Kids VT, October 2019

STREAMING INSPIRATION TO STUDENTS

TALENT RISING

FINDING PATCHES OF URBAN NATURE CONFESSIONS OF THE “QUEEN OF HALLOWEEN”

Vermont’s skateboarding community rallies to resurrect a beloved indoor skate park

BY KEN PICARD, PAGE 28

FAMILY HIGHLIGHTS

BREAKDANCING

Sunday, Oct. 6 from 1-2:30 pm ages 10-14, please pre-register

HIP-HOP FOR KIDS

Thursdays, Oct. 10-Dec. 5, 4:20-5:20 pm, ages 8-12, please pre-register

YOUTH DANCES

Fridays, Oct. 11-Dec. 6, 4:20-5:20 pm, ages 5-7, please pre-register

FREE FAMILY SATURDAYS SERIES VERMONT ABENAKI ARTISTS

Saturday, October 12, 10 am, please pre-register Red Kite 11/16, Sabouyouma 12/6, and more through June!

FREE SENSORY FRIENDLY DRUMMING

Sundays, Oct. 13 & Dec. 8, 1-2 pm, all ages, please pre-register

CIRCA: HUMANS

Saturday, October 19 at 8 pm

AFRO-FUSION JAM

Sundays, Oct. 27-Dec. 8, 10:30 am12 pm, all ages, please pre-register

RED KITE GREEN MOUNTAIN

Sunday, November 3 at 11 am and 2 pm

NATALIE MACMASTER AND DONNELL LEAHY

Tuesday, December 3 at 7 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Friday, December 6 at 7 pm

FINDING NEVERLAND

Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 pm

FLIP FABRIQUE: BLIZZARD

Sunday, March 15 at 3 pm

PEKING ACROBATS

Tuesday, March 17 at 7 pm

THE SNOWY DAY & Other STORIES

Monday, March 23 at 6 pm

WILD KRATTS LIVE 2.0

Wed.-Thurs., April 15-16 at 6 pm

We’ve been providing pediatric care in the Burlington area for over 40 years. Our physicians and staff continue to dedicate themselves to the health and care of infants, children and adolescents from birth through age 22. Our goal is to provide you with the best medical care for your family. We are accepting new patients at our 3 locations

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS

COPUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Cathy Resmer cathy@kidsvt.com

COPUBLISHER

Colby Roberts colby@kidsvt.com

MANAGING EDITOR

Alison Novak alison@kidsvt.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Mary Ann Lickteig maryann@kidsvt.com

STAFF WRITER/CALENDAR WRITER

Brett Ann Stanciu brett@kidsvt.com

ART DIRECTOR

Brooke Bousquet brooke@kidsvt.com

MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR

Corey Grenier corey@kidsvt.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Kaitlin Montgomery kaitlin@kidsvt.com

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

Gillian English

PROOFREADERS

Katherine Isaacs, Kara Torres

PRODUCTION MANAGER

John James

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Don Eggert

DESIGNERS

Kirsten Cheney, Rev. Diane Sullivan

CIRCULATION MANAGER

Matt Weiner

BUSINESS MANAGER

Cheryl Brownell

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Dan Bolles, Joy Choquette, Heather Fitzgerald, Astrid Hedbor Lague, Thea Lewis, Ken Picard, Erinn Simon

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Andy Brumbaugh, Sam Simon

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STAFF QUESTION

What was your best, wackiest or weirdest Halloween costume?

In the fourth grade, I was INSPECTOR GADGET. dad created a helicopter hat for me out of plumbing pipe.

COREY GRENIER, MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR

One year I went as “FALLING.” I attached wires to my skirt and cardigan to make them look like they were blowing upward. When I asked my hairstylist what I could use to make my hair stand on end, she looked at the stylist next to her, and they said, in unison, so it almost sounded like an evil plan: “Freeze and Shine.”

Autumn’s Bounty

Fall is arguably the busiest season of the year for my family. My husband, Je , is a middle school teacher, and my kids just started seventh and fourth grades. Between fall sports, extracurricular activities and open houses, the span of time between the first day of school and Thanksgiving sometimes feels like a never-ending hamster wheel of responsibilities. But there are also tons of fun events in the fall, so we try to make an e ort to take part in some of them.

In September, we headed to the Montréal Botanical Garden to see its “Jardins de Lumière,” or “Gardens of Light,” show. The exhibit, which runs through October, features an illuminated pathway winding through gardens and pagodas. Visitors will find hanging lanterns; glowing, life-size pandas, cranes and an impressive mythical fish-bird hybrid leaping out of a pond; and interactive educational exhibits (in French and English).

We went there on a warm Saturday night after dinner, and the show was, quite simply, magical. It was also innovative in the way it was able to immerse visitors in a magnificent, magical world using light and materials like paper and wire. I highly recommend checking it out. (Buy tickets in advance at espacepourlavie. ca to avoid long lines.)

In this month’s Innovation Issue, we celebrate local e orts to find new approaches to doing things. On page 20, read about the St. Albans-based Ever Widening Circles for Education, a website that curates interesting educational videos for middle and high school students and teachers to make lessons more exciting and engaging. Check out “Rising Talent,” on page 28, to learn about how the Vermont skateboarding community, with the help of Burton Snowboards, is banding together to bring back a beloved indoor skate park, this time as a nonprofit organization located on Burton’s Burlington campus.

In “Captain Hooks” on page 32, Dan Bolles interviews Ron Carter, better known as Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate, who brings a creative approach to children’s music with his “singing swashbuckler” persona and nautical puns.

One might describe the construction of a natural park in the middle of a busy commercial area as innovative. On page 17, read about City Center Park in South Burlington, which opened last year and allows suburbanites to find some respite in the outdoors. Or check out “Fit Families,” on page 16, to read about the Burlington Wildway, a new trail that runs from Salmon Hole on Riverside Avenue to Ethan Allen Park in the New North End. “Even people who are familiar with the area will find something new” when exploring the trail, explains Zoe Richards, director of the project.

And speaking of innovation, we’re also o cially launching the second iteration of our Good Citizen Challenge this month at the Vermont Tech Jam on Thursday, October 17. We’ve been working with Burlington-based game studio GameTheory to design a sleek new website for the challenge, with online quizzes and more. See page 33 for a taste of what’s to come, and sign up to take the challenge at goodcitizenvt.com.

ALISON NOVAK, MANAGING EDITOR

MARY ANN LICKTEIG, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

I was a PUNK ROCKER for a number of years. What can I say? It was the ’80s. Jem and the Holograms and Cyndi Lauper were favorites of mine!

BROOKE BOUSQUET, ART DIRECTOR

For some reason I’ve long forgotten, I dressed up as ULYSSES S. GRANT when I was 12, with a borrowed suit and vest and a really cool mustache and beard courtesy of my mother’s cosmetics kit.

BRETT ANN STACIU, STAFF/CALENDAR WRITER

CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTE

THEA LEWIS (“Use Your Words,” page 47) is a Vermont native and the creator of Queen City Ghostwalk, the haunted tour chosen “Best Scary Stroll” by Yankee magazine. Dubbed Vermont’s Queen of Halloween, she’s been scaring up history in Burlington and beyond since 2002 with her tours, special events and books for adults and children. Her books include Haunted Burlington: Spirits of Vermont’s Queen City, Ghosts and Legends of Lake Champlain, Haunted Inns and Ghostly Getaways of Vermont, and Wicked Vermont (The History Press/Arcadia). Her book for children, There’s a Witch In My Sock Drawer! (Peapod Press) was released in 2011. Thea lives in Burlington with her husband, Roger, and their dog, Phantom.

Scenes from the Montréal Botanical Garden’s Jardins de Lumière show

Rising Talent

TRENDING

The 12th annual Dee PT Great Diaper Drive, which supports families served by COTS and other organizations, kicks off on October 28. Donate a box — and be the change you want to see in the world.

VT Youths Join Climate Protests

BY MATTHEW ROY

YOGA POSE OF THE MONTH: TREE POSE

This balancing yoga pose is a great way to bring focus and calm to your body and mind while building strength in the ankles, calves and abdominal muscles.

STEPS:

1. Stand tall in mountain pose with arms by your side.

2. Lift one foot and place it on the calf or inner thigh of the standing leg. Be sure your lifted knee is pointing out to the side.

Hasbro releases Ms. Monopoly, a new version of the classic game in which women make more money than men.

“Great. Let’s build a mentality that women aren’t equal to men and need a leg up to compete with them,” wrote one Twitter user. “This isn’t patronizing at all.”

In an ill-advised viral trend, teens are using cosmetic eyelash adhesive to glue their upper lip to their cupid’s bow, mimicking the plumped-up look of collagen injections. Know what else is probably trending? The Google search term “how to remove eyelash glue.”

Thousands of young people in Vermont joined peers around the world on Friday, September 20, to protest the failure to adequately address global warming.

“We are skipping our lessons to teach you one,” read a sign that a girl held up in a crowd packed shoulder to shoulder in front of Burlington City Hall.

The turnout there reached at least 2,000 and was probably many more, Deputy Police Chief Jon Murad said.

The crowd spilled onto Main Street, which was closed to vehicles. Musicians played, students chanted for climate justice and speakers addressed the crowd from City Hall steps.

A Naples, NY., farm is offering a “cow cuddling” experience to visitors, who pay $75 for a one-hour session with resident bovines, Bonnie and Bella. Vermont farmers looking to diversify, take note.

In Montpelier, protesters gathered at the Statehouse carrying banners, such as one that read “Climate Action Now.” Similar events were being held all around the state, according to the Vermont Climate Strike coalition.

Climate protests organized by youths have drawn massive crowds in major cities around the world.

3. Press your palms together at your heart and then slowly raise your branches high. Be sure to keep your eyes on one still spot to help your balance!

4. Balance here for five slow breaths. You can be a tree in autumn by pretending that your leaves are falling as you exhale.

5. Return carefully to mountain pose and repeat on the other leg.

BECOME A FOREST!

With a partner or large group, bring your bodies close together in mountain pose. Come into tree pose and hold hands, then raise your branches.

Pose description courtesy of Susan Cline Lucey, owner of Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center in Burlington and Essex. For more information about kids and family yoga classes, visit evolutionprenatalandfamily.com.

#INSTAKIDSVT

Thanks for sharing your September photos with us using the hashtag #instakidsvt. We loved this picture of enthusiastic apple pickers — 6-year-old Lilly and 2-year-old Ramsey of Essex Junction — at Adams Apple Orchard in Williston.

Share photos of your family enjoying autumn this month.

HERE’S HOW: Follow @kids_vt on Instagram.

Post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #instakidsvt. We’ll select a photo to feature in the next issue.

Tag us on Instagram!

THROWBACK

In past issues, we asked local parents to share photos of the DIY Halloween costumes they created for their kids. From a cardboard box choo-choo train, complete with a smokestack that serves as a passageway for candy, to a scuba diver getup with air tanks made from soda bottles spray-painted silver, check out the creative submissions from crafty moms and dads.

PET CORNER

Meredith Longworth submitted this photo of her daughter, Madeline Langlois, and her horse, Washable Art (aka “Bo”). Madeline and Bo, both 10 years old, have been a “team” since they were 6, wrote Longworth, and ride under the guidance of Madeline’s aunt, Erin, at Erin Longworth Performance Horses in Milton. The pair will compete in the All American Quarter Horse Congress, the world’s largest single-breed horse show, in Columbus, Ohio, on October 10. “They are truly best friends,” said Longworth, “and have a bond like no other.”

KIDS SAY WHAT?

FISHER, AGE 5

“Mom! I’m so proud of you. You matched your socks!”

BY ALISON NOVAK AND BRETT ANN STANCIU

Working Out the Wiggles

Several years ago, Claudine Safar of Williston was vacationing with her husband, Je Teplitz, and two young children in Mont-Tremblant, Québec. The family was enjoying an actionpacked itinerary of hiking, rock climbing and kayaking when it started to rain. Safar googled indoor kids’ activities in the area and came across a local play space in a former ski lodge. The kids “just ran around in circles for two hours and had a blast,” Safar remembered. “We thought to ourselves, Why don’t we have one of these? Fast forward a few years, and Safar, Teplitz and Safar’s law firm colleague, Brian Monaghan, are bringing the concept home. Late this month, MONKEY DO, a 12,000-square-foot play space for ages 1 to 11, plans to open in Williston, in the space formerly occupied by Harvest Equipment. The sprawling center will have a toddler area, a preschool play structure with a 40-foot slide and

three playhouses (pictured above), a craft area, an inflatable obstacle course, and two birthday party rooms, said manager Jade Menard. There will also be a café with a creemee machine, kids’ snacks and — key for parents — co ee. With no electronic devices, flashing lights or dinging bells in sight or earshot, Monkey Do will give kids a place to be both physical and creative, Safar said, “and [it’s] not taking quarters out of my purse to try to get a stu ed animal they’ll never win.” —AN

MATERNITY Family First

Two supermarkets — regional chain HANNAFORD SUPERMARKETS and local chain HEALTHY LIVING MARKET AND CAFÉ — recently announced new maternity leave policies. Hannaford, which operates 181 stores in the Northeast and employs around 27,000 people, will provide associates of all genders, who have worked at Hannaford for at least one year and average 30 hours of work each week, with six weeks of fully paid leave during the first 12 months following the birth, adoption or legal placement of a child. Healthy Living, which has stores in South Burlington and Saratoga, N.Y. — and plans to open two new Vermont locations — employs more than 300 people. The company will o er four weeks of paid parental leave for sta members with two years of consecutive service, as well as 160 hours of flexible paid time o upon their return to work to help transition back into a work schedule. Fulltime sta members with one year of service will receive 80 hours of paid time o for the birth or adoption of a child. According to a the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 16 percent of private industry workers had access to paid family leave and 88 percent had access to unpaid family leave in March 2018. Said Hannaford manager of external communications Erika Dodge: “We’re very proud to bring flexibility, balance and well-being to our associates so they can have peace of mind during such key life events.” —AN

Monkey Do is located at 64 Harvest Lane in Williston. Entry will be $15 per child. Find the latest information on Facebook at Monkey Do VT.

NATURE Branching Out

Wonder what it’s like to be a bird fluttering from tree to tree? This October, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) provides a window into that world when it opens its FOREST CANOPY WALK, which supports the science center’s mission to provide place-based education by actively immersing visitors in nature. Following the natural slope of the land, the wheelchair- and stroller-accessible path gradually ascends into the forest canopy, to a height of 65 feet. Along the way, interpretive panels highlight the local ecosystem, animals and flora. Kids can scramble into a netted Giant Spider Web, 20 feet in diameter, or climb into the Eagle’s Nest, a spur o the main trail featuring a two-level structure with an oversized “nest” on top. For those looking to climb even higher into the trees, a helical staircase ascends into the Tree House, which rises 100 feet into the air and provides sweeping views of the countryside and Ottauquechee River. —BAS

The Forest Canopy Walk opens to the public at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 12. Visit vinsweb.org for more information.

MARKET AND CAF

Allenholm Farm

111 South Street, South Hero

The air was cool and the leaves had started to change color on our family’s annual trip to Allenholm Farm in South Hero in September.

The seventh generation Vermont apple orchard was started in 1870 by Reuben Allen and his son, Horace, and is now run by Ray and Pam Allen. In the span of almost 150 years, it’s grown to include 25 acres of apple trees, boasting 20 different varieties, along with raspberry and blueberry bushes and tart cherry trees. The latter fruits are available throughout the summer, while the apples — the crop the farm is best known for — are sold locally and shipped in the late summer and autumn.

The orchard has shipped apples as far as Montana, according to Pam, and can send them anywhere in the United States, except for California, Washington and Arizona due to agricultural restrictions.

When we arrived, our 10-year-old son, Pascal, and his 8-year-old cousin, Destin, led us straight to the Petting Paddock. Here, the friendly farm animals include chickens, goats, a sheep, two miniature horses and a donkey named Willie. We purchased ice cream cones filled with grain pellets at a self-service box, and the boys laughed as the animals’ furry, wet lips grazed their palms. Then they explored the playground, located in the center of the Petting Paddock, which includes giant tractor tires to play on, along

with a climbing structure with a slide and fort underneath.

At the farm store, which smelled of warm apples and cinnamon, I prepped for apple picking by purchasing four half-peck bags to fill for $7 each, then headed back outside to wait for the next tractor-pulled wagon.

Pascal and Destin inspected the selection of gourds and pumpkins lining the store’s porch until the wagon arrived. We piled in with the other apple pickers for the five-minute ride to the orchard.

The trees were loaded with beautiful Cortland, Gala, Red Sweets and McIntoshes, the varieties available in September. (Crispin, Northern Spy, Red Delicious and Empire apples ripen for picking in October.) It took only a few minutes to fill our bags. The boys played an impromptu game of tag between the trees, tripping over the fallen apples, which are nearly impossible to avoid.

Ribbons cordoned off certain areas of the orchard, where six paid apple pickers worked on tall ladders, filling bushels for wholesale customers.

Back at the main area, an on-site snack bar, the Accidental Farmer Café, was serving lunch, and we had worked up an appetite for the burgers and fries on offer. While we waited, we munched on apples and enjoyed the warm sun that offset the cool autumn breeze.

After our meal, we deposited the apples in the car and wandered into the store to peruse the offerings — everything from prepicked apples, maple syrup and maple creemees to pies made by “Papa Ray.” Instead of buying a sweet treat, we decided to make our own apple delicacies at home. After a short stop to say goodbye to the menagerie of animals, we headed off into the crisp September afternoon. K

Allenholm Farm is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until December 24 and is closed on Thanksgiving. Tour groups frequent the farm during the week, so allow for extra time to purchase your pick-your-own apple bags if visiting then. Find more information at allenholm.com.

Prepicked apples outside the farm store Feeding a goat in the Petting Paddock

BRETT ANN STANCIU

Passionate Poise

Teen educates policy makers about wildlife conservation

In 2015, when she was in sixth grade, Taegen Yardley shared her passion for elephants by testifying at the Vermont Statehouse in support of H.297, a bill to ban the sale of ivory in Vermont. As she began speaking, she noticed one senator set down her knitting and lean forward to listen intently. That, she said, made her realize that kids’ voices can make an impact. She decided then to “make it my mission to try to get youth involved in conservation,” she said.

Now a junior at Stowe High School, Taegen’s interest in ivory originated when she learned about the possible extinction of elephants from a friend’s mom who worked for National Geographic. She joined the local effort to pass H.297, and, in addition to speaking at the Statehouse, organized a student march at Burlington’s City Hall. Though the bill failed, Taegen’s determination to pair activism with education was cemented.

NAME: TAEGEN YARDLEY

AGE: 16

TOWN: STOWE

In the years since, Taegen has made five documentaries about wildlife conservation. Her first, “Kids Battle for a World with Elephants,” was released in 2016, when she was a student at Vermont Commons School, and was widely viewed on YouTube and Facebook. Taegen wrote the script and worked with teacher and filmmaker Mark Cline Lucey on cinematography. The documentary features local students sharing information about elephants, with footage from two conservation groups, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Big Life Foundation. The film was screened on the floor of the United Nations to mark World Wildlife Day in 2016.

“Seeing it had that impact and was so widespread really pushed me,” said Teagan. “Young people are the future of the planet. If we don’t start making change, there’s not going to be change.”

Her subsequent films cover topics including wild African cats and healthy oceans and marine life. Her films have also been shown at CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

meetings in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Wildlife roundtable at the Global Environment Facility Assembly in Vietnam.

Additionally, her work earned her first prize in nonprofit Action For Nature’s International Young Eco-Hero Award, in the 13- to 16-year-old category. This year, Taegen also received an honorable mention in the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which recognizes young people who have demonstrated an outstanding impact on communities and the environment. Last fall, Taegen traveled to London to receive a conservation award from Interpol, presented by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

Her outspoken activism, Taegen acknowledges, has also come with criticism. Her detractors have questioned the validity of Taegen’s

voice. Some have argued that, because she’s a Vermont resident, the topic of elephants isn’t relevant to her, or that she’s too young to have a voice for change. “I honestly think that’s just pushed me harder” to educate people, she said.

Her parents, Kristin and Mark Yardley, have encouraged Taegen and their two younger daughters to believe in their own power. It’s “a gift to watch as this is validated through the experiences, opportunities and recognition that Taegen has been offered because of her passion and persistence,” they wrote in an email.

Taegen hopes to use the experience she’s gained as a youth activist in a career in environmental science or international relations. “I love giving speeches,” she said, “and I very much love communicating with people.” K

Taegen accepts a conservation award from Prince William

A Graphic Memoir for Grown-ups

In Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, Lucy Knisley shares her struggles with conception, miscarriage, depression and a dramatic childbirth with nearly fatal complications.

Smart, sweet and often funny, Knisley doesn’t hold back on the nitty-gritty details. She renames morning sickness “perpetual and unrelenting nausea” and wonders how anyone survived pregnancy before Netflix.

Sandwiched between the chapters of her personal story are informational panels on topics like “Pregnancy Superstitions” that o er interesting factoids — for example, it’s untrue that more babies are born during a full moon.

Originally from New York City, Knisley attended White River Junction’s Center for Cartoon Studies, from which she graduated in 2009 with a master of fine arts degree. Her first graphic novel, French Milk, about a six-week trip to Paris with her mother, was published in 2008, followed by five more. She has also illustrated picture books and produced comics for anthologies, including Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists. Her work has been widely acclaimed, twice making the New York Times best sellers list. In 2015, she was interviewed on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air

Before speaking with Kids VT by phone from her home in Chicago, 34-year-old Knisley warned that the conversation might be interrupted by her 3-year-old son. (It wasn’t.)

Kids VT: How did you become a graphic novelist?

Lucy Knisley: My dad thought comics weren’t very literary, and my mother thought they weren’t very feminist. So I got very good at reading comics critically and looking for an educational,

literary bent or a strong feminist character, so I could convince my parents to keep bankrolling them for me.

KVT: Why did you include scientific and historical facts in Kid Gloves?

LK: I set out to make the book I wished I had had when I started to try to get pregnant. I wanted a book that was very honest, but also contained information that I wasn’t finding in the research I was doing. Most of it was Don’t eat sushi or Your baby

of always assumed I could do both, because the evidence was there that it could be done. And I still had this weird ingrained societal impulse that I would have to work less to fully devote myself to the baby. And that’s not the case at all. I mean, I love being a mom. I love my kid. But I’m still able to work. It’s part of who I am. When I was getting pregnant and having a baby, I didn’t really have that many peers who also had a kid. It was scary. What happens? You just disappear? What’s lovely now is that I know a lot more moms in my industry. They ask me, How do you work and have a kid? You do. You pay for childcare. You find some help. You’re having the kid with another person. They have to also figure this out. It’s not just up to you. I wouldn’t have wanted my mother to give up everything about herself for me. I didn’t want to do that for my kid, either.

KVT: Tell us about Go To Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood, scheduled for publication in February 2020.

is the size of a kumquat. It was helpful, but I also wanted to know the weird stu no one was telling me. I learned mostly from other parents, who told me things they learned when they became parents. That amazed me at the time. I had this great reproduction education, and there was so much I hadn’t learned.

KVT: What’s it like to be a mother and an artist?

LK: I was brought up mostly by my mom, who was a chef and an artist. She was very passionate about the things she did. For me, it was kind

LK: The book is a collection of the comics I made right after my son was born. I had a really traumatic birth with him. It kind of rocked me to my core, and I honestly thought I was going out of my mind. The way I found my way back to who I was and who I am now is I had a sketchbook, and I drew the foibles of new parenthood. I thought they were insane; they weren’t normal at all. I would post them online and people would comment that was exactly what had happened to them. It was so reassuring at a time when I was sure I was the first person who had ever experienced these things in the entire realm of human production. But a million billion zillion other people have done these things. So I wrote a book for people who might be going through the same thing.

This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity.

Learn more about Knisley at lucyknisley.com.

Afghani Stewed Pumpkin

Fall’s favorite ingredient with a Middle Eastern twist

For better or worse, it seems that pumpkin products are everywhere you turn in the fall. While I enjoy the occasional pumpkin-spice coffee, and a hefty slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I think the pumpkin trend has gone too far. This fall, I saw an ad for pumpkin-spice Spam. And on NPR recently, I heard a reporter talk about trying pumpkin-spice deodorant.

The simple fact is that pumpkin — and its culinary cousin, butternut squash — is a versatile and healthy ingredient, loaded with vitamin A and vitamin C, and a good source of vitamin E, iron and folate. I decided to skip the copious sugar and find a more savory application for this humble fruit. (Yes, technically it’s a fruit!) I came across a recipe for Kadu Bouranee, a stew from Afghanistan made with spices and drizzled with a delightful yogurt sauce.

It may seem surprising that pumpkin, native to the Americas, is used in places as far flung as Afghanistan. In fact, pumpkins were among the first crops to be brought back to Europe from the New World in the 16th century. Hardy and easy to grow, they spread pretty much throughout the continent and beyond, and were used by local cooks in many different ways.

We served this dish with beautiful Lebanese lamb hand pies made by my sister, along with tabbouleh (a bulgur wheat salad with tomatoes and parsley) and an Afghani flatbread, courtesy of my mother. It was a multicultural celebration on a plate!

This dish would go well with so many accompaniments. Try it with a simple chicken or turkey breast, or with kebabs.

The preparation is simple. Peeling the squash might have been the most time-consuming step, besides the simmering. We used tomatoes from my mother’s garden, but you could simplify by using canned tomatoes. I used a combination of butternut squash and pumpkin, which was wonderful, but you could also use all pumpkin or all butternut squash. I do recommend using a small pie pumpkin over your big jack-o’-lantern-style pumpkin, though, as they have more flavor and a better texture.

This recipe proves that pumpkin is good for more than just pumpkinspice lattes. It will expand your culinary horizons! K

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 small onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 2 pounds pumpkin, butternut squash, or a combination, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

• 2-3 tomatoes, chopped, with as many seeds removed as you can (don’t fret if some remain), or a 14-ounce can of chopped tomatoes in juice

• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water

Yogurt sauce:

• 1 cup whole-milk plain yogurt

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• fresh mint for garnish, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil in a large heavy sauté pan over mediumhigh heat. Sauté onion until translucent, about 4-5 minutes, stirring often.

2. Add the garlic, salt, sugar, ginger and pepper, and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add the pumpkin and stir to coat. Finally, add the tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil, stirring often.

4. Cover and lower the heat to a simmer, and cook until the squash is tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to simmer on low for another 10 minutes or so. The sauce will thicken slightly as it cooks.

5. While the dish is cooking, prepare the sauce by mixing together the yogurt, garlic and salt. (This can also be done ahead of time, to allow the flavors to meld.)

6. Serve in a bowl, topped with a generous drizzle of yogurt sauce and plenty of freshly chopped mint.

ANDY BRUMBAUGH

Easy Outings

The Burlington Wildway and other patches of urban nature

As winter approaches, it can feel harder to interest kids in outdoor nature expeditions. One thing that keeps my family willing to bundle up and head out? Permission to keep it small.

Since my son was tiny, we’ve had a family tradition of spending time in nature on Sunday mornings. When we’re too lazy to venture far from home, we head to Crescent Woods, a little parcel of public forest that’s within walking distance of our house in Burlington. Sometimes, when we’re feeling especially unmotivated, we drive there.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like much. It’s small and surrounded by busy Route 7 and suburban houses. You would not want to drink from the sometimes murky stream running through it.

But I still remember my son’s first visit there when he was a toddler. He was a big fan of running up and down ramps at that age, so navigating the steep dirt path from the road down into the woods to the stream was captivating in and of itself. When he caught sight of the curtain of water pouring o the edge of the culvert that runs under the road, he turned to us with a look of delighted amazement, as if to say, “Have you seen this thing? How come you never told me how amazing this world is?” We did not make it much past the culvert that day.

In the years since, we’ve made countless journeys to Crescent Woods. We’ve seen and heard all kinds of birds. We’ve peered at an improbably large fish through a hole in a concrete bridge. We’ve navigated high water and barely moving trickles. We even set up a wildlife camera and have caught a fox moving through on more than one occasion. Some days we don’t see much, but the half hour or 45 minutes in the woods helps us reset a tense morning and regain perspective.

Wherever you are, there is likely a nearby small patch of nature waiting to be discovered. If you want a wilder experience, try going early in the morning or at dusk when the area’s natural inhabitants are more likely to be out and about. This summer, I went with a friend to see the sun rise at Burlington’s Oakledge Park. Instead of the beachgoers and family dogs we were used to, we

saw a pair of herons and a beaver. It felt like an entirely di erent place.

If you’re in or near Burlington, finding such a place just got easier. This fall, a nonprofit partnership called Burlington Wildways celebrated the opening of the Intervale Wildway, the first trail in their initiative to make the wild areas of Burlington more visible and accessible. The partnership has brought together the Winooski Valley Park District, Rock Point, and other parties who own and manage the open space and natural areas that together make up an astounding 49 percent of Burlington.

The newly-marked 5.5-mile section of the Wildway runs from Salmon Hole, on Riverside Avenue, all the way to Ethan Allen Park in the New North End. It can also be accessed along the way, at the Intervale Center and Ethan Allen Homestead, and explored in small sections.

“The trail is tremendously beautiful, with a lot of nice variety, and the sense of quiet and respite in there is surprising. Even people who are familiar with the area will find something new,” said Zoe Richards, director of Burlington Wildways.

Plans are in the works to have the Wildway eventually connect to Arms Forest and Rock Point, both near Burlington High School.

At the Wildway’s grand opening in early September, I took a guided walk from Ethan Allen Homestead to the Intervale Center and was amazed by its beauty. Although I’ve walked, biked and cross-country skied through the Intervale many times, I never knew this previously overgrown trail was here. The newly marked trail hugs the Winooski River until just before the Homestead, and much of the path is forested. The trees arch overhead, so you feel like you’re walking through a tunnel of floodplain forest. It feels much more glorious than the farm fields along the bike path. In fact, it feels wild.

Heather Fitzgerald teaches field ecology and environmental science at the Community College of Vermont and the University of Vermont.

OTHER URBAN WILDS OF BURLINGTON

• Rock Point: This forested peninsula just north of North Beach features dramatic cliffs of older orange rock thrust on top of younger black rock. The unusual forest perched on top of these cliffs offers breathtaking views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. It is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. Trail passes are available at rockpointvt.org/visitor-passes. Passes are free, but there is an option to donate for the upkeep of trails.

• Arms Forest: Right next to Rock Point, this former dairy farm also has unusual geology and natural communities. Its thin, ledgy soils may have spared it from cultivation, as it is home to some unusually large trees. The city manages this forest as an urban wild.

• Derway Island: Not actually an island, but a peninsula near the mouth of the Winooski River, this isolated preserve is home to a surprising number of plant communities and many kinds of wildlife. The Nature Conservancy holds a conservation easement on this Winooski Valley Park District property.

See burlingtonwildways.org for more information about each of these places, including directions.

Unexpected Oasis

Need a cute-as-abutton mint green desk lamp or a package of cauliflower gnocchi? You’ll definitely find them in South Burlington. But a peaceful spot to play and contemplate nature? The suburban community — which boasts Vermont’s only Target and Trader Joe’s —might not be the first place you’d look.

But it exists — and it’s just a stone’s throw away from the strip malls and congestion of Dorset Street. It’s called City Center Park, and it officially opened to the public late last summer. Never heard of it? Perhaps that’s because the only two access points at this time are somewhat hidden on residential Barrett and Iby streets, both just off Hinesburg Road.

Formerly known as Dumont Park, the 7.65-acre parcel was purchased by the city in 1975 from the Dumont Construction company with money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Over the years, a rough network of trails, which residents of Iby Street used primarily to walk their dogs, was established there, said South Burlington city project manager Ashley Parker.

Expanding the trails and adding an innovative playground was part of the first phase of South Burlington’s City Center project, which aims to create a vibrant downtown area. The other part of phase one — turning the formerly gravel Market Street into a main street open for

pedestrian, bike and vehicular traffic — is slated for completion in November and will provide another entrance to the park.

For now, though, from Hinesburg Road, turn north onto Barrett Street, then follow the curve of the road for about half a mile and, on your right, you’ll find the main entrance to what Parker calls “a different kind of park.” (There are no designated parking spots, so just park on the street.) There’s an informational kiosk with a map and, on the reverse side, a description of the plants you’ll find along the trails, including red osier dogwood, trout lily and cinnamon fern.

The wheelchair-accessible gravel trail forms a loop that’s less than a mile long. Four wooden boardwalks and two bridges keep visitors off of the wetlands, and several short spurs lead to a natural playground in the center of the park.

There you’ll find a unique assortment of wooden equipment that encourages climbing, swinging and balancing. A nature-inspired obstacle course from

playground equipment company Kompan features a twisted climbing net, parkourstyle climbing knots and ropes, and a net ladder. There’s also a swing set and a wooden platform, set atop springs, perfect for bouncing with a friend. Other features, designed by Middlebury-based landscape architecture firm LandWorks, include three triangular tunnels tall enough to walk through and seven overlapping logs, cleverly bolted together to form rustic, multidirectional balance beams.

In a nearby clearing, LandWorks

constructed an approximately five-foottall spiral wood pile that incorporates wood from trees felled to build trails. Plastic circles are interspersed with the wood. The structure is not sturdy enough for avid climbing but makes for a “nice little piece of public art,” says Parker, or a cool spot to take some photos.

When City Center is fully developed — the next phase of the project includes the construction of a library, senior center, auditorium and city hall on Market Street and is slated for completion in the spring of 2021 — Parker envisions the park as a place where workers will come when they need a break from office life.

Or perhaps you’ve just finished a morning full of errands, complete with grocery store freak-outs, car seat battles and public restroom shenanigans, and need a place to decompress and eat a few Pumpkin Joe-Joe’s. City Center Park has got you covered. K

Find the main entrance to City Center Park off of Barrett Street in South Burlington. There is a smaller entrance at the end of Iby Street.

Kids play on the obstacle course during City Center Park’s 2018 grand opening

A rustic balance beam

Mira and Theo Novak sit in the spiral wood pile

A sign at the Barrett Street entrance

ALISON NOVAK

ALISON NOVAK

Halloween

Fun facts about costumes, candy and more

$2.7 billion: Decorations $2.6 billion: Candy

2,017.5 POUNDS

How that spending is expected to break down:

How much Americans are expected to spend on Halloween this year:

$8.8 BILLION

47 % of celebrants plan to dress in costume

Most googled costumes in the U.S. in 2018 FORTNITE SPIDERMAN UNICORN DINOSAUR WITCH

$390 million: Greeting cards

$3.2 billion: Costumes

$86.27 Average spending per celebrant

100 POUNDS

Estimated record weight of Halloween candy collected at Champlain Orthodontics’ Williston and St. Albans locations  For each pound, Champlain Orthodontics gives $1 to the candy donor and $1 to Vermont Foodbank.

Most googled costumes in Vermont in 2018 MONSTER RABBIT

WEDNESDAY ADDAMS BELLE PRINCESS SOURCE:

FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY

#1: CHOCOLATE 68 percent of people call chocolate their favorite #2: CANDY CORN The favorite among 10 percent #3: CHEWY AND GUMMY CANDY

44% will eat more candy than their children

17 % plan to dress their pets in costumes

86% of parents steal their kids’ Halloween candy

The average amount that parents pilfer: 25%

Weight of the largest pumpkin grown in Vermont

By Dan and Holly Boyce in Benson in 2018

SOURCE:

37.2

Percentage of Vermont third graders with tooth decay

25.6

Percentage of Vermont kindergartners with tooth decay

Most Popular Pet Costumes PUMPKIN 9.3% HOT DOG 7.2% SUPERHERO 7.2% BUMBLEBEE 3.9% CAT 3.2% WITCH 2.5% LION 2.2% DOG 2.1%

237,698

The number of milk chocolate Halloween squares Lake Champlain Chocolates made this year

263,052

The number of dark chocolate Halloween squares

1,000

The approximate number of caramel apples Lake Champlain Chocolates will make this fall SOURCE: LAKE CHAMPLAIN CHOCOLATES

Streaming Inspiration

A10-minute health lesson teaches children how humans benefit from geting into nature and escaping the stress-inducing noise of traffic, crowds and electronics. A 13-minute arts lesson explains to kids how music can rewire the brain and help people with traumatic brain injuries learn to communicate again. An 11-minute history lesson explores how two sisters, ages 10 and 12, from the Indonesian island of Bali launched an international campaign to ban the use of plastic bags.

Creative educators are always looking for new ways to make their lesson plans more interesting and engaging. Oftentimes, however, supplemental teaching tools are expensive, time-consuming to learn, inappropriate for some age groups or difficult to incorporate into existing lesson plans.

But a St. Albans-based web platform that launched last year is giving teachers new ways to supplement their existing curricula and build new ones. The website, called Ever Widening Circles for Education — EWCed for short — curates innovative educational videos for teachers, students and homeschoolers in grades 6 through 12 and pairs them with lessons it develops for further discussion. The site is free, easy to use and focused on delivering positive, childfriendly content on a variety of subjects, including science, history, technology, art and culture.

EWCed is the educational arm of Ever Widening Circles, a free website whose mission is to publish uplifting news stories about people, organizations, inventions and discoveries that make the world a better place — and inspire others to do the same. Its motto: “It’s still an amazing world.”

The site was launched in 2014 by husband-and-wife team Lynda Ulrich

and Chuck Verderber, both of whom are family dentists with Fiddlehead Dental in St. Albans. At the time, Ulrich was growing increasingly troubled by the number of her friends and patients who expressed feeling stressed out and overwhelmed by the seemingly endless onslaught of negative news. So she began searching the web for news sites that were free of stories about war, violence, politics and hatred, as well as those that didn’t inundate users with incessant advertising.

“When I found nothing on the internet, I decided I’d write an article a day to prove that it’s still an amazing world,” Ulrich explained. When her daily blog posts became too unwieldy for her to manage on her own, Ulrich found someone to help build a website, and Ever Widening Circles was born.

From the beginning, Ulrich, now Ever Widening Circles’ CEO — she

still practices dentistry part time — envisioned the site as more than a mere ad-free aggregator of feel-good-butempty-calorie news stories with no lasting significance. Rather, she saw it as a way to spread what she calls the worldwide “conspiracy of goodness” — positive human developments that happen every day but go largely ignored by most news outlets.

“The world is moving towards progress, but it happens at a pace that is not [considered] newsworthy,” explained Liesl Ulrich-Verderber, Ulrich and Verderber’s 26-year-old daughter and the CEO of EWCed. “‘Newsworthy’ is something is on fire, something exploded, someone died. But 10,000 people moving out of poverty today, just like yesterday, is not news.”

Since its founding, Ever Widening Circles has published more than 1,000 ad-free stories culled from the web and

A St. Albans-based website gives educators a powerful new teaching tool

BY KEN PICARD

garnered more than 170,000 Facebook followers. The site now claims nearly 2 million visitors worldwide and a growth rate of 100,000 new visits per month. The site is self-funded by Ulrich and Verderber’s dentistry practice.

In May 2018, Ever Widening Circles was featured on the front page of the social media site Reddit, sending it viral and garnering 1.7 million clicks in one day. Though the site’s instant fame crashed its servers, the experience proved to Ulrich and her paid staff of five, all of whom are based in Vermont, that there’s a hunger for the uplifting stories they produce.

Noting that many of Ever Widening Circles’ visits came from educators, in the fall of 2018 Ulrich-Verderber launched EWCed, whose content has already been vetted and published by Ever Widening Circles.

Ulrich-Verderber, a 2015 Harvard University graduate with a degree in architectural design and economics, cut her teeth teaching while working with the Leadership Institute at Harvard College. As part of her role on its outreach committee, Ulrich-Verderber was asked to develop a Saturday teaching curriculum for middle and high school students in Watertown, Mass.

Those students came from opposite ends of the learning spectrum: Some were serving detention for behavioral problems, while others were top students who wanted to take classes taught by Harvard students. So Ulrich-Verderber developed a curriculum to teach the disparate group about leadership skills.

When she asked the students what they wanted to know about becoming leaders, a common theme emerged: Many said they wanted to become more adept at public speaking. So Ulrich-Verderber tasked the students with creating their own TED Talks and gave them each three

COURTESY OF EVER WIDENING CIRCLES

From left: Ever Widening Circles CEO Lynda Ulrich, Ever Widening Circles for Education CEO Liesl Ulrich-Verderber, head writer Samantha Burns and former intern Abi Fugere

questions to answer. Kids could watch a TED Talk that she had assigned them as often as they liked before completing their classroom assignments.

“By the end of the semester, we’d gone from kids who wouldn’t even stand up and say their name in front of the classroom, to them giving their own fiveminute TED Talks,” Ulrich-Verderber recalled. “I discovered the power that video has to give students from a wide variety of learning ranges the opportunity to really learn in-depth.”

After graduating from Harvard, Ulrich-Verderber returned to St. Albans and joined her mother working at Ever Widening Circles. Soon thereafter, she began developing EWCed. She spent two and a half years interviewing students about what excites them in school — and interviewing educators about what works best in the classroom.

Early on, she pitched the concept to a friend who was a teacher. His first response was to roll his eyes. He explained that, every year, someone comes into his classroom with a new teaching tool, which takes him hours to learn and requires him to rewrite all of his lesson plans. As he told Ulrich-Verderber, “I want it to take me five minutes to know how to use it and five minutes to figure out how to put it in my lesson plan.”

Another teacher o ered her similar advice: “Look, I’ve got one chance to make this work in front of a class of sixth graders. If it doesn’t work perfectly the first time, and every time, without a hitch, I’ve lost them.”

Ulrich-Verderber took the advice to heart and made sure that EWCed was as simple to use as possible. The site is broken into “touchstones,” or standalone lessons such as “Using Technology to Save Endangered Languages,” “The Incredible Journey of Jane Goodall” and “500 Years of Women in Art.” Each

touchstone begins with an introduction to the topic, followed by a short video and a section titled “Why It Matters.” After students watch the video, the teacher can access questions for further discussion or writing assignments, as well as other related videos.

The beta version went live last fall and quickly attracted users in almost every state. During its first year, UlrichVerderber worked with an advisory team from 10 schools around the country to solicit comments and suggestions from teachers and students.

Those educators included Deborah DeFrancesco, a sixth-grade teacher at H.C. Crittenden Middle School in Armonk, N.Y. DeFrancesco, a native Vermonter who’s been teaching for 34 years, discovered Ever Widening Circles three years ago.

“I was hooked immediately. I just liked the whole package,” said DeFrancesco, who now incorporates EWCed

touchstones into her own lesson plans and shares content with other teachers at her school.

Throughout the 2018-19 school year, DeFrancesco solicited anonymous feedback from her students, which she then shared with Ulrich-Verderber. She quoted one student, who’d watched a five-minute science lesson titled “The Creature That Doesn’t Die,” about the hydra, a tiny organism that seemingly lives forever.

“It was fun to learn,” the student told DeFrancesco, “because we are not pressured to learn it. And by being fun, we will tend to remember it and share it with our friends.”

Another student o ered a more succinct assessment: “It wasn’t boring” — high praise indeed from an 11-year-old.

Another educator who’s served as an adviser to Ulrich-Verderber and who has fully embraced the site is Jesse Bell, administrator of the Bellcate School in Essex, an independent therapeutic school for students ages 11 to 22 who have physical, emotional or intellectual challenges.

At this alternative school for students

with di erent learning abilities, Bell explained, his teachers often develop their own curricula tailored to students’ individual needs. Having used similar educational websites in the past, Bell described EWCed as the best he’s found yet.

“I can’t tell you how many things from EWCed have kicked o an entire quarter of learning here,” Bell said. For example, his students watched one lesson called “Explore the Tiniest Museums You’ve Ever Seen.” Afterward, they decided to build their own micro museums at Bellcate. Then, after watching a science video about Biosphere 2, an ecologically self-contained research facility in Arizona, the school hosted someone from the video as a guest speaker.

One thing that sets EWCed apart, Bell noted, are the positive and inspirational messages imbued in its content.

“That’s the good stu in education, so kids get interested in something and want to continue learning about it,” he added. “For our kids, who have really tough backgrounds … it’s a nice way to lighten things up and also [share] meaningful, positive stu that’s happening in the world.”

Ulrich-Verderber, who spent much of her childhood traveling the world with her parents and siblings, recognizes that most students won’t get such opportunities to discover all the potential career paths open to them. So she described her mission as to “inspire students’ curiosity, connect them to the wider world and give them a sense of what’s possible.

“To be able to say you ‘visited’ Cambodia or Sri Lanka or Alaska [through EWCed] and learned about them instills in kids that they’re part of something bigger,” she added. “So when they grow up and become adults who consume the news, they’re not just seeing the Middle East as this terrible, scary place. They’ve seen kids doing skateboarding in the Middle East, just like they do.”

Learn more at ed.everwidening circles.com

I discovered the power that video has to give students the opportunity to really learn in-depth.

LIESL ULRICH-VERDERBER

RISING TALENT

Vermont’s skateboarding community rallies to resurrect a beloved indoor skate park

BY KEN PICARD

Reid Hathaway was in kindergarten the first time he visited the nowdefunct Talent Skatepark in South Burlington.

“I remember dropping him off the first time for a lesson and thinking, Wow! This is an awesome place and an awesome community!” recalled his mother, Melissa Hathaway. “He immediately took to it.”

When Reid was 8, Hathaway wasn’t sure whether it was OK to leave him alone at Talent to skateboard for an open session until other parents reassured her that he would be fine. Talent, they

told her, was a place where kids were taught to be “respectful, responsible and safe” on their skateboards. Helmets were mandatory, and the park’s skateboard coaches, aka “skoaches,” made sure that younger skateboarders didn’t get run over by older and more experienced riders.

Soon, Hathaway’s son was skateboarding at Talent as often as he could. Reid quickly took to it and became a “boardsport kid.” The skills he learned there translated to other board sports, such as snowboarding and kiteboarding, in which Reid, now 13, similarly excels. “This is what fills his heart,” said Hathaway.

But in the summer of 2018, Talent cofounders David Wood and Hannah Deene Wood announced that the skate park and shop, which had operated for 17 years as the Burlington area’s only year-round skateboard facility — and the largest in northern New England — was closing for good on August 5.

Photo above: Hannah Deene Wood and David Wood with skateboarders (from left to right) Kyle Buck, Jasper Cleary, Juni Cleary, Henry Meunier, Arthur Lea, Creston Lea-Simons, Liam Kelley and Evelyn Santillo at Talent’s new Burlington location

Or so they thought. Vermont’s skateboarding community, with the help of Burton Snowboards, has resurrected the beloved skate park as a nonprofit organization. The newly reborn Talent, which is expected to open on Burton’s Burlington campus by January, is emblematic of how much the skate park meant to the lives of local skateboarders and their families.

“Talent was really like a second home,” said Emily Brooks, 22, of Shelburne, who started skating there when she was 7 years old, and later became a Talent skoach. Brooks, whose parents, Kathy and Mark Brooks, are members of the new nonprofit’s board, described it as a place where she found not just an extracurricular activity but a sense of belonging. “Even if I didn’t want to skate, I’d still go just to hang out with everyone,” she said.

Talent first opened its doors in December 2001 as a 12,000-square-foot indoor facility on Williston Road. It operated 360 days a year and o ered lessons, clinics, summer camps and demos by professional skateboarders. In fact, Deene Wood, a Colchester native, nearly gave her life for the business. During its initial construction, she fell o a ladder and fractured her skull, which put her in a coma. In the days after her accident, it wasn’t clear whether she would even survive.

Nevertheless, Talent opened for business as originally scheduled, and in its first seven years, it grew steadily and developed a loyal client base. Although the park never had a million-dollar year, Deene

Wood said, “When I wrote the business plan, the retail shop carried the entire business. The park was … just the cherry on top.”

But beginning in 2008, Deene Wood noticed that customers were coming into the skate shop and scanning the bar codes on her products with their smartphones, but not buying anything. “I was like, What the hell is going on?

This is ridiculous!” She soon realized what was happening: People were checking out her products in person, then purchasing them online for less, usually through Amazon. “That’s when things really took a turn for the worse,” she recalled.

Wood and Deene Wood managed to keep Talent afloat for another decade with its skate clinics and 13 weeks of summer camp annually. But as Wood recalled, he often found himself working all day and only seeing a few customers. “It was like, What am I doing with my life?”

Ultimately, the decline proved unsustainable. By 2018, their accountant warned the couple that if they continued to stay open, they’d go bankrupt. Though some people suggested that Talent venture into online retail sales, Deene Wood said that they had neither the inventory nor storage space to do so. Finally, when their rent went up, the couple called it quits.

After Talent closed, many local skaters felt as though they’d lost part of themselves. When Hathaway broke the news to Reid on the drive home from a skateboarding camp last summer, he was distraught. He wasn’t the only one.

SAM SIMON

COURTESY JOHNATHAN TOWNSEND

Myles Rossi doing a backside Smith grind at Talent’s former South Burlington location

Talent’s new space at Burton’s Burlington campus

Cooper Qua does a frontside Indy at Talent’s former location

“I was devastated,” Deene Wood recalled. “It was my life. It was my identity. It was everything.”

But within weeks, a group of local skateboarders and their families began gathering to discuss how they could resurrect Talent, perhaps as a nonprofit organization. Early on, Wood admitted that he was deeply skeptical of the idea.

“When you own a business that operates 360 days a year, it’s this giant monkey on your back,” he said. “We went out of business for a reason, and it wasn’t because we were too busy. But I think the community [realized] what they had and what they lost.”

This community included Pamela Moreau, whose son Kyle Buck skateboarded on and off for a few years. Then in June 2018, when Kyle was 10, she signed him up for a one-week summer camp that Talent hosted at the Andy A_Dog Williams Skatepark on Burlington’s waterfront.

“I could see how the experience, in just one week, helped build his confidence and self-esteem,” Moreau recalled in an email. “I went to Talent’s website to sign him up for additional weeks and saw that Talent was closing in August. I was heartbroken because I could see the impact it had on Kyle and on other kids.”

A Burlington attorney, Moreau agreed to provide her legal services pro bono to incorporate the new nonprofit and secure its federal tax-exempt status, which makes the new Talent eligible to receive grants.

On a warm day in early September, Wood and Deene Wood met Hathaway, Brooks and several other skateboard enthusiasts at Talent’s new home on the south end of Burton’s Burlington campus. The newly vacant space is smaller than the original Talent — only about 7,400 square feet. But according to Justin Worthley, Burton’s senior vice president of human resources who also oversees facility operations, the snowboard company has agreed to cover many of Talent’s common-area expenses, such as maintenance of the bathrooms and parking lot.

In fact, Burton made a “pretty significant investment” in the building itself even before the nonprofit’s lease was signed. According to Worthley, Burton erected new separation walls, repaired the floors and installed a new heating, ventilation and airconditioning system.

In many ways, the new Talent’s home on Burton’s campus is a natural fit. Burton’s own nonprofit arm, the Chill Foundation — a free youthdevelopment program that uses board sports to teach life skills to underserved youth ages 10 to 18 — has had a long relationship with Talent. The Chill Foundation is also headquartered in the building, as is Burton’s prototype facility, research-and-development lab, testing facility and photo studio for their product catalogs. Finally, Burton’s own skate bowls, which are free for Burton employees as well as the public, are directly across the parking lot.

“We are passively and actively cheering them on as they reincarnate in their new nonprofit form and helping them out in any way we can,” Worthley said.

Deene Wood, who currently works for the Howard Center in Burlington, was hired as Talent’s new executive director. Wood, who built the original Talent Skatepark, as well as the Burton ramps and skate parks in Essex, Williston and Colchester, doesn’t plan to have a formal role in its ongoing operations but has agreed to construct the new indoor park and its skate features. As for what the terrain will look like, Wood said he’d like to see it take shape over time.

“I think it’ll have some old Talent essence,” he said, “but some new stuff, too, because skating evolves.”

That said, Deene Wood insisted that there’s one aspect of the old Talent that won’t change: Because of her own experiences with a traumatic brain injury, helmets will still be mandatory.

Deene Wood is still amazed at how many people in Vermont’s skateboarding world were onboard to make this a reality. Moreau, her pro bono attorney, agreed.

“I’m doing this as a special gift to my son Kyle … and his brother Liam,” she said, “to show them that regular people, working together, can be proactive and create something positive for our community.” K

“Talent for Talent: Grazing Dinner,” a 21-and-older fundraiser for the nonprofit Talent Skatepark Inc. will be held on Sunday, October 20, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., at The Great Northern, 716 Pine St., Burlington. Tickets cost $100 and can be purchased at sevendays tickets.com.

Talent was really like a second home.

EMILY BROOKS

Hannah, David, Adah and Senyah

Kids VT: Hannah, you’ve been hard at work on the new Talent indoor skateboarding facility. You must be busy!

Hannah: Yes, I’m working a full-time job and doing this right now! It’s a labor of love, and the time I spend working on Talent doesn’t feel like work because it’s a passion. And it needs to happen!

KVT: Parenting two kids on top of that must be tricky.

Hannah: It’s tricky, especially when you have really active kids! Senyah is in the weight-lifting club at school, and Adah is on the volleyball team at Mount Mansfield Union High School, and I never miss a game.

KVT: Girls, are you into skating?

Adah: Not that much! I wish I’d gotten more into it when we had the old place. But maybe the new place will be like a new beginning, and we’ll get more into it together. I know I definitely want to get a job here, and I’m excited to get to work here with my family.

KVT: It’s a pretty cool family business.

Hannah: [Adah and Senyah] are a big part of it. Both of them were at the old Talent with me when they were two days old. I was back to work that fast. So it really is a family thing.

KVT: Do your friends ask you about the new space? Are they excited?

Adah: Yeah, a lot of my friends are.

Senyah: Even Mr. Martin, a teacher at my school, is always like, Senyah, when is it opening?

(Left to right) Senyah Wood, 11, Adah Wood, 14, Hannah Deene Wood, 46, and David Wood, 47, outside of the new Talent Skatepark in Burlington. Hannah will serve as its executive director.

In July, Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate released his latest fulllength record, Talk Like a Pirate The rollicking collection of nautically themed children’s tunes is the affable Vermont buccaneer’s fourth album and follows 2016’s The Flying Pirate Circus That recording drew consideration for a Grammy nomination, along with several dozen other kids’ albums. Though it wasn’t a nominee, the album cemented Rockin’ Ron’s status as one of the premier children’s entertainers in the Green Mountains, if not the Seven Seas.

Rockin’ Ron is the sea-faring sobriquet of Je ersonville’s Ron Carter, 60. Seeking a quieter, rural life, Carter moved to Vermont from Philadelphia 27 years ago with his wife, April Tuck. He left behind a career in music promotion, working with artists ranging from rocker Pat Benatar to glam metal band Slaughter to the hip-hop group, Arrested Development.

Carter now works in a variety of capacities for Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Je ersonville, where Rockin’ Ron is also a regular performer. He volunteers at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, as well as at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a local summer camp for children with cancer.

While Rockin’ Ron is a singing

Captain Hooks

Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate on his new album, Talk Like a Pirate

BY DAN BOLLES

swashbuckler with a knack for pirate puns — he never passes up an opportunity for an elongated and energetic “Arrrrrr!” — Carter is a Berklee College of Music alum who studied songwriting and composition. Formal training at that renowned Boston conservatory is evident in his music. Even as Rockin’ Ron sings silly shanties about peg-legged dinosaurs (“Peggy the Peg-leg-osaurus”), goofy sea creatures (“Wigglely, Gigglely, Squigglely Squid”) and, of course, treasure (“Duncan’s Sunken Treasure”), there’s a musicality to his material that delights young scalliwags and old salts alike.

Kids VT recently caught up with Rockin’ Ron by phone to talk about pirates, his new record and the challenges of writing songs for kids that won’t drive their parents to walk the plank.

KIDS VT: Was there any hesitation as a pirate about moving to Vermont and being so far away from the ocean?

ROCKIN’ RON: Well, the definition of a pirate is a thief on a body of water. Of course, I’m a friendly pirate, so the only thing I’m going to steal is people’s hearts. But a body of water doesn’t have to be an ocean. It can be a river or a lake or a stream, and I’m near plenty of those.

KVT: You played in rock bands before you became a rocking pirate. How did you make the transition into children’s music?

RR: I was playing some original songs for a friend of mine, and he said, “Have you ever thought of writing kids’ music?” And I never had. So I wrote “I’m the Friendly Pirate” and the resort, Smugglers’ Notch, where I work, asked me to come up with some characters, and the Friendly Pirate was one of the characters I created.

KVT: What were some of the others?

RR: I also had a character called the Woodchuck, which was kind of a Rusty DeWees “The Logger” kind of character, but that didn’t really take o . I had another one called Farmer Joe and another called Groovy Dude, but the Friendly Pirate was the one that took o . Songwriting is my passion, so I just kept writing songs for the character.

KVT: Yar. Do you ever find the character constricting, creatively?

RR: I find that it’s pretty much limitless what you can do with pirates [in kids’ music]. You’ve got geography and culture and history. I manage to work in just about anything.

KVT: What is the most challenging aspect of writing music for children?

RR: I always try not to talk down to children. Like “Pirate Party Pooper,” for instance, I didn’t want to make it a negative thing. I wanted to be silly and call someone out a little bit but have fun.

The other part is trying to appeal to

adults at the same time. But you don’t have to dumb things down for kids. You can talk to them like intelligent beings, which they are.

KVT: So who are the Friendly Pirate’s musical influences?

RR: I try not to listen to other children’s music too much, because I don’t want to be influenced by that. On CD Baby, I list Ra as a “similar artist.” And They Might Be Giants, who I actually think of myself as more like; I’m quirky. And then I list Dan Zanes, just in terms of an overall appeal to a demographic.

In general, I’m a huge fan of the Beatles and Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan. For new bands, I like Old Crow Medicine Show.

KVT: Did you have a specific vision in mind for the latest record?

RR: Not really. At this point, I have kind of a formula: I try to do a parody on every album, and a song about numbers, a song about a historical pirate on every album. If there’s a theme on this album, it is that, sonically, it’s probably my most rockflavored album.

KVT: Well, you are Rockin’ Ron, after all. Do you have a favorite pirate?

RR: Yes, I do. That would be Black Sam Bellamy. He referred to himself as “the Robin Hood of pirates.” It’s said that he would capture a ship but let everyone go free if they wanted to — he wouldn’t force anyone to be part of his crew. And he would steal things, but never treated anyone badly, per se.

KVT: Speaking of crews, you have an enormous list of guest musicians on the new album. What can you tell me about them?

RR: I like to get professional musicians, but I also like to include family and friends and kids, because I really believe that you can hear on a record if you’ve got people who are having fun. Sometimes professionals hit all the right notes, but you don’t get that same feeling of frivolity.

KVT: And your wife is on the album, too, singing and playing bodhran.

RR: She’s been such a great supporter. But I got into trouble with her once because I got my ear pierced, which she had wanted me to do for a long time. When I finally did it, she said, “It took a silly pirate character for you to get your ear pierced, and I’ve been asking you to do it for years!”

This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity. Learn more about Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate at rockinronthefriendlypirate.com.

treasure (“Duncan’s

recently

ON OCTOBER 17… A NEW CLASS TAKES THE CHALLENGE — YOURS!

This month, Kids VT and Seven Days will launch the second Good Citizen Challenge, a fun, educational and FREE civics project for young Vermonters.

Participants will earn points by demonstrating their interest in being good citizens of their communities, their state, their country and their world. Complete the Challenge by racking up more than 251 points — the number of towns in Vermont.

Those who finish will receive a Good Citizen medal and other prizes and will be invited to meet with elected o cials who will recognize their achievements.

Sample activities:

1. Draw a cartoon that illustrates the concept of separation of powers, also known as checks and balances.

2. Memorize and deliver the Gettysburg Address.

3. Read the Vermont Humanities Council’s Vermont Reads 2019 book, the graphic novel March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.

4. Invite a current or former elected o cial to talk to your class. Ask them why they ran for o ce, what they love or loved about serving their community, and what their hardest decision was in that role.

5. Create a class “Code of Conduct,” an ethical thinking activity that’s partof the CyberCivics curriculum.

The Challenge is nonpartisan; it focuses on our shared American values. And this year, it’s open to individuals and groups!  Get started at

Sample questions:

1. What is Vermont’s state motto?

2. Which statewide elected o cial examines government programs to find out if taxpayer money was wasted?

3. True or False: You need to be invited to a City Council or Selectboard meeting to attend.

4. What are the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution?

5. True or False: In a print newspaper, the page that explains who owns the publication, where and how often it’s distributed, who works there, and how to contact the sta is called the Table of Contents.

Answers below

deadline to finish is March 6, 2020.

At the HALLOWEEN HOWL, families dressed up in awesome costumes venture through a Freaky-Fairytalesthemed haunted walk, hop on a hayride, dance to spooky tunes, get their fortunes told and have a blast with festive fall games. Saturday, October 26, 2-6 p.m., Oakledge Park, Burlington.

Week to Week

Indigenous Encampment: Inquisitive visitors view an 1850s camp wigwam and chat with the Alnôbaiwi Abenakis as they process and cook their harvest with demonstrations of a “bean-hole” earth oven. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington.

Cabot Apple Pie Festival: Townsfolk sample fruit pastries and lunch fare, check out a pie contest, and browse crafts during this sweet event. 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Cabot School, Cabot.

Mad River Valley Trick or Trot 5K & Kids’ Fun Run: Racers dart through a not-too-scary course in costumes, followed by Halloween treats, games, wood-fired pizza for purchase, and prizes for the best costumes and fleetest feet. 1 p.m., Warren Elementary School, Warren.

1 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Paint by Pages: Where Picture Books Meet Art: Little ones listen to a picture book and pursue an art project. Ages 5 and up. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 1 p.m. Info, 745-1391. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: Kids on their way home from school stop in the library for relaxing and rotating activities. See williston.lib.vt.us for specific info. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 2-3 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Bingo For Kids: Games and prizes amuse young competitors. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: Fresh fruit and veggies, breads and baked goods, prepared foods, pickles and more draw a crowd. Dewey Park, Burlington, 3-6:30 p.m. Info, 324-3073.

One-on-One Tutoring: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences students coach elementary-age kids in reading, math and science. Grades 1-6. Some assistance available for other grades in certain subjects with inquiry. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 3-5 p.m., preregister. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Read to Daisy the Therapy Dog: Book buffs bring a selection from home or borrow from the library to amuse an attentive canine. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Spanish Musical Kids: Niños celebrate Spanish through Latin American songs and games. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: Kids investigate what makes technology tick by taking apart objects and designing new creations. Use the library’s materials or bring in computers, keyboards or other old electronics. Winooski Memorial Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 655-6424. FREE

FRANKLIN

Adoption Support Group: Families facing adoption issues and challenges join forces in a respectful setting. All welcome. Franklin County Seniors Center, St. Albans, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 524-1700. FREE

Fairfield Lego Club: Kids tackle a building challenge. Grades 2-6. Bent Northrop Memorial Library, Fairfield, 3:15-4:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 827-3945. FREE

Tunes on Tuesdays: Youngsters make merry with movement and tunes. Highgate Public Library, Highgate Center, 10 a.m. Info, 868-3970. FREE

WASHINGTON

Cabot Fall Foliage Festival: A full day of festivities amuses foliage seekers, from local crafts to homemade meals to live music from Dana and Susan Robinson. See cabotvermont.org for detailed schedule. Willey Building, Cabot, 10 a.m., lunch and dinner available for purchase. Info, 563-3338.

2 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: Crafts, cheeses, breads, veggies, eggs and more vie for spots in shoppers’ totes. Middlebury VFW, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

CALEDONIA

Cook-A-Book: Little ones listen to a tale and partake of a tasty fruit treat. Ages 5-12. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3:30 p.m. Info, 745-1391. FREE

Hardwick Chess Club: Strategy lovers join local game enthusiast Paul Fixx to sharpen their skills. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 2:45-5 p.m. Info, 472-5948. FREE

Teen Creative Writing Series: Hosted by author Lassiter Williams, teens take part in a writing series, learn basic craft skills, share their work and meet other young writers. Ages 13-18. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3:30 p.m. Info, 745-1391. FREE

Classes

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Snacks and Stories: While kids relax and refuel, volunteer Greg LeRoy reads picture books. Children under age 10 must be accompanied by a caregiver. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 3:15 p.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: New mamas tote their pre-crawling kids to an all-levels flowing yoga class focused on bringing the body back to strength and alignment in a relaxed and nurturing environment. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, Essex Junction, 10:45 a.m., $17; $120-140 for a 10-class pass; childcare for ages 6 months-6 years available. Info, 899-0339.

Kids’ Chess Club: Strategy lovers of all abilities face off against opponents. Ages 6 and up. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 6-7 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 5-8 p.m. Read to Willy Wonka the Therapy Dog: A certified reading pooch listens patiently to emerging readers. Ages 3-8. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4:15 p.m., preregister. Info, 264-5660. FREE

List your class or camp here for only $20 per month! Submit the listing by October 15 at kidsvt.com or to classes@kidsvt.com.

WOODSHOP: MAKE A STOOL

Build your own stool ... then, sit down and relax!  Create your own step stool for your bedroom or a space needing a seat.  Under close supervision of a woodworking professional, your child will be guided through the creation of their own stool or chair including training on how to safely use hand tools and select power tools. Students will get the chance to use a table saw, jigsaw, and orbital sander to build their hardwood creation.  Students will design their own seat and leave with the amazing piece of work. Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks, 11/612/18 (no class 11/27), 3:30-5:30 p.m, $255 ($15 material fee included). Scholarships available (contact  education@generatorvt. com). Info, generatorvt.com, generatorvt. com/classes/kids-classes/#!event/2019/11/6/ kids-woodshop-make-a-stool.

SCULPTURAL LANTERN MAKING: Do you need a light for your room? Not only will you learn Illustrator, Photoshop and the laser machine ... you will create a lantern with a silhouette of your choice which will be illuminated when the light is on!  Choose a lantern shape and utilize mold-making techniques to craft the outer shell. Learn digital design using Illustrator and Photoshop to create silhouettes for the inside of the lantern. Next you will learn to use the laser cutter to cut the silhouettes for your lantern.  Once the pieces have been laser cut, you will assemble and hand stitch everything together to create your own illuminated sculpture! Ages 9-12. Wednesdays, 6 weeks, 11/6-12/18 (no class 11/27), 3:30-5:30 p.m., $255 ($15 material fee included), limit of 6 students. Scholarships available (contact education@generatorvt. com). Info, generatorvt.com, generatorvt. com/classes/kids-classes/#!event/2019/11/6/ sculptural-lantern-making.

HALLOWEEN!! MAKE A MASK THAT LIGHTS

UP: By pairing conductive thread with sewable LEDs and a small battery, curious kids can add a flash of color and light to a piece of ordinary fabric! In this class, participants will use laser-cut felt to create a personalized wearable that lights up even the spookiest Halloween night. Don’t worry if you don’t yet understand how a circuit works; you’ll learn!  An adult must accompany children under 8 years old. Saturday, Oct. 19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., $50.  Info, generatorvt.com, generatorvt.com/ classes/kids-classes/#!event/2019/10/19/ make-a-mask-that-lights-up.

BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: The future of our nation lies in the courage, confidence and determination of its people. Our Kids BJJ Program promotes self-esteem, selfconfidence, character development and a physical outlet with discipline, cooperation with other children, respect for peers and adults, perseverance and a healthy lifestyle. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will help your kids to learn realistic bullyproofing and self-defense skills that they can use for the rest of their lives! Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu builds endurance, patience and self-respect. Give your kids the ability to get stronger, gain confidence and build resilience! Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them practices they can carry with them throughout life. Remember you are raising children, not flowers. First class is free! Please stop by our school at 55 Leroy Rd., Williston; call 598-2839; visit vermontbjj. com or email julio@bjjusa.com to register your son or daughter!

3-DIMENSIONAL CREATIONS! Making sculpture is fun, inventive and MESSY! Students will work in papier mâché wire and found objects to create creatures, animals, people or whatever their creative minds can invent! Mondays, 9/23-10/21. Milton Artist Guild.

FUN WITH FIBER ARTS: Discover the wonder of texture, color and form working with cloth, yarn and other fibers. In this class we will work with these materials and more to create wall hangings, dolls and hand loom weavings. Mondays, 11/4-12/9 (no class 11/25). Milton Artist Guild.

PAPER MAKING AND COLLAGE: In this class students create collages from their own handmade materials! We will make paper from natural and recycled paper, explore printing and paint papers to incorporate into collage materials. From these inspired materials students can create gifts and works of art. Mondays, 1/13/20–2/10/20. Milton Artist Guild.

CHOICE-BASED ART: Bring your ideas!! In this class we will provide the materials and instruction for students to create the work they want! A variety of 2- and 3-dimensional materials will be provided each class, and mini lessons using those materials and techniques will inspire creation. The focus however, is on the student’s needs. Mondays 3/2/20-3/30/20. Milton Artist Guild.

Pricing:  $135 for each 5-class unit, sibling discount of $120. All four units: $440. Contact Linda Stech at Lstech@comcast. net to register or with questions.

Wonder Wednesdays: Eager kids experiment, collaborate and explore their curiosity through specific projects. Call or check online for details. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Yoga for Kids: Young yogis stretch to the sky with professional instructor Melissa from Evolution Yoga. Ages 2-5. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: Local vendors peddle farm-fresh produce and fruits, handcrafted breads, artisan cheese, and more at this large outdoor emporium. Depot Park, Rutland, 3-6 p.m. Info, 342-4727.

WASHINGTON

Coding for Kids: Young techies conquer basic computer code with Scratch Jr. and Hopscotch apps. Ages 6-11. Waterbury Public Library, 3-4 p.m., preregister. Info, 244-7036. FREE

Walk-Through Wednesday at Orchard Valley: Parents interested in an alternative grade-school eduction for their children tour classrooms and ask questions. For adults. Orchard Valley Waldorf School, East Montpelier, 8:30-9:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 456-7400. FREE

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: Fresh vegetables, farm eggs, local meats and cheeses, cut flowers, and seasonal fruits and berries represent the best of the growing season, with the accompaniment of live music. Woodstock Village Green, 3-6 p.m. Info, 457-3555.

3 Thursday

ADDISON

Vergennes Farmers Market: Shoppers peruse local produce, crafts and prepared foods while listening to live music. Vergennes City Park, 3-6:30 p.m. Info, 233-9180.

CALEDONIA

802 Reptiles: Small ones handle critters in a safe and educational setting. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 11 a.m. Info, 472-5948. FREE Knitting for Kids: Junior crafters learn simple skills with Hazen Union High School student Audrey Grant. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 3-4 p.m., RSVP if yarn and needles needed. Info, 472-5948. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Bilingual Spanish Story Time: Library patrons of all ages soak up stories in two languages. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:15 p.m. and 6:30-7:15 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Halloween Events

MAMA SAYS COSTUME SWAP: Families drop-and-swap gently used Halloween costumes. Clean costumes and accessories may be dropped off at Good Beginnings of Central Vermont. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 10:30 A.M.-NOON. Info, 595-7953. FREE

THE BORDERLANDS: With a theme of Hansel and Gretel — who find their own wisdom and strength from the fairy world — a one-mile walk departs every 15 minutes, with performances of storytelling, dance, poetry, artwork, puppetry, singing and music by elves, fairies and other woodland creatures along this enchanted path. Shelburne Farms, SATURDAYS, NOON-4 P.M., $10-15; free for children under 2; proceeds benefit children’s arts groups; preregister for a specific time slot. Info, 985-8686.

ENCHANTED FOREST: This night-time autumn celebration ferries folks into the park via hay-wagon rides. Guided tours lead families through candle-lit paths to stages with storytelling, music, fire and magic, with an opportunity to admire the park’s 50’ fire-illuminated tower. Hubbard Park, Montpelier, SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 3-8 P.M., $5-10; $20-25 per family; proceeds benefit Montpelier Parks; preregistration required. Info, 223-7335.

SELF-GUIDED

ENCHANTED FOREST:

The day after the Enchanted Forest, folks take a magical, performance-free trail, featuring one-of-akind art illuminated by lanterns and torches. Hubbard Park, Montpelier, SUNDAY, OCT. 13, 5-8 P.M., by donation. Info, 223-7335.

THE COSTUME CLOSET: Trick-or-treaters in need of a holiday disguise check out new-tothem possibilities. Donations of clean, gently used Halloween costumes and accessories accepted until October 17. St. Albans Free Library, FRIDAY, OCT. 18, 10 A.M.-6 P.M. AND SATURDAY, OCT. 19, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. Info, 524-1507. FREE

HORSES FOR HOPE: Dressed-up youngsters ask for treats from ponies, play games, pursue arts and crafts, take pony rides, and participate in a luminary ceremony. Blackrose Farm, Colchester, SATURDAY, OCT. 19, 10:30

A.M.-2:30 P.M., $5; food available for purchase; all proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society. Info, eploof@ewsd.org. 8519.

HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION: Creative costumes add flair to this safe night of refreshments, games and crafts. Preschoolers to grade 4 and their families. Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 5-6:30 P.M. Info, 878-1375. FREE

3 Thursday (cont.)

MILTON TRUNK OR TREAT: Costumed kiddos gather sugary and not-so-sweet treats. Bombardier Park, Milton, FRIDAY, OCT. 25, 6-7:30

P.M. Info, 893-4922. FREE

HALLOWEEN FAMILY FEST: Pirates and princesses shake hands with costumed characters, trick or treat at mall stores, check out games, bouncy houses, not-too-spooky stories and more. University Mall, South Burlington, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 1-4 P.M. Info, 863-1066. FREE

HALLOWEEN HOWL: Families dressed up in awesome costumes venture through a Freaky-Fairytales-themed haunted walk, hop on a hayride, dance to spooky tunes, get their fortunes told and have a blast with fun fall games. Oakledge Park, Burlington, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 2-6 P.M., food available for purchase. Info, 881-7767.

HALLOWEEN HUSTLE: Runners decked out in holiday attire hoof it to the finish line in short road races. Prizes awarded by age group and for best costume. Maple Street Park, Essex Junction, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 9 A.M., $15-20 5K registration; $5 for kids’ race, or free with a registered 5K runner. Info, 878-1375.

HOOTS AND HOWLS: This educational naturebased shindig features science experiments, up-close encounters with snakes, owls, skulls and bones, magical storytelling, games, crafts, and ooey-gooey seasonal fun. The evening ends with lit jacko-lanterns, stories, song and dance, and a final wrap-up of tricky treats.

Vermont Institute of Natural Science, Quechee, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 10 A.M.-8 P.M., regular museum admission, $14.50-16.50; free for members and children under 4. Info, 359-5000.

MONTPELIER HALLOWEEN PARTY: Little goblins, ghosts and other costumed kids celebrate not-too-spooky fun with games, goodies and a performance by Marko the Magician. Ages 12 and under. Montpelier High School, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 225-8699. FREE

A MUSICAL MUNCHKINS HALLOWEEN CONCERT: Miss Andrea & Friends make merry with interactive holiday songs, storytelling, puppets, dancing, instrumental fun and a gift bag. Ages 2-6. Doors open at 3:15 p.m. Green Mountain Performing Arts, Waterbury, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 3:30-5 P.M., suggested donation, $10-20; proceeds benefit the TBPS Backpack Primary School Program; preregister. Info, 845-802-2311.

RUTLAND HALLOWEEN PARADE: In its 60th year, floats fill the city as marching bands and local folks celebrate the spooky holiday. Line up at 5:30 p.m.; parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Downtown Rutland, SATURDAY, OCT. 26. Info, 773-1822. FREE

SPOOKY SPRINT: The town celebrates the witching season with kid-friendly events, a costume contest and pint-sized races beginning at 3 p.m. Ages 10 and under. Taylor Park, St. Albans, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 3-4 P.M. Info, 524-1500. FREE

FAMILY HALLOWEEN: All Hallow’s Eve inspires pumpkin carving, doughnuts on a string, wagon rides, animal programs and “not-tooscary” stories. Costume parades at noon and 2 p.m. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. regular museum admission, $4-14; free for children under 3 or in costume when accompanied by an adult. Info, 457-2355.

HALLOWEEN BIKE RIDE: Cyclists in costume wheel their way through town, beginning at 2 p.m. and ending at Folino’s Pizza with music, prizes and fun for all. Maglianero Cafe, Burlington, SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 1:30-4 P.M. Info, 864-0123. FREE

HAUNTED HAPPENINGS: From the magical to the mystical, kids don fantasy-themed costumes, trick-or-treat on the museum’s grounds, and enjoy spooktacular games and live music. Shelburne Museum, SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 10 A.M.-1 P.M. regular museum admission, $8-25; free for children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

MAD RIVER VALLEY TRICK OR TROT 5K & KIDS’ FUN RUN: Runners race through a not-too-scary course in costumes, followed by Halloween treats, games, wood-fired pizza for purchase and prizes for the best costumes and fleetest feet. Warren Elementary School, SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 1 P.M. $10-20; proceeds benefit the Warren PTO. Info, 496-2487.

MIDDLEBURY SPOOKTACULAR: Trick-or-treating, parading, gaming and dancing highlight this Main Street Halloween fest for the whole family. Middlebury Green, SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 1-3 P.M. FREE

UVM HALLOWEEN BARN: Horses don costumes, too, for this non-spooky trick-or-treating session, with an obstacle course and crafts. Parking available at Gutterson Fieldhouse with shuttles to the barn. Miller Research Facility (Dairy Farm and Horse Barn), South Burlington, MONDAY, OCT. 28, 5:30-7 P.M., suggested donation, $3. Info, 656-2108.

BURLINGTON TRUNK OR TREAT: Costumed kiddos get good loot from local groups. O.N.E. Community Center, Burlington, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 5:30-7:30 P.M. Info, 864-0123. FREE

PUMPKIN PALOOZA: Hand-carved giant gourds light up the night while admirers sip hot chocolate and munch s’mores around a bonfire. Maple Street Park, Essex Junction, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 6-8 P.M. Info, 878-1376. FREE

DROP-IN HEALTHY HALLOWEEN SNACKS: Families with kids of all ages swing by the store’s community room for a morning of making pretzel and cheese broomsticks, clementine pumpkins, and fruit monster faces. Coffee and music add to the merriment.

City Market, Onion River Co-op (Burlington South End), THURSDAY, OCT. 31, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 861-9753. FREE

STOWE HALLOWEEN PARTY: Dressed-up kiddos scare up some fun with spooky games, music and a photo booth before heading out for candy. Stowe Elementary School, THURSDAY, OCT. 31, 4:30-6 P.M., free admission; gaming fees apply. Info, 253-6138.

Colchester Lego Club: Mini-makers participate in surprise challenges with interlocking toys. Ages 6-10. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Essex Lego Club: Small builders have a blast with plastic blocks. Grades K-5. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 879-0313. FREE

Milton Farmers Market: Farmers, foodies and crafters come together to celebrate the bounty of the growing season. Hannaford Supermarket, Milton, 3:30-7 p.m. Info, 893-1009.

Milton Giant Pumpkin Growing Contest: Enormous garden goods compete for the heaviest title. Milton Farmers Market, 3:30-7 p.m. Info, 893-4922. FREE

Preschool Yoga: Children’s yoga teacher Melissa Nutting charms wee ones and caregivers with a half-hour of singing, relaxing, reading and stretching. Ages 3-6. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 11:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Red Clover Book Discussion: Little ones listen to Misunderstood Shark by Ame Dyckman, followed by chatting and crafting. Grades 1-4. Milton Public Library, 3:30-4:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Ukulele Joe: Musical ones join Joe to sing and play. All ages. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: Lively tunes with local musicians strike the right note among the wee crowd. Ages 5 and under with a caregiver. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30 a.m., limited to one session per week per family. Info, 878-4918.

Youngster Movement and Music: Wee ones get going with games and songs, followed by a snack. Ages 3 and under; older siblings welcome. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 9:30-10:30 a.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: Kiddie constructionists combine their imagination with the library’s supplies. Haston Library, Franklin, 2-5 p.m. Info, 285-6505.

LAMOILLE

Pre-K Art Play: Toddlers drop in and create personal projects with diverse art supplies. Ages 1-4; caregiver required. Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, 10-11 a.m., $5. Info, 253-8358.

WASHINGTON

MOPS/MomsNext: Mothers of preschoolers and school-age children mingle with other mamas for themed discussions. Childcare and children’s crafts provided, sponsored by the Waterbury Mission Church. Thatcher Brook Primary School, Waterbury, 6:45-8:15 p.m. Info, 272-5262. FREE

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: Petite potters get creative with clay. Ages 2-5. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 9-9:45 a.m., $7. Info, 457-3500.

4 Friday

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Farmers Market: Local produce, plants, artisan cheese, diverse dinner fare and more fill shoppers’ market baskets. Atkins Field, Hardwick, 3-6 p.m. Info, 832-498-4734.

Halloween Howl

CHITTENDEN

Draft Animal-Power Field Days: Animal lovers soak up a long weekend of demos, workshops, vendors and more. See draftanimalpower.org for detailed schedule. Shelburne Farms, $10-30; free for children under age 10; additional fee for workshops; preregistration required for workshops. Info, 763-0771.

Family Gym: Indoor playground equipment provides tiny tumblers a chance to run free. Ages 7 and under with caregivers. Greater Burlington YMCA, 10:15-11:45 a.m., $5-12; $15 per family. Info, 862-9622.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: Toe-tapping tunes captivate kiddies. Radio Bean, Burlington, 11 a.m. Info, 660-9346.

Lil’ Vermonters Consignment Sale: Shoppers delight in gently used baby, child and maternity items, from newborn to youth 14, including toys, furniture, books, baby carriers and much more. See lilvermonters.com for consignor info. Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, 5-9 p.m., $7 admission for non-consignors on Friday with advance ticket purchase; free on Saturday. Info, 878-5545.

Preschool Yoga: Small ones sing, stretch and relax. Ages 2-5. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Red Clover Club: Budding book lovers bury themselves in bibliophile and art activities. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Richmond Farmers Market: Vendors peddle handheld pies, dinner delectables, homemade pickles, just-picked produce and much more at this lively showcase of locavorism. Volunteers Green, Richmond, 3-7 p.m. Info, 391-0806.

Teen Mood Boards: What do you wish we knew? The library asks adolescents to share their experiences about teen life in the Green Mountain State. Pizza provided. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6:30-8 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

LAMOILLE

Kids’ Night Out: While parents enjoy welldeserved time o , NVU varsity athletes lead activities, including swimming, rock climbing and team games. Kids should bring a swimsuit and gym clothes. Ages 5-14. SHAPE Facility, Johnson, 6-9 p.m., $10 per child. Info, 635-1452.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: Petite ones play with plastic cubes and chat companionably. Ages 4-12. Craftsbury Public Library, Craftsbury Common, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 586-9683.

WINDHAM

National Manufacturing Day Celebration: The Museum celebrates Windsor’s manufacturing heritage and showcases opportunities available in modern manufacturing careers by o ering free admission to its exhibits and interactive programs. American Precision Museum, Windsor, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Info, 674-5781. FREE

WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: Guests tour the heirloom garden, then watch as veggies make their way into historic recipes prepared in the 1890 farmhouse kitchen, with di erent take-home recipes every week. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3. Info, 457-2355.

But Why? Live! Hoots And Whistles

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

5 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: Freshly baked goods, veggies, beef and maple syrup figure prominently in displays of “shop local” options. St. Johnsbury Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 592-3088.

Dog Mountain Fall Dog Party: Rain or shine, canine fans celebrate the season with leafromping and four-legged fun. Dog Mountain, St Johnsbury, noon-4 p.m. Info, 800-449-2580.

FREE St. Johnsbury Lapsit Storytime: Parents and wee ones partake in stories, fingerplay and bounce songs. Ages 2 and under. Older siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30 a.m. Info, 748-8291. FREE

CHITTENDEN

B. Love Family Festival: Birthing and parenting experiences and kind-hearted fun for families is explored through workshops, yoga, support circles for grownups, kids’ activities and onsite childcare, and much more. See birthlovefamily.com for detailed schedule. Railyard Apothecary, Burlington, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., $25-45; free for children under 13; $12 for lunch. Info, 847-814-9503.

Board Book Brunch: The Essex Free and Brownell Libraries welcome their newest readers and families for free books, music and refreshments. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 10-11 a.m. Info, 878-6956.

Burlington Farmers Market: In a new location this year, growers and artisans o er fresh and ready-to-eat foods, crafts, free face-painting by Little Artsy Faces, and more in a bustling marketplace. Pine Street, Burlington, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 310-5172.

Construction Junction: This touch-a-truck event gets kids down and dirty. Bring your own toy trucks, buckets and shovels to excavate the sand pits. Ages preschool to grade 4. Maple Street Park, Essex Junction, 9 a.m.-noon, food shelf donations encouraged. Info, 878-1376.

FREE

Draft Animal-Power Field Days: See October 4.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2, 9:45 a.m.

Family Playshop: Families with small ones immerse in play-based learning designed to promote school readiness, with stories, songs and rotating activity centers. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 10:30-11:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 865-7216. FREE Kids Building Workshop: Handy helpers learn do-it-yourself skills and tool safety as they construct seasonal projects. Ages 5-12. Home Depot, Williston, 9 a.m.-noon, preregister at workshops.homedepot.com. Info, 872-0039.

FREE

How do owls spin their heads around? Why do birds sing at dawn and dusk? How do peregrine falcons fly?

But Why, VPR’s podcast for curious kids, tackles these questions and more from kids all over the world in live shows at VPR Studios. Featuring Host Jane Lindholm, “Bird Diva” Bridget Butler and live owls from the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum.

Sunday, November 3 11 a.m. & 3 p.m. at VPR’s Colchester Studios

Get

Vermont’s Best Ski Value

PRE-SEASON DEALS*

Kid’s Pass (Age 12 & Under) FREE** Mad Card $175

Family Mad Card $225

Teen Full Pass $219

Twixter Pass (ages 19-29) NEW $249

Midweek Pass $309

Value Pass $549

Full Pass $769

Double Major College Pass $399

Unlimited access to Mad River Glen, Sugarbush

*Passes must be purchased before October 15. Rates do not include 6% VT sales tax.

**Kids 12 & Under (as of 1/1/20) get free kids passes with the purchase of a Family Mad Card or any adult season pass prior to October 15

Photo: Zachary Stephens

5 Saturday (cont.)

Lil’ Vermonters Consignment Sale: See October 4, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.Shelburne Farmers Market: Musical entertainment adds merriment to this exchange of local fruits, veggies, herbs, crafts, maple syrup and more. Shelburne Village Green, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 482-4279.

Webby’s Art Studio: Doll Designer: Inspired by the Museum’s collection, crafters create a character and a large animated doll. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular museum admission, $8-25; free for children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

Apple Recipe Share: Bakers of all ages bring their favorite apple dish and recipe. Sheldon Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 933-2524. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

ORANGE

Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival: Over 70 vendors offering fleece, yarn, equipment, meat, cheese and more team up with live animals, demos and contests in this agricultural weekend. Tunbridge Fairgrounds, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $1-7. Info, 685-3267.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Common Farmers Market: Locals load up on garden-fresh produce, Vermontmade crafts, baked goods and more. Craftsbury Common, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: Veggies, honey, maple syrup and more change hands at a celebration of farm-grown food and handmade crafts. Downtown Montpelier, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 279-7293.

Waitsfield Farmers Market: Saturday shoppers search out handmade crafts and local produce, meat and maple products, while enjoying lunch fare and live music in a grassy outdoor venue. Mad River Green, Waitsfield, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

WINDSOR

Family Clay: Children and their parents make memories firing and glazing special pieces.

ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 10 a.m.noon, $20 per parent-child pair; $5 each additional child. Info, 457-3500.

NEW YORK

Heritage, Harvest & Horse Festival: Equestrian demos of sport and work horses, a fall market in the colorful King’s Garden, family activities, and a visit to the corn maze make for autumn fun. Fort Ticonderoga, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., regular museum admission, $12-24; free for children under 5. Info, 518-585-2821.

6 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: Moms, dads and children have fun with free court time and use of equipment. Ages 18 and under with adult. Middlebury Indoor Tennis, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Info, 388-3733. FREE

CALEDONIA

Wild Edible Walk for the Whole Family: As part of a statewide program about exploring food in your own backyard, local residents Erin Rosenthal and Lucian Avery lead curious folks on an informative stroll. Jeudevine Memorial Library, Hardwick, 1-4 p.m. Info, 472-5948. FREE

Live Performances

DADS TALK: STORIES ABOUT FATHERHOOD: Fathers get the crowd clapping with personal tales. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For adults. Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, SUNDAY, OCT. 6, 7-8:30 P.M., $10; half of proceeds benefit the fatherhood program at The Family Room and Dad Guild. Info, 318-4231.

DOG MAN: This student matinee gets the kiddie crowd chuckling in a musical performance based on Dav Pilkey’s beloved graphic novels. Grades 1-5. Flynn MainStage, Burlington, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 9, 9:30 A.M. & NOON, $8.50. Info, 652-4548, ext. 0.

CHIEF DON STEVENS AND THE NULHEGAN DRUM: As part of the Free Family Saturdays in the Flynn’s lobby, families soak up a musical morning with the Vermont Abenaki Artist Association. Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 10 A.M., preregistration suggested. Info, 652-4500. FREE

VERMONT VAUDEVILLE PRESENTS: ‘THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!’: Old-school entertainment combines with cutting-edge music, acrobatic stunts and comedy for a one-of-a-kind theater experience with special guests illusionist Billy Kidd and Pogo Fred. PapaGyro’s food truck serves up hot and savory fare. Hardwick Town House, THURSDAY, OCT. 17 AND FRIDAY, OCT. 18, 7:30 P.M. AND SATURDAY, OCT. 19, 2 & 7:30 P.M., $8-18; preregister. Info, 472-1387.

‘MOTHER THE MOON’: Tiny Hero Tales and No Strings Marionette Company enchant the audience with a pop-up puppet performance. Ages 4 and up. Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury, SATURDAY, OCT. 19, 10 & 11:30 A.M. Info, 778-0334. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Art Play Day: Little ones and caregivers drop in and get messy with multiple materials to spark imagination. Ages 18 months to 5 years with caregiver. Radiate Art Space, Richmond, 10-11:30 a.m., $5 per child; $8 max per family; $40 for a 10-visit punch card. Info, 324-9938.

Draft Animal-Power Field Days: See October 4.

Essex Open Gym: Energy-filled kids flip, jump and tumble in a state-of-the-art facility. Ages 6 and under, 1 p.m.; ages 7-12, 2:30 p.m.; ages 13 and up, 4 p.m. Regal Gymnastics Academy, Essex, 1-5:30 p.m., $8-14 per child. Info, 655-3300.

Family Gym: See October 4.

Milton Fire Station Open House: Families join fire safety week with Sparky the Dog, tower truck rides, safety demonstrations, music and refreshments. Milton Fire Station, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 891-8080. FREE

Winooski Farmers Market: Local produce, farm goods, artisan crafts, kids’ activities and tunes come together on the banks of the Winooski River. Champlain Mill, Winooski, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: Agricultural and craft vendors and live music make for a bustling atmosphere. Stowe Farmers Market, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 472-8027.

THE MUSIC OF PHISH FOR KIDS: HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR: The Rock and Roll Playhouse — a family concert series — gets kids moving and grooving to tunes from the classic rock canon. Doors open at 11 a.m. Higher Ground, South Burlington, SATURDAY, OCT. 19, NOON, $15; free for children under age 1. Info, 652-0777.

MISTER CHRIS & FRIENDS: Vermont PBS and ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain team up to get kids engaged with interactive activities before the 3 p.m. concert, featuring the star of the popular Vermont PBS music series. Ages 2-8. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro, SUNDAY, OCT. 20, 2-5 P.M., $5. Info, 533-9075.

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR: These Austrian child musicians, ranging in age from 9 to 14, mesmerize the audience. Barre Opera House, SUNDAY, OCT. 20, 3 P.M., $20-42.50. Info, 476-8188.

THE TRUE STORY OF POCAHONTAS: Virginia Repertory Theatre shares the story of this famous woman beyond the myth in this student matinee. Grades K-5. Barre Opera House, MONDAY, OCT. 21, 10 A.M., $8; preregister. Info, 476-8188.

Read with Pugsley: Petite ones practice literacy skills with the library’s pooch. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:15-4:15 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Teen Space: Adolescents enjoy games, music, snacks and a different activity each week. Ages 12-17. Milton Public Library, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3, 11 a.m.

FRANKLIN

Messy Mondays: Kids dig deep into imaginative projects. Highgate Public Library, Highgate Center, 10 a.m. Info, 868-3970. FREE

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: Mini-musicians ages 2 and under sing songs and engage in early literacy activities. Rutland Free Library, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 773-1860. FREE

8 Tuesday

CALEDONIA

Teen Advisory Board: Adolescents plan upcoming programs. Ages 12-18. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 5:30 p.m. Info, 745-1391. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See October 1.

Dorothy’s List Book Club: Middle readers make merry conversation around Inkling by Kenneth Oppel. Ages 8-11. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: See October 1. One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1.

Read to Daisy the Therapy Dog: See October 1.

Spanish Musical Kids: See October 1.

Strategy Board Games: Game lovers partake in complicated tabletop pastimes. Ages 13 and up. Milton Public Library, 5-7:45 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: See October 1. Tuesday Movie: Viewers relax with a familyfriendly flick. Popcorn and drinks provided. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 2:45-4:15 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

FRANKLIN

RUTLAND

Brandon HarvestFest: Folks inhale the sweet fall air as they make their own scarecrows, hop aboard a hayride and check out family activities. Estabrook Field Park, Brandon, 1-4 p.m., most events are free. Info, 247-6401.

ORANGE

Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival: See October 5, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Community Open House: On an autumn afternoon, the community checks out the facility, with mini mountain bike clinics, a chance to try out biathlon, cider tastings and free mountain bike rentals. Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Craftsbury Common, 1-4 p.m. Info, 586-7767. FREE

7 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: Bitty ones dance and sing to a brisk beat. Ages 3-5. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 11:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

Draft Animal-Power Field Days: See October 4.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 4-6 p.m.

Fairfield Lego Club: See October 1. Tunes on Tuesdays: See October 1.

9 Wednesday

Yom Kippur

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2. Project Storytime: Themed stories, songs and crafts amuse babies, toddlers and caregivers. Ages 5 and under. Project Independence, Middlebury, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 388-3983. FREE

CALEDONIA

Teen Creative Writing Series: See October 2.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Snacks and Stories: See October 2. Decoding Dyslexia: In this grassroots program of concerned parents, members share information about developmental signs and symptoms of dyslexia and evidence-based interventions, followed by Q&A. For adults and teens. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2. Kids’ Chess Club: See October 2.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 5-8 p.m.

Raising Kids in a Digital World: Parents and educators spend an evening focused on learning practical and positive strategies to support students’ digital lives and discuss ways to build safe and healthy relationships with technology. For adults. Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Shelburne, 7-8:30 p.m. Info, 985-2827. FREE

Wonder Wednesdays: See October 2.

Yoga for Kids: See October 2.

Young Writers & Storytellers: Small ones spin their own yarns. Ages 5-11. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4-5 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

LAMOILLE

Varnum Lego Club: Eager youngsters immerse in themed and free builds, with an emphasis on imagination. All ages. Varnum Memorial Library, Je ersonville, 3:30-5 p.m. Info, 644-2117. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2.

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: See October 2.

10 Thursday

ADDISON

Vergennes Farmers Market: See October 3.

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See October 3.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See October 3.

Essex Junction Lego Fun: Budding builders share blocks. Children under age 9 must be accompanied by an adult. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Essex Lego Club: See October 3.

Milton Farmers Market: See October 3.

PJ Storytime: Little ones snuggle up in their sleepy clothes for bedtime yarns. Ages 2-7. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:15 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Preschool Yoga: See October 3.

Ukulele Joe: See October 3.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3.

Youngster Movement and Music: See October 3.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See October 3.

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: See October 3.

11 Friday

CALEDONIA

Fairbanks Homeschool Days: Students expand their science horizons in the museum’s galleries and other venues with a variety of programs. Contact the Museum for specific topics, age levels and locations. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., $8; or $50 for 9 Friday classes. Info, 748-2372.

Hardwick Farmers Market: See October 4.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at

CHITTENDEN

Dungeons & Dragons: Players embark on invented adventures, equipped with their problem-solving skills. Game starts at 6:30 p.m.; come early for assistance with character design. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Family Gym: See October 4.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See October 4.

Music with Raph: Melody lovers of all ages play and sing. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:30-10:15 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Richmond Farmers Market: See October 4.

Teen Advisory Board: Teens take time together to plan upcoming projects. Grades 9 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

LAMOILLE

Stowe Foliage Arts Festival: Multicolored leaves set a stunning scene for juried artwork, live music, craft demonstrations and food galore. Topnotch Resort, Stowe, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $10-12; free for children. Info, 425-3399.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See October 4.

WINDSOR

Foodways

Fridays: See October 4.

12 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See October 5.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Farmers Market: See October 5.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2, 9:45 a.m.

Family Playshop: See October 5.

Indigenous Encampment: Inquisitive visitors view an 1850s camp wigwam and chat with the Alnôbaiwi Abenakis as they process and cook their harvest with demonstrations of a "beanhole" earth oven. Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular admission, $6-10; free for children under age 5. Info, 865-4556.

Shelburne Farmers Market: See October 5.

Smugglers’ Notch Ski & Snowboard Club

Sale: Skiers and riders of all ages get great deals on winter gear. Consignment drop-o Friday, October 11, 5-8 p.m. Located at Tarrant Recreation Center, St. Michael’s College, Colchester, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Info, 644-1177. FREE

Waldorf Tag Sale Bliss: Rooms of gently used furniture, rugs, books, boutiques, linens and kitchenware donated by over 200 families delight savvy shoppers. Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Shelburne, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 985-2827. FREE

12 Saturday (cont.)

Webby’s Art Studio: Pumpkin Patch: Petite Picassos paint a small squash grown on the Museum grounds. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular museum admission, $8-25; free for children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

Baby Story Time: Wee ones and caregivers soak up socializing, nursery rhymes, songs and a simple story. Ages 2 and under. St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

Babysitting Course: Youngsters aspiring to care for smaller kids learn the basics; taught by a certified CPR instructor. Ages 10 and up. Bent Northrop Memorial Library, Fairfield, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., $17; free for Franklin County residents; preregister. Info, 827-3945.

Storybook Pumpkin Decorating: Artists of all ages decorate orange gourds with beloved book characters. Sheldon Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 933-2524. FREE

LAMOILLE

Stowe Foliage Arts Festival: 11.

Science & Nature

TINKER TUESDAYS: Junior engineers bring a small item from home to take apart and investigate how it works or tinker with the museum’s learning lab collection. American Precision Museum, Windsor, TUESDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

SCIENCE & STORIES: Preschoolers rally ’round for nature-inspired tales and activities. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, WEDNESDAYS, 11-11:30 A.M. regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Info, 864-1848.

AUTUMN WAGON RIDE WEEKEND: Farm fans explore a 19th-century working dairy from behind a team of draft horses. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. AND SUNDAY, OCT. 6, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3. Info, 457-2355.

DEAD CREEK WILDLIFE DAY: Natural wonders wow folks of all ages during this day dedicated to wild things, hosted by pros from Vermont Fish & Wildlife, Otter Creek Audubon Society, and local sportsmen’s clubs. Pack binoculars for a full or drop-in day of birdwatching, canoeing and numerous nature-based activities. Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, Addison, SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 9:30 A.M.-4 P.M. Info, 318-1347. FREE

JUNIOR APPRENTICE CLUB: Young engineers engage in guided activities in the learning lab, including beginning coding, basic robotics, 3D design and printing, and more. Geared toward ages 8-12. American Precision Museum, Windsor, SATURDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M. free for participating children; adult caregiver required; regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

OWLS AND THEIR CALLS: As part of the Green and Gold Weekend festivities at the Mad River Glen Ski Area, the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences stops in with live birds for avian admirers to learn about these nocturnal predators in a first-hand encounter. All ages; children must be accompanied by an adult. Stark Mountain Foundation, Fayston, SATURDAY, OCT. 5, 1-1:45 P.M. donations accepted; preregister. Info, 583-3536.

See October

STORIES FROM SPACE: Science educator Mike Ressler zooms small ones through the solar system with stories and a space-based craft. Ages 2-5. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, St. Johnsbury, SUNDAYS, 10-11 A.M., regular museum admission, $8-12; free for children under age 5. Info, 748-2372.

BOOKS & BEYOND: SCIENCE FOR PRESCHOOLERS: Children’s literature and hands-on activities combine for fun science learning and exploration. Ages 3-5 with a parent or caregiver. Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, FIRST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30-11:15 & 11:30 A.M.-12:15 P.M., regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under 2. Info, 649-2200.

MAKER MONDAYS: Inquisitive families design objects using recycled materials, make mazes for robots, construct with K*nex, or build a simple machine using the museum’s basic tools and instructions in their learning lab. American Precision Museum, Windsor, MONDAYS, 10 A.M.-5 P.M., regular museum admission, $5-8; free for children under 6; $20 per family. Info, 674-5781.

NESTLINGS FIND NATURE: What is pollination?

Junior naturalists explore the world of tiny working creatures through observation, crafts and hands-on activities. Ages 4-8. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30-11:30 A.M., regular museum admission, $3.50-7; free for children under 3. Info, 434-2167.

FALL HARVEST CAMPFIRE WITH ABENAKI CHIEF

DON STEVENS: The Chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation shares traditional stories, artifacts, drumming and songs with families around a crackling blaze. Ages 6 and up with an adult. Shelburne Farms, FRIDAY, OCT. 11, 6-7:30 P.M., $5-6; preregister. Info, 985-8686.

HAWK WALK: Late-migrating raptors provide an eyeful on a leisurely stroll. Ages 10 and up. Shelburne Farms, SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 7:30-10 A.M., $5; preregister. Info, 985-8686.

RUTLAND

Art in the Park: Outdoor art and craft demonstrations and vendors, local food and children’s activities combine in a weekend devoted to creativity. Main Street Park, Rutland, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Info, 775-0356. FREE

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

ORLEANS

Jed’s Maple Products Open House: Folks celebrate the fall flavors of maple, pumpkin and apple with tours of the sugarhouse and maple museum, info about Audubon’s Bird Friendly Maple Program, and hot wood-fired pizza. Jed’s Maple Products, Derby, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., maple products and food available for purchase. Info, 766-2700.

WASHINGTON

Capital City Farmers Market: See October 5.

Kids Trade & Play: Families exchange clean and gently used clothing and toys, sizes newborn to 12. Capital City Grange, Berlin, 9:30-11:30 a.m., $3 per family. Info, 831-337-8632.

Old Town Hall Oktoberfest: Community members pull on their lederhosen for this inaugural event, featuring food, drink and live music by Inseldudler. Old Town Hall, Brookfield, noon-5 p.m., $5-10; free for children under age 2.

Vermont Granite Festival: The regional history of stonecutting is honored through demonstrations, exhibits, loads of local food and live music from The Starline Rhythm Boys and Chris R & His Flying Purple Guitar. Vermont Granite Museum, Barre, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Info, 476-4605. FREE

Waitsfield Farmers Market: See October 5.

KIDS NATURE CONNECTION: Led by educator, counselor and Pathfinders Nature Connection founder Per Eisenman, children ages 5-10 discover animal tracks, explore edible plants, work on building a natural shelter and play in the woods. Bring a snack, water bottle, whittling knife and nature journal. Parents and younger siblings welcome. Champlain Valley Cohousing, Charlotte, SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 9 A.M.-NOON, preregister. Info, 401-285-3426. FREE

BEAUTIFUL TREE WALK: Local naturalists share their savvy with woods lovers during a stroll through the Stranahan Town Forest. Meet at the Jake Martin Road parking area. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, SUNDAY, OCT. 13, 1-4

P.M. Info, 426-3581. FREE

PUMPKIN FESTIVAL AT CEDAR CIRCLE FARM: Families see orange at this quintessential fall farm affair, featuring pumpkin picking, live music and food galore. Kid-centered activities include educational activities, horse-drawn wagon rides and more. Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center, East Thetford, SUNDAY, OCT. 13, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. suggested donation $10-15 per car; food and drink available to purchase. Info, 785-4737.

MAZE BY MOONLIGHT: Get lost! Using a flashlight as a guide, visitors search for hidden stations in the Fort’s corn maze after dark. Last ticket sold at 9 p.m. Fort Ticonderoga, FRIDAY, OCT. 25, 7-10 P.M. AND SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 7-10 P.M., $10. Info, 518-585-2821.

BIRD-MONITORING WALK: Eagle-eyed participants bring binoculars to search the museum’s property for fluttering feathers. Best for adults and older children. Bring binoculars. Ages 10 and up. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, LAST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 8-9 A.M. preregister. Info, 434-2167. FREE

MAD SCIENCE & MARVELOUS METALS WEEKEND: Aspiring scientists investigate hands-on activities and check out special chemistry shows in celebration of National Chemistry Week, in collaboration with Saint Michael’s College and local chemists. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, SATURDAY, OCT. 26, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. AND SUNDAY, OCT. 27, 10 A.M.-3 P.M., regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Info, 864-1848.

WINDSOR

Harvest Weekend: Visitors help prepare the farm for winter with root veggie harvesting and celebrate the season’s bounty with a husking bee, 19th-century games, and hot spiced cider and doughnuts. Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., regular museum admission, $4-16; free for children under 3; seasonal food and drink available for purchase. Info, 457-2355.

13 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See October 6.

CHITTENDEN

East Charlotte Tractor Parade: Antique and modern farm vehicles rumble down Spear Street at 1 p.m. amidst a town party with food and vendors. Spear Street, Charlotte, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Info, 425-4444. FREE

Essex Open Gym: See October 6.

Family Gym: See October 4.

Harvest Run for Sustainability: Fleet feet romp through farm fields and along dirt roads in a fun run and 5K race. Proceeds benefit the Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes. Burlington Intervale Center, 9 a.m.-noon, $5-12; $25 per family; preregister. Info, 864-8480.

Smugglers’ Notch Ski & Snowboard Club Sale: See October 12, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Winooski Farmers Market: See October 6.

LAMOILLE

Stowe Farmers Market: See October 6.

Stowe Foliage Arts Festival: See October 11, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

RUTLAND

Art in the Park: See October 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

ORLEANS

Jed’s Maple Products Open House: See October 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

WINDSOR

Harvest Weekend: See October 12.

14 Monday

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See October 7.

Crafts for Kids: Clever kiddos get creative with artsy projects. Ages 5-10. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Cross Connections: Mothers of little ones ages preschool and younger socialize over breakfast and hear ideas about motherhood. Childcare provided. Christ Memorial Church, Williston, 9:30-11:30 a.m., $5; free for first-time visitors. Info, 878-7107.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 4-6 p.m.

Teen Space: See October 7.

FRANKLIN

Messy Mondays: See October 7.

ORLEANS

Jed’s Maple Products Open House: See October 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: Little ones in play clothes drop in and ignite their creativity through dance, paint and more. ArtisTree/Purple Crayon, South Pomfret, 10-11 a.m., $5. Info, 457-3500.

15 Tuesday

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See October 1.

Karaoke Party: Musical kids make merry with the library’s new machine. Grades 4 and up. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 3-4 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Old North End Farmers Market: See October 1.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1.

Read to Daisy the Therapy Dog: See October 1.

Spanish Musical Kids: See October 1.

Tinker Tuesdays: See October 1.

FRANKLIN

Fairfield Lego Club: See October 1.

Tunes on Tuesdays: See October 1.

16 Wednesday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2.

CALEDONIA

Hardwick Chess Club: See October 2.

Teen Creative Writing Series: See October 2.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Snacks and Stories: See October 2.

Dorothy’s List Group for Homeschooled

Students: Books nominated for this esteemed award generate group discussion. Grades 4-8. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2.

Green Mountain Book Award Book

Discussion for Homeschooled Students: High-school homeschoolers spark lively conversation around award-winning books. Grades 9-12. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Kids’ Chess Club: See October 2.

Lake Champlain Waldorf School Grade School Morning Tour: Parents interested in an alternative education for their children visit the Turtle Lane Campus classes, followed by refreshments and Q&A. Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Shelburne, 8:30-10 a.m., preregister. Info, 985-2827. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 5-8 p.m.

Red Clover Group for Homeschooled

Students: Budding book lovers bury themselves in bibliophile activities. Grades K-4. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

Wonder Wednesdays: See October 2.

Yoga for Kids: See October 2.

FRANKLIN

Homeschool Program: Home learners band together to create an interactive project, using a story, a time limit and puzzle activities. Ages 8 and up. St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m., preregister. Info, 524-1507. FREE

Kids’ Anime Club: Fans of a popular game view a new live-action movie version while savoring snacks. Ages 8-12. St. Albans Free Library, 3:30 p.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2.

WINDSOR

Woodstock Market on the Green: See October 2.

17 Thursday

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See October 3.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See October 3.

Dorothy’s List Book Discussion: Little literati chat about DCF pick Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Grades 4-8. Milton Public Library, 6:30-7:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Essex Lego Club: See October 3.

Preschool Yoga: See October 3.

Read to a Cat: Feline fanciers sign up for literacy sessions with a furry friend. All ages. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 3:30-4:30 p.m., preregister for a reading slot. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Ukulele Joe: See October 3.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3.

Youngster Movement and Music: See October 3.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See October 3.

WASHINGTON

AB2: Books Come to Life: This Active BodyActive Brain class, led by literacy professional Rachel O’Donald, combines reading, music and movement. Babies through preschoolers. Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036. FREE

MOPS/MomsNext: See October 3.

18 Friday

CHITTENDEN

Edible Haunted Houses: Clever crafters create spooky dwellings of munchable materials. Ages 7-10. Milton Public Library, 2-3:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Family Gym: See October 4.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See October 4.

Lake Champlain Waldorf High School Shadow Day: Students in grades 7-12 visit this independent school’s classes and sample their Farm to School lunch. Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Shelburne, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., preregister. Info, 985-2827. FREE

Play Time for Little Ones: Little ones build with blocks and make community connections. Ages 5 and under. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 9:3010:30 a.m. Info, 878-6956. FREE

New Parents

BOSOM BUDDIES TOO: Nursing mamas of toddlers and mobile wee ones socialize and swap supportive stories and advice with peers and professionals. Babies welcome. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:30-7 P.M. Info, 371-4415. FREE

EVOLUTION POSTNATAL YOGA BURLINGTON: New mamas tote their pre-crawling kids to an alllevels flowing yoga class focused on bringing the body back to strength and alignment in a relaxed and nurturing environment.

Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SUNDAYS, NOON, TUESDAYS, 10 A.M., THURSDAYS, 10:45 A.M. AND FRIDAYS, NOON-1 P.M., $17; $120-140 for a 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA BURLINGTON: Mothers-to-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution

Prenatal & Family Yoga Center, Burlington, SUNDAYS, 10:15-11:30 A.M., MONDAYS, 5:45 P.M., TUESDAYS, 4:15 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 5:45 P.M., THURSDAYS, 12:30 P.M., FRIDAYS, 8:15 A.M. AND SATURDAYS, 11:30 A.M., $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

EVOLUTION PRENATAL YOGA ESSEX: Mothersto-be build strength, stamina and a stronger connection to their baby. Evolution Prenatal & Family Yoga, Essex Junction, TUESDAYS, 6 P.M., WEDNESDAYS, 12:15 P.M. AND SATURDAYS, 8:15 A.M., $17 per class; $120-140 for 10-class pass. Info, 899-0339.

MOM AND BABY YOGA: Brand-new mamas and their littles relax, stretch and bond. Followed by a free mothers’ gathering at 11:30 a.m. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 10:30-11:30 A.M., $11. Info, 223-5302.

PRENATAL YOGA: Moms-to-be stretch and bend. Embodied, Montpelier, TUESDAYS, 6-7:15 P.M., $16 per drop-in class. Info, 778-0300.

BURLINGTON EARLY MONTHS INFANT MASSAGE: This mother-infant group includes baby massage and postpartum new mama support. The Janet S. Munt Family Room, Burlington, WEDNESDAYS, 11 A.M.-NOON. Info, 862-2121.

FREE

ESSEX LA LECHE LEAGUE: Moms bring their bitty ones to a discussion of parenting and breastfeeding. Siblings welcome. Essex Free Library, Essex Junction, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 6:30-8 P.M. Info, 899-5490. FREE

HYDE PARK BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Lanpher Memorial Library, Hyde Park, FIRST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229.

BABY BOOGIE: Parents of wee ones ages 4 to 12 months learn melodious ways to play with their babies, while making friends and nurturing their little ones’ sensory development. Green Mountain Performing Arts, Waterbury, FRIDAYS, 11:30 A.M.-12:15 P.M. AND SATURDAYS, 11:30 A.M.-12:15 P.M. THROUGH NOV. 2 $20 per class; preregister. Info, 845-802-2311.

BOSOM BUDDIES: New and expectant mothers, babies and supportive grandmas rally in a relaxed evening, when peers and professionals answer mothering and breastfeeding questions. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FIRST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:30-7 P.M. Info, 371-4415. FREE

BURLINGTON LA LECHE LEAGUE: New moms bring their babies and questions to a breastfeeding support group. Older children welcome. Lending library available. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:15 A.M. Info, 985-8228. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM: Expectant, novice and experienced moms join nursing experts for advice and support. Enter through the children’s section of the library. Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10:30 A.M. Info, 720-272-8841. FREE

MAMA’S CIRCLE BARRE: This supportive gathering brings moms of new babies and toddlers together to foster friendship through unique-but-shared experiences. Imagine Yoga, Barre, SECOND FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

MORRISVILLE BABY CHAT: Parents with babies socialize, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Lamoille Family Center, Morrisville, SECOND SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

BREASTFEEDING CAFÉ: Mamas nurse their babies, chat and ask for answers from a certified lactation consultant. Pregnant women, supportive dads and older siblings welcome. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury, THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 236-4136. FREE

Spooky Movie: Young film-lovers have fun with free popcorn and a not-too-scary flick. Brownell Library, Essex Junction, 6:30-8:15 p.m. Info, 828-6956. FREE

Teddy Bear Sleepover: Small ones drop off stuffed animals during the day Friday, then return Saturday morning for brunch. Ages 2-7 with adult. Milton Public Library, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644. FREE

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See October 4. WINDSOR

Foodways Fridays: See October 4.

19 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See October 5. St. Johnsbury Lapsit Storytime: See October 5.

CHITTENDEN

Burlington Farmers Market: See October 5.

Dad Guild: This group gets fathers of young children reading together, having fun with creative play and forming new friendships. All are welcome. Ages 5 and under. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 4-5:30 p.m. Info, 865-7216. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2, 9:45 a.m.

Family Playshop: See October 5.

BREASTFEEDING FAMILIES GROUP: Nursing moms (and supportive dads, too!) gather for snacks and advice. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, THIRD WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 11 A.M.-1 P.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

LA LECHE LEAGUE OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Breastfeeding mamas swap stories and support each other, with a professional available for consultation. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

NURSING BEYOND A YEAR: In a supportive setting, mothers discuss the joys and challenges of breastfeeding children approaching one year old and beyond. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, THIRD FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-11:30 A.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

HOW TO BREASTFEED PRENATAL CLASS: Expectant mamas and their partners learn the basics of breastfeeding, how to get off to the best start with their baby and where to find assistance when needed. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 4:30-6 P.M., preregister. Info, 371-4415. FREE

JOHNSON BABY CHAT: Parents with babies mingle, learn more about developmental needs and expectations, and have the opportunity to ask questions of a maternal health specialist. Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, FOURTH TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 10-11:30 A.M. Info, 888-5229. FREE

MOMMY GROUP: Breastfeeding peer counselor Angela Scavo hosts mamas and answers questions in a relaxed setting. Junebug Mother and Child, Middlebury, FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 9:30-10:30 A.M. Info, 349-9084. FREE

BABYWEARERS OF CENTRAL VERMONT: Brand-new mamas and papas check out infant carriers, get advice and spend some socializing time with other new parents. Good Beginnings, Montpelier, FOURTH MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, 5:45-7:45 P.M. Info, 595-7953. FREE

Friends of the South Burlington Library Used Book Sale: Ravenous readers scope out stacks of gently used titles and other materials. Wheeler Homestead and Garden Park, South Burlington, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 846-4140.

Hinesburg Saturday Storytime: Small ones and caregivers start the weekend off with stories, songs and games, followed by free play and snacks. Ages 5 and under. Carpenter-Carse Library, Hinesburg, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 482-2878. FREE

Teddy Bear Sleepover: See October 18, 10 a.m.

Webby’s Art Studio: Say Cheese!: Inspired by William Wegman’s large polaroid photographs on temporary display, crafty kiddos create their own art. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular museum admission, $8-25; free for children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

Highgate Harvest Fest: Families relish fall fun with a tractor petting zoo, pumpkin decorating, Halloween stories around the campfire, hot dogs and s’mores. Highgate Public Library, Highgate Center, 3-6 p.m., preregister. Info, 868-3970. FREE Youth Baking Class: Creative chefs get busy busting out old-fashioned soft pumpkin cookies with maple icing. Ages 9-14. St. Albans Free Library, 1 p.m., preregister. Info, 524-1507. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

WASHINGTON

Cabot Apple Pie Festival: In its 20th year, townsfolk sample fruit pastries and lunch fare, check out the pie contest, and browse crafts during this sweet event. Cabot School, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Info, 563-3396. FREE

Capital City Farmers Market: See October 5.

Montpelier Ski & Skate Sale: The Montpelier Recreation Department sponsors a winter-prep sale offering lightly used skiing and boarding equipment. Drop off gear on Friday, October 18, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and shop on Saturday. Montpelier High School, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Info, 225-8699.

20 Sunday

ADDISON

Family Play: See October 6.

CHITTENDEN

Art Play Day: See October 6.

Essex Open Gym: See October 6.

Family Gym: See October 4.

Winooski Farmers Market: See October 6.

21 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See October 7.

Cross Connections Open Gym: Little ones explore a full-sized gym while caregivers chat. Ages 5 and under. NETS Center Campus, Williston, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Info, 878-7107.

FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2.

Food for Thought Teen Group: Young adults

polish o pizza as they ponder library projects.

Grades 7-12. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 4-5 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 4-6 p.m.

Read with Pugsley: See October 7.

Teen Space: See October 7.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3, 11 a.m.

FRANKLIN

Messy Mondays: See October 7.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See October 7.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: See October 14.

22 Tuesday

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See October 1.

Old North End Farmers Market: See October 1.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1.

Read to Daisy the Therapy Dog: See October 1.

Spanish Musical Kids: See October 1.

Strategy Board Games: See October 8.

Tinker Tuesdays: See October 1.

FRANKLIN

Fairfield Lego Club: See October 1.

Tunes on Tuesdays: See October 1.

WASHINGTON

Montpelier Mother Up! Monthly Meet-Up: Families discuss the realities of climate change, what that means on a local, state and national level, and how to create a more just and nature-friendly world. Vegetarian dinner and childcare included. Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 5:30-7:30 p.m., RSVP requested but not required. Info, 612-718-0229. FREE

23 Wednesday

CALEDONIA

Teen Creative Writing Series: See October 2.

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Snacks and Stories: See October 2.

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

Book to Film Club: After reading a book, junior bibliophiles take in a movie together. See southburlingtonlibrary.org for the title. Ages 8 and up. South Burlington Public Library, 3-5:30 p.m. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2.

Kids’ Chess Club: See October 2.

Mater Christi School Fall Open House: Parents and prospective students ages 3-12 interested in this private Catholic school take an informative tour. Mater Christi School, Burlington, 8:30-11 a.m., preregister. Info, 658-3992. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 5-8 p.m.

Read to Willy Wonka the Therapy Dog: See October 2.

Wonder Wednesdays: See October 2.

Yoga for Kids: See October 2.

Young Writers & Storytellers: See October 9.

FRANKLIN

Art with Mr. Raymond: Led by a local art teacher, this 5-week course gets kids creative in a variety of mediums. Grades K-2. Bent Northrop Memorial Library, Fairfield, 3:15-4:30 p.m., preregister. Info, 827-3945. FREE

LAMOILLE

Varnum Lego Club: See October 9.

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2.

24 Thursday

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See October 3.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See October 3.

Essex Lego Club: See October 3.

Preschool Yoga: See October 3.

Ukulele Joe: See October 3.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3.

Youngster Movement and Music: See October 3.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See October 3.

25 Friday

CHITTENDEN

Dungeons & Dragons: See October 11.

Family Gym: See October 4.

Kids Music With Linda ‘Tickle Belly’ Bassick: See October 4.

Music with Raph: See October 11.

ORLEANS

Craftsbury Lego Club: See October 4.

WINDSOR

First Clay for Little Ones: See October 3.

Foodways Fridays: See October 4.

26 Saturday

ADDISON

Middlebury Farmers Market: See October 2.

CALEDONIA

Caledonia Farmers Market: See October 5.

Story Times

Vermont Highland Games: The Vermont Institute of Celtic Arts hosts its inaugural, day-long shindig featuring dance, music, workshops and much more merriment. Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury, 11 a.m., $10; free for children under 6; additional fee for haggis dinner. Info, 748-2600.

CHITTENDEN

Bilingual Spanish Story Time: See October 3, 10-10:45 a.m.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2, 9:45 a.m.

Early literacy skills get special attention during these readaloud sessions. Some locations provide additional activities such as music, crafts or foreign-language instruction. Most story times follow the school calendar. Contact the organizers for site-specific details.

MONDAY

BARRE CHILDREN’S STORY HOUR: Aldrich Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-7550.

BURLINGTON STORIES WITH MEGAN: Fletcher Free Library, 11-11:30 a.m. Info, 865-7216.

COLCHESTER PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ESSEX STORYTIME WITH JASMINE: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

HUNTINGTON STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Huntington Public Library, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 434-4583.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: Lanpher Memorial Library, 6 p.m. Info, 888-4628.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY

TIME: Brown Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 485-4621.

ST. ALBANS MOVEMENT & MUSIC

STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

STOWE STORY TIMES FOR 2-3-

YEAR-OLDS: Stowe Free Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

WATERBURY BABY & TODDLER

STORY TIME: Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036.

WATERBURY PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: The Children’s Room, 10:3011:15 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

WOODSTOCK BABY STORY TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

TUESDAY

ALBURGH PLAYGROUP/STORYTIME: Alburgh Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 796-6077.

BARRE CHILDREN’S STORY HOUR: See Monday, 10:30 a.m.

COLCHESTER TODDLER STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: Craftsbury Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 586-9683.

EAST BARRE STORY TIME: East Barre Branch Library, 10 a.m. Info, 476-5118.

ESSEX JUNCTION PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Brownell Library, 10-10:45 a.m. Info, 878-6956.

HINESBURG YOUNGSTER STORY

TIME: Carpenter-Carse Library, 9:30-10 a.m. Info, 482-2878.

JEFFERSONVILLE STORYTIME: Varnum Memorial Library, 9:3010:30 a.m. Info, 644-2117.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: Cobleigh Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 626-5475.

MILTON STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 9:30 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: KelloggHubbard Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 223-3338.

MORRISVILLE PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Morristown Centennial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 888-3853.

SHELDON PLAY CAFÉ: Sheldon Public Library, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 933-2524.

SOUTH BURLINGTON TODDLER TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

WILLISTON STORY TIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918.

WOODSTOCK PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Norman Williams Public Library, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 457-2295.

WEDNESDAY BARNES & NOBLE STORYTIIME: Barnes & Noble, 11 a.m. Info, 864-8001.

ESSEX BABIES AND BOOKS: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

ESSEX JUNCTION PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: See Tuesday.

Family Art Saturday: Families drop in and ignite their imaginations with a current exhibit, then get hands-on with an artistic endeavor. Burlington City Arts, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Info, 865-7166. FREE

Family Movie: Kids and their grownups snuggle in for a flick on the big screen. Snacks provided. Milton Public Library, 1 p.m. Info, 893-4644. FREE

Family Playshop: See October 5.

South Burlington Family Storytime: Small ones soak up stories, songs and a craft to round out the hour. Ages 3 and up with caregiver. South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 846-4140. FREE

HIGHGATE STORY TIME: Highgate Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 868-3970.

HYDE PARK STORY TIME: See Monday, 10 a.m.

JERICHO STORY HOUR: Jericho Town Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 899-4686.

LYNDONVILLE STORY TIME: See Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

MARSHFIELD STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Jaquith Public Library, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 426-3581.

MILTON RHYTHM & MOVEMENT

TODDLER STORY TIME: Milton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NORWICH WORD PLAY STORY TIME: Norwich Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 649-1184.

QUECHEE STORY TIME: Quechee Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 295-1232.

RANDOLPH PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Kimball Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

SOUTH BURLINGTON BABY TIME: South Burlington Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 846-4140.

SWANTON STORYTIME: Swanton Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 868-7656.

WARREN PRESCHOOL STORYTIME: Warren Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 496-3913.

THURSDAY

BURLINGTON BABYTIME: Fletcher Free Library, 10:15-10:45 a.m. Info, 865-7216.

JEFFERSONVILLE STORYTIME AND CRAFTS: Varnum Memorial Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 644-2117.

NORTHFIELD CHILDREN’S STORY

TIME: See Monday.

RUTLAND STORY TIME: Rutland Free Library, 10-10:45 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

ST. ALBANS STORY HOUR: St. Albans Free Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 524-1507.

WATERBURY PRESCHOOL STORY

TIME: Waterbury Public Library, 10:15 a.m. Info, 244-7036.

WESTFORD STORY TIME: Westford Public Library, 11 a.m. Info, 878-5639.

Webby’s Art Studio: Secret Identity: Youngsters design a superhero mask to disguise their identity for Halloween. Shelburne Museum, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., regular museum admission, $8-25; free for children under 5. Info, 985-3346.

FRANKLIN

Fairfield Trunk or Treat: Costumed kiddos ask for sweet treats. Bent Northrop Memorial Library, Fairfield, 3-5 p.m. Info, 827-3945. FREE

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

WASHINGTON

FRIDAY COLCHESTER BABY STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

CRAFTSBURY STORY TIME: See Tuesday.

ENOSBURG READ & PLAY FRIDAYS: Enosburgh Public Library, 9-10 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX MUSICAL STORY TIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

GEORGIA PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Georgia Public Library, 10 a.m. Info, 524-4643.

KILLINGTON STORYTIME: Sherburne Memorial Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 422-9765.

LINCOLN STORY TIME: Lincoln Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 453-2665.

MONTPELIER STORY TIME: See Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

RANDOLPH TODDLER STORY TIME: Kimball Public Library, 10:30-11 a.m. Info, 728-5073.

ST. JOHNSBURY ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 748-8291.

STOWE BABY & TODDLER STORY

TIME: Stowe Free Library, 10:3011:15 a.m. Info, 253-6145.

WILLISTON TODDLER TIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. Info, 878-4918.

SATURDAY

COLCHESTER SATURDAY DROP-IN STORY TIME: Burnham Memorial Library, 10 a.m. Info, 264-5660.

ENOSBURG STORY HOUR: Enosburgh Public Library, 10-11 a.m. Info, 933-2328.

ESSEX FAMILY STORYTIME: Essex Free Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 879-0313.

HIGHGATE STORY TIME: See Wednesday, 10 a.m.

MILTON DROP-IN SATURDAY

STORYTIME: Milton Public Library, 10-10:30 a.m. Info, 893-4644.

NEXT CHAPTER BOOKSTORE STORY TIME: Next Chapter Bookstore, Barre, 10:30 a.m. Info, 476-3114.

Capital City Farmers Market: See October 5.

27 Sunday

Diwali

ADDISON

Family Play: See October 6.

CHITTENDEN

Essex Open Gym: See October 6.

Family Gym: See October 4.

28 Monday

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Preschool Music: See October 7. Crafts for Kids: See October 14.

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2. Family Fun Night: Monster Party: Moms, dads and kiddos in costumes rock out in a rollicking evening of friendly monsters. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Lake Champlain Waldorf School Middle School

Visiting Day: Students in grades 6 and 7 check out this independent school for a day. Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Shelburne, 8 a.m.-3 p.m., preregister. Info, 985-2827. FREE

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 4-6 p.m.

Read with Pugsley: See October 7.

Teen Space: See October 7.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3, 11 a.m.

FRANKLIN

Messy Mondays: See October 7.

RUTLAND

Babies & Toddlers Rock: See October 7.

WINDSOR

Young At Art: See October 14.

29 Tuesday

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Tuesday: See October 1.

Old North End Farmers Market: See October 1.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1.

Read to Daisy the Therapy Dog: See October 1.

Spanish Musical Kids: See October 1.

Teen Improv Workshop: The Vermont Comedy Club leads a class for young performers about the basics of this fun activity. Ages 12 and up. South Burlington Public Library, 3:30-5 p.m., preregister. Info, 846-4140. FREE

Tinker Tuesdays: See October 1.

FRANKLIN

Fairfield Lego Club: See October 1.

Ongoing Exhibits

ECHO LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN, BURLINGTON

Info, 864-1848

THOMAS EDISON’S SECRET LAB: Visitors investigate a virtual version of the greatest inventor of all time and explore interactive activities including a giant periodic table of elements, basic coding, and experiments with electricity, magnetism, optics, sound waves and air pressure. Regular museum admission, $11.50-14.50; free for children under 3. Through January 5.

FORT TICONDEROGA, N.Y.

Info, 518-585-2821

HEROIC CORN MAZE: Get lost! Families navigate their way through a life-size puzzle in the shape of this historic fort while searching for history clues among the stalks. New this year is a maze for little ones ages 4 and under. Regular museum admission, $12-24; free for children under 5. Fall weekends through October 20.

THE GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE, DANVILLE

Info, 748-1399

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: A 24-acre maze of maize lures labyrinth lovers. If possible, arrive before 1 p.m. to solve the puzzle without clues. 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; open until 4:30 p.m. on weekends. Through October 14. Closed in the rain.

HELEN DAY ART CENTER, STOWE

Info, 253-8358

‘EXPOSED’: National and local outdoor sculpture of all sizes and shapes spreads through the town of Stowe. Through October 19. FREE

MONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, NORWICH

Info, 649-2200

ELEMENTS OF GLASS: In partnership with Simon Pearce and their artisans, this exhibit interprets in glass the elements of water, fire and wood through drawings, videos and touchable samples which illuminate the process behind designing and creating glass pieces. Regular museum admission, $13-16; free for children under 2. Through March 2020.

PECK FARM ORCHARD, EAST MONTPELIER Info, 249-1223

PECK FARM ORCHARD CORN MAZE: Festive fall families have fun on the farm with a leafy puzzle, PYO apples and pumpkins, and free weekend hayrides. $5. Through October.

Trick-or-Treat in the Library: Dressed-up kids drop in for Halloween festivities. St. Albans Free Library, 5-6:30 p.m. Info, 524-1507. FREE Tunes on Tuesdays: See October 1.

30 Wednesday

CALEDONIA

Zine-Making Series: Hosted by writer Lassiter Williams, teens take part in four workshops devoted to publishing their own words. Ages 13-18. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 3:30 p.m. Info, 745-1391. FREE

CHITTENDEN

Afterschool Snacks and Stories: See October 2.

Decorating Pumpkins: Little ones get artistic with giant gourds. Ages 4-7. Milton Public Library, 4-5 p.m., preregister. Info, 893-4644.

FREE

Evolution Postnatal Yoga Essex: See October 2. Halloween Party: Ghouls and ghosts dress up for a mini-parade, stories, snacks and dancing at the library. All ages. Burnham Memorial Library, Colchester, 4-6 p.m., preregister. Info, 264-5660. FREE

Kids’ Chess Club: See October 2.

One-on-One Tutoring: See October 1, 5-8 p.m.

Teen Murder Mystery: Teenagers talk to characters to take in clues and figure out whodunit. Grades 6-12. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 5-6 p.m. Info, 878-4918. FREE

Wonder Wednesdays: See October 2.

Yoga for Kids: See October 2.

FRANKLIN

Art with Mr. Raymond: See October 23.

RUTLAND

Rutland Farmers Market: See October 2.

31 Thursday Happy Halloween!

CALEDONIA

Knitting for Kids: See October 3.

CHITTENDEN

Colchester Lego Club: See October 3.

Essex Lego Club: See October 3.

Preschool Yoga: See October 3.

Ukulele Joe: See October 3.

Williston Preschool Music: See October 3.

Youngster Movement and Music: See October 3.

FRANKLIN

Franklin Lego Thursdays: See October 3.

ART MUSIC THEATRE MOVEMENT

Has Depression Caused Stress For Your Family?

OCTOBER CALENDAR

31 Thursday (cont.)

Halloween at the Library: Witches and wizards stop in for sweet treats and photo booth fun. Sheldon Public Library, 3-8 p.m. Info, 933-2524. FREE

Playgroups

FallStarting 2019

Raising Healthy Children is a supportive family program, scientifically proven to: help prevent depression and anxiety in your children, reduce your depression, and help your family handle stress. If you’ve had depression and have a child between the ages of 8-14 years, then this 8-week program may be perfect for your family.

LOCATION: EVERGREEN FAMILY HEALTH in Williston. Call or email Carolyn at: (802) 865-3450 x949 rhccoping@gmail.com or visit raisinghealthychildrenvt.com

Most insurances accepted, sliding scale is an option

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS

WAITSFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

CONSIGNMENT DROP-OFF: Nov. 8, 4–7pm. Waitsfield Elementary School (WES) PRE-REGISTER AT WES: Nov. 4–8, 7:45am–3pm

See Dr. First videos “First With Kids” at uvmhealth.org.

Kids enjoy fun and games during these informal get-togethers, and caregivers connect with other local parents and peers. The groups are usually free and often include snacks, arts and crafts, or music. Most playgroups follow the school calendar. Contact the organizer for sitespecific details.

MONDAY AUDUBON NATURE PLAYGROUP: Audubon Vermont, Huntington, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 434-3068.

BURLINGTON CRAWLERS, WADDLERS AND TODDLERS: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

JERICHO PLAYGROUP: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 760-8623.

MILTON PLAYGROUP: Milton Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 893-1457.

MORRISVILLE PLAYGROUP: River Arts, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

OPEN GYM: Central VT Gymnastics Academy, Waterbury, 10 a.m.-noon, $7-10. Info, 882-8324.

ROBIN’S NEST NATURE PLAYGROUP: North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-noon, donations welcome. Info, 229-6206.

TUESDAY

BRADFORD PLAYGROUP: Grace United Methodist Church, 9-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

BRISTOL PLAYGROUP: Bristol Baptist Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 388-3171.

BROOKFIELD PLAYGROUP: First Congregational Church of Brookfield, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

BURLINGTON FATHERS AND CHILDREN

TOGETHER: Janet S. Munt Parent-Child Center, 4-7 p.m. Info, 862-2121.

NORTHERN VERMONT UNIVERSITY

‘AQUATICS’ PLAYGROUP: Northern Vermont University, Johnson Campus, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: Winooski Family Center, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 655-1422.

WEDNESDAY BARRE PLAYGROUP: Aldrich Public Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 115.

FAIRFIELD PLAYGROUP: Bent Northrop Memorial Library, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 827-3945.

MAMA’S CIRCLE: Good Beginnings, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-noon. Info, 595-7953.

NORTHFIELD PLAYGROUP: United Church of Northfield, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

PURPLE CRAYON PLAY GROUP: ArtisTree/ Purple Crayon, Pomfret, 9:30-11:30 a.m., donations accepted. Info, 457-3500.

SOUTH ROYALTON PLAYGROUP: United Church on the Green, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

ST. JOHNSBURY TODDLER TIME: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30 a.m. Info, 748-1391.

WATERBURY MUSIC & MOVEMENT: The Children’s Room, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Info, 244-5605.

THURSDAY

DADS AND KIDS PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, Montpelier, 5-7 p.m. Info, 262-3292.

JOHNSON PLAYGROUP: United Church of Johnson, 9-10:30 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

MIDDLEBURY PLAYGROUP: The Congregational Church of Middlebury, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 388-3171.

MILTON PLAYGROUP: See Monday, 9:30-11 a.m.

MONTPELIER PLAYGROUP: St. Augustine Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

RANDOLPH PLAYGROUP: St. John’s Church, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Info, 685-2264.

UNDERHILL PLAYGROUP: Underhill I.D. Elementary School, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 899-4680.

WAITSFIELD PLAYGROUP: Big Picture Theater, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

WILLISTON PLAYTIME: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 11 a.m.-noon. Info, 878-4918.

WINOOSKI PLAYTIME: See Tuesday, 9:3011:30 a.m.

FRIDAY

CAMBRIDGE PLAYGROUP: Cambridge Elementary School, 9-11 a.m. Info, 888-5229.

OPEN GYM: See Monday, 10 a.m.-noon.

RUTLAND PLAYGROUP: Rutland Free Library, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 773-1860.

WATERBURY PLAYGROUP: Thatcher Brook Primary School, 10-11:30 a.m. Info, 262-3292.

WINSOOSKI MOVE, PLAY, CONNECT

PLAYGROUP: O’Brien Community Center, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 655-6424.

SATURDAY MONTPELIER SATURDAY PLAYGROUP: Family Center of Washington County, 9:30-11 a.m. Info, 262-3292, ext. 190.

Timeless

“

Halloween is fun to decorate,” Martha Stewart proclaimed on a visit to the “Today” show last October. “You do not have to spend a lot of money; it’s just creativity,” she said, gesturing casually toward an eight-foot tree on the set behind her. Its trunk and branches were painted black, and it was festooned with glowing paper lanterns, plastic spiders, cobwebs, balloons and lacy cutouts.

A few years before, I’d have googled “water soluble paint” faster than you could say “hocus-pocus,” then headed out to the yard to forage a tree limb. Now, I know Martha left out an important part of the equation. It’s not just creativity. It’s creativity plus time — and I just don’t have the time.

When I was a kid, I went trick-ortreating in street clothes, wearing a plastic mask my mother had purchased from a rack near the cash register at the local supermarket. She had four children. There was no way she was sitting down to sew costumes. My mask managed to be both cold and sweatinducing at the same time. It made me look like an embalmed princess. Still, I had fun, and even managed to find the houses that gave out full-size chocolate bars while peering through those razor sharp eye holes.

Not long after my own trick-ortreating days were over, at age 19, I became a mother, unprepared and unmarried, in an era when the latter was frowned upon. I promised my daughter, all of 4 hours old, that I would ace the mom thing.

Like me, she loved Halloween. Unlike me, her first real costume, complete with sparkly cape and an elaborate bird mask, was homemade.

Score one for Supermom.

Never mind that I was already bleary-eyed from attending college classes and working full time.

I married and had another child, a son. I had a full-time job and was trying to forge a career as a freelance writer on the side. I barely had time to floss, but I was determined to create lasting memories, even without the internet to guilt me into it.

Store-bought costumes weren’t “special,” so I continued to make costumes at home. Every Halloween, I dyed hard-boiled eggs purple and turned cream cheese orange for school lunches. Long before fancy manicure pens were a thing, I hand-painted black spiders on my daughter’s fingernails. One year,

word got out and three of her classmates showed up on our doorstep before school to get theirs done before I rushed off to work.

I was escalating Halloween expectations long before Martha Stewart came along.

Planning a kids event?

rituals like a freight train with a fistful of orange and black glitter.

Then, in 2013, fate intervened.

That February I fell, fracturing my shoulder, which required a long recuperation. In October I caught a cold, followed by laryngitis.

Still, I rallied, and created a creepy display of dead space aliens in our front yard. I bought pumpkins for my teenagers to carve. Two days later, we found the gourds disfigured, eaten by marauding squirrels. I replaced them with the fake variety, and was mystified to discover those had been gnawed as well.

The week before Halloween, a fast moving storm with rain and high winds sent decorations twirling across the landscape like a scene from The Wizard of Oz. My alien tableau was ruined.

My company was screening The Rocky Horror Picture Show at a local theater on Halloween night. I had a few hundred prop bags to assemble, which involved toasting a few hundred pieces of bread beforehand.

After the storm died down, I stood in a light drizzle surveying the damage and gave one of the even-deader-lookingthan-before aliens a satisfying kick. There was no way I was rebuilding them. I didn’t have time. I threw everything in the trash. It felt oddly liberating.

List it for free in the Kids VT monthy calendar. Submit your November event by October 15th online at kidsvt.com or to calendar@kidsvt.com

CALENDAR

PUZZLE PAGE ANSWERS

SEE PAGE 26 FOR PUZZLES

It has stars.

Why is the US flag like a movie?

ASK. THAT. RUSH. WISH.

JUMBLE:

It needed to recharge its batteries.

Why did the robot go on summer vacation?

CODED RIDDLE:

As years went by, Halloween became less important to my kids (I now had five), but I was still turning lollipops into ghosts, whipping up scarecrows for the front steps and mass-producing caramel apples.

I should have slowed down in 2002, when I started Queen City Ghostwalk, my haunted tour company. But I didn’t, believing that a woman who was known for ghosts had to have the scariest yard in the neighborhood.

On my lawn, werewolves terrorized ghostly damsels, and skeletons sat minding their vacant-eyed baby dolls. One year, my circus menagerie prompted people to get out of their cars to take photos. Passersby were thrilled, but I was exhausted.

I was managing a business and leading tours, sometimes two a night. And I was still making costumes (Janet and Michael Jackson — Rhythm Nation and Thriller respectively) for my grandkids. I felt powerless to stop, approaching Halloween

When Halloween was over, I had a year to reflect on why, despite poor health (and squirrel mayhem), I’d been determined to carry on my Halloween “traditions.”

Whose expectations was I trying to measure up to?

I was surprised by the answer: mine.

When you raise children, you always worry about whether you’re doing it right. I was still trying to show my 19-year-old self I had what it takes to be a model parent.

I left the yard bare the next October, and let my kids handle my grandchildren’s Halloween costumes. They had a blast creating them together.

When I decided to pare down Christmas that year, ordering Chinese food instead of spending hours in the kitchen, nobody cared. They were excited to have me sitting down opening presents and laughing with them, instead of standing over the stove.

They would have been happier all along with less holiday pizzazz.

Now that I’m not creating Area 51 in the front yard, I can give them what they really want. My time. K

CRISSCROSS - SPELLING BEE:

RIDDLE SEARCH: At a jungle gym

I felt powerless to stop, approaching Halloween rituals like a freight train with a fistful of orange and black glitter.

Why I, Vermont’s “Queen of Halloween,” pared down my favorite holiday

FOR Coloring Contest!

Three winners will each receive an annual family membership to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. Send Kids VT your work of art by October 15. Be sure to include the info at right with your submission. Winners will be chosen in the following categories: (1) ages 5 and younger, (2) ages 6-8 and (3) ages 9-12. Winners will be named in the November issue of Kids VT. Send your highresolution scans to art@kidsvt.com or mail a copy to Kids VT, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

Birthday Club

Congratulations to

these October Birthday Club winners! Join the Club!

To enter, submit information using the online form at kidsvt.com/birthday-club

Just give us your contact info, your children’s names and birth dates, and a photo, and they’re automatically enrolled.

Kid-Created Art

ZÖE lives in Milton and turns 5 on October 7. She loves to sing and dance and can make a song out of anything! She also enjoys playing soccer and cheerleading.

ZÖE wins four day passes and four 3D movie tickets to ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington.

COHEN lives in Washington and turns 5 on October 10. He’s a freespirited boy who loves the outdoors, using his imagination and helping his siblings.

Cohen, Ella and Cora each win four ECHO day passes.

Abrie, a first-year student at Stowe High School, enjoys drawing, painting and creating digital images of animals, many of them endangered species. She has taken several art classes at the Davis Studio in South Burlington and spends countless hours creating at home. She has been selling her art at the Stowe Farmers’ Market. This past summer, she enrolled in two courses at the Rhode Island School of Design to further develop her skills and learn from other artists. Abrie hopes to attend an art school and become a graphic designer.

CORA lives in Irasburg and turns 7 on October 31. The first grader lives on a small farm and enjoys working in her family’s garden and orchard. She loves owls, learning how to play the piano and singing.

ELLA lives in Essex Junction and turns 7 on October 23. She loves to dance, read and draw. She also enjoys skating and playing with her sister, Liv. She loves to do experiments at home and wants to be a scientist when she grows up.

Nellie is a homeschooled student. She is always daydreaming about really weird things and spends a lot of time creating art and listening to music. With every tune she listens to, she thinks of new ideas. She enjoys drawing original characters and wants to be a professional artist. She’s also excited about starting to sell her artwork and is exploring setting up her own website.

To learn more about art classes at the Davis Studio, visit davisstudiovt.com.

“FRIDA KAHLO WITH BUTTERFLIES,” MIXED MEDIA, BY NELLIE GROSSELFINGER, 11

“SHADOW LION,” CHARCOAL PENCIL, BY ABRIE HOWE, 14

Writing Contest

This month, we want to see your writing and drawing talents! Use the panels below to create an original comic. In honor of this month’s spooky holiday, your comic should take place on Halloween night.

Title:

COLORING CONTEST WINNERS

Our judges were wowed by the fabulous submissions mailed in as part of this month’s coloring contest. Gemma, 10, decked out her hiking cat — trekking along a sparkling blue trail toward emerald mountains — with a snazzy walking stick and a water bottle. Eight-yearold Trevor amazed us with a safari scene that included an orange tiger, a towering giraffe and a snake draped over a tree branch. Oona, 5, sent us a furry feline with bright blue eyes, with buzzing bees and butterflies in the background. Thanks to all who entered! We can’t wait to see what you have in store this month.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

“THE CRABBY CAT”

Chester Goodwin, 11, Middlesex

“SUPER CAT”

Thomas Lewis, 4, South Burlington

“WONDERLAND”

Marshall Lussier, 7, Highgate

“FANCY CAT”

Fiona Green, 4, East Montpelier

“COOL CAT”

Lily Sorenson, 7, Elmore

“DISCO KITTY”

Rocco Lucas, 7, St. Albans

“CRAZY CAT”

Nylan D’Amico, 11, Je erson

“SUPER CAT”

Althea Raven Broderick, 7, Monkton

“CATS IN BLACK”

Kyla Abair, 11, St. Albans

“RAINBOW BLUE SKY CAT”

Quinn Cook, 5, Colchester

“SECRET CAT”

Scarlett Contreras-Montesano, 11, Burlington

“DAVID THE CAT”

Eloise Farley, 5, Wolcott

TOP TITLES

“BUBBLE CAT”

Edward Thompson, 5, Coventry

“MONSTERS’ PARADISE”

The winners of annual family memberships to the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium are…

We’ll pick two winners and publish their names and comic strips in the next issue. Winners receive a $25 gift certificate to Crow Bookshop. Deadline to enter is October 15. Send your entries to: KidsVT, attn: Writing Contest, P.O. Box 1184, Burlington, VT 05402.

Lane Fortune, 6, Georgia

“ORANGE I COOL?”

Abigail Eisler, 11, West Hartford

Puzzles4Kids

BY HELENA HOVANEC

Riddle Search — GET YOUR EXERCISE!

Look up, down and diagonally, both forward and backward, to find every word on the list. Circle each one as you find it. When all the words are circled, take the UNUSED letters and write them on the blanks below. Go from left to right and top to bottom to find the answer to this riddle: Where do monkeys get their exercise?

BIKE

BOUNCE

CRUNCH

DANCE

DASH

FENCE

ICE SKATE

LEAP

SKATEBOARD

SNORKEL

SNOWBOARD

SPRINT

STRETCH

SURF

SWIM

TWIRL

WATER SKI

ZOOM

Riddle Answer:

CRISSCROSS — SPELLING BEE

Each word will fit into one spot in the grid. Use the starting letters as a guide and fit each word into its spot. All words will be used, so cross off each one after you put it into the grid.

Coded Riddle

Change each letter to the one that comes immediately BEFORE it in the alphabet to find a riddle and its answer. Here’s a copy of the alphabet to guide you:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Jumble

BY DAVID L. HOYT & JEFF KNUREK

The letters of these crazy words are all mixed up. To play the game, put them back into the right order so that they make real words you can find in your dictionary. Write the letters of each real word under each crazy word, but only one letter to a square.

You are now ready to solve this month’s Jumble For Kids. Study the picture for a hint. Then play around with the letters in the circles. You’ll find you can put them in order so that they make your funny answer.

Print