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EDITOR’S NOTE

our s ate

Happy Birthday, OSV! This summer 2017 issue of Our State Vermont marks the first anniversary of this awardwinning quarterly color magazine.

The rapid rise of this publication was beyond our wildest dreams when we first started out last summer. In the interim, positive, heartfelt comments and encouragement from our readers have been received and are deeply appreciated. We also appreciate your ideas for stories and interviews for upcoming issues of OSV; we have received them from readers and advertisers alike. Thank you!

The wonderful thing about living in Vermont, and especially writing about our goings on, is the fact that fascinating and insightful stories abound here. While Vermont may have a smaller population compared to our neighboring states, this place makes up for it in ways that are often times bigger than life.

For example, take a peek at our feature about beautiful Neshobe Island. Who knew that so much Hollywood and Broadway history was made on that private, pine-clad “celebrity summer camp” in the middle of Lake Bomoseen in western Rutland County?

American and British celebrities who were at the height of their fame during the 1920s and ‘30s spent many fun-filled hours as members or guests of the Neshobe Island Club: the Marx Brothers, Dorothy Parker, Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sir Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and New York critic and radio personality Alexander Woollcott, to name just a few.

Vermont, especially Addison County, has many sites and monuments linked to the celebrated poet Robert Frost. Frost is perhaps best remembered for his soaring poem delivered at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in January 1961. In this issue, we are proud to offer our readers a taste of Frost’s lasting legacy here in the Green Mountains.

Now, if you like our state’s verdant and rocky outback, Green Mountain Club officials have shared some of their best day hikes with us. This starter’s guide, to valley and mountain rambles, will help keep the pounds off and keep you healthier all summer long. Oh, and please beware of ticks when enjoying the outdoors everywhere you travel during the warmer months.

And of course what’s summer without a July 4 parade, barbeque and apple pie--and thrilling displays of fireworks? Inside this issue, we look at Northstar Fireworks, Vermont’s largest provider of fireworks and public displays from the Burlington waterfront to Middlebury’s summer events, and beyond.

You can also continue your road tripping adventures by checking out Vermont’s many covered bridges, too: We have added more to our lists of antique spans to visit with this issue’s continuation of our popular feature on Vermont’s famous, picturesque bridges.

We’re not the first to say it, but summer is especially short in the northland of Vermont; that’s why we savor every day of sunlight and shadow, meadow and mountain.

Vermont’s all too brief summer brings to mind a passage from the book, “Travels with Charley”, by John Steinbeck. I think the author’s observation of the season may have special meaning to Vermonters, both native and import: “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?”

Lou Varricchio, Editor

General Manager Ashley Charron ashley@addison-eagle.com Editor Lou Varricchio lou@addison-eagle.com Office Manager Tajah Marsden office@addison-eagle.com Publisher Ed Coats ed@addison-eagle.com Marketing Consultants Ashley Charron ashley@addison-eagle.com Cyndi Armell cyndi@addison-eagle.com Heidi Littlefield heidi@addison-eagle.com Graphics Team Design 2 Pro howard@design2pro.com Feature Columnist Lou Varricchio Writing Contributors Elicia Mailhiot Ashley Charron Tajah Marsden To advertise in our next issue, please contact Ashley at: 802-388-6397 (office) or ashley@addison-eagle.com Published by: New Market Press 16 Creek Road, Suite 5 Middlebury, VT 05753 We are pleased to announce that Our State Vermont has been named an award winning magazine!

4 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

Contents

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22

7

24

9 12

19

28 36 32

38

42

6 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

SUMMER TO DO’S A must-do list of fun activities to keep you busy all summer.

NESHOBE ISLAND Lake Bomoseen’s Neshobe Island was a funloving “summer camp” for Hollywood and New York VIPs of the 1930s-40s. We present a look back at the Golden Age of celebrity culture in our own backyard.

ROBERT FROST America’s celebrated poet Robert Frost left many footprints around Vermont. You can enjoy visiting some of his favorite places this summer.

BEST HIKING TRAILS Between the Green Mountains and the Taconic Mountains, there are many miles of trails to explore during the months of summer. Green Mountain Club members share their best summer day hikes with us.

FIREWORKS From China to Vermont, fireworks play a big part of celebrating the good things of summer. Here’s our guide to all the pyrotechnic drama in the Green Mountain State.

RUTLAND MAYOR Rutland City’s newly elected Mayor Dave Allaire has a clear vision of where he’d like his hometown to go--and the future looks bright, indeed!

VERMONT MYSTERIES Vermont abounds in lots of strange folk tales and mysterious places. Here’s a sampling of some unusual mysteries worth investigating this summer.

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Summer; when we chase fireflies on balmy nights, walk barefoot on hot sand, and jump into cool water on scorching days.

There are endless activities you can do this Summer, and we’ve rounded up the ones that you’ll love when you’re feeling lazy, when you’re ready to get a workout, or when you’re in search of an adventure!

Pick Wildflowers Whether you are heading out for a hike, a walk or stroll make sure to stop and smell Vermont’s beautiful wildflowers. The many different species show off their vibrant colors and unique aromas. From purple Lupines to Snapdragons, Black-Eyed Susans, Blue Flax and Purple Coneflowers they are sure to make a wonderful bouquet. Please note that Queen Anne’s Lace is widely spread throughout Vermont and Poisonous Parsnip has a similar appearance so please be careful.

Take a Tour Pack up the family for a fun filled day touring one of Vermont’s greatest attractions. These hot spots are great

in rain or shine and will certainly bring you joy. If your taste buds are searching for a cool treat swing into the Ben and Jerry’s Factory. There you can learn the history and how their ice cream is made but you can’t leave until you fill up in the scoop shop, yum! Have you ever wondered how a stuffed animal is made? When you visit the Teddy Bear Factory you can see the fine stitching that goes into those adorable bears. If you are looking for a hands-on experience then the Montshire Museum of Science is the place for you. Located on 110 acre site, the museum offers more than 140 exhibits relating to the natural and physical sciences, ecology and technology. No matter what part of Vermont you are in, there is something for everyone!

continue page 10 SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 9

Take a Plunge

Go to a Festival

When it comes to a cool dip in the water many are drawn to the lakes and beaches but have you ever visited one of the many swimming holes Vermont has to offer? While some of these natural pools, waterfalls and quarries have become very popular some still remain under the radar. They can usually be located by driving slow enough to spot parked cars hugging the side of a rural wooded road and the sound of splashing. There are no parking lots, bathrooms, lifeguards or rules other than good ol’ Vermont common sense and courtesy. The scenery is worth the trip but these swimming holes can be dangerous. The rocks get slippery and water flow is unpredictable. Try to go in groups and always make safe decisions.

During the summer months Vermont hosts an immense im amount of fun-filled events. From family friendly to brew fests there is always something th to do in the Green Mountains. Stop into yo local winery and be part of the live music by your gr great musicians, sip their wines and snack on fabu ulous food. The Blueberry Festival brings famili together to enjoy blueberry or blue themed lies h happenings the first ten days in August. From a big blue parade to jam making, blue beer and c children games the endless activities are sure to b a hit for any age. See our calendar of events be fo more summer fun. for

Read a Book R

Visit a Farmers Market Enjoy a fun filled day with your family as you visit one of the many farmers’ markets in the state. You will be greeted with smiles and laughter making for a joyful experience. As you stroll by each vendor the smells will pull your taste buds in different directions. From a hint of honey to an aroma of fresh baked pie, you are sure to be delighted. Not only is shopping at the farmers’ market beneficial to your health but it supports your local farmers and products made here in Vermont.

Get a Creemee

Go Fishing Vermont is chock-full of world-class fishing opportunities for anglers of all ages, abilities and interests. Whether you are casting a reel from a boat or the shoreline you are sure to get ‘hooked’. While some just find it relaxing, others love the thrill while attending one or more of the 100 fishing tournaments held throughout the state each year. If you are looking to learn how to fish check out the “Let’s Go Fishing” program. It is a network of volunteer instructors who teach families the ins and outs of fishing. So this summer pack up the family, rods and worms and see who can reel in the biggest catch!

Go Antiquing You don’t have to be on the other end of the age spectrum to go antiquing. In this day and age decorating your house with beautiful antiques is quite popular. Fixer Upper, a well known house renovation show on HGTV demonstrates how to use old pieces in a new space. There are an abundance of antique shops around Vermont to explore.

Summer months can be filled with to-do llists, chores and activities. Curling up with a good g book nestled in a hammock or even on a rainy day can relieve stress. In addition to the r relaxation it’s possible that the subject you read about can bring about immense inner peace and tranquility.

Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body. When children have escaped the routine of school, reading to or with them is beneficial for their academic achievement. If your child doesn’t read regularly through the summer, they may be in danger of the “summer slide” a decline in their reading ability.

One quintessential experience in Vermont is to treat your taste buds to a creemee. On a hot day there is nothing better than the cool creamy taste of heaven. Now, to the fun part... you have your traditional vanilla which is superb but did you know that there is plethora of flavors to choose from. Don’t limit yourself to the standard two flavors. Of course there is the ever so iconic Maple creemee which tastes like you are drinking syrup from the tree – hard to pass that one up! Just to list a few aside of my favorite; blueberry, you can pick from orange, blackberry plus the flavor blasts including pina coloda, watermelon, peach and so many more. Don’t forget to add the sprinkles!

Go Tubing Water tubing is a uniquely thrilling and unforgettable water sport experience. It doesn’t require nearly as much agility, balance, or strength as other water sports - in fact, the number one requirement of water tubing is just hang on tight and enjoy the ride! If you are not quite a thrill seeker but still want to be in the water there are other options that do not include high speeds of being pulled by a boat. You can pack up the entire family or even enjoy a first date at Vermont River Tubing. Grab a big red tube, jump in and enjoy the rest of the day floating along the river with laughter and great memories.

10 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 11

“NESHOBE “NESHOBE ISLAND The commonroom of the Neshobe Island clubhouse.

Davine Brown at the helm of her Neshobe Island motorboat. Davene and husband Jerry Brown purchased the Lake Bomoseen island in the 1990s.

The clubhouse kitchen was a popular gathering place for members of the Neshobe Island Club.

Neshobe Island clubhouse, built by Alexander Woollcott and friends, as it looks today.

“NESHOBE NESHOBE ISLAND

and the end of the 10-Year Lunch”

7 acres Neshobe Island is located approximately 1 mile off the shore of Lake Bomeseen

Alexander Woollcott’s favorite reading chair is still on display on Neshobe Island in the middle of Lake Bomoseen.

12 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

The study on Neshobe Island: Today, island owner Davene Brown collects books about the members of the Algonquin Round Table and Neshobe Island Club.

Getting around: Davene Brown likes to use a golf cart to get around the seven acres of Neshobe Island.

By Lou Varricchio

T

hey were the celebrities of their day: Writers, critics, movie stars, Broadway divas, and humorists—all from a time, in the history of American entertainment, which is rapidly fading from popular memory.

Nearly every day, from 1919 until the 1929 stock market crash, and then limping along until the waning days of the 1930s, a select group of stars—and their stellar VIP pals—gathered for lunch in the dining room of the Algonquin Hotel located on West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan. They were known as the members of the elite Algonquin Round Table.

Round Table membership required stage, screen or literary celebrity, but

more so, brilliant creativity and a biting wit thrown in for good measure.

Founded more or less as a lark, this self-described “vicious circle” of satirists, libertines and misanthropes also included stock membership with the now-defunct Neshobe Island Club of Lake Bomoseen, Vt. “The origin of the Algonquin Round Table’s (so-called) ‘10-year lunch’ lies in a June 1919 gathering at the Algonquin Hotel,” according to John Calhoun of Biography.com. “The ostensible occasion was to welcome columnist Alexander Woollcott home from the (first world) war, but the tribute, studded with barbs, quips, puns, wisecracks, and repartee, was something more akin to a roast. A tradition was established...”

But another, less well known, Round Table tradition was established in tandem with the Algonquin Hotel lunches: Round Table members, and their extended family of VIPs, enjoyed staying and playing with Woollcott at his summer camp on Neshobe Island, smack dab in the middle of Vermont’s Lake Bomoseen.

“When they built the place, everything was brought over on the ice,” says owner Davene Brown of Castleton.

Davene, and her husband Jerry Brown, have been the owners of Neshobe Island since the 1990s.

continue page 14 SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 13

The Bomoseen couple have lovingly renovated the seven-acre island’s structures to appear much as they did in the time of the famous Neshobe Island Club.

The island’s wooded 7 acres include a fieldstone cottage with slate roof, rustic clubhouse, a two-story storage barn, and an old well house.

“There was a hotel here (dating to the 1880s) before Woollcott bought the place,” according to Davene.

Prior to the Taghkannuc House Hotel of the 1800s, Neshobe Island played host to a pig farm, an ice-fishing center and, in pre-Colonial times, an Abenaki tribal gathering site.

As Davene tells it, one summer day in 1924, Woollcott’s friend and financial advisor Enos Booth led the critic and radio show host on a visit to Lake Bomoseen, the largest lake entirely within Vermont.

At the time, Booth owned lakeshore property; he had heard about a for-sale island located about about a mile offshore.

Booth knew that his friend was searching for a cool, summer retreat for the Round Table gang, and so they took a motorboat with a realtor out to the island for a walk-around. The rest is history.

When they built the place, everything was brought over on the ice “Alex (Woollcott) and his celebrity friends purchased the island and immediately started up the Neshobe Island Club,” Davene says. “They used the clubhouse; later he built the beautiful fieldstone cottage next to it.”

Members paid $1,000 initiation fee and $100 a year in dues.

The celebrity summer camp was without electricity until the late 1930s.

It boasted an outhouse, and well water

pumped into a gravity fed 2,500-gallon water tower. While it doesn’t sound exactly like a playground for the rich and famous, it sufficed for those stars who liked a woody idyll.

While on Neshobe, many members enjoyed walking around and swimming in the nude. The island provided a rare freedom, far from prying eyes. For example, as a student at Hamilton College in New York, Woollcott enjoyed dressing up as a woman for various theatrical performances and campus gags. No doubt, Neshobe offered him a chance to let his hair down and be himself.

Compared to the big cities of New York and Los Angeles, Neshobe was a little piece of paradise lost: Music, drinking, sailing, jokes, storytelling, skinny-dipping, and fun games were all part of the relaxing, get-away experience. It took the likes of the Marx Brothers away from the spotlights and the paparazzi.

Famous writer, poet and wit Dorothy Parker liked her Neshobe memThe fieldstone cottage, as it looks today, built by Alexander Woollcott in the 1920s for Algonquin Round Table members who joined the Neshobe Island Club. The building is lovingly cared for by island owners Davene and Jerry Brown.

bership, although Davene reports that she often spent time “pouting” alone on a marble bench on the island, no doubt a result of her chronic bouts of depression.

Parker’s stone bench, placed between two trees, became her favorite spot for meditation and “pouting”; the bench is still visible on the island today. “Scratch a lover, and find a foe,” was supposedly one of Parker’s notable Neshobe-borne quips, perhaps conjured up while the writer sat on her magical bench?

Until the time of Woollcott’s death in 1943, Neshobe Island had become the secret summer playground of Algonquin Round Table members as well as other rich and famous folks connected to them—from aviatrix Amelia Earhart and actress Ethel Barrymore to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Mickey Mouse creator Walt Disney.

In 1936, away from the rabid movie magazine press, superstars Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh honeymooned on the island; it was just three years before Leigh appeared on screen 14 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

as Scarlett O’Hara in the multi awardwinning “Gone with the Wind”.

Davene Brown has preserved the Oliviers’ Neshobe honeymoon suite much as it looked to them in 1936, and with the original, wooden fourposter bed in place.

To this day, the celebrities visiting Neshobe Island have remained a rich source of local lore retold by the residents of Lake Bomoseen, according to Davene.

Davene says that most of the stories you hear around the lake are true, except for the one about Hollywood’s zany Marx Brothers having owned the island.

While the island was purchased

by Woollcott, his best friend Harpo Marx—just like fellow club members—owned a Neshobe “timeshare”.

continue page 16

Alexander Woollcott’s study, used until the fall of 1942, is located in a narrow wing off the back of the main cottage on Neshobe Island.

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 15

Harpo Marx was the only Marx Brothers member of the Neshobe Island Club, she says, although all the brothers visited Lake Bomoseen regularly.

One story, not substantiated by this writer, claims that the world premiere of “Duck Soup”, the classic 1933 Marx Brothers comedy movie, occured at Rutland’s Paramount Theater. The choice of Rutland as the site of the film’s opening makes sense: after all, the Marx Brothers and their friends were all together vacationing at nearby Lake Bomoseen at the time.

But perhaps the event was more of a special, private screening for Neshobe Island Club members?

Another story, which Davene likes to tell visitors to her family’s private island, is the summer day, sometime during the mid-1930s, when the Marx Brothers arrived secretly on the lake aboard a private seaplane. The boys had chartered the plane, probably at Glenn Curtiss Airport in New York, as part of an expensive gag.

The day before, the silver screen’s comedic brothers—Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo—had apparently departed Los Angeles’ Mines Field Airport on a whim, part of a cross-country practical joke, a joke to be played on an unsuspecting Woollcott. The New York critic was spending a week on Neshobe at the time.

“The plane landed on the lake away from the pine-covered island,” as Davene tells it. “The brothers stripped off their clothes, dived in, and swam to the island.” Next, dripping wet, they climbed onto the island’s rocky shore. Then, naked, the brothers jumped out of the underbrush to scare Alex who was playing croquet at the time.

The Marx Brothers had a good laugh at Woollcott’s expense.

After Woollcott playfully shooed them away, they swam back to the seaplane and returned to L.A. It was one example of the sort of devil-maycare gags some of the era’s celebrities enjoyed.

But just like all good things, the golden age of Neshobe Island and the more famous “10-year lunch” of the Algonquin Round Table eventually came to an end. Harpo Marx grew tired of Woollcott’s company, although the critic believed him the only friend he ever had in life. By the early 1940s, Hollywood and Broadway stars, famous writers, artists and other VIPs, would no longer make the trip to Lake Bomoseen for summer fun in the sun.

According to the late CBS-TV sportscaster Haywood Hale Broun, who’s rakish parents were long-time members of the Neshobe Island Club, “When Alexander Woollcott, then a national celebrity, died in New York after being stricken during a (radio) broadcast on Jan. 23, 1943, the Rutland Daily Herald called him ‘the Bard of Neshobe Island’ and went on to tell all the good things he had done for his (lake) neighbors. In the headline of the obituary, Bill Bull, a Bomoseen resident was quoted as saying, “Alex was a good fellow—you betcha.”

A TOP 10 COUNTDOWN OF THE BEST QUIPS FROM THE NESHOBE ISLAND CLUB FROM BIOGRAPHY.COM: 10

9

8

Edna Ferber: “A closed mind is a dying mind.”

Harold Ross: “I asked Ring Lardner the other day how he writes his short stories, and he said he wrote a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then went back and filled in the spaces.”

Alexander Woollcott: “All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening.”

7

6 5

Heywood Broun: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”

Dorothy Parker: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

Franklin Pierce Adams: “Middle age occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.”

4

3 2 1

Robert E. Sherwood: “Nobody expects him to be normal—he’s a bishop.”

Robert Benchley: “Behind every argument is someone’s ignorance.”

George S. Kaufman: “Epitaph for a dead waiter – God finally caught his eye.”

Dorothy Parker: “That woman speaks eighteen languages, and she can’t say “No” in any of them.”

Dorothy Parker: Poet, writer, critic, and a big fan of her Neshobe Island vacations.

The zany Marx Brothers: Chico, Zeppo, Groucho and Harpo. Harpo was a member of the Neshobe Island Club and often hosted his brothers for summer vacations.

Neshobe Island cottage during the 1930s.

Alexander Woollcott enjoyed Zeppo Marx pushing his Singapore rickshaw on Neshobe Island.

Playing croquet on Neshobe Island.

Alexander Woollcott (center) and Harpo Marx (right).

Visiting Neshobe Island during the 1930s: Helen Keller, teacher Anne Sullivan with husband Dr. John Macy of Harvard University

Alexander Woollcott in 1930.

Actors Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh honeymooned on Neshobe Island

NESHOBE ISLAND CLUB’S NOTABLE MEMBERS AND VISITORS (1920S-1940S)

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Monday - Friday 8:00am to 5:30pm Saturdays 9:00am-3:00pm

• Franklin Pierce Ada columnist • Robert Benchley, humorist and actor • Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale) • Marc Connelly, playwright • Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women’s rights • George S. Kaufman, playwright and director • Dorothy Parker, critic, poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter • Brock Pemberton, Broadway producer[4] • Harold Ross, The New Yorker editor • Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright

• John Peter Toohey, Broadway publicist • Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist Additional Neshobe Island members and visitors: • Tallulah Bankhead, actress • Noël Coward, playwright • Blyth Daly, actress • Edna Ferber, author and playwright • Eva Le Gallienne, actress • Margalo Gillmore, actress • Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Harold Ross) • Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)

• Margaret Leech, writer and historian • Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator • Harpo Marx, comedian and film star • Alice Duer Miller, writer • Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter • Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist • Deems Taylor, composer • Estelle Winwood, actress and comedian • Peggy Wood, actress • Helen Keller, deaf-blind author, political activist, and lecturer • Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, diplomat • Amelia Earhart, aviator SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 17

THE

American Poet VERMONT ICON

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SUMMER SALE

18 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

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ome of the best literary geniuses have called Vermont’s Green Mountains home – from Dorothy Canfield Fisher to Katherine Paterson, Chris Bohjalian to Archer Mayor, and many more.

Frost, one of the most celebrated American poets, was born in San Francisco in 1874. He moved to Massachusetts with his mother and sister following the death of his father when he was just 11 years old and instantly fell in love with the New England way of life.

He became interested in reading and writing poetry during high school and eventually enrolled at Dartmouth College and later at Harvard University.

He eventually married Elinor, and the two moved to England in 1912. There, they tried their hand at farming but were mostly unsuccessful. However, the trip was

worthwhile to Frost, as he met and was influenced by contemporary British poets Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves.

In 1920, a then 44-year- old Robert Frost moved from neighboring New Hampshire to Vermont, according to the New York Times, “to seek a better place to farm and especially grow apples.” He wrote much of his work in an old log cabin in Ripton, and his ashes rest in what’s affectionately known as Old Bennington.

He loved the Green Mountain State so much that he ended his Pulitzer Prize-winning poem titled “New Hampshire,” with the line, “At present I am living in Vermont.”

Frost’s Stone House is now a museum located in South Shaftsbury, just minutes away from Frost’s gravesite in Bennington, where he once lived with his wife. As you

continue page 20 SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 19

open the front gate, it’s easy to feel as if you are in a Frost poem. The road brings you past rows of apple trees, then along an open field, and eventually, dark green glens and the red pines he planted.

Inside the home lives galleries in the very rooms where he wrote some of his finest works. The exhibits are educational and literary, designed to make you feel as though you have met him and are appropri-

path crosses a beaver pond before heading out to the south branch of the Middlebury River.

You may find two roads diverged in a wood – just like Frost himself – and can comfortably choose one path knowing that the other can be taken as well on the looped trail system.

The verse room “Reluctance” reads: “Out through the fields and woods Out through the fields and woods And over the walls I have wended; And over the walls I have wended; I have climbed the hills of view I have climbed the hills of view And looked at the world, and descended; And looked at the world, and descended; I have come by highway home, I have come by highway home, and lo, it is ended.”

A sign at the trailhead sums it up and lo, it is ended. perfectly: “The poems you’ll see along the trail describe the feelings of the ate for an audience of all ages.

Travel just 10 minutes south and poet, indeed, feelings you might expeyou’ll end up at Old Bennington rience in walking through this natuCemetery, where Frost is laid to rest ral environment.”

Adjacent to the trail is the alongside his wife and children.

Robert Frost Wayside picnic area, Perhaps the place where heavwhere visitors can enjoy a meal en met earth most for Frost was in Ripton. He spent his summers in the cool shadow of majestic red hidden away in the quaint town pine trees, and adjacent to that an – surrounded by the Green Moun- unmarked dirt road. tain National Forest – for 39 years.

A visit will restore your faith that Vermont itself is the state of grace.

Designated as Robert Frost Country by former Governor Richard Snelling in 1983, the region pays homage to the poet in the most sensible way – through nature.

The region includes the Robert Frost Wayside picnic area, Interpretive Trail, Memorial Drive, and the Bread Loaf School of English.

The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail is a walking loop spanning just over one mile where enjoyment meets contemplation. The dirt winding path travels through the forest, and visitors can stop and read selections from Frost’s verse that are posted, including “Reluctance” and “The Secret Sits,” just to name a few.

Blueberries, raspberries, and huckleberries grow in an old field at the far end of the trail. The

“

”

20 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

Located a half-mile down the way, you’ll find a clean white, wood-framed house. A plaque identifies the building as the Homer Noble Farm. Frost summered in a nearby in a small log cabin – surrounded by white birch trees and the green mountains that can sometimes trick your eyes and look blue – following his wife’s death in 1938.

The rustic cabin is a square structure with a gable roof, and includes a screened in porch and a shed-roof woodshed. Visitors can head to the fragile cabin, located in a wooded dell. Middlebury College currently owns the land, and visitors are only able to enjoy a brief stay on the structure’s front porch.

Five of his best works were written here, most notably “A Witness Tree,” a collection of poems that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Continue traveling east and you’ll end up at the College’s Bread Loaf summer campus, which hosts a writers’ conference that Frost had participated in. Route 125 splits rows of yellow buildings topped with dark green roofs. Rocking chairs don front

porches with views overlooking idyllic views of Mount Moosamaloo (I wasn’t kidding when I said Vermont is the state of grace).

The Robert Frost Museum is located at 121 Historic Route 7A in Shaftsbury. They are open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. through Oct. 29.

The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail Is located off Route 125 in Ripton and is accessible year-round.

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 21

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SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 23

A Guide to Vermont’s Food Trucks

By Lou Varricchio

F

rom chili dog carts to wild-andwonky taco wagons, food trucks— also called food wagons—have taken Vermont by storm in recent years.

“The variety of Vermont food trucks seems never-ending… from ethnic to fusion cuisine, cupcakes and ice cream and everything in-between,” reports the website Restaurant Engine.com.

So what’s the history of food trucks here? “Vermont’s food truck mania began on the University of Vermont campus in the late 1960s, says Tyler Fulwiler, a UVM student who sometimes works in a campus food truck. “It expanded through the 1990s and is now a major trend across the state.”

The New York Times has reported that more than 2.5 billion people dine

24 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

at food trucks on any given day of the week throughout the United States— that’s a lot of food truck food. The Times also noted that America’s food truck industry started about a decade after the Civil War ended. In 1872 Walter Scott, a street vendor, had already parked his covered-wagon on street in downtown Providence, R.I. There, Scott sold hot sandwiches, coffee, tea, and fruit pies. The trend caught on and the rest is history.

The food truck movement became so popular across the USA that by 2011, the online Zagat Guide, created a new “Food Truck Reviews” feature on zagat.com.

Here in Vermont, summer food trucks and their schedules were hard to pin down at the time we went to press.

This is by no means a complete list, but a jumping off point to learn and explore more about Vermont’s delicious moveable feasts. So, please inquire locally for the days and hours of each food truck mentioned in this story. Let us know about the trucks we’ve no doubt missed.

BURLINGTON Check out the Church Street Marketplace in downtown Burlington for some of the region’s best food truck offerings.

All the trucks can be found parked along pedestrian-friendly Church Street.

•Boo-Kie’s: Traditional hamburgers with high-quality beef, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches await Boo-Kie’s customers. Good beverage selection.

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Located at 3 Main St. in the Five Corners area of Essex Junction, these two mobile lunch trucks have a lot to offer if you’re on the run.

•Berda’s Roadside Eatery: Try the delicious Berda’s hamburgers, hot dogs, and barbecue offerings. Perfect for lunchtime satisfaction.

•Nomad Coffee: If you love coffee, stop by Nomad for a cup of superb, Italian-style espresso, cold brewed coffees, teas, and exotic chai teas.

MIDDLEBURY Farmers & Foragers food truck owners Lauren and Sol: “We believe everyone should eat locally sourced food and we want to bring this ideal to wherever you may be. Whether our food is purchased from our farm partners, or foraged in Vermont woods, F&F would like to celebrate Vermont food culture with anyone wishing to experience it.”

•Café Istanbul: For a taste of the old Levant, try Café Istanbul’s eastern Mediterranean cuisine of lamb kebabs, fresh Turkish coffee, and more.

•Lucky Chen’s Truck: A genuine moveable feast of Chinese food includes chicken dishes, egg rolls, lo mein, fried rice, and more.

•The Skinny Pancake: The Skinny Pancake is among the state’s most

popular food truck destination. Look for a variety of delicious eats such as sweet and savory crêpes, and more.

•Farmers & Foragers is a food truck company born in Burlington. Much like many the residents of our home state, the owners believe in sourcing locally and support organic and sustainable farming. Look for F&F around the Burlington area this summer.

•Thai@Home: With the cutest little house on wheels next to Mini Me’s mansion, Thai@Home features Southeast Asian specialties as well as Japanese dumplings, and special, delicious steamed buns. One of the better places for lunch in Middlebury. At Vermont Sun Sports & Fitness located at 812 Exchange St. •Foodaroo Festival: The annual food truck festival to die for! Held June 25, 2017, 4-8 p.m. in the Marbleworks by Middlebury Falls. Food, beverages, music, street dancing, and many cool vendors.

LYNDONVILLE

Located at 64 Equinox Terrace in Manchester Center the Hound Dogs menu offers superb dogs, great chili dogs and vanilla cream soda, and lots more.

dessert, a favorite for many years: strawberry supreme. All of the Reaper’s salads and sides are homemade. All of the baked items are prepared on site, with the freshest of ingredients. Also, be on the lookout for occasional live music performances by the Pitch Blenders band.

The addresses to check out while in the Lyndonville area are 818 Broad St., 44 Belden Hill Rd., and 776 Glover Rd. These are the Northeast Kingdom’s headquarters when it comes to food truck dining.

•Vermont Foodie Stand (Cuban sandwiches, truffle fries, eclectic RUTLAND AREA burgers, salads) Benson: West Coast Tacos: Locat•Mike’s Tiki Bar, East Burke ed at the intersection of Route 22A (through Oct. 31): Located at 44 Belden and Mill Road in Benson, West Coast Hill Rd., Mike’s is Vermont’s first outoffers excellent, crunchy tacos and door summer-long tiki bar convetraditional burritos The menu offerniently located in the heart of East ings are delicious and inexpensive.

Burke behind the Pub. Enjoy free Brandon: Thelma’s Bread Dough parking for hiking the Kingdom Trails. wagon is well known to annual Ver•Vermont Food Truck Co.: For burgmont State Fair attendees. You can ers, flatbreads, salads, and wraps, food truck dining doesn’t get any better. Ann Clough making fried dough in her Ann’s Fried Dough food find her at 1815 Arnold District Rd. wagon in Rutland.

Mt. Holly: Ann’s Fried Dough Down right delicious. wagons are owned by Luey and Ann •The Copper Plate (steak-and-cheese PITTSFORD Clough makes the rounds during the sandwiches, seafood, corn on the cob) The Grill Reaper: Located along summer months. Operating two wagU.S. Route 7 in Pittsford, the Grill Reap- ons, you always be assured of a selecMANCHESTER AREA Hound Dogs: If you’re hankering er truck sells some of the best Of B-B- tion of traditional, country-style fried for a real American hot dogs, Hound Q and snack bar foods in the greater dough treats at the Vermont State Fair Dogs is your ultra-clean food truck. Rutland area. Try the Reaper’s special in Rutland.

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GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB SUMPLER

The Summer Day Hiking Trails I

f you like hiking in Vermont, you need to pick up a copy of the GMC-Green Mountain Club’s award-winning “Day Hiker’s Guide to Vermont and Long Trail Guide”.

This superb book—which is well written, with good directions, and easily fits in a day pack—describes the best Vermont has to offer in the way of hiking trails. It is available at local bookstores and online.

The Day Hiker’s Guide includes 150 trails which take the

hiker to the Green Mountain State’s magical places—mountains, lakes, ponds and waterfalls.

The GMC guide includes maps and descriptions, day hikes, shelter descriptions, public campgrounds, and the best snowshoeing and skiing places.

GMC officials strongly suggest that hikers carry a good guide-

Western Vermont • Mount Philo, Charlotte: This small mountain is found in Mount Philo State Park which is the oldest park in the state system. The short hike to the summit provides spectacular views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Great for all abilities.

• Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail: This 19.8 multiuse trail travels through Bennington and Rutland counties. Walkers can experience a variety of scenery as it passes by dairy farms; through meadows, forests, and wetland; and traverses 17 bridges and overpasses.

• Trail Around Middlebury, Middlebury: Managed by the Middlebury Area Land Trust, this footpath travels 18-miles around the town. As a top trail running destination, it connects hundreds of acres of town land, conserved properties, and historic landmarks.

Northern Vermont • Burlington Recreation Path, Burlington: This 7.6-mile multiuse path follows Burlington’s waterfront. Whether hiking or biking, outdoor enthusiasts are provided with beautiful views across Lake Champlain to the Adirondack Mountains.

• Stowe Recreation Path, Stowe: This 5.5-mile paved path winds along the west branch of the Waterbury River through the beautiful town of Stowe. It is a great option for biking or walking while enjoying views of Vermont’s highest mountain, Mt. Mansfield.

• Prospect Rock via Long Trail, Johnson: This south facing portion of the Long Trail climbs steeply over one-mile to a lookout of the Lamoille River Valley and the Sterling Range.

• South Shore Trail, Willoughby State Forest: This almost 2-mile loop skirts the edge of the beautiful Lake Willoughby. This easy trail only gains about 200’ of elevation making it a nice option for novice hikers.

book and map when heading out to the trails.

OSV presents a sampler of the Green Mountain Club’s best Vermont summer day hikes that are ideal for mud season, too—which any Vermonter will tell you can encounter anytime of the year:

continue continue co c ont ntiin nu ue epage page pa ag ge 30 32 28 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 29

Southern Vermont • West River Trail: Once complete, this multiuse trail will span 36-miles connecting Londonderry to Brattleboro by following the old West River Railroad bed. As stated in the name, most of the completed sections follow the West River. A nice three-mile loop can be made when combined with the Overlook Trail in Jamaica State Park.

• Prospect Rock, Manchester: The trail steadily ascends Old Rootville Road, 1.8 miles, to a rocky outlook. From there, hikers are rewarded with views of Manchester and Mt. Equinox.

• Black Mountain, Dummerston: Owned by the Nature Conservancy, this 1,280 feet tall mountain is a granite pluton, or in other words, a volcano that never erupted. Along the 1.8 mile trail, hikers can experience plant communities that are rare to Vermont including Mountain Laurel that blooms each June.

Eastern Vermont • Mt. Ascutney, Windsor: Mt. Ascutney is all that remains of an ancient volcanic system including magmatic and lava rock. For hikers seeking to gain some elevation during mud season, the parkway up Mt. Ascutney is a great option. The auto road provides a durable surface that winds up the mountain for 3.7 miles and provides many viewpoints along the way.

• Mount Tom, Woodstock: Located in the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, this small mountain provides beautiful views of the town of Woodstock. Follow Mountain Rd to Mount Tom Rd to reach the summit in four miles.

• Cross Vermont Trail: As Vermont’s first west to east multiuse trail, it spans 85-miles from Lake Champlain in Burlington to the Connecticut River in Wells River. A 9.2-mile section through Groton State Forest is a perfect mud season destination as it follows a class IV road and passes multiple glacial ponds and lakes as well as a view of Big Deer Mountain’s granite cliffs.

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PLAN YOUR HIKE The Green Mountain Club advises all hikers to be aware of local environmental and weather conditions. And since Vermont is a state of mud, snow, rocks, roots, black flies, mosquitoes, cliffs, swamps, make sure you take the GMC’s “10 Essentials” on your day hike: Navigation (map and compass) Sun protection (ex: sunglasses, hat, sunscreen) Insulation (extra clothing, rain gear) llumination (headlamp/flashlight) First-aid supplies (include any medication you take regularly) Fire (waterproof matches/ lighter/candles) 30 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

Tools/repair kit for gear (and know how to use them!) Nutrition (extra food) Hydration (water treatment/filtration system and/or extra water) Emergency shelter (ex: tarp/ emergency blanket) Become self reliant by learning about the terrain, conditions, local weather and your equipment before you start. Tell someone where you are going, the trails you are hiking, when you will return and your emergency plans. When you start as a group, hike as a group, end as a group. Pace your hike to the slowest person. Weather changes quickly in the mountains. Fatigue and unexpected

conditions can also affect your hike.

Know your limitations and when to postpone your hike. The mountains will be there another day. Even if you are headed out for just an hour, an injury, severe weather or a wrong turn could become life threatening. Don’t assume you will be rescued; know how to rescue yourself. Please do not leave valuable property in plain view in your vehicle. Car break-ins sometimes take place at popular trailheads like those at Mt. Philo State Park and Camel’s Hump State Park.

For more trail details or to join the Green Mountain Club to enjoy the benefits of membership, visit www.greenmountainclub.org.

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Celebrating Summer with a

By Lou Varricchio

F

ireworks and Independence Day are like salt and pepper. You need them both: one without the other isn’t quite as spicy. Yet, the story of fireworks here in Vermont include many other days of the year besides just July 4: New Year’s Eve, pop concerts, even weddings and corporate events are opportunities for spectacular firework displays.

The Green Mountain State’s largest handler of large (and small) fireworks is Northstar Fireworks.

Based in East Montpelier, Northstar conducts most of the state’s biggest fireworks displays, from the Burlington waterfront and Middlebury College summer concerts to Basin Harbor Resort events and private happenings.

The company also sells high quality, home use fireworks at several retail outlets around Vermont. (See sidebar for July 4 events) “There’s something magical about the way fireworks fill the sky with exploding shapes, luminous colors and triumphant finales full of crackles, booms and whistles,” says Tom Swenson, Northstar’s operations manager. Swenson’s family started the business 30 years ago and is continuing the tradition.

Only three people work full time at Northstar. However, an extended parttime staff is on hand in the summer and New Year’s to set up and shoot impressive fireworks programs for municipalities.

“I think fireworks bring communities together,” according to Swenson. “It makes the hairs on our arms stand up and remind us of warm, summer nights watching the sky when we were kids.

That’s exactly why we got into this business a quarter of a century ago.”

As Swenson explains it, fireworks are technically a class of lowexplosive devices.

According to the National Fireworks Association of the USA, the most common use of pyrotechnics (a fancy word for fireworks) is for entertainment purposes.

Fireworks can “burn with colored flames and sparks including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and silver.”

Across the planet, firework displays are used in cultural and spiritual/religious celebrations.

You have to go back to the 7th c entury A.D. in China to trace the origins of fireworks. Using gunpowder, the ancient use of pyrotechnics was to scare off evil spirits or celebrate pivotal, seasonal times such as Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival of mid-autumn. Even today, China has retained its leadership in the manufacture and sale of fireworks.

“I travel to China to meet with fireworks makers,” says Swenson. “We often have them custom made; they help with design and packaging.”

Northstar orders with Chinese manufacturers are for what we’d call “serious” fireworks. Across Vermont, you can see these spectacular displays orchestrated by Swenson and Northstar’s expert team of fireworks specialists.

“We’re very safety conscious,” Swenson says. “I guess you can call us aerial artists.”

There are many kinds of fireworks, too numerous to mention here, but there are some basics worth noting.

“The most common feature of fireworks is a paper or pasteboard or tube

or casing filled with the combustible material, often pyrotechnic stars,” according to historian Alfred Crosby. Crosby wrote an entire book about fireworks and explosives, titled Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology through History.

“A number of these tubes or cases are often combined so as to make, when kindled, a great variety of sparkling shapes, often variously colored. The skyrocket is a common form of firework, although the first skyrockets were used in war,” Crosby writes. “The aerial shell, however, is the backbone of today’s commercial aerial display, and a smaller version for consumer use is known as the festival ball in the United States.

Such rocket technology has also been used for the delivery of mail by rocket and is used as propulsion for most model rockets.”

The basic parts of a fireworks, as Clark notes, are the break, time delay and stars. A break is the fireworks’ container which, simply, contains 2

compartments for a bursting charge. A time delay fuse is added. It burns slowly through the fireworks device and then causes each segment to explode. Finally, in very simple terms, chemical stars explode as a single firework.

Perhaps the best known backyard pyrotechnic device is a sparkler. We all loved them as kids.

“Sparklers are different,” according to Clark. “They make bright, sparkly light for a long time… rather than a short explosion. Sparklers contain more substances than firecrackers, so that they’ll burn longer and produce light and sparks. The bright sparks you see are usually burning bits of dust made of metals, such as aluminum, iron, steel, zinc or magnesium.”

ing to Swenson. “Our four retail stores in Vermont are stocked full with a huge selection of consumer fireworks from

continue page 34

Enjoy the beauty of

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Northstar’s fireworks sold for home use, available at its multiple Vermont retail outlets, are a step far above the stuff you find in supermarkets and box stores.

“What we sell to the public are premiere products,” accord-

www.lcmm.org

802 475-2022 SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 33

rockets and fountains to artillery shells and 500 gram cakes. Our experts are great at helping our customers put on their own spectacular shows, whatever the occasion.”

But Northstar’s home use fireworks require the buyer to check with local town officials to ok their use. But you won’t need permission to set off those small pyrotechnics purchased in supermarkets and other stores.

A brief listing here of Northstar’s fireworks for home use is impressive; you have to be a bit of a pyrotechnic geek to understand all the different varieties: Rockets, Spinners, Firecrackers, Fountains, Multiple Shot Cakes, 500 Gram Cakes, Artillery Shells, Missiles, Novelties, ,Parachutes, Roman Candles, Smoke Items, Winged Items, American Made Shells, Assortments, Cone Fountains, and Three Inch Cakes. (Ask a Northstar retailer to explain the varieties to best suit your needs.)

If you’re interested in learning more about the science and display of fireworks, Swenson is always looking for part-time, seasonal workers to learn the trade and help with various display venues throughout the year. The pay isn’t much and you have to take a course to be certified, but for the serious enthusiast, it’s an ideal way to get a foot in the door of the pyrotechnic trade.

“We get very busy starting on the Memorial Day weekend,” Swenson says. “Of course summer time is a big time, but we get jobs throughout the year.”

Having Northstar in Vermont has opened up many fun opportunities for residents wanting to have a special wedding, family reunion or community gathering.

“We work with customers to design a custom display for your event and budget,” Swenson says. “We also help acquire all necessary permits and provide all applicable certificates of insurance. Having fireworks is surprisingly affordable, and our consultation and site visits are free. From surprise birthday parties and anniversaries, to corporate events to weddings, you can contact us to light up the sky at your next celebration.”

Perhaps Chelsey Grasso said it best: The writer and blogger has a sweet spot for fireworks which speaks volumes, especially to Vermonters who love the pyrotechnics of summer: “When it comes to the Fourth of July, it’s the fireworks that steal the show. Sure, the barbecues are great and it’s fun to dress in red, white, and blue, but… neither can compare with the beauty that these magical explosives have once they begin to fill the sky.”

Check it out: Northstar Fireworks has retail outlets in Castleton, East Montpelier and St. Johnsbury, For hours, directions, and how to arrange fireworks for your next event, call (802)229-9690.

34 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS AROUND VERMONT JULY 1 Brandon VT - Parade at 1pm - Fireworks at dusk Greensboro VT - Parade at 10am Fireworks at dusk Island Pond VT - Parade at 11am Fireworks at dusk

JULY 2 Stratton VT Fireworks at 9pm

JULY 3 Bristol VT Fireworks at dusk Burlington VT Fireworks at 9pm Joes Pond VT Fireworks at dusk

JULY 4 Barton VT Parade at 2pm - Fireworks at dusk Bristol VT Parade at 10am Cabot VT Parade at 11am Colchester VT Parade at 11am Fireworks at dusk East Corinth VT Parade at 10am Fairlee VT Parade at 11am Hinesburg VT Parade at 11am Fireworks at 9:30pm Killington VT Parade at 10am Richmond VT Parade at 10:30am Fireworks at 9:30pm Rochester VT Parade at 11aam Rutland VT Fireworks at 9:45pm Saxston River VT Parade at 9am Fireworks at dusk Stowe VT Parade at 10am Fireworks at dusk Wardsboro VT Parade at 10am Warren VT Parade at 10am Fireworks at dusk ** This is Vermont and due to weather conditions these times and dates could change**

Citronella Candles Want to enjoy an evening outside without the buzzing of mosquitos.

Make simple citronella candles with just a few supplies. Melt wax in a sauce pan. While waiting for that to melt, hot glue your wicks to the bottom of your container of choice. Once wax is melted add the citronella oil. Mix well, pour into your container and let sit for 48 hours. Make several different sizes and place on your porch for a bug free lighted area!

* Please find these recipes online and follow directions properly. These instructions are only intended to show you the ingredients and steps quickly. Our State Vermont can not be held liable.

36 6|O Ou Our ur St SState atee Ve at VVermont erm rmoonnt | SSU rmon SUMMER UM UM MM MER ER 22017 017 01

DIY

SUMMER ESSENTIALS

Air Freshener Keep your house smelling fresh on hot sticky days with this easy recipe. Boil a cup of water and add 4 tbsp. of basil, allow to steep for 5 mins. Pour the contents in a spray bottle and add lemon essential oil, shake and you are ready for a relaxing aroma.

Lip Balm

Bug Spray

Protect your lips from the summer sun with this enriched lip balm.

Melt beeswax, coconut oil and shea butter together in a small pan.

For a light color add 1 tsp of pomegranate juice. To enhance the smell add essential oils such as peppermint. Mix together well, pour into a jar and let settle. Store in a cool place to enjoy soft lips!

Keep those pesky bugs away with this simple mixture. Boil a cup of distilled water, add 4 tbsp of dried herbs of your choice (peppermint, lavender, lemongrass etc.). Strain herbs out, add 1 cup rubbing alcohol and shake well. Pour into spray bottle and store in a cool place. Use as needed and enjoy a fresh smell and be bug free!

Waterproof Sunscreen

Body Lotion

If you must be outside on a hot sunny day make sure to protect your skin from harmful UV rays. To make this waterproof SPF 20 sunscreen just melt shea butter and coconut oil together.

Remove from heat and add zinc oxcide. Add any essential oil that you enjoy and mix well. Pour into your container and use on every sunny day!

Keep your skin hydrated in the heat. Place olive oil, beeswax, coconut oil and shea butter in a sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Let cool then blend with a hand mixer. Add essentials of choice and scoop into a jar. Then enjoy smooth skin all day.

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 37

: T H G I R B S K O O L E E R R I U A L T L U A F D I S V ’ A D D R N O A Y A L M T H U T I R W W E I V R E AN INT

38 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

Rutland Mayor David Allaire, elected for the first time in November 2016, has made a life of service to the State of Vermont. He served six years as a state legislator, including being a member of the House Transportation and then Ways and Means committees. The state experience and the political setting was good training for his run for the mayor’s chair.

Allaire also served as president of the Rutland Board of Alderman for several years. Aside from his new mayoral responsibilities, he also serves on the governor’s rail council which is key to creating a more robust rail infrastructure in the state.

While Allaire has been known by many residents, he became a very familiar face to Rutland residents since he campaigned for mayor during the past two cycles.

Allaire is among Rutland’s proudest boosters. He recognizes the city’s many challenges, but he isn’t afraid to address them and offer practical, common-sense solutions.

The mayor has been married to his wife Audrey for 34 years. They are a tight knit family, being very close to their two children—a daughter lives in Vermont, and a son in California.

Allaire works hard but also values time to relax with family and friends.

The mayor enjoys attending local sporting events (he’s a Castleton Spartans fan), taking long walks through Rutland’s diverse neighborhoods, and shopping for local products at the Rutland Farmers’ Market.

Allaire jokingly remarked that residents can often find him walking around the city talking to residents about their various concerns.

OSV: At the time of this interview, you are just seven weeks into your first term as Mayor of Rutland. How’s it going, so far?

What’s getting your top priority?

ALLAIRE: It’s going well. My top priority was, first, getting a team together; making sure we had the right people in the right places. That went smoothly. And just recently we had a bad wind storm causing power outages here; people worked seamlessly and communications worked very well during the emergency.

So, we proved we made the right choices. But our big focus for the long run is going to be the economy and jobs.

OSV: Do you have a “theme” for your first term as mayor?

ALLAIRE: The top theme of this administration, as we heard from people during the campaign, is jobs—jobs and economic development. These are really key to any success we’re going to have here in the City of Rutland.

OSV: The City of Rutland is aggressive in marketing itself.

Can you tell us about the benefits of doing this?

ALLAIRE: We hired Mondo Mediaworks of Brattleboro. It is a young, vibrant group of people who shared some good ideas with us and showed us some of the deficiencies that they saw. They are now developing a plan involving retaining our youth and building up our population—we’ve lost 2,000 residents in the last 10 to 20 years. We are aging. I think Rutland is the oldest county in Vermont and that poses a problem 20 years out. We’re trying to attract people and reaching out to companies.

OSV: What makes Rutland a good place to live and work?

ALLAIRE: We have many attributes—location, workforce, schools. Housing is plentiful and reasonably priced and places are available now. This is the message we want to share outside of our borders.

OSV: Rutland already have a base of young people—students—in the area, correct?

ALLAIRE: Yes. We’ve partnered with Castleton University to develop some residential housing for students in downtown Rutland. Foley Hall has opened in downtown; a place for graduate students. The second and third floor of the Gryphon Building will receive 35 students, too. Hopefully, once young people see that Rutland is a great place to live, they’ll consider looking for work here once they graduate.

OSV: What are you doing to fill empty storefronts downtown?

ALLAIRE: I have had a couple of meetings with the downtown development folks since I was elected. And we are currently putting together a strategy of how to market those places.

Historically, there’s an ebb-and-flow downtown. It wasn’t very long ago, about 18 months ago, that we were at 90 percent occupancy. Recently, one after another have left… we are trying to figure out why... There are a couple new businesses in the works—a juice bar, a restaurant. It’s a top priority.

OSV: Rutland has a storied history of railroads. What’s the future of freight rail and Amtrak passenger service in the city?

ALLAIRE: I am glad you asked that. Rail has been a real interest of mine for a long, long time. I serve on the governor’s appointed Vermont Rail Council which develops and recommends rail policy to the Agency of Transportation. Getting the train from New York City all the way to Burlington has been a top priority of mine for 15-20 years. There’s a section of track and tunnel in Middlebury that needs to be completed to achieve that goal. And we’re trying to get Amtrak’s “Vermonter” from St. Albans to Montreal. When all of this is in place, you’ll be able to travel fairly seamlessly from New York City to Montreal… I think it’s going to boost numbers and encourage business travelers and students. A number of Castleton students already use Amtrak. In fact, Castleton has a busy railroad stop with a little café and a lot of passenger traffic… it’s a real plus.

With the upgrades…the expected average train speed will be 59 mph. We’re trying to make this competitive to a trip to Rutland to Burlington by car.

OSV: The news media has focused on Rutland as being “ground zero” in the opioid crisis. Is this fair?

ALLAIRE: Not long after I took office, I was contacted by the governor’s office. Following the Shumlin administration, it is his top priority, too. He believes the crisis affects families and

hurts economic development. Just yesterday, the governor’s opioid council met for the first time. I’m a member of the council. We’re going to develop strategies, make recommendations for legislation and put a plan together to address the underlying causes… not just enforcement, but treatment; long-term strategies. The family structure has changed and not for the better.

The opioid problem is across the nation, but the perception is that Rutland is ground zero. Project Vision is a model here, with housing, providers, and police getting together—they meet monthly to develop strategies, to address the underlying problems of addiction and crime.

OSV: What about the city’s refugee program? There’s been a lot of local and national press about the former mayor and his pet program.

ALLAIRE: I hope to sit down with the governor soon and I hope refugee settlement is one of those topics. I came into this office saying I wasn’t pleased with the process here in Rutland; we were left out of the planning, and communications… it was unfair to the folks of this city. Refugee settlement is a federal issue… but I am not 100 percent sure where Gov. Scott is on all of this, so we’re going to discuss it. Right now there are two families settled here and we’ve welcomed them. The refugees aren’t the issue; it’s the policy, and a question of transparency. I worked with the governor in the House and we have a good relationship already. He sometimes calls Rutland his second home; it reminds him of his hometown of Barre.

OSV: Thank you and we wish you the best of luck in your first term as mayor.

Check It Out: Mayor Allaire would like to share a short YouTube video about downtown Rutland with OSV readers. To view it online, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ps8caO5uVQ.

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 39

Vermont Historical COVERED BRIDGES W

hile the state of Vermont is home to nearly 2600 bridges, only about 106 of them are covered. The main purpose for covering a bridge was to extend the life of the structure for an additional 40 years. The authenticity of a covered bridge is determined not due to its age, but based on construction. A covered bridge is considered authentic only if trusses are used in the construction versus other building methods such as stringer construction.

The majority of the covered bridges in Vermont were built between 1820 and 1905, and were made from wood and by hand.

Covered bridges are also often referred to as “kissing bridges”. As they offer some shelter from the elements and from prying eyes, young couples in love would often slow their carriages on their way through the bridges and sneak in some kisses on the way through.

Covered bridges are sprinkled across the entire state; out of the fourteen counties in Vermont, thirteen of them have at least one covered bridge. Vermont has the highest number of covered bridges per mile in the entire United States.

We will feature four of Vermont’s beautiful covered bridges in each issue of Our State Vermont.

Holmes Creek Covered Bridge, Charlotte The Holmes Creek Covered Bridge, also called the Lakeshore Covered Bridge, is a one-lane wooden covered bridge that crosses Holmes Creek in Charlotte, Vt., on Lake Road, adjacent to Charlotte Beach along Lake Champlain. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The bridge is of King post truss with tied arch design, one of only three left standing in the state. This bridge is also one of the shortest in the state, and it at the lowest elevation being just off the shore of Lake Champlain.

According to the placard mounted on the bridge, the town selectboard originally specified the bridge’s width and height to accommodate passage of “a load of hay, high and wide.”

In 2002, the bridge had undergone a roof replacement funded by the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program, which re-roofed 38 covered bridges within the State.

The Charlotte Selectboard minutes of July 2007 stated that the Holmes Creek Bridge has been hit by an untold number of small trucks, where the town has had to pay for the repairs. The current height restriction for vehicles traveling on the bridge is posted at 8 feet 3 inches.

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Bowers Covered Bridge, Windsor The Bowers Covered Bridge is a historic covered bridge, carrying Bible Hill Road across Mill Brook in West Windsor, Vt. Built in 1919, it has a laminated-arch deck covered by a post-and-beam superstructure, similar to Best’s Covered Bridge, Windsor’s other historic covered bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was rebuilt after being swept off its foundation in 2011 by Hurricane Irene, but has been damaged by vehicle strikes several times since then, and is being considered for closure.

The bridge was swept off its abutments by Hurricane Irene 2011, but rebuilt and reopened in 2012. It has since been struck several times by larger vehicles, resulting in structural damage. As of April 2016, town officials are considering closing the bridge to traffic.

Maple Street Covered Bridge, Fairfax The Maple Street Covered Bridge, also called the Lower Covered Bridge and the Fairfax Covered Bridge, is a covered bridge that carries Maple Street across Mill Brook off State Route 104 in Fairfax, Vt. Built in 1865, it is the town’s only historic covered bridge, and is a rare two-lane covered bridge in the state.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

A major renovation was conducted in 1990-91 by Jan Lewandoski. Debate is conducted to this day as to whether the bridge is now “backwards”.

When it was washed off its foundations by the Flood of 1927 it is unknown whether the bridge was put back on in the same direction as it was originally. Some bridge experts say that the eastern portal of the span now faces west, and vice versa.

Pine Brook Covered Bridge, Waitsfield

The Pine Brook Covered Bridge, also called the Wilder Covered Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge that crosses Pine Brook in Waitsfield, Vt., on North Road.

Built in 1872, it is one of two surviving 19th-century covered bridges in the town.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Pine Brook Bridge stands in a rural area of northern Waitsfield, carrying North Road, a principal road in the area, across Pine Brook, a tributary of the Mad River to the west. It consists of two king post trusses, and is 48 feet long and 17.5 feet wide, with a roadway width of 14.5 feet (one lane). The roof is standing seam metal.

In 1989 the deck was replaced.

Sources: Special thanks to the National Register of Historic Places, the State of Vermont, the Countryman Press’ “Covered Bridges of Vermont”, and Wikipedia.

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VERMONT’S

MYSTERIOUS

By Lou Varricchio

I THE TOWN THAT VANISHED

Vermont lumberman and millionaire Silas Griffith (1837-1903) of Granby built a vast timber empire in Vermont and out west. Griffith’s former estate, now the Silas Griffith Inn in Danby, is a popular bed and breakfast.

According to a Burlington Free Press article published in 1898, “(Griffith) acquired several large tracts of land, often through foreclosure, in the towns of Mt. Tabor, Danby, Dorset, Arlington, Peru, Manchester and Groton, eventually totalling over 50,000 acres... (his) first lumber mill in Mt. Tabor grew into the small company town called Griffith... (with) a school, store, boarding house, a blacksmith, and stables; some 40-50 buildings in all.” Griffith’s town name was changed to Old Job, a reference to Job of the Bible, sometime during the late 1800s. At one time, Griffith boasted the tallest building in Vermont, a three-story department store for mill workers.

Of course, just like all good things, the Town of Griffith came to an abrupt end during the early 1900s. In the intervening century or more, it has since disappeared among second growth forest.

Today, the U.S. Forest Service owns the plot of the former mill town. Hikers along the combined portion of the Appalachian and Long trails in Mt. Tabor, east of U.S. Route 7, pass through this forgotten company town on their way along the rocky mountain pathway.

And while a few remains are said to be found today—including a 100-year-old shrinking mound of moldering sawdust, cellar holes, some railway-related bits and pieces, as well as rusting iron parts—the ghost town now joins the rolls of the vanished. And with that said, wealthy Silas Griffith died a bitter man, with no friends, on July 21, 1903. He passed away on a California ranch—far from the Vermont ghost town that bears his name.

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n this age of high-tech science and medical marvels, there’s no clear understanding for our ongoing fascination with things unexplained.

While odd and quirky happenings in nature should be explained within the realm of the material world, there seems to be a few things that remain, at least to some, beyond simple human understanding. National publications, such as Skeptic and the Skeptical Inquirer, are popular among scientific types who like their mysteries explained by simply applying some high school physics or college psychology.

Vermont has its share of popular mysterious places with things that go bump in the night—

MT. ELMORE’S BALANCING ROCK

Vermont has several odd, so-called balancing rocks. These huge boulders seem to defy gravity as they perch upon a tiny point of rock, seemingly incapable of tumbling to the ground.

Among the largest and most famous of the balancing rocks is the Mt. Elmore Balancing rock. This glacial erratic, located on the mountain’s slope, is approximately 20 feet long and six feet in height.

The Mt. Ellmore rock looks easy enough to tip off its tiny pedestal, but many a geologist and tourist has tried—and all to no avail. With a little upper body strength, you can climb this giant boulder and survey the woods surrounding it. And although you may have to overcome an initial fear of tumbling and sliding downhill, you can feel safe with the thought that the rock has been balanced for at least the last 10,000 years.

Despite some 19th century attempts to tip it, it now appears to most experts that only a sizable earthquake (or a criminally placed charge of dynamite) could send the famous Mt. Ellmore rock careening downslope and into the wooded ravine below. Nevertheless, be careful when you climb such a large and potentially unstable rocky mass.

8

from spooky hillside graveyards and abandoned cellar holes to a lake monster and those missing souls of the notorious Bennington Triangle. There are other obscure things, here, too; one of Vermont’s most popular authors, Joe Citro, has made a successful professional career of cataloging and writing about the oddities of our Green Mountain State.

With that said, OSV humbly submits here our unique “8” ball of unexplained phenomena which happened to tickle our fancy. We resoundingly give credit to the original compilers at Onlyinyourstate.com; we also sincerely thank them for their assistance.

WHISPERING STATUE

In a downtown Barre plaza, located at the intersection of Main and Washington streets, you’ll find a beautiful, buff stone memorial dedicated to young Vermonters who perished during America’s late entrance into the bloody conflict of World War 1, 1917-18.

This Vermont granite memorial, dedicated in 1924, bears stirring words from “For the Fallen” by British poet Laurence Binyon (1869-1943); Binyon’s words are well suited for Memorial Days past, present and to come: “They shall not grow old as we that are left to grow old age, shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun—and in the morning we will remember them.”

Titled “Youth Triumphant” by its sculptor. The granite relief is better known by its unofficial name: Vermont’s Whispering Statue.

According to Vermonter Seth Muzzy, who has studied the odd acoustics of site on the RoadsideAmerica.com website, “If a person sits on the opposite side of the bench from you so that the statue blocks your view of each other, acoustics will ‘bounce’ his/her voice so it sounds like he/she is sitting next to you.”

Onlyinyourstate.com writes, “that if you whisper to someone at the other end of the plaza, they will be able to hear your voice as if they were whispering into their ear. Those who have had it work say that the trick is that is that you have to sit so that the statue blocked your view of the other person.” continue cont ntinue ue e page pag age e 44 SUMM SU SUMMER MM MER R 22017 017 | Our 01 Our State Stat St atee Vermont Verm Ve rmon ontt | 43

BURLINGTON’S SUBTERRANEAN MYSTERY

For more than a century, some residents of central Burlington have reported hearing an underground stream. Today, the phenomena can be heard—albeit rarely—rising from beneath the first floor of the Greater Burlington YMCA building on College Street.

Researchers at Onlyinourstate.com believe they have a preliminary answer to the Queen City’s subterranean mystery. “It’s possible that the answer may come from the lost ravine which was once filled with garbage in the 1800s to create more land for developing.”

The website researchers discovered an old map that shows, at the bottom of the now-buried ravine, a tributary of the Winooski River flowed into nearby Lake Champlain, at the place where Maple Street meets Perkins Pier today. “Perhaps the stream is still there despite the ravine being filled in over a century ago? Listen up next time you’re in those parts...,” they say.

THE FLOATING ISLAND OF LAKE SADAWAGA

Reports of a floating island in a remote Vermont lake are too good to resist. And you can find this bizarre island in Lake Sadawaga (Sahdaw-gah) near the southern end of the Harriman Reservoir in Whittingham.

Berkshire Eagle writer Thom Smith searched for the mysterious island during the summer of 2014.

“On our first attempt to find it,” he writes, “we wrongly took... the southern end of Harriman, one of 10 lakes impounding the Deerfield River to provide hydroelectric power, and the largest body of water entirely within Vermont’s borders... We kayaked north six miles before we decided this wasn’t the lake with the floating island. As we returned to the cove where we had launched hours earlier, I asked a lady in a pedal powered two-seater kayak where the floating island might be. With a smile she explained: ‘Across the road and north about a mile or less.’”

Smith reports that 200-acre Sadawaga Lake is named after Abenaki Chief Sadawaga. The chief and his people had a summer fishing camp along the lake hundreds of years ago. You’ll find 25 islands in Sadawaga Lake including the mysterious floating one.

According to a July 1890 San Francisco Call news item, “The island contains [more than] 100 acres and actually floats upon the water. One can easily pass entirely around it in a boat ... one of the most remarkable freaks of nature and one of the greatest curiosities in the world.”

Whatever it is, the thing appears to exist as a large mat of plant matter. Smith posits that the reason island floats may be due to “loosely tethered” roots attached to the lake floor—or is it something else?

ORB OF THE VALLEY

Once again author Joe Citro, Vermont’s own master story teller of Fortean phenomena, has another weird occurrence to share: the Orb of the Valley.

The orb, best seen at night, appears near the Bakersfield-Fairfield town line—in the remote, damp Lost Nation hills of Franklin County.

Citro reports that—when seen—the orb, which is around the size of a basketball, hovers in low spots and looks like an eerie, glowing light. But by most accounts, the Orb of the Valley appears to be swamp gas, a kind of naturally occurring biogas composed of methane and hydrogen sulfide gases formed by rotting vegetation.

NORTH POWNAL’S RAINING STONES

Anyone interested in bizarre, seemingly supernatural phenomena should recognize the name of Charles Fort. The famous writer-researcher, who died in 1932, compiled thousands of reports of weird events from across the nation and beyond. These astonishing happenings—such as rains of frogs and fish, even unexplained lights in the sky—are now termed “Fortean phenomena”, all in honor of Mr. Fort.

Among Fort’s early reports—and most recently retold by Vermont author Joe Citro in “Green Mountains, Dark Tales”—concerns North Pownal resident Thomas Paddock in October 1874.

According to Citro, Paddock experienced the rain of stones (neither hail nor meteorites) up close and personal at his farm.

“Sometimes they strike the roof, over the peak, and roll off the other side,” according to a story by The Troy Press a few days after the shower. Following the report, various investigators visited Paddock’s farm to see the stones as the farmer had reported seeing the stones—from a few inches long to a boulder weighing 20 pounds—fall from the sky all around his spread.

“Investigators are stumped,” reports Doug MacGowan of Historic Mysteries fame. He indicates that the North Pownal incident is only one among many such stories reported worldwide. “There has never been a conclusive solution to the problems (of rains of stones).

On analysis, the stones turn out to be ordinary rocks easily found in the area of incident. Some have postulated that the stones may be swept up in tornado-like conditions, but often the rocks fall out of a clear sky.” continue page 46

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SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 45

THE VERMONT HUM

In Vermont’s remote Northeast Kingdom, residents of the small town of Newark have reported hearing a mysterious sound. Other towns in Vermont report similar hums, too. They mostly describe is as “the distant drone of an engine.”

In the case of the Newark Hum, is it a phenomenon beyond our understanding or something that can be explained by mainstream science? While others may disagree, UVM environmental scientist Adrian J. Ivakhiv thinks he may have an answer.

“Everything new under the sun begins as an anomaly; but not everything thought to be new is genuinely new,” he writes. “Everything

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new and anomalous, if studied in the right way, can be explained; but it may take years of creative trial and error before we know what that ‘right way’ is.”

Ivakhiv has been fascinated by unexplained sounds such as the Newark Hum. “The anomaly I’ve become particularly interested in recently is one known by some as ‘the Hum’,” he writes on his UVM Immanence blog. “I’ve gotten particularly interested in the Hum because I’ve begun to notice it in various locations in and around Greensboro, Vt....

The Greensboro Hum—which I am the only person I know who has heard regularly—is an intermittent, foghorn-like drone at a frequency of about 60 Hz (cycles per second), which sounds like

a low “B-natural” tone (slightly flattened) and which happens to be roughly the frequency of A.C. electrical currents in North America. The latter fact lends credibility to the hypothesis that this particular hum is related to some form of electrical current.”

In conclusion, it’s clear that so called “unexplained phenomena” can, in fact, be explained. While appearing mysterious on the surface by talented writers like Joe Citro, there seems to be rational, scientific explanations for the phenomena just presented, but only if we are willing to dig a little deeper.

If you have an hypothesis to explain one or all of our “8”, we’d love to hear from you. Just drop us a note.

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June.16-June.18 Hot Air Balloon, Fine Art, Craft and Music Festival Quechee Green, Quechee Fri 3:00 p.m. - dusk, Sat 10:00 a.m. - dusk, Sun 9:30 a.m. -6:00 p.m Once again, the skies over Quechee and the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire will be filled with hot air balloons. Featuring up to 20 hot air balloons with five flights scheduled throughout the festival and additional tethered rides during the day. Enjoy continuous music and entertainment for all ages, and more than 60 craft artisans and commercial vendors.

Adults (13+) $15 Children (6-12)- $5, 5 years and Under – FREE. Price is good for entire weekend

COMMUNITY EVENTS

June.17 Bread Basket Weaving Workshop Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Green Mountain Academy is excited to welcome back Joy Stewart, who will be conducting a one-day workshop on weaving a bread basket. During class, participants will learn how to create a decorative and functional bread basket.

The $50 fee includes all materials.

June.17 Orvis Fly Fishing 101 Orvis Manchester Flagship Store, Manchester 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Learn fly fishing basics in one of our free Fly Fishing 101 classes. Perfect for beginners of all ages. Fly Fishing 101 will provide you with free lessons on fly casting and outfit rigging. Each participant will receive special offers on the essential equipment needed to get started in this exciting pastime.

June.17 Vermont Breakfast on the Farm Fairmont Farm, 95 Lyle Young Rd, Montpelier 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

This free, public event includes a pancake breakfast, self-guided tours of the dairy farm and a peek into the life and business of farming in Vermont.

While there is no cost to attend, tickets must be reserved in advance at www.VermontBreakfastOnTheFarm. com/get-tickets

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June.17 Mister Dix concert Wardsboro Town Hall, Wardsboro 7:00 p.m.

Mister Dix is the combined music efforts of Colby Dix (guitar, vocals), Dan Gullotti (drums) and Jean Chaine (bass), playing a blend of rock, funk/ fusion, alt-country. Pizza bites and other great refreshments included with $10 admission. BYOB. Presented by Wardsboro Curtain.

June.22-June.25 Wanderlust Festival Stratton Mountain Resort, Bondville Wanderlust yoga and music festival returns to Stratton , celebrating a oneof-a-kind experience bringing together the world’s leading yoga teachers, top musical acts and DJs, renowned speakers, top chefs and winemakers and much more all in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty. Save the date.

June.20 Playing with Mud: The History of Water Quality in Some Lakes and Rivers of the Northeast Burr and Burton Academy, Hunter Seminar Room, Manchester 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Green Mountain Academy welcomes Professor Richard Bopp of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who will describe case studies of contaminants in sediments from lakes and rivers of the northeast. This talk will also cover work on Lake Champlain sediments.

Registration is $15 in advance or $20 at the door. For more information or to register, please call our office or visit our website. (802)-867-0111

June.23-June.25 B3 Fest: Bikes, Bevs and Beats Town of Stowe 4:00 p.m.

This three day festival encompasses all of Stowe, and all group rides are free to the public. There is something for everyone, family friendly events, food and drink specials, live music, group rides and more! Featuring Vermont music, Vermont craft libations (beers, wines, spirits, ciders, root beer), and a celebration of Vermont mountain biking. This is a town-wide event, with restaurants serving as the venues!

June.22 Hemmings Cruise-in Hemmings International Headquarters, 216 Main St , Bennington Lung Force 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

An open car show with awards, music, and free popcorn, plus the Hemmings museum display will be open. Winners will be featured in Hemmings Motor News. No registration required. Contact Name: Trisha Grande (800)-227-4373, tgrande@hemmings.com June.22 Burlington LUNG FORCE Walk Battery Park, Burlington 5:00 p.m.

Join the FORCE for lung health! Every 5 minutes, a woman in the U.S. is diagnosed with lung cancer. And more than 33 million Americans suffer from lung disease. Join us as we walk and raise funds to defeat lung cancer and other diseases If you raise $100 or more, you will receive a free t-shirt! For more information please email us at vtlungforce@lungne.org

June.23-June.25 Vermont Quilt Festival Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction All Day Experience eye-popping color and artistry in hundreds of new and antique quilts on display at New England’s largest and oldest quilt event! Shop the bustling Merchants Mall and enjoy lectures, classes, free gallery talks, appraisals, Textile Detectives and more. Opening the Festival is the always-festive Champagne and Chocolate Preview (802)-872-0034 June.24 Vermont Sun Triathlon Brandbury State Park, Salisbury 8:30 a.m. Branbury The lake region is a most spectacular and pristine place to swim, bike and run. Novice and advanced athletes alike marvel the beauty of our courses and enjoy the mountains, lakes and streams of Central Vermont. Spectators will be charged $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children at the gate. Fee is good for the entire day so bring the family and enjoy the fun! Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.

June.29 Frendly Gathering Music Festival Sugarbush Resort, Waitsfield Now in its new home at Sugarbush Resort.

Heralded as one of New England’s premier music festivals, 25+ acts including rock and roll, bluegrass, folk, jam, reggae and electronic bands will be featured, along with camping, yoga, food, skateboarding, dance workshops, inspiration and of course “Friendship.” Tickets are on-sale at EventBrite.com camping is an option!

July.1 Capital City Independence Day Celebration Downtown Montpelier All Day This free and family-friendly day features activities for all ages. Feast on foods from over 40 vendors, highlighting the taste of Vermont, but with an international theme.

Under the grandeur of the State House, families are invited to enjoy Olympic Games, a music concert and spectacular fireworks viewing.

July.1 Bakersfield Independence Day Celebration 2017 Bakersfield Village 10:00 a.m.

Enjoy a full day of activities, including a 12 o’clock noon parade & chicken BBQ, 7 pm air show followed by fireworks at dusk. Other entertainment includes a book sale, fun run, blessing of animals, local music, cow plop contest, silent auctions, horseshoe tournament, and afternoon family activities and plenty of food. Vendors are welcome, no charge. Penny Goss 827-3989.

July.6 Great River Theater Festival Pultney Area Evening The First Annual Great River Theater Festival comes to beautiful Putney. Enjoy an entertaining mix of comedy, drama, and musicals, comprising 14 performances in 3 venues by 7 regional community and professional theater companies. Presented by Main Street Arts, Saxtons River, VT. Tickets at mainstreetarts.org. Contact Name: Mago Ghia (802)-869-2960

July.1 Ludlow Arts and Craft Festival Fletcher Farm School, Ludlow 10:00 a.m. - 4;00 p.m.

The fair will feature over 90 of New England’s finest artists and craftsmen exhibiting top quality wares such as pottery, primitives, glass, oil and watercolor paintings, carvings, scroll work, dried flowers, syrup, honey, jewelry, sterling silver jewelry, doll clothes, wood turnings, stained glass, fabulous foods and more.

July.7-July.9 Stoweflake Balloon Festival Stoweflake Resort, Stowe Come to the Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival and let your spirit soar as more than 25 hot-air balloons fill the sky. Enjoy free admission when you stay at Stoweflake and don’t miss a single moment. View breathtaking launches, enjoy live entertainment, all while sitting back and relaxing with offerings in the beer and wine garden.

July.1 Vermont Gran Fondo Woodchuck Cider House, Middlebury 8:00 a.m.

The Vermont Gran Fondo is a non-competitive ride through Vermont’s Green Mountains. This ride will test your fitness with its challenging climbs across four of gaps with total climbing in excess of 11,000 feet. There are amazing views at the top each gap— savor them for a moment before you speed downhill.

July.1 Cooler in the Mountain Concert Series Killington Mountain Resort, Killington 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Top names from the national scene take the stage for the eight-week, free outdoor concert series. Guests are invited to grab a lawn chair or blanket and head to Killington Resort’s Snowshed Adventure Center for these family-friendly events. Past lineups have included a diverse list of national acts such as Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Donovan Frankenreiter.

July.9-July.15 39th Annual Middlebury Summer Festival on-the-Green Middlebury Village Green, Middlebury The Festival presents 17 acts over seven days under a tent in the unique natural amphitheater of Middlebury’s Village Green.

Music, magic, marionettes, and a street dance with the Vermont Jazz Ensemble are some of the offerings; the finest way to spend a summer’s afternoon or evening.

July.10-July.14 Magical Summer Day Camp at Chimney Hill Chimney Hill, Wilmington 9:00 a.m.

Children from 6-12 will be introduced to the nature that surrounds us through the use of exercise, art, music, writing, keeping a journal, science, reading and much more. If appropriate the younger children will be in a group on their own.

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July.14 Hemmings Cruise-in/National Collector Car Appreciation Day Hemmings International Headquarters, 216 Main St , Bennington 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Hemmings Cruise-in celebrates National Collector Car Appreciation Day with an open car show, awards, music, and free popcorn, plus the Hemmings museum display will be open. Winners will be featured in Hemmings Motor News. No registration required.

July.14-July.16 Killington Wine Festival Killington Peak Lodge, Killington 6:00 p.m.

One of the Killington Region’s signature events, this year’s Wine Festival toasts 16 years of tasting events in the heart of the Green Mountains. Enjoy wine tasting at 4241’ - the peak of one of Vermont’s tallest mountains, in the base area of the East Coast’s largest ski & mountain bike resort, and at Vermont’s #1 Public Golf Course.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

July.14 Bradford County Fair Bradford Fairgrounds, Bradford A small Vermont agricultural fair, there is something for everyone to enjoy! Everything from tractor pulls to amusement rides. No dogs allowed on the midway July.16 Vermont Cheesemakers Festival Shelburne Farms, Shelburne 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The premier summer food event in Vermont.

With 40 cheesemakers, hundreds of Vermont cheese, and 80 Vermont artisan food producers (including wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries), this event is a “Top Ten Summer Food Festival in the US.”The Festival also includes strolling musicians, cooking demos, and pairing seminars with local cheesemakers and producers.

July.22 Vermont Sun Triathlon Brandbury State Park, Salisbury 8:30 a.m.

The lake region is a most spectacular and pristine place to swim, bike and run.

Novice and advanced athletes alike marvel the beauty of our courses and enjoy the mountains, lakes and streams of Central Vermont. Spectators will be charged $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children at the gate. Fee is good for the entire day so bring the family and enjoy the fun! Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.

50 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

July.22 Vermont Breakfast on the Farm Blue Spruce Farm, Bridport 8:30 a.m.

This free, public event includes a pancake breakfast, self-guided tours of the dairy farm and a peek into the life and business of farming in Vermont. While there is no cost to attend, tickets must be reserved in advance at www.VermontBreakfastOnTheFarm.com/ get-tickets.

July.23 Endurance Society - Glacier Grinder Bike Race Killington Skyeship Base Lodge, Killington 8:00 a.m.

The Endurance Society Glacier Grinder is a 40 mile bike race on scenic gravel roads and unmaintained town roads.

The course features 4,400 Vertical. We will start and finish at Skyship Lodge on Route 4 in Killington. We’ll have cue sheets for everyone and the route will feature directional arrows at each turn and distance markers to finish and top of climbs. Course will have one feed station.

July.24-July.28 Magical Summer Day Camp at Boyd Family Farm

Boyd Family Farm, Wilmington 9:00 a.m.

Children from 6-12 will be introduced to the nature that surrounds us through the use of exercise, art, music, writing, keeping a journal, science, reading and much more.

If appropriate the younger children will be in a group on their own.

July.26 Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival Concert Jamaica State Park Pavilion, Jamaica 6:00 p.m.

New to the festival this year will be a Baroque Trio playing all French and German Baroque Chamber Music. The festival will also include visual art by artists Natasha Loewy and Andrew Brehm.

July.28-Aug.6 Blueberry Festival Wilmington Visitors to the Valley will find a Big Blue Parade, a Blue Street Fair, children’s activities, jam making, blueberry themed specials in the local eateries, blue music events, a blue car auto show, blueberry bake sales, blue beer, as well as pick your own blueberry opportunities. “The Gates”; Vermont farmers Janet and Buck Boyd’s display of blue tarps in their fields will have you chuckling.

Aug.3 Hemmings Cruise-in Hemmings International Headquarters, Bennington 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

An open car show with awards, music, and free popcorn, plus the Hemmings museum display will be open. Winners will be featured in Hemmings Motor News. No registration required.

Aug.3- Aug.6 Franklin County Field Days Franklin County Fairgrounds, Franklin It’s the time of the year again when Franklin County Field Days comes to town. Enjoy a day outdoors and have fun, participate in events, or just watch our live entertainment.

Aug.4 39th Annual Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival Camelot Village, Bennington 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Juried artists and artisans displaying and selling original art and contemporary craft. Rain or shine, under tents.. Craft demos, food court, craft beers, live music, kids activities.

Aug.4-Aug.6 Okemo’s Annual Hops in the Hills Beer & Wine Festival Jackson Gore Inn, Ludlow Sample more than 75 craft beers and ciders from area brewers and enjoy a selection of great wines as well. The festival showcases a great lineup of live music, craft vendors, food trucks and the great outdoors at Okemo’s Jackson Gore Inn courtyard. Okemo’s Adventure Zone offers zipline tours, miniature golf, Segway PT tours, a treetop challenge course and mountain coaster.

Friday 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday noon to 8pm and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5pm Aug.5 Grace Cottage Hospital Auxiliary 67th Annual Fair Day Grace Cottage Hospital, Townshend Discover why the Boston Globe has called Grace Cottage Hospital Fair Day “New England at its Best!” This quintessentially Vermont fair boasts free admission and free entertainment, including bagpipers, world-class circus performers, and local musicians. Take a step back in time; enjoy food options galore, all-day auction, Bingo, bargain booths, pony rides, and costumes for kids plus lots more. Proceeds benefit Grace Cottage Hospital.

Aug.10 Aug.13 Deerfield Valley Farmers Day Fair Bakers Field, Wilmington Welcome to the Deerfield Valley Farmers’ Day Fair, a long standing local tradition which inspires neighborly competition, education in agriculture, wholesome entertainment, exhibits of area residents, and most importantly good clean fun!

Aug.12 Middlebury Chamber Music Festival Concert Saint Stephens Church, Middlebury 8:00 p.m.

The festival includes concerts, lessons, master classes, community events and a chamber music workshop. Middlebury will again welcome local and visiting amateur and professional string players and pianists and an outstanding guest chamber music faculty, Miho Zaitsu (cello), Jonathan Weber(violin and viola), Marc Ramirez (violin and viola) and Olivia Hajioff (violin and viola).

Aug.12-Aug.13 Rutland Art in the Park Main Street Park, Rutland 10:00 a.m.

It will have pottery, paintings, and photography, as well as fiber, metal, and jewelry, and lots more. Find unique gifts for loved ones or beautiful art for your home.

Aug.13 Vermont Sun Triathlon Brandbury State Park, Salisbury 8:30 a.m.

The lake region is a most spectacular and pristine place to swim, bike and run.

Novice and advanced athletes alike marvel the beauty of our courses and enjoy the mountains, lakes and streams of Central Vermont. Spectators will be charged $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children at the gate. Fee is good for the entire day so bring the family and enjoy the fun! Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.

Aug.15-Aug.19 The Vermont State Fair Vermont State Fair Grounds, Rutland The Vermont State Fair features entertainment, rides, events, music concerts, demolition derby, agricultural exhibits, farm animals, culinary, vegetable and floral exhibits, maple sugar house and dairy barn, grandstand attractions and more.

Aug.25-Aug.27 Manchester Food & Wine Classic Manchester The inaugural Manchester Food & Wine Classic is a celebration of fine wine, gourmet cuisine and entertainment for travelers and locals alike to experience the best of what the city has to offer. Patrons will experience Grand Tastings, Lifestyle Events and Educational Seminars over 3 days, featuring more than 100 food artisans, wineries, breweries, distilleries, epicurean purveyors and locally made produce.

Aug.25-Sep.9 Champlain Valley Fair Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction The Champlain Valley Fair is Vermont’s best Fair. 10 days of fun, rides, food, concerts and more.

Sept.2-Sep.3 22nd Annual Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival Camelot Village, Bennington 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Over 200 vendors feature “garlic-inspired” booths; food vendors incorporate garlic into their menus. Highlights include live music throughout the festival and our Beer and Wine Garden. Enjoy demonstrations on planting, growing, braiding, etc. For the kids, activities include bounce houses and Roaming Railroad. If you are a gardener, garlic lover or just looking for something to do, the event promises something for everyone.

Sept.9 Vermont Granite Festival The Vermont Granite Museum, Barre 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Vermont Granite Museum will open their doors to the community to celebrate and showcase Vermont’s granite heritage and industry. There will be live demonstrations from sculptors, live music and other performances and the opportunity to learn about the granite industry in Vermont.

Sept.9 SKY RUN™ Mad River Glen, Waitsfield 9:00 a.m.

The Uphill Race will feature a series of climbs which will eventually take you to the summit of the mountain. The Sky Run has a short version and long which is ~5k in distance and just over 2,000 feet of vertical climbing. The long version is ~10k with approximately 3,700 feet of vertical.

There will be bag transport so at the top you’ll have something warm. Awards at noon.

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 51

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214 Main Street Vergennes VT

802 877 3850

Call for FREE Estimates for Tree Service

Hours HoursWed-Sun Wed-Sun noon-5pm noon-5pm

SUGAR & SPICE Restaurant & Gift Shop Rt. 4 Mendon, VT 802-773-7832 www.vtsugarandspice.com

BREAKFAST (‘Til Closing) All pancake items served with pure maple syrup (artificial syrup extra)

PET SPA

Stack of Pancakes Our own receipe — 4 pancakes served with pure maple syrup and whipped butter

(802) 496-7297 5081 Main Street, Waitsfield

6.95

Serving Breakfast & Lunch 7am-2pm daily Breakfast all day, Lunch after 11am

2 Eggs 7.95

Breakfast Sandwich

Omelettes 9.95

Bacon, ham, link sausage, hash, or canadian bacon: additional egg .95

1 egg with bacon, sausage or Canadian bacon and cheese on an english muffin 4.95 With homefries 6.50

3 eggs are used.

Create your own from the following choices: Ham, Cheese, Mushrooms, Spinach, Onion, Tomato or Peppers

French Toast 6.95

General Ripley 7.95

Pigs in a Blanket 8.95

3 pancakes topped with a pair of eggs

Steak & Eggs 11.95 A real blast of protein.

L aLawrence w r e n c e House House

Victorian Bed & Breakfast

Victorian Bed & Breakfast

Our nail services are worth the drive!

A baker’s dream (12) silver- dollar size pancakes, a kid’s favorite.

Sugar & Spice Pancakes 7.95 Stack of 4 pancakes with our special cinnamon and maple sugar baked right in.

Try our Waffles Strawberries or Blueberries 6.95

48 North Street

Bristol, Vermont 05443

(802) 453-5709 www.thelawrencehousebnb.com

A four season “home away from home” i n B r i s to l V i l l a g e

52 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

90 9 0 Mechanicsville Mech haniicsviille R Rd d Hinesburg VT Appointments Highly Encouraged . Feeling Lucky?

Call on your way!

Hours: Tue, Fri&Sat 9:30-6:30 . Wed&Thu 9:30-7 . Sun 11-4 . Closed Mondays

Maple Walnut 6.95 Waffle and Ice Cream 8.25

Sugar House Sampler 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 strips of bacon. 8.95 Ask about our many choices of juices and hot beverages

LUNCHEON

Buttermilk Pancakes 6.95 Silver Dollar Pancakes 6.95

We look forward to your visit!

EGGS AND OMELETTES

Pumpkin Pancakes 7.95

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After breakfast check out our gift shop for all your souvenir, gift, and maple syrup needs.

All eggs (except pancakes items) are served with home fries, toast, and jelly or preserves. Egg whites available add 1.00

Blueberry Pancakes 7.95

WHERE DIRTY PAWS GO TO GET CLEAN!

Come to our sugarhouse for the best breakfast around!

All sandwiches served with choice of chips or home fries and pickle.

Fillmore Salad 9.95

Grilled Roast Beef 8.95

Reuben 8.95

Homemade Soup

A large garden salad crowned with a julienne of ham, turkey & swiss cheese

Roast beef grilled with Swiss cheese and onions on whole wheat bread

The leanest of corned beef with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing

Served after 11:00 am.

Cup 3.50 Bowl 4.25

Hamburger 7.95

Ungrilled Roast Beef 8.98

Ham Sandwiches Plain or Grilled 7.25

We make our own ice cream the old-fashioned way!

It makes the best sundaes, shakes or cones.

Baco-Cheese 9.25

Roasted medium rare, served with Russian dressing, lettuce, mayonnaise or horseradish.

Downhill Deli 8.95

Turkey Sandwich 7.95

Roast beef., Swiss cheese and tomato with Russian dressing

All white meat, of course, with lettuce.

Cheeseburger 8.95

Ripley Rally 8.95 Turkey, bacon, Swiss cheese and tomato.

Old John’s Grill 8.95 White turkey meat, smoked ham and Vermont chedder cheese grilled between slices of whole wheat bread.

Cup of Soup with Grilled Cheese 7.25 Or 1/2 turkey, ham or tuna sandwich on your choice of bread

Ice Cream Maple Crunch Sundae 6.95 Maple Syrup & Waknut Sundae 6.95 Single Scoop Cone 2.95 Double Scoop Cone 3.95

Prices Subject To Change

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 53

Whether your looking for fabulous local brews and a burger or a setting for that special occasion with family...

There is a reason we have been serving Vermonters for over four decades. Come in today and see what we are all about.

Fire & Ice

Vermontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Iconic steakhouse

26 Seymour Street | Middlebury | 802.388.7166 | ďŹ reandicerestaurant.com 54 | Our State Vermont | SUMMER 2017

SUMMER 2017 | Our State Vermont | 55

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