboard members of going into closed-door executive session to discuss related issues that should have been public. Eric Hanson, chair of the selectboard, says it only went into executive session to negotiate

Residents at a meeting about the project

contracts — which the state’s open meetings law allows.

Still others have argued that the project is “outsized” for the town. Shattuck explained in a number of town meetings that in order for the project to be financially viable, it must include at least 18 units.

Some residents want the development to be built at the town’s gravel pit in neighboring Glover. Others have expressed their desire to see the affordable housing built in Greensboro Bend, historically the working-class section of town. Habitat for Humanity projects in Greensboro Bend are in the fundraising stage, without objection.

“We could put a nuclear waste dump in Greensboro Bend, and people in Greensboro Village would not bat an eye,” Rev. Sunday-Winters said.

An outspoken proponent for the project, Sunday-Winters said he has had frank but respectful conversations with members of his congregation who feel otherwise. Rising tension in town is leading Sunday-Winters to worry that no one will want to run for selectboard next time a position opens, given the heat the board’s unpaid members have faced.

At a special selectboard meeting on the project earlier this month, more than 100 people showed up. Dozens took to the microphone to share their opinions.

The project, one summer resident said, “feels so lopsided. It feels so heavy, just overly dense.”

“Everyone here is in favor of creating housing, but not in our communityowned, historic town hall,” said Ranz, who held up a poster plastered with pictures of the building. “There’s a lot of other places for housing.”

Others voiced support for the plan.

“We don’t have any kids here, and we’re a geriatric community,” a yearround resident named Alice said. “...Towns die if they don’t have new people bringing in a workforce but also people who care about the community. Who will be on our rescue squad in 20 years? Who will be our librarians? ... Who will take care of me in 15 years? It’s a serious situation.”

At the end of the nearly two-hour meeting, residents talked among themselves, shuffling out of the Fellowship Hall at Greensboro’s United Church of Christ, which is wheelchair accessible. There wasn’t enough room for the crowd at the town hall. ➆

Rachel Hellman covers Vermont’s small towns for Seven Days . She is a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Find out more at reportforamerica.org.

MEDIA

Vermont Public Names Vijay Singh as Next CEO

BY COLIN FLANDERS colin@sevendaysvt.com

Vermont Public has a new leader. The nonprofit’s board of directors announced last Friday that it has hired Vijay Singh, a 39-year-old public media veteran, to be its next chief executive officer.

Singh will oversee a staff of more than 100 and an annual budget of nearly $20 million. He succeeds Brendan Kinney, who has served as interim CEO since Scott Finn’s departure last year.

Vermont Public’s board of directors said it chose Singh unanimously following a national search. In a press release, Singh said he was thrilled to join the news outlet at a “pivotal time for public media and our country.”

“I believe in public media as an essential service for the people of Vermont to inform, educate, entertain and empower us to shape our future,” he said.

Singh began his media career as a documentary filmmaker and has held senior positions in the private sector and in public radio.

Most recently, Singh spent eight months as the chief operating and content officer at Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, an NPR affiliate going through a rough patch. The station laid off roughly a dozen employees last fall, citing financial problems. This month, a forensic audit reported instances of misspent funds and conflicts of interest. The audit examined a three-year period that mostly preceded Singh’s tenure.

The Vermont Public press release announcing his hiring said Singh “effectively and skillfully” led CapRadio through a period of “significant change.”

Steering the organization “through chaos” is how Singh described his brief tenure to Vermont Public’s Nina Keck, who published a story about the incoming CEO last Friday.

Singh told Keck that he was excited to return to the Northeast, where he grew up. His parents immigrated from Guyana and settled in a small upstate New York town.

“My connection to the world was media and public media in particular,” Singh said.

He will begin his role on October 1. ➆

Vijay Singh

Friday, September 13th

9am - 4:30 pm

Join us on the VTSU Randolph campus for a day of stories, workshops, and resource sharing with leading voices in suicide education & prevention from Vermont, New England, and beyond. Open to all seeking connection, promoting hope, and providing support for those impacted by suicide.

TICKETS:

$100 (+$25 for CEUs), including breakfast, lunch & materials

EDUCATION

North

Country Union High

School

Will Use Tents Due to PCBs

BY ALISON NOVAK • alison@sevendaysvt.com

Students at North Country Union High School in Newport will start the year late and temporarily learn in tents after test results found high levels of airborne PCBs inside the B wing of the building.

Despite a $5 million project this summer to remove the toxic chemicals, preliminary test results last week showed that airborne PCB levels in 13 of the 26 classrooms have stayed the same or risen. Results from the other 13 rooms are expected this week.

Given the first batch of results, “we have zero confidence that the mitigation is going to be successful in the other half of our B wing,” North Country Union High School principal Chris Young told Seven Days

The bad news means that Young and his teaching staff, who returned to work on August 20, are now scrambling to make alternative plans for their roughly 720 students. They’ve pushed the start of school back a week, to September 3, and they’re in the process of installing six 40-by-60-foot tents — equipped with solid floors, electricity, Wi-Fi and heat — that can each hold two to three classes at a time.

The high school will hold an open house on Thursday, August 29, so people can see “the new (and hopefully short-term) campus configuration,” the district said.

The tents can be used until the snow flies. The gymnasium, which does not have PCB contamination, will be partitioned into four classrooms. Physical education classes will be given outside or in a large storage area where tractors are usually kept.

Young said consultants and state officials have theorized that the still-high PCB levels are because things hadn’t “settled” after the remediation work. Another round of air testing is planned for September, before any more remediation work is scheduled.

If that testing doesn’t show better results, the school will have to bring in modular classrooms for the colder months, which state officials are helping to secure. The school will be reimbursed for the expenses from a dwindling pot of state funds.

North Country teachers knew this summer that the PCB situation might create challenges for the coming school year, Young said, but this week, he is giving them “support and space to come to terms with what this means.” He’s also trying to figure out with his staff how to turn the tents into spaces that are “suitable for learning.”

Earlier this month, Vermont Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore told Seven Days that she was optimistic that lower PCB test results from North Country Union High School’s career center wing suggested the remediation was working.

Young said state officials have expressed disappointment with the latest results. Still, they’re not the ones who have to manage the day-to-day logistics of starting school with dozens of unusable classrooms.

“What is frustrating to me is we are essentially guinea pigs in this very expensive science experiment in how to mitigate PCBs,” Young said.

North Country Union High School isn’t the only school that will start late. Extensive mold contamination has forced Milton Elementary School to delay classes for a week, until September 3, while officials finalize a relocation plan that “may include using the gymnasiums, mobile classrooms or enclosed tents,” according to a district press release. ➆

Tents at North Country Union High School

A hallway in North Country Union High School during PCB testing

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OBITUARIES

Lydia Beatrice Monroe Clemmons

JUNE 22, 1923AUGUST 16, 2024 CHARLOTTE, VT.

Lydia Beatrice Monroe Clemmons, born on June 22, 1923, in Ringgold, La., was the eldest daughter of Howard and Lucille Monroe. Shortly after Lydia’s birth, Howard and Lucille moved to Smackover, Ark., where the Monroe family lived until Lydia was 14 years old. Lydia was proud of her southern roots, her loving family and the community in which she was raised. She was particularly proud of the quality education she received at a small, segregated schoolhouse where her teachers ensured each student achieved excellence. When Howard and Lucille migrated to Harvey, Ill., outside of Chicago, and enrolled their children in the public school, Lydia was so well prepared that she skipped the eighth grade and entered the local ornton Township High School, where she was one of only a few Black students. Lydia excelled in school and went on to receive her nursing degree at Loyola University in Chicago. After her graduation, she maintained her roots in, and love for, Chicago by working as a public health nurse and then at Provident Hospital, where she was trained

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

as a certiﬁed registered nurse anesthetist. To this day, those who had Lydia as their nurse anesthetist when she practiced at the DeGoesbriand and Mary Fletcher hospitals in Burlington, Vt., still remember her fondly, remarking on her great skill and compassion.

Lydia’s love of Chicago was often reﬂected in her stories about legendary jazz musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, whom she saw perform in the local clubs. She shared memories of being able to go out on late-curfew nights when in nursing school. e head teacher was not concerned about Lydia and her roommate’s late nights because they were quiet, well mannered and good students. In the last few years of her life, Lydia continued listening to those legendary jazz singers and gospel music daily.

Lydia eventually moved to Madison, Wis., where she met her husband, Jackson Joshua Walter Clemmons. She and “Jack” married in Harvey, Ill., at her mom’s house, in 1952. ey moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Jack attended Case Western Reserve University and their ﬁrst two children, son Jackson Joshua and daughter Lydia Grace, were born. Jack was offered various positions across the country but chose the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt. Lydia and Jack bought a house in Charlotte, Vt., where the family began to grow; three more daughters were born, Laura Barbara, Jocelyn Melvina and Naomi Lucille. When her parents retired to Los Angeles, Calif., Lydia still maintained her remarkably close relationship with them. Lydia relished the summers that her parents would come and stay in Charlotte and when she would take her children to visit their grandparents in LA. ere, they connected with cousins, her sister, aunts, uncles and other extended

family members. She, her sister Odessa and her parents demonstrated the essence of family commitment and love, supporting each other through life’s difﬁculties.

Lydia carried the values of family commitment and love to her life in Charlotte, embodying it in everything she did for her children. Like her mother, she was an exceptional seamstress, sewing many of her children’s clothes, including winter jackets, school bags and even luggage from the Frostline kits. Lydia maintained a very large garden, rising early in the morning, her favorite time of the day, to weed and harvest vegetables before heading off to work. Lydia canned a tremendous amount of what was grown in the garden, as well as canning pears and apples from the nearby fruit trees. She even made homemade soap from the lard of pigs raised on the property. Being an exceptional cook, Lydia’s homemade doughnuts, pizza, gumbo, New York-style cheesecake, bread, English mufﬁns and corn fritters leave lasting memories. As the years passed and she stopped gardening, Lydia continued to get up early to enjoy the quiet morning hours.

Lydia was active in her community, supporting the establishment of the Charlotte chapter of the Vermont League of Women Voters and leading 4-H with the mothers of her daughters’ close friends, who became her close friends. Lydia’s diverse interests continued to grow, driven by her curious mind. In 1983, after returning home from a six-week work trip to Tanzania with Jack, Lydia started Authentica African Imports on their property in Charlotte. She constantly researched each piece of art, an activity she loved, but her most favorite and cherished pastime was long walks with her dear friend and neighbor, Joan Braun. As Lydia continued through

her life, her commitment to learning was ever present. Not only did she encourage her children to further their education, but she also pursued her own by becoming knowledgeable in alternative approaches to health and well-being and trained to become a master Reiki practitioner.

Starting from her early days in Arkansas, Lydia was a deeply religious and spiritual being. She always wanted her children to have a religious foundation, thus each child attended church until they received their Bible. Lydia also enthusiastically encouraged the children to attend summer Bible school. Lydia was very involved in the Charlotte Congregational Church, becoming a deacon, and, after a time, became a Jehovah’s Witness for many years.

Lydia extended her love, commitment and involvement to each of her 12 grandchildren. ese moments were so cherished that each of them have unique and special memories of their time with her. Lydia will always be remembered for her never-ending kindness. She was always offering unconditional love, always welcoming and always present — to such an extent that her son-in-law Peter (Young) called her the “Dalai Mama.” is endearing name is the essence of who Lydia was to all who knew her. Lydia Beatrice Monroe Clemmons (aka “Dalai Mama” or “Big Lydia”) leaves behind her husband, Jackson Clemmons, of 72 years of marriage; their five children; and 12 grandchildren. She also leaves two first cousins in Tampa, Fla., one of whom is her namesake and goddaughter, Little Lydia Gail; a cousin in Oakland, Calif.; and several other cousins across the country, to cherish her memories. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the University of Vermont Home Health & Hospice.

Neal White

AUGUST 23, 1947-JULY 25, 2024 BRANDON, VT.

Professor Neal White, professor emeritus at San Francisco State University in the Photography, Fine Arts Department, passed away after a long illness, on ursday evening, July 25, 2024, with his wife, Paula, by his side. Artist, photographer, oil painter, cinematographer, historian, bona ﬁde genius, cartoonist, certiﬁed Chinese medical practitioner, acupuncturist, expert marksman and teacher are just a few of the titles rightly assigned to Neal. He was a brilliant person, a person of many accomplishments, yet he considered kindness his most important attribute.

Neal was predeceased by his adored mother, the artist Renee White, and his father, Dr. Sidney White.

He leaves behind his beloved child, Sergiu I. V. White, of Vermont; his brothers, Geoff, Rory and Rush, of California; his lifelong dear friends, Neil Reichline, Dr. Peter Eckman, Tim Haworth and George Berticevich; his wife, Paula Mack, of Vermont; her child, Maxine Darling (Isaac), of Maine; and countless works of art in homes, private collections and museums around the world, along with many works still to be seen. ere are no public services, as we each honor Neal and grieve his passing with our own unique practices.

OBITUARIES

SEPTEMBER 14, 1964-AUGUST 18, 2024 WESTON, CONN.

Robert Neil MacIsaac, 59, passed away unexpectedly on the evening of August 18, during historic flooding in Fairfield, Conn.

Bobby was born on September 14, 1964, and was immediately adored by his three older siblings and doting parents. He grew up in Weston, Conn., and continued to live there for the rest of his life. He was a valued member of the community, where he worked as a carpenter, served on the Weston Volunteer Fire Department and had many wonderful friends he would meet up with for a morning coffee or Sunday evenings at Outback Steakhouse.

Bobby spent decades supporting his family in all ways. On weekends, he would drive from Connecticut to Huntington, Vt., to visit with family, tackle a project, take care of the Scottish Highland cattle, explore the woods or support his brother with his maple syrup operation. He was the easiest person to love and was the epitome of perseverance, hard work, curiosity and kindness (to all humans and animals).

Bobby was predeceased by his parents, Joyce and James MacIsaac; and his siblings, Kathryn Ryan and Jim MacIsaac. Bobby is survived by his eldest sister, Cynthia Langley, of Burlington, Vt.; his nieces, Joyce, Genevieve, Julianna and Alexandria; and his nephews, Dylan, Neil and Edward. He loved creating memories with his great-nephews, Parker, Flynn, Liam, Greyson, Madsen and River, and his great-niece, Alice.

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Should friends choose, contributions may be made in Bobby’s memory to the Weston Volunteer Fire Department, 52 Norfield Rd., Weston, CT 06883, or the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 799 Washington St., PO Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425. lifelines

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Robert MacIsaac

Dollars for Scholars

To secure its future, the University of Vermont builds its research muscle

BY ANNE WALLACE ALLEN • anne@sevendaysvt.com

Since Kirk Dombrowski was hired in 2020 to raise the University of Vermont’s research profile, he’s taken stock of the far-ﬂung, science-driven investigations the school’s 1,700 full- and part-time faculty members are pursuing. He’s had a lot to catalog, from groundbreaking medical research to data analysis that improves ﬂood predictions

Scientists at UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center study methods to get more sap from maple trees, while undergraduates wade through Vermont streams to assess ﬂood risks. Engineering professors look for ways to improve high-voltage energy grids, while two assistant professors, both nutrition experts, this month published the results of their eye-catching research: “It’s All Just F*cking Impossible: The Inﬂuence of Taylor Swift on Fans’ Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Rejection of Diet Culture.”

Meanwhile, environmental science professor Paul Bierman has drawn attention around the world for his research on the Greenland ice sheet. He’s shown that the ice, once thought to have been stable for the last 2.6 million years, has melted as of just 400,000 years ago. Closer to home, Bierman has studied the risks for more landslides along Burlington’s own Riverside Avenue, publishing his results in a scholarly journal this summer.

As UVM’s vice president for research and economic development, Dombrowski has set out to build on this base. To identify the university’s high performers in the research realm, he used software to rank faculty by how many patents they obtained and how much grant money they brought in. Among his findings: More than 100 faculty members in six colleges and 22 departments were doing research involving rivers and lakes.

Dombrowski decided to connect those scientists with one other and with others across the country. The result: The UVM Water Resources Institute formed in May to enable collaboration among hydrologists, geoscientists, ecologists and others who have studied water for decades and attracted millions of dollars in grants in the past several years. The institute’s faculty director, Beverley Wemple, says the collaborations have already raised UVM’s national proﬁle.

We have to be a national brand, or we’re toast.

KIRK DOMBROWSKI

UVM’s leaders believe that building the school’s research muscle — winning more grants, attracting more high-proﬁle scientists, ﬁnding synergies such as the Water Resources Institute — is essential to securing the future of the university and its place in Vermont.

As the number of high school graduates declines and competition for them becomes more fierce, they say, making UVM a powerhouse of scientiﬁc research is key to drawing the undergraduates of tomorrow.

“We have to be a national brand, or we’re toast,” Dombrowski recently told university administrators and local

business leaders at an event in South Burlington.

Outgoing president Suresh Garimella hired Dombrowski, formerly the associate dean for research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to position UVM as a major research institution. Garimella himself arrived in 2019 from Purdue

University, where he was executive vice president for research and partnerships.

Thanks in part to this intensiﬁed focus, UVM expects to reach a long-worked-for milestone in December: designation as an R1 university, a measure of a school’s commitment to research and graduate studies — and a coveted marker of prestige in the academic world.

The stakes are higher than just the health of the university. UVM’s research has the potential to enable iconic Vermont industries such as maple sugaring to thrive. It could help communities plan better for ﬂooding. And it could generate more spin-off companies that employ generations of Vermonters.

UVM’s progress to date helped Garimella win the confidence of the University of Arizona board, which cited UVM’s research gains when it announced on August 8 that it had hired him as its next president.

UVM trustees agree that research is critical to UVM’s future, and the R1

Paul Bierman in his lab at UVM

designation remains at the heart of their vision for the school. It is expected to help the university attract strong candidates for the president’s job, which the board of trustees will be working to fill over the next several months, said Ron Lumbra, the board chair.

“With the demographic cliff facing us in the Northeast, we have to have a much broader and more compelling reputation,” Lumbra said. “Expanding to R1 in research puts us in a new stratum. We’re already seeing it in the presidential search. Candidates who we would not be seeing as a non-R1 school are showing interest in our university.”

ECONOMICS 101

R1 status is conferred by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Its newly updated R1 criteria require schools to spend more than $50 million each year on research and to confer more than 70 doctoral degrees — both standards that UVM meets, Dombrowski said.

The university’s research grants from federal and state agencies, corporate partners, foundations, and individual donors hit $266 million in the fiscal year that just ended — about twice the sum UVM brought in five years earlier. The College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences saw research funding rise nearly 60 percent last year.

Dombrowski notes that 2023-24 was the first year UVM took in more money from research awards than from undergraduate tuition.

The administration has invested to achieve this. The base budget of the Office of the Vice President for Research has grown about 20 percent, to $7.8 million, over the past five years. The office, which has 199 workers — many embedded in college and department offices — searches for grant opportunities, advises scientists and completes about 2,800 grant applications each year, Dombrowski said.

Having more administrators to help with grant paperwork has been key, according to scientist Yolanda Fanslow Chen, a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences whose lab focuses on how insect species adapt to change in agricultural ecosystems. Chen has spent years studying an invasive fly,

Center on Rural Addiction; $2 million for unmanned aircraft systems research; $4 million for a future Climate Impacts Center of Excellence; and $4 million for the Marcelle Melosira, the new research vessel bearing his wife’s first name that serves as UVM’s floating classroom and lab on Lake Champlain.

On Tuesday, his successor, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), announced the National Science Foundation was awarding $5.9 million to UVM for various research projects, as well as $2 million for Norwich University and $685,896 for Middlebury College.

Overall, UVM’s biggest grant-getter is the Larner College of Medicine, which receives $90 million to $100 million annually in research funding — about 35 percent of UVM’s total, according to Sara Helms Cahan, associate vice president for research.

But if it is to stand out as a major research institution, UVM still has a long way to go. Its rivals, too, have beefed up their research offices for the same reason UVM has: survival.

The National Science Foundation ranks U.S. colleges and universities in terms of how much money they spend on research and development. From 2020 to 2022, the last period for which its statistics are available, UVM’s research expenditures increased by 13 percent, and its rank on the NSF’s list climbed from 145 to 123. But in those three years, R&D spending at the top 200 institutions went up by 16 percent on average. And the stats place UVM on the low end among New England state institutions pursuing similar goals. For example, R&D grew 28 percent at the University of Maine in the same three years and 31 percent at the University of New Hampshire.

the Swede midge, which devastates organic broccoli crops.

When she arrived at UVM 16 years ago from a research position in the Philippines, she was surprised by how many administrative tasks she was expected to complete on her own, she said. Now, staffers help fill out the applications, freeing up more of her time for her research.

UVM has former U.S. senator Patrick Leahy to thank for some of its boost in research spending. Just before his retirement last year, Leahy, then chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, steered a flood of money to UVM: $15 million for the new Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships; $13 million for food research on farms; $10 million for the

Dombrowski’s aspiration is to move UVM’s research to the level of private universities such as Rice, Vanderbilt, Tufts and his alma mater, Notre Dame, where R&D expenditures increased 23 percent between 2020 and 2022; it’s ranked 107 on the NSF list.

“I’ll beat Notre Dame at some point in the next four or five years,” he predicted, with characteristic bravado. “I will pass them in research.”

Bold talk, but it’s not yet clear UVM can match the might of that institution, which has fewer undergraduates than UVM but an endowment of $16 billion.

Competitive pressures aside, Dombrowski wants UVM to be a place where students get the same opportunities as they would at those prestigious private schools. He noted that tuition, room and board costs $95,000 at Tufts this year,

Yolanda Fanslow Chen, an entomologist at UVM

Yolanda Fanslow Chen, right, working with research student Lamija Šemić

while Vermonters will pay $36,000 for UVM. Tuition and fees are waived for Vermonters whose families make less than $60,000.

“‘The value proposition for Vermonters is, you can send your kid to UVM and they’ll get everything they could get at Tufts or Rice or Notre Dame,” Dombrowski said.

LAWS OF ATTRACTION

Chris Danforth, a computer scientist and mathematician who codirects the Computational Story Lab at Vermont Complex Systems Center, has gained national attention for his mood-measuring Hedonometer tool, which analyzes Google Books, articles in the New York Times, music lyrics and posts on X.

Danforth could work anywhere, Dombrowski said, but chose Vermont.

“He loves living here,” Dombrowski said. “His kids go to school here. He loves the kooky environment we have here in Vermont. He rides his bike in the snow.”

The lab enables faculty and students to use ideas from psychology, sociology, linguistics and physics to build tools that enable computational social science — a field that uses data to analyze society.

Danforth said UVM’s relatively small size is important to him.

“At a much larger school, this sort of work would be discouraged for not being easily categorized into traditional applied mathematics or computer science, since those are the departments we work in,” Danforth said. At many institutions, he said, pressure on faculty to stay within very well-established areas of knowledge can stifle innovation.

“I think of it like a ship,” he said. “The smaller boats are, the more nimble they are.”

The giants in the NSF’s R&D rankings are places like Johns Hopkins University, which has a world-famous medical school and spent $3.4 billion on R&D in 2022; and Stanford University, which in 2022 received $1.1 billion from a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to advance research on climate and sustainability.

With an annual appropriation of $57 million from the State of Vermont and an endowment of $853 million — a small amount compared to top private universities whose endowments number in the billions — UVM struggles to compete for top scientists.

Bioengineering researcher Ryan McGinnis and his wife, Ellen McGinnis, cofounded a company called Biobe while they taught at UVM. The startup

uses machine learning to create tools for assessing children’s mental health. Ellen was an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Ryan worked in UVM’s Complex Systems Center on remote patient monitoring.

When Ryan called Dombrowski two years ago to tell him the couple were leaving for the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, Dombrowski hoped UVM could make a counteroffer. But Wake Forest had promised Ryan $5 million to start his lab.

“We’re not going to be able to compete at that level,” Dombrowski said. “We have to acknowledge that Vermont isn’t for everyone.”

Those departures notwithstanding, Dombrowski said he still anticipates drawing the top-flight faculty, researchers and visitors who now tend to set their sights on places such as Tufts and Vanderbilt.

Bryn Loftness

Chris Danforth

“If we can be seen as a university in the center of a tech hub, in the center of an innovation space, that’s what is going to keep us viable,” he said.

He believes his strategy can increase the number of undergraduate applications from 30,000 to 40,000, and attract talented kids from states such as Michigan, which has its own excellent schools. UVM’s long-term plan is to keep undergraduate enrollment at current levels, about 11,000, but to improve the quality of applicants. Lumbra, the UVM board chair, said the school aims to double the number of graduate students, now at 1,500, within the next five years.

“To convince them to come here, we have to look like something that’s very interesting and very different,” Dombrowski said. It’s feasible, he said, because he thinks Vermont offers an unparalleled quality of life.

Data science researcher Bryn Loftness, a PhD candidate in UVM’s Complex Systems and Data Science program, said she chose UVM because the program is well regarded nationally. Loftness, who was a cofounder of Biobe and remains its CEO, also clicked immediately with Ryan and Ellen McGinnis and with another adviser, Nick Cheney, when they met in 2021. This year, Biobe won LaunchVT, a Burlington pitch competition for startup companies. (Ryan and Ellen McGinnis remain involved in the company.)

“In my first meeting [with my advisers], I realized the energy just fit, and the values aligned, and that has stayed consistent,” Loftness said. “I felt the inklings of collaboration, rather than feeling like I was about to go into a program where I was going to be used for my coding abilities,” she said.

FINANCIAL AID

With 4,125 full- and part-time faculty and staff and a budget of $940 million, UVM is one of Vermont’s largest employers. A wealthier, more stable UVM would help Vermont solve some of its most pressing problems, Dombrowski said, including its dearth of young people and its rising taxes.

“UVM is the best economic growth opportunity for Vermont,” Dombrowski said. “We are the place that can create the jobs and bring people to the state.”

Successful universities create new companies, something UVM has done — albeit sluggishly — over the years.

“I wouldn’t claim UVM is a class leader in spinning companies out of our research,” said Doug Merrill, who works as a regional innovation officer in Dombrowski’s office. “But we’ve made a lot of changes in the last five to 10 years that are going to improve that. It’s going to take some time to see the results.”

University administrators often tout Packetized Energy, founded in 2016 by three UVM electrical engineering professors and acquired in 2022 by the New York-based EnergyHub. Its technology helps balance supply and demand on the electric grid.

Another favorite is Benchmark Space Systems, cofounded in 2017 by graduate Ryan McDevitt. The Burlington-based company, which makes satellite propulsion systems, has more than 65 employees and a research facility in Pleasanton, Calif.

Vermont Natural Coatings, a Hardwick company with about a dozen employees that makes nontoxic wood finishes from whey protein, is another successful startup. Its president, Andrew Meyer, graduated from UVM in 1992 and developed his patented formula with help from a UVM food scientist. The 20-year-old company is building a new manufacturing plant this summer.

More recently, mechanical engineers Rachael Floreani and Irfan Tahir have started growing meat from cells extracted from live animals, and Floreani recently cofounded the company Burlington Bio. It’s getting $200,000 from UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships this year to research another innovation related to whey, a by-product of cheesemaking, by recapturing its nutrients to make proteinrich foods.

The UVM-grown Verde Technologies, which makes lightweight, flexible solar panels, won $500,000 this year in a contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and is raising money from several local and national investors.

Several spin-offs have emerged from the medical school, including the Burlington company CoreMap, which grew from cardiologist Peter Spector’s research on atrial fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia.

“Being an R1 research university requires you to have a very strong, robust academic research program,” Merrill, the innovation officer, said. “But it’s more holistic than that. It’s not enough to have laboratories here publishing papers.

“We’d not doing this so we can produce more PhDs who can teach elsewhere,” he said. “We’re doing this because we want to spin off startups from any research in the university.”

Some of the work in UVM’s labs and classrooms is directly relevant to Vermont. The Water Resources Institute will help scientists better forecast floods. And its lake research focuses on outbreaks of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, which can be toxic and often closes local beaches.

This was the first year UVM took in more money from research awards than from undergraduate tuition.

Professor Tom Borchert, chair of UVM’s Department of Religion, plans to study religion in Vermont. The state is often described as having little organized religion, but that’s not accurate, Borchert said.

“There is a wealth of people that are lost, that are ignored, in the narrative that Vermont is an irreligious state,” he said. “There’s a whole subset of people who fit in the spiritual, not religious, camp, that I think should be included in the discussion.”

Tim Rademacher, a University of Cambridge graduate who is the newly hired scientific director of UVM’s Proctor Maple Research Center, looks forward to researching the impact of warming temperatures on maple trees.

These pursuits can generate knowledge involving an important industry and bolster arguments for increasing Vermont’s contribution to its flagship university. After

the gains UVM has made will help draw the right contenders.

“Our reputation within academia is fantastic,” he said. “We’re marching toward R1 recognition, and we’ve doubled research. We’ve become the kind of institution that will attract more talent than, candidly, we could when Suresh was a candidate.”

Some on campus had suspected that Garimella was in Vermont only to burnish his résumé before moving to a larger stage. The same cloud hovers over Dombrowski, though he told Seven Days that he likes Vermont and wants to stay.

And critics worry the focus on research could diminish the liberal arts, a traditional area of study that has been challenged nationally in recent years. In 2020, Bill Falls, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, released a plan to phase out 12 majors, 11 minors and four graduate programs. While some programs were eventually cut and others merged, the jury is out on campus about what was lost.

“We came out remarkably whole,” Borchert, the religion professor, said of those cuts. But there’s still uncertainty on campus about the future of the liberal arts, he added. “I think people are supportive of research and interested in research and also anxious about the way it might change the university,” he said.

Increasing the emphasis on research won’t change UVM’s broader mission, according to trustee Frank Cioffi, an alumnus who is president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corp.

holding UVM’s appropriation flat at $40 million for 10 years, the legislature in 2022 increased its support by 25 percent, to $50 million, and has since increased that to $57 million.

“We’re very grateful” for the increase, Dombrowski said, before going on to say he wished the state would offer more.

“If Vermont were to embrace UVM, we’d be a much more effective engine in helping build the next Vermont,” he said. “Most of the time, we hear, ‘The state can’t do anything unless you show me it will have an impact on all 14 counties.’”

He gets that, he said. But he added that if UVM is to be an engine for all of Vermont, “it has to be an engine first.”

STAYING THE COURSE

UVM’s trustees are looking for a successor to president Garimella who will continue to make research a priority. Lumbra thinks

“There are immense opportunities for research in all of the nontypical academic areas like sociology, as well as engineering, sciences and others,” Cioffi said. “It’s not an either/or.”

The university’s appeal drew 30,000 people to apply this year — a 14 percent increase. Officials anticipate an incoming class of about 2,840 first-year undergraduate students — just slightly fewer than the number who started last fall. That’s within the goal set by administrators, Dombrowski said.

The proportion of Vermonters in the class is 19 percent, up from 16 percent two years ago. And about half of the entering class is from outside New England, which illustrates the school’s broader appeal.

At the National Science Foundation event in June, Dombrowski told the audience that Vermont needs UVM to stay large — perhaps too large for a state with only 5,000 high school graduates each year — to compete nationally.

“It either works or we get small,” he said. “I don’t like to get small.” ➆

Patrick Leahy speaking at the 2023 dedication of UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships

food+drink

The Main Issue

Construction challenges Winooski’s Main Street restaurants

BY JORDAN BARRY, AMELIA CATANZARO & MELISSA PASANEN • food@sevendaysvt.com

Potholes are part of life in Vermont. But on a four-block stretch of Main Street in Winooski, they pale in comparison to the other annoyances that customers currently face on their way to pick up pad Thai, chicken piccata or vegetable pakoras. From the railroad bridge near Maple Street to the Colchester town line, the road is under construction as part of the voter-approved $28.07 million Winooski Main Street Revitalization Project, which started in April and is anticipated to continue through summer 2026.

The project will bring improvements to sidewalks and infrastructure such as stormwater drains and sewer and water mains, plus a protected bike lane, landscaping upgrades and other much-needed fixes. While in progress, though, it’s a one-way dust bowl ﬁlled with disruptions.

The food businesses along Main Street, many owned by new Americans, represent cuisines from around the globe. From the stalwart Tiny Thai Restaurant to the lessthan-6-month-old Vermont Curry & Cocktails, they make for a vibrant scene. And they’re struggling.

“We’re lucky that we’ve been established for 20 years,” said Paul Ciosek, who co-owns Tiny Thai with his wife, Pui. “But some smaller, newer businesses might not make it.”

Ciosek estimated that business at Tiny Thai, which moved onto the Main Street strip from the bottom of the Winooski tra c circle in 2021, is down “at least 20 percent over last year, maybe 30 percent.”

Junior’s Winooski, which opened in 2018 and was purchased by longtime employees Glenn Patterson and Ryan Brigante in January 2023, is seeing similar losses. Patterson said it would have been worse if the Italian American eatery hadn’t seen a bump when its one-time sister restaurant, Jr’s Williston, closed abruptly in mid-July. Customers from that location are ﬁnding their way over, he said. “Which is great, because we’re new owners. We haven’t built up the cash reserves.”

Some businesses are down even more. Before construction started, Hamro Sagarmatha Grocery was busy with customers stopping in from Burlington and Essex for long beans, bright chile peppers and lumpy, pear-shaped chayote. So busy, in

fact, that owner Dinesh Maidali didn’t have time to eat lunch on Fridays after the weekly fresh produce delivery.

Now, said Dinesh’s father, Ram, sta throw out half the fruits and vegetables that were once such a draw. Business is down 60 percent overall. The Maidalis have tried to negotiate for a lower rent with the market’s landlord, with no luck.

Wicked Wings, which moved to Winooski from Essex Junction in 2021, has taken a 60 percent hit to its dine-in business. Instead of chatting with customers as they enjoy beers and burgers at the bar, co-owner Collin Sourdi is packing wings to go.

“A lot of my regulars I haven’t seen in a long time,” he said. “It’s hard for me to keep sta because of that. We’re just getting hit hard.”

Takeout sales and delivery via the apps are faring a little better, Sourdi said, even up a tiny bit from before the construction started. But not enough to make up the di erence: His overall drop in business has been between 35 and 40 percent.

Winooski City Manager Elaine Wang echoed the business owners’ ﬁgures of 30

to 60 percent drops. “Unfortunately, we did not anticipate the impact would be this severe,” Wang told Seven Days, “so we didn’t have anything lined up for support.”

Even businesses outside the construction zone are feeling its effects. When McKee’s Pub & Grill announced its closure in early August, the owners of 18 months said sales were down 70 percent, noting that “construction will continue into 2029.”

That’s a reference to work on the bridge connecting the Onion City with Burlington, which will follow the Main Street project. This year, Main Street work will stop in November for the winter and resume in April for another full season; work in 2026 will be mostly cleanup and “less disruptive,” Wang said.

Tiny Thai’s Ciosek attended the meeting where the infrastructure work was initially discussed 12 years ago. He was on board with the project then and still is, he said, despite the challenges and what he called “lackluster” communication from the city, whose updates are “cut and paste” and whose answers to email questions are “boilerplate.” Wang said the city has “a very well-coordinated response team”

e southbound lane of Main Street in Winooski, closed until November

To Colchester, I-89, Costco

Where to Eat in Winooski’s Main Street Construction Zone

1. Wicked Wings

211 Main St., Suite 1, 879-7111, wickedwingsvermont.com

Construction wraps by 5 p.m. most days, and this spot stays open long after that, serving burgers, beers, and big piles of boneless and bone-in chicken wings until at least 10 p.m. and midnight on weekends.

2. Mountain Valley Restaurant

212 Main St., 489-5617, mountainvalleyrestaurant.com

Serving lunch and dinner every day but Monday, this restaurant offers many opportunities to dig into tandoori chicken and momos after construction hours, when street parking is more accessible.

3. Vermont Curry & Cocktails

211 Main St., 497-3097, Facebook

An extensive menu bridges cuisines of India, Nepal, Bhutan, ailand and Vietnam — and those cocktails give you even more reasons to walk there if you can.

4. Pho Dang Vietnamese Café

348 Main St., 655-0707, Facebook

Comforting bowls of pho are hot and ready at 10:30 a.m. if you’re looking to beat the lunch rush. Head through the resident-only parking lot out back to a dirt one that’s earmarked for restaurant customers.

ALSO IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD...

5. Hamro Sagarmatha Grocery 235 Main St., Suite 4, 373-3946

6. Tiny ai Restaurant

293 Main St., 655-4888, tinythairestaurant.net

7. Nada International Market 325 Main St., Suite 1, 503-3172

8. Junior’s Winooski 348 Main St., 800-1513, juniorwinooski.com

handling construction-related inquiries and encouraged people to reach out with feedback, complaints and questions.

Wang said city o cials are taking different approaches to the problem, from seeking grants to investing in marketing to get out the word that businesses are still open and in need of support.

“No surprise, there’s not a big, magical pot of money waiting around just to be granted out to people in this situation,” Wang said. “But we’re trying to turn over every stone.”

The city government is working to ﬁnd solutions with Downtown Winooski, a nonprofit that supports

Winooski’s designated downtown district and serves as a liaison between the city and its business community.

Executive director Melissa Corbin said her organization is assembling a group to brainstorm creative strategies — modeled on successful initiatives in Middlebury and Brandon, where similar projects disrupted downtown.

Among those strategies might be coaching and technical support for small businesses and assistance in attracting funding such as grants, donations and loans — though Wang acknowledged that loans don’t tend to entice struggling businesses. A campaign could promote a ected businesses, and events such as a

drag walk, high heels and all, might bring folks to the area.

“This is an investment that the whole community is making,” Wang said. “Our businesses on Main Street are bearing the brunt of that. We want to show them there’s a large community that cares about their success. Come spend your money in Winooski.”

We took Wang’s advice and headed to several a ected restaurants for a meal. We navigated street closures, got stuck behind a parked construction truck and biked around potholes. In each case, the food was worth the trouble.

Jordan Barry with reporting contributed by Melissa Pasanen

A CHALLENGING CLIMB

Mountain Valley Restaurant, 212 Main St., 489-5617, mountainvalleyrestaurant.com

Dhanbahadur Chhetri, 44, arrived in the U.S. from Nepal in 2016. He spent six years cooking professionally in several states before buying his own restaurant in Winooski in 2022. After painting the small dining room a bright cobalt blue and installing a tandoor oven, Chhetri opened Mountain Valley in a humble storefront on Main Street’s west side in early August of that year.

With the help of his wife, Rozee Pardha, Chhetri developed a following. The Indian/Nepali/Indo-Chinese restaurant earned praise for its tender tandoori chicken ($14.99); fragrant meat or vegetarian curries (from $11.99); and Pardha’s plump, hand-pleated momos (from $9.99).

DARIA BISH OP

Dhanbahadur Chhetri and Rozee Pardha of Mountain Valley Restaurant

Wicked Wings

Top: Veggies at Hamro Sagarmartha Grocery MELISSA PASANEN

Left: Som tam and ai iced tea at Tiny ai

By early summer 2023, business was good enough that Chhetri was able to hire an experienced head cook. But less than a year later, in June, Main Street construction obliged him to lay o his main chef and return to helming the kitchen.

Chhetri described himself as an accomplished cook but still learning. “That chef had 30 years’ experience,” he said. “With business going down, we can’t o er that.”

The restaurant owner estimated that roadwork disruption has sliced Mountain Valley’s sales in half. In June, Chhetri tried o ering a 20 percent discount as an incentive. While that did help, maintaining it isn’t ﬁnancially feasible, he said. In addition to laying o the chef, he has had to let a server go.

On a recent Friday, around 1 p.m., Chhetri chatted brieﬂy after cooking up an order of sweet-spicy chicken chile momos with bell peppers ($13.99); warm,

spiced-potato-ﬁlled paratha ($3.99); and chewy, tandoor-kissed ground-lamb kebabs ($15.99) with herbed rice boasting whole cardamom seeds.

He held out his phone to display a Google search result indicating that Mountain Valley was “busier than usual” and shook his head. “It’s not right,” he said.

Chhetri has heard the project will last two and a half years. Four months in, he said, “I don’t know if after two and a half years we will still be here.”

Customers and delivery people don’t

I’m gonna hang in here for a while.

PANY SENEBOUTTARATH

want to deal with detour tra c and don’t know where to park, the restaurateur said. Sometimes a delivery order is canceled after it has been cooked, resulting in ﬁnancial loss and waste. One week, a food distributor postponed Mountain Valley’s delivery because the truck driver couldn’t park, making Chhetri wait for some critical ingredients.

The determined do manage to reach Mountain Valley.

Terry McKegney of South Burlington popped in to pick up lunch on her way

home from Essex Junction. She said she had read about the closure of McKee’s Pub & Grill and resolved to support a favorite spot where she hadn’t been in several months.

The route to Mountain Valley was not optimal, but McKegney succeeded in procuring her order of chicken biryani and naan. “I really like their chicken saag, too,” she said. She knew to expect the longer navigation time, she added, but the food was worth it.

M.P.

‘WORSE THAN COVID’

Pho Dang Vietnamese Café, 348 Main St., 655-0707, Facebook

Mornings are a family affair at Pho Dang. When the Vietnamese restaurant opened on a recent Wednesday, right at 10:30 a.m., the youngest members of the owner’s family rode balance bikes and a battery-operated Minnie Mouse fourwheeler through the maze of tables in the dining room. The construction outside has become so routine that the toddlers didn’t

Clockwise from top: Lamb seekh kebab, aloo paratha and chile momos at Mountain Valley Restaurant; pho tai nam gan at Pho Dang; Pho Dang manager LyLy Dang, left, and owner Pany Senebouttarath

run to the window when an orange loader whizzed by carrying gravel.

Owner Pany Senebouttarath, 57, has been running the restaurant for 18 years; she moved her biz a few blocks north to its current spot in 2018. The construction-related losses are “worse than

food+drink

made the comforting soup irresistible. A lunch-size order of pho ga — accurately described yet underplayed on the menu as “chicken noodle soup” — is just $12. With an order of deep-fried cha gio egg rolls stuffed with pork and noodles ($6), you can leave satisfied for less than $20.

COVID,” she said. Business is down 40 percent, despite her increasing hours and opening seven days a week. She has no days off, owes back taxes and has switched to buying poultry day by day, rather than placing larger weekly orders.

Pho Dang has strong support from regular customers, Senebouttarath said. But it no longer gets business from the larger tour groups from Boston or Montréal that used to stop there, taking advantage of Pho Dang’s location right off Interstate 89.

“It used to take two minutes from the highway,” she said. “Now it takes an hour. I know I look busy, but I don’t want to be one who’s closed soon.”

From a customer’s perspective, Pho Dang’s early hours make it easy to beat the lunch rush: Traffic is less painful at 10:30 a.m. Heading up Weaver Street instead of Main and cutting in on Stevens Street helps cut down the wait time.

This reporter found out that you should take those “Don’t Follow” signs on the back of construction vehicles seriously if you don’t want to get stuck behind one that suddenly parks. If not for that mistake, which required merging back into steady traffic, the whole ordeal would have only taken five minutes.

Inside the restaurant, the aroma of rich spices simmering in pho broth

Pho Dang is staying afloat for now, and Senebouttarath plans to reevaluate in November when the construction stops for the season.

“Hopefully we’re still going,” she said. “For my kids and my family. I’m gonna hang in here for a while.”

J.B.

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED

Vermont Curry & Cocktails, 211 Main St., 497-3097, Facebook

The season of construction is loud with the humming of generators, the constant rush of operating excavators and the drone of ventilation systems. But inside Vermont Curry & Cocktails, the soundtrack on a recent Monday evening consisted of a looped Bollywood tape and the complaints of DoorDashers struggling to find a place to park.

The new restaurant opened on April 1, just a couple of weeks before the launch of the Winooski Main Street Revitalization Project. Parking is still usually available both in front of and behind the restaurant, but this reporter biked from Burlington’s Old North End to avoid the daunting, one-way, pothole-filled road.

outside Mountain Valley Restaurant on Main Street in Winooski

Tul Niroula, 51, Vermont Curry & Cocktails’ co-owner and manager, provided a warm welcome to the few diners that evening. A refreshing Moscow mule cocktail ($9) complemented a large bowl of spicy chicken korma ($14.99). Vegetable samosa chaat ($6.99) housed vibrant green peas and a tangy yogurt sauce over a large portion of samosas. The chicken korma was buttery and comforting on a rainy night, and garlic naan ($3.99) helped mop up all the sauce.

Niroula also works as a home-school liaison for the Winooski schools, connecting Nepali- and Hindi-speaking parents with teachers and providing support to help students succeed. He said he opened the restaurant with chef Bhakti Dahal to create a community space centered on food.

Two years is going to be a long time to survive like this.

But after the construction began, sales dropped 40 percent from those reported by the Fusion Café & Bar, which previously operated there. Niroula said most of Vermont Curry’s orders these days come from delivery services, but those drivers are struggling, too. One DoorDasher said she tries to avoid taking orders for Winooski restaurants due to the road conditions.

Vermont Curry & Cocktails boasts an extensive menu bridging the cuisines of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand and Vietnam, which causes another issue: food waste. The cooks make a wide range of curries and sauces every morning, but much has been ending up in the compost after slow nights.

One other diner on Monday night, Stuart Paton of Burlington, said he has

become an avid fan of the restaurant and decided to dine in to enjoy a bowl of beef pho ($13.99), parking in front of the building. “I knew it would be rough terrain and was impressed with how rough it was,” he said.

Niroula expressed frustration with the construction’s pace. “They don’t work at

night or on weekends, and the work is very, very slow,” he said. He would also like to see more city signage to inform customers of parking options.

“Two years is going to be a long time to survive like this,” Niroula said. His two sons, Abinav, 18, and Abhishek, 28, take orders and bus tables, but Niroula has not been able to pay them regularly. “I tell them, ‘Just wait,’ but how long can they wait?”

A.C.

WICKED TOUGH

Wicked Wings, 211 Main St., Suite 1, 879-7111, wickedwingsvermont.com

This isn’t the ﬁrst time Collin Sourdi , co-owner of Wicked Wings, has done business in a construction zone. His ﬁrst location, which opened 14 years ago and has since closed, was in the middle of a two-year Main Street project in Johnson.

The di erence there, he said, was that Route 15 is the only way through town.

That’s not the case at Wicked Wings’ 3-year-old spot in Winooski.

“People are just avoiding Main Street completely,” Sourdi , 45, said.

The 60 percent dine-in drop he noted is the result of that avoidance. Wicked Wings’ outdoor patio has sat only six tables all summer. Lunch business took an almost immediate hit in April.

Sourdiff thought the folks working outside might stop in for a midday meal.

“But I looked outside one day and saw 13 of them sitting on the grass with their bagged lunches,” he said. “And I was like, Oh, these guys pack a lunch. That’s not good.’”

Now, Sourdi serves lunch only Friday through Sunday. He has had to close on four separate days due to disruptions in Comcast service (no credit cards, television or Wi-Fi) and boil water notices. (“I can’t boil the water going through my soda gun,” he said wryly.) More than once, when the road’s been really bad, the trucks bringing beer, Coca-Cola products and base ingredients haven’t showed up.

Late-night hours remain a staple of the casual bar spot. Construction-wise, that’s a great time to visit. After 5 p.m., “it’s not so bad,” Sourdi said. “Everybody’s gone, they’ve cleaned it up pretty well, and it’s kind of the Wild West in terms of parking.”

Inside, boozy milkshakes in flavors such as Bailey’s salted caramel and orange creamsicle (both $11) are a worthy reward after a harrowing journey. So is a heaping pile of signature Wicked Wings: 24 bone-in, seasoned and sauced wings that are both fried and grilled on an open ﬂame ($38.99). Bone-in and boneless wings come in 14 sauces and ﬁve heat levels, from mild Bu alo to Melt Your Face.

Delivery apps make meals more expensive for both diners and restaurants. But Wicked Wings is on all of them, from DoorDash to Uber Eats, if you’re trying to avoid avoiding potholes. On a Wednesday evening, a pile of sticky-sweet maple-barbecue wings ($11.99 for six in-house or pickup; app prices vary), curly fries ($8) and a spicy chicken sandwich ($18) arrived in Burlington within 40 minutes, piping hot.

If you do pass the buck to a DoorDash driver, be sure to pass them a few extra bucks for that car wash.

TUL NIROULA

Collin Sourdiff holding a plate of Wicked Wings and a Woodstock Inn & Brewery brown ale

Vermont Curry & Cocktails co-owners Bhakti Dahal and Tul Niroula

Samosa chaat and a Moscow “mosque” mule at Vermont Curry & Cocktails

DARIA

SERVING UP FOOD NEWS

Sunrise Orchards Opens Farmstand With Doughnuts and Lunch

Cornwall’s SUNRISE ORCHARDS has been a staple of Addison County’s apple country for 50 years. Now, the orchard at 1287 North Bingham Street has a permanent farmstand from which to sell its fruit, local gifts, housemade pastries and cider doughnuts.

The farmstand in a renovated circa-1890 carriage barn opened for the season along with the orchard on August 17. It will be open daily through November 2, serving cinnamon-sugar cider doughnuts, apple turnovers, chocolate chip cookies, co ee, tea and hot cider.

Thursday through Sunday, the bakery adds full pies and a savory option such as apple-rosemary focaccia. Surprise items might include chocolate-glazed cider doughnuts or cinnamon-cider twists, co-owner CHRISTIANA HODGES said. On weekends, the menu will expand further to include grab-and-go lunches such as ham-andapple sandwiches on herb focaccia rolls, pulled pork with apple slaw, or butternut squash-and-apple soup.

“Every lunch has an apple in it,” Hodges said. “Or cider. Or both.”

The orchard was originally planted as a wholesale operation, growing fruit for cidermakers and local stores, but it has run a retail store in a seasonal tent since Hodges and her husband, BARNEY, added pick-your-own as a pandemic adaptation in 2021.

“We’re so far o the beaten path that we were reluctant to try it, so we started kind of basic to see what happened,” Hodges said.

Support from a 2023 Working Lands Enterprise Initiative grant helped the

Hodgeses scale up from their tent and funded an on-site commercial cidery. In March, the barn was deconstructed into 15 pieces and moved to the property from Otter Creek Child Center in Middlebury, which owned it previously. It was then reassembled over the summer.

The farmstand has easy access to 14 varieties of apples for customers to pick, Hodges said, and the trees are loaded this season. Customers can eat at tables on the farmstand’s wooden deck or on the lawn, then play a round of cornhole or walk the orchard’s three sculpture-ﬁlled paths in what she called “10-minute hikes.”

Sunrise will host live music on several weekends this fall, and details of its upcoming 50th birthday party will be announced soon.

Jordan Barry

CONNECT

Sunrise Orchards’ new farmstand

Orchard ham sandwich

culture

MUSIC

In All Honesty

At every show that Brandy Clark plays, she places a notebook on her merchandise table. It’s there for the singer-songwriter’s fans to leave her notes, but she ﬁnds that people often just write about their anxieties or insecurities. That’s no great surprise, given that the Washington native won the 2024 Best Americana Performance Grammy Award for the hit “Dear Insecurity,” a starkly confessional tune that features a cameo from folkrocker Brandi Carlile.

“Songwriting can be a lonely profession,” Clark told Seven Days. “Whether a song is a hit or not, I think my songs oftentimes tend to ﬁnd the ears that need to hear them.”

At 48, Clark is entering what she described as a truer-to-herself phase of her career. As her current tour brings her to Vermont for a show at Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe on Thursday, August 29, Clark is reveling in her new commitment to Americana music and excited to see what the future holds.

A late bloomer as a solo artist, Clark has always charted her own course. She spent years writing songs for musicians such as Sheryl Crow, Reba McEntire and LeAnn Rimes, often with frequent collaborator Shane McAnally. In 2012, she made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry alongside country legend Marty Stuart. Clark ﬁnally released her ﬁrst solo album, 2013’s 12 Stories, at the age of 37. The same

BY CHRIS FARNSWORTH • farnsworth@sevendaysvt.com

year, CMT included her in its “Women of Country” campaign.

Despite all that buzz, she started to think she would always be a songwriter, never in the spotlight.

“I had a lot of people telling me not to worry that I was an openly gay woman in Nashville,” Clark said. “But I never did get a record deal in that town like I thought I might.”

Instead, Warner Records signed her, a move that Clark admits ended up working out much better for the kind of music she wanted to create. “I never feel pressure there to be something I’m not,” she said. “I can evolve as an artist, which is what I’ve been doing.”

She released two more solo albums and became a critical darling of the country music world, especially after winning Song of the Year at the Country Music Awards in 2014 for cowriting the Kacey Musgraves hit “Follow Your Arrow.” Clark would eventually rack up a whopping 11 Grammy nominations without bringing home the coveted trophy.

That is, until Carlile came calling. The singer-songwriter and producer, fresh from working with Joni Mitchell and Tanya Tucker, told Clark that she wanted to produce her next record — and that this time, they’d win the Grammy.

They did. The Best Americana Performance award was one of Clark’s six Grammy nominations for the self-titled album this year. She also picked up a 2023 Tony nomination for cowriting the score to the Broadway smash hit Shucked

She credits her recent success to an increased willingness to mine her life for songwriting inspiration. “This album is the ﬁrst time the songs are solely focused on myself,” Clark said, adding that Carlile pushed her in that direction as the two worked on the record.

“Brandi made me ask tougher questions of my songwriting,” Clark said. “I might be writing something, and a really hooky line will show up. What I do now is ask myself: Is it true, though? So I try to keep to the truth, even if it’s harder to rhyme.”

Carlile was also adamant that Clark, who had straddled country and Americana on her previous solo albums, make the leap to full Americana. The shift is clear on songs such as “Come Back to Me” and “Tell Her You Don’t Love Her,” the latter featuring a cameo from indie vocal duo Lucius.

“Brandy and I are peers and contemporaries,” Carlile said in a recent interview with the online audio and production magazine Mix, “we have the same name, we’re both lesbians, we’re both from the Paciﬁc Northwest, but we do music di erently.”

Carlile loved the idea of making a record with Clark that drew on their songwriting di erences. In her mind, Clark was still working as if she were writing for other artists.

“I wanted to deconstruct that tendency for Brandy Clark,” Carlile said, “and put her back in the center of her songs as an artist so that she could claim her rightful place as the singer of them.”

For Clark, who admitted that she needed to be coaxed out of her shell a bit, it was a wild success. Beyond the Grammy win, the album has forged an even deeper connection with her audience, who fell in love with the material on an almost therapeutic level. Clark said she receives correspondence from fans who say her music helped them deal with their own anxiety.

“The song ‘Dear Insecurity’ is literally about my own insecurities,” Clark said. “For that song to have the e ect on my audience it does — it just reminds me to share those things because other people feel those things, too. And there’s no award that can rival seeing someone hear my music and tell me, ‘That’s my song.’” ➆

INFO

Brandy Clark, Stephen Kellogg, ursday, August 29, 6 p.m., at Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe. $5-40. sprucepeakarts.org

BRANDY CLARK

Brandy Clark

Brandi Carlile and Brandy Clark

CHAMPLAIN TRIO

Reuben Jackson’s Posthumous Poetry Collection Explores the Black Experience in Vermont

BY HANNAH FEUER • hfeuer@sevendaysvt.com

Reuben Jackson, a poet whose distinctive voice graced the airwaves of “Friday Night Jazz” on Vermont Public for six years, loved Vermont for its calming, idyllic scenery. But as a Black man in an overwhelmingly white state, he also had a persistent sense of otherness.

“10:00 A.M. / A neighbor smiles / In the elevator. / 10:05. / I’m followed to the / Radio station / By the Cops,” Jackson wrote in a poem titled “Black in Vermont #9.”

School and hosted Vermont Public’s “Friday Night Jazz” show from 2012 to 2018 before returning to D.C., where he had previously worked as curator of the Smithsonian’s Duke Ellington Collection for two decades.

My Speciﬁc Awe and Wonder, a new book of poetry to be released posthumously this Saturday, August 31, explores the duality of Jackson’s experiences in Vermont. e poet, jazz scholar, English teacher and radio DJ died in February at age 67, after suffering a stroke.

In “Long Distance Love,” he makes a humorous observation about urban transplants in Vermont, telling a friend he is “thinking about people / Who move to rural places / In search of serenity / While also yearning / For a Trader Joe’s.”

Yet the racism he experienced in Vermont weighed on him, according to Molly Stone, a close friend of Jackson’s and artistic director at Catamount Arts.

Jackson signed the book deal with Montpelier’s Rootstock Publishing in November 2023, just four months before his death. Rootstock owner Samantha Kolber was beginning to work on the book’s layout when Jackson suddenly died. With the permission of Jackson’s ﬁancée, Jenae Michelle, Kolber moved ahead with publishing his work.

“Once I was holding it in my hands, I just cried,” Kolber said. “Because I was thinking, How unfortunate, how sad that Reuben could never hold this book in his hands.”

e book features unﬁnished work, including several handwritten drafts of Jackson’s poetry and a transcribed voicemail that Jackson left for Kolber in which he recited a poem. Jackson composed much of his work orally, Kolber said, and it wasn’t unusual for him to ask for feedback on a poem through voicemail.

Before his death, Jackson described the collection of poems to Kolber as “a love letter to Vermont … with all the potholes visible.” “My Blackness is unsettling / To the woman in the / General Store,” he wrote in a poem titled “Sunday Afternoon.”

Jackson grew up in Washington, D.C., and moved to Plainﬁeld in 1975 to study writing at Goddard College. He taught English at Burlington High

“It was the reason why he moved back [to D.C.],” she said. “He was not shy to share that through his poetry, nor was he shy to share that with other Black residents of Vermont.”

Jackson’s work also addressed racial violence. His most anthologized poem, “For Trayvon Martin,” reimagines the night the 17-year-old was killed, with Jackson as the boy’s protector.

My Speciﬁc Awe and Wonder is Jackson’s third book of poetry. His other poetry collections are Fingering the Keys, which won the 1992 Columbia Book Award, and Scattered Clouds: New and Selected Poems

A tribute event coinciding with the book’s release on Saturday at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier will feature jazz music, poetry readings and speeches about Jackson’s legacy. Proceeds from the book’s sales will beneﬁt scholarships in Jackson’s name at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia for students studying poetry or jazz. ➆

INFO

My Speciﬁc Awe and Wonder by Reuben Jackson, Rootstock Publishing, 70 pages, $16.95.

Celebration of Life for Reuben Jackson and Book Launch, Saturday, August 31, 2 p.m., at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier. Free. rootstockpublishing.com

Reuben Jackson

Poetry Threeview

Book reviews: In the Cathedral of My Undoing, Kellam Ayres; Stonechat, Mary Elder Jacobsen; and Loss and Its Antonym, Alison Prine

BY JIM SCHLEY • schley@sevendaysvt.com

Poems are only made of words, but powerfully engaging poetry can transcend written language. Three new books by Vermont poets create verbal and emotional intensity on the page by very di erent means.

Kellam Ayres of Middlebury favors the pull of narrative, adapting techniques of prose ﬁction in poems that o er compressed, often erotically charged and suspenseful episodes tinged with violence and remorse. Calais poet Mary Elder Jacobsen’s poems are resplendently aural, using sound to conjure a sensory universe on an intimate scale. And the poems of Alison Prine of Burlington swivel on the spindle of the present moment to look backward into memory and forward into a ﬂeetingly imaginable future.

BOOKS

In the Cathedral of My Undoing, Kellam Ayres

Ayres’ narrative poems put a reader in the midst of a rural human community, which is a thickly forested landscape plentiful with animals. Enthralling but evasive men share the place she portrays with precisely evoked creatures, glimpsed alive or found as roadkill. She writes exactingly about snakes, a bedraggled goat, a bobcat, a deer that almost collided with a car and a run-over dog that did. Many of her most arresting poems describe the tight compass of clandestine lovers, where danger is close by.

In the Cathedral of My Undoing is Ayres’ first book, completed with support from the Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Studio Center. She has degrees from the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English and the Warren Wilson College MFA program, and she works at the Middlebury College Library.

Her poems enact the dizzying gamble of being a body alongside other bodies — elation, then mixed feelings. The book’s title comes from the end of a poem about a youthful encounter, thrilling but regrettable in retrospect: “I pedaled away / from the old mill, the ﬁrst / cathedral of my undoing.”

In a characteristically vibrant tracking shot, Ayres ﬂicks drawn-out sentences through the cinematic frames of her verse:

Last together behind his wood shed, making out against the worn shingles until his girlfriend tracked us down, gripping a pitchfork as if to run us out of some old-timey town. We’d had it coming, ever since the county fair—we met at the dairy show, then rubbed against each other in the oxen barn near those twothousand-pound beasts who crapped everywhere.

Ayres’ book is divided into three parts, beginning with an omniscient view of small-town life — “phone sex between neighbors,” angry couples ﬁghting in the street below an apartment window, inﬁdelities observed or embarked upon. The middle group of poems is a series of trancelike scenarios that are edgy and unsettling, particular in their details yet weird, as dreams can be: “I could walk into a wall and not notice, / I could walk into tra c — / still, I would call it pleasure.”

The last part of the book elaborates on the theme of furtive, hypnotic physicality, but these poems seem less connected from one to the next. It’s di cult to know whether the “I” in Ayres’ third grouping is meant to portray a single narrator or a ﬂexible (and ﬁ ctional) persona, representing di erent people. (Could one person have had so many romantic misadventures?)

The reigning mood of Ayres’ poems is elegiac — the poignancy of surviving rapture and ending up, as she writes, “No longer the same,” and “no longer in love.”

Kellam Ayres

Mary Elder Jacobsen

Alison Prine

Stonechat, Mary Elder Jacobsen

Jacobsen works as a freelance editor and coordinates the annual Words Out Loud autumn reading series held in September at the Kents Corner State Historic Site in Calais. Her debut collection greets her readers with a confident lucidity, brightly articulated images and spring-loaded rhythms.

Here is a poet who revels in formal opportunities; she chooses or devises forms that don’t constrain but channel the momentum of long, striding sentences. One of her poems is shaped like an hourglass, and many have subtle rhyme schemes. “Diptych: Boathouse in Autumn Rain” is bidirectional, like a palindrome, reaching a midpoint and then turning back on itself all the way to the beginning, with each line repeated in reverse order.

In this segment of her poem “Beekeeping”; listen for the sonorous zzz sounds:

Once, we kept bees, in hives— or, they kept us, kept us mesmerized, kept us drunk on dandelions, dazed and dizzy by roadsides, kept us spellbound in ﬁelds dusted by pollen, all abuzz,

Her conviviality with the sounds of words complements a warm domesticity in imagery. For instance, “Sponge Bath” is a doubled lullaby, a two-part poem that uses almost the same words twice. The ﬁrst part is addressed to an infant; the second, to an elderly parent. She’s entirely at home among brooms and snow shovels, or counting buttons for a kindergartner’s homework assignment. Through refrain and repetition, Jacobsen revels in the dailiness of tasks that are deliciously ordinary.

INFO

Loss and Its Antonym, Alison Prine

The title of Prine’s second poetry collection has a tender erudition, with its suggestion that the contents might o er an alternative to sorrow. But as in her ﬁrst book, Steel, a ﬁnalist for the 2017 Vermont Book Award, many of her new poems hearken back to calamitous losses: a mother’s death in a car accident that the poems’ narrator survived, and the death by suicide of a sibling.

What could be the opposite of losses so severe? One answer is a certain kind of abundance, which Prine summons not extravagantly or elaborately but with lines that give o a quietly evanescent glow.

A clinical social worker by day, Prine was one of ﬁve Vermont poets featured this summer in Vermont Humanities’ “Words in the Woods” series. Seven Days reviewer Rachel Elizabeth Jones wrote of Prine’s previous book that it is “nearly too forceful to read in one sitting,” but the poems in Loss and Its Antonym glide from one piece to the next so absorbingly that this reader couldn’t resist their ﬂow.

Individual poems, strong as they are, seem inseparable from the whole sweep. And the writing moves in swift gestures, springing like a relay across the white space:

a match dropped on the prairie a sparrow’s claw print in the dirt just enough water to sip from two cupped hands

a small shadow when the sun begins to howl

With spare but reverberating lines, Prine shows how individual instants can be gathered to render a wide swath of awareness. In a lyric poem, time can leap or pause, as in this passage from “Pick Any Hour”:

I can say in that moment or any moment I love your hands moving the air as you speak your hands are a river, a rope days and days and days slip o behind us glasses broken in the sink bulbs burned, soles of our shoes worn thin our shovel’s rusted blade

your voice reading aloud the words gone, the book but not your hands

We’re so often told to look forward with hope, but the future may be a realm of lasting grief, as well: “I have only / known tomorrow / for what will not be there,” as Prine writes in “Harbor.” Her new book refuses frail consolation, and she knows when to bring a poem to a close, or a pause — assured in what will be enough. ➆

In the Cathedral of My Undoing by Kellam Ayres, Gunpowder Press, 80 pages. $18. Stonechat by Mary Elder Jacobsen, Rootstock Publishing, 96 pages. $16.95. Loss and Its Antonym by Alison Prine, Headmistress Press, 106 pages. $15.

Maternity Wear and Tear

Theater review: Cry It Out, Dirt Road Theater

BY ALEX BROWN

• alex@sevendaysvt.com

Anew mother has many decisions to make, including how best to extract snot from a baby’s nose. For some choices, all you get are ways to be wrong, because staying home versus going back to work is the ultimate lose-lose decision. In Molly Smith Metzler’s sparkling comedy Cry It Out, we meet four new parents with nothing in common but infants keeping them up at night. The Dirt Road Theater production brings out the humor with impressive ensemble acting, while the script reveals

some unglamorous and very funny truths about motherhood.

The 2017 play is set in Port Washington on Long Island, N.Y., a suburb of extreme socioeconomic diversity. In seven short scenes, three new moms and one new dad — varying in affluence, demeanor and goals — convey the comedy of days that are ruled by nap schedules, breastfeeding and living in leggings.

When Lina (Kianna Bromley) takes up an invitation from next-door neighbor Jessie (Maren Langdon Spillane) to meet

for backyard coffee, they seem unlikely to form a friendship. Lina’s chunky South Shore accent, glowing press-on nails and not-ready-to-marry boyfriend all suggest that she has little in common with Jessie, a corporate attorney with a conscientious husband who shares his parents’ pride in status displayed through real estate.

But Lina and Jessie’s differences fall away in the face of their common experience keeping their firstborns fed and diapered while in virtual exile from the regular world. After being cooped up with babies whose

conversation doesn’t extend past burping, the women suddenly have the freedom to reveal the post-pregnancy aches, doubts and indignities they don’t dare express to anyone who hasn’t shared them.

While their newborns nap, they drink coffee in Jessie’s backyard at the sweet spot where both their baby monitors are in range. As their friendship deepens, they can laugh through disagreements. Soon they’re influencing each other. The genteel Jessie is considering sleep training, in which babies are left alone to cry it out until they sleep. The hard-edged Lina counters, “You put your baby down in a dark crib and let them scream until they learn no one’s coming for them? I mean, are we Vikings?”

Each mother faces the big problem of when to return to work. Jessie is on the partnership track in her law firm, and her husband wants her second income back. But after a difficult birth in which she nearly lost her child, Jessie doesn’t want to leave her. Lina’s finances force her to go back to work, even though her only day care option is her day-drinking mother.

Metzler skillfully shows the influence of class on parenting choices and the blunt impact of money. Many doors are closed for Lina; almost everything is open to Jessie. Still, they both want to choose from their hearts, not their wallets.

One of Port Washington’s wealthiest enclaves overlooks Jessie and Lina’s street. After observing the two of them, literally from on high, Mitchell (Jesse Cooper) impulsively visits during one of their coffee dates. Mitchell thinks his wife, Adrienne (Sarah Debouter), is struggling as a new mother and needs friends like them. Will they invite her in?

They try, but Adrienne faces challenges tougher than theirs. The playwright makes a commendable effort to go beyond the superficially laughable woes of

Bookstock Literary Festival to Return Next Year

BY MARY ANN LICKTEIG • maryann@sevendaysvt.com

Author talks, book and poetry readings, children’s activities and a mammoth used-book sale are scheduled to return to Woodstock May 16 through 18, when Bookstock makes a comeback.

The 15-year-old literary festival abruptly folded in April, about 10 weeks before its 2024 event was scheduled to start. Organizers had been attempting to execute “a very ambitious plan,” Bookstock cofounder and then-chair Peter Rousmaniere said.

A part-time staff and a board dominated by part-time residents had designed an event intended to attract out-of-towners, he said. But relationships with some festival partners frayed. “Things came to a head very late in the game, which was quite painful,” Rousmaniere said, and organizers realized they could not pull off the festival.

“The scale of it just got too big,” cofounder Michael Stoner said.

Discussions about how to bring Bookstock back began almost

immediately. “One of the realizations from having to cancel 2024 is that local people really loved this festival and were really disappointed when it was canceled,” Stoner said.

The dozen poets scheduled to appear at this year’s Bookstock came to town on festival weekend to participate in a hastily arranged replacement event, dubbed the Woodstock Poetry Festival.

Bookstock board members resigned on August 12 and voiced support for the

formation of a new board. “The transition was completely seamless,” Stoner, the new board’s secretary, said. Former board members “welcomed the enthusiasm and visions” of their replacements, Stoner said.

The new board chair is Jon Spector, chair of the Woodstock Economic Development Commission. Priscilla Painton, vice president and editor-in-chief at Simon & Schuster, is vice chair; and Julie Moncton, a former Silicon Valley engineer turned bookseller, is treasurer. Secretary Stoner

Maren Langdon Spillane and Kianna Bromley

motherhood and consider the darker side, where real desolation lies for a new mom without a physical and emotional bond to her baby. But the shift in tone is abrupt. It’s as if Joey and Chandler of “Friends” had to shut down their routine hilarity when they found themselves sharing the coffeehouse couch with a burn victim.

Structurally, Metzler spends little time establishing Adrienne’s objectives or addressing the equally nuanced question of Mitchell’s preference for parenting over corporate life. Cry It Out presents four characters to embody the range of forces affecting new parents, but only Lina and Jessie get to share enough repartee to make their choices matter to the audience.

transcends the boundaries of class and temperament.

In movement and attitude, Langdon Spillane gives Jessie a certain uptight precision, primed for Lina to dismantle. We know Lina is having an effect when Jessie follows her own outburst by protesting, “I don’t curse in real life.”

Jessie is accustomed to meeting expectations, and Langdon Spillane conveys that stiffness with little hesitations before indulging in the raucous exchanges that Lina fosters.

Bromley is a comedy demon as Lina, stomp-walking to the backyard and flinging out her acerbic observations in a brutally working-class accent. Lina wins us over by being hardest on herself, and Bromley is a master of self-deprecation without self-pity. Lina’s finances and family mean she faces difficulties Jessie never dreamed of, and Bromley summons her go-girl gumption with a loose, unselfconscious freedom.

Despite their thin characters, Cooper and Debouter both deliver solid and affecting performances.

Director Joanne Greenberg, so adept at firing up the humor and finish-eachother’s-sentences connection between Jessie and Lina, can’t rescue the underwritten Adrienne and Mitchell. Adrienne’s sullen presence doesn’t spark a viewer’s curiosity about her burdens — she’s withdrawn but never missed. Mitchell is portrayed as either sweetly concerned or intrusively critical of his wife, and the playwright’s ambiguity stays confusing.

What Greenberg does best is set a tone of unaffected intimacy to catapult Lina and Jessie into each other’s lives. Their friendship chemistry gives the production a thrilling life force, especially because it

has retired from the higher education web strategy and marketing firm he founded.

“It’s a very strong team,” Rousmaniere said.

Moncton will share the festival’s executive director duties with Jen Belton, former executive director of Woodstock’s Norman Williams Public Library. Chard deNiord, former poet laureate of Vermont, will remain the festival’s poetry director.

New board members want to retain the basic structure and nature of Bookstock, Stoner said. In addition to readings and talks, the festival has traditionally included a variety of events in a fair-like atmosphere on the village green, which featured vendors and exhibitors, live music, a food tent, and the sale of some 10,000 books.

“It’s always been a free festival, and we want to maintain that spirit and

The pinpoint wit of Cry It Out gleams in each line of dialogue. The play is a meditation on friendship, as well as a keen look at how parental choices now reflect economic opportunity more than emotional needs. Lina and Jessie are different in every dimension, even coffee preferences. But when they meet, they look only for what they can share. It makes them wonderful mothers, and wonderful to watch. ➆

INFO

Cry It Out, by Molly Smith Metzler, directed by Joanne Greenberg, produced by Dirt Road Theater. Through September 7: Thursday, August 29, and Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m., at the Gray Space in Northfield. $20. dirtroadtheater.com

assume that most, if not all, events will be free,” Stoner said. With input from local merchants and restaurateurs, organizers are working to streamline the schedule after hearing from participants that staging multiple events at the same time made it hard for festivalgoers to choose. In addition, out-of-towners wanted more free time to tour other Woodstock attractions.

Bookstock chair Spector has already filed applications for permits to use the village green and the public space in front of the library and Windsor County Courthouse, town administrator Kitty Koar said this week.

“He’s ready to go,” she said. ➆

Learn more at bookstockvt.org.

Vermont Tech Jam is an annual career and tech expo that showcases some of Vermont’s most innovative companies. This popular event attracts hundreds of job seekers, career changers, tech professionals, college students, enthusiasts and anyone eager to learn from and connect with Vermont companies.

Pollinator Party

Touring Summersweet Garden Nursery in East Hardwick with Rachel Kane

East Hardwick’s Summersweet Garden Nursery used to be called Perennial Pleasures Nursery. Rachel Kane started it in 1980, when she was still a college student at the University of Vermont. She championed rare heirloom ﬂowers and ran the nursery out of her family’s 1840s brick home. In the mid-1980s, Rachel’s British mother, Judith Kane, started serving English cream teas to visitors in the gardens, and a tradition was born.

Over the years, many Vermonters have made the trek to the Northeast Kingdom to enjoy scones, tea and flowers. Judith died in 2017, but teatime lives on. In 2021, Rachel renamed the business Summersweet Gardens and refocused on native plants, such as the summersweet shrub, which attracts many pollinators. She has about 800 varieties of plants, including more than 100 kinds of phlox, which she highlights in August during Phlox

senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger takes a trip to the Kingdom to get a garden tour with Rachel and taste a fresh scone with whipped cream and homemade jam. You can enjoy tea at Summersweet Gardens from early June through mid-September; online reservations are recommended.

Sollberger spoke with Seven Days about ﬁlming the episode.

Why did you feature this nursery?

Summersweet Gardens has two of my favorite things: ﬂowers and tea. Really, does it get any better? I am a big fan of English cream teas, and there are only a few spots in the state that serve them. For years, friends have told me about their adventures at Perennial Pleasures, and I ﬁnally got out to East Hardwick to experience it for myself.

What is your favorite ﬂower?

of course I had to take ﬁve precious pots home with me.

Kane won’t name her favorite ﬂower, but she obviously has an a nity for phlox and grows 167 varieties. I have a tiny garden with only ﬁve di erent phlox, so it was inspiring to see all the di erent shapes and colors populating Kane’s gardens.

What did you learn?

food for wildlife and nectar for pollinators. Why have a lawn when you can have beds of ﬂowers?

Kane’s summersweet shrub was so popular with the bees, spider wasps and butterﬂies that I bought one and planted it in my yard. Kane does not use pesticides or much fertilizer, and this made me rethink using them, too. Nothing spoils a pollinator party like chemicals.

KANE HAS BEEN RUNNING THIS NURSERY FOR 44 YEARS, AND SHE IS AN AMAZING RESOURCE FOR GARDENERS.

is looks like a nice spot to live. Kane lives in the red-brick house which also houses the tearoom and gift shop. Her family moved to the property when she was in 7th grade, in 1971. Both of her parents sound like interesting people, and although they have both died, you can still see their influence in the landscape. Her father, Tom Kane, was a landscape architect who planted all the trees that shaped what was once an open pasture. And of course her mother, Judith, started the tearoom; they still harvest mint from her herb garden for the cucumber sandwiches. Rachel has been running this nursery for 44 years, and she is an amazing resource for gardeners.

Looks like you made some friends?

In her latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days’

I love hollyhocks. The majestic, old-fashioned ﬂowers remind me of Miss Marple’s cottage garden, and I have been trying to grow a patch of them for years. Kane gave me some pointers, and, as it happened, hollyhocks were on sale! So

Perusing the gardens with Kane was educational and interesting. She gave me a new appreciation for North American native plants, which attract pollinators and are good for our ecosystem. Kane pointed out that most of the ﬂowers that bloom in late summer are native, such as rudbeckia, coneﬂowers and phlox. These are all hardy perennials which do not require a lot of maintenance. They provide shelter and

I met a group of three women who were having a tea party and celebrating Marshfield resident Pat Mayhew’s 85th birthday. Her birthday was back in July, but the floods got in the way, two years in a row. Mayhew has known Kane and her family for years. All of the ladies have filled their gardens with Kane’s plants, and that includes lots of phlox. They were kind enough to let me record their teatime and even shared a few sandwiches with me. And as it happened, they had recently visited another garden that I documented in northern Chittenden County. By the end of the afternoon, they felt like old friends. Tea and gardens have that magical e ect on people. ➆

Episode 722: Summersweet Gardens

Rachel Kane at Summersweet Garden Nursery in East Hardwick

Job of the Week

BUSINESS OPERATIONS & STRATEGY DIRECTOR

Qualifications:

The Director of Business Operations & Strategy, at our new BioLabs Innovation Center at UVM, located in Burlington, VT, manages and oversees the strategic and financial growth, as well as day-to-day operations, of the site facility. This includes (1) initiating new and fostering existing relationships with key stakeholders in the Burlington, Vermont, and greater New England biotech ecosystem, (2) building a strong pipeline of prospective resident life science startup companies, and (3) overseeing the site’s daily operations, finances, and team.

• Bachelor’s degree is required; an advanced degree (MBA and/or MS or PhD in life sciences or related field) is preferred

• At least 3 to 5 years’ leadership experience in business development, strategic partnerships, alliance management, and/or marketing in a commercial environment, preferably in the biotech and/or life sciences space, required

About BioLabs: BioInnovation Labs (BioLabs), established in 2009 and

Joshua Deﬁbaugh, UVM

What makes this opportunity unique?

What are the challenges of this job?

The Scoop on BioLabs at UVM

is initiative, a coworking space, will feature high-end life sciences research and development facilities and offer select tenants nearly 6,000 square feet of shared wet labs, common areas and ﬂexible ofﬁce space. ese shared amenities will have expanded access to the full research enterprise both at the Larner College of Medicine and the University of Vermont as a whole. UVM now joins an elite group of universities, including Princeton, Tufts and NYU, that currently house on-campus incubators.

e position’s main challenges will be initiating new relationships and fostering existing partnerships with key stakeholders in the greater New England biotech ecosystem.

e director will build a strong pipeline of prospective resident life science startup companies and oversee the site’s daily operations, ﬁnances and team.

on screen

Sugarcane ★★★★★ REVIEW

The headline of last week’s cover story put local cinephiles on notice: “Amid a Volatile Industry, Burlington May Lose Its Only Cinema.” That’s a reference to Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas, which is also Chittenden County’s only commercial theater regularly screening art-house or “specialty” ﬁlms. While central Vermonters have the Savoy Theater, and the Northeast Kingdom has Catamount Arts, Burlingtonians may soon be out of luck when it come to indies on the big screen — unless they catch them at Vermont International Film Foundation.

VTIFF hosts monthly Burlington screenings of indie and foreign films, including documentaries. Case in point: Sugarcane, which will screen on Wednesday, September 4, 7 p.m., at Main Street Landing Film House. Directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie won an award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival for their harrowing investigation into the legacy of one of Canada’s Indian residential schools.

The deal

In 2021, the discovery of more than 200 likely grave sites at a former school in Kamloops, British Columbia, brought fresh attention to the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. Over more than a century, about 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and sent to church-run boarding schools whose mission was to convert and assimilate them. Some ended up in unmarked graves. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada declared the entire system “cultural genocide.”

In the wake of the Kamloops discovery, journalist Kassie contacted NoiseCat, her former colleague at the Hu ngton Post, and invited him to collaborate on a documentary about another residential school, St. Joseph’s Mission in Williams Lake, B.C. In press notes for the ﬁlm, NoiseCat describes being stunned when he heard the name of the school. “My family was sent there,” he recalled telling Kassie, “and it is where my father was born … and abandoned.”

NoiseCat himself became a character in the resulting National Geographic documentary, which follows the Williams Lake First Nation’s investigation of St. Joseph’s

while also delving into the codirector’s relationship with his father. Ed Archie NoiseCat was born to a St. Joseph’s student in 1959 and “thrown away,” in his words — which turn out to be chillingly apt. Over the course of the ﬁlm, we learn that this was no isolated incident at St. Joseph’s.

Will you like it?

Like many modern documentaries, Sugarcane is immersive. No narrator or talking head interviewees interrupt our view of life in the Sugarcane Reserve, as the Williams Lake Indian Reserve is commonly known. Even on-screen text is kept to a minimum. We piece the bigger picture together as we watch, much as NoiseCat pieces together the story of his family’s trauma.

While NoiseCat interviews relatives and other witnesses, Sugarcane’s Chief Willie Sellars and an investigative team comb the environs of the school with ground-penetrating radar, looking for evidence. Meanwhile, in a third narrative strand, former chief and Sugarcane elder Rick Gilbert prepares for a trip to the Vatican, where Pope Francis will meet with survivors as part of a formal apology for the role of the Catholic Church in running residential schools.

Gilbert died in late 2023, while the ﬁlm was in edits. He’s a powerful presence in Sugarcane, not least because of his complex relationship with the church: He remained

a devout Catholic despite his own experiences of abuse at St. Joseph’s.

Codirector Kassie lived with Gilbert and his wife for two weeks, according to press notes, and the crew followed him to Rome, where we watch him tell his story to a church o cial. The result is an intimate portrait of a man who’s all the more eloquent for not being a talker or showboater. A shot of Gilbert in Sugarcane’s church — dwarfed by the symbols of his faith, resting a muscular arm on a pew — speaks volumes about endurance.

Yet the Catholic Church can’t o er him the closure he seeks. Back from his trip, Gilbert laments that “We’ve heard apologies, but still nothing has happened really.”

Equally raw and poignant are the NoiseCat family conversations we witness. When Julian describes Ed as having “abandoned” him, it’s no idle accusation: The theme of abandonment resonates through their family history. When Julian’s grandmother says, “I don’t want to talk about it,” we grasp why the refusal is necessary to her survival.

Dark as the subject matter is, Sugarcane is also a beautiful ﬁlm, with space for moments of grace and good fellowship. Director of photography Christopher LaMarca captures the sweeping beauty of the landscape, and Odanak musician Mali Obomsawin’s score is tender and brutal by turns.

Plenty of information is out there for

viewers seeking a comprehensive view of the residential school system (see sidebar for a few more ﬁlms). But the speciﬁcity of Sugarcane is what makes it so compelling. Lingering over rituals, celebrations and daily life on the reserve, the documentary bears witness to institutionalized brutality — but also to Indigenous resilience and survival.

MARGOT HARRISON margot@sevendaysvt.com

IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY…

WE WERE CHILDREN (2012; Kanopy, Prime Video, Tubi, rentable): is docudrama combines the recollections of two residential school survivors with dramatic re-creations of their experiences.

WE CAN’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE (2016; YouTube, rentable): Director Alanis Obomsawin traces long-term, systemic injustices in Canada’s treatment of First Nations children in this documentary centered on a historic court case.

“UNSEEN TEARS” (2009; Vimeo, YouTube, rentable): e U.S. had residential schools, too. Ron Douglas’ short documentary explores their legacy in western New York through interviews with survivors of the omas Indian School and Mohawk Institute.

Residential school survivor Rick Gilbert prepares for a trip to see the Pope in this searing documentary.

NEW IN THEATERS

AFRAID: That’s actually AfrAId, because a digital assistant becomes a family’s worst nightmare in this horror flick from Chris Weitz, starring John Cho and Katherine Waterston. (84 min, PG-13. Essex, Majestic, Star, Sunset)

CITY OF DREAMS: A young Mexican hoping to play soccer in LA finds himself trafficked to a sweatshop in this drama from Mohit Ramchandani, starring Jason Patric and Ari Lopez. (96 min, R. Roxy)

GOOD ONE: A 17-year-old takes a trip in the Catskills with her dad and his recently divorced friend in this drama from writer-director India Donaldson, starring Lily Collias and James Le Gros. (89 min, R. Savoy)

REAGAN: Dennis Quaid plays the actor turned president in this biopic that takes him from childhood to Washington, D.C. Penelope Ann Miller is Nancy; Sean McNamara directed. (135 min, PG-13. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Roxy)

CURRENTLY PLAYING

ALIEN: ROMULUSHHH Young colonists get a nasty surprise when they explore an abandoned space station. Fede Alvarez directed the sci-fi horror “interquel.” (119 min, R. Bijou, Essex, Majestic, Paramount, Roxy, Star, Stowe, Sunset, Welden; reviewed 8/21)

BLINK TWICEHHH1/2 Zoë Kravitz directed this psychological thriller in which a dream vacay on a tech billionaire’s island turns sinister, starring Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum. (102 min, R. Big Picture, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Roxy, Stowe)

BORDERLANDSH1/2 A motley crew (including Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis) races to save a missing girl in this sci-fi action flick based on the video game. (102 min, PG-13. Majestic)

THE CROWH1/2 A man defies death to save his soulmate in this “reimagining” of the 1994 urban fantasy cult film, starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA twigs. Rupert Sanders directed. (111 min, R. Essex, Majestic)

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE: Two superheroes — one unkillable, one un-shut-up-able — team up in the latest Marvel flick, starring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Emma Corrin. (127 min, R. Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Paramount, Roxy, Star, Stowe, Sunset, Welden)

DESPICABLE ME 4HH1/2 Gru Jr. joins the lovable villain’s family in the fourth installment of the animated family franchise. (95 min, PG. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Sunset)

DIDIHHHH Sean Wang’s coming-of-age comedydrama follows a Taiwanese American boy in his last month before the start of high school. Izaac Wang and Joan Chen star. (93 min, R. Roxy)

THE FORGE: A high school grad faces big choices in this family drama from Alex Kendrick, starring Aspen Kennedy and Karen Abercrombie. (123 min, PG. Essex)

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYONH1/2 This “sequel” to the beloved picture book imagines the adult life of a boy who can draw things into reality. (92 min, PG. Majestic)

INSIDE OUT 2HHH1/2 The anthropomorphized emotions from Pixar’s animated hit are back. With Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black. (96 min, PG. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Roxy, Star, Sunset) IT ENDS WITH USHH1/2 Blake Lively plays a florist struggling to avoid repeating her family’s pattern of abusive relationships in this adaptation of the Colleen Hoover bestseller. (130 min, PG-13. Big Picture, Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Roxy, Stowe, Sunset, Welden)

LONGLEGSHHH1/2 An FBI agent (Maika Monroe) chases a serial killer with disturbing connections to her in this horror film, with Nicolas Cage. (101 min, R. Sunset; reviewed 7/17)

MY PENGUIN FRIENDHHH1/2 A rescued penguin brings new joy to the life of a disenchanted fisherman in this family drama, starring Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza. (97 min, PG. Savoy, Welden)

SING SINGHHHH An unjustly incarcerated man finds release in a prison theater group in this drama based on an Esquire article, starring Colman Domingo and directed by Greg Kwedar. (107 min, R. Roxy, Savoy)

TOUCHHHH1/2 A widower searches for the lover he lost 50 years ago in this romantic drama from Baltasar Kormákur (Everest). Egill Ólafsson and Kôki star. (121 min, R. Catamount)

TRAPHHH Attending a pop star’s concert can be murder in this serial killer thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, starring Josh Hartnett. (105 min, PG-13. Majestic; reviewed 8/7)

TWISTERSHHH Storm chasers harness their ambitions to Oklahoma’s tornados. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell star. (117 min, PG-13. Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Star, Sunset; reviewed 7/31)

OLDER FILMS AND SPECIAL SCREENINGS

THE CAT RETURNS (Essex, Wed 28 only)

CATVIDEOFEST 2024 (Savoy)

KITCHEN STORIES (Catamount, Wed 28 only)

A QUIET PLACE (Bethel)

REAR WINDOW 70TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex, Wed 28 only)

TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Bethel)

OPEN THEATERS

(* = upcoming schedule for theater was not available at press time)

BETHEL DRIVE-IN: 36 Bethel Dr., Bethel, 728-3740, betheldrivein.com

*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 (closed through Sept. 4)

MERRILL’S ROXY CINEMAS: 222 College St., Burlington, 864-3456, merrilltheatres.net

PARAMOUNT TWIN CINEMA: 241 N. Main St., Barre, 479-9621, fgbtheaters.com

PLAYHOUSE MOVIE THEATRE: 11 S. Main St., Randolph, 728-4012, playhouseflicks.com (closed through Sept. 5)

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

NANTANNA MILL 7 Belknap St, Northﬁeld, VT Directly oﬀ route 12. Limited parking at site but satellite parking and shules available and running ALL day.

On Election Day, August 13, the Morristown Centennial Library Good Citizen team met Town Clerk Sara Haskins and volunteers who were working the polls. The team looked up their parents’ names in the binder of registered voters and cast their own votes — for which a local organization will receive the proceeds from their upcoming fundraiser.

1001 Nights: A Space Odyssey

Saks Afridi brings “Sci-Fi Suﬁsm” to Brattleboro

BY PAMELA POLSTON • ppolston@sevendaysvt.com

Visitors should prepare to suspend disbelief, take a leap of faith and dive into time travel in “Saks Afridi: SpaceMosque” at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. They will find these mental gyrations worth the e ort. The exhibition’s photographs, mysterious objects, diagrams and text collectively document what might be considered a close encounter of a spiritual kind.

The body of work Afridi began in 2017 exists in a genre he has dubbed “Sci-Fi Suﬁsm.” It’s about “discovering galaxies and worlds within yourself,” he writes in an artist statement. “I try to visualize this search by fusing mysticism and storytelling.”

According to Afridi’s inspired tale, the so-called SpaceMosque appeared over Earth around the turn of the millennium, visiting from the future. Its mission was to grant people one prayer every 24 hours, though not all of them would be answered. The vessel was ﬁrst spotted over Peshawar, Pakistan, yet everyone around the globe could see it simultaneously — if di erently.

“The structure is a portal that appears in many iterations,” explains New York-based guest curator Sadaf Padder in a gallery statement, “using a divine algorithm to adjust its appearance to each seeker.” In other words, people saw the UFO in a form they were equipped to understand.

It’s tempting to liken the vessel to some kind of galactic genie, if not a trickster bent on messing with Earthlings’ heads. But the story is much more complex than that — an alliance of science ﬁction, religious belief and folklore, epistemology, and technology.

In Afridi’s sci-ﬁ fable, the SpaceMosque stayed for an unspeciﬁed length of time and then vanished, whisking away people’s memory of it. Gallerygoers are bound to have many questions. For instance, from what point in the future did the SpaceMosque arrive? Are we in it now? And if, upon the vessel’s departure, everyone forgot it

existed, who is “remembering” it now?

The literal answer to that last question is Afridi himself. The artist illustrated his fantasy with photographs of the hovering craft in various guises, a detailed diagram of its interior — one chamber holds “Purified Prayer Release Channels” — and various “found” vessel artifacts. Oh, and there are images of robotic A.N.G.E.L.S.: Anthropomorphic Neo-Generative Energy Living Systems.

“Their sole purpose was prayer, which

created energy that led directly into the spaceship’s Will Engine,” wall text sort of clarifies.

“They say the power of a pure-intentioned prayer by an A.N.G.E.L.S. was estimated to be able to provide the electricity of a household for a lifetime.”

Afridi’s vision is rife with byzantine rabbit holes. Though the SpaceMosque idea came to him in an “aha moment,” he said, the artist has continued to augment and ﬁne-tune the story. This has led to

the “discovery” of more vessel artifacts. Pictures as well as manufactured objects populate the exhibit, and they defy description.

“The Will Engine Component,” for instance, is a small pagoda-esque structure fabricated with acrylic, brass leaf and paint and looks like it was snatched from a church altar or the starship Enterprise Other mystifying artifacts are described as Prayer Receptors, Intention Processing Units or Prayer Capsules. “We believe these artifacts may have been dropped or left behind due to a glitch during the vessel’s departure,” wall text posits.

Afridi shares credit for these creations with a team of makers: “I often collaborate with painters, architects, artisans, fashion designers, 3D modelers and fabricators to bring my ideas to life,” he writes. “I come to artmaking with a background in advertising; maybe that is why collaboration feels natural to me.”

Born in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1975, Afridi is the award-winning creative director of advertising ﬁrm Merkley + Partners in New York City. His career has had an international trajectory, which contributes, he said in a phone call, to his feeling of being an “insider/outsider” — that is, “achieving a sense of belonging while being out of place.

“I feel like a foreigner both here and in Pakistan, yet I’m the happiest in both places,” Afridi said. An alien sensibility permeates his invented cosmology, and the artist’s dual cultures inform his aesthetic. He described work that is not in the Brattleboro show: an “insider/outsider rug” on which classic Persian design motifs surround a UFO.

Neither the curator nor artist speciﬁcally mention a South Asian parallel to Afrofuturism, but a comparison is apt. Padder, who has previously written about South Asian futurisms, suggests in her gallery statement that Afridi’s work “expands our understanding of a

REVIEW

progressive and often misrepresented religion.” She elaborated in a phone call: “SpaceMosque appeals to sensibilities that feel global, transnational. There are certain signifiers of Islamic culture, especially in architecture and style,” Padder said. “To me, that’s what’s exciting about this exhibit. The hope is finding

and

connection in a story rooted in the artist’s upbringing.”

The SpaceMosque story continues to unfold, and in Afridi’s unfettered imagination it will manifest in other mediums.

He and a collaborator are working on a graphic novel. When he can find the time, he said, he’ll work on a film or TV series. Hello, Netflix?

For now, Afridi invites visitors to his art show to think about what they would pray for, and asks: If all your prayers were answered, would it change the world, or just yours?

“I want viewers to kind of absorb that we are all collective human beings,” he added, “and selfishness only gets you so far.” ➆

INFO

“Saks Afridi: SpaceMosque” is on view through October 19 at Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. A talk on Zoom with the artist and curator Sadaf Padder is Thursday, August 29, 7:30 p.m. brattleboromuseum.org

Clockwise from above: “Praying A.N.G.E.L.S.”

“Sighting #3” by Saks Afridi; “Spacetime” by Saks Afridi, Narcy (Yassin Alsalman), Tamara Abdul Hadi and Roï Saade

EXHIBITION

No Spare

Tires: Chakaia Booker’s ‘Taking Time’ at the Current

BY ALICE DODGE adodge@sevendaysvt.com

Chakaia Booker is having a moment, with a 2021 retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and recent inclusion in prestigious fairs including Art Basel in Switzerland. is summer, she installed “Shaved Portions,” a 35-foot-high jungle gym-like sculpture, in Manhattan’s Garment District. What the international art world might miss out on — but Vermonters shouldn’t — is “Taking Time,” her solo exhibition at the Current in Stowe.

Since the 1980s, Booker, who works in New York City and Allentown, Pa., has been making sculptures from discarded tires. Five of these are on view in “Taking Time,” in addition to “Filtered oughts,” the new piece installed near the Current’s entrance and commissioned as part of this year’s show of outdoor sculpture, “Exposed.” Booker’s work is complex. It can be read as purely abstract but is never far removed from discussions of racism, feminism and environmentalism. e fact that she has used such a charged, physically demanding material for decades ties form and content together in work that is remarkable, lively and fresh.

e two relief sculptures from 1996, both untitled, are swirling masses of rubber set into 4-by-4-foot wooden frames. ink about how heavy a single car tire is and multiply it: Kelly Holt, gallery manager at the Current, said each relief is about 400 pounds and took a team to hang on the wall.

Despite gravity, Booker creates movement and lightness within her compositions. In one, bike tires snake out into the room while shards of larger car tires bubble up and recede, crisscrossing like a pit of vipers. In the other, light bounces off swaths of smooth rubber and falls into shredded valleys. Everywhere, twisted treads lead the eye up into new nooks and crannies.

“Handle With Care,” a relief from 2010, takes an entirely different compositional approach. Booker has swapped the wooden frame for a hidden steel one, which supports the rubber so it appears to float on the wall. e composition is much more orderly, with carefully cut and folded chunks accumulating into ruffles. A circular form on the left side radiates out; here, the artist references and magnifies the shapes and tread patterns of the tires’ original design.

Of all the tire-based works, “Muse” (2007) and “Midtown South” (2012) literally stand out. Each freestanding sculpture is a little explosion. Booker uses sliced tires, melted fragments, and pieces with fraying (and very sharp) steel edges and arranges them as a master ﬂorist would put together a bouquet. Contrasting textures swoop up and out.

When Booker ﬁrst started this work, burned-out cars weren’t uncommon on New York City streets, and that’s where she got her tires; the material is imbued with that setting. ese sculptures are elegant and dangerous, with an undertone of the apocalypse. at sense is clearer still in the “Foundling Warrior Quest” series of photogravures. Printed in 2010 from images of Booker taken in the 1990s, the series shows the artist collecting tires from dump sites. e technique and her use of black paper lend the images a

from top left: “Untitled”; “Muse"; “Untitled, cb22.21"

haunting, grainy, ﬁlmic quality, enhancing the sense of narrative. Dressed in heavy work gloves and boots — as well as her signature West African-inﬂuenced cloth headdress, belt trimmed with cowrie shells and large bone cross on her chest — Booker becomes the protagonist of her artwork as much as its creator. She scavenges what she needs for an epic journey through the wasteland.

Booker makes things with frugality and speciﬁcity. She fastens the rubber with drywall screws, because to do so with prettier means wouldn’t make sense. Massive sculptures sit alongside delicate, precisely made chine collé prints. In those, layers of pattern and drawing overlap in raucous compositions that echo the tires, her sculpted headwear, the body. Booker assembles fragments of inﬂuences the way she combines pieces of tires: this one recognizable, that one transformed — recycling as re-creation. ➆

INFO

“Taking Time” by Chakaia Booker is on view through October 19 at the Current in Stowe. An artist talk with Booker and Justin Sanz is October 17, 5 p.m. thecurrentnow.org

Clockwise

CALL TO ARTISTS

‘REIMAGINED, THE ART OF RECYCLING’: Inviting artists of all mediums whose work includes recycled materials to be part of this upcoming exhibit inside and outside the art center. Inquiries via email; please include photos. Chaffee Art Center, Rutland, through September 10. Free. Info, info@ chaffeeartcenter.org.

OPENINGS + RECEPTIONS

ERIN AND JASON GALLIGAN-BALDWIN: An exhibition of works inspired by vintage graphics and pen-and-ink geometry by the playwright and artist. Pearl Street Pizza, Barre, through November 23. Info, 479-7069.

KIMBERLY PROVOST: “Peaks and Valleys: Summer in Vermont,” a one-night exhibition of landscapes in oils and pastels. Art Works Frame Shop & Gallery, South Burlington, Wednesday, August 28, 5-7 p.m. Info, 660-4999.

SUSAN SMEREKA AND KEVIN DONEGAN: “Fluid dynamics,” a collaborative exhibit in mixed media featuring the partner-artists. Reception and artist talk: Thursday, August 29, 3 p.m. Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, Vermont State UniversityJohnson, through October 4. Info, 635-1469.

‘FACETS’: An exhibition of ceramics by Jeremy Ayers, Kate Butt and Dan Siegel, including largescale carved wall tiles, an installation exploring gender roles and objects made alongside functional vessels. Reception: Friday, August 30, 6-8 p.m.

Axel’s Frame Shop & Gallery, Waterbury, through September 14. Info, 244-7801.

RACHEL JACKSON: “Ask a Question, Squeeze Out the Answer,” a solo show of drawings, paintings and sculpture featuring cartoonlike imagery by the Brooklyn artist. Reception: Friday, August 30, 5-8 p.m. Kishka Gallery & Library, White River Junction, August 30-September 28. Info, info@kishka.org.

‘THE BLISS OF SOLITUDE’: An exhibition inspired by Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” exploring nature, memory and the metaphysical; works by Sonia Bukhgalter, Anne Cherubim, Olivia Rose Durley, Sandrine Jacobson, Elena Lyakir and Kanny Yeung. Reception and grand opening: Saturday, August 31, 5-8 p.m. Front Four Gallery, Stowe, August 31-September 29. Info, 253-7282.

THE WORKROOM ANNUAL EXHIBIT: “The Personal Is Universal,” photo-based works by Nancy Banks, Christie Carter, Rosalind Daniels, Lisa Dimondstein, Marcie Scudder, Kent Shaw, Peggy Smith and Shapleigh Smith. Reception: Saturday, August 31, 4–6 p.m. The Art Barn, Stowe, August 31-October 6, weekends 1-4 p.m. or by appointment. Info, marcie@ marciescudder.com.

LANDA TOWNSEND: An exhibition of mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock prints) inspired by the dragonfly habitat at the edges of Weatherhead Hollow Pond. Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 4, 7 p.m. Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, through September 30. Info, landa@landatownsend.com.

‘LAND AND LIGHT AND WATER AND AIR’: The annual exhibit of traditional landscape and plein air works by the gallery’s roster of new and established artists. Reception: Thursday, September 5, 4-7 p.m. Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, August 28-December 22. Info, 644-5100.

‘NOCTURNAL NEW ENGLAND’: A group show of nocturnal vistas in various mediums. Reception:

Thursday, September 5, 4-7 p.m. Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, August 28-October 20. Info, 644-5100.

‘INKED!’: An exploration of the depth and versatility of ink, highlighting the medium’s adaptability across styles and techniques, featuring works by Andrew Clingenpeel, Charon Henning, Elisa Järnefelt, Anna Macijeski, James Merrill, Jeannie Podolak and Megan Weaver. Reception: Friday, September 6, 5-7 p.m. Sparrow Art Supply, Middlebury, August 30-November 2. Info, 989-7225.

ART EVENTS

ARTIST TALK: WILL HUTNICK: The Connecticutbased visiting artist discusses his paintings and curatorial practice. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Wednesday, August 28, 8-9 p.m. Free. Info, 635-2727.

VIRTUAL ARTIST TALK: SAKS AFRIDI: The artist discusses his exhibition “SpaceMosque” with curator Sadaf Padder. Register for Zoom link at brattleboromuseum.org. Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Thursday, August 29, 7:30 p.m. Free.

BTV MARKET: Artworks and crafts from a rotating cadre of local creatives. Burlington City Hall Park, Saturday, August 31, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 865-7166.

AUTUMN WATERCOLOR CLASS: A series taught by Pauline Nolte for experienced painters and newcomers; supplies provided for beginners. Register by email. Waterbury Public Library, Tuesday, September 3, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free. Info, judi@waterburypubliclibrary.com. ➆

EDGEWATER GALLERY CELEBRATES

THE LATE DAYS OF SUMMER & THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND

OPEN THIS WEEKEND

AUGUST 22ND - 24TH - 10:00AM - 5:00PM AUGUST 25TH - 26TH - 11:00AM - 4:00PM

Two fine art galleries & Edgewater at Home Middlebury

GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday - Saturday 10AM – 5PM Sunday 11AM – 4PM or by appointment

One Mill St and 6 Merchant’s Row, Middlebury Vermont 802-458-0098 & 802-989-7419

edgewatergallery.com

Saw It Again

Essay: A gunshot victim and lifelong Phish fan ﬁnds respite and restoration at Mondegreen

In 1999, Phish changed my perspective. Twenty-ﬁve years later, under very di erent circumstances, I discovered the band is still just as powerful.

I attended Phish’s fourth festival — Camp Oswego — when I was 17. I’d been to memorable shows before then, but my consciousness and taste in music expanded over those few days at Oswego County Airport in central New York, about 80 miles south of my hometown.

The imagination in Phish’s songs and the enthusiasm of their community resonated with me then and during my pivotal early college years. I obsessed over the band late in what a fan-derived periodization system refers to as the “Phish 1.0” era, from its genesis in 1983 to its ﬁrst hiatus in 2000. To this day, I see the group’s ethos in how I function personally and professionally, which includes photographing and writing about concerts — several hundred in all.

Despite the countless nights of live music under my belt, I didn’t expect to ﬁnd any sort of relief while attending Mondegreen, Phish’s four-day event held earlier this month at the Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware. I have faced what some might agree is a rare set of challenges in the past few years — most notably, I survived a

shooting in spring 2021. Although I’ve taken the necessary steps on the continuum that is recovery, I wasn’t ready to ﬁnd my soul primed for wholesale restoration at the sprawling venue known as the Woodlands.

Preparing for Mondegreen, I couldn’t help but take note of my evolution from the undisciplined, less resourceful goober

who had the time of his life but struggled to survive at previous Phish festivals. To wit, I arrived at Dover early and had my “o ce camp” set up by 2 p.m.

I aimed to snap lots of pictures and take in the best and worst of this ﬁrst-year event, getting a grasp on what has and hasn’t changed in the scene. It was my ﬁrst Phish show since 2019, so I went without

preconceptions about the current live presentation. But it was clear upon arrival that Phish have become more enterprising as an organization.

Outside Dover Motor Speedway, the herculean statue known as Miles the Monster wore a giant doughnut muumuu hand-stitched by Lisa Simpson, who also sewed the smaller version worn by the band’s drummer, Jon Fishman. Not merely a grand fashion statement, it was also a gateway to amusement, as fans posed for photos in front of it throughout Mondegreen.

On the concert ﬁeld, I found City Hall, described as a “participative monumental construction” by its creator, French artist Olivier Grossetête. Pieced together from 1,850 cardboard boxes with the assistance of attendees, the 80-foot structure drew eyes for the ﬁrst couple of days and nights before festivalgoers helped break it down.

The Heliograph — a collaborative, retrofuturistic project overseen by international creative house TRIADIC — took shape as a glittering, 74-foot-tall palace adorned with unique art pieces and a DJ nest on top. The mesmerizing structure o ered an elevated view of the stage and illuminated dance

STORY & PHOTOS BY CASEY RYAN VOCK

Nightime view of the festival grounds at Phish’s Mondegreen

Fans gathering at the base of the Heliograph

On the Beat

A festival unlike any other in Vermont, the fifth annual Afterglow returns next month to shine a light on suicide awareness. Launched by JOHN HOLZSCHEITER and ANDREA WELLS after their 18-year-old son, AJ, died by suicide in 2018, the one-day festival is the showcase event of the Afterglow Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring those lost to suicide and helping those a ected by it find resources and support.

Partnering with Josh’s House in Colchester, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Northwestern Counseling & Support Services, Afterglow features workshops and speakers throughout the day. There is also a memory wall for attendees to share mementos of loved ones lost to suicide.

“We try not to overburden the vibe of the show with sorrow and hurt that goes along with suicide,” Holzscheiter said in a phone interview. “But we have to bring it down sometimes and let people know why we’re here and what we do. We’re there to celebrate the lives of those we lost. But every year we try to balance that with fun and music.”

Holzscheiter is particularly proud

Eye on the Scene

Listening In

(Spotify mix of local jams)

1. “STORY OF THE WORLD” Death

2. “I’VE GOT AN IDEA” Xander Naylor

3. “SILVER STUDDED SEA” Wren Kitz

4. “GHOSTS (OF WHAT WE USED TO BE)” Troy Millette

5. “PRINCE MATTHEW” e Burning Sun

6. “VIOLET UNDERTONE” Honey & Soul

7. “WARFARE” Konﬂik

Scan to listen

sevendaysvt. com/playlist

of the bill he and the other Afterglow Foundation members have booked this year. Local cover band stalwarts QUADRA return, joined by duo KING ME and the

Last week’s live music highlights from photographer Luke Awtry MARIS, WALLFLOWER FEST 2024, BURLINGTON, SUNDAY, AUGUST 25: KING BUFFALO, the riff-rock shred masters of Rochester, N.Y., must’ve been wildly disappointed when they got to Burlington and realized that Wallflower Fest is a celebration of one of Burlington’s hippest spots, the Wallflower Collective, and not a homage to JAKOB DYLAN and the WALLFLOWERS. But it was a raging party with nonstop music on two stages, live tattooing from Seven Symbols Tattoo, and really, really good hangs with old and new friends. With the help of Wallflower regular WILLVERINE opening up the indoor stage, the early vibes were good, but I need to give credit to Los Angeles pop sensation MARIS for getting things started. It was her boundless spirit, positivity and ability to connect with her audience that set the tone for the day – a mash-up of pure energy, love, acceptance and openness. Wallflower Fest’s third year was the biggest and best yet.

recently reformed Burlington indie rock band CHIN HO! Singer-songwriter SAMANTHA MAE PATNAUDE will also take the stage and debut a new song titled “Reverie,” which she wrote for her mother, who died by suicide.

“Every year, I feel like it gets easier for people come up to me at the concert and tell me stories of their loved ones,” Holzscheiter said. “So much of what we try to do with Afterglow is remove the stigma of talking about suicide, because more people are impacted by suicide than you can ever imagine.”

Afterglow takes place at Hard’ack Recreation Area in St. Albans on September 21. Visit afterglowfoundation. com for more information and to purchase tickets.

The inaugural Green Mountain Reggae Festival debuts September 6 through 8 at the Bradford Fairgrounds. With a stacked lineup of top reggae talent from Vermont and abroad, the fest features EASY STAR ALLSTARS, MIKE LOVE, MIHALI, CULTURE FEATURING KENYATTA HILL, the BRIGHTON BEAT, the MEDICINALS and many more.

The event was conceived of by MATT STRONG, a music promoter and tour manager who moved to Bradford from New York four years ago. Together with local marijuana dispensaries and growers such as Forbins Finest and Winooski Organics, Strong had put together the Green Mountain Smoke Out in recent years, a private, one-day fest with two to three bands. After surveying the Bradford Fairgrounds in May, he decided it was time to throw a proper festival.

“I’ve had this idea for, like, ﬁve years,” Strong said. “But once I saw the grounds I thought to myself … Holy hell. The layout is perfect. This is the home for my festival.”

As tour manager for the New England reggae band SUNDUB, who are also on the bill, Strong had a plethora of connections to call on. He put together the bill with more than 20 acts, as well as tons of local vendors, artists, daily workshops, a kids’ tent with games and childcare for parents looking to get irie.

Strong is very aware of the legacy of the Vermont Reggae Festival, a mega-popular festival originally held in Burlington from 1986 to 1990.

“The original Reggae Fest was so huge for Vermont,” Strong said. “I wouldn’t be doing this with such care if it wasn’t for that legacy. But we’re not trying to get to that size yet, we’re not shooting for 40,000 people. We’re trying to bring our take on reggae as a force for community and love.”

Check out greenmountainreggae festival.com to purchase tickets and learn more. ➆

music+nightlife

PHISH ON FILM

floors for the after-parties, which were headlined by London-based Flying Mojito Bros, Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso (who spins as Made of Oak) and DJ Questlove of the Roots. It was the spot to be: Even Phish bassist Mike Gordon visited the Heliograph late one night.

The customary Ferris wheel stood within view of the stage. The Cerealist Bowl — a speakeasy with unusual displays and head-turning thespians — was among the other strange delights that effectively transformed the property into an adult amusement park, with spiffy restrooms and upgrade options galore.

As I overcame introversion to meet next-door campers from Toronto and New York’s Southern Tier, I finally sensed how urgently I needed to relax and reset. But I didn’t have to desperately seek the festival, I realized: I was already experiencing it. The party was everywhere, and so was the anticipation.

As Phish took the stage for their first set, I was exhilarated. Draped in cameras, standing between the band and the crowd, I had goose bumps. I couldn’t help but cheer like it was 1999.

Mondegreen’s kickoff marked 20 years to the day since the group’s depressing closeout at Coventry, the end of the unofficial “2.0” era and the beginning of a five-year break. Though I didn’t attend Coventry or any of the recent festivals leading up to Mondegreen, I’ve done my

Though it required some planning and brought some stress, Mondegreen was the ideal situation to capture Vermont’s most beloved rock band on hand-rolled 35mm film — using a manual-focus, single-lens reflex camera made in 1978 — and then develop it at home. Above, from left: guitarist Trey Anastasio, keyboardist/pianist Page McConnell, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman.

best to catch the band regularly since its return to touring in 2009 — the dawn of what many refer to as “Phish 3.0.”

There’s been some debate over whether the post-pandemic years mark the beginning of a “4.0” era — even guitarist Trey Anastasio has suggested as much — but no

one can deny that today’s version of the band is bigger and healthier.

Absorbing the whopping first-night sets at Mondegreen, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard Phish so massive and awesome.

During an encore performance of “Saw It Again,” Anastasio’s prodigious, foreboding

riffs and the crowd screaming along to the chorus could have summoned the gods. Hell-bent on taking both digital and 35mm film shots each night, I literally rucked it to the pit with a backpack holding two cameras and too many lenses, plus two more cameras hanging from me. And a fanny pack. My fitness app tells me I trudged nearly 23 miles over the weekend — mostly hauling my gear. I weighed it when I got home: 30 pounds.

I had no trouble with content capture. But to find comfort in the scene as I interacted with people would require consent and caution.

In May of this year, I celebrated my third year free of alcohol. A week after I first stopped drinking, I was shot through my head and face, resulting in a near-death experience and serious injuries. I was administered fentanyl and later given a prescription for oxycodone.

I’ve always frowned on recreational opioid use, and less than two weeks of using painkillers by necessity solidified my position that no one should take these drugs for leisure. As I prepared for the festival, I couldn’t help remembering that Phish’s history before Mondegreen included what was basically an open-air drug market in the Camp Oswego lot. While it entertained me in 1999, that aspect later turned me off from the scene, about the same time the band began struggling on its way to the 2004 breakup. But my apprehensions about Mondegreen eased when I saw how much this fan

CASEY RYAN VOCK Saw It Again

P.50

Phish on the main stage at Mondegreen

base has cleaned up its behavior. Anastasio is now in his 17th year of sobriety, and the tidier scene pays tribute to the band’s lead songwriter, who recently launched the Divided Sky Residential Recovery Program in Ludlow.

Two decades ago, hard drugs and pills were a whisper away at shows. For the most part, Mondegreen was a throwback to the early days of Phish, when psychedelics were the choice of many, while narcotics stayed out of my sight.

Still, ecstasy — called “Molly” in its powder or crystal form — was plentiful, and I saw Mondegreeners casually using ketamine, met one who’d ingested 2C-B and heard rumblings about DMT.

There are also Phish fans who still haven’t gotten the nitrous oxide memo. I saw fewer of the big tanks supervised by the so-called “nitrous mafia,” but I counted more small vessels than ever before.

The presence of those substances worried me, but the lead medic working the front of the concert field told me he’d “seen it all” at the Firefly Music Festival, which also happened at Dover. He praised Phish fans as well behaved and mindful of the safety of others, even while under the influence.

Around the Room,” the track that introduced me to the band and put me on a cosmic route to the Champlain Valley.

I was shamelessly wide-eyed and sentimental during an immaculate version of “Divided Sky,” as breathtaking as any of Phish’s compositions. As Anastasio picked his way to its stunning, climactic pause, triumphant cries of approval broke the silence. Over my shoulder, the Heliograph and City Hall glowed above the many eyes fixated on the stage. Phish sparkled back at them.

The idyllic scene overwhelmed me. Though I’ve had the privilege of enjoying plenty of live music since the pandemic, no moment has been as mighty and compelling.

PHISH’S VISION REAFFIRMED MY FAITH IN LIVE MUSIC AS NOURISHMENT — AND, IN MY OWN CASE, AS THERAPY.

The scene’s system of self-governance, which was broken in the early 2000s, now appears to have been carefully repaired. The band members are older, wiser and more dignified, with clearer eyes. The maturation has positively impacted the community — at least most of it.

I concluded that my own scenario warranted enhanced faculties, but I drew the boundaries more strictly than I had in 1999 — at mushrooms, specifically, which have proven benefits for treating trauma. Early in my all-natural adventure, I tried to avoid attention. But everyone nearby was curious about me: “Why so many cameras?” “How’d you get to do this?” “What’s your deal?” “Take our picture!” “Are you René Huemer?”

Though I’ve benefited from therapy sessions, I found unexpected solace in freeing my mind to mingle at Mondegreen. Inevitably, what had happened to me came up in conversation. Reluctant at first, I shared snippets of my tale and found myself being consoled, embraced and even thanked. I laughed and cried with strangers, and it felt good to be so present and not simply cover the event.

My senses were humming. I had to collect myself after photographing Phish opening the second night with “Bouncing

I let my brain drift during those tremendous sets. I reflected on my own life through the scope of the four remarkably skilled musicians and what they’ve achieved together. I felt renewed gratitude for them, for the thought they put into Phish and the hope they’ve given their followers.

Though I harbor remorse about sleeping through the legendary IT Festival “Tower Jam,” I was thankful to be on hand, with heightened awareness, for Friday night’s “secret set” at Mondegreen. Phish’s talented lighting designer, Chris Kuroda, shone his magnum opus on a canvas of white ribbons floating over the stage. The band scored the visuals with one of its most glorious ambient jams on record, lasting 51 minutes.

As the arrangement intensified, the projection spun out organic imagery and hallucinatory designs, a gripping juncture at Mondegreen. Phish’s vision reaffirmed my faith in live music as nourishment — and, in my own case, as therapy.

I was proud of Phish: reinvigorated, soaring, spawning ideas and playing at what anyone with common sense would say is a high level. Bizarre as it may seem, I felt pride in myself, too, for what I’ve done with the inspiration I drew from the band and its music.

After a couple sips of coffee the next morning, I’d earned a shower — my one and only in Delaware. I strutted back to my site fresh and stress-free, with no weight on my shoulders, ready to do it all again that afternoon.

A passerby saw my flamboyant high step and stopped me to say, “You look happy as fuck, bro.”

He was right. ➆

“Dodge Ball” by Lars Fisk

Fans gathering at the Heliograph

BARR HILL KICK-OFF PARTY

Friday, September 13th, 4-8PM

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with music, Latin foods, dance and drinks!

Saturday, September 14th starting with the Farmer’s Market 9am-1pm, followed by festivities downtown from 1-5pm featuring Montpelier restaurants, chef demos, food vendors, artists and street performers.

music+nightlife

CLUB DATES

live music

WED.28

Abby Jenne and Old Dave (singer-songwriter) at Filling Station, Middlesex, 6 p.m. Free. BBQ and Bluegrass (bluegrass) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Courtyard Music Series — Red Heron (indie rock) at Halvorson’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Donations.

FORAGER, Small Talk, Casey Greenleaf (indie pop) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8 p.m. $10/$15. Greenbush (blues, rock) at Standing Stone Wines, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

Jack McKeon (bluegrass) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 5 p.m. Free.

Jazz Sessions (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Jeff & Gina (acoustic) at Two Heroes Brewery Public House, South Hero, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Jenni Johnson & the Junketeers (jazz) at Barr Hill, Montpelier, 5 p.m. Free.

John Lackard Blues Band (blues) at North Hero House Inn & Restaurant, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Live Jazz (jazz) at Leunig’s Bistro & Café, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Live Music Wednesdays & Tacos (weekly music series) at the Tillerman, Bristol, 5 p.m. Free.

e Sixth Finger of Jazz (jazz) at Bar Antidote, Vergennes, 6 p.m. Free.

Willverine (electronic) at the Wallﬂower Collective, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

THU.29

Blue Rock Boys (rock, country) at Blue Paddle Bistro, South Hero, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Cantrip (jazz) at Hugo’s, Montpelier, 7:30 p.m. Free.

CombustOmatics (rock) at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.

Courtyard Music Series — Dan Blondin (country, bluegrass) at Halvorson’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Donations.

DJ Kanganade, Mavstar, Boxguts, Travis Card, Funky Diabetic (hip-hop) at Despacito, Burlington, 8 p.m. $5.

Frankie & the Fuse (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Ira Friedman (jazz) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.

Jazz with Alex Stewart and Friends (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Jim Yeager (folk) at Filling Station, Middlesex, 6 p.m. Free.

Let’s Whisper (folk) at Standing Stone Wines, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

Find the most up-to-date info on live music, DJs, comedy and more at sevendaysvt.com/music. If you’re a talent booker or artist planning live entertainment at a bar, nightclub, café, restaurant, brewery or coffee shop, send event details to music@sevendaysvt.com or submit the info using our form at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.

So Much to Say

When the 1994 cult classic Clerks hit the scene,

KEVIN SMITH became as well known for writing and directing the ﬁlm as for the character he played in it, Silent Bob. The backwards baseball cap-wearing, trench coat-clad, taciturn antihero showed up in plenty of Smith’s subsequent ﬁlms, including a starring role in 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Also a bestselling author and comedian, Smith had to change his intense workload after a near-death experience following a massive heart attack in 2018. Now vegan and health-focused, Smith continues his long-running “An Evening With Kevin Smith” series, sharing his experiences in movies and comics and answering questions from his fans. He hits the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington for two shows this Saturday, August 31.

SAT.31 // KEVIN SMITH [COMEDY]

e Old Soul House Band (rock) at Old Soul Design Shop, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 8 p.m. Free.

Perpetual Groove (rock, electronica) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $20/$25.

e PET Project (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 6 p.m. Free.

FRI.30

All Night Boogie Band (blues) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9 p.m. $10.

Ari Glasser & Eli Glasser (jazz) at Stone’s row, Fairfax, 6 p.m. Free. Back to School Brawl 2: Edict, Void Bringer, Cooked, Torn, Blossom, Outnumbered (metal, hardcore) at Arts Riot, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10.

Before is Time (rock) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free. Bella and the Notables (funk) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Bent Nails House Band (rock, folk) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 9 p.m. Free.

Borrow the Bones (Paul Boffa + Danielle Mishkit) (acoustic) at the Phoenix, Waterbury, 7:30 p.m. $15-30.

Charlie Ufﬂeman & Friends, Fawn (indie, folk) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10/$15.

Dan Parks with Mark Steffenhagen (acoustic) at Gusto’s, Barre, 6 p.m. Free.

Ethan Sawyer (singer-songwriter) at 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 6 p.m. Free.

e Hitmen (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m. Free.

Jerborn (rock) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.

Bob Recupero (blues) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsﬁeld, 5 p.m. Free.

Jess O’Brien & Paul Miller (folk) at Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.

Dave Mitchell’s Blues Revue (blues) at Red Square, Burlington, 2 p.m. Free.

Duncan MacLeod (jazz) at Bleu Northeast Kitchen, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Jerborn & Axe (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m. Free.

JJ Booth (singer-songwriter) at Two Heroes Brewery Public House, South Hero, 7 p.m. Free.

Karl Miller and the Instrumentals (acoustic) at Arts Riot, Burlington, 4 p.m. Free.

Maplegrove (rock, country) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m. Free.

e McMaple Band (rock, folk) at the Old Post, South Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

Michael Chorney & Freeway Clyde (jazz) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10/$15.

Mike Schwaner (singersongwriter) at Poultney Pub, 6 p.m. Free.

Model 97 (rock) at Old Soul Design Shop, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 8 p.m. Free.

PET Project (folk) at Jericho Café & Tavern, 7 p.m. Free.

Phantom Airwave (funk, soul) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9 p.m. Free.

Rap Night Burlington (hip-hop) at Drink, Burlington, 9 p.m. $5. Ray’s Used Cars (rock) at von Trapp Brewing Bierhall, Stowe, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Sarah Neufeld (indie) at the Mill ADK, Westport, N.Y., 7:30 p.m. $28.52.

Scott Graves & Chris Martin (acoustic) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 6 p.m. Free. Slow Magic, Matt Payne, Go Outside (electronic) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $12/$15. Songwriter Circle with Karl Lucas, Brian Dade, Jack McKeon and Sarah Bell (singersongwriter) at the Underground, Randolph, 7:30 p.m. $14-17.

e Soul Project NOLA (funk, soul) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 8 p.m. $10.

e Steppes (rock) at Barr Hill, Montpelier, 6 p.m. Free.

Tiny Heart Explosions (vocal group) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free. What? (rock) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.

SAT.31

Billy Wylder (indie) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free. Birdsong Music Festival (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 2 p.m. $10/$20.

Clean Fill (rock) at the Pinery, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Coane, Rowell & Schabner (jazz) at Hugo’s, Montpelier, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Dave Solazzo & the Bridge (jazz) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 8 p.m. $10.

D.R.I., Retox AD, SLOB DROP (punk) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7 p.m. $20/$25. Grateful Tuesdays (Grateful Dead tribute) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 9 p.m. $10/$20.

Lamp Bros, Reverse the Grin (rock) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.

Left Eye Jump (blues) at Red Square, Burlington, 2 p.m. Free.

Honky Tonk Tuesday with Wild Leek River (country) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9 p.m. $10. Jay Southgate (vibraphone) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 5 p.m. Free.

Live Music Saturdays (live music series) at Dumb Luck Pub & Grill, Hinesburg, 7 p.m. Free.

e Rangers of Danger, Sulk Fangs (indie rock) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10.

Martin Decato (folk) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, 7 p.m. Free.

McMaple Trio (rock) at von Trapp Brewing Bierhall, Stowe, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Patrick Sargent (singersongwriter) at Poultney Pub, 6 p.m. Free.

Perfect Giddimani, Soul Rebel Project (reggae) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 8 p.m. $20.

WED.4

BBQ and Bluegrass (bluegrass) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6:30 p.m. Free.

e Beths, Princess Chelsea (indie) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $25/$30. druzy, Amelia Devoid (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5/$10.

Jazz Sessions (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Phantom Airwave (funk) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Spencer Lewis (jazz) at Jericho Café & Tavern, 7 p.m. Free.

Steve Ellis (jazz) at Bleu Northeast Kitchen, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

WD-40 (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m. Free.

YABA!, Fisher Wagg, Sturgeon (indie rock) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9 p.m. Free.

SUN.1

Bluegrass Brunch (bluegrass) at the Skinny Pancake, Burlington, noon. Free.

Patrick J Crowley (singersongwriter) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsﬁeld, 3 p.m. Free.

Sunday Brunch Tunes (singersongwriter) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 10 a.m.

Sunday Night Mass with Gettoblaster (EDM) at Club Metronome, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $23.

MON.2

Israel Vibration and Roots Radics (reggae) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $45/$50.

TUE.3

e 502s, Oliver Hazard (indie folk) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $25/$30.

Big Easy Tuesdays with Jon McBride (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Bluegrass Jam (bluegrass) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free.

Live Jazz (jazz) at Leunig’s Bistro & Café, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. Free. Live Music Wednesdays & Tacos (weekly music series) at the Tillerman, Bristol, 5 p.m. Free. Mad Caddies and Ballyhoo! (punk, ska) at Alﬁe’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. $35. Info, 496-5344. ree Piece Meal (jazz) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 9 p.m. $5/$10. Willverine (electronic) at the Wallﬂower Collective, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

djs

WED.28

DJ Chia (DJ) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 8 p.m. Free.

DJ CRE8 (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ Mildew (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Local Dork (DJ) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Queer Bar Takeover (DJ) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8 p.m. Free.

Salsa Night with DJ Charlango, DJ Tarzana (DJ) at Hugo’s, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.

THU.29

All Ears (DJ) at the Big Spruce, Richmond, 6 p.m. Free.

Country & Western ursdays (country, DJ) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Live Music Saturdays

music+nightlife

DJ Chaston (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 11 p.m. Free.

DJ Two Sev (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 11 p.m. Free.

Vinyl Night with Ken (DJ) at Poultney Pub, 6 p.m. Free.

FRI.30

DJ Craig Mitchell (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ K1NG (DJ) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ Kata (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ Tad Cautious (DJ) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 9 p.m. $10/$15.

DJ Taka (DJ) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 11 p.m. $10/$15.

DJ Two Rivers (DJ) at Gusto’s, Barre, 6 p.m. Free.

Salsa Night with DJ Charlango, DJ Tarzana (DJ) at Hugo’s, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.

Shrek Rave (DJ, rave) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 9 p.m. $20/$25.

SAT.31

Benje & DJ Silverback (DJ) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 9 p.m. Free.

D Jay Baron (DJ) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ A-Ra$ (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, midnight. Free.

DJ LaFountaine (DJ) at Gusto’s, Barre, 9 p.m. Free.

DJ Raul (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Matt Payne (DJ) at Red Square Blue Room, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

Molly Mood (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

SUN.1

Mi Yard Reggae Night with DJ Big Dog (reggae, dancehall) at Nectar’s, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

TUE.3

e Vanguard — Jazz on Vinyl (DJ) at Paradiso Hi-Fi, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

WED.4

DJ CRE8 (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

DJ Mildew (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Local Dork (DJ) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Wadada Wednesdays: Reggae Dub Night with Satta Sound (DJ) at Arts Riot, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

SAT.31

Kevin Smith (comedy) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 7 & 10 p.m. $40/$45. River Butcher (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $25.

SUN.1

Eleganza & Espresso: A Drag Brunch (drag) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 10:30 a.m. $20.

TUE.3

ree Leaves Comedy Showcase (comedy) at the 126, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

WED.4

$5 Improv Night (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.

trivia, karaoke, etc.

Block-Rocking Beats

SUN.1 // SUNDAY NIGHT MASS WITH GETTOBLASTER [EDM]

Electronic music producer GETTOBLASTER, aka Paul Anthony, brings together the sounds of two of the most important cities in the history of EDM. A Chicago native, Anthony takes house music, which originated in the Windy City, and combines it with classic Detroit techno to create a full-bodied, heavy bass sound. Though Gettoblaster was originally a duo, Anthony became the sole member in 2024 after Zach Bletz left. Nonetheless, Anthony is blazing forward with a forthcoming new record titled Acid Ice Cream and a headlining performance at the long-running local EDM series Sunday Night Mass. It all goes down at Burlington’s Club Metronome on Sunday, September 1.

open mics & jams

WED.28

Bluegrass Jam (open jam) at Stone’s row, Fairfax, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Irish Sessions (Celtic, open mic) at Burlington St. John’s Club, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Open Mic (open mic) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.

Open Mic with Danny Lang (open mic) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free.

THU.29

Open Mic (open mic) at Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.

Open Stage Night (open mic) at Orlando’s Bar & Lounge, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

Portal: Community Improvisational Music & Art (open mic) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

SUN.1

Olde Time Jam Session (open jam) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, noon. Free.

MON.2

Open Mic (open mic) at Despacito, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

TUE.3

Open Mic Night (open mic) at Bent Nails Bistro, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.

Open Mic Night (open mic) at Drink, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

Venetian Soda Open Mic (open mic) 7 p.m. Free.

WED.4

Irish Sessions (Celtic, open mic) at Burlington St. John’s Club, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Open Mic (open mic) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 10 p.m. Free.

Open Mic with Danny Lang (open mic) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free. e Ribbit Review Open-Mic & Jam (open mic) at Lily’s Pad, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

comedy

WED.28

$5 Improv Night (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5. Rory Scovel (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $25.

Standup Comedy Open Mic (comedy open mic) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m.

THU.29

Kingdom Kids (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $5. Rory Scovel (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $25.

FRI.30

River Butcher (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $25.

SAT.31

What a Drag! (drag) at Old Soul Design Shop, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 9 p.m. $10.

SUN.1

Karaoke with DJ Coco Entertainment (karaoke) at Old Soul Design Shop, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 5 p.m. Free.

Sunday Funday (games) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, noon. Free.

Venetian Karaoke (karaoke) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

MON.2

Trivia with Brain (trivia) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8 p.m. Free.

Trivia with Craig Mitchell (trivia) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

TUE.3

Godfather Karaoke (karaoke) at the Other Half, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

Karaoke Night (karaoke) at Alﬁe’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. Free.

Karaoke Tuesdays (karaoke) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

WED.28

Karaoke Night (karaoke) at Drink, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

Karaoke with Cam (karaoke) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 9 p.m. Free.

Musical Bingo (music bingo) at the Depot, St. Albans, 6 p.m. Free.

Musical Bingo (music bingo) at Orlando’s Bar & Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Alﬁe’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Rí Rá Irish Pub Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Venetian Trivia Night (trivia) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Wednesday Team Trivia (trivia) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

THU.29

Karaoke Night (karaoke) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. Free.

Summer Trivia with Katy (trivia) at Highland Lodge, Greensboro, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 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 ursday (trivia) at Spanked Puppy Pub, Colchester, 7 p.m. Free.

FRI.30

Karaoke Friday Night (karaoke) at Park Place Tavern & Grill, Essex Junction, 8 p.m. Free.

Karaoke with DJ Party Bear (karaoke) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9:30 p.m. Free.

Music Bingo (music bingo) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free.

Taproom Trivia (trivia) at 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 6:30 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 Trivia (trivia) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

WED.4

Karaoke Night (karaoke) at Drink, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

Karaoke with Cam (karaoke) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 9 p.m. Free.

Musical Bingo (music bingo) at the Depot, St. Albans, 6 p.m. Free. Musical Bingo (trivia) at Orlando’s Bar & Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free. Trivia Night (trivia) at Alﬁe’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Rí Rá Irish Pub Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Venetian Trivia Night (trivia) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Wednesday Team Trivia (trivia) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free. ➆

Kitbash, Anything At All

(SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

Burlington six-piece rock band Kitbash titled their recently released debut album, Anything At All, with an implicit sense of permission. It’s tied directly to centerpiece track “A Song About Fish,” through which the band tells its listeners, “This is a song about ﬁsh / And only that,” only to immediately contradict itself with, “You are allowed to think of anything at all.”

With this simple passage, the nascent indie group presents itself as a fascinating conundrum. The songcraft is anything but loosey-goosey. Tight, intricate arrangements; furious yet precise instrumentation; and heaps of erudition common to the math-rock subgenre

prove Kitbash have created exactly what they intended.

But they want the world to make of them and their music whatever it wants, hears, feels, etc. If every person who listens to Anything At All interprets it di erently, the plan worked perfectly.

Composed of a group of multidisciplinary artists and professionals, Kitbash coalesce a hodgepodge of shifting styles: indie folk, emo, art pop, jazz and arena rock, to name a few. The band name, slang for mashing up pieces from disparate sets of model toys or ﬁgures to create something unique, encapsulates their modus operandi.

“The goal is to make the unfamiliar

Long Gone John & TallGrass GetDown, Songs for Ophelia

(SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

Funny story: I tried my hand at being a hobo once. While I didn’t go full bindle mode or end up riding the rail to Arkansas, I let my journalistic curiosity get the better of me, and I accompanied a transient artist I had interviewed to a rail yard to hop on a train.

I only made it as far as sitting in an empty car and smoking a joint with the dude, but when he pulled a beat-up old mandolin out of his rucksack, a strange excitement rose up through me. Some proper, dirty folk music was all that was needed as we sat in that rusted old train car under the sun.

The only problem? The young train-hopper was a much better artist than musician.

If only I’d been living the hobo life with Long Gone John & TallGrass GetDown. The foot-stomping, high-energy folk collective formed in Johnson in 2011 as a trio — known only as TallGrass GetDown then — and regularly roamed the Green Mountains with its

feel familiar, and vice versa,” keyboardist and coproducer Brendan Rooney said in a press release.

Despite shifting tempos and odd time signatures, like on the whiplashinducing opener “Afterimages” and the 5/4 churn of deep cut “Future Perfect,” Kitbash succeed in “staying accessible enough to dance” along to, a goal stated in their press release. They’re betting on listeners having an innate sense of how to groove to their tunes even if they “learn to count them later.”

Not everything on this album is an exercise in weird. For instance, “Vine on the Wall,” a garage-rock anthem with psychedelic aspirations, unfurls with a peppy backbeat and friendly interplay between keys and guitar.

Its sentiment is self-assured, hopeful and unambiguous: “Tendril that grows / All along the brick and the stone / The others seem to fall / But not the vine upon the wall.” People can ascribe

hybrid of Americana, ragtime and rust-belt folk. After a few years, lead singer Long Gone John, real name John Freeburn, decided to hop the rails and travel the country, eventually recording his ﬁrst solo album, Miles Away, in 2018.

While Freeburn was out west, an entire album’s worth of TallGrass GetDown material sat on the shelf gathering dust. So when he returned to link up with his original bandmates, Django Koenig and Dave Langevin, there was work to be done. The trio expanded by adding Braden Lalancette, Danica Cunningham and Rick Soszynski, all of Burlington bluegrass act the Wormdogs.

whatever meaning they want to “the wall” — friends, creative passion, a deep sense of self — and still derive a feeling of strength and safety.

Then there are tracks such as psychfunk banger “Sprout,” which resists rhythmic conventionality even as it tantalizes with thick snarls of rubbery guitar à la your favorite jam band.

Punctuated and explosive, the song’s energy transcends the defamiliarization baked into its architecture.

Kitbash exemplify the creativity and experimentation for which Burlington’s indie-rock scene is known. Their music is likely as welcoming to casual listeners as it is people prone to dissecting and discussing music’s multidimensionality. The Queen City needs bands like Kitbash to keep it on its toes.

Anything At All is available at kitbash. bandcamp.com and on major streaming services.

JORDAN ADAMS

With the folk Avengers assembled, the band headed over to Ben Collette’s Tank Recording Studio in Burlington to track the album and breathe new life into the songs, written between 2011 and 2017.

“Bound for Glory” is the perfect opener, both for the band’s return and for any prospective hoboes out there. Riding a sepia-toned vibe with shu ing snare, warbling ﬁddle and gorgeous stabs of country-western electric guitar, the washed-out tones and vocal harmonies e ortlessly summon images of America rolling by from the train window.

“Had a heart once / Lord, I lost it / Well, these things get awful hard to ﬁnd,” Freeburn sings.

It’s easy for acts that channel antiquated styles to come o like a pastiche or some sort of revue. It’s all the more impressive, then, that at no point over the 10 tracks on Songs for Ophelia do Long Gone John & TallGrass GetDown sound anything other than vitally original.

While Collette’s production and the excellent mixing work done by Jericho musician and producer Jer Coons help create the record’s gritty yet modern sonic palette, it really comes down to the songs. From the frenetic hoedown “Prison Walls” to the dancing-inthe-moonlight playfulness of “Fox & Dove,” the band is barreling down tracks they know so well.

Ready to hop on the train? Songs for Ophelia is available now on all major streaming services.

CHRIS FARNSWORTH

Long Gone John

calendar

AUGUST 28-SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

WED.28

business

QUEEN CITY BUSINESS

NETWORKING INTERNATIONAL GROUP: Savvy businesspeople make crucial contacts at a weekly chapter meeting. Burlington City Arts, 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, 829-5066.

climate crisis

CLIMATE CAFÉ: People concerned about the climate crisis virtually share their fear, outrage and grief, as well as ways to cope with those feelings. Hosted by Alma Coaching and ReNewell Resources. Online, 6-7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, almacoachingusa@gmail.com.

community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: Townsfolk put on their detective caps, grab a map at the library and search Stowe for stickers. Prizes include hotel stays and goods from local merchants. Stowe Free Library. Free. Info, 253-6145.

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.

crafts

YARN CRAFTERS GROUP: A drop-in meetup welcomes knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers and beyond. BYO snacks and drinks. Must Love Yarn, Shelburne, 5-7 p.m. Free. Info, 448-3780.

dance

‘SOFT ROCKS’: A collective of dancers showcases the art of improvisation using the surrounding landscape as inspiration. Phantom Theater, Edgcomb Barn, Warren, 8-9 p.m. $20. Info, tracy@madriver. com.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: Vermonters enjoy an absolute smorgasbord of rides, games and fun, from the demolition derby to carousels to a Flo Rida concert. Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. $7-15; $29-185 for multiday passes and concerts; free for kids 4 and under. Info, 878-5545.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: Andy Serkis narrates the journey of a lifetime into the realm of the world’s largest mammals and

These community event listings are sponsored by the WaterWheel Foundation, a project of the Vermont band Phish.

LIST YOUR UPCOMING EVENT HERE FOR FREE!

All submissions must be received by Thursday 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.

regular admission, $16.50-20; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.

food & drink

the scientists who study them.

Northfield Savings Bank 3D Theater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 10:30 a.m., 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $16.50-20; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.

FILMING IN THE STUDIO:

Aspiring television DPs practice setting up and filming an interview show. The Media Factory, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, 651-9692.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: Sparkling graphics take viewers on a journey into the weird, wide world of mushrooms, which we are only just beginning to understand.

Northfield Savings Bank 3D Theater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $16.50-20; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: Scientists dive into the planet’s least-explored habitat, from its sunny shallows to its alien depths. Northfield Savings Bank 3D Theater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, noon, 2 & 4 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $16.50-20; admission free for members and kids 2 and under. Info, 864-1848.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: Through the power of special cameras, audiences are transported into the world of the teeniest animals on Earth. Northfield Savings Bank 3D Theater: A National Geographic Experience, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 11:30 a.m., 1:30 & 3:30 p.m. $3-5 plus

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.

film

See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.

music + nightlife

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. = ONLINE EVENT

DANVILLE FARMERS MARKET: Villagers shop local from various vendors handing out fruits, veggies and prepared foods. Danville Village Green, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, cfmamanager@gmail.com.

VEGAN IN VERMONT: Vegans and the veggie-curious convene to hear from nurse Ann Ramsay and discuss The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition by Hanna Che. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 6-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

WHAT’S THAT WINE

WEDNESDAYS: Aspiring sommeliers blind-taste four wines from Vermont and beyond. Shelburne Vineyard, noon-6 p.m. $15. Info, 985-8222.

health & fitness

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.

language

BEGINNER IRISH LANGUAGE CLASS: Celtic-curious students learn to speak an Ghaeilge in a supportive group. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, noon-1 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

ELL CLASSES: ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATE 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.

INTERMEDIATE IRISH LANGUAGE CONVERSATION AND MUSIC: Speakers with some experience increase their fluency through conversation and song. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 863-3403.

music

JAZZ CAFÉ: The New Kanon Jazz Trio selects some of their favorite bossa nova jams for a special show. BYOB. Stone Valley Arts, Poultney, 7-8:15 p.m. $10 suggested donation. Info, stonevalleyartscenter@ gmail.com.

MUSIC ON THE BRICKS: THE GREEN KETTLE BAND: Local bluegrass buskers delight outdoor concertgoers. Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, 5:30-7 p.m. Free. Info, 863-1648.

outdoors

BEAVER SCAVENGER HUNT: A presentation precedes a dam fun adventure to Kettle Pond and back. Call to confirm. Nature Center. Groton State Forest, 4 p.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

BOREAL FOREST WALK: A master naturalist leads a trek through one of Vermont’s most remote wild spaces. Call to confirm. Nature Center, Groton

State Forest, 11 a.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

sports

GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE

TENNIS CLUB: Ping-Pong players swing their paddles in singles and doubles matches. Rutland Area Christian School, 7-9 p.m. Free for first two sessions; $30 annual membership. Info, 247-5913.

theater

‘THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL’: A Korean American fiddler seeks inspiration in Appalachia and finds more than she bargained for in this emotional tribute to bluegrass music. Weston Theater at Walker Farm, 2-4 & 7:30-9:30 p.m. $25-79. Info, 824-5288.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: The Bard goes radical with unconventional and modern productions of Macbeth and Twelfth Night, presented outdoors on the Taconic Lawn. The Equinox Resort & Spa, Manchester, 7:30-9:30 p.m. $12-20. Info, shakespeareinthewoodsvt@ gmail.com.

words

CIDER TERRA: DIANE FLYNT: A talk and tasting with the author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South delights the palate. Shelburne Vineyard, 6-8 p.m. $59; preregister. Info, 985-8222.

J. PETER COBB: The local novelist launches his newest book, Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be. Phoenix Books, Rutland, 6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 855-8078.

TURNING PAGES WITH MARY: Radio host Mary Cenci leads an in-depth discussion of Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Phoenix Books, Essex, 5:30 p.m. Free. Info, 872-7111.

THU.29

business

THE WBON HOUR FOR YOU EVENT SERIES — NETWORKING AT OVERLOOK PARK: Women Business Owners Network Vermont hosts a fun get-together for local entrepreneurs. Overlook Park, South Burlington, 6-7 a.m. Free. Info, 503-0219.

community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28.

crafts

KNIT FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR: All ages and abilities are invited to knit or crochet hats and scarves for the South Burlington Food Shelf. All materials are provided. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 2-5 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.

KNITTING GROUP: Knitters of all experience levels get together to spin yarns. Latham Library, Thetford, 7 p.m. Free. Info, 785-4361.

WOODWORKING LAB: Visionaries experiment, collaborate, create a project or learn a new skill with the help of mentors and access

to tools and equipment in the makerspace. Hannaford Career Center, Middlebury, 5-8 p.m. $7.50 drop-in fee. Info, 382-1012.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.28.

SUMMERVALE: Locavores fête farms and farmers at a weekly festival centered on food, music, community and conservation. Intervale Center, Burlington, 5:308 p.m. Free. Info, 660-0440. film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28. food & drink

BARK & BREW: Canines enjoy play time while their human companions indulge in local brews and ciders, as well as food truck fare. Tickets include two drinks. Humane Society of Chittenden County, South Burlington, 5:307:30 p.m. $20; food for purchase. Info, 862-0135.

FREE WINE TASTING: Themed wine tastings take oenophiles on an adventure through a region, grape variety, style of wine or producer’s offerings. Dedalus Wine Shop, Market & Wine Bar, Burlington, 4-7 p.m. Free. Info, 865-2368.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE: A lively group plays a classic, tricky game with an extra wrinkle. Waterbury Public Library, 12:30-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7223.

WEEKLY CHESS FOR FUN: Players of all ability levels face

FOMO?

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.

music + nightlife

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. = ONLINE EVENT

FAMI LY FU N

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.

WED.28

burlington

IMAGINATION STATION: Giant Jenga, blocks and tic-tac-toe entertain shoppers of all ages in between stops. Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Free. Info, 863-1648.

TODDLER TIME: Librarians bring out books, rhymes and songs specially selected for young ones 12 through 24 months. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

chittenden county

GAME ON!: Young competitors vie in Nintendo Switch games, including Mario Kart, Super Mario Party and Overcooked, on the big screen. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 5-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.

SUMMER BABYTIME: Infants gather for a gentle, slow story time. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 9:15-9:45 a.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.

upper valley

FOREST DISCOVERY CENTER: Interactive learning stations, demonstrations and crafts give kids hands-on nature experiences. Ages 8 and under. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 457-3368.

THU.29

burlington

BABYTIME: Pre-walking little ones experience a story time catered to their infant interests. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

GROW PRESCHOOL YOGA: Colleen from Grow Prenatal and Family Yoga leads little ones ages 2 through 5 in songs, movement and other fun activities. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

chittenden county

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.

STORY TIME: Little ones from birth through age 5 learn from songs, crafts and picture books. Brownell Library,

The Fairy Best

Pixies and pucks of all ages fly to Vermont’s most magical Labor Day weekend party, the Fairy Festival at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. Costumes are highly encouraged at this special day of fantastical fun; the schedule includes guided mushroom walks, fairy-hunting excursions, fairytale story times, crafts, bubbles, face painting, and live animal meet and greets. Plus, enterprising otherworldly architects enter the fairy house-building competition and compete to build the tiniest twee home along the forest trails.

FAIRY FESTIVAL & HOUSE BUILDING CONTEST

Saturday, August 31, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., at Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee. $10 plus regular admission, $16.50-19.50; free for members and kids 3 and under. Info, 359-5000, vinsweb.org.

Essex Junction, 10-10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.

stowe/smuggs

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.

mad river valley/ waterbury

JUBAL HARP & SONG: Judi Byron plays folk ditties, rhymes, and counting and movement songs for babies, toddlers and preschoolers to sing and dance along to. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.

PRESCHOOL PLAY & READ STORY TIME: Games, activities, stories and songs engage 3- through 5-year-olds. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.

northeast

kingdom

STORY TIME: Kids 5 and under play, sing, hear stories and color. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:15-10:45 a.m. Free. Info, 745-1391.

TRACKS, SKINS & SKULLS: Crafters meet local furry friends and make plaster casts of paw prints to take home. Call

to confirm. Nature Center, Groton State Forest, 2 p.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

FRI.30

burlington

IMAGINATION STATION: See WED.28. chittenden county

LEGO BUILDERS: Each week, children ages 8 and older build, explore, create and participate in challenges. Children ages 6 to 8 are welcome with an adult. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 3-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.

barre/montpelier

STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Participants ages 5 and under enjoy science, art and nature-themed activities. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 426-3581.

upper valley

STORY TIME: Preschoolers take part in tales, tunes and playtime. Latham Library, Thetford, 11 a.m. Free. Info, 785-4361.

SUN.1

burlington

MASKS ON! SUNDAYS: Elderly, disabled and immunocompromised folks get the museum to themselves at a masks-mandatory morning. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 9-10 a.m. Free; preregister. Info, 864-1848.

northeast kingdom

BIRDS ON THE MOVE: Dolls, exhibits and an interactive lawn game teach avian enthusiasts all about migration. Call to confirm. Nature Center. Groton State Forest, 2 p.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

MON.2

burlington

PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Bookworms ages 2 through 5 enjoy fun-filled reading time. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

chittenden county

NATURE PLAYGROUP: Kids and their caregivers explore fields and trails for 90 minutes with an Audubon guide. Green Mountain Audubon Center, Huntington, 9:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 434-3068.

READ WITH SAMMY: The Therapy Dogs of Vermont emissary is super excited to hear kids of all ages practice their reading. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free. Info, 878-6956.

mad river valley/ waterbury

TINY TOTS STORY TIME: Little tykes have fun, hear stories and meet new friends with Ms. Cynthia. Ages 3 and under. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.

upper valley

SAT.31

burlington

SPLASH DANCE: Kids soak up some summer fun in the fountain while DJs spin family-friendly tracks. Burlington City Hall Park, 1-3 p.m. Free. Info, 865-7166.

STORIES WITH GEOFF: Little patrons of the library’s satellite location enjoy a morning of stories and songs. Fletcher Free Library New North End Branch, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

upper valley

FAIRY FESTIVAL & HOUSE BUILDING

CONTEST: Pixies and pucks of all ages compete to build the most whimsical tiny homes in the forest. Crafts, face painting and mushroom walks round out the day. See calendar spotlight. Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $10 plus regular admission, $16.50-19.50; free for members and kids under 4. Info, 359-5000.

FOREST DISCOVERY CENTER: See WED.28.

STORY TIME WITH BETH: A bookseller and librarian extraordinaire reads two picture books on a different theme each week. Norwich Bookstore, 10 a.m. Free. Info, 649-1114.

northeast kingdom

STORY TIME: See THU.29, 2-2:30 p.m.

TUE.3

burlington

SING-ALONG WITH LINDA BASSICK: Babies, toddlers and preschoolers sing, dance and wiggle along with Linda. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

chittenden county

OUTDOOR STORY TIME: Youngsters enjoy a sunny session of reading, rhyming and singing with Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. Birth through age 5. Williston Town Green, 10:30-11 a.m. Free. Info, 878-4918.

northeast kingdom

LAPSIT STORY TIME: Babies 18 months and younger learn to love reading, singing and playing with their caregivers. Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:15-10:45 a.m. Free. Info, 745-1391.

off and learn new strategies. United Community Church, St. Johnsbury, 5:30-9 p.m. Donations. Info, lafferty1949@ gmail.com.

language

ITALIAN CONVERSATION GROUP:

Semi-fluent speakers practice their skills during a conversazione with others. Best for those who can speak at least basic sentences. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, noon-1 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

music

FEAST & FIELD MUSIC SERIES:

Farm-fresh foods and live tunes are on the menu at a weekly pastoral party out in the orchard. Fable Farm, Barnard, 5:30-8:30 p.m. $5-25; $120-1,250 for season passes. Info, 234-1645.

PIZZA BY THE POND: A woodfired oven delivers all-you-can-eat pies made of local ingredients while musicians regale diners. Blueberry Hill Inn, Goshen, 5-8 p.m. $23-43; free for kids 7 and under. Info, info@blueberryhillinn. com.

SPRUCE PEAK SUMMER

CONCERT SERIES: BRANDY

CLARK: The Grammy Awardwinning Americana artist and composer of the Broadway musical Shucked plays among the mountains. Stephen Kellogg opens. Spruce Peak at Stowe, 6 p.m. $5-40. Info, 760-4634.

THURSDAYS BY THE LAKE:

BLUES FOR BREAKFAST: Equally at ease with rock, reggae, Motown and Grateful Dead covers, the local rockers provide the music Vermonters crave. Union Station, Burlington, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Free. Info, 540-3018.

outdoors

ROCKIN’ GROTON GEOLOGY

TOUR: A field trip along the trails shows how magma deposits deep underground have shaped Groton’s landscape. Call to confirm. Nature Center, Groton State Forest, 11 a.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

politics

GALBRAITH LECTURE: TIM RIESER AND PETER GALBRAITH: U.S.

Rep. Peter Welch’s senior adviser and the former ambassador to Croatia discuss post-election foreign policy scenarios. School for International Training Graduate Institute, Brattleboro, 6-8 p.m. $25. Info, windhamworldaffairscouncil@ gmail.com.

talks

VERMONT MUSINGS: MARGARET

OSHA: A journalist shares the story of Stella Waldo, a farmer who kept a journal through World War II. Brookfield Old Town Hall, 7-8:30 p.m. Free. Info, abelisle2@ comcast.net.

theater

‘ACT 39’: HCA presents the play by Rob Mermin, based on the true story of the local playwright’s

friend who chose to utilize Vermont’s assisted-suicide law. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, 7-9 p.m. $36. Info, 533-2000.

‘CRY IT OUT’: Dirt Road Theater presents a dark comedy about the trials and tribulations of modern parenthood. The Gray Space, Northfield, 7:30 p.m. $20. Info, dirtroadtheater@gmail.com.

‘NO EXIT’: One Room Theatrics presents Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist masterpiece about three people condemned to stay in one room in hell forever. Stone Valley Arts, Poultney, 8-10 p.m. $20. Info, oneroomtheatrics@ gmail.com.

‘THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL’: See WED.28.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: See WED.28.

words

J. BRUCE FULLER: The poet behind How to Drown a Boy reads from his work. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, 8-9 p.m. Free. Info, 635-2727.

LAUREL’S BOOK GROUP: A discussion group dedicated to paperback releases reads Open Throat by Henry Hoke. Phoenix Books, Essex, 6 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 872-7111.

FRI.30 community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28. fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.28.

ST. J FINAL FRIDAYS: An epic street fair features a gallery stroll and free activities for all ages. Downtown St. Johnsbury, 4-9 p.m. Free. Info, 748-8575. film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28. food & drink

RICHMOND FARMERS MARKET: Vendors present a diverse selection of locally produced foods and crafts as picnickers enjoy live music. Volunteers Green, Richmond, 3-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, rfmmanager@gmail.com.

SOUTH END GET DOWN: Food trucks dish out mouthwatering meals and libations. Live DJs and outdoor entertainment add to the fun. 377 Pine St., Burlington, 5-9 p.m. Free. Info, orleanseventsvt@ gmail.com.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: Snacks and coffee fuel bouts of a classic card game. Burlington

AUG. 31 & SEP. 1 | FAIRS & FESTIVALS

Craft and Curious

On the occasion of its 53rd annual installment, the Mad River Valley Craft Fair is still going as strong as ever. Dozens of artisans from across the region gather in the shadow of the Green Mountains for a two-day bazaar where shoppers can find all the handmade jewelry, pottery, art, knitwear, furniture, fabric, botanicals and woodwork their hearts desire. Also setting up shop are various local food purveyors; Vermont beverage makers; and live music acts Green Mountain Swing, the J.J. Booth Duo, Madigan Linnane and the Medicine Tribe. Entry fees benefit local theater troupe the Valley Players.

MAD RIVER VALLEY CRAFT FAIR

Saturday, August 31, and Sunday, September 1, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., at Kenyon’s Field in Waitsfield. $5; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 496-3409, madrivercraftfair.com.

Bridge Club, Williston, 10 a.m.1:30 p.m. $6. Info, 872-5722. health & fitness

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.

PEOPLE WITH ARTHRITIS CAN EXERCISE: Active adults with stiffness and pain keep joints flexible, muscles strong and bodies energized with a weekly low-impact class. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.

lgbtq

RPG NIGHT: Members of the LGBTQ community gather weekly to play games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Everway. Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free. Info, 622-0692.

music

FRIDAY NIGHT MUSIC: HOGBACK

HOLLOW: The acoustic trio brings Americana vibes to the weekly series while hungry listeners nosh on a charcuterie board or their own picnic provisions. Lincoln Peak Vineyard, New Haven, 5-7 p.m. Free. Info, 388-7368.

MIRANDA HENNE & FRIENDS: The world-class cellist teams up with four-finger banjoist Greg Liszt. Phantom Theater, Edgcomb Barn,

Warren, 8-9 p.m. $20. Info, tracy@ madriver.com.

PIZZA BY THE POND: See THU.29.

SUMMER CARILLON SERIES: AMY HEEBNER: The Middlebury alumna plays a heavenly program on the historic bell organ. Memorial Chapel, Middlebury College, 6-7 p.m. Free. Info, 443-5221.

‘A TRIBUTE TO JIMMY SMITH & WES MONTGOMERY’: Bruce Sklar and Paul Asbell explore the bluesy oeuvres of two jazz giants. Shelburne Vineyard, 6:30-9 p.m. $12. Info, 985-8222.

UNPLUGGED: THE MILKHOUSE HEATERS: Husband and wife team Mike and Jan Sheehy fill the air with acoustic tunes. Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, 4-5 p.m. Free. Info, 863-1648.

theater

‘ACT 39’: See THU.29, 7-9 p.m. ‘CRY IT OUT’: See THU.29. MY TESTIMONY: FURY & GRACE: Ben Johnson performs a one-man show about confronting his demons. Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, Burlington, 8-9:30 p.m. $20. Info, theoffcenter@gmail.com. ‘NO EXIT’: See THU.29. ‘THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL’: See WED.28, 7:30-9:30 p.m. SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: See WED.28.

SAT.31

bazaars

ARNOLD’S RESCUE CENTER COMMUNITY MARKET: Visitors peruse a variety of food, crafts and other items to benefit the animals at the refuge. Arnold’s Rescue Center, Brownington, 9 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 239-872-7333.

climate crisis

GUY MCPHERSON: A scientist discusses the potential irreversible consequences of climate change. Colchester Meeting House, 7-8:30 p.m. Free. Info, 264-5500.

community 2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28.

dance

MONTPELIER CONTRA DANCE AND GRANGE FUNDRAISER:

Dancers balance, shadow and do-si-do the night away to gender-neutral calling and live tunes by Calico. Donations benefit the Grange. Capital City Grange, Berlin, beginners’ lesson, 7:40 p.m.; dance, 8-11 p.m. $5-20. Info, 225-8921.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.28.

MAD RIVER VALLEY CRAFT FAIR:

Myriad artisans from across New England arrive to peddle their wares alongside live music, food and craft cocktails. Ticket proceeds support the Valley Players. See calendar spotlight. Kenyon’s Field, Waitsfield, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $5; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 496-3409.

SO LONG SUMMER, HELLO FALL

FESTIVAL: Locals turn out for a book sale, an antique tractor show, live music, the annual giant zucchini contest and more.

Wells River Welcome Center, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 477-2428.

TWILIGHT STARS PARTY:

Stargazers and celebrants gather for an evening of food, live music, family fun and guided astronomy tours. Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village, Brownington, 5-9:30 p.m. $8-25; free for kids under 5. Info, 754-2022. film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28. food & drink

BURLINGTON FARMERS

MARKET: Dozens of stands overflow with seasonal produce, flowers, artisanal wares and prepared foods. 345 Pine St., Burlington, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 560-5904.

CAPITAL CITY FARMERS

MARKET: Meats and cheeses join farm-fresh produce, baked goods, locally made arts and crafts, and live music. 133 State St., Montpelier, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, 272-6249.

ST. JOHNSBURY FARMERS

MARKET: Growers and crafters gather weekly at booths centered on local eats. Pearl St. & Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Info, cfmamanager@gmail. com.

games

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.

MORSE CODE BINGO: Game players learn why the MontpelierWells River Railroad was a vital communication link across Vermont. Call to confirm. Nature

Center, Groton State Forest, 4 p.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

music

CHAMPLAIN TRIO: The chamber group performs pieces for picnickers. Frank Suchomel Memorial Arts Center, Adamant, 7:30-9 p.m. Free. Info, 229-6978.

EAGLEMANIA: Eagles fans flock to a note-for-note tribute to the band behind “Hotel California.” Pittsford Village Farm, 7 p.m. $39; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 775-0903.

É.T.É AT WESTFORD COMMON HALL: The Opus Award-winning trio presents a concert filled with the sounds of fiddle, bouzouki, podorythmie, cello and vocalization. Westford Common Hall, 7-8:15 p.m. $15-20. Info, 233-0014.

MIRANDA HENNE & FRIENDS: See FRI.30.

REED FOEHL, VAL MCCALLUM, JEFF BERLIN, PUTNAM MURDOCK: A Grammynominated songwriter and his band jam out with special guests all evening. The venue is partially seated. Wayside Farm, Brookfield, 5-9:30 p.m. $25. Info, cdabbot@gmail.com.

SOULSHINE REVIVAL: The Allman Brothers tribute band serenades sippers. Shelburne Vineyard, 7-9:30 p.m. $12. Info, 985-8222.

VERMONT PHILHARMONIC POPS CONCERT: Lou Kosma conducts a program of Broadway favorites, film scores and classical numbers. Shore Acres Inn & Restaurant, North Hero, 4 p.m. $5-25. Info, 244-5378.

outdoors

BIRD MONITORING WALK:

Community birders watch for warblers, spy sparrows and hear hawks to contribute to tracking and observation databases. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, 7:30-8:30 a.m. $5-15 suggested donation. Info, 434-2167.

FOMO?

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.

music + nightlife

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. = ONLINE EVENT

theater

‘ACT 39’: See THU.29, 7-9 p.m.

‘THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END OF HUMANITY CIRCUS’: Bread and Puppet’s summer show incorporates puppetry, dancing and acrobatics to explore themes of grief, death, genocide and — ultimately — hope. Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, 3 p.m. $10; by donation for kids under 6; preregister. Info, 525-3031.

‘CRY IT OUT’: See THU.29, 2 & 7:30 p.m.

MY TESTIMONY: FURY & GRACE: See FRI.30.

‘NO EXIT’: See THU.29.

‘THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL’: See WED.28.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: See WED.28.

words

QUEER READS BOOK CLUB:

Lovers of LGBTQ literature meet to discuss reads that range across genres and identities. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 863-3403.

SUN.1 community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

DESK: BURLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY: Representatives post up in the main reading room to answer questions and provide resources. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Free. Info, 863-3403.

THE GREAT DUCK RACE: Waitsfield’s quackiest fundraiser features a rubber-duck race, food, music, kids’ activities and cash prizes for sponsors of the first fake fowl to cross the finish line. Lareau Park, Waitsfield, 2-4 p.m. Free; donations accepted; preregister to compete. Info, mrvrotary@gmail.com.

HUMAN CONNECTION CIRCLE: Neighbors share stories from their lives and forge deep connections. Pickering Room, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 3-4:30 p.m. Free; preregister; limited space. Info, humanconnectioncircle@ gmail.com.

crafts

FIBER FAIR: The Heritage Winooski Mill Museum invites fiber vendors and historians to the Winooski Farmers Market. Winooski Falls Way, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, farmersmarket@ downtownwinooski.org.

YARN CRAFTERS GROUP: See WED.28, 1-3 p.m. dance

SUNDAY SERVICE: Local DJs bring their own unique styles to a biweekly outdoor dance party. Rotary Park, Winooski, 2-7 p.m. Free. Info, info@downtownwinooski.org.

RESPECTFULLY CRAFTED WINE & CIDER FROM VT ENJOY OUR TASTING ROOM, LOFT, WINERY, PATIO & LAWN

Sat 8/31 • Doors at 7:00PM SOULSHINE REVIVAL ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND TRIBUTE

SHELBURNEVINEYARD.COM • 6308 SHELBURNE RD • 802-985-8222

Fri 8/30 • Doors at 6:30PM BRUCE SKLAR & PAUL ASBELL’S A TRIBUTE TO JIMMY SMITH & WES MONTGOMERY 6H-ESVShelVine082824.indd 1

"Profoundly life-afﬁrming and ﬁlled with humor"

-Olivia Q. Pintair, VTDigger Rob

“a powerful, tender and often funny dramatic work”

A soulful, humorous, true story of friendship that exposes the vulnerability of the human spirit when facing mortality.

-Jim Lowe, Times Argus HCA PRESENTS: HIGHLAND CENTER Greensboro 8/29 - 8/31 | 7PM; 9/1 | 2PM MAIN ST

“Like life, this play is a blend of tears and laughter.”

-Leanne Harple, The Chronicle

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.28, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

NEW WORLD FESTIVAL: The 30th annual celebration of Celtic and French Canadian music features artists such as Cantrip and Le Vent du Nord. See calendar spotlight. Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph, noon-11 p.m. $3560; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 728-9878, ext. 104.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘SAVED!’: This 2004 satire chronicles a Christian high school student who attempts to “cure” her friend of his homosexuality but ends up pregnant. The Screening Room @ VTIFF, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 3-5 p.m. $5-10. Info, 660-2600.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

food & drink

STOWE FARMERS MARKET: An appetizing assortment of fresh veggies, meats, milk, berries, herbs, beverages and crafts tempts shoppers. Stowe Farmers Market, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. Info, stowefarmersmarket@gmail. com.

VERSHIRE ARTISAN & FARMERS

MARKET: Foodies, farmers and their friends buy and sell freshgrown produce and handmade treasures. Vershire Town Center, 12:30-3:30 p.m. Free. Info, vershiremarket@gmail.com.

WINOOSKI FARMERS MARKET: Families shop for fresh produce, honey, meats, coffee and prepared foods from a gathering of seasonal vendors at an outdoor marketplace. Winooski Falls Way, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free. Info, 655-6410.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: See FRI.30, 1-4:30 p.m.

health & fitness

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.

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.

music

BEN & JERRY’S CONCERTS ON THE GREEN: GOTH BABE: Solo artist Griff Washburn plays uplifting jams from his debut album. Ritt Momney opens. A portion of proceeds benefits environmental nonprofit Protect Our Winters. Shelburne Museum, 7 p.m. $50.50-54.50; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 652-0777.

ROCHESTER CHAMBER MUSIC

SOCIETY: THE OVERLOOK

QUARTET: A fabulous foursome of string players performs an invigorating program. Federated Church of Rochester, 4-6 p.m. Donations. Info, 767-9234.

SUNDAY SESSIONS: The patio at Tavern on the Tee restaurant hosts tunes from a variety of musicians. Open to the public. Ralph Myhre Golf Course, Middlebury, 4-7 p.m. Free. Info, 443-5125.

outdoors

HERE BE DRAGONFLIES:

Entomology enthusiasts capture and identify species during this basic introduction to the winged insects. Call to confirm. Nature Center, Groton State Forest, 4 p.m. Free. Info, 584-3827.

theater

‘ACT 39’: See THU.29, 2-4 p.m.

‘THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END OF HUMANITY CIRCUS’: See SAT.31.

‘NO EXIT’: See THU.29, 2-4 p.m.

‘THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL’: See WED.28, 3-5 p.m.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: See WED.28.

MON.2 community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28. film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

games

MONDAY NIGHT GAMES: Discounted wine by the glass fuels an evening of friendly competition featuring new and classic board games, card games, and cribbage. Shelburne Vineyard, 4-7 p.m. Free. Info, 985-8222.

health & fitness

FARM & FOREST YOGA FLOW: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller

National Park ranger and yoga teacher Jen Jackson leads a balanced asana practice. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, 5:15-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 457-3368.

SEP. 1 | MUSIC

Band Ahoy

Every year, Chandler Center for the Arts’ New World Festival celebrates the rich Celtic and French Canadian heritage of the Green Mountain State with a lineup of musicians worthy of a bagpipe brigade. This year’s program includes energetic Scottish act Cantrip, beloved Québécois prog-folk band Le Vent du Nord, up-and-coming Irish piper Conor Mallon, and English folk dance troupes Midnight Capers and Border Morris. Attendees of all ages also enjoy puppet performances by No Strings Marionette, kids’ activities, called group dances, and plenty of local food and drink.

NEW WORLD FESTIVAL

Sunday, September 1, noon-11 p.m., at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. $35-60; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 728-9878, chandler-arts.org.

lgbtq

BOARD GAME NIGHT: LGBTQ tabletop fans bring their own favorite games to the party. Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free. Info, 622-0692.

music

SAMBATUCADA OPEN

REHEARSAL: Burlington’s own samba street percussion band welcomes new members. No experience or instruments required. 8 Space Studio Collective, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. Free. Info, 862-5017.

TUE.3

community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28.

CURRENT EVENTS

DISCUSSION GROUP: Brownell Library holds a virtual roundtable for neighbors to pause and reflect on the news cycle. 10-11:30 a.m. Free. Info, 878-6955.

dance

SWING DANCING: Local Lindy hoppers and jitterbuggers convene at Vermont Swings’ weekly boogie-down. Bring clean shoes. North Star Community Hall, Burlington, 7:30-9 p.m. $5. Info, 864-8382.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

food & drink

COOKBOOK CLUB: Readers choose a recipe from Spice Kitchen by Ariel Contreras-Fox to cook and share with the group.

ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 5:306:45 p.m. Free. Info, 846-4140.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: See FRI.30, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

language

MANDARIN CONVERSATION

CIRCLE: Volunteers from Vermont Chinese School help students learn or improve their fluency.

ADA accessible. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 11 a.m.noon. Free. Info, 846-4140.

PAUSE-CAFÉ FRENCH

CONVERSATION: Francophones and French-language learners meet pour parler la belle langue Burlington Bay Market & Café, 5-6:30 p.m. Free. Info, 343-5493. music

FLOW SINGING: Singers both new and seasoned intertwine music and mindfulness while learning a sequence of five to six songs by ear. Heineberg Senior Center, Burlington, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Free. Info, 478-4440, patricia@ juneberrymusic.com.

FOMO?

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.

music + nightlife

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.

= ONLINE EVENT

JOHN 5: The Mötley Crüe guitarist displays his electrifying shredding skills. Lebanon Opera House, N.H., 7:30 p.m. $28-40. Info, 603-448-0400.

words

BURLINGTON

LITERATURE GROUP: Readers analyze two novels by Iris Murdoch, Under the Net and The Black Prince, over 10 weeks. 6:30-8 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, info@nereadersandwriters. com.

WED.4

activism

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY DSA

GENERAL MEETING: Members of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and other leftwing activists gather to plan political activities. Democracy Creative, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. Free. Info, hello@champlainvalleydsa.org.

DISABLED ACCESS & ADVOCACY OF THE RUTLAND AREA (DAARA)

MONTHLY ZOOM MEETING: Community members gather online to advocate for accessibility and other disability rights measures. 11:30 a.m.-noon. Free. Info, 779-9021.

business

QUEEN CITY BUSINESS

NETWORKING INTERNATIONAL GROUP: See WED.28.

climate crisis

ECO-RESILIENCY

GATHERING: VOTING FOR CLIMATE: Environmentalists gather online monthly to discuss ecological questions, emotional elements of climate change, ideas for change, building community and creating a thriving world. Online, 6-7 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, akmckb@ gmail.com.

community

2024 SCAVENGER HUNT IN STOWE: See WED.28.

LOCAL MOTION’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and former governor Howard Dean make appearances at this party thrown by the local cycling organization. Community Sailing Center, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. $25; cash bar. Info, 861-2700.

crafts

YARN CRAFTERS GROUP: See WED.28.

etc.

CHAMP MASTERS

TOASTMASTERS OF GREATER BURLINGTON: Those looking to strengthen their speaking and leadership skills gain new tools at a regular meeting. 6-7:30 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 338-2305.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘BLUE WHALES: RETURN OF THE GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

‘FUNGI: THE WEB OF LIFE 3D’: See WED.28.

‘JULIA ALVAREZ: A LIFE REIMAGINED’: Vermont Public hosts a preview screening of a documentary about the acclaimed poet and novelist, followed by an interview with her. Town Hall Theater, Middlebury, 7-9 p.m. Free. Info, events@ vermontpublic.org.

‘OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET 3D’: See WED.28.

‘SUGARCANE’: A new documentary turns the tragedy of the Canadian residential system into a story about Indigenous resistance and resilience. The Screening Room @ VTIFF, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7-9 p.m. $612. Info, 660-2600.

‘TINY GIANTS 3D’: See WED.28.

FAMI LY FU N

WED.4

burlington

TODDLER TIME: See WED.28. chittenden county

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. barre/montpelier

‘PLAYING FIELDS’: The Flynn presents a back-to-school party for students, families and neighbors, featuring acrobatic acts by

food & drink

DANVILLE FARMERS MARKET: See WED.28.

WHAT’S THAT WINE WEDNESDAYS: See WED.28.

health & fitness

CHAIR YOGA: See WED.28.

MINDFUL MOVEMENT YOGA ON THE LAWN: Attendees soothe their sore swimming, hiking and gardening muscles with mindful stretching. BYO mat. Waterbury Public Library, noon-1 p.m. Free; preregister. Info, 244-7036.

language

BEGINNER IRISH LANGUAGE CLASS: See WED.28. ELL CLASSES: ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS: See WED.28.

INTERMEDIATE IRISH LANGUAGE CONVERSATION AND MUSIC: See WED.28.

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.

sports

GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE

TENNIS CLUB: See WED.28.

theater

‘ACT 39’: See THU.29. Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE WOODS: See WED.28.

words

LEE MCCOLGAN: The author and woodworker reads from his recent memoir, A House Restored: The Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial. Norwich Bookstore, 7-8 p.m. Free. Info, 649-1114. ➆

Cirque Kikasse and energetic Eastern European music from the West Philadelphia Orchestra. Williamstown Middle/High School, 6 p.m. Free. Info, 863-5966. mad river valley/ waterbury

TEEN HANGOUT: Middle and high schoolers make friends at a no-pressure meetup. Waterbury Public Library, 3-6 p.m. Free. Info, 244-7036.

TEEN QUEER READS: LGBTQIA+ and allied youths 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. upper valley FOREST DISCOVERY CENTER: See WED.28. K

aromatherapy

PERFUME-MAKING CLASS WITH BLOOM LAB: Discover the art of perfumery at this make-yourown event. Create your unique scent, blended to reﬂect your personality and style. For anyone interested in perfumery or simply enjoying good company while trying something new! You’ll leave with one 1.7-ounce bottle of custom eau de parfum. Sun., Sep. 15, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Cost: $95. Location: Maquam Winery, 125 Duffy Rd., Milton. Info: 802-355-3336.

culinary

COZY FALL COOKIE-DECORATING CLASS: Grab your sweaters and your pumpkin spice lattes because it’s time to get cozy for this fall-themed cookie-decorating class. In this beginner class, you will learn the basics of royal icing and several techniques for creating beautiful cookies for your friends and family. Tue., Sep. 17, 6-8 p.m. Cost: $75. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury. Info: 914-610-5275, sevendaystickets.com.

NOBLE GRAPES!: Learn the intricacies of the noble grapes, which make cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and Riesling. Tue., Sep. 24, 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $40. Location: Standing Stone Wines, 33 Main St., Winooski. Info: 802-540-7160.

dance

DANCE WEEKEND:

Beginner and seasoned dancers are welcome to join our weekend of classes, free dance and other events at the Burlington International Contact Improv Jam. Learn from our guest teachers, dance to live music, enjoy delicious food and meet new friends! Sign up for the whole weekend or just parts. Please come and enjoy our moments together! Sep. 13-15. Cost: sliding scale. Location: Burlington City Hall Auditorium, 149 Church St. Info: Casey Clark, 802-355-2670, casey8clark@gmail.com, contactimprovvermont. blogspot.com.

language

Spanish classes this fall, using Zoom online video conferencing. is is our 18th year! Learn from a native speaker via small group classes or individual instruction. You’ll always be participating and speaking. Intermediate and advanced. Note: Classes ﬁll up fast. See our website or contact us for details. Group classes begin week of Sep. 9; private instruction anytime. Cost: $325/10 classes, 90+ mins. each, 1/week. Location: Online. Info: 802-585-1025, spanishwaterburycenter.com.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE: FALL

SESSION: Join us for online and in-person classes. Our 11week session offers classes for participants at all levels. Please visit our website to read about all of our offerings or contact Micheline by email for more information. Classes begin Sep. 23, online or in person. Cost: $320. Location: Alliance Française, 43 King St., Burlington. Info: education@aﬂcr.org, aﬂcr.org.

language & art

WINGSPAN ART & FRENCH CLASSES: Spark creativity and/ or practice your French ﬂair with classes for kids, teens and adults, held in an inspiring working atelier in Burlington’s South End Arts & Enterprise District and led by artist and educator Maggie Standley. Every Mon. from Sep.30-Oct.28: Adult Beginning Acrylic and Mixed Media Painting, 9 a.m.noon; Kids Afterschool FRArt, 3:30-4:45 p.m.; French, 5:30-7 p.m. Plein Air Painting and Color Workshop, Sat., Oct. 5, and Sun., Oct. 6, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Private classes also available. Location: Wingspan Studio School, 4A Howard St., Burlington. Info: Maggie Standley, 802-233-7676, maggiestandley@gmail.com, wingspanstudioeduc.com.

martial arts

Membership rates incl. unlimited classes 6 days/week. Contact us for info about membership rates for adults, youths & families. Location: Aikido of Champlain Valley, 257 Pine St., Burlington. Info: Benjamin Pincus, 802-9518900, bpincus@burlingtonaikido. org, burlingtonaikido.org.

music

DJEMBE WEDNESDAYS!: Learn to drum with Stuart Paton! Beginner and advanced beginner classes available. Drums provided. Visit our free class at ArtHop! Sessions begin Sep. 11, Oct. 9 & Nov. 13. Every Wed: beginners, 5:30 p.m.; accelerated, 7 p.m. 4 weeks; 90-min. sessions. Cost: $92/4 weeks, $72 for Kids & Parents. Location: Burlington Taiko (next to Nomad Café), 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3-G, Burlington. Info: Stuart Paton, 802-999-4255, taikoaikokai@gmail.com.

TAIKO TUESDAYS!: Learn to drum with Burlington Taiko! Adult classes and kids & parents (age 6 and up) classes available. Drums provided. Visit our shows and mini workshops at ArtHop! Sessions begin Sep. 10, Oct. 8 & Nov. 12. Every Tue.: Kids & Parents, 4 p.m.; beginners, 5:30; accelerated, 7 p.m. 4 weeks; 90 min. classes. Cost: $92/4 weeks, $72 for Kids & Parents. Location: Burlington Taiko (next to Nomad Café), 208 Flynn Ave Suite 3-G, Burlington. Info: Stuart Paton, 802-999-4255, taikoaikokai@ gmail.com.

sports

BIKE CARE BASICS: is onenight workshop will help you stay safer, keep your bike running longer, and give you conﬁdence in either getting what you need at the bike shop or ﬁguring out how to deal with it on your own. Every Wed., starting Aug. 28, 6-7:30pm. Cost: $50. Location: Old Spokes Home, 331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington. Info: 802-863-4475, sevendaystickets.com.

tai chi

ADULT LIVE SPANISH E-CLASSES: Join us for adult

AIKIDO: THE WATERCOURSE WAY: Cultivate core power, aerobic ﬁtness and resiliency. e dynamic, circular movements emphasize throws, joint locks and the development of internal energy. Not your average “mojo dojo casa house.” Inclusive training and a safe space for all. Scholarships and intensive program are available for serious students. Visitors are always welcome! Basic classes 5 days/week. Introductory classes begin Aug. 27/Sep. 10 at 6 p.m.

NEW BEGINNER TAI CHI CLASS: We practice Cheng Man-ch’ing’s “simpliﬁed” 37-posture Yangstyle form. e course will be taught by Patrick Cavanaugh, a longtime student and assistant to Wolfe Lowenthal; Wolfe is a direct student of Cheng Manch’ing and founder of Long River Tai Chi Circle. Opportunities for learning online are also available! Starts Oct. 2, 9-10 a.m.; registration open until Oct. 30. Cost: $65/mo. Location: Gym at St. Anthony’s Church, 305 Flynn Ave., Burlington. Info: Long River Tai Chi Circle, Patrick Cavanaugh, 802-490-6405, patrick@longrivertaichi.org, longrivertaichi.org.

housing » APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES on the road » CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES pro services » CHILDCARE, HEALTH/ WELLNESS, PAINTING buy this stuff » APPLIANCES, KID STUFF, ELECTRONICS, FURNITURE music »

INSTRUCTION, CASTING, INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE jobs »

NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

AGE/SEX: 6-year-old neutered male

ARRIVAL DATE: April 14, 2024

SUMMARY: Handsome Sox is more than meets the eye. He may appear shy at ﬁrst, but once he feels safe and comfortable, Sox is a total lover boy who wants all of the pets and attention that you are able to give! Sox is known for being very sweet, affectionate, playful and chatty with those he trusts. He’s currently available for adoption from an HSCC foster home. If you have room in your heart and your home for a cuddly companion, contact our adoption center to meet Sox!

DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Sox has experience with other cats. He has no known history with dogs or children.

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.

FOSTER FOR HSCC!

Some animals can only thrive in a home environment. HSCC’s foster families provide a vital service for our pets in offering temporary, loving homes to animals in need. If you’re interested in fostering, visit hsccvt.org/foster.

by:

Humane Society of Chittenden County

Sponsored

CLASSIFIEDS

HOUSINGhousing

HOUSEMATES

AFFABLE BTV

HOMESHARE

Gentle social butterﬂ y in his 80s offering Burlington homeshare for reduced rent of $250/mo. in exchange for cooking 3-4 meals/ week, nighttime presence, medication reminders. Lower-level BR, sitting room & 3/4 bath. No pets. Call 802-863-5625 or visit homesharevermont.org for application. Interview, refs. & background checks req. EHO.

APPLETREE POINT ROOM Beach, pool, park, tennis, bike path. Great neighborhood. Clean, NS, no pets! $1,500/mo. 1-year commitment. Call Dave, 561-629-4990.

DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY

Running or not! Fast free pickup. Maximum tax deduction. Support Patriotic Hearts. Your car donation helps veterans! 1-866-5599123. (AAN CAN)

BIZ OPPS

FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANT

Pub style w/56 seats & outdoor seats. Ideal downtown location. 24-tap beer system, updated kitchen/ BA. Fully staffed & stocked! $175,000. Call 802-233-0924.

CLASSIFIEDS KEY

appt. appointment

apt. apartment

BA bathroom

BR bedroom

DR dining room

DW dishwasher

HDWD hardwood

HW hot water

LR living room

NS no smoking

OBO or best offer

refs. references

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

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

housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online

FINANCIAL/LEGAL

FREE AUTO INSURANCE QUOTES

For uninsured & insured drivers. Let us show you how much you can save! Call 855-569-1909. (AAN CAN)

DISABILITY BENEFITS

You may qualify for disability beneﬁ ts if you are between 52-63 years old & under a doctor’s care for a health condition that prevents you from working for a year or more. Call now! 1-877-247-6750. (AAN CAN)

HOME/GARDEN

AGING ROOF? NEW HOMEOWNER? STORM DAMAGE?

You need a local expert provider that proudly stands behind its work. Fast, free estimate. Financing avail. Call 1-888-292-8225. Have the zip code of the property ready when calling! (AAN CAN)

NEED NEW WINDOWS?

Drafty rooms? Chipped or damaged frames? Need outside noise reduction? New, energyefﬁ cient windows may be the answer! Call for a consultation & free quote today. 1-877248-9944. You will be asked for the zip code of the property when connecting. (AAN CAN)

WATER DAMAGE CLEANUP & RESTORATION

A small amount of water can lead to major damage & mold growth in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family & your home’s value! Call 24/7: 1-888-290-2264. Have zip code of service location ready when you call! (AAN CAN)

LEO’S ROOFING

Slate, shingle & metal repair & replacement. 30 years’ experience. Good refs. & fully insured.

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

services: $12 (25 words) fsbos: $45 (2 weeks, 30 words, photo) jobs: michelle@sevendaysvt.com, 865-1020 x121

Chittenden County. Call free estimate, 802-343-6324.

BATH & SHOWER

UPDATES

In as little as one day! Affordable prices. No payments for 18 mo. Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & military discounts avail. Call 1-866-370-2939. (AAN CAN)

PEST CONTROL

Protect your home from pests safely & affordably. Roaches, bed bugs, rodents, termites, spiders & other pests. Locally owned & affordable. Call for service or an inspection today! 1-833-237-1199 (AAN CAN)

MOVING/HAULING

DEREKCO EXCAVATING

Excavation, light land clearing/leveling, stonework/retaining walls, sonotubes, drainage/ditch work, demo, storm cleanup, brush hogging, driveway grading, hauling/ light trucking, gravel, stone, mulch & much more! Fully insured. We accept all major credit cards, Venmo & checks. Call 802-3104090 or email derek@ derekcoexcavating.com.

2 METAL TOOLBOXES

2 metal toolboxes w/ drawers & tray. $10. Many hand tools also. Call or text 540-2264478 or email rcserves@ hotmail.com.

ELECTRONICS

FENDER

STRATOCASTER

Fender Stratocaster w/ case. Serial #DZ1148004. $3,000. Known artist. Contact hopefulvt78@gmail.com or 802-495-1954.

FREE STUFF

FREE SOLAR

CONSULTATION

Discover if you qualify for $0-down solar panels. Schedule your free consultation today.

print deadline: Mondays at 3:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classiﬁeds questions? classiﬁeds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x115

2-Unit Duplex and Commercial Garage in Proctor, VT

*OPEN HOUSE* 9/04: 11AM-1PM

LIVE AUCTION:

Tuesday, Sept. 24 @ 11AM

Located in the heart of Proctor, VT and close to Rutland. Properties can be sold together or seperately.

Bankruptcy Commercial Real Estate Auction: 2 Industrial Buildings in Barre, VT

LIVE AUCTION: Thursday, Sept. 5 @ 11AM Register & Inspect from 10AM 2 Buildings Located at: 19 S. Front Street, Barre, VT 25 S. Front Street, Barre, VT

(1600) Artwork, Collectibles & Airplane Ephemera

DATE: 8/23/2023 NAME OF FILE: 08282024_7D DATE(S) TO RUN: 8/28/2023

logan@sevendaysvt.com; Robyn@sevendaysvt.com

Get the newsletter featuring notable news, arts and food stories handpicked by our editors. Sit back, relax and read up on what you may have missed..

SUBSCRIBE TODAY: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/ENEWS

BED FOR SALE

8v-sundaybest-dog.indd 1 3/2/21 6:39

ONLINE AUCTION CLOSES: Thursday, Sept. 12 @ 10AM BIDDING IS OPEN! Many autographed photographs and lithographs, military history books, model planes, furniture, assorted decoratives, rugs, sculptures, posters, records, clothing, appliances, patio items and more!

Limited time offer! Contact us at 802-2996439 or johnheinz@ solarpros.io to schedule.

GARAGE/ESTATE SALES

ANTIQUES 1-DAY TAG

SALE Sat., Sep. 14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 29 N. Pleasant St. (Route 7), Middlebury. Fine antiques & art: 19th-century Americana, as-found corner & step-back cupboard, painted chairs; Chinese & Tibetan furniture, ceramics, ancestor & landscape paintings, Buddha statues & erotica; antique African masks & statues; 6

Russian icons; carved bridal loom & weaving equipment, Victorian silver plate tea set, European folk art, painted furniture, lots of small antique decorative items. Cash or Vermont checks. For additional info or detailed listings, call 802-623-8075.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

VANITY FOR HOME & BATHROOM

Bath vanity w/marble sink & new faucet, 37 x 22 x 30 in. $99. Call or text 540-226-4478.

Amish-made queen walnut bookcase (no tools needed). Bunkie Board queen foundation. Sealy Stearns Foster Estate Soft 530088 queen mattress. $3,000 for all. Email hopefulvt78@ gmail.com or call 802-495-1954.

WANT TO BUY

BUYING COIN COLLECTIONS

Collector paying top dollar for coin & currency collections, gold & silver bullion, sterling ﬂatware & gold jewelry. Local, paying cash. Avail. today! Call or text 217-891-4320.

PORSCHE WANTED

Old & rusty OK! Don’t ship to Germany; keep in Vermont! I’ll buy anything & restore. Parts, panels, engines, cars. Any year, 1950-1998. Contact 802-391-0882.

MEN’S WATCHES WANTED

TOP CASH FOR OLD GUITARS 1920-1980 Gibson, Martin, Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone, Guild, Mosrite, Rickenbacker, Prairie State, D’Angelico, Stromberg & Gibson mandolins/banjos. Call 877-589-0747. (AAN CAN)

INSTRUCTION

DRUM LESSONS Snare, drum set & percussion lessons. $35 for 45 min. or $45 for 60 min. Experienced, well-versed & educated teacher. Contact Dave Pacheco, 802-3838048, teachdrums2u@ gmail.com.

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)

Show and tell. View and post up to 6 photos per ad online.

CALCOKU BY JOSH

REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: ★★★

SUDOKU BY JOSH REYNOLDS

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. ANSWERS ON P.70

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.

Open 24/7/365. Post & browse ads at your convenience.

WANT MORE PUZZLES?

Try these online news games from Seven Days at sevendaysvt.com/games.

Put your knowledge of Vermont news to the test. NEW ON FRIDAYS:

See how fast you can solve this weekly 10-word puzzle. say you

Legal Notices

ACT 250 NOTICE

MINOR APPLICATION 4C0910-3 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6111

Application 4C0910-3 from Charlotte Village Partners, LLC, Attn: Mike Dunbar, 1341 Ethan Allen Highway, New Haven, VT 05472 was received on July 30, 2024 and deemed complete on August 20, 2024. e project is generally described as renovation of an existing single-family residence into an ofﬁ ce with 15 employees and a new parking lot. e project is located at 251 Ferry Road in Charlotte, Vermont. e application may be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s website (http:// nrb.vermont.gov) by clicking “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0910-3.”

No hearing will be held and a permit will be issued unless, on or before September 10, 2024, 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-statuspetitionform, 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 August 20, 2024. By: Stephanie H. Monaghan District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-261-1944

stephanie.monaghan@vermont.gov

PLACE AN AFFORDABLE NOTICE AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LEGAL-NOTICES OR CALL 802-865-1020, EXT. 121.

NOTICE OF TOWN OF WESTFORD LIVESTOCK ORDINANCE

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to the residents of the Town of Westford that pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 2291(14), (15) and (30) and 24 V.S.A. Chapter 59, and other such general enactments as may be material thereto, on August 8, 2024, the Selectboard of the Town of Westford adopted the Town of Westford, Vermont Livestock Ordinance (the “Ordinance”).

e Ordinance establishes livestock running at large to be a public nuisance in the Town of Westford and provides procedures for enforcement of civil violations of the Ordinance, including civil penalties and the impoundment of livestock caught running at large. e Ordinance’s rules and regulations are necessary and desirable for protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare from the dangers to residents, private property and public property posed by livestock running at large.

e Ordinance in its entirety is available for inspection at the Westford Town Ofﬁ ce during regular ofﬁ ce hours, Monday– ursday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. e Ordinance is also available on the Town of Westford Website: westfordvt.us. Any questions regarding the Ordinance may be directed to:

Holly Delisle 1713 Vermont Route 128 Westford, VT 05494 802-878-4587 townadmin@westfordvt.us

is Ordinance shall become effective on October 7, 2024, unless a petition signed by not less than 5% of the qualiﬁ ed voters of the Town of Westford requesting that the adopted amendment be submitted to the voters of the Town at an annual or special meeting is presented to the Selectboard or the Town Clerk on or before September 23, 2024.

STORAGE BIN AUCTION SELF STORAGE

1900 Williston Road South Burlington, Vt September 5, 2024 at 9 AM.

Notice is hereby given that the contents of the self storage units listed below will be sold at public auction at above date and time.

Bernie Miller JR- A8

William Francis-B1

Sharon Stevens-A2

Sara Fickett E-1

Connor Dwyer C-4

Alicia Prince- B2

Michelle French-D10

Ghenadie Plamadeala-E-13

Albert Smith- D16

Korine Whitney-A-14

Elvir Pasic-C17

PURSUANT TO THE VERMONT SELF-STORAGE FACILITY ACT SEC. 2.9 V.S.A CHAPTER 98 UNITS WILL SOLD BY SEALED BID.

Viewing by appointment. Call us at 802-891-9374 to schedule.

Appts for viewing and sealed bidding will be 9/5 9:00 am-4:30 pm Bid will be opened on 9/5 at 4:45 pm. Winning bidder will be notiﬁ ed by phone.

5x10 – Ashleigh Tillson

10x10 – Richard Kendall & Donald Couturier

10x15 – Jimmy Reed

Storage unit will be sold as one lot.

All winning bidders will be required to pay a $100.00 deposit which will be refunded once unit is left empty and broom swept clean.

e winning bid must remove all contents from the facility by the end of the weekend corresponding with date of bid acceptance at no cost to ez access self storage. We reserve the right to reject any bid lower than the amount owed by the occupant. We reserve the right to remove any unit from the auction should current tenant bring his or her account current with full payment prior to the start of the auction.

Storage Unit Address: 387 Route 7 South, Milton, Vermont

REQUEST FOR BIDS

e Town of Jericho, Vermont is seeking bids from qualiﬁ ed contractors for repairs, stabilization, and

mitigation work on the Fitzsimonds Road Bridge in Jericho, Vermont. is project is part of our efforts to restore and improve infrastructure following the recent natural disaster.

Visit the town web site to review bid documents, instructions, and scope of work: https://jerichovt. org/construction-road-closure-updates

Proposals may be submitted electronically or physically. Electronic responses should be sent to Paula Carrier, Town Administrator, at pcarrier@ jerichovt.gov. Physical submissions should be delivered or mailed to the Town of Jericho, in the care of Paula Carrier, PO Box 39, Jericho, Vermont 05465. Please clearly label your responses with the name of the contracting organization that is bidding as well as mark on the outside of the envelope “Sealed Bid”.

Bids must be submitted to the Town by September 3rd by 4:00 p.m. Bid proposals will be reviewed at 3 p.m. on September 4th with the Town Administrator and the Road Foreman at the Town Hall and make their recommendation to the Selectboard for approval on September 5th, 2024.

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT

PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT

DOCKET NO.: 23-PR-02306

In re ESTATE of Linda Marie Fronck

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

To the creditors of: Linda Marie Fronck, late of Essex, 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 ﬁ rst publication of this notice. e claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. e claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Dated: August 22, 2024

Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Allen Sterling

Executor/Administrator: Allen Sterling, c/o Timothy S Hawkins, Esq., 17 Stebbins Street, Saint Albans, VT 05478 phone: 802-524-1434 email: timothyshawkins@comcast.net

Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 08/28/2024

Name of Probate Court: State of VermontChittenden Probate Division Address of Probate Court: 175 Main Street , Burlington, VT 05401

BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2024, 5:00 PM PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

Hybrid & In Person (at 645 Pine Street) Meeting Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83225696227? pwd=SGQ0bTdnS000Wkc3c2J4WWw1dzMxUT09 Webinar ID: 832 2569 6227

Passcode: 969186

Telephone: US +1 929 205 6099 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799

1. ZP-24-316; 75 Cherry Street (FD6, Ward 3) CityPlace Partners, LLC / Jesse Robbins Proposed revisions to North Building including expansion of Level 10, addition of small Level 11, and addition of balconies.

2. ZP-24-285; 362 South Union Street (RM, Ward 6) Tshen Shue / William Fellows Planned Unit Development (PUD) to convert existing duplex into two single-family homes.

3. ZAP-24-9; 52 Marble Avenue (RM, Ward 5) Suzanne Hebeler Appeal of administrative denial, ZP-24-158 to replace shed previously demolished under ZP-23-145.

Plans may be viewed upon request by contacting the Department of Permitting & Inspections between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Participation in the DRB proceeding is a prerequisite to the right to take any subsequent appeal. Please note that ANYTHING submitted to the Zoning office is considered public and cannot be kept confidential. This may not be the final order in which items will be heard. Please view final Agenda, at www.burlingtonvt.gov/dpi/drb/agendas or the office notice board, one week before the hearing for the order in which items will be heard.

The City of Burlington will not tolerate unlawful harassment or discrimination on the basis of political or religious affiliation, race, color, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, HIV positive status, crime victim status or genetic information. The City is also committed to providing proper access to services, facilities, and employment opportunities. For accessibility information or alternative formats, please contact Human Resources Department at (802) 540-2505.

TOWN OF HUNTINGTON SELECTBOARD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

The Huntington Selectboard will hold a public hearing on September 16, 2024 at 7 pm at Huntington Public Library to receive public comment on proposed changes to the Land Use Regulations. The purpose is revisions, as follows:

Proposed Amendment 2.1 Replace Maximum Enclosed Space per Lot with Maximum Footprint per Structure and Maximum Lot Coverage. Table

4.02 – Land Use Table – Dimensional Standards Related to Lots & Buildings. Maximum cumulative enclosed square footage above grade for the permitted use(s) to maximum footprint per structure and maximum percentage of lot coverage. The geographic areas affected are all Districts.

Proposed Amendment 2.2 Woodland-Conservation Districts Boundary Definition. The land use maps in Addendum B of the current land use regulations incorrectly show the boundary between the Woodland and Conservation districts is at an elevation of 2,500 feet. The text in Section 4.05 of the land use regulations states that the purpose of the Woodland District is to protect environmentally fragile high elevation areas between 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea level from incompatible use. The text in Section 4.06 of the land use regulations states that the purpose of the Conservation District is to protect pristine and sensitive areas above 2,000 feet from the adverse effects of development and growth. The changes correct the map and clarify the text to state that all land within the elevation limits is included in the districts. The geographic areas affected are the Woodland and Conservation Districts.

Proposed Amendment 2.3 Clarify Regulations of Fences, adding Section 5.30. Eliminates the requirement for a permit to construct a fence, except within Special Flood Hazard Areas; allows for fences to be constructed within the setback to the boundary lines. The geographic areas affected are all Districts.

Proposed Amendment 2.4 Approximately 60 new definitions are proposed to clarify terms identified in the document. A specific list of terms and

Support Groups

A CIRCLE OF PARENTS FOR MOTHERS OF COLOR

Please join our parent-led online support group designed to share our questions, concerns & struggles, as well as our resources & successes!

Contribute to our discussion of the unique but shared experience of parenting. We will be meeting weekly on Wed., 10-11 a.m. For more info or to register, please contact Heather at hniquette@pcavt.org, 802-498-0607, pcavt.org/family-support-programs.

A CIRCLE OF PARENTS FOR SINGLE MOTHERS

Please join our parent-led online support group designed to share our questions, concerns & struggles, as well as our resources & successes!

Contribute to our discussion of the unique but shared experience of parenting. We will be meeting weekly on Fri., 10-11 a.m. For more info or to register, please contact Heather at hniquette@ pcavt.org, 802-498-0607, pcavt.org/ family-support-programs.

A CIRCLE OF PARENTS W/ LGBTQ+ CHILDREN

Please join our parent-led online support group designed to share our questions, concerns & struggles, as well as our resources & successes!

Contribute to our discussion of the unique but shared experience of parenting. We will be meeting weekly on Mon., 10-11 a.m. For more info or to register, please contact Heather at hniquette@ pcavt.org, 802-498-0607, pcavt.org/ family-support-programs.

AL-ANON

For families & friends of alcoholics.

Phone meetings, electronic meetings (Zoom) & an Al-Anon blog are avail. online at the Al-Anon website. For meeting info, go to vermontalanonalateen. org or call 866-972-5266.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Do you have a drinking problem? AA meeting sites are now open, & online meetings are also avail. Call our hotline at 802-864-1212 or check for in-person or online meetings at burlingtonaa.org.

ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION SUPPORT GROUPS

Support groups meet to provide assistance & info on Alzheimer’s disease & related dementias. They emphasize shared experiences, emotional support & coping techniques in care for a person living w/ Alzheimer’s or a related dementia. Meetings are free & open to the public. Families, caregivers & friends may attend. Please call in advance to confirm the date & time.

The Williston Caregiver Support Group meets in person on the 2nd Tue. of every mo., 5-6:30 p.m., at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library in Williston; this meeting also has a virtual option at the same time; contact support group facilitators Molly at dugan@ cathedralsquare.org or Mindy at moondog@burlingtontelecom.net.

The Middlebury Support Group for Individuals w/ Early Stage Dementia meets the 4th Tue. of each mo., 3 p.m., at the Residence at Otter Creek, 350 Lodge Rd., Middlebury; contact Daniel Hamilton, dhamilton@residence ottercreek.com or 802-989-0097. The Shelburne Support Group for Individuals

definitions will be incorporated into Article VIII of the Land Use Regulations. The geographic areas affected are all Districts.

Copies of the proposed revisions, as well as a report on how the proposed changes comply with State Statute and the Town Plan, are available on the Town website (www.huntingtonvt.org) at the Town Office, Beaudry’s Store and the Huntington Public Library. A list of the affected section headings follows, as required pursuant to Title 24, Chapter 117 V.S.A. Section 4444 (b).

Table 4.01 – Zoning districts: Maximum Footprint per Structure & Maximum / Percentage of Lot Coverage

Section 5.30 – Fences

Section 4.05 – Woodland District

Section 4.06 – Conservation District Article VIII: Definitions — Dated: August 22, 2024 *Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/830927 15066?pwd=V29iSnNwVDNobjJzNFo2UGVPaGgw dz09 Meeting ID: 830 9271 5066 Passcode: 143747

TOWN OF ESSEX PLANNING COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING SEPTEMBER 12, 2024, 6:30 PM

Hybrid & In Person (Municipal Conference Room, 81 Main St., Essex Jct.) Meeting. Anyone may attend this meeting in person at the above address or remotely through the following options: 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

1. Site Plan Amendment – Di Stefano Landscaping is proposing to construct a +/- 4,800 sq foot commercial building located at 302 Colchester Rd, Parcel ID 2076020000, in the Industrial (I) District.

2. Sketch Plan – Sterling Homes is proposing a 28lot subdivision (26 lots with single-family homes, 1 condominium lot with 8 living units and 15.44 acres open/common land) located at 53 Center Rd, Parcel ID 2087001000, in the Medium Density Residential (R2) District.

3. Sketch Plan – continued from May 9, 2024 - Eurowest Retail Partners, LTD is requesting a review of a proposed 170 residential units, comprised in 4 buildings at “The Essex Experience”. The property is located at 21 Essex Way, Parcel ID 2092001001, located in the Mixed Use Development - Planned Unit Development (MXD-PUD) District. Application materials may be viewed before the meeting at https://www.essexvt.org/182/ Current-Development-Applications. Please call 802-878-1343 or email COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT@ESSEX.ORG with any questions. This may not be the final order in which items will be heard. Please view the complete Agenda, at https://essexvt.portal.civicclerk.com or the office notice board before the hearing for the order in which items will be heard and other agenda items.

CONTACT CLASSIFIEDS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM OR 802-865-1020 EXT. 115 TO UPDATE YOUR SUPPORT GROUP

w/ Early Stage Dementia meets the 1st Mon. of every mo., 2-3 p.m., at the Residence at Shelburne Bay, 185 Pine Haven Shores, Shelburne; contact support group facilitator Lydia Raymond, lraymond@residenceshelburnebay. com. The Telephone Support Group meets the 2nd Tue. of each mo., 4-5:30 p.m. Prereg. is req. (to receive dial-in codes for toll-free call). Please dial the Alzheimer’s Association’s 24-7 Helpline, 800-272-3900, for more info. For questions or additional support group listings, call 800-272-3900.

AMPUTEE SUPPORT GROUP

VT Active Amputees is a new support group open to all amputees for connection, community & support. The group meets on the 1st Wed. of the mo. in S. Burlington, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Let’s get together & be active: running, pickleball & ultimate Frisbee. Email vtactiveamputees@gmail.com or call Sue at 802-582-6750 for more info & location.

BABY BUMPS SUPPORT GROUP FOR MOTHERS & PREGNANT WOMEN

Pregnancy can be a wonderful time of your life. But it can also be a time of stress often compounded by hormonal swings. If you are a pregnant woman, or have recently given birth & feel you need some help w/ managing emotional bumps in the road that can come w/ motherhood, please come to this free support group led by an experienced pediatric registered nurse. Held on the 2nd & 4th Tue. of every mo., 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Birthing Center, Northwestern Medical Center, St. Albans. Info: Rhonda Desrochers, Franklin County Home Health Agency, 527-7531.

BETTER BREATHERS CLUB

American Lung Association support group for people w/ breathing issues, their loved ones or caregivers. Meets on the 1st Mon. of every mo., 11 a.m.-noon at the Godnick Center, 1 Deer St., Rutland. For more info, call 802-776-5508.

BRAIN INJURY SUPPORT GROUP

Vermont Center for Independent Living offers virtual monthly meetings, held on the 3rd Wed. of every mo., 1-2:30 p.m. The support group will offer valuable resources & info about brain injury. It will be a place to share experiences in a safe, secure & confidential environment. To join, email Linda Meleady at lindam@vcil.org & ask to be put on the TBI mailing list. Info: 800-639-1522.

BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR DRAGON BOAT TEAM

Looking for a fun way to do something active & health-giving? Want to connect w/ other breast cancer survivors? Come join Dragonheart Vermont. We are a breast cancer survivor & supporter dragon boat team who paddle together in Burlington. Please contact us at info@ dragonheartvermont.org for info.

BURLINGTON MEN’S PEER GROUP

Tue. nights, 7-9 p.m. in Burlington. Free of charge, 30 years running. Call Neils 802-877-3742 or email neils@ myfairpoint.net.

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT GROUP

The Champlain Valley Prostate Cancer Support Group meets online on the 2nd Tue. of the mo., 6-7:30 p.m., via Zoom. Whether you are newly diagnosed, dealing

w/ a reoccurrence or trying to manage the side effects of treatment, you are welcome here! More info: Andy Hatch, group leader, ahatch63@gmail.com.

CENTRAL VERMONT CELIAC SUPPORT GROUP

Last Thu. of every mo., 7:30 p.m. in Montpelier. Please contact Lisa Masé for location: lisa@harmonizecookery.com.

CEREBRAL PALSY GUIDANCE

Cerebral Palsy Guidance is a very comprehensive informational website broadly covering the topic of cerebral palsy & associated medical conditions. Its mission is to provide the best possible info to parents of children living w/ the complex condition of cerebral palsy. Visit cerebralpalsyguidance.com/ cerebral-palsy.

CODEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS

CoDA is a 12-step fellowship for people whose common purpose is to develop healthy & fulfilling relationships. By actively working the program of Codependents Anonymous, we can realize a new joy, acceptance & serenity in our lives. Meets Sun. at noon at the Turning Point Center, 179 S. Winooski Ave., Suite 301, Burlington. Info: Tom, 238-3587, coda.org.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS SUPPORT GROUP

The Compassionate Friends international support group for parents, siblings & families grieving the loss of a child meets every 4th Tue. of the mo., 7-9 p.m., at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 160 Hinesburg Rd, S. Burlington.

Support Groups

[CONTINUED]

Call/email Alan at 802-233-0544 alanday88@gmail.com or Claire at 802-448-3569.

DISCOVER THE POWER OF CHOICE!

We welcome anyone, including family & friends, affected by any kind of substance or activity addiction. This is an abstinence-oriented program based on the science of addiction treatment & recovery. Meets are online Sun. at 5 p.m. at the link: meetings.smartrecovery. org/meetings/1868. Face-to-face meetings are 1st & 3rd Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Turning Point of Chittenden County. Meetings for family & friends are online on Mon. at 7 p.m. at the link: meetings/ smartrecovery.org/meetings/6337. Contact volunteer facilitator Bert at 802-399-8754 w/ questions. You can learn more at smartrecovery.org.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT

Steps to End Domestic Violence offers a weekly drop-in support group for female-identified survivors of intimate partner violence, including individuals who are experiencing or have been affected by domestic violence. The support group offers a safe, confidential place for survivors to connect w/ others, to heal & to recover. In support group, participants talk through their experiences & hear stories from others who have experienced abuse in their relationships. Support group is also a resource for those who are unsure of their next step, even if it involves remaining in their current relationship. Tue., 6:30-8 p.m. Childcare is provided. Info: 658-1996.

FAMILY & FRIENDS OF THOSE EXPERIENCING MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

This support group is a dedicated meeting for family, friends & community members who are supporting a loved one through a mental health crisis. Mental health crisis might include extreme states, psychosis, depression, anxiety & other types of distress. The group is a confidential space where family & friends can discuss shared experiences & receive support in an environment free of judgment & stigma w/ a trained facilitator. Wed., 7-8:30 p.m. Downtown Burlington. Info: Jess Horner, LICSW, 866-218-8586.

FAMILY RESTORED: SUPPORT GROUP FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES OF ADDICTS AND ALCOHOLICS

Tues., 6-7 p.m., The Turning Point Center, 179 South Winooski Ave, Burlington. For further info, please visit thefamily restored.org or contact 207-387-0015.

FIERCELY FLAT VT

A breast cancer support group for those who’ve had mastectomies. We are a casual online meeting group found on Facebook at Fiercely Flat VT. Info: stacy.m.burnett@gmail.com.

FOOD ADDICTS IN RECOVERY ANONYMOUS (FA)

Are you having trouble controlling the way you eat? FA is a free 12-step recovery program for anyone suffering from food obsession, overeating, under-eating or bulimia. Local meetings are held twice a week: Mon., 4-5:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Norwich, Vt.; & Wed., 6:30-8 p.m., at Hanover Friends Meeting House, Hanover, N.H. For more info & a list of additional meetings throughout the U.S. & the world, call 603-630-1495 or visit foodaddicts.org.

G.R.A.S.P. (GRIEF RECOVERY AFTER A SUBSTANCE PASSING)

Are you a family member who has lost a loved one to addiction? Find support, peer-led support group. Meets once a mo. on Mon. in Burlington. Please call for date & location. RSVP to mkeasler3@gmail.com or call 310-3301 (message says Optimum Health, but this is a private number).

GRIEF & LOSS SUPPORT GROUP

Sharing your sadness, finding your joy. Please join us as we learn more about our own grief & explore the things that can help us to heal. There is great power in sharing our experiences w/ others who know the pain of the loss of a loved one & healing is possible through the sharing. BAYADA Hospice’s local bereavement support coordinator will facilitate our weekly group through discussion & activities. Everyone from the community is welcome. 1st & last Wed. of every mo. at 4 p.m. via Zoom. To register, please contact bereavement program coordinator Max Crystal, mcrystal@bayada.com or 802-448-1610.

GRIEF SUPPORT GROUPS

Meet every 2nd Mon., 6-7:30 p.m., & every 3rd Wed. from 10-11:30 a.m., at Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice in Berlin. The group is open to the public & free of charge. More info: Diana Moore, 224-2241.

GRIEVING A LOSS SUPPORT GROUP

A retired psychotherapist & an experienced life coach host a free meeting for those grieving the loss of a loved one. The group meets upstairs at All Souls Interfaith Gathering in Shelburne. There is no fee for attending, but donations are gladly accepted. Meetings are held twice a mo., the 1st & 3rd Sat. of every mo. from 10-11:30 a.m. If you are interested in attending, please register at allsoulsinterfaith. org. More information about the group leader at pamblairbooks.com.

HEARING VOICES SUPPORT GROUP

This Hearing Voices Group seeks to find understanding of voice-hearing experiences as real lived experiences that may happen to anyone at any time. We choose to share experiences, support & empathy. We validate anyone’s experience & stories about their experience as their own, as being an honest & accurate representation of their experience, & as being acceptable exactly as they are. Tue., 2-3 p.m. Pathways Vermont Community Center, 279 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington. Info: 802-777-8602, abby@pathwaysvermont.org.

HELLENBACH CANCER SUPPORT

People living w/ cancer & their caretakers convene for support. Call to verify meeting place. Info, 388-6107.

INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS/PAINFUL BLADDER SUPPORT GROUP

Interstitial cystitis (IC) & painful bladder syndrome can result in recurring pelvic pain, pressure or discomfort in the bladder/pelvic region & urinary frequency/ urgency. These are often misdiagnosed & mistreated as a chronic bladder infection. If you have been diagnosed or have these symptoms, you are not alone. For Vermont-based support group, email bladderpainvt@gmail.com or call 899-4151 for more info.

INTUITIVE EATING SUPPORT GROUP

Free weekly peer-led support group for anyone struggling w/ eating &/or body image. The only requirement is a desire to make peace w/ food & your body. Meeting format is: a short reading from Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole

CONTACT CLASSIFIEDS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM OR 802-865-1020 EXT. 115 TO UPDATE YOUR SUPPORT GROUP

& Elyse Resch, 4th edition, followed by open sharing & discussion. Come find community through sharing struggles, experience, strength & hope. Located at the Pickering Room, Fletcher Free Library, Sun. 1-2:30 p.m. Contact 202-553-8953 w/ any questions.

KINDRED CONNECTIONS PROGRAM OFFERED FOR CHITTENDEN COUNTY

CANCER SURVIVORS

The Kindred Connections program provides peer support for all those touched by cancer. Cancer patients, as well as caregivers, are provided w/ a mentor who has been through the cancer experience & knows what it’s like to go through it. In addition to sensitive listening, Kindred Connections provides practical help such as rides to doctors’ offices & meal deliveries. The program has people who have experienced a wide variety of cancers. For further info, please contact info@vcsn.net.

LAUGHTER YOGA

Spontaneous, genuine laughter & gentle breathing for physical & emotional benefit. No yoga mat needed! This group is held every Mon., 2-3 p.m., at Pathways Vermont Community Center, 279 North Winooski Ave., Burlington. Contact Chris Nial for any questions: chrisn@ pathwaysvermont.org.

LGBTQ SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE

The SafeSpace Anti-Violence Program at Pride Center of Vermont offers peer-led support groups for survivors of relationship, dating, emotional &/or hate-violence. These groups give survivors a safe & supportive environment to tell their stories, share info, & offer & receive support. Support groups also provide survivors an opportunity to gain info on how to better cope w/ feelings & experiences that surface because of the trauma they have experienced. Please call SafeSpace at 863-0003 if you are interested in joining.

LGBTQ VETERANS

Share the struggles & celebrate the joys of being a service member & LGBTQIA+ in this peer-led discussion group. Meetings are at the Rainbow Bridge Community Center in Barre on the 2nd & 4th Tue. of each mo. Visit rbccvt.org for more info.

LIVING THROUGH LOSS

Gifford Medical Center is announcing the restart of its grief support group, Living Through Loss. The program is sponsored by the Gifford Volunteer Chaplaincy Program & will meet weekly on Fri., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in Gifford’s Chun Chapel. Meetings will be facilitated by the Rev. Timothy Eberhardt, spiritual care coordinator, & Emily Pizzale MSW, LICSW, a Gifford social worker. Anyone who has experienced a significant loss over the last year or so is warmly invited to attend & should enter through the hospital’s main entrance wearing a mask on the way to the chapel. Meetings will be based on the belief that, while each of us is on a unique journey in life, we all need a safe place to pause, to tell our stories &, especially as we grieve, to receive the support & strength we need to continue along the way.

MARIJUANA ANONYMOUS

Do you have a problem w/ marijuana? MA is a free 12-step program where addicts help other addicts get & stay clean. Ongoing Mon., 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church of Burlington (Red Door Church) 21 Buell St., Burlington. Contact: jointsession@ newenglandma.org.

MYELOMA SUPPORT GROUP

Area myeloma survivors, families & caregivers have come together to form a Multiple Myeloma Support Group. We provide emotional support, resources about treatment options, coping strategies & a support network by participating in the group experience w/ people who have been through similar situations. 3rd Tue. of every mo., 5-6 p.m., at the New Hope Lodge on East Ave. in Burlington. Info: Kay Cromie, 655-9136, kgcromey@aol.com.

NAMI CONNECTION PEER SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS

Weekly virtual meetings. If you have questions about a group in your area, please contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont, program@namivt.org or 800-6396480. Connection groups are peer recovery support group programs for adults living w/ mental health challenges.

NAMI FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP

Weekly virtual & in-person meetings. ASL interpreters avail. upon request. Family Support Group meetings are for family & friends of individuals living w/ mental illness. If you have questions about a group in your area, please contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont, info@namivt.org or 800-639-6480.

NARCONON SUNCOAST DRUG & ALCOHOL REHABILITATION & EDUCATION

Narconon reminds families that overdoses due to an elephant tranquilizer known as Carfentanil have been on the rise in nearly every community nationwide. Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid painkiller 100 times more powerful than fentanyl & 1,000 times stronger than heroin. A tiny grain of it is enough to be fatal. To learn more about carfentanil abuse & how to help your loved one, visit narconon-suncoast.org/drug-abuse/ parents-get-help.html. Addiction screenings: Narconon can help you take steps to overcome addiction in your family. Call today for a no-cost screening or referral: 1-877-841-5509.

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS is a group of recovering addicts who live without the use of drugs. It costs nothing to join. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using. Held in Burlington, Barre & St. Johnsbury. Info, 862-4516 or cvana.org.

NARCANON BURLINGTON GROUP Group meets every Mon. at 7 p.m., at the Turning Point Center, 179 S. Winooski Ave., Suite 301, Burlington. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. Info: Amanda H., 338-8106.

NEW (& EXPECTING) MAMAS & PAPAS! EVERY PRIMARY CAREGIVER TO A BABY!

The Children’s Room invites you to join our weekly drop-in support group. Come unwind & discuss your experiences & questions around infant care & development, self-care & postpartum healing, & community resources for families w/ babies. Tea & snacks provided. Thu., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Bring your babies! (Newborn through crawling stage.) Located in Thatcher Brook Primary School, 47 Stowe St., childrensroom online.org. Contact childrensroom@ wwsu.org or 244-5605.

NORTHWEST VERMONT CANCER PRAYER & SUPPORT NETWORK

A meeting of cancer patients, survivors & family members intended to comfort

& support those who are currently suffering from the disease. 2nd Thu. of every mo., 6-7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 11 Church St., St. Albans. Info: stpaulum@ myfairpoint.net. 2nd Wed. of every mo., 6-7:30 p.m., Winooski United Methodist Church, 24 W. Allen St., Winooski. Info: hovermann4@comcast.net.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS (OA)

A 12-step program for people who identify as overeaters, compulsive eaters, food addicts, anorexics, bulimics, etc. No matter what your problem w/ food, we have a solution! All are welcome, meetings are open, & there are no dues or fees. See oavermont. org/meeting-list for the current meeting list, meeting format & more; or call 802-863-2655 anytime!

PONDERING GENDER & SEXUALITY

Pondering Gender & Sexuality is a twice-monthly facilitated mutual support group for folks of any identity (whether fully formed or a work in progress) who want to engage in meaningful conversations about gender, sexuality & sexual orientation, &/or the coming-out process. Discussions can range from the personal to the philosophical & beyond as we work together to create a compassionate, safe & courageous space to explore our experiences. The group will be held on the 2nd Sun. & 4th Tue. of every mo., 1-2:30 p.m., either virtually or at Pride Center of Vermont. Email pgs@ pridecentervt.org for more info or w/ questions!

POTATO INTOLERANCE SUPPORT GROUP

Anyone coping w/ potato intolerance & interested in joining a support group, contact Jerry Fox, 48 Saybrook Rd., Essex Junction, VT 05452.

QUEER CARE GROUP

This support group is for adult family members & caregivers of queer &/or questioning youth. It is held on the 2nd Mon. of every mo., 6:30-8 p.m., at Outright Vermont, 241 N. Winooski Ave. This group is for adults only. For more info, email info@outrightvt.org.

READY TO BE TOBACCO-FREE GROUPS

Join a free 4-5-week group workshop facilitated by our coaches, who are certified in tobacco treatment. We meet in a friendly, relaxed & virtual atmosphere. You may qualify for a free limited supply of nicotine replacement therapy. Info: call 802-847-7333 or email quittobaccoclass@uvmhealth. org to get signed up, or visit myhealthyvt.org to learn more about upcoming workshops!

RECOVERING FROM RELIGION

Meets on the 2nd Tue. of every mo., 6-8 p.m., at Brownell Public Library, 6 Lincoln St., Essex Jct., unless there’s inclement weather or the date falls on a holiday. Attendees can remain anonymous if they so choose & are not required to tell their story if they do not wish to, but everyone will be welcome to do so. The primary focus of a Recovering From Religion support group is to provide ongoing & personal support to individuals as they let go of their religious beliefs. This transitional period is an ongoing process that can result in a range of emotions, as well as a ripple effect of consequences throughout an individual’s life. As such, the support meetings are safe & anonymous places to express these doubts, fears & experiences without biased feedback or proselytizing. We are here to help each other through this journey. Free.

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

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

YOUR TRUSTED LOCAL SOURCE. JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Aids & Appliances Clerk

Aids and Appliance Clerk needed for the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in our South Burlington office. Duties include ordering, shipping, receiving, and inventory recordkeeping for the Agency’s materials and equipment. Applicant should possess strong computer and organizational skills and be detail-oriented; database experience is desirable but will train. This position is 30 hours per week and includes an excellent benefits package. E.O.E. Email resume to mfox@vabvi.org.

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Packaging & Fulfillment

Crew Member

Vermont Compost Company is seeking a team-oriented individual to join our packaging and fulfillment crew. This person must enjoy working outside in various weather conditions, have experience (or a willingness to learn) operating front end loaders, and the ability to perform physical tasks such as lifting up to 60 lbs. Successful candidates share a love for the environment, a passion for organic growing, a sense of humor & a strong desire to make a positive impact on our world.

Full-time/year round position starting at $18 hour plus a generous benefits package. Position is based in Montpelier, VT and most work will be performed during regular business hours, Mon-Fri.

Please submit your resume and cover letter to jobs@vermontcompost.com, or mail to Vermont Compost Company, 1996 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05602.

Are you a versatile and passionate marketing and communication s professional?

JOIN OUR DYNAMIC TEAM as a Marketing and Communications Associate, where you’ll craft engaging content, manage social media, and support marketing campaigns. Ideal candidates will have some marketing experience, strong skills across various platforms, and the ability to quickly adapt to new tools. If this sounds like a good fit for you, please visit vermontcf.org/careers to review the complete job description and instructions for applying.

Warren Store Manager

Grants & Development Manager

Hunger Free Vermont is adding a full-time member to our innovative Development Team. Help shape our success by writing stand-out grants, meeting fundraising goals and financially powering our work to end the injustice of hunger for everyone. 2-4 years’ experience in nonprofits, fundraising, sales & marketing, or other relevant fields required. For full job description to apply: hungerfreevt.org/employment

We are currently hiring a full-time Store Manager at our General Store, Deli, bakery, and Grocery in the village of Warren, VT. We make artisan breads and pastries with organic and local flour every day, serve savory lunch offerings for selfservice and to-go dining, retail food and wine, and work to be a memorable part of every customer’s day.

We are looking for someone who can work both independently and as a team member and who is committed to producing high-quality, consistent work. We need someone who has experience leading a team, training, developing, and inspiring individuals to be their best!

Pay: $60,000 - $70,000 per year

Benefits: Employee discount • Health insurance Paid time off •Paid training • Housing Available Send resumes to: brooks@pitcherinn.com

Director of Communications (HYBRID)

Are you a bold, creative thinker interested in leveraging your skills and experience to tell the story of a violence-free Vermont? The Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence is seeking an imaginative and detailoriented person who is passionate about ending gender-based violence to be our Director of Communications. Our ideal candidate is an impeccable communicator who is excited about creating, developing and executing multi-channel communications efforts including web, video, social media, email and print.

The Vermont Network is an amazing place to work – we prioritize the wellbeing of our staff, take our culture seriously, think big and orient toward what is possible. Minimum of 3-5 years’ communications experience. $60,000 - $90,000 - position budgeted at mid-pay range. Scan QR code for full job description:

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Long-Term Care OMBUDSMAN

Vermont Legal Aid seeks a full or part-time Long-Term Care Ombudsman in Bennington County, VT

General responsibilities: Advocate for the rights and well-being of residents in long-term care facilities and other long-term care recipients. Identify, investigate, and help resolve complaints made by, or for, individuals receiving long-term care. Visit long-term care facilities to talk with residents and monitor conditions. Empower long-term care recipients to direct their own care. See vtlegalaid. org/vop-ltcombudsman for details

Full-time starting salary is $48,200, with additional salary credit given for relevant prior work experience. Full-time hours are 37.5 per week. Part-time salary is based on the proportion of full-time hours worked.

Signiﬁcant in-state travel in a personal vehicle required (mileage reimbursed).

Application deadline is September 9, 2024. Your application should include a cover letter, resume, and three professional references with contact information, sent as a single PDF. Applicants must be able to pass conﬂict of interest review and background check.

Email your application to hiring@vtlegalaid.org; include in the subject line your name and “VOP Ombudsman September 2024.” Please let us know how you heard about this position.

Climate Action Manager

Are you passionate about environmental sustainability and ready to lead the charge in climate action? The City of South Burlington is seeking a dynamic and innovative Climate Action Manager to join our dedicated team. This is your chance to make a tangible difference in our community and help shape a greener, more resilient future.

As the Climate Action Manager, you will be at the forefront of our city’s strategies and programs addressing climate change and promoting sustainability. You will report directly to the City Manager and will be a member of the Leadership team.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Urban Planning, Public Policy, or a related field required, plus at least 3 years of professional work experience in climate action planning, sustainability, or a related field required, equivalency considered. Master’s degree and professional accreditation are preferred.

SALARY RANGE: $70,000-$80,000 annually

APPLY NOW: Review of on-line applications will begin September 16, 2024. To apply, learn more about the position, and see a complete job description and our Climate Action Plan please visit: governmentjobs.com/careers/southburlington

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE

Grafton, VT - Hybrid work arrangements are possible.

As the senior financial and accounting professional within the organization, the Director of Finance has responsibility for managing and overseeing all financial and accounting activities of the Foundation. This role encompasses financial reporting, operational budget management, cash flow oversight, internal control implementation, investment management, and management of the Foundation’s insurance programs.

The Director of Finance will report directly to the Executive Director of the Windham Foundation. The position is in the beautiful New England small town of Grafton, Vermont. Hybrid work arrangements are possible.

Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting required; CPA preferred.

• Five years or more of related experience required.

• Strong supervisory, leadership, and verbal & written communication skills.

• Ability to lead and mentor a highly motivated, small staff to improve accounting functions.

• Proficiency in accounting software and Microsoft Office Suite. Experience with ERP and Hospitality systems preferred.

• Experience with leveraging technology to creatively solve problems and enhance productivity within accounting processes.

• Experience producing high-level Financial Statements and knowledge of accounting functions.

• Warm, authentic, kind, and natural style of interacting with colleagues and stakeholders.

• Capacity to be passionate about the Foundation’s mission.

We offer a competitive benefits package. And there are more benefits that you will only find with us!

Please send letter of interest and resume to karen.murray@ windham-foundation.org or apply at windham-foundation.org

Client Service Coordinator

Catamount Color is a leading provider of high-quality printing services.

BENEFITS:

• Opportunities for professional development

• Competitive salary

• Health & dental insurance

• Paid time off & holidays

For more details go to: bit.ly/3AIJZJH

Apply: info@ catamountcolor.com

Heavy Equipment Operator

Richmond

Highway Department

Seeking an energetic, patient and wellorganized person to fill position of Heavy Equipment Operator, a permanent full-time 40 hour per week position with seasonal overtime requirement. Individual must enjoy working outdoors in all types of weather conditions and show an attention to detail and ability to complete job duties in a timely manner. Applicant must possess a Minimum Class B CDL. Dump truck operation and snow plowing experience preferred.

For details vist: richmondvt.gov under “Departments > Job Listings.” Wage is dependent upon qualifications and experience; retirement and health benefits are available.

Please send cover letter, resume and 3 current references to: “Equipment Operator” c/o Town Administrator, P.O. Box 285, Richmond, VT, 05477. The position will remain open until filled. Questions for highway position may be directed to Pete Gosselin, Richmond Road Foreman, (802) 434-2631

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Lead Generation Specialist

PHYSICAL and OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS

We are hiring Physical and Occupational Therapists. Join our Rehab Department at Copley Hospital located in Morrisville, just outside of Stowe, VT.

Full-time, part-time, and per diem schedules available on our friendly, close-knit team!

For more information visit copleyvt.org/careers or contact Kaitlyn Shannon, Recruiter, at 802-888-8144 or kshannon@chsi.org.

Chief of Advancement

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Optician or Optician Trainee

Busy primary care optometry office looking to hire a licensed optician (or trainee) either full time or part time. We are open M-F 8am- 6pm. Choose between Four 10 hour days or Five 8 hour days. We are looking to hire for personality first. Must be good with people. We are happy to train the right candidate.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $20.00-$25.00/hour

Approx. hours: 32-40/week

Benefits: Flexible schedule, Health Insurance ,HSA, 401K, Professional development assistance, Vision/ eyeglass benefit

Send resumes to: mleipert@oeberlin.com

The Lead Generation Specialist is crucial in prospecting and nurturing sales leads. This position involves using and managing lead database programs to prospect new customers and construction projects. Once new prospects are identiﬁed, the role's primary focus shifts to building relationships and providing excellent, knowledgeable service to all prospects until they are transferred to customer service.

Alpine SnowGuards is a 100% employee-owned snow guard manufacturer in Morrisville, VT. Enjoy a comfortable and friendly working environment, competitive wages, excellent health care benefits, paid time off, and the opportunity to financially benefit from the company's growth and strong profit margins.

You can see the full description of the job at: alpinesnowguards.com/careers

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Vermont Studio Center (VSC) seeks a visionary and strategic leader to join our senior leadership team as the Chief of Advancement. This role encompasses oversight and strategic direction for all development, communications, alumni relations, and admissions activities. The Chief of Advancement will spearhead efforts to diversify funding resources and enhance institutional engagement, ensuring alignment with VSC’s mission and strategic objectives. The Vermont Studio Center, an international creative community for artists and writers, exists to support intensive, disciplined studio work. VSC provides an optimal creative atmosphere for two-week to three-month residencies. Position is located at our Johnson, Vermont campus with frequent (up to 50% of time) travel as needed.

Starting salary: $115,000

Job description: vermontstudiocenter.org/jobs-at-vsc

Please submit your resume, cover letter, and references to Melanie Clark: jobs@vermontstudiocenter.org

Why not have a job you love?

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Make a career making a di erence & receive a benefit package that includes 29 paid days off in the first year, comprehensive health insurance with premium as low as $13 per month, up to $6,400 to go towards medical deductibles and copays, retirement match, generous sign on bonus and so much more. And that’s on top of working at one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for six years in a row.

Great positions to start your career in human services or to continue your work in this ﬁeld. Send resume to sta @ccs-vt.org ccs-vt.org

Certified / Experienced Vet Tech

Have a passion for cats? Candidates should possess their veterinary technician certification and 5+ years’ experience working as a technician. In addition to certification and experience, candidates should have technical skill proficiency including, but not limited to, the ability to perform venipuncture, IV catheter placement, experience in surgery and working with anesthesia, knowledge, and experience with various diagnostics.

We have a market competitive pay & benefits package that includes PTO, insurance, and potential for relocation assistance for qualified applicants. Please send resume to caylin@cb-strategies.com with subject title: Affectionately Cats Tech Salary: $17.00 - $28.00/hr. dependent upon qualification. Benefits for full time employees. E.O.E.

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

Registered Nurse

Perfect job for the Registered Nurse that is looking for flexibility in their workdays. No weekends or holidays, friendly inviting atmosphere with a high standard of care that provides caregivers much needed respite and participants a positive social experience. Competitive salary and benefits are offered.

The Registered Nurse (RN) conducts assessments and assists with the development of plans of care. They lead the enrollment process for new participants working with social workers from other agencies and assist to find the best funding plan options for participants and their families. They provide assessment, evaluating and documenting the ongoing services provided for each participant, and provide instruction and supervision to all direct care staff regarding each participant's health care needs and nutritional needs and delegating nursing tasks as appropriate, and practices according to the standards for registered nurses as identified in the Vermont Nurse Practices Act. The RN also manages our robust staff training program.

Please send your resume to nicole@carepartnersvt.org

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Administrative Clerk

Town Clerk’s Office

The Town of Stowe is seeking an Administrative Clerk who is dedicated, friendly, customer service oriented with keen attention to detail. This position provides clerical and general administrative support to the Town Clerk’s Office and serves as the first point of contact for visitors and those seeking assistance. The individual selected will have excellent computer skills, be self-motivated with the ability to work independently, and will have demonstrated sound judgement and a high degree of professionalism.

Marketing Assistant

We’re seeking a full-time marketing assistant to help with content creation, socials, email marketing, digital ad design, and video creation.

You can see the full description of the job at alpinesnowguards.com/ careers.

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Responsibilities of the Administrative Clerk include, but are not limited to, providing exceptional customer service, assisting with elections and voter registration, serving as US Passport Agent, assisting in maintaining and researching land records, notarizing documents, issuing dog and hunting & fishing licenses, and processing deposits. Occasional afterhours and evening work will be required.

High school diploma and two years of experience in an office setting with light bookkeeping preferred, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Must pass training and become certified as US Passport Agent. The pay range is $21.37 to $25.36, depending upon qualifications.

The Town of Stowe currently offers an excellent benefit package including BCBS health plans with low employee premium share, dental insurance, generous paid leave, VMERS pension plan, life insurance and more. Come grow with Stowe!

Job description and employment application can be obtained at: townofstowevt.org. Submit letter of interest, resume and employment application to: Town of Stowe, c/o HR Director, PO Box 730, Stowe, VT 05672 or by email recruit@stowevt.gov. Applications will be reviewed beginning September 6, 2024.

Asset Specialist

4 Days a Week (Onsite). Flexible hours. $750 Sign-on Bonus with potential for Full-Time. Play a vital role in supporting our assets and logistics operations.

Tour Management Specialist

Part Time-3 Days a Week (Onsite)- $500 Sign-on Bonus. Flexible hours. Responsible for assisting and supporting the pre and post-tour vendor communications

TO APPLY

Full job descriptions can be found at: www.gosojourn.com/jobs/

Please submit your application to jobs@gosojourn.com We will carefully review all applications and reach out to qualiﬁed candidates for further evaluation.

WE’RE HIRING!

If you are a highly-organized relationship-builder and would like to be a part of changing lives through philanthropy, we invite you to consider applying for the following openings:

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT EVENTS will plan, coordinate, support, and execute events related to fundraising and development on behalf of the University of Vermont Foundation, helping to create opportunities for meaningful connections with donors.

PROGRAM COORDINATOR FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS will provide administrative, programmatic, and event support to the UVM Alumni Relations team, helping to strengthen and sustain engagement among alumni, friends & donors of the University.

To learn more, visit uvmfoundation.org/careers

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Union Bank, your hometown community bank since 1891, is an employer of choice in the markets we serve. We offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities and are currently seeking a motivated individual to join our Wealth Management team.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT- WEALTH MANAGEMENT

We are seeking a motivated individual for a full-time Administrative Assistant position in our Wealth Management department. This individual will be responsible for providing a variety of operational, clerical, secretarial, and support services to the Wealth Advisors.

Knowledge of banking services and, preferably, trust products desired. The right candidate must possess excellent secretarial, clerical and customer service skills. This person must also be technologically adept and have a continuous desire to learn.

Union Bank offers a generous and comprehensive benefits program for full time employees, including two options of medical insurance coverage, two for dental insurance, a robust 401(k) plan with a generous company match, partially paid life and disability insurance, and paid time off.

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to:

Human Resources - Union Bank P.O. Box 667, Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 www.ublocal.com/careers

Pre-Press Technician

Catamount Color is a leading provider of high-quality printing services.

BENEFITS:

• Opportunities for professional development

• Competitive salary

• Health & dental insurance

• Paid time off & holidays

For more details go to: bit.ly/4dPMIiX

Apply: info@ catamountcolor.com

BUSINESS OPERATIONS & STRATEGY DIRECTOR

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree is required; an advanced degree (MBA and/or MS or PhD in life sciences or related field) is preferred

About BioLabs: BioInnovation Labs (BioLabs), established in 2009 and headquartered in Cambridge, MA, is the premier network of co-working spaces for life science startups. We are enabling innovation to make the world a better place through interaction with the smartest and most motivated people in the world. Through a rapidly growing network of global locations (currently 11 in the US and 3 in Europe), our collaborative lab space model is uniquely designed for scientific entrepreneurs to test, develop, grow, and commercialize their game-changing ideas. Each location supports entrepreneurial scientists with premium, fully equipped, and supported laboratory and office spaces, alongside unparalleled access to capital and industry.

BioLabs provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. For more information, visit: go.uvm.edu/biolabs

Hazardous Waste & Latex Paint Operator

Full Time

CSWD is seeking a highly motivated individual to assist with the collection and processing of household hazardous waste and small business hazardous waste at the Environmental Depot & Rover.

The ideal candidate will be selfmotivated, enjoy working with the public and be able to work independently in a physically demanding setting. This is a fulltime position (Tues-Sat, 7:30-3:30) with a starting pay rate between $24-$26/hour and includes an excellent benefit package.

For more information on the positions and CSWD, visit cswd. net/about-cswd/job-openings

Submit application or resume to Amy Jewell: ajewell@cswd.net This position is open until filled.

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Administrative Assistant

Seeking a contractual, part-time Administrative Assistant to support the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) Board of Directors. Position is 8 -14 hr/week on average (remote).

Tasks include:

• Scheduling and attending monthly Board and Development Committee meetings online

• Responding to email queries

• Assisting with bookkeeping, check-writing and invoice preparation

• Preparing event flyers, newsletters, award letters, and thank you letters

• Making website updates and corrections

• Supporting fundraising efforts including draft grant applications

• Providing logistical support for annual member meetings

• Distributing New Inductee and Teacher-of-the-Year nomination materials to the Board

• Organizing and monitoring Grants and Sponsorships filing records electronically and on occasion, in hard copy

Required Skills:

• Facility with Microsoft Office, Zoom, Google docs, QuickBooks, and WIX

• A successful administrative assistant anticipates needs, monitors schedules, and is a well-organized self-starter that takes initiative as well as direction.

Send inquiries, letters of interest & resume to: VTSCIENG@gmail.com. Applications will be accepted thru October 1, 2024.

Audiologist Can you hear me?

Hearing and communication is vital to connection with family and friends, work and community - and YOU have the ability to shape the lives of those in need. Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) seeks a full-time Audiologist for our ENT & Audiology practice. Work with a team of committed professionals in a mixed specialty practice offering ENT, Audiology, Allergy, Speech-Language Pathology, and Palliative Care to perform diagnostic testing for all ages. Collaborate with ENT providers and Hearing Instrument Specialist, as well as manage hearing aid services, including assessments, fittings, and repairs. Located in Vermont’s beautiful Northeast Kingdom, NVRH offers competitive wages, student loan repayment, generous paid time off, and a comprehensive benefits package. Join us in providing exceptional patient-centered care that really makes a difference!

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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.

STAFF ATTORNEY IV – MONTPELIER

The Department of Economic Development seeks an experienced Staff Attorney IV to provide a range of legal advice and services that will aid the Department in managing numerous programs supported through one-time state and federal funding streams. Candidates must have a law degree from an accredited law school and must be admitted, or eligible to be admitted, to the Vermont Bar. Would you like to put your legal skills to work to help improve the economic prosperity of Vermont? Apply now! For more information, contact Joan Goldstein at joan.goldstein@vermont.gov. Department Commerce & Community Development. Location: Montpelier. Status: Full Time, Limited Service. Job ID #50649. Application Deadline: September 6, 2024.

more at:

Vermont

GO HIRE.

ATTORNEY

Bergeron Paradis & Fitzpatrick PC seeks a full-time associate attorney to join our general practice in Essex Junction, Vt. The ideal candidate has at least 5 years of litigation experience, excellent organizational and communication skills, a very good sense of humor and the desire to be part of a team committed to providing top quality legal services to our clients.

Applicants, please email a cover letter and resumé to: rbeane@bpflegal.com.

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Job Recruiters:

• Post jobs using a form that includes key info about your company and open positions (location, application deadlines, video, images, etc.).

• Accept applications and manage the hiring process via our applicant tracking tool.

• Easily manage your open job listings from your recruiter dashboard.

Get a quote when you post online or contact Michelle Brown: 865-1020, ext. 121, michelle@sevendaysvt.com.

Job Seekers:

• Search for jobs by keyword, location, category and job type.

• Set up job alert emails using custom search criteria.

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• Apply for jobs directly through the site. jobs.sevendaysvt.com

Home Health Aide

Working with a 37year-old male with traumatic brain injury.

Details:

9 hours, Tuesday and Thursday. $25/hour, paid training. Need updated vaccinations & background check required. Provide resume and references.

If interested, contact: wigetsch@yahoo.com.

Shared Living Providers

Work with our team of professionals, to help someone live a safe and fulfilling life at home and in the community. A variety of positions are available and include a generous sign on bonus and stipend, assistance with necessary home modifications, comprehensive training & supports. The perfect match for you and your household awaits!

Support a personable gentleman in your accessible home. He enjoys socializing, wood-working, accessing the community and being a part of an active household. The ideal candidate will support him with activities of daily living and finding new adventures.

Provide a home for a fun gentleman who enjoys being out and about with his friends. The ideal candidate will support him in being safe while he is living the life he enjoys.

Live with an individual who enjoys watching gameshows, relaxing at home and going out to coffee shops. The ideal candidate will be flexible, patient and have the desire to make a difference in someone’s life. This is a great solution for housing and employment.

JENNIFER WOLCOTT AT 802-655-0511 TO JOIN OUR TEAM.

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Delivery driver [non-CDL] / Warehouse Assistant

As we continue to grow as Vermont’s premier fine wine distributor, we are looking to bring on the right person for a dynamic delivery driver position to represent us with our customers.

We're looking for a dependable delivery driver who will enjoy a 4-day work week driving around the beautiful countryside of Vermont in one of our new vans. As a team member at 802 Distributors, you can take pride in delivering wines from all over the world and servicing our customers with strong interpersonal skills and a positive attitude. This opportunity is great for someone who seeks a balance of working face-to-face with customers and having time to themselves.

Deputy Manager

Full time

Under broad policy guidance from the Town Manager, this position is responsible for performing general administrative assignments including oversight of the personnel program, conducting contract negotiations with employee organizations and representing the Town in related employee-employer matters. The Deputy Manager plans and supervises studies or activities on major technical and policy problems and assists or acts for the Town Manager in the administrative management of Town operations. This position takes the lead in all Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) initiatives in the Town. This position provides oversight to all Town Departments and is second in command behind the Town Manager. Serves as acting Town Manager in their absence.

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Lawn Care Workers

FT/PT - $18-24/hour + bonuses for those that stay on till the end of the season! Burds' Lawn Care is looking to grow our team with hardworking individuals who love the outdoors! The work includes: mowing, trimming, leaf-blowing, and much more!

If interested send your name, number, why you want this job, and 2 references, to burdslawncarevt@gmail.com or call 802-777-9131

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Candidates should have at least some experience in:

• Delivery or work-related driving experience (+1 year preferred)

• Customer service experience (+1 year preferred)

• Working knowledge of Google maps (or equivalent app)

• Knowledge of Vermont’s main roads and towns

• Ability to lift at least 50 lbs regularly

Additional things that will only help:

• An interest in wine or the wine industry

• Dependable and good attention to details

• Clean driving record

• Knowledge of Vermont geography

• Enjoys listening to podcasts, audiobooks, scenic drives

Tuesday – Friday schedule, Compensation is competitive. CDL is NOT required. This is a Full time, year-round position. Apply at: 802Careers@gmail.com

The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree and/ or master’s degree with major course work in public or business administration, political science, public policy, finance, or a related field, or designation as an ICMACredentialed Manager, as well as at least 3 years of relevant experience. The approximate salary range is $95,000 to $115,000 per year with the actual starting salary based on qualifications and experience. This is a full-time, non-union, exempt position. The Town of Essex offers a competitive benefits package to include: generous vacation and sick accruals, VMERS C Retirement Plan, MVP Health Insurance, health savings accounts, employer-paid Dental and Vision insurance, Short Term and Long Term Disability, Life and AD&D Insurance, and optional Missionsquare 457 and Roth IRA Retirement plans.

The full job posting, and job description, can be found online at: essexvt.bamboohr.com/careers/136

The Town of Essex is an equal opportunity employer.

CONTACT

Burlington Housing Authority (BHA)

Are you interested in a job that helps your community and makes a difference in people’s lives every day? Consider joining Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) in Burlington, VT to continue BHA’s success in promoting innovative solutions that address housing instability challenges facing our diverse population of low-income families and individuals.

We are currently hiring for the following positions:

Building Operations Technician:

Performs general maintenance work in BHA owned and managed properties. This includes building exteriors, common areas, apartments, building systems, fixtures, and grounds. Our Building Operations Techs are required to participate in the on-call rotation, which covers night and weekend emergencies.

Housing Retention Services – Site

Based: Responsible for supporting those who have mental health and substance use challenges and/or who have moved from homelessness to Bobbin Mill, Wharf Lane, and other BHA properties. The position works closely with property management and other site-based staff to identify challenges and respond with appropriate direct service and coordination of community services, with a goal of eviction prevention and facilitating a healthy tenancy.

Resident Manager: Resident Manager for our Bishop Place apartment building community located at 10 North Champlain St in Burlington, Vermont. Our Resident Managers are on call after BHA regular business hours to attend to various resident requests, any site-based emergency, community room cleaning duties, and other duties as assigned. Resident Managers must live on-site and in exchange for being on call, the Resident Manager is given a free apartment with utilities included.

*BHA serves a diverse population of tenants and partners with a variety of community agencies. To most effectively carry out our vision of delivering safe and affordable housing to all, we are committed to

cultivating a staff that reflects varied lived experiences, viewpoints, and educational histories. Therefore, we strongly encourage candidates from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and women to apply. Multilingualism is a plus!

Our robust benefit package includes premium medical insurance with a health reimbursement account, dental, vision, short and long term disability, 10% employer funded retirement plan, 457 retirement plan, accident insurance, life insurance, cancer and critical illness insurance.

We provide a generous time off policy including 12 days of paid time off and 12 days of sick time in the first year. In addition to the paid time off, BHA recognizes 13 (paid) holidays and 2 (paid) floating cultural holidays.

Interested in this opportunity? Send cover letter/resume to: humanresources@ burlingtonhousing.org.

Human Resources

Burlington Housing Authority 65 Main Street, Suite 101 Burlington, VT 05401

To find more information about these career opportunities, please visit: burlingtonhousing.org

BHA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Account Director

Community Support

Charming woman with autism seeks someone to provide community supports. She enjoys puzzles, walks, routines, getting take-out from her favorite restaurants. This position is flexible 20-25 hours per week of daytime supports. Starting wage $25/hour. Contact Paul at 802-734-6321

2v-PlaceCreative022124 1 2/19/24 12:20 PM

Cooperative Housing Specialist

Vermont

New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC) Program.

Work with residents of Manufactured Home

Communities to purchase their parks and run them cooperatively. Job description and application: cdi.coop/careers

2v-ChamplainCommServicesAUTISM082824.indd 1 8/26/24 1:27

2v-CDI082824.indd 1 8/23/24 11:54

Field Producer

Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) is looking for motivated professionals to capture high quality video and audio of community meetings 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 selfmotivation and creative problemsolving abilities. If interested in joining the LCATV team, please email your résumé to buddy@lcatv.org

For more details: lcatv.org/jobs-lcatv-1

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

2v-LCATV082824.indd 1 8/26/24 11:25 AM

POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB

PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X121, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

fun stuff

JEN SORENSEN

HARRY BLISS

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

JOHN KLOSSNER

VIRGO

(AUG. 23-SEP. 22)

When an infant giraffe leaves its mother’s womb, it falls six feet to the ground. I suspect that when you are reborn sometime soon, Virgo, a milder and more genial jolt will occur. It may even be quite rousing and inspirational — not rudely bumpy at all. By the way, the plunge of the baby giraffe snaps its umbilical cord and stimulates the creature to take its initial breaths — getting it ready to begin its life journey. I suspect your genial jolt will bring comparable benefits.

ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 19): Although there are more than 7,000 varieties of apples, your grocery store probably offers no more than 15. But you shouldn’t feel deprived. Having 15 alternatives is magnificent. In fact, most of us do better in dealing with a modicum of choices rather than an extravagant abundance. This is true not just about apples but also about most things. I mention this, Aries, because now is an excellent time to pare down your options in regard to all of your resources and influences. You will function best if you’re not overwhelmed with possibilities. You will thrive as you experiment with the principle that less is more.

TAURUS (Apr. 20-May 20): Taurus comedian Jerry Seinfeld, now 70 years old, has testified, “As a child, the only clear thought I had was ‘get candy.’” I encourage you to be equally single-minded in the near future, Taurus. Not necessarily about candy — but about good-

ies that appeal to your inner child as well as your inner teenager and inner adult. You are authorized by cosmic forces to go in quest of experiences that tickle your bliss.

GEMINI (May 21-Jun. 20): I’m not saying I would refuse to hire a Gemini person to house-sit while I’m on vacation. You folks probably wouldn’t let my houseplants die, allow raccoons to sneak in and steal food, or leave piles of unwashed dishes in the sink. On the other hand, I’m not entirely confident you would take impeccable care of my home in every little way. But wait! Everything I just said does not apply to you now. My analysis of the omens suggests you will have a high aptitude for the domestic arts in the coming weeks. You will be more likely than usual to take good care of my home — and your own home, too. It’s a good time to redecorate and freshen up the vibe.

CANCER (Jun. 21-Jul. 22): These days, you are even smarter and more perceptive than usual. The deep intelligence of your higher self is pouring into your conscious awareness with extra intensity. That’s a good thing, right? Yes, mostly. But there may be a downside: You could be hyperaware of people whose thinking is mediocre and whose discernment is substandard. That could be frustrating, though it also puts you in a good position to correct mistakes those people make. As you wield the healing power of your wisdom, heed these words from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Misunderstandings and lethargy produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do.”

LEO (Jul. 23-Aug. 22): Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had an older sister, born under the sign of Leo. Her nickname was Nannerl. During their childhoods, she was as much a musical prodigy as he. Supervised by their father, they toured Europe performing together, playing harpsichord and piano. Nannerl periodically got top billing, and some critics regarded her as the superior talent. But misfortune struck when her parents decided it was unseemly for her, as a female, to continue her development as a genius. She was forcibly retired so she could learn the arts of housekeeping

and prepare for marriage and children. Your assignment in the coming months, Leo, is to rebel against any influence that tempts you to tamp down your gifts and specialties. Assert your sovereignty. Identify what you do best, and do it more and better than you ever have before.

LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22): Many people living in the Napo province of Ecuador enjoy eating a dish called ukuy, which is a Kichwa word for large ants. This is not an exotic meal for them. They may cook the ukuy or simply eat the creatures alive. If you travel to Napo anytime soon, Libra, I urge you to sample the ukuy According to my reading of the astrological omens, such an experiment is in alignment with the kinds of experiences you Libras should be seeking: outside your usual habits, beyond your typical expectations and in amused rebellion against your customary way of doing things.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The theory of karma suggests that all our actions, good and bad and in between, send ripples out into the world. These ripples eventually circle back to us, ensuring we experience events that mirror our original actions. If we lie and cheat, we will be lied to and cheated on. If we give generously and speak kindly about other people, we will be the recipient of generosity and kind words. I bring this up, Scorpio, because I believe you will soon harvest a slew of good karma that you have set in motion through your generosity and kindness. It may sometimes seem as if you’re getting more benevolence than you deserve, but in my estimation, it’s all well earned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I encourage you to buy yourself fun presents that give you a feisty boost. Why? Because I want you to bring an innovative, starting-fresh spirit into the ripening projects you are working on. Your attitude and approach could become too serious unless you infuse them with the spunky energy of an excitable kid. Gift suggestions: new music that makes you feel wild; new jewelry or clothes that make you feel daring; new tools that raise your confidence; and new information that stirs your creativity.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): On a Tuesday in August 2012 — one full Jupiter cycle ago — a Capricorn friend of mine called in sick to his job as a marketing specialist. He never returned. Instead, after enjoying a week off to relax, he began working to become a dance instructor. After six months, he was teaching novice students. Three years later, he was proficient enough to teach advanced students, and five years later, he was an expert. I am not advising you, Capricorn, to quit your job and launch your own quixotic quest for supremely gratifying work. But if you were ever going to start taking small steps toward that goal, now would be a good time. It’s also a favorable phase to improve the way your current job works for you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Three years ago, an Indonesian man celebrated his marriage to a rice cooker, which is a kitchen accessory. Khoirul Anam wore his finest clothes while his new spouse donned a white veil. In photos posted on social media, the happy couple are shown hugging and kissing. Now might also be a favorable time for you to wed your fortunes more closely with a valuable resource — though there’s no need to perform literal nuptials. What material thing helps bring out the best in you? If there is no such thing, now would be a good time to get it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): For many years, I didn’t earn enough money to pay taxes. I was indigent. Fortunately, social programs provided me with food and some medical care. In recent years, though, I have had a better cash flow. I regularly send the U.S. government a share of my income. I wish it would spend all my tax contributions to help people in need. Alas, just 42 percent of my taxes pay for acts of kindness to my fellow humans, while 24 percent goes to funding the biggest military machine on earth. Maybe someday there will be an option to allocate my tax donations exactly as I want. In this spirit, Pisces, I invite you to take inventory of the gifts and blessings you dole out. Now is a good time to correct any dubious priorities. Take steps to ensure that your generosity is going where it’s most needed and appreciated. What kind of giving makes you feel best?

Summersweet Garden Nursery in East Hardwick, formerly known as Perennial Pleasures Nursery, was founded by Rachel Kane in 1980. She grows about 800 varieties of plants and serves an English cream tea to visitors. Seven Days’ Eva Sollberger got a garden tour from Kane and made some friends at teatime.

WOMEN seeking...

PLAYFUL, THOUGHTFUL, OBSERVANT, HYBRID

I love cleverness and discussing ideas. I appreciate humility, wisdom and smilers. I avoid the conventional and am enlivened by those with a childlike love of learning and discovery. I love cooking, eating out, movies, biking, small-venue music, lectures, art, travel, walking my dog, Ping-Pong. I love children, animals, trees, vanishing points, windows. I value authenticity and ethical decisions. Periwinkle, 61, seeking: M, l

FREE SPIRIT, LOVE THE WEST

New to Vermont, newly single, young retiree looking to connect with likeminded people for local adventures, occasional dinners and road trips. A left-leaning environmentalist, I still crave the freedom of the open road and love the national parks. While I treasure solitude and my independence, it’s getting a little lonely. needatravelbuddy, 67 seeking: M, l

PHOTOGRAPHER/MUSICIAN, DOGS, OUTDOORS, CHILL

I am an amateur photographer looking for a guy (26-45) who is also interested in photography. Looking for someone who could go on location with me, hike trails, climb mountains and explore the better points of the state while looking for the perfect shot. And later, cracking a beer to celebrate. I am a musician, animal lover, slim, attractive blonde. Houston123m, 37 seeking: M, l

WANT TO RESPOND?

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

HAPPY PUPPY

Happy puppy who wants to lick your face and put my head in your (Wow, off-topic). I am that loyal, generous, fun-loving personality. Looking to stop and smell the flowers or take a walk by the lake. If it’s cold outside, let’s play Yahtzee or just snuggle in bed and talk about how life got us where we are. cuddlescat 50 seeking: M, l

WEEKDAYS RHODE ISLAND, WEEKENDS VERMONT

I live in Rhode Island and find myself in Vermont on weekends. I lived in Colorado for 19 years, and I love being in the woods. My dog is my shadow and follows me everywhere. We’re outdoors during the day and cooking or reading with tea or a hard cider at night. Commitment to community is important to me. tracyinnewengland 59, seeking: M, l

LAID-BACK, EASYGOING GRANDMA

I still have lots of life to give one special man. I enjoy my family and my grandkids. Hoping to find someone to spend some time together, to go to Maine or country towns to shop, or a country fair. The sky is the limit. I don’t need a caretaker — need a warm, loving man looking for the same. Mariond, 66, seeking: M, l

DESTINED FOR POSITIVITY

I am a quiet-’til-you-get-to-know-me gal. I work (a lot), so I like to relax when I have the chance. I enjoy old ‘50s sci-fi movies, old-school horror, music, my firepit, sewing and life. I am hoping to make some new friends in this area and hopefully meet that special someone, too. naddivine 52 seeking: W, l

CURIOUS, ADVENTUROUS, SILLY AND OUTDOORSY!

I love being outside and exploring in nature, especially for off-the-beatenpath swimming holes. (In winter, too!)

I’m a very curious and engaging person and definitely crave that in a partner. Being silly at times, dancing and singing are cool with me. At the same time, self-awareness is key! You get the idea, right? seejrun, 57, seeking: M, l

GENUINE

Let’s try to do this together. Open to sharing your interests and mine. I’m outdoorsy and indoorsy, from cooking and revamping projects to fishing at the shoreline. Love all types of music but rap and heavy metal. I’m sensitive and caring but keep boundaries, to help, not hurdle. All nature- and animal-friendly. Now I’m babbling. So an eye to eye, squat, cup of java. Katz111, 74, seeking: M, l

DOG LOVER AND ART LOVER

I am a creative soul with a love for dogs and everything crafty. I am a huge car buff. I like going to listen to live music and am game for different adventures. I love to travel and plan to do more once I retire. RescueMom0124, 61 seeking: M, l

WOODS-LIVER WANNABE

Work hard, play hard, life is short. I want to meet people, have new experiences and adventures. I appreciate all things small, whether it is a tiny snail in the forest or a kind gesture. redrocks 44, seeking: M

NEXT CHAPTER, NEW ADVENTURES

Fit, active, outdoorsy and fun sixtysomething woman looking for male partner to share new adventures. Retired and enjoy winter snow sports, hiking, biking, riding horses, gardening and traveling. I’m game to explore new places and experience new adventures. If you are kind and compassionate, active and outdoorsy, fun and friendly, love animals, open and honest, then let’s connect. Vermont1978, 67, seeking: M, l

EXPLORING THE 802 AND BEYOND

I am an attractive, feminine, monogamous woman looking for a companion/LTR. I enjoy road trips, especially throughout beautiful Vermont, discovering wondrous hidden treasures. Member of the 251 Club of Vermont. I would love to have a compatible traveling companion to explore the world with me! I’m retired from a major airline. Come fly with me!! VermontRoadTrip 73, seeking: M, l

CURIOUS, COMPASSIONATE AND ADVENTUROUS

I think I’m pretty delightful. I care deeply about music, art, my home and the environment. I want a partner I can trust who will trust me. I sing — not so well, but don’t try to stop me! I’m curious about new things and never want to stop learning. ProfTripp, 64, seeking: M, l

LIFE IS HERE. NOW.

I’m an active biker, hiker, gardener, musician who has adapted well to retirement (there had to be something positive about COVID-19!) but is ready to explore life with a companion, maybe a partner, again. Many things are better with a partner, including dining out, travel, bike rides, hikes, laughing, sharing — so I’m putting my toes back in the water! maplesong 69, seeking: M, l

DRAMA-FREE, NATURE/ANIMAL LOVER

Looking for someone who shares my likes and enthusiasm for things. Big on communication and humor. I love to create, and I follow craft fairs and flea markets to sell. G59VT 64, seeking: M, l

MEN seeking...

STRONG LIKE HORSE

Not much. Simple, hardworking guy. Looking for fun. No one-time thing. Can last for hours. Looking for the same. Tizock 35, seeking: W, l

LAID-BACK

I’m looking for a partner for life’s adventures. I’m recently retired and ready to have some fun! bobinvt56, 68 seeking: W, l

OLDER MAN LOOKING FOR FUN

Happy, funny, sex, rock and roll. JoeC_72, 72 seeking: W, l

CURIOUS ABOUT LIFE

Always searching for meaning, asking, thinking. Yeti776, 28, seeking: W, l

OLD SCHOOL

Quick wit. I have most of my teeth and a few strands of black hair. smalltown, 66 seeking: W

SOCIAL, NATURE LOVER, HONEST, KIND

I love a good sense of humor and tell it like it is. A compassionate person, I’m open-minded. I enjoy a good party, and I’m as loyal as the day is long. Sercher, 66, seeking: W, l

DHARMA PUNK QUESTION AUTHORITY!

Hello, sadly I have been with a woman for 15 years who lost her attraction years and years ago. I sleep with my dogs and cats for company and love it, but there is no sex. I miss sex so much, and now I’m frigging old. I love these hottie college ladies running around, and their moms. Shocker1969 54 seeking: W, Cp, Gp

CARHARTT HIPPIE FUNKATEER

I love nonhuman animals much more than most human ones. Love to laugh, can find humor almost anywhere. Nature is the only art I need, though music is in my being. Anti-political, not apolitical. Favorite saying: The goal is to create a life you do not need a vacation from. Mine is DIY, off-grid, simple, low cost/low impact. laz0rama 63 seeking: W, l

LAID-BACK, KIND, FUN

In the words of friends: “I love how quickwitted you are. And Jesus fucking Christ, your eyes are mesmerizing.” ”Thanks for always being so kind and helpful. You’re a fucking superstar. You always put a smile on my face.” ”The inherent wisdom, love, intuition and deep understanding you are capable of.” ClearConnect, 44, seeking: W

LAID-BACK

Let’s talk and have fun. I can be discreet if need to be. I like older women. Message me, and we can see where it goes. Letshavefun1986, 37, seeking: W, l

INTELLIGENT, FUN, ADVENTUROUS, SENSUAL

Open-minded, experienced, intelligent, attractive. Thoughtful, funny, fair-minded. Highly informed, high confidence, but not stuck up or arrogant: a young 69. Let’s celebrate “President Harris” together! Hoping to find a woman as open-minded and adventurous as I am (if not even more so). You definitely don’t need to be the smartest or the most beautiful, just know how to have fun. Montpelier_Man, 69, seeking: W, TW, l

NATURE-LOVING, DIVERSE GUY

Sociable, highly diverse guy in desperate need of someone to check for deer ticks! Looking for an attractive, educated woman who enjoys honest and intimate communication and can teach and learn equally. Someone who loves being outside, enjoys a variety of athletics, could happily travel anywhere and maybe thrive on a carefree day in the library. jss1 65, seeking: W, l

GRAZIE!

Great to meet you! Can’t wait! Jpdaily, 44, seeking: W, l

LONELY PROFESSIONAL PORCHER SEEKS COMPANY

I have the best porch in WRJ. I cook a mean paella. My taste in wine is impeccable. I have an ear for irony and a nose for hypocrisy. I recently moved to WRJ to care for a disabled family member, and I am thunderously lonely and lacking human touch. I’m simply ISO a porch and couch companion. Casual works. RiverWatcher1962 62, seeking: W, l

NATIONAL PARK FAN

I am a fan of the West and our national parks and am interested in finding a traveling companion. I’m easy to travel with, flexible and good company. So if you have a sense of adventure and humor, and if you are happy with your life, perhaps we could could share that. Philo24, 76 seeking: W, l

LAID-BACK, EASYGOING

Just looking for some hookups here and there, maybe friends with benefits longterm. George112713 40, seeking: W, l

SEEKING ADVENTURE AS AUTUMN APPROACHES

I love the outdoors. Hiking and bicycling are good for my brain and body, and my Harley helps me explore Vermont. I can pretty much go with any flow. I love live theater, small venue concerts and exploring the unknown. I would love to go to Thunder Road one Thursday evening. Local racing is fun to watch. Autumn_In_Vermont 60 seeking: W, l

TRANS WOMEN seeking...

COMMUNITY-MINDED AND INDEFENSIBLY JOYFUL

I love writing, dancing, making music and meaningful action. My favorite conversations are about people’s passions. I like hiking, biking and paddling, but I spend a lot of time happily indoors being social or creative or productive. I’m interested in people of all genders and am seeking a connection that generates joy every day for us both. Sylph 55 seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, l

RECENTLY RELOCATED, ADVENTUROUS, FREE SPIRIT

I’m a gorgeous, white, 100 percent passable trans lady who is 57 and could pass as 30 — yes, 30! I long for love, laughter and romance, along with loving nature. I want a man who’s all man, rugged, handsome, well built but prefers a woman like myself. It’s as simple as that. We meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. Sammijo, 59, seeking: M, l

BODAECIUS B.A.B.

Tall, smart trans woman looking for someones. Living in downtown Burlington. Love good food, film and fun. I’m an out, proud and loud anomaly fighting the algorithm — and a sweet lover. sashamarx 54, seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp, l

GENDERQUEER PEOPLE

seeking...

BABY BUTCH SEEKS GUIDANCE

(Not sexual or romantic.) If you’re queer, an activist or anything of the like, I would love to connect! I’m a genderweird (truly) babydyke butch, and I desperately want to learn from older queers. As much research as I’ve done on gay history, I always want to learn more and connect. If there are any other butches out there, please reach out! antweed, 18, seeking: TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, l

COUPLES

seeking...

COME HAVE FUN

Looking for fun in our marriage. And maybe a steady partner for years to come. Anh2024, 39, seeking: W

LOOKING FOR FUN PEEPS

Fun, open-minded couple seeking playmates. Shoot us a note if interested so we can share details and desires. Jackrabbits 60, seeking: W, Cp

FUN COUPLE LOOKING FOR EXPLORATION

We are a secure couple who enjoy the outdoors, good wine, great food, playing with each other, exploring our boundaries and trying new things. We are 47 and 50, looking for a fun couple or bi man to play and explore with us. We are easygoing, and we’d love to meet you and see where our mutual adventures take us. vthappycouple 51, seeking: M, Cp, Gp

AN EVOLVED ENTITY

What do I have to do to bring us together? Answer that question and share your feelings. I will not leave you behind this time. ere was a curlyhaired blond nurse from Australia who was as smart as a whip and is in a toxic relationship who I talked to 20 years ago. When: Monday, August 26, 2024. Where: Staring at my soul. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916095

BETTE DAVIS EYES

Pete: Couldn’t make it to the festival to meet your family, but at the risk of saying another ﬁsh joke, you seem like a great catch. I’d love the chance to reel you in. When: Saturday, August 24, 2024. Where: e Wallﬂower Collective. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916094

LOVE OF MY LIFE

You are my soulmate! e only time we talk is when someone passes away and we go to the funeral. at’s all I ever wanted — the truth and your loyalty. You could not give me this. Instead, you let our relationship die. I know you still love me. We do talk in my dreams. Let’s repair this before we die. When: ursday, August 22, 2024. Where: In my past. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916093

KIND BYSTANDERS SOUTH

BURLINGTON

I was in a traumatic car crash on Aug. 19. To all the bystanders who stopped to perform wellness checks, call emergency services, interface with police, serve as a witness, etc. — you were a bright star in a terrible week. I’m grateful beyond words. ank you for your everyday heroism. When: Monday, August 19, 2024. Where: Shelburne Rd., South Burlington. You: Group. Me: Nonbinary person. #916092

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

BARELY HELD UP

e only time I feel safe is when I’m dreaming. I wait each day for the next sign, and when I see it, I can’t follow out of fear of being once again misled. Faithfulness and loyalty shouldn’t be this painful. When: ursday, August 15, 2024. Where: Orbit. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916091

SOUL GAZING

Lucy/Penny/Misery-pants: Your dreams melt my heart, much like your beauty. Dreams can turn into reality with patience, trust and transparency. If you can offer me transparency, I will do my best to bring us closer to our potential. Imagine, a sanctuary for “furry” things, making meals for each other and staring into each other’s souls as we embrace for hours. When: Tuesday, August 20, 2024. Where: Animal Tent. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916090

STANDING IN LINE,

EE CONCERT

We talked and shared names. I won’t mention either on this platform. I’d love to have a coffee or other with you. Me with a Fu Manchu mustache, you are blond (and blinded me with your beauty). Interested? When: Sunday, August 18, 2024. Where: Essex (EE). You: Woman. Me: Man. #916089

“TATTOOS ARE STUPID” T-SHIRT

You had a T-shirt that said, “Tattoos Are Stupid,” and you were covered in tattoos. I like your style. I saw you walking down College Street on Friday night: You caught my eye. Unfortunately I was in an Uber and couldn’t stop. Hit me up if you want to hang out sometime! When: Friday, August 16, 2024. Where: College St, Burlington. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916088

I’m supposed to get my driver’s license this year. All of my friends are excited about getting theirs, but I’m not. My parents keep bugging me about it and say I should do it. How do I get them to understand that I just don’t want to drive?

WATERFRONT MEETING

I talked to you on the waterfront yesterday by the boat marina. You had two friends from Maine with you. I was the guy on the bike with the Dead shirt. You asked if I needed someone to show me around. I would love for you to show me around and to get to know you better. When: Wednesday, August 14, 2024. Where: Waterfront boat marina. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916087

BRUNETTE WITH CAPTIVATING SMILE

You were working, and I have been there a couple of times on Sundays when I glanced over and you gave me a smile. You are the brunette with your hair tied back, possibly a manager. I’m the tall, dark-haired, Italian-looking guy with glasses. Not sure who you are, but I’d like to know! When: Sunday, August 11, 2024. Where: Spot on the Dock. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916085

BEAUTIFUL MAN WITH CAR TROUBLES

You: Beautiful man, wearing painted shorts, working on a red convertible by the chiropractor. Me: Silver fox in a ﬂowy brown dress, unable to take my eyes off you while waiting for my appointment. When you get her up and running, want to take me for a ride? When: Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Where: South Burlington, by the DMV. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916084

LOOKING BACK

Being together was like basking in awkwardness until you’re giddy. You saw the measure of my soul. My days have been nothing more than dreams, faint impressions of living. I try to write, to read, and wonder what you would think about everything. When: Sunday, August 11, 2024. Where: everywhere. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916083

CUTE GUY, MONTPELIER CONTRA DANCE

You looked familiar and were wearing Blundstones, khaki shorts, a belt and a polo shirt. I was wearing denim booty shorts and a colorful Western-style shirt with cutouts, plus some dangly earrings. We chatted brieﬂy by the fan downstairs during the break with a couple of your friends. Would love to dance next time. When: Saturday, August 3, 2024. Where: Capital City Grange Hall. You: Man. Me: Man. #916082

De Axel Greeze,

When I was your age, I didn’t want to get my driver’s license, either. At the time, I played it off like I was rebelling against teenage norms, but to tell the truth, I was just really nervous about driving. And I certainly didn’t want to let anybody in on that secret. e thought of driving a car when you’ve never done it before can be pretty scary. I mean, you’re getting behind the wheel of a very heavy, very powerful machine. Not to mention the other cars whipping by you on the road. If that doesn’t make a person at least a little nervous, I think they’re foolish.

MOVING FORWARD

Lucy, I hope you are well. I miss you, and I am at your mercy. When: Tuesday, August 13, 2024. Where: In my future. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916086

COSTCO AFTERNOON

We smiled at each other while shopping, then left at the same time. We exchanged names as we were leaving but not numbers. Would you like to meet again? When: Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Where: Costco. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916081

RECHARGED BUT WARY

Lucy, why November 6, 2018? I am not political. Who will be meeting me? I have to warn you that I keep my cowboy hat on. A long walk and a hug would make the trip for me. Why don’t we meet on May 20, 2039? When: Saturday, August 10, 2024. Where: Halos R US. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916080

PIZZA TOSSER

Do the ﬂames from your pizza oven scatter the blue light across your irises? Or were you born deep inside a glacier? If you’ll be my ice queen, I’ll be your white walker. When: Wednesday, August 7, 2024. Where: Mt. Ellen. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916079

AND SHE IS LOYAL

I can think of only a handful of people I consider as loyal as I am, and you are now one of them. I am not complacent and will work on my issues. I am hopelessly in love with the “you” who communicates with me in dreams. You are my missing piece, my other half, isn’t it clear? When: Friday, August 9, 2024. Where: Atacama, NYC, Sydney, Victoria. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916077

ALEXANDRIA THE GREAT e most intriguing person I’ve encountered in my travels. A fascinating mind and brilliant sense of humor. You’re doing good, important work in this community and have so many unexpected, remarkable stories to tell about the life you’ve lived. Breathtakingly gorgeous and the best dancer at the show, to top it all off. I think you deserve the world. When: ursday, August 1, 2024. Where: standing in a shaft of light. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916074

DROPS OF JUPITER

As the storm passed, we met in the re-forming line. You wore a pink tank top and have blond hair. You told me a funny story about an event staff member. Your friend commented it was a rare night out for her. We crossed paths in the venue and enjoyed the show together. At one point my hand touched yours. When: Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Where: Train concert at Shelburne Museum. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916076

REGROUP, TRY AGAIN

Tim: you appear to be in the wrong timeline. Go back to Tuesday, November 6, 2018, 6 p.m. We’ll meet you at the Millennium sculpture. When: Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Where: Not at the drop point. You: Man. Me: Man. #916075

FUN FRIDAY COMMUTE

We were at the red light, blue VW Tiguan, by the hospital in Berlin. Both our Friday pump-up jams going. You waved to me, white Subaru mullet guy with glasses. We shared a fun moment. You got off at exit 8 to Montpelier and we made eye contact and smiled at each other. Hit me up? (Platonic is cool, too!) When: Friday, August 2, 2024. Where: Berlin hospital/Airport intersection. You: Man. Me: Man. #916073

CUTE “HASHER” AT KETTLE POND

Saw you at the boat launch and your friend came over to say you liked my look. I was a little shy; you were a little shy. I think you’re wicked cute, allegedly you think I am, too. Wish I got your number, but we were in the water! Let’s go for a paddle or bike ride on the causeway? When: Saturday, August 3, 2024. Where: Kettle Pond boat launch. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916072

OMAR AT GET AIR

You ordered from DoorDash and had the driver make two stops and travel six miles. at’s not the problem, though: e issue is that gas, wear and tear on the car is worth a tip. I know you’re young and probably don’t understand. If you can’t afford to tip your driver, then you probably shouldn’t order food. When: Sunday, August 4, 2024. Where: Get Air. You: Man. Me: Trans woman. #916071

in 2021, only 25.3 percent of 16-year-olds in the U.S. had their driver’s license. Compare that to 46 percent in 1983 (back in the Stone Age when I was about ready to get mine).

Whatever your reason for not wanting to drive, I highly suggest that you learn to do it anyway. If your school offers a driver’s ed course, take advantage of it. You don’t have to get your license right away, but I’m going to side with your parents and say you should. e longer you put it off, the harder it will get to make the time to do it. Just because you have a driver’s license doesn’t mean you need to use it, but knowing how to drive is an incredibly handy skill. Getting around without having to rely on other people brings a lot of independence and freedom. Also, should there ever be an emergency where you have to drive, you’ll be able to.

Might that fear factor into why you’re hesitant to get your license? If not, it could just be that you’re part of a growing trend of young people who are delaying getting their licenses. According to the Federal Highway Administration,

Like I always say, if you’re prepared for everything, you don’t have to worry about anything.

Good luck and God bless,

What’s your problem? Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

I’m a GWM looking for a good time with you. Call or text. #L1793

SWF, 55, seeks companionship. Former classical pianist of 13 years, well read, vegetarian, studied in Geneva, Switzerland, and Paris, France. I have a good sense of humor. Music a must: vintage Bowie, folk, Celtic. I’m also a childless cat person! #L1788

I’m a SWF, 62 y/o, in central Vermont, seeking a SM, 57-67 y/o, for possible LT relationship. Hoping to meet someone who also loves balanced ecosystems, great food and drink, honest conversations and the good chores of each season. #L1789

I’m a GM, mid-60s, seeking a SM, 70s, passionate. Enjoy many activities: nature walks, camping. Let’s talk, hopefully meet. #L1791

I’m a male, 65, seeking a female. Respectful, warm, friendly, would like to ﬁnd a female to share some life with. Dining in as well as out. Likes music. Please send phone number. #L1790

I’m a SWM looking for a large Black man to engage in sexual copulation with. I am a humanist and very open to exploring the physical limitations of my ﬂesh suit. HIV+ OK. Males only, please. #L1792

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required!

A “love letter” would infer that we have met. Love letters started in the 1800s. Love letters ended in 2002 with the success of email. Let’s turn back the clock. I’m a 63-y/o male. Physically ﬁt, healthy lifestyle, enjoy everything the outdoors has to offer. Cheers to us. #1786

I’m a 70-y/o man seeking a woman 45-70. I have money and would like to spend pleasurable time with you. I am clean, caring and considerate. I am ﬁt for my age. Phone number, please. #1787

Woman, 59. Healthy, respectful, genuine. I’d like to share the last dance with a man in the country. A man who is kind, healthy and stable. A man who cares about how he treats a person and is well liked by others. Phone number, please. #1782

I’m a single white man looking for friends with beneﬁts. Race unimportant. Love to be happy, spend time with the opposite sex and just enjoy each other. Good company always a plus. I love music, sports, being on the water. #1785

Looking for a sensitive Republican woman who would like to, at long last, experience fulﬁllment with an intuitive liberal man. #L1784

Int net-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness le ers. DETAILS BELOW.

Female in early 20s. Must like cats, cheese and crafting (C trifecta). I’m looking for a man (yes, a man, not a boy) with some mass to him. Someone who shares my distrust in big pharma would be an added bonus. #L1781

I’m a 63-y/o male. Married with no sex life. Bi-curious. Must be clean, safe and discreet. Send me your number, and I’ll call and we can talk ﬁrst. #L1783

I’m a male seeking a woman to pleasure. #L1777

I’m an 80-y/o woman seeking a man, late 60s and up. I want friendship and companionship. Love the outdoors. Barbecue or grill sometimes in the summer. Wish I could travel to places I have never been. #L1775

I’m a 67-y/o SWM, 6’, 190 lbs., seeking a mid-60s bi couple for occasional get-together. I am honest and respectful and expect the same. Fairly new to this, so slow at ﬁrst. No devices, only landline. #L1771

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)

I’m a male, early 40s, single, straight. However, my life’s journey has led me to the point of becoming curious about exploring subconscious desires. Seeking cute, passable, thinto-average 24-45-y/o TF or TF/F couple for safe, discreet conversation or meetup. #L1776

I am a GWM seeking a gay couple who would like to add spice into their sex life with a third. I’m in my sixties, 5’7”, 150 lbs. and live in Burlington. Very clean, open, and I am a bottom. If interested, send contact info. #L1774

Nice guy, 5’10, 195 pounds. 74 y/o but I look younger and am new to the market. I’m seeking a good woman/partner 55 to 75 y/o to love. Very attentive and affectionate, likes to have fun and travel. 420 friendly. #L1773

I would like to meet someone between 60 and 75 who is 5’6” or under and is a slim nondrinker/smoker. Asian heritage preferable. I’m 5’8” and drink/ smoke-free. I’m a good cook. An Asian who doesn’t speak good English is acceptable. #L1770

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THIS FORM IS FOR LOVE LETTERS ONLY. Messages for the Personals and I-Spy sections must be submitted online at dating.sevendaysvt.com.

Coed Group Ride at Saxon Hill

WED., AUG 28

SAXON HILL TRAILHEAD, ESSEX JCT.

Cut Flower Gardening & Arranging

THU., AUG 29

HORSFORD GARDENS & NURSERY, CHARLOTTE

My Testimony: Fury & Grace

FRI., AUG 30, SAT., AUG 31 OFF CENTER FOR THE DRAMATIC ARTS, BURLINGTON

Songwriter Circle feat. Karl Lucas, Brian

Dade, Jack McKeon and Sarah Bell

FRI., AUG 30 THE UNDERGROUND LISTENING ROOM, RANDOLPH

Borrow the Bones (Paul Boffa + Danielle Mishkit)

FRI., AUG 30 THE PHOENIX, WATERBURY VILLAGE

August Bird Monitoring Walk

SAT., AUG 31

BIRDS OF VERMONT MUSEUM, HUNTINGTON

SOLD OUT

Reed Foehl, Val McCallum, Jeff Berlin, Putnam Murdock

SAT., AUG 31

WAYSIDE FARM, RANDOLPH CENTER

É.T.É at Westford Common Hall

SAT., AUG 31

WESTFORD COMMON HALL

Mandarin Conversation Circle

TUE., SEP 3

SOUTH BURLINGTON LIBRARY

Eco-resiliency Gathering: Voting for Climate

WED., SEP 4

ONLINE

WED., SEP 4, WED., SEP 11

OLD SPOKES HOME, BURLINGTON

e One-Night Stand: A Single-Evening Course in Bike-Care Basics by Old Spokes Home

Mad Caddies and Ballyhoo!

WED., SEP 4

ALFIE'S WILD RIDE, STOWE

Bulbs: Light Up Your Spring

THU., SEP 5

HORSFORD GARDENS & NURSERY, CHARLOTTE

Live in the Gardens Music Series with Christine Malcolm Band & Gerbers Taco Truck

FRI., SEP 6

SNAPS AND SUNFLOWERS, CAMBRIDGE

Made in Vermont with Bella Hristova

FRI.-SUN., SEP 6-8

HASKELL OPERA HOUSE., DERBY

Imagine Zero Music Festival

SAT., SEP 7

FABLE FARM, BARNARD

Worship Exchange

SAT., SEP 7

OPERA HOUSE AT ENOSBURG FALLS

Women's Ride at Saxon Hill

THU., SEP 12

SAXON HILL TRAILHEAD, ESSEX JCT.

Cheddar & Blue Cheese Sensory Experience

THU., SEP 12

CABOT CREAMERY, HARDWICK

Almost Machines w/ Technical Difficulties

FRI., SEP 13

THE UNDERGROUND - LISTENING ROOM, RANDOLPH

If your household income is under $75,000, you are eligible for free tuition at the Community College of Vermont. The 802 Opportunity Grant is available to any students who do not already have a bachelor’s degree.