SUMMER / FALL
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2015
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COMPLIMENTARY
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M A G A Z I
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ARTS & EVENTS • DINING • LODGING • SHOPS • OUTDOORS • HOME • PEOPLE & PLACES
91 Main Street, Stowe 802.253.3033 stowe@ferrojewelers.com ferrojewelers.com
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PHOTO BY CHRIS STEARNS
Seldom Scene Interiors
Wendy Valliere – Principal Designer All Aspects of Interior Design STOWE
BOSTON
2038 Mountain Road, Stowe 05672 www.seldomsceneinteriors.com
802.253.3770
CONTENTS s u m m e r
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features
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Stowe Dance Academy by Lisa McCormack
Miss Helena Sullivan has high expectations and she knows what she wants. Perfection. As mistress of Stowe’s noted dance academy for 25 years, Sullivan doesn’t just churn out accomplished dancers. She helps kids go after what they want too—in all aspects of life.
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CHUCK GANGAS
Two wings and a prayer
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by Nancy Wolfe Stead
Monitoring the Bicknell’s thrush on the state’s highest peaks helps experts find sciencebased fixes to problems facing Vermont’s wildlife and its fractured habitat.
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Waterbury 2.0 by Robert Kiener
How did this Vermont town triumph over the devasting effects of Tropical Storm Irene? By sticking together, that’s how. And with a lot of help from friends.
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Spruce Peak Performing Arts celebrates five years by Kate Carter
Stowe Mountain Resort’s lovely performance space settles in after five years on the local arts and entertainment scene.
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Slope Style: Fashion on Snow 1930 – 2014 by Lisa McCormack
The Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum showcases 80 years of haute couture on the slopes.
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Thea Alvin by Julia Shipley
Morrisville artist, sculptor, and stonemason explores the impermanence of art—in a really, really big way!
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From Trapp to table by Biddle Duke
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EXCEPT WHERE NOTED: GLENN CALLAHAN
The famous von Trapp family takes the localvore, farm-to-table movement to a whole other level. And, they’ve done it for 60-plus years.
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Bingo for baked goods by Lisa McCormack
Ah, summer on the lake means B-I-N-G-O. Bingo!
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Stairways to paradise by Nancy Wolfe Stead
The18th-century art of building tangent handrails at Sterling Staircase and Handrail.
CONTENTS s u m m e r
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14 57 58 60 64 66 72 108 112 120 128
First person: Dog rescues woman Race day: Catamount Ultra Trail journal: Devil’s Gulch Off piste: Golf in miniature Star power: Cyclocross sensation Stowe people: Rugged Adventures History lesson: Spruce Peak CCC Mountain Road Marketplace Dance studio: Stowe Tango Fest History lesson: Great bells of Moscow Made in Vermont: Crossview Gardens
Rural Route
Crossview Gardens
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ON OUR COVER
essentials 8 12 18 30
Goings on
This summer’s cover is Autumn Mansfield Triptych, oil on linen, by
Rural route
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Getting outdoors
Burlington artist and activist Bonnie Acker. Each frame is 30"x 20", and the total dimension of the piece is 30"x 64".
Contributors From the editor
Biking • Hiking • Fishing In the mountains • On the water
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Acker creates paintings, paper-collages, and fabric banners, and is deeply immersed in numerous food-and-farming adventures, including the Burlington School Food Project and Intervale Community Farm Cooperative.
Galleries, arts, & entertainment Helen Day Art Center • Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center • Guides to exhibits, music, and mixed media
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“I love Vermont, all the brave work to improve the world, so that all people can lead the most worthwhile and joyous lives,” she says.
Edibles: Local food scene
GETTING AROUND 57 102 142 180 212 224
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FROM LEFT: GLENN JONES, KATE CARTER; YOON S. BYUN
departments
Regularly recognized for bringing art and gardens into the public square, Acker was most recently named a “Burlington Community Treasure” on Bonnie Acker Day, Nov. 4, 2013. The proclamation in her honor read: “She is a visionary benefactor with a generous spirit, a compassionate mentor with a gift for seeing the best in people, a multifaceted artist with a compelling vision, a child at heart with a playful spirit, and a true friend to all living things.
GETTING OUTDOORS SHOPPING & GALLERIES DINING & LODGING REAL ESTATE & HOMES BUSINESSES & SERVICES INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
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Autumn Mansfield Triptych is cur-
Stowe Performing Arts
rently on display at the Stowe Area Association. Acker’s work can be viewed at Green Mountain Fine Art Gallery in Stowe Village.
WHAT’S NEW AT STOWE GEMS!
STOWE GEMS Named Best of Vermont Vermont Magazine February 1998
ast September, we here at Stowe Gems celebrated
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our 32nd year in business in Stowe. We started in a tiny shop behind the Oslo Shop on Main Street. When we were cleaning up what had been an old apartment to build our shop, the ceiling collapsed on my head! When I asked the building manager to remove the old full-sized refrigerator, he suggested we keep sodas in it and showed me that I could make ice. He then opened the freezer to reveal some old deer roast that had not had the benefit of freezing for quite a while. The refrigerator was gone the next day. Caroline ran the shop as she does now, and I suggested that she save the first dollar that she made. She scoffed and said that was old fashioned. When she finally did make a sale three days later, she proudly put that dollar on the wall. We still have it. It has been quite the adventure running a small business here in Stowe, raising our daughter Sarah, and meeting all the wonderful people here, especially Helen Beckerhoff who worked with us for many years. We have customers who shopped here as children who now bring in their own children. A visit to Stowe Gems is like a trip to jewelers row in New York City, a visit to a great natural history museum, and finding your favorite new rock shop all rolled into one! No matter your interests, Stowe Gems will have something to fascinate and capture your imagination. Our collections include our hand-crafted designer jewelry, sparkling mineral displays, and some natural wonders for good measure. We work with virtually every gem from Alexandrite to Zircon. Smoldering red Ruby is enjoying a new found popularity with fresh Star Ruby leading the pack. Sapphire occurs in a rainbow of colors, not just cool blues but hot pinks, canary yellows, and virtually all colors in between, mounted in an array of contemporary styles. Stowe Gems’ fantastic collections of colorful Pearls are delightful. Not just lustrous white Pearls but natural color black Pearls from Tahiti. Peach, pink, chocolate and even lavender colors abound in a variety of designs at a more reasonable price. Fully one half of our inventory is Sterling, ensuring a great selection. With prices starting at fifty cents for a tumbled gem and a genuine Dinosaur Egg on display, Stowe Gems is very “kid friendly.” Stowe Gems is Stowe’e oldest and only family owned Jewelry Gallery. Plan your family’s visit to Stowe Gems today!
Gems 70 Pond St., Stowe
(802) 253-7000 www.stowegems.com 7
CONTRIBUTORS
Behind-the-scenes: I first hiked Devil’s Gulch on a class field trip in junior high, suddenly lumped together with kids from a half dozen other towns. Some of those people are friends to this day, and when we catch up, there’s a mixture of familiarity and novelty. A familiar hiking trail is much the same.
Best hike ever? Too many to name, but since I have to, how about a hike up the Hellbrook Trail—arguably the hardest, steepest hike in Vermont—to the Chin of Mt. Mansfield and back down via the Long Trail. That’s a darn good loop. Here are my top five: Mt. Washington via Lions Head and Boott Spur; Grand Canyon rim to the river, via South Kaibab and Bright Angel; Saguaro National Park outside Tucson; Guadelupe Peak in Western Texas; and basically anywhere on Mansfield. Oh, and Camel’s Hump, the prettiest mountain in Vermont. That’s six. Currently: Gardner is a staff reporter at the Stowe Reporter, covering town news, local and county police and courts, as well as business, recreation, food, politics, and anything else that piques his curiosity... as long as it’s local.
ROBERT KIENER IN THIS ISSUE: Waterbury 2.0, p.88. Behind-the-scenes: As almost anyone in Waterbury will tell you, the outpouring of love and resilience that helped townspeople pick up the pieces after the devastating flood of 2011 is only part of what makes the town so special. Some of the signs that popped up—and are still around—tell the rest of the story: “We Are Waterbury Strong,” “We Will Be Back,” “God Bless Waterbury.” Most memorable takeaway: As one resident told me, “When it comes to improving Waterbury, there’s more of a “Let’s get this done” attitude instead of an “Us against them” approach. Another resident said, “People here do kind in a quiet way.” Currently: Kiener, who has been an editor and staff writer with Reader’s Digest in Asia and Europe, now writes for the magazine’s international editions and is a contributing writer for Washington, D.C.-based Congressional Quarterly Press.
NANCY WOLFE STEAD IN THIS ISSUE: Bicknell’s thrush, p.82, and Stairways to paradise, p.188. Behind-the-scenes: As a passionate, longtime birder (though not a very good one!) I was pleased to meet Chris Rimmer of Vermont Center for Ecostudies and join its Bicknell-thrush banding project atop Mt. Mansfield. VCE is working hard to protect the birds’ summer habitat in the high elevations of New England and their wintering grounds in the Dominican Republic. They are also working hard in support of a plan to turn an abandoned structure on top of Mansfield into a visitor education center and small research facility on the flora, fauna, and ecology of the high-altitude forest. Currently: A longtime resident of Stowe, Nancy enjoys writing about local faces and places, moods, movements, and aberrations. She was tickled to have the opportunity to write about the amazing skills and artistry of Frits Momsen, who founded Sterling Staircase and Handrail, and Sandy Thompson, who has taken over this unique business.
BIDDLE DUKE IN THIS ISSUE: From Trapp to table, p.164 Most memorable takeaway: Watching Sam von Trapp’s eyes light up as he discusses the success of the mobile pens for the hogs and the chickens, and the hundreds of eggs the birds produce daily. Behind-the-scenes: The Sound of Music is such a powerful brand that it tends to overshadow every mention of the von Trapps. The Baron and Maria would probably be amused by today’s farm-to-table movement as that’s just how they’ve always lived, growing and raising their own food. This generation of von Trapps, however, is taking it to a whole new level. Currently: Duke, the former publisher of the Stowe Reporter and Stowe Magazine, stepped down in March after selling most of his interest in his Stowe publishing company. A lifelong newspaper journalist, he’s worked for papers in the East, West, and South America, and looks forward to the next chapter in his life. He and his wife, artist Idoline Duke, live in Stowe.
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LISA MCCORMACK IN THIS ISSUE: Bingo for baked goods, p.182, and Stowe Dance Academy, p.74. Behind-the-scenes: While researching stories for this issue it wasn’t hard to see that playing bingo for baked goods at Elmore Town Hall is a blast, whether you’re 8 or 80 years old. During several visits to Stowe Dance Academy I discovered that its students are just as disciplined and physically conditioned as varsity athletes, thanks in part to the high expectations and no-nonsense teaching style of founder and instructor Helena Sullivan. Currently: A New Jersey native, Lisa has spent the past 10 years as a general assignment reporter for the Stowe Reporter. Over the years she’s put a spotlight on important social issues, attended more school board meetings and community arts events than she can remember, and written hundreds of stories about Lamoille County’s most interesting citizens. Lisa lives in Morristown with her husband, Jack, three daughters, and a feisty West Highland white terrier named Daisy.
KATE CARTER IN THIS ISSUE: Deep Purple, p.52. Behind-the-scenes: When the editor of this magazine asked me to look into the time that Deep Purple spent in Stowe recording two of the band’s most popular albums, I didn’t realize it was an investigative journalism assignment. After searching the Internet (all false leads), making dozens of phone calls, and having friends of friends contact their friends of friends, I finally got a hot lead— Bobby Roberts, former owner of the Rusty Nail. Roberts told me Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux was my man. He sure was! All of the Deep Purple fans I interviewed had incredibly fond memories of the band members and nothing but kind things to say about them. Currently: Kate is a freelance writer and photographer, and when she’s not researching stories or sitting at her computer, she’s gardening, hiking, and doing dog agility with her border collies Phoebe and Ben.
JASMINE BIGELOW
HEATHER GLENN
Tommy in Devil’s Gulch last fall.
IN THIS ISSUE: Devil’s Gulch, p.58.
KRISTEN BRALEY
TOMMY GARDNER
IN THIS ISSUE: Stowe Tango Festival, p.112.
Did you learn to Tango? Yes. And, no. I took a lesson. I wore heels and a flirty dress. But until I find a partner, I’ll not really know how to tango! Behind-the-scenes: Everyone who loves tango has a tango love story, and they will tell it with an excited passion and devotion. My tango love story begins with the beautifully, positive-spirited people who shared their tales and time with me. My research for this piece took me to glamorous places, and yet I never left Stowe. This town has so many layers.
Jasmine, at left, with Rachel Vandenberg at Ladies Night at the Ski Museum in November.
Currently: Trying new things, meeting new people. Painting, writing, skiing, mountain biking, and practicing yoga. Loving my job as the marketing director for Stowe Area Association. Feeling gratitude. Finding balance. Living a good life.
G U I D E
M A G A Z I
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FROM THE EDITOR
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION / Paul Rogers
Farm-to-table sums it up Fiddleheads. Everyone in Vermont says, “I love fiddleheads!,” while it is entirely probable that more people just love saying they love fiddleheads than those who actually eat them. Fiddleheads do, however, provide a perfect metaphor for how Vermont’s food economy has changed over the last two decades. When I first came to Vermont 30 years ago it wasn’t unusual to join friends on a traipse through the spring woods, knife and sack in hand, looking for young fern fronds. We’d pick just enough for a couple of meals, and that was that. Fresh, local, and available only in season, fiddleheads inspire chefs—and home cooks—to find ways to use them on their menus during that very short, sweet season. Like your favorite brother, or colorful aunt, who never—ever!—eats fresh tomatoes except in season, from late summer to early fall, and then only local ones, ever expanding numbers of us eat that way, too, embracing each “fiddlehead” season as it occurs. Consider. Three new natural food stores have recently popped up— Commodities Market in Stowe, The Farm Store in Jeffersonville, and Pete’s Greens in Waterbury Center—and a food coop might come to nearby Morrisville. You can trip over a farmers market nowadays; every town seems to hold one—or two. The number of old-fashioned farm stands grows every year and even corporate-driven supermarkets cater to the organic foodie crowd, though they still struggle with the concept of local. There’s just no excuse any longer not to eat the freshest, tastiest, locally grown vegetables. Lots of them. Slowly, more Vermonters are making healthier choices and eschewing overly processed food. And our visitors reap the harvest as well. While restaurateurs around here seem embarrassed to use the term farm-to-table—unjustifiably so, don’t you think?—it really says it all. People know it means fresh, often organically grown, fruits and veggies; locally sourced fish, meat, and fowl; microbrews and fancy spirits; and Stowe Ice Cream! Over the last few years, as Vermont’s overall economy has struggled, the number of small food producers, brewers and distillers, cheesemakers, and other food providers has exploded. Consider the volume and caliber of new or reimagined restaurants in Stowe in just the last few years—Crop, Bench, Edson Hill, Sushi Yoshi, Flannel, Phoenix Table & Bar, Plate. Coming soon? Sauce Italian Specialties and a yet-unnamed burger bar from the Hen of the Wood boys. Consider, too, that those newcomers join an impressive list of existing restaurants, some going back decades. (Turn to p.142 for details.) There’s lots of news on the local food beat, most of it good, and it’s why the number of food-related stories grows with each issue of Stowe Magazine. In this issue alone: Mt. Mansfield Creamery expands; The Alchemist moves ahead with a Stowe brewery; demand exceeds supply at Zack Woods Herb Farm, grower of organic, medicinal herbs; the food and drink scene helps Waterbury rebound from Irene; a burger-centric food shack serves only local beef; plus local-spirit-laced macarons, Vermont-made salsa verde, and real cider doughnuts; and finally, the extensive farm-to-table operation at Stowe’s most famous resort, Trapp Family Lodge. As our good friend and esteemed colleague Biddle Duke, in “From Trapp to table,” writes in this issue, the von Trapp family has embraced the farm-to-table lifestyle for decades. Today, the family raises sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys, grows vegetables, makes lager, taps maple trees, and the list goes on. And, in the true spirit of the movement, the family uses what it needs and shares the rest with us. Let’s eat! —Greg Popa 12
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FIRST PERSON
To the rescue: I injured myself on a hike and my dog saved me STORY / Molly Triffin ILLUSTRATION / Katerina Pittinaro
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On a perfect day last summer I set off with my nine-monthold son, Theo, and three-year-old golden retriever, Maple, on a favorite hike up to the Pinnacle, one of the highest peaks in Stowe. As the three of us embarked, Theo snuggled against my chest and Maple trotted happily a few yards ahead, thrilled to be out on the mountain for the first hike of the season. My husband and I brought Maple home as a puppy just days after moving from our Brooklyn brownstone to a ramshackle ski cabin in rural Vermont. Totally unequipped for a dog—we
foolishly believed we were just going to look at a neighbor’s litter of puppies, not take one home—Maple spent her first few nights in a cardboard box lined with a well-worn quilt. I’d sleep with one of my arms dangling off of my mattress, hand on her back to comfort her. Since then she’s been my constant companion,
Stowe Resort following close at my heels, curling up on top of my feet when I worked at my desk, and snoozing on my lap (all 65 pounds of her) in the evenings. We’d go on great adventures— hiking the Appalachian Trail, plunging into swimming holes, snowshoeing through the backcountry of the Northeast Kingdom. When my husband and I got married, Maple was our ring bearer, and she proudly marched down the aisle to take her place by our sides. It may sound cheesy, but I really felt like I had found two soul mates. But ever since Theo was born, Maple has struggled to find her place in our expanded family. She was terrific with the baby, letting him clamber over her back, play with her
shifted. Clouds clustered and thickened overhead, the air grew heavy, and I began hustling in anticipation of rain. Before long, the first droplets let loose, running down my sweaty neck and spattering against my mud-flecked calves, soon intensifying into a thunderstorm. I wrapped my long-sleeved tee around the top of the baby carrier to keep Theo’s head dry (he was fast asleep, thankfully), and within moments, I was sopping. Water coursed down my arms and legs in rivulets, I could barely see through the torrent of rain, and I had to slide down some of the steeper, slippery rocks on my butt. We were halfway to the bottom when I remembered a shortcut through the forest. I’d only taken it once or twice, but it would get us down the final stretch in a fraction of the WE WERE HALFWAY TO THE BOTTOM time—plus, the dense foliage might give us respite from the WHEN I REMEMBERED A SHORTCUT downpour. As I turned onto the THROUGH THE FOREST. I’D ONLY TAKEN narrow, wooded pass, I stepped on a loose stone, tumbled forIT ONCE OR TWICE, BUT IT WOULD ward, and felt a sickening pull in my right ankle. GET US DOWN THE FINAL STRETCH IN Theo was unscathed and A FRACTION OF THE TIME—PLUS, THE miraculously still asleep. But when I tried to stand up, pain DENSE FOLIAGE MIGHT GIVE US RESPITE shot through my foot. I got out my cell phone and called my FROM THE DOWNPOUR. husband once, twice, three times—no answer. He must be in a meeting, I thought. And treasured tennis balls, and stick his fingers in although the hike was pretty popular among her ears, nose, and mouth—all without a locals, it was mid-week, in the midst of a grumble. Still, thanks to the tremendous storm, and I was on the little-known shortcut. amount of attention that a newborn demands, Chances were slim that I’d happen upon any Maple morphed from being our baby into helpful hikers. So I tried to push the pain from being, well, our dog. Epic walks became my mind as I hobbled along the trail, dragging short jaunts, bottle-feeding sessions replaced my wounded leg behind me. ball-throwing, she was escorted off the bed at Maple ran ahead, as she often does when night, and with Theo in my lap all the time, we’re out. I didn’t think much of it until I there was no room for Maple. I’m sorry to heard her let out several sharp, urgent yelps. I say we even forgot to feed her dinner a couhad only heard her bark like that once before, ple of times! Good-natured girl that she is, during a scary encounter with an aggressive she took the change of pace in stride—but dog, so I guessed she’d been attacked in the she held her tail a little lower and spent more parking lot. This is just what I need, I thought time alone, rather than being attached to my to myself. Maple’s in trouble, too. hip as she used to be. But to my total shock, as I rounded a corner a few minutes later, I saw Maple leading three Maple was ecstatic to be back to our old people—two middle-aged women and a escapades on the hiking trail that day (albeit brawny young man—up the path through the with an extra guest, and moving a bit more relentless rain. As soon as they saw me, one of slowly than she’d like). After about an hour and the women said, “Oh my goodness, you’re hurt a half, we reached the top and gulped in magand you’re carrying a baby! Your dog told us to nificent, cascading views of Mt. Mansfield. find you.” She took Theo from my arms, while Theo poked his head out of his pack, blue eyes the young man scooped me up and carried me. big and blinking with wonder. Maple rollicked When we reached the parking lot, they over shrub-lined boulders, nose to the earth, drove us home and filled me in on the rest of smelling all the rich new scents. the story. They had turned back from their hike But as we descended the weather suddenly when the rain began and had just gotten to the
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FIRST PERSON base of the mountain when Maple came racing toward them out of nowhere. She started barking and circling the trio, as if she were trying to lead them back up the trail. There was something so unusual about her behavior that they decided they had better follow her. She brought them, of course, straight to Theo and me. And by the way, Maple didn’t find just anyone to come to our rescue— she picked the Dream Team. One of the hikers, Maryanne Purnell, was a registered nurse. With her was Mary Chambers, a physical therapist, and her son Andrew. He not only had the strength to carry me down a steep hillside, but also happened to be an orthopedic student. Once we arrived at the house, they helped me get settled onto the couch with an ice pack while we waited for my husband to arrive. (It turns out that I’d torn a tendon and detached a ligament and would need surgery.) In the weeks following the whole ordeal, I picked up on a difference in Maple’s mood, a quiet pride and a sense of being settled in her skin. After initially being thrown off by the baby’s arrival, she seemed to finally understand that she still has a valuable role in our family. She’s back to her confident, playful self, teaching Theo how to throw (or at least drop) a ball and shadowing both of us throughout the day. The way I treat Maple has changed, too. With the all-consuming demands of new parenthood, I’d started taking her love and loyalty for granted. Now, I spend one-on-one time cuddling with her each evening after the baby goes to bed, and I’ve improved my multi-tasking: When I’m holding Theo in one arm, I’ll often use my spare hand to rub Maple’s belly or toss her a tennis ball. We’re even back to our old sleeping routine. Maple tucks herself in next to my side, and I drift off to sleep, lulled by the comforting rhythm of her soft chest rising and falling. n Molly Triffin is a freelance writer living in Stowe.
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FAMILY TIME The whole clan back at the top of the Pinnacle: Sam Gaines, Maple, Molly, and Theo. A bit of bonding time between Theo and Maple.
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GLENN CALLAHAN
GOINGS ON
ONGOING MONDAYS & WEDNESDAYS
Model Sailboat Races On the Commodores Inn private lake. 4:45 p.m., weather permitting. Free. Just south on Route 100, Stowe. TUESDAYS IN JUNE
Free SUP Demos Standup paddleboard instruction at Waterbury Reservoir day use area, Umiak Outfitters. 6 - 8 p.m. umiak.com. THROUGH MID OCTOBER
Fly Fishing Casting Clinic Learn about knots, entomology, tactics, and gear. Equipment provided. Free. Wednesdays 4 - 5:30 p.m.; Saturdays 9 - 10:30 a.m. Fly Rod Shop, Stowe. Reserve ahead. (802) 253-7346. JUNE
Citizen Science Birding Join Stowe Land Trust ecologist Kristen Sharpless on informal bird walks on SLT lands. Email kristen@stowelandtrust.org for dates and locations. JUNE 20, JULY 11, AUGUST 15, & SEPTEMBER 5
MTB Clinics All abilities. Adults and teens only. Advanced registration required at rick@4pointsvt.com. Stowe Mountain Resort. (802) 253-3500. JUNE 20 – AUGUST 29
Saturday Naturalist Program Discover the rich natural and cultural history of the Mill Trail property on an interactive naturalist-led walk. 10-30 a.m. and 1 p.m. All ages, free. stowelandtrust.org.
STOWE WINE & FOOD CL ASSIC MAY 30
Center for America’s First Horse Open House Meet the horses and watch a natural horsemanship demo. Clay Hill Road, Johnson. Noon - 3 p.m. centerforamericasfirsthorse.org. JUNE 5 – 7
Stowe Yacht Club: Green Mountain EC-12 & J Boat Regatta EC-12 meter model sailboat racing and J Boat racing. A regional championship regatta. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Commodores Inn, Route 100, Stowe. (802) 253-7131. commodoresinn.com. JUNE 20
STUART BERTLAND
JUNE 6
National Trails Work Day Celebrate our trails and help with spring trail and clean-up work. Bring work gloves. Tools and lunch provided. Kirchner Woods, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. RSVP: info@stowelandtrust.org, (802) 253-7221.
32nd Rattling Brook Bluegrass Festival Regional bluegrass bands—Reunion Band, Bluegrass Revisited, Big Spike Bluegrass, Modern Grass Quintet, Woedoggies. Noon - 8. Admission. Belvidere rec field, Route 109. (802) 644-1118. JUNE 25 – 28
JUNE 6
Nashville Songwriter Series & Benefit Concert Joe Doyle and special guests The Mann Sisters and WGDR’s Kris Gruen. Benefits Lamoille Home, Health & Hospice. Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe Mountain Resort. lhha.org.
48th Joe Kirkwood Memorial Golf Tournament Amateur event for two-person teams honoring Joe Kirkwood, world-famous trick-shot artist who lived in Stowe. Benefits Stowe junior golf. Stowe Country Club. kirkwoodgolftournament.com. JUNE 27 – 28
JUNE 12 – 14
JUNE 25 – AUGUST 27
Art on Park Series Artists and artisans—jewelers, potters, painters, fiber artists, food producers—under the white tents. Music, local food. Park Street, Stowe. Thursdays 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. facebook.com/artonpark.
MAY & JUNE MAY 30
Craft Brew Race & Festival 5k road race and local craft beer festival with 20-plus local breweries. Local food, live music. Race at noon, festival from12:30 - 4 p.m. Supports Stowe Land Trust. Stoweflake Mountain Resort, Mountain Road. craftbrewraces.com.
NOMAD USDAA Dog Agility Trials Dogs go over jumps, through tunnels, and more. All visiting dogs must be leashed. All day. Free. Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe. nomadagility.com. JUNE 12 – 14
Stowe Wine and Food Classic Blues, brews, and foodtruck crews, food and brew pairings, and music by Dave Keller Band; Spanish farm-to-table dinner at Trapp Family Lodge under the tent; and Sunday Grand Tasting with winemakers, craft brewers, and culinary experts. Benefits Copley Hospital. Trapp Family Lodge. Tickets: stowewine.com. (888) 683-2427.
Waterbury Not Quite Independence Day & Green Mountain BBQ Festival June 27: 11 a.m. parade, Waterbury Village; Noon - 10 p.m., BBQ championship, bands, tractor jousting, kids’ activities, fireworks. Farr’s Field, Route 2 West, Waterbury. June 28: BBQ competition, bands, tractor jousting, kids’ activities. Farr’s Field. Admission. greenmountainbbq.com. JUNE 26 – 28
Bikes, Bevs & Beats Festival Family friendly events, epic group rides, food and drink specials, and music throughout the weekend. stowemountainbike.com.
EXHIBITS: p.102 • • • MUSIC: p.116 • • • MIXED MEDIA: p.122 • • • THEATER: p.126 18
STUART BERTLAND
GOINGS ON JUNE 27
Catamount Ultra Marathon 25k and 50k courses through highland pastures and hardwood forest. Trapp Family Lodge trails. 7 and 8:30 a.m. starts. catamountultra.com. JUNE 28
Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum Epic Summer Event Elite, expert, sport, and novice riders on Nordic ski trails, double track, some old-school singletrack, new machine-made trails. Craftsbury Outdoor Center, 535 Lost Nation Rd., Craftsbury. vtssm.com for registration. JUNE 29
Vermont Paddleboard Festival Experts, instructors, and enthusiasts celebrate SUP. 50 boards to try. Clinics, free classes, and race. 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Waterbury Reservoir. umiak.com
JULY
S T O W E F L A K E B A L L O O N F E S T I VA L
JULY 3 JULY 4
Stowe Mountain Resort BBQ & Fireworks Live music, free kids’ activities, and artisan food court, 6 - 8:30 p.m. Mt. Mansfield parking lot. Fireworks at dusk. (802) 253-3500 or stowe.com. JULY 3 – 5
7 Miles of Sales in Stowe Vermont’s largest townwide sale with 60 participating merchants. Pick up the Stowe Reporter and see what local businesses have in store. gostowe.com. JULY 4
Moscow Parade World-famous, world’s shortest 4th of July parade. Starts promptly at 10 a.m. in Moscow Village. JULY 4
The Stowe World’s Shortest Marathon Join the 1.7 mile fun run. Starts at intersection of Routes 100 & 108. Open to all. JULY 4
Jeffersonville Independence Day Celebration An old-fashioned celebration with parade at 10 a.m., carnival, food, music. Smugglers’ Notch Resort hosts early evening firemen’s barbecue, music, fireworks at dusk. (802) 644-8851. JULY 4
Morrisville 700 Downhill Derby Build the fastest race car for this gravitypowered race down 700-foot Copley Avenue. Takes place right after the 4th of July parade in Morrisville. 1 p.m. Prizes. $15 ($10 in advance) for each driver. facebook.com/Morrisville700/info. JULY 4
TERESA MERELMAN
Morrisville 4th of July Celebration 11 a.m. parade through downtown to Peoples Academy. 700 Downhill Derby at 1 p.m. Evening events begin at 5 p.m. at Peoples Academy fields with a waffle-ball tournament, food, Morrisville Rotary duck race, live music, fireworks at dusk.
Kids’ Adventure Games Races emphasize teamwork, problem solving, sportsmanship, environmental awareness and fun. The kids cross the finish line, muddy, sweaty, smiling and full of pride. Ages 6 to 14. Awards. Trapp Family Lodge. kidsadventuregames.com. JULY 11
45th Antiques & Uniques Festival 100 booths of antiques, woodcrafts, paintings, sculpture, flowers, garden accessories, quilts, more. Music, baked goods, and lunch. 10 a.m. 4 p.m. rain or shine. On the Common in Craftsbury, Route 14. JULY 11
Raid Lamoille 100k bike ride with 6,000 feet of climbing. Preregister at Rusty Nail, Stowe, 7 a.m. 8 a.m. start. raidlamoille.com. JULY 12
34th Stowe 8-Miler Stowe’s popular foot race. Starts at 9 a.m. Events field, Weeks Hill Road. Preregistration. Post-race party, Golden Eagle Resort, Mountain Road. locorunning.com/stowe8miler. JULY 12
JULY 7 – 26
Stowe Free Library Book Sale Community book sale on the porch of the library. New stock added daily, specials for children. 9 a.m. to dusk. Stowe Village. stowelibrary.org or (802) 253-6145. JULY 10 – 11
Old-Fashioned Village Parade & 4th of July Festival in Stowe Live music, food, entertainment, Art on the Park artisan market, and other entertainment—all in Stowe Village. Bouncy house, dunk tank, pie-eating contest, climbing wall, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Village festivities start after the Moscow Parade. Stowe Village parade starts at 1 p.m. JULY 4
Stowe Independence Celebration & Fireworks Starts at 6 p.m. Food and spectacular fireworks at dusk. Face painting, balloons, barbecue, carnival games, ice cream, bouncy house, pedestal joust, hayrides, Touch-a-Truck, old fashioned games, popcorn, cotton candy, more. Free. Mayo Farm events field, Weeks Hill Road.
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JULY 10 – 11
Waterbury Arts Fest Over 80 artists, music, gourmet fare. July 10: Food and beer garden, Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band, 6 p.m. July 11: Over 80plus vendors showcase art, food, live entertainment. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Free. waterburyartsfest.com. JULY 10 – 12
29th Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival Children’s corner, live band, food, beer and wine garden, balloon launches, tethers. More than 25 balloon experts launch Friday at 7 p.m. (gates open at 4:30 p.m.), Saturday at 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 6:30 a.m. $10. Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa, Mountain Road. (802) 253-7355. stoweballoonfestival.com.
Stowe Trail Race Series: Ranch Camp Ramble 5k and 10k run. Prizes, bib raffle, food. $20 advance registration; $25 race day, $10 ages 16 and younger. Benefits Friends of Stowe Adaptive Sports. Stowe Mountain Resort Nordic Center ski trails. Register at stoweadaptive.com. JULY 17 – 18
Crossroads Motorcycle Rally Camping, live music, food, mud wrestling, bonfire, games, and more. Farr’s Field, Route 2, Waterbury. crossroadsmotorcyclerally.com. JULY 18 – 19
Stowe LAX Festival I Comprehensive lacrosse event. Great sport, music, special guests, non-stop fun for the entire family. Weeklong Stowe Lax camp follows the tourney. On fields throughout Stowe. bitterlacrosse.com.
GLENN CALLAHAN
GREG POPA
GOINGS ON
JULY 24 – 26
Lamoille County Field Days Traditional agricultural fair. Arts & crafts, agricultural exhibits, horse, pony, and ox pulling, lumberjack roundup, 4-H, draft horse show, gymkhana, midway, entertainment. Route 100C, Johnson. $10. lamoillefielddays.com. AUGUST 8 JULY 25
Swimming Hole Excursion Join Stowe Land Trust board member Biddle Duke for a family-friendly excursion to one of the best swimming spots in town. Bring towel, lunch, water. 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Meeting place TBA.
Fun Run on Spruce Pathways 5k adult and 3k kids’ runs. 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Spruce Camp Base Lodge. Proceeds benefit Barnes Camp Boardwalk project. Stowe Mountain Resort. (802) 253-3500. AUGUST 9
JULY 25 – 26
Stowe LAX Festival II Comprehensive lacrosse event. Great sport, music, special guests, non-stop fun for the entire family. Weeklong Stowe Lax camp follows the tourney. On fields throughout Stowe. bitterlacrosse.com.
AUGUST
AUGUST 14 – 15
AUGUST 1 – 2
Stowe Yacht Club: Can/Am Challenge Cup Head over to the Commodores to watch Soling One Meter RC Sailboats. Sailors from Canada compete against the U.S. team. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Commodores Inn, Stowe. (802) 253-7131. AUGUST 2 – 16
Phlox Fest Over 80 varieties of phlox displayed in the gardens at Perennial Pleasures. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. except Mondays. Brick House Road, East Hardwick, Vt. (802) 472-5104. perennialpleasures.net.
Stowe Brewers Festival Best brews and brewers gather to celebrate craft beers and the people who love them. Music at the festival and around town. 3 - 6:30 p.m. Mayo Farm Events Field, Weeks Hill Road. Admission. stowebrewersfestival.com. AUGUST 15
Skyline Trail Hike Join Stowe Land Trust board member Dave Hosmer on a hike along one of Vermont's most scenic ridges. 9 a.m. - noon. Meet at the Pinnacle Meadow parking area. Free, but reserve a spot as space is limited. (802) 253-7221. AUGUST 15
AUGUST 7 – 9
58th Stowe Antique and Classic Car Meet The summer’s biggest event. Over 800 antique and classic cars. Giant automotive flea market, car corral. Fashion contest, antique car parade. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Nichols Field, Route 100, Stowe. Fee. (802) 253-7321. vtauto.org. AUGUST 8
Antique & Classic Car Street Dance & Block Party Entertainment on Stowe’s Main Street. A blast into the past. Good time rock n’ roll with antique and classic cars. 7 - 10 p.m. stowevibrancy.com. AUGUST 8
Jeffersonville Festival of the Arts Dozens of regional artists display on charming Main Street. Music, children’s activities, local food. Free. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (802) 644-1960 or cambridgeartsvt.org.
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Stowe Trail Race Series: Cady Hills 5K Cady Hills single track trails behind Golden Eagle Resort, Mountain Road. Prizes, bib raffle, food. $20; $25 race day; $10 ages 16 and under. Benefits Friends of Stowe Adaptive Sports. stoweadaptive.com.
100 on 100 Relay A 100-mile team-based distance event along scenic Route 100. Fundraiser for youth charities. Starts at Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe. 100on100.org. AUGUST 15 – 16
NADAC Dog Agility Trials Dogs perform the sport of agility. Topnotch Events Field, Mountain Road, Stowe. Great for spectators. Outside, both days. nomadagility.com. AUGUST 19 – 22
Stowe Tango Festival Workshops, concerts, milongas, dance classes, and Argentinean cultural exhibits. stowetango musicfestival.com
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION
STOWE ANTIQUE C AR CL ASSIC
AUGUST 23
North Face Race to the Top of Vermont A 4.3-mile hill climb up the famous Mt. Mansfield Toll Road in Stowe. Run, mountain bike, or hike to the summit—2,564 vertical feet. BBQ, music, prizes. Benefits Catamount Trail Association. rtttovt.com or (802) 864-5794. AUGUST 29
Cambridge Music Festival Local and regional musicians, food, activities, yoga, fun down on the farm. Times TBD. Cambridge Community Center, 22 Old Main St., Jeffersonville. cambridgemusicfestival.com.
SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 4 – 7
Lawn Fest Crafts, books, reusable items, food sale, more. 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Waterbury Center Community Church. Route 100. (802) 244-8089. SEPTEMBER 5 – 6
Jay Peak Trail Running Family Festival Series of trail races for all abilities (ages 4 and up). Three 5k races on Saturday. 25k and 50k ultra trail race Sunday. All day. Jay Peak Resort, Route 242, Jay. jaypeakresort.com. SEPTEMBER 6
The Darn Tough Ride 45-, 65-, and 100-mile routes. Century ride is the ultimate challenge: Stowe to Johnson and Belvidere and back over Smugglers’ Notch— twice. 20-mile family ride for kids. Start, finish, après ride party at Commodores Inn, Route 100, Stowe. Benefits Friends of Stowe Adaptive Sports. darntoughride.com.
Every Sunday • May 17 - October 11 • 10:30 am - 3 p.m. • Rain or Shine
GOINGS ON
2015 Season
Vermont Fly Fishing Show Two-handed castings demos, spinning, products, and demos. River-fishing demos. Free. Fly Rod Shop, Stowe. (802) 253-7346. flyrodshop.com.
FARM MARKET S GLENN CALLAHAN
SEPTEMBER 11 – 13
SEPTEMBER 12
Chicken Pie Supper Old-fashioned supper in an old-fashioned mountain town. Starts at 5 p.m. until all are served. Waterville Elementary School, Route 109.
Opens June 18 Music/Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by George Furth Originally produced & directed on Broadway by Harold Prince. Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
SEPTEMBER 12 – 13
Stowe Yacht Club: Regional & Team Race Regatta Head over to the Commodores to watch Soling One Meter RC Sailboats. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Commodores Inn, Stowe. (802) 253-7131. SEPTEMBER 17 – 20
Tunbridge World’s Fair Old-fashioned Vermont country fair. Tractor pulls, midway, food, music, animals. Tunbridge, Vt. tunbridgeworldsfair.com.
GLENN CALLAHAN
SEPTEMBER 18
Opens July 16 Based on the Dreamworks Animation Motion Picture & book by William Steig Book & Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire Music by Jeanine Tesori Originally Broadway produced by DreamWorks Theatricals & Neal Street Productions
British Invasion Block Party The British invade Main Street, Stowe. From 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. dance to Joey Leone’s Chop Shop and mingle among beautiful British cars. Local foods and brews. stowevibrancy.com. SEPTEMBER 18 – 20
British Invasion Car Show North America’s largest British classic sports car and motorcycle event. Cultural activities, crafts, auto jumble, and the car corral. Over 600 cars on field. Stowe Events Field, Weeks Hill Road, Stowe. Admission. britishinvasion.com. SEPTEMBER 20
Opens August 20 Book by Richard Nelson Lyrics by Tim Rice Music by Bjorn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson
Stowe Trail Race Series: Trapp Cabin 5 &10k Trail Race Race to Trapp cabin and return on single track or take a shorter but thrilling route. Series race party, prizes, bib raffle, food. $20; $25 race day, $10 ages 16 and under. Benefits Friends of Stowe Adaptive Sports. stoweadaptive.com. SEPTEMBER 26
Stowe Foliage Artisan Market Local artist and artisans as well as musicians along Park Street in Stowe. Local food on the village green. 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. stowevibrancy.com.
Opens September 24 A Very Merry Theatre Creation Adapted from William Shakespeare
To order tickets online: www.stowetheatre.com For additional info: tickets@stowetheatre.com All performances are at the Town Hall Theatre 6 7 Main Street, Stowe 802.253.3961 24
Hardwick Farmers Market Atkins field, 150 Granite Street. Fridays 3 - 6 p.m., Through September. hardwickfarmersmarketvt.com. Jeffersonville Farmers Market Route 108 & 15, behind Smugglers' Notch Distillery. Wednesdays 4:30 to dusk, June 10 to October 7. jeffersonvillefarmersandartisanmarket.com. Johnson Farmers Market Village green, Main Street. Tuesdays 4 7 p.m. June 3 - October 7. Find us on Facebook. Morrisville Farmers Market Fairground Plaza, Hannafords Supermarket. Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Through October. Find us on Facebook. Stowe Farmers Market Route 108 at Red Barn Shops field. Sundays 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Through October 11. stowefarmersmarket.com. Spruce Peak Farmers Market July 10, 17, 24, & 31; Aug. 7, 14, 21, & 28. Agricultural and craft products. Live music, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Spruce Peak’s Stowe Plaza. Fireworks July 3 at dusk. Waterbury Farmers Market Rusty Parker Park, Route 2, downtown Waterbury. Thursdays 3 - 7 p.m. Through mid October. Find us on Facebook.
GOINGS ON
Fall Foliage Workshop Pro nature photographer Gustav Vederber. Registration: dhatoff@stowe.com. Stowe Mountain Resort. (802) 253-3500.
OCTOBER 9 – 11
GLENN CALLAHAN
SEPTEMBER 26
Stowe Foliage Arts Festival 200 artists—fine art, craft, cuisine. Harvest activities, wine tasting, music, craft demos. Vermont beer and sausage tent. Under heated Camelot-style tents. Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Stowe Events Field, Weeks Hill Road. $10, kids free. craftproducers.com.
SEPTEMBER 27
7th Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival Build a trebuchet and send the pumpkins flying. Music, kids’ activities, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. chili cookoff at 12:15 p.m. Proceeds benefit Lamoille Family Center. Stoweflake Mountain Resort, Mountain Road, Stowe.vtpumpkinchuckin.blogspot.com.
OCTOBER OCTOBER 1
Chicken Pie Supper Chicken pie supper with all the fixings. Seatings noon, 5 ,and 6:30 p.m. Waterbury Center Community Church. Reservations: (802) 244-8955. OCTOBER 2
Rocktoberfest Stowe Oktoberfest party, live music. Free. 7 - 11 p.m., under the big tent, Mayo Events Field, Weeks Hill Road. stoweoktoberfest.com.
OCTOBER 10
Chicken Pie Supper OId-fashioned supper. Seatings at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 7 p.m. Stowe Community Church, Main Street. Reservations at (802) 253-7257.
OCTOBER 2 – 4
19th Stowe Oktoberfest Stowe Rotary’s German-style festival under the Big Tent on the Mayo Events Field, Weeks Hill Road. Silent auction, raffles, children’s activities, beer, German food, Oompah bands, music, singing, dancing. Friday: see above. Saturday: Grand parade leads (10 a.m.) to events field; festivities continue 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission. stoweoktoberfest.com.
NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 6 – 7
Santa Workshop Sale Baked goods and cookie sale, homemade crafts, Christmas decorations. Time TBD. Waterbury Center Community Church, Route 100. 244-8089.
OCTOBER 3
RocktoberFest All-day street festival with 5k fun run at Oxbow Park, 9 a.m. Chad Hollister and others perform on the main stage. Chili cook-off, pumpkin bowling, mini golf, face painting, street graffiti, cornhole tournaments, free movies, 4 square competitions, No Strings Marionettes, food, crafts, painted Adirondack chair auction, more. Beer tent. Portland Street, Morrisville. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. rocktoberfestvt.com. Most events free.
GLENN CALLAHAN
STITCH CAMP Join others who love to cross stitch and needlepoint. Wooden Needle, Stowe Village. For dates and times, call (802) 253-3086 or email kathy@wooden-needle.com. n
EXHIBITIONS ART SALES, PUBLIC PROGRAMS, COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Exposed: Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
Fractured: Works on Paper
Helen Day Art Center is a non-profit contemporary arts and education organization in Stowe, Vermont.
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The Best of the Northeast MFA Exhibition
helenday.com Gallery Hours: Wed - Sun, 12-5 Office Hours: Mon - Fri, 9-5 90 Pond Street, Stowe 802-253-8358
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ONE OF THE NICE GUYS Clockwise from top: Lefty Lewis at the Stowe ski bum races at Spruce Peak. At the Sugar Slalom with Dave Merriam. Lefty poses with some “future” Blue Angels.
ART OF THE PLANE F4U-1D Corsair – USMC, VMF-312 Checkerboarders (WWII). Inset: F-4B Phantom II – US Navy, VF-111 Sundowners (1972).
Prints of aviation artwork by Tod Gunter, owner of Plane Profiles aviation art gallery in Stowe, are now sold at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s gift stores, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The initial offerings are illustrations of an F4U-1D Corsair, a World War II fighter, the F-4S Phantom II, a post-Vietnam fighter/bomber, and the P-51D Mustang, a classic from World War II. Each illustration depicts an airplane in the museum’s collection. Gunter, an aviation enthusiast and industrial designer, specializes in technical illustration of aircraft, particularly side views. Every aircraft he illustrates is extensively researched and requires three to four months to complete. His artwork is created on a computer, but no 3D applications are used—everything is rendered “by eye,” as if he were painting on a canvas.
A Stowe woman who was once crowned Miss Teen Vermont USA is now a New England Patriot. Bridget Martin, a 2014 graduate of Stowe High School, has been selected to the Patriots’ 2015 cheerleading squad, one of 28 women who made the cut out of 300 hopefuls from around the country. “I am so humbled to have been selected for the 2015-16 New England Patriots cheerleading squad,” Martin told the Stowe Reporter. “I hope to see a lot of Vermonters at the games and supporting the New England Patriots this season.” The road to the 2015 squad was a hard one. A monthlong audition process included a two-week boot camp, where cheerleaders went through inten-
Gunter’s first art exhibition was in 2013 at Burlington International Airport. ESSENTIALS: Plane Profiles, 4285 Mountain Rd., Stowe. planeprofiles.com.
sive training sessions to test their fitness, dance moves, and public speaking prowess. Chris Eaton, Stowe High School’s hockey and golf coach, had Martin on his varsity golf squad, and said she earned the Kirkwood scholarship her senior year. Eaton said she’s smart, too, graduating in less than four years. “She is a very smart young lady, just came out and did her own thing.” The Patriots cheerleaders rehearse twice a week and perform in front of 70,000 fans at all the team’s home games. In June, the squad travels to Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, to shoot the team’s annual swimsuit calendar and video.
FOR THE FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW, judges in the 2014 New England Newspaper and Press Association Better Newspaper contest ranked the Stowe Guide and Magazine, published and edited by Greg Popa, as the BEST NICHE PUBLICATION IN ITS CLASS. The judges wrote: “For its breadth and impact in a town of 4,000—distribution over 10 times this amount shows the demand and service the magazine provides to area visitors and locals. SOLID CONTENT that takes a bi-fold guide and amplifies it to a LUXURY MAGAZINE.” 30
Dr. Sanduk Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin surrounded by Nepalese at the Dolakha Eye Camp. Inset: Dr. Tabin watches as a man celebrates the return of his eyesight.
ucked into the second-floor of a small office building on Waterbury’s South Main Street is a group that is helping to cure blindness around the world. The Himalayan Cataract Project, co-founded by ophthalmologists Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin, works to reverse preventable blindness in developing nations. Cataracts, a clouding of the eye lens, are one of the most common causes of blindness worldwide, and one of the safest and easiest to fix through surgery. The procedure is commonplace in developed countries. But the problem afflicts up to 20 million people around the world who have no access to modern medical care, says Himalayan Cataract Project CEO Job Heintz. “These are people who are blind, who don’t need to be blind,” says Heintz, who has led the organization for more than a decade. “These are people who could be productive members of society in a matter of minutes.” The Himalayan Cataract Project keeps a low profile locally. A small sign that says cureblindness.org is all that marks its South Main Street offices. The project’s small staff—three people work out of the Waterbury office, including
T
Heintz, Pam Clapp, and Beth O’Grady, the latter two also of Waterbury—supports a core cadre of surgeons who both perform the surgery and, even more importantly, train other doctors, nurses, and health technicians from developing countries in Ruit’s technique. Ruit developed a way to remove and replace the clouded lens manually with little to no scar-
ring. Critical to the technique’s success was the development of a sterile facility at Ruit’s hospital in Kathmandu, where replacement lenses are made and shipped at low cost to 80 countries around the world. With these lenses, a generator, and a supply
of sterile water, the surgeries can be performed equally well at the high-tech hospital or in a stone hut with no running water or electricity. The materials cost just $25, and a trained practitioner can do the surgery within seven minutes, allowing hundreds to be done in one day by a team of two. In a controlled, double-blind study, a leading cataract researcher found that Ruit’s technique and the postoperative care he provides are just as effective as the Western method. The results were published in 2006 in the journal Ophthalmology. “What we never sacrifice is quality,” Heintz says. The organization’s staff estimates that more than 300,000 surgeries have been performed since the founding of the organization. The Himalayan Cataract Project has expanded its work from the Himalayas to Indonesia and to the African nations of Rwanda, Ghana, and Ethiopia, which, like Nepal when they started, has one of the highest percentages of cataract blindness among its population worldwide. —Kristen Fountain
ESSENTIALS: Himalyan Cataract Project is a 501(c)(3) organization. • For more information or to donate, go to cureblindness.org. 32
HIMALAYAN CATARACT PROJECT
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Get Ready for Vermont’s Fifth Season: Construction
Vermont is known for beautiful scenery, historic inns and localvore eating. The last thing we want to be known for is traffic. Summer construction is inevitable. But VTrans provides lots of resources to help you check traffic and suggest ways for your guests to avoid it. Here’s where you can look to see what’s happening in your area:
VTrans On the Road is also printed in the Burlington Free Press, Barre Times Argus and Rutland Herald each Monday.
For up to the minute travel information: 511 is on the web at 511vt.com, Twitter at @511VT, on Facebook at facebook.com/vtransontheroad or talk to an actual human by dialing 511
Looking for information specific to your area? Find project news, links to smart work zones, pavement condition, planned closures as well as Scenic Byways, covered bridges, and other attractions to see along the way at vtrans.vermont.gov.
Listen for VTrans On the Road on your local stations each Monday, 6:00-830 am:
Rather travel by bus and leave the driving to someone else? Check out Go! Vermont at connectingcommuters.org.
WDEV - Central Vermont WLVB - Northern Vermont WWFY - Barre WTSA - Brattleboro WSYB - Rutland/Killington WNYV - Rutland WVNR - Rutland
WGMT - Northeast Kingdom WMOO - Newport WKXH - Northeast Kingdom WVMT - Champlain Valley WSTJ - Northeast Kingdom WCFR - Springfield
www.vtrans.vermont.gov
‘I’ve never been so supported by a community’ Lynn Paparella gets her music on! For 15 years, Lynn Paparella has led Stowe Performing Arts as its executive director. This summer marks the beginning of Stowe Performing Arts’ 40th anniversary season, which begins on Sept. 1 and continues through the final concert in 2016. Lynn also teaches piano and currently has 20 students ages 5 to 15. She lives in Stowe with husband Ron and their two male golden retrievers, Bentley, 9, and Lark, 5. (For information on this summer’s lineup, turn to page 116.)
How did you get started in music? My father grew up singing in a gospel quartet in Tennessee, where I was born. They were called CC Stout and the Gospelaires. One of my mother’s favorite memories is of a date with Daddy when the Gospelaires sang on the stage of the old Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Grand Ole Opry. They didn’t get paid and they weren’t famous but they were ardent and talented musicians. I even have a recording of my 20-year-old father’s beautiful tenor voice singing with the quartet. I grew up singing and sang all the time. By the seventh grade I knew I wanted to be a choral director. I attended Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. I was a vocal major, a mezzo soprano. Every musician had to play an instrument, so I chose piano.
the INTERVIEW
Do you still sing and play the piano? After college I took a 15-year hiatus from singing. During my short career selling silver in the tabletop industry, I met Ron at a trade show in Atlantic City. Ron was a vice president of marketing for Wallace Silversmiths. Eventually Ron left the silver industry and became a financial consultant and we lived in Newburyport, Mass. I started singing with the Newburyport Choral Society, a group of about 150 vocalists. Simultaneously I joined a chamber ensemble. Ron and I had been coming to Stowe off and on over the years, and we met Barbara Evans, who was the church organist at the Stowe Community Church. She invited me to sing for the Christmas candlelight service in 1985. We liked Stowe and commuted back and forth between Stowe and Newburyport for awhile, but when we got our third puppy we decided it was time to stop commuting. In 1997 we bought a house, intending it to eventually be our retirement home, but instead we moved here full time. In 1988 I opened a piano studio and started taking private students. Singing is one of the things that I miss the most in my life. I frequently sing in the car, mostly snippets of choral or vocal music that I studied many years ago. I still play piano and I study with Paula Ennis in Stowe. I took a year off from teaching to study full time with her. She righted many of the wrongs of my checkered playing past.
What is the most important thing you try to convey to your piano students?
GLENN CALLAHAN
Anything can be played musically at any level. And I just want to say that this year has been a really special year. I have a few students who can really go somewhere if they want to.
How did you become involved with Stowe Performing Arts? When people heard I had opened a piano studio I was asked to join Stowe Performing Arts’ board of directors. That was in the fall of 1998. I was on the programming committee and was also the board secretary. At the end of 1999 the director left and I volunteered to be the director, providing I could introduce Asleep at the Wheel when they came the following summer. I did introduce them and it was one of the most thrilling things I’ve done.
You’ve been the director for 15 years. What’s it been like? Everything I’d ever done in my life prepared me for the position. I had a sales background, performance background, public speaking and teaching background, and a lifelong love of music. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED & COMPILED BY KATE CARTER
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The best part is I get to meet the coolest people and the most wonderful performers. The job has brought me into the community in a way I have never experienced in any community before. I very quickly got to know so many people and I’ve never been so supported by a community. It’s been a major growth experience for me.
What are some of the bigger challenges? Our mission is to bring high-quality affordable music to the community. We want it to be affordable and accessible, a tough combination. But the biggest challenge we face now is the weather. Weather is the wild card. We have learned that the Music in the Meadow series at Trapp Family Lodge is wildly popular, not just because of the great musicians we bring, but the whole outdoor picnic experience as well. In the past our rain venue was the Jackson Arena, but when that was being rebuilt we moved to the high school gym, which has great acoustics, but doesn’t have enough space for the number of tickets we can sell. It’s become a balancing act of figuring out how many tickets we can sell and how many people we can accommodate if we have to relocate from the meadow to the gym.
You also do volunteer work. Where do you volunteer? I’ve always been community minded and I love volunteering. I’ve been volunteering in hospitals since I was 20. I was a Pink Lady. I worked in the first freestanding hospice in the country in Connecticut, just outside of New Haven. We were on the cutting edge for hospice. That volunteer job taught me how to live and to appreciate the human spirit. Soon after moving to Stowe in 1997, I interviewed with Lamoille Home Health and Hospice. As much I love hospice work, my schedule prevented me from joining that team. Fortunately, there was an opportunity to volunteer in the oncology clinic at Copley Hospital. In addition to answering my personal call to community service, I made a lot of friends outside of Stowe.
feel beautifully cared for
What do you do in your spare time? I’m a voracious reader. I like to read about the shakers and movers in modern medicine. I’m a Tennessee girl and I love to cook and bake. I’m the one who brings dessert to dinner parties. I also enjoy walking with my dogs. Bentley and Lark join me most frequently in the Notch in the winter. During the summer and fall I favor Cotton Brook and Mt. Mansfield Ski Touring Center. Frankly, though, my favorite place is wherever I am at the moment. I recently found a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” It hangs in my office and helps to keep me in a state of perpetual gratitude for all I have in my life. n
All Aveda cut, color, styling and spa services begin and end with at least one of our five, free Aveda Sensory Rituals – from a Cup of Comforting Tea to a Stress-Relieving Scalp Massage. They’re always complimentary, and part of how we care for the world we live in – we start with you. Experience the Aveda difference – book an appointment today.
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1. Pat and Lori Boucher skiing with friends near Val Thorens
ski resort in the French Alps in February 2015. Van Thorens, in the French commune of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, is the highest ski resort in Europe. The Bouchers picked up Stowe Magazine in January 2015 while on a three-day ski trip at Stowe Mountain Resort. 2. Peigi Guerra and Diane McCarthy, both of Stowe, having craic (fun!) at the Cliffs of Moher in September 2014. Standing 214 meters (702 feet) at their highest point, the cliffs stretch for 8 kilometers (5 miles) along the Atlantic coast of County Clare in the west of Ireland. From the Cliffs of Moher on a clear day one can see the Aran Islands and Galway Bay, as well as the Twelve Pins and the Maumturk mountains in Connemara, and the Dingle Peninsula and Blasket Islands in Kerry. O’Brien’s Tower stands near the highest point and has served as a viewing point for visitors for hundreds of years. 3. Sandra Curro of Belmont, Mass., pauses to read Stowe Magazine while hiking to the ruins of Hrad Pajštún in the town of Borinka, outside of Bratislava, Slovakia. Sandra and her husband, Stephen, recently bought a unit at Village Green condominiums and look forward to many fun years of hiking and skiing at Stowe. “We love your magazine!”
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Do you have a photo of our magazine on some far-flung island or rugged mountain peak? Send a high-res copy to us at ads@stowereporter.com, with Stowe Magazine in the subject line. We’ll pick the best one—or three!—and run it in a future edition.
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The Yoga Barn–a serene yoga studio located behind Well Heeled–offers a full range of classes from vigorous flow to restorative practices. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned yogi, the talented instructors at our peaceful studio offer something for everyone. 2850 Mountain Road, Stowe • behind Well Heeled • theyogabarnstowe@gmail.com • theyogabarnstowe.com
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MATT BRUHNS
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hen a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor flops, it gets buried. Literally. The flavor is put to rest in a tiny plot in a small cemetery on top of a hill that overlooks the ice-cream giant’s Waterbury Center factory. The pleasant cemetery features a picket fence, a stairway to heaven, and views of the Worcester Range. Each of the 31 defunct flavors gets its own tombstone, and a four-line eulogy, contributed by copywriter Mitch Curren, sums up each flavor’s essence.
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The Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard is an add-on to the factory tour, and visitors gravitate to the site to pay their respects to gone-but-notforgotten flavors. The first four to kick the bucket had short lives and were ultimately laid to rest in a mass burial: Dastardly Mash (19791991); Economic Crunch (1987-1987); Ethan Almond (1988-1988); and Tuskegee Chunk (1989-1990). Each tombstone had a Ben & Jerry’s emblem at the top, but the Town of Waterbury likened the labels to billboard adver-
tising, so in 1999 insignias bearing each flavor’s name replaced the emblems. Brand manager Dave Stever came up with the idea of the Flavor Graveyard nearly two decades ago when he was a tour guide. At first the graveyard lived only online, adding a bit of levity to the Ben & Jerry’s website. But as more flavors bit the dust, the company established a physical location to mourn the departed. End-of-life decisions are usually based on poor sales, the unavailability of ingredients, or less-than-ideal concepts, explains Amy Weller, director of logistics and factory tour marketing. “Some concepts transition into ice cream better than others,” she says, although one can’t help wondering if a flavor’s demise is the result of its evocative name. Take, for example, Schweddy Balls (vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and loaded with fudge-covered rum and malt balls, and based on a Saturday Night Live skit spoofing a fictitious NPR show, The Delicious Dish, with Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Alec Baldwin. How could you even lift a spoonful?
The most recent flavors to be interred are Crème Brulee (sweet custard ice cream with a caramelized sugar swirl), Turtle Soup (vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered caramel cashews and a caramel swirl), and Fossil Fuel (sweet cream ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces, fudge dinosaurs, and a fudge swirl). For some flavors, death is not a permanent condition. There’s a chance at reincarnation. The popular Coffee Heath Bar Crunch came back as Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch, and Heath Bar Crunch returned as Vanilla Toffee Bar Crunch. “We are using different toffee bars as part of our commitment to source fair-tradecertified and non-GMO ingredients,” Weller explains. Only one flavor has ever returned from the dead—White Russian (coffee ice cream with Kahlua coffee liqueur), making ghostly appearances at scoop shops. The Flavor Graveyard is a fun walk down memory lane for Ben & Jerry’s fans, and the tombstones are purely symbolic eulogies. No spade has ever turned the soil to bury a pint, and no pint has ever been cream-ated. —Kate Carter PAUL ROGERS
A BEST SMALL TOWN Stowe is one the 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2015, according to smithsonianmag.com. ••• For Smithsonian’s 4th annual version of its list, it’s once again employed ESRI, a geographical information company, “to sort the nation’s small towns (those with a population under 20,000) according to their number of cultural attractions, historical sites, nature opportunities, and food-and-drink destinations, then researched to find the places commemorating important anniversaries, openings, renovations, recoveries and other milestones in 2015.” ••• Here’s Smithsonian’s writeup: “It’s not every day you can stay in a resort run by one of the first families in musical theater history, but the Trapp Family Lodge, founded by the von Trapps of Sound of Music fame, is managed by their descendants. Celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary by skiing part of the resort’s 2,500 acres, sampling some of its brewery’s traditional German and Austrian-style beer, or taking a family history tour featuring a Q&A with one of the von Trapp descendants. Stowe is also home to the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame (which hosts a film fest, races, and other events) but it’s not only about the powder here. ... In Stowe, you can take in everything from vaudeville to Nashville at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center (located at the foot of Vermont’s highest mountain), or enjoy the exhibits at the Helen Day Arts Center, where the annual outdoor sculpture exhibit, Exposed, melds Vermont’s famous natural beauty with artistic creations.”
AT THE TOP, AGAIN!
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THE RED TENT: NOTED AUTHOR IN STOWE Noted author Anita Diamant is coming to Stowe. The author of 12 books, Diamant is expected to discuss her latest novel, The Boston Girl, the popularity of her first book, The Red Tent, her books on contemporary Jewish life, her career as an author and journalist, and the influences of Judaism on her work. Although much of her historical fiction revolves around
biblical Jewish life, her writings appeal to a broad audience. The Red Tent, published in 1997, became a worldwide, word-of-mouth bestseller, and was adapted into a two-part TV miniseries starring Minnie Driver and Debra Winger. The Boston Globe calls Diamant’s latest book, The Boston Girl, “Ravishing… whipsmart, warm, and full of feeling… deeply pleasurable… you can’t help wanting to linger.” The Boston Girl follows the story of Addie Baum, born in 1900 to immigrant parents, whose intelligence and curiosity take her through the tumultuous social changes of 20th
century women: a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture, and new opportunities her parents couldn’t imagine. Diamant has also written six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, while Pitching My Tent is a collection of her personal essays, drawn from 20 years of newspaper and magazine columns. An award-winning journalist, her articles have appeared in countless publications. Diamant is also founding president of Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh, a 21st century reinvention of the ritual bath as a place for exploring ancient traditions and enriching contemporary Jewish life.
ESSENTIALS: Anita Diamant • Event / post-talk reception, Jewish Community of Greater Stowe • July 30 at 7:30 p.m. • For tickets: jcogs.com
MAIL BAG HEY, THAT’S OUR DAD
GREAT JOB NANCY!
To the editor:
To the editor:
Seeing the story about Greg Morrill’s book (“Retro Ski: Stowe author looks back,” Stowe Guide & Magazine, Winter/Spring 2014-15) brought back a lot of memories. The skier depicted on Morrill’s book cover is our father, Roman Wickart, who immigrated from Switzerland in 1950. Our dad’s travels in America took him from Sun Valley, Idaho, to Berthoud Pass, Colo., where he taught skiing. He eventually made his way to Stowe to join the Sepp Ruschp Ski School. In 1956, Dad met his future wife, Jean Edwards, while she was selling lift tickets (coupons) at Spruce Peak. He taught for Sepp until the early 1960s. In 1968, Jean and Roman formed the Morrisville Junior Ski Program because they wanted to see local children get an opportunity to learn how to ski. Forty-seven years later between 150 to170 students still sign up every year to ski, thanks to the generosity of Stowe Mountain Resort. Debora and Susan Wickart, Morrisville, Vt.
While in Stowe yesterday I picked up the Stowe Guide & Magazine. Wow, what a wonderful article (“A grand, but not so big, house,” Winter/Spring 2014-15, Nancy Wolfe Stead). You really captured the essence of the design intent and the collaborative process. It doesn’t often happen when a writer interviews all of the main participants of a design/build project. It really helps the reader to envision how it all comes together. Very, very well done Nancy. Cindy Knauf Cynthia Knauf Landscape Design, Inc., Burlington
SNOW DAY A HIGHLIGHT To the editor: Another gorgeous edition! Especially loved seeing Pete Hartt’s article, “Snow Day,” in this issue (Stowe Guide & Magazine, Winter/Spring 2014-15). You’ve done Stowe proud again. Carol Crawford, Concierge, Topnotch Resort
KIENER’S STORY JUST ‘GOT IT’ To the editor:
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I am humbled and thankful about Rob Kiener’s article about our son, Christopher. (“It takes a village,” Stowe Guide & Magazine, Summer/Fall 2014) Friends have come to me with tears in their eyes to tell me about it. It was amazing. Thank you again. Rob got it. Kristin Grimes, Stowe
THANKS FOR INCLUDING US To the editor: What a pleasure it was working with Nancy Stead on the article on our house in the winter/spring issue (“A grand, but not so big, house,” Stowe Guide & Magazine, Winter/Spring 2014-15). The house we built in 1998 has been written about extensively in books and other magazine articles. However, it took Nancy to write what we consider the best piece done to date about the house. She really got it! Nancy is an excellent listener and took the time to understand our goals and process. She also did independent research regarding the Not So Big philosophy advocated by our architect. From interviewing our builder and our landscape architect, to acknowledging local craftsmen, and even identifying some of the unusual plantings in the garden, Nancy was able to take the reader on the same journey that we had followed in building the house. She carefully helped to select photos to illustrate the story, and arranged for Glenn Callahan to supplement the larger photos with appealing detail shots. Thank you for including our house in your diverse and comprehensive issue and for selecting Nancy to write the story. We’re proud to be included in this edition with its dazzling photos, fascinating stories of Stowe’s rich cultural heritage, and community spirit. Maureen and Ed Labenski, Stowe
Ed and Sarah Rovetto and Suzy and Andre Blais.
COMPILED BY MOLLY TRIFFIN
A Night in Oz at Stowe Mountain Lodge: Helen Day Art Center benefit, March 28.
Audra and Michael Hughes, Giulia Eliason, Erik Eliason, Toni Barr, Vanessa and Lance Violette.
Jose & Monica Irauzqui.
Tracy and Brad Bechtel, Mark John Wykoff, Amy Santanello, Mark MacDonald, Robin and Scott Coggins, Alison Beckwith, Sarah MacDonald, and Beth and Rick Stram.
David Wilkens and Molly Pindell.
Jacquie Mauer, Andrea Hamor, and Martha Mask.
Tim and Dahsa Bettencourt.
Bryan and Stephanie Ferro.
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Christy Carlson, Mila Lonetto, Jeremy Peterman, Kelly McElligott, Sam Sequist, Chris Roncarati, Lupe Peterman, and Lisbeth Roncarati.
Tom & Sam Sequist
Dave Carter and Tom Nolting.
Studio 108 Dancers Mary Jane Crouse, Stephanie Justine, SimoneYoukel, and Bonnie Rand.
Ladies Night at the Ski Museum: Susan Gayle and Sarah Greiche.
Marion Baraw and CarolLynne Kirch.
Clarina Howard Nichols Center benefit, Nov. 21
Dana and Andy Freeman. Pascale Savard, Josi Kytle, and Brenda Goss. Jana Ross and Shauna Nichols.
Jane Ralph, executive director of Clarina Howard Nichols Center.
Bob Oleson, Mike Goodman, Jim Fleming, David Zabel, Tricia Oleson, Cary Goodman, Nancy Fleming, and Remy Joseph. Cynthia Needham and Meredith Scott.
Performing Break the Chain.
Joanne Heath, Denise Morton, Wendy Nunez, and Kathy Tilton.
Richarda and Jay Ericson.
Devon Williams and Anne Salvas.
Nancy Colbourn, Luis Calderin, Julie Calderin, and Mike Colbourn.
Alison Karosas, Anne Salvas, Brenda Brochhausen, and Monique Duckworth.
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Alex Fenner plates it up for Crop.
Max Vogel, Alex Fenner, and Dylan Moore-Czaja from the Crop Bistro.
Iron Chef at Sushi Yoshi: Stowe Education Fund Benefit, April 1. Brad Goulette and Jason Pacioni of Black Diamond Barbeque.
Kevin O'Grady and Jon Heyliger from O’Grady’s.
Iron Chef judges: Quinn Delahanty, Max Overstrom-Coleman, Ani Petrolito, Esbert Cardenas, Mary Windler, Ashley Airoldi.
Holly and Mark Rochefort, Terry Smith, and Gail Shinners.
Menagerie Goes to Woodstock: North Country Animal League benefit, Feb. 7.
Karen Wagner, Dominique Root, Alison Beckwith, Angela Winchell, and Sebastian Sweatman.
Jenny Walton, NCAL president, and Karen Wagner. Chad Heiss, Lisa and Tony Walton, and Connie Riggs.
Marilyn Mayhall. 44
CREDITS: LADIES NIGHT / HEATHER GLENN; IRON CHEF / KRISTEN BRALEY; A NIGHT IN OZ / PETER CIRILLI; AND MENAGERIE GOES TO WOODSTOCK / ORAH MOORE.
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GLENN CALLAHAN
RURAL ROUTE
VIOLIN MAN
ave Day is a classic Renaissance man. His interests are broad and far reaching, but his favorite topic is medieval history, with a focus on English Gothic architecture, furniture, and embellishments. By trade Day is a cabinetmaker, but he calls himself an arkwright, an early English term you won’t find in the dictionary. It comes from “ark,” an old word for storage container, and “wright,“ for mechanic or maker. As an arkwright, Day once specialized in building English Gothic furniture from drawings and plans he found online. But people don’t need boxes anymore, nor do they need coffer chairs or Tudor tables. Instead, people today need cabinets, dressers, vanities, and bookshelves. So Day builds those in his woodworking shop, just south of
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Lately Day’s interests have shifted to something entirely different, but still involving his favorite element, wood. He is immersed in the art of violin making. Day has played violin for years, mostly Appalachian and Irish classics, and now Scandinavian and Swedish fiddle music. “Being a woodworker it felt silly that I didn’t have an understanding of a violin’s body,” he says. “I decided it was time to learn how to make one.” Day began researching violin-making schools. “All of them are four-year programs, and I could not make that big of an investment,” he says. “It would be a cliff dive and not fair to my family. So I kept researching and found Newark-on-Trent’s violin-making school in England.” The internationally renowned School of Musical Instrument Crafts, based at Newark College, provides a wide range of practical instrument-making skills for violin, viola, and cello.
For his violin Dave chose tiger maple for the body, boxwood for the tailpiece and pegs, and ebony and pear for the purfle. “It’s pretty amazing how little has changed over time in making a violin,” he says. “While in England I went to a Stradivarius exhibit. Everything that was there is still the same way we do it today. There is no way to improve upon it.” Day had his violin appraised in England and the price came in higher than his trip’s cost. “I think the back is a little thick,” he notes. But no worries—one of the beauties of custom-made violins is how easy they are to dismantle. “I can pop off the back and shave it down. It’s always a work in progress, kind of a black hole. ... I’m constantly making adjustments to it. My wife Melissa calls it the other woman.” Now that Day’s three sons are grown and out of the house, he’s contemplating his future. Does
“I can pop off the back and shave it down. It’s always a work in progress, kind of a black hole. Right now I can see the bridge is warped. I’m constantly making adjustments to it. My wife Melissa calls it the other woman.” Stowe Village behind Parker & Stearns. “I found the reality was that I didn’t sell linenfold doors, so I switched to building things people wanted. I needed to make a living,” he says. Day started D.A. Day Woodworks in 1988. His clients find him through word of mouth. A few architects who respect his work ethic, knowledge, and skills often recommend him. Custom orders are global. This spring he filled a container with an ensemble of custom bookcases, shelving, and cabinets, and is shipping them to Bermuda. 46
Day spent four months at the school during the summer of 2013, learning everything he could about the craft from some of the greatest violin makers alive today. “I wanted to make one playable violin by the time I left,” he says. He worked on his violin nonstop and the end result is a pretty instrument with a clear, rich tone. Day says an understanding of and experience with wood helped him immensely. “Knowing what the grain will do and a wood’s stress level are important,” he explains. “Wood is a magical element. There is no waste with wood.”
he have it in him to continue with D.A. Day Woodworks? Maybe it’s time to change gears and focus on his newfound passion. “There is no shortage of violins,” he says. “The trick is getting them to sound good. I think I’d like to reshape existing violins and improve their tones.” Day is in no hurry. For now he’ll continue to craft beautiful containers for modern use. But if you stop by his shop, don’t be surprised if you come face-to-face with a violin suspended in front of a speaker, having its grain readjusted by the vibration of thundering decibels. —Kate Carter
Canoe & Kayak Tours, Lessons, Repairs, Airport Shuttle Service
Fun & Adventure for Family & Friends!
We Go When You Do!
Local River Tours Paddle down one of our many scenic river trips in the heart of the beautiful Green Mountains while surrounded by forests, pastures, and dairy farms. Our tours, offered daily, are customized to your schedule, time allotment, paddle style, and water level. They can vary from 1-8 hours or even a two-day overnight. Our Classic Tours and Specialty Tours can be self guided or guided. They are on easy class I quick water (steady moving flat water) with no portages or rapids. Bert’s Boats has a big selection of Specialty Tours including favorites such as: The Boyden Valley Winery Tour, Sunset Tour, Ice Cream Tour, Peterson Gorge Tour, and a Two-Day Overnight. Bert’s Boats also customizes Large Group Tours for your special group of friends, family, or event. If you can dream it up we can do it. Bert’s Boats offers professional Repairs on all canoe and kayak styles and materials. Daily Rentals available for you to take where you want.
Contact us at 802-644-8189 / Call us 24/7 Email: tours@bertsboats.com Web: www.bertsboats.com River Outpost: @ 5399 Vt. Route 15 Jeffersonville, Vermont
Let the Adventures Begin!
Solely owned & operated by Ken “BERT” Roberts
BROOKFIELD HISTORICAL COMMISSION
RURAL ROUTE ENGINEERED Two scenes of Brookfield’s famous floating bridge, which reopened in May. A young girl walks across the bridge, 2002. A colorized postcard of the bridge and surrounding area, early 1900s.
It’s been a long time coming, but Brookfield’s unique floating bridge is floating once again. The bridge across Sunset Lake in Brookfield appears to be one of only a few floating bridges in the country. Seven versions of the floating bridge have spanned the lake since the first one was built in 1820. Safety concerns closed the bridge in 2008, making drivers travel a few miles out of their way to reach the other side of the lake. According to The History of Vermont, published by the Brookfield Historical Society, builders constructed the first bridge during the winter by nailing wooden planks onto logs, which were supported by the lake’s thick coat of ice. Once the ice melted the next spring, Brookfield had its first floating bridge. The original builders devised the floating bridge concept, since the lake’s depth, believed to be about 200 feet in spots, made normal bridge construction methods impractical. The logs worked as flotation devices, but proved problematic. As older ones got waterlogged, decayed, and lost their buoyancy, they needed to be regularly replaced. A new bridge in 1884 used barrels as flotation devices. The most recent bridge, built in 1936 and reconstructed in 1978, was 318-feet long and 20-feet wide. Elevated sidewalks about four feet wide flanked each side of a lower, 12-foot wide, wood-plank travel lane. That bridge, built so the deck hovered above the water, floated on a connected group of about 400 fifty-gallon barrels. Over time, the barrels cracked and leaked, which lowered the bridge deck closer to the water’s surface,
causing water to wash over the bridge, wetting a vehicle’s wheels on the trip across the lake. This quirk endeared the historic bridge to many, but also revealed the need for a safer, and more structurally secure, solution. Reconstruction began in 2013 at a cost of nearly $2.4 million. The new bridge is slightly longer and wider than its predecessor, yet has “a design that preserves the structure and aesthetics of the old bridge,” according to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. In fact, this unique bridge design thrills Jennifer Fitch, the agency’s project manager for the bridge. She loves the “old meets new” aspect of the project, and while the new bridge resembles the old one, Fitch points out that the bridge now includes “a state-of-the-art flotation system.” The new system employs 10 specially designed pontoons connected to form five large rafts, upon which the bridge’s wooden deck, runners, and raised sidewalks are attached. The sidewalks are wider to meet disability regulations, and the pontoons are made with a special fiber reinforced polymer that should give the bridge a useful life of about 100 years. As a result, the floating bridge now does truly float, and lake water will no longer flow over a partially sunken bridge deck. The new bridge also includes 51-foot-long ramps on each end to let the bridge adjust to the lake’s changing water depth without becoming dislocated. According to Josh Olund, a bridge engineer with the firm of T.Y. Lin International, which has also worked on this project, the new bridge has a posted vehicle weight limit of three tons, though the bridge’s design has tolerance for extra weight. Certain types of vehicles are not allowed, and traffic will continue to be one-way, meaning drivers on one side of the bridge must wait until drivers from the other side exit the span. The bridge is open seasonally and will close once ice forms on the lake, and whenever snowfalls require plowing the bridge deck. The new distance from the water to the top of the deck is about 28 inches, says Olund. The state expects 180 vehicles to cross the bridge on an average summer day. As for the old bridge, Paul Holloway, a project manager with the Miller Construction Company, says it “was taken apart piece by piece, and is now stored away for potential future use.” This long-awaited replacement of the floating bridge is welcomed by the Brookfield community. “The bridge is very linked to the history and character of the town, and there is tremendous community enthusiasm associated with the bridge’s reopening,” says Perry Kacik, chairperson of the Brookfield Floating Bridge Celebration Committee. Both the bridge and surrounding village area are on the National Register of Historic Places, which Kacik says helped the project to go forward more quickly. A May 23 bridge reopening ceremony included a ribbon cutting, entertainment, food, exhibits, and a parade across the new bridge. Bridge crossings are free, as neither new fees nor old logs are now needed to keep Brookfield’s floating bridge afloat. —Kevin M. Walsh
ESSENTIALS: From Stowe, take Route 100 to Interstate 89 south. Take exit 5 (Vermont Route 64 E toward Williamstown). Make a left onto Stone Road and follow it to Vermont Route 65 in Brookfield. 48
Visit beautiful Greensboro on Caspian Lake SCENIC 30-MILE DRIVE FROM STOWE Shopping • Swimming • Hiking • Sightseeing • Arts • Events
Sailing on Caspian Lake Painting by Deborah Holmes “If we don’t have it, then you probably don’t need it.”
THE WILLEY’S STORE ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Grocery Housewares Clothing Beer & Wine Jasper Hill Cheeses
802-533-2621
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Since 1900 Hardware Hunting & Fishing Local Meats & Produce Vermont Specialty Foods Capitol Grounds Coffee Bar
855-533-2621
Mon.-Fri. 7-6 / Sat. & Sun. 8-6 • info@willeysstore.com • Like us on Facebook
Vermont’s own award-winning international youth circus
CATCH US AT SMIRKUS WORLD HQ CIRCUS BARN IN GREENSBORO
SEASON OPENER JUNE 28 2 SHOWS! SEASON FINALE AUG 14-15 3 SHOWS!
TICKETS! SMIRKUS.ORG OR CALL 877-SMIRKUS TOUR DATES ACROSS NY AND NEW ENGLAND ALL SUMMER GROUP RATES CALL 802-533-7443 X27
A TASTE OF PLACE — GREENSBORO, VT. Jasper Hill Farm cheeses available at The Willey’s Store
GLENN CALLAHAN
RURAL ROUTE
Couple follows family traditions When your stepmother is well-known herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, it might mean that rosemary—and a lot of other herbs—runs in the family. Gladstar’s stepdaughter, Melanie, and Jeff Carpenter have grown and sold medicinal herbs for 16 years, cultivating over 40 varieties on their 30-acre certified-organic medicinal herb farm in Hyde Park. You might say herb growing is in their blood. The couple owns 10 of those 30 acres, leasing the other 20 from neighbors. Half of the acreage is in production and the other half is under rotation with cover crops. They till and they fill and they still can’t meet the public’s demand for their medicinal herbs. Rosemary must be proud. “There is room in the market for many more farms to grow herbal medicine,” says Melanie. “The demand for locally sourced high-quality medicinal herbs is huge, and we would like to see other people do what we are doing. I would like to see growers in every county in the United States.” Jeff echoes the sentiment. “So much is being imported from overseas. It’s bewildering, because we can produce the same plants right here on our own soils.” Before they began farming, Jeff and Melanie ran an herbal business, Sage Mountain Herb Products. “We were getting dried and fresh herbs domestically and from overseas to make tinctures and salves, but the herbs 50
weren’t as vital as they should be,” Jeff says. Ultimately, that frustration in not being able to source vibrant product led them to grow their own. The couple went from selling herbal products—a very profitable home business—to farming on a small scale, while developing specific growing techniques along the way. “We are pioneers in the field of certified-organic medicinal herb farming in Vermont,” Jeff says. “We have reached a place where we are making a living and still not meeting our potential.” Their business—Zack Woods Herb Farm—is both wholesale and retail. About 75 percent of their sales is within 100 miles of the farm, and 25 percent is from beyond. Internet sales of dried or live nursery plants, tinctures, and teas drive half of their business. The other half comes from wholesale sales to Vermont shops and markets that sell Zack Woods Herb Farm herbs and products, and to people who are making products, such as soaps, salves, and potpourris. They have one full-time year-round office manager, Bethany Bond, three full-time seasonal employees, and three part-time seasonal employees. Jeff, born and raised in Barre, is a descendant of farmers and as a child was always attracted to relatives’ farms. After a year in college—he hoped to work in the ski industry and nurture his passion for skiing—he joined the Coast Guard as a diver and rescue swimmer. Then he met Melanie, who rekindled his interest in farming. Melanie, who also grew up in Orange County, studied biology and education, and became a teacher. She was principal of Stowe Middle School for five years, but missed working with plants, being outdoors, and working
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CERTIFIED HERBS Melanie and Jeff Carpenter with newly planted flats in the greenhouse. Inset: Rosemary sprouts through the soil.
the land. It was in her blood, and it was time to heed the call of the herb. Enter Rosemary Gladstar, Melanie’s stepmother and owner of Sage Mountain Retreat Center & Native Plant Preserve, one of New England’s foremost learning centers for herbs and earth awareness. Melanie grew up learning about herbs, spending much of her time at Sage Mountain with Rosemary. At age 16, along with her sister, Jennifer Slick, and under Rosemary’s tutelage, she started Sage Mountain Herb Products. Jeff also apprenticed with Rosemary Gladstar, and worked with Melanie in their shared passion at Sage Mountain Herbal Products (now operated by Andrea and Matthias Reisen of Healing Spirits Herb Farm and Education Center in western New York). The two have worked together for 22 years and have been married for 17. Their daughter, Lily, like her parents, is learning the hands-on method of growing herbs at a young age. “There is a rapidly growing interest in herb farming from aspiring herbalists and vegetable farmers wanting to diversify. We receive calls and emails all the time from people asking for information and resources,” says Jeff. The couple willingly and enthusiastically shares their knowledge and experience with others, and recently partnered in forming the Vermont Herb Growers Co-op, which has received federal and state funding. “We are not advocating for big ag business, but for mid-sized farms,” Jeff explains. “Mono-cropping is not the way to go.” This past winter the duo tackled what could be their biggest project yet. They co-authored The Organic Medicinal Herb Farm (Chelsea Green Publishing, 8x10, 416 pages, $39.95). “We could not find a comprehensive how-to book, so we wrote it,” Jeff says. “We hope the book and the new co-op will help others who want to specialize in medicinal herb farming.” “There’s a lot of collaboration in sharing medicinal herb knowledge,” Melanie adds. “We hope that with the co-op and the book we can continue to collaborate and help others find the same success we have.” —Kate Carter ESSENTIALS: Zack Woods Herb Farm, 278 Mead Rd., Hyde Park. (802) 888-7278, zackwoodsherbfarm@gmail.com.
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RURAL ROUTE
BAND RECORDS IN STOWE eep Purple. Remember them? Smoke on the Water … Perfect Strangers … Highway Star … crowned in 1972 by The Guinness Book of World Records as the “globe’s loudest band,” when in a concert at the London Rainbow Theatre their sound reached 117 decibels. Three fans lost consciousness from the intense pressure created by that much sound in such an enclosed space. Maybe you don’t remember Deep Purple or don’t especially care for eardrum-piercing music, but clearly some people do. This British hardrock band, which first formed in 1962 and has gone through several phases and band members, is still going strong with a loyal following. Deep Purple has 24 albums to its credit, and two were made in Stowe, Vermont: Perfect Strangers in 1984 and The House of Blue Light in 1986. According to a 1987 article in the Chicago Tribune, “Deep Purple recorded their latest album (The House of Blue Light) in Stowe, Vt., where they also made Perfect Strangers. They were planning to use Long View Farm Studios in central Massachusetts—where the Rolling Stones rehearsed in 1981—but couldn’t find sufficient accommodations for their families. So they again became unlikely celebrities in Stowe, where a plaque commemorating their stay hangs on the wall of a pub they frequented.” A few local hard-rock fans remember the Deep Purple days. Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux remembers them well, but not for the reasons that come to mind. Marcoux was a young police officer in Stowe in 1984. “As part of my duties I would visit the bars,” Marcoux explains.
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band known as “Mark II.” Members included Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Paice (drums), Ian Gillan (lead vocals), Roger Glover (bass), and Jon Lord (keyboards), who has since died. They didn’t intend to cut an album when they landed in Stowe, but the reunion soon became more than happy memories and clever toasts. Jam sessions ensued, songwriters collaborated, and next thing you know they were recording Perfect Strangers. Picking up where they left off, Perfect Strangers was met with generally favorable reviews. Their fans welcomed them back, and the album went gold and platinum around the world. Colin Hart, Deep Purple’s tour manager who now lives in Longwood, Fla., says Stowe was recommended as an out-ofthe-way location for the band’s reunion, and he came up on a scouting trip to find a place for the band to stay. Hart worked with a local real-estate agent and found The Horizons, a property at the top of Weeks Hill Road. It had a huge basement where the band could practice and compose new songs. With no recording studio at hand, they hired Le Mobile Studio, a Canadian recording studio housed in a tractor trailer, and recorded the album using Le Mobile’s equipment. “We had such a good time in Stowe,” remembers Hart, who has maintained a long-lasting friendship with Roger Marcoux. “The people were great, the pubs and food were great. No one bothered us. The people of Stowe gave us all the privacy we
“They were good guys, not pompous or superior. They were just guys who were in a band, they liked to play soccer, have a drink, and party. We were not allowed to hang out with them when they worked, but they always said they’d see us for a drink later.” —Glenn Jones, Stowe
“The band liked to hang out in one bar called The Pub, owned by Richard Hughes, and he introduced me to them.” Marcoux was 25 back then, and came from a musical family. “I was into that kind of music and Deep Purple was my favorite band. I jammed with them a couple of times during practice,” he says. He also helped organize local athletes to play soccer with them. “They took their soccer very seriously. I have very fond memories of that time. They were on top of their game, successful, and also very gracious.” Deep Purple’s reunion stay in Stowe in 1984 followed an eight-year hiatus. This was not the original Deep Purple, but the incarnation of the 52
needed. It was a really comfortable situation. Very relaxing and totally different from the usual rock-and-roll lifestyle. The reunion album was special. Lots of smiling and happy faces.” In a 1985 Boston Globe story about the release of Perfect Strangers, Deep Purple’s bassist Roger Glover said, “In Stowe, people accepted us as just a bunch of long-haired idiots that rented the house up the road. Stowe is a small town and most people didn’t give a damn who we were.” It was such a good experience that Deep Purple returned in December 1986 to record House of the Blue Light. They rented
COURTESY GLENN JONES AND COLIN HART
SMOKE ON THE WATER Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Bron, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, and Roger Glover at Gillan’s 1984 wedding in Stowe at David Hunt’s house. The Perfect Stranger platinum album, given to the Town of Stowe, hung on the wall at The Pub, where the band liked to hang out. Pub owner Richard Hughes took it when he sold the bar. Glover and Gillan jamming in the basement of the Horizons House. Glenn Jones, who partied with the band in the 1980s, says the late Sue Hudson, of Fairfax, Vt., was the inspiration for one of Deep Purple’s songs.
various houses throughout Stowe, and once settled, their families joined them. They again used Le Mobile Studio, which they set up at The Stowe Playhouse, a building that eventually became the Rusty Nail nightclub. Glenn Jones, who works security at Stoweflake Mountain Resort, was a cook at the Pub in 1986. “I wasn’t a musician, but I partied with them and hung out at the bar. I was a Motown boy from Detroit and didn’t even know their music,” he says. “They were good guys, not pompous or superior. They were just guys who were in a band, they liked to play soccer, have a drink, and party. We were not allowed to hang out with them when they worked, but they always said they’d see us for a drink later.” Jones remembers shuttling equipment to the airport for the band. “When we got there we were hanging around inside. Ian Gillan bought a shot of Northern Comfort. He was laughing and joking around. He popped the cap and gulped it down. He was expecting booze and got maple syrup. Of course all us locals knew, but he was completely surprised. He said it tasted real good.” Deep Purple continues to tour, but the band has changed. Hart, who ended his rock-and-roll touring business in 2001, saw them in 2014 in Orlando. “It was a good show. I was pleased they invited me. They are still a great live band.” —Kate Carter 53
COURTESY PHOTO
RURAL ROUTE
Stowe cheer
A VERY DICKENS CHRISTMAS
a
Dickens Christmas in Stowe Festival is bringing some good, old-fashioned Victorian merriment to Stowe Village. Step out into the village this December and you’ll feel like you’ve just walked into a scene from Charles Dickens’ Victorian London. Families from near and far will thrill to experience an enchanted journey back in time as characters from Dickens novels stroll in the streets, mingle with the common folk, and entertain one and all. Be amazed as Father Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge, the Town Crier, Oliver Twist, chimney sweeps, and even a pickpocket or two wander the streets. Costumed vendors will peddle their wares from street stalls laden with holiday food and drink, Victorian inspired crafts, clothing, jewelry, holiday decorations, and gifts in the Dickens marketplace. Strolling carolers, bell ringers, and roving musicians will fill the streets with enchanting sounds from another era. Children will lead a torchlight parade to Main Street, which will be magically transformed with thousands of glistening lights on the trees, and charming old-world decorations on houses and shops. All will want to dig out their finest for Tiny Tim’s People’s Choice Contest for the best dressed. For the kids: A scavenger hunt, Christmas cracker making, cookie decorating, Punch and Judy puppet shows, horse and cart rides, skating and sledding, and visits with Santa Claus at Stowe Mercantile. For the more advanced in age: A traditional Victorian tea and crumpet afternoon tea service at the Green Mountain Inn, and Mr. Fezziwig’s After Dark Pub Nights at all the village restaurants. The Dickens Festival will include live performances of A Christmas Carol: The Musical at the Town Hall Theatre over two weekends. A Dickens Christmas in Stowe Festival is presented by Stowe Vibrancy and sponsored by Stowe Mercantile.
This October, the Stowe Mountain Bike Club will host the 5th Leaf Blower Fall Classic mountain-bike event. With group rides led by locals for all abilities and endurance levels, the Leaf Blower has become perhaps the most popular event on the bike club’s calendar. Each year, close to 200 riders from all over New England gather to either leaf blower sample or feast on all of the awesome riding that Stowe has to offer, from smooth machine-built flow trails to old-school technical singletrack. New last year were family rides and kid rides, and this year Stowe Mountain Bike Club will add rides for teens. After the ride, the party continues with food, beverages, live music, and giveaways. Follow the club at stowemountainbike.com as details emerge.
FALL CLASSIC
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MIKE HITELMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
ESSENTIALS: 2015 Dickens Festival, Dec. 3 - 6. Contact Nancy Jeffries-Dwyer, nancy@njoyevent.com or (802) 229-8665. Look for the upcoming website!
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R A C E D AY HARDCORE Rob Mann of Colchester crosses the finish line in the Catamount Ultra. A group of runners on trail in the woods at Trapp Family Lodge.
C A T A M O U N T U LT R A
Going beyond the marathon at Trapps STORY
/ Mark Aiken
PHOTOGRAPHS
/ Phil White
The trail ultra—one of the fast-growing niches in the sport of running— has finally landed in Stowe. “I was surprised,” says Will Robens, race director of the Catamount Ultra, “that with all the runners in this community, it seemed like there would be a race here.” Well, now there is: the second running of the Catamount Ultra—offering 25k and 50k distances—takes place at Trapp Family Lodge on June 27. For those less versed in the lexicon of modern running (or for those who stopped following the sport after Bill Rodgers last won the Boston Marathon in 1980), you should first understand that the marathon distance is no longer the pinnacle of running. The term “ultra” refers to any distance greater than the 26.2-mile marathon distance. Last year, there were over 800 ultras nationwide. Trail running has also seen an explosion in popularity. Many ultras bill themselves as trail races—a billing that, according to ultrarunner
Mark Aiken supervises in the Ski & Ride School at Stowe Mountain Resort in the winter and freelance writes in the summer. His year-round job: parenting.
Naomi Dalle of Toronto, too often isn’t the case. “I hate arriving at a ‘trail’ event only to discover some of the course is on roads,” says Dalle, a 2014 Catamount 50k finisher. With the exception of a 100-yard stretch on a driveway among the lodge buildings, it’s not true of this race. “It was one hundred percent on trails,” she says. Given the amount of training and preparation that go into competing in such long-distance events, it comes as no surprise that participants have certain expectations. And equally unsurprising are the challenges that come with organizing the events. Drew Gelinas, director of sports at Trapp Family Lodge, feels that Robens and Trapp Family Lodge are well suited to meet the standard. “Will is an ultrarunner himself, so he knows what racers would want,” says Gelinas. “Plus he has lots of contacts in the running community.” These contacts manifested themselves in the form of local and national Story continues on page 59
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TRAIL JOURNAL
ROCK SCRAMBLE A green newt poses for the camera. Looking through a triangle of rocks on the Devil’s Gulch trail to the green forest beyond. A fungus canvas.
D E V I L’ S G U L C H
Long Trail hike evokes Indiana Jones adventure STORY / Tommy Gardner PHOTOGRAPHS / Kristen Braley
Hikers exploring Vermont tend to look up for their destinations, to peaks like Mt. Mansfield, Camel’s Hump, and Jay Peak, which means a lot of people miss an excellent hike that can only be reached by looking down. Devil’s Gulch is a big, beautiful, spooky gash in the earth between the peaks of Belvidere and Laraway mountains. It’s a geological feature known as a defile, which could be described as a place where the earth abruptly burped a bit, tossing up jagged boulders and dropping them back below the surface in a labyrinthine jumble. It is, in other words, a really cool place to hike, with a destination that evokes a feeling of walking through lost ruins. And at a leisurely 4.8-mile roundtrip length, a budding Indiana Jones or Lara Croft of any age can pack some water and a lunch, lace up, and step back in time. Devil’s Gulch is a lonely part of Vermont’s Long Trail, the state’s 272-mile “footpath in the wilderness” that stretches along the spine of the Green Mountains between Canada and Massachusetts. It’s accessible from either the south or north, but the northern trailhead at Route 118 in Eden offers the best way in and out for a day hike. Parking is on the other side of the highway, at the base of Belvidere Mountain. Heading south along the Long Trail through an opening in the roadside bushes, the path leads gradually upward following a gentle ridgeline. The first thing you notice is no matter how bright it is outside, it’s quite a bit darker among these trees, and a lot less trodden, especially in the autumn
when falling leaves fill in the trail’s nooks and crannies. Keep an eye out for the standard two-by-six-inch white blazes that designate the Long Trail. A headlamp in the backpack isn’t a bad idea either, because once dusk hits in this neck of the woods, it gets dark alarmingly fast. The trail’s steady elevation gain ends at a rock face overlooking Ritterbush Pond, itself a fine place to camp, fish, or skip rocks. From here, hikers get to enjoy that rarity in Vermont hiking: a trail that descends to its marquee destination. An abrupt set of natural rock stairs placed more than half a century ago by workers with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps starts your downward journey. Along the bottom of the ravine, moving away from the pond into a thicker, moister section of trees, streams, and moss lies the defile, a long stretch of furry, green, jagged boulders that just might have been coughed up from the deeps, the devil’s belch. There’s certainly something about the gulch that would make it a delightfully scary place to tell a ghost story, with no telling what might be lurking just around the corner, or underfoot in one of many sinkholes. Is the gooseflesh you get when you’re down there someone walking over your grave or is it just the always-cool temperatures given off by the rocks? You did pack that headlamp, right? ESSENTIALS: greenmountainclub.org.
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Story continues from page 57
sponsors and a sold-out field—a conservative cap of 150 set to ensure quality in the first year, says Robens. Armed with everything learned last year, 2015’s field will be larger. Meanwhile, while Trapps has dabbled in the running world with short-distance trail races, the resort is accustomed to hosting large-scale and world-class events in the winter. “Events
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CATAMOUNT ULTRA are successful because of the team you develop to organize,� Gelinas says. “And we have a great partnership with Will.� What, then, does Robens expect at ultra events? First off, he recognizes that part of the allure of long-distance running is uncertainty. Success at one ultra hardly guarantees success at your next. Minor injuries, getting lost on the course, mental status, and insufficient hydration and nutrition can affect a participant’s race. Robens puts his race organizing philosophy simply: “If you can’t run 31 miles, I want it to be your fault, not mine.� At the inaugural Catamount event, he ensured that there were enough aid and feed stations on the course and that they were adequately stocked. He also paid close attention to how the course was marked. “It would have been impossible to get lost,� says Dalle. “You could tell even before race day that it was a well-organized event.� Part of the Catamount course follows the Catamount Ski Trail—which passes through Trapps as it traverses Vermont from the Canadian border to Massachusetts. A portion of the 2015 event’s proceeds will benefit the Catamount Trail Association. Although the site can’t make an event, it can help. The remote locations of many ultras make lodging difficult. Definitely not the case at the Catamount event. Running beyond marathon distance over rugged trails pushes participants to the brink of their physical and mental limits. Holding an event at a lodge world-famous for its food, beer, and hospitality, however, confines the pain to between start and finish. “I got a good night’s sleep the night before, a warm breakfast on race morning, and a comfortable bed 50 meters from the finish line,� says Dalle. n ESSENTIALS: 25k and 50k courses through highland pastures and hardwood forest. Trapp Family Lodge. June 27. 7 and 8:30 a.m. starts. catamountultra.com.
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OFF PISTE
COURTESY PHOTOS
FORE Golfers enjoy an early evening on the links at Stowe Golf Park.
G O L F I N M I N I AT U R E
Eighteen holes of family fun STORY
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/ Tommy Gardner
Along Mountain Road in Stowe is a well-tended and fun sight that causes a good number of drivers to pull over and rent a putter. At Stowe Golf Park, there’s no sight of a windmill (although the family that owns it is Dutch), no clowns, pirates, or dinosaurs. There’s no sight of the compound word “putt-putt” at a place that prefers to market itself as “golf in miniature.” The 18-hole course lives up to the moniker, each hole a tap, tap, tap along a condensed route from tee box to flag. The park is located on the grounds of Sun and Ski Inn and Suites, a name that contains two things that have been going great together in Stowe for more than a century. The current owners kept the inn and park in the family. Husband and wife team Rachel Diender-Vandenberg and Mark Vandenberg took over the resort from Rachel’s parents, Michael and Debi Diender, in 2012. “There aren’t that many summer attractions/recreation options like this in town,” Mark Vandenberg says. “It’s a good thing for families to get outside and have fun together.” The golf park, designed by a professional golf course design team, was the idea of golf-loving Michael Diender, who’d seen such diminutive golf courses in the South, and built one on the Mountain Road in 1999. The swells and valleys are miniaturized topography, but instead of a driver or long iron, you’ve got to eyeball it like you would on a pro green. Of course, there are the
well-placed rocks all along the course that tempt you to try banking a shot. The sandpits in there are actual sandpits, and add a new element to one’s putting stroke. Do you go for a little extra mustard on your putt, or try to lightly get under it and do a 38inch chip for a birdie? Keep in mind, you don’t exactly need a caddy, because you’re using exactly one club for all your shots. “We deliberately stayed away from the whole putt-putt thing,” Vandenberg said. The Sun and Ski is located in an optimal place along the Mountain Road, within walking distance of a wealth of other Mountain Road village shops, restaurants, and dozens of events happening nearby throughout the year. Vandenberg estimates between a quarter and half the people who come to Stowe to play see the park right next to the road and pull in out of curiosity. This year’s golfers may notice something else happening on the grounds—the construction of an eight-lane “boutique” bowling lounge. Come next year, the nice-weather outdoors golf park will have a dimly lit and atmospheric counterpart, and maybe a creative adult beverage or two. In the meantime, the resort remains open for guests, and the golf park remains open for anyone interested in buying a round. n ESSENTIALS: 1613 Mountain Rd., Stowe. Daily, May through October, 10 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. (802) 253-9951, sunandskiinn.com.
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① MTB & ROAD BIKE EVENTS JUNE 26 – 28: Bikes, Bevs, & Beats Rides for all ages, abilities. Music, food and family fun. Stowe. stowemountainbike.com. JULY 11: Raid Lamoille 100k, 6,500-foot climb, Stowe and environs. raidlamoille.com. AUGUST 15: IRR 4.0—Irreverent Road Ride Dirt road rides, 70 and 125 mile options, Waterbury. bikereg.com. SEPTEMBER 6: Darn Tough Ride 100-mile century ride, shorter options. Commodores Inn, Stowe. bikereg.com. GOLF: DON LANDWEHRLE. HIKING: KATE CARTER. ALL OTHERS: GLENN CALLAHAN.
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OUTDOOR PRIMER Golf More than a dozen courses are within an hour’s drive, but one of the state’s most spectacular is the 6,213-yard, 18-hole Stowe Country Club. Stoweflake Resort features a 9-hole, par-3 course, professional putting greens, and a 350-yard driving range, while Copley Country Club in Morrisville offers a sweet nine holes. Don’t have time for a full 18? Try Stowe Golf Park, an 18-hole putting course that simulates a real golf course.
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Bike in the woods Whether you want a gentle ride along the 5.5-mile award-winning Stowe bike path with its views of Mount Mansfield or a teeth-chattering, lung-burning trip through Cady Hill trails, strap on your helmet and get riding. Varied terrain and hundreds of miles of trails make the region a perfect biking destination. To get started, stop into a local bike shop or go to stowemountainbike.com.
Adventure mountain The Gondola at Stowe Mountain Resort takes skiers up Mt. Mansfield in winter to some of the best ski slopes in the East. In summer, it takes passengers to just below the summit of Mansfield for some of the best views around, and serves as a starting point to the rocky summit of Vermont’s highest peak. Or try the Auto Toll Road, which winds 3.7 miles through cool, green tunnels of vegetation and past sweeping vistas to the top of Mt. Mansfield. Access the Long Trail and the extensive trail network from the summit area, or just enjoy a relaxing picnic and enjoy the views of Vermont’s Green Mountains, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondacks. A new zipline and adventure park round out the offerings this year.
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Paddle sports Local outfitters offer river trips on the Lamoille and Winooski rivers, where you can canoe past dairy farms and through quintessential Vermont villages, all the while soaking in sweeping views. Or if you prefer, launch a kayak on Lake Eden, Lake Elmore, Caspian Lake, Wolcott Pond, or Waterbury Reservoir. Canoes and paddleboards are welcome everywhere, such as Long Pond in Eden, Green River Reservoir in Hyde Park, and Little Elmore Pond.
Swimming holes Innumerable mountain streams meander through the Green Mountains, serving up a Vermont-style swimming experience and a unique kind of solitude. Some are a cinch to find: A walk up the Stowe Recreation Path to a spot on the West Branch River, or the well-known Foster’s swimming hole. Better yet, find your own!
Paths of recreation Stowe’s nationally recognized 5.5-mile walking and hiking greenway starts in the village behind the Stowe Community Church. While never far from civilization, the path offers scenic views of the West Branch River and Mt. Mansfield. Other access points are on Weeks Hill Road, Luce Hill Road, on the Mountain Road next to the Alpenrose Motel, and at the path’s end on Brook Road. 63
RACE AND TRAINING PHOTOS: TOM PRENEN
STAR POWER
CYCLOCROSS SENSATION Stowe’s Elle Anderson rises to the top of her sport STORY
/ Kate Carter
Stowe native Elle Anderson is becoming a cyclocross phenom. Cyclocross races, which combine mountain biking, road biking, and a bit of running, are generally held on a 1k-to-3k closed course with natural and man-made terrain challenges, with the main ingredient being mud, and lots of it. Cyclocross requires strength, endurance, finely tuned bike-handling skills, and sheer grit. In the U.S., cyclocross is in its infancy, but in Belgium it’s part of the national identity. Belgians love cyclocross as much as Americans love football. That’s why Elle Anderson, who was born and raised in Stowe, spent the last two cyclocross seasons—fall through January—training and racing in Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium. She wanted to see what it’s like to live, breathe, and ride with the best in the sport. “The Dutch are totally obsessed with cyclocross,” says Elle. “It’s such a tough and demanding sport and the spectators love that aspect. You go to the grocery store and the gossip is all about who won the race last weekend. The tabloids are full of cyclocross news. The pros, especially the men, get paid really well and there’s a lot of prestige in being a top rider.” Elle’s rise to the top of women’s cyclocross was sudden and fast. A former ski racer and road bike racer, she switched to cyclocross in 2012. In 2013 she placed first in six UCI cyclocross races in the U.S. and won the overall U.S. Pro CX series. While attending USA Cycling’s Euro Cross Camp in Belgium, she had good results, and wrapped up the 2012-2013 season with a silver medal at the U.S. National Championships and a 15th place at World Championships in the Netherlands. Her high
GET READY TO RIDE! From top left: Fresh off of her first podium of the season in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, Anderson poses in front of her RV. She placed third behind Belgian national champion Sanne Cant and Dutch teammate Sophie de Boer. A rare sunny day at the GP Sven Nys cyclocross race in Baal, Belgium, held on New Year’s Day. The race is named after and hosted in the hometown of the best male Belgian cyclocross pro currently racing. Inset: Anderson warms up before the race on the trainer. Headphones are integral as they block out noise and distraction of the team staff and meandering spectators. 64
standings guaranteed her a spot on the Belgian squad Kalas-NNOF Cycling Team, beginning with the 2014-2015 cyclocross season. Elle grew up ski racing in Stowe. Her dream was to be a ski racer, so she enrolled in Burke Mountain Academy (BMA) after the 9th grade. At 18 she won the junior national championships in downhill and finished in the top 20 at the Nor-Am Cup that same year. “I liked downhill racing because I was good at it and I wasn’t afraid to go fast,” she says. “I liked the thrill and risk factors. ... Why go 20mph in slalom when you can go 80 in downhill?” Her love of speed could be genetic. Her mother, Lyndall Heyer, a former ski racer, won the junior nationals three times, raced on the World Cup tour, and was on the Olympic training squad in 1976. Heyer won the women’s inaugural pro tour in 1978, raced in the tour for 10 years, and was an all-time top American. Elle’s father, Scott Dorwart, is a skier and cyclist. He was on the U.S. cycling development team and trained in Europe. In her senior year at Burke, Elle’s downhill racing dream was derailed after two bad crashes and a lot of time in rehab. “I was not able to regain my confidence and trust myself in the sport,” she says. She also wanted to attend Dartmouth College where downhill ski racing is not a collegiate sport. But she quickly discovered the Dartmouth Cycling Team. “I got on my bike and never looked back.” Elle had spent her childhood watching the Tour de France with her dad, and he set her up on her first bike. “It was a bike he bought my mom before they were married. I rode because it was good off-season ski training. I was pretty
green as a bike racer at Dartmouth, but biking and the concept of racing were not unfamiliar. Being an athlete and coming from racing, so much was applicable,” she says. As a sophomore she tried cyclocross as a fall sport and offseason training option for her road biking. “I gave it a try and really liked it.” Graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in geology, Elle landed a job in Hanover, N.H., with a start-up company called Strava, which developed an app for cyclists and runners to track their athletic activities and share them in a social and motivational way. “There were only 12 employees when I started. Now there are over 100. We see three million uploads a week,” Elle says. The company moved to San Francisco, where Elle now lives full time. She manages Strava’s online community forums for technical support. “They allowed me to have a part-time schedule while I am racing, and that allows me to pursue something that is a core part of our mission. I can share my journey as a cyclist with a community of other athletes.” In San Francisco, Elle immersed herself in road bike racing. It wasn’t until 2012 that she dedicated herself to cyclocross, rising quickly to the top of the women’s field. “The feeling it gives me is different from road bike riding. It’s more about the natural elements—rain, mud, and the grit of going through a course as hard as you can. You’re with others all the time, but it’s you vs. nature, using your strength, endurance, and technical abilities to ride as fast as you can.” Because of the mud, cyclocross is equipment intensive. Elle has three bikes and eight sets of wheels. The team also provides her with an RV. “Because everything is done in such a professional way and the weather is so awful, you really need a haven. It’s a very practical thing. It’s your space and it goes with you everywhere.” Last season Elle’s best result was a 5th place at the World Cup in Valkenburg, the Netherlands, in October. Her highest world ranking (international points) was 11th at the start of this past season. Her contract with Kalas-NNOF Cycling Team is for two years and she will return to Belgium in the fall. Summer will be spent in San Francisco, training and racing in preparation for the season. “I want to see where cyclocross takes me. Now my dream is to be at the top of the sport. The biggest races and top competition are in Europe and I hope I can keep at it for a few more years. I want to see where my natural abilities will land me. It’s not do or die, but I’m enthralled with the adventure of it and I’m enjoying the journey.” n ESSENTIALS: elleanderson.us. 65
COURTESY PHOTOS
STOWE PEOPLE
STORY / Kate Carter
Learning about nature, reading, and writing in a journal are fun, but what kids really love about Rugged Adventures day camps is being outside, riding bikes, and doing cannonballs into swimming holes. Just ask Orly Bryan, 10, a Stowe resident and repeat camper at Rugged Adventures. “I like being outside and it’s a great camp. My favorite parts are biking and hiking, but I like mountain biking best,” she says. When asked about riding with boys, Orly doesn’t bat an eye. “It’s boys and girls. It’s just like school, but more fun. The boys be boys and the girls be girls and it works out just fine and no one should care because we’re all just having fun.” Well said, Orly! Rebecca Giami-LeRoux, 11, of Montreal, loves biking, too. She skis at Mt. Mansfield in the winter and spent her first summer in
Taking it to the great outdoors
CAMP RUGGED Stowe last year. “My mom was looking for something for me to do and she found out about Rugged Adventures. My mom and I bike a lot so it was a good choice for me. This morning we rode on the rec path from the (Mt. Mansfield) Winter Academy to Stowe. We stopped to swim and had a snack. We bring two snacks and a lunch and only eat healthy stuff. I don’t remember any camps that are as cool as this. We are outside all the time and I love being outside.” Rugged Adventures is all about getting kids outdoors and learning about their surroundings and the environment. Founded by Micheline Lemay, Taylor Mikell, and Tyler Arnot in 2010, the day camp has been a big hit with kids in the community. While Arnot is now in Africa working for non-profits, Taylor and Micheline have kept the camp going. Both coach at the Mt. 66
Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club in the winter and run dryland training camps for kids in the fall. Rugged Adventures in summer rounds out their year. The camps started when parents of kids from the ski club asked them to do something in the summer with their children. “We really get to know these kids,” says Taylor, who has an undergraduate degree in geosciences from Williams College and teaches science at the Winter Academy. “I may know them from the academy, coach them at the ski club, and see them again in the summer.” Micheline—the kids call her Michy—has an undergraduate degree in outdoor education from the University of New Hampshire, and brings her love of teaching to camp experiences. “There are so many lifelong experiences we introduce kids to—loving nature, respect for each other and the environment, and being active.” “Michy was my ski coach for six years and Taylor will be my coach for the next two years,” says Alex McNabb, 11, of Stowe, who races for the ski club and has attended camp for five years. “It’s super fun,” he says. “We do a lot of different things. I pretty much like everything we do, but if I had to pick a favorite, it’s swimming in all the swimming holes around here. And kickball. One swimming hole we found off the rec path we named Rugged Rock.” Kids who sign up for Rugged Adventures need to be active and fit, with a good baseline of experience. They need to be able to bike the rec path, swim, and hike Pinnacle Peak. “A good attitude goes a long way, but they really
CAMPED OUT Scenes from Rugged Adventures: Hiking on Mt. Mansfield; at the lake; biking in the woods; and enjoying a read mid-stream.
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YEARS OF MAPLE ...
THE TRADITION CONTINUES.
JUST PAST THE STATE CAPITOL, A PURE MAPLE CREEMEE,
UNRIVALED VERMONT VIEWS, ROLLING HILLS AND FARMS AWAIT...
1168 County Rd., Montpelier VT 05602
need to like the sports. We’ve found that the kids are willing to do more in a group setting than with their families,” Micheline says. “Most kids are not too much out of their element. Age does not dictate their ability. Older kids with less experience can fill in as leaders. Around here, kids are already very active and their parents do a lot with them. We want to encourage more of this.” Home base is a yurt at the Mt. Mansfield Winter Academy. The yurt provides easy access to the Stowe Rec Path and hiking trails. Lunch usually takes place at the elementary school, and kids get there on their bicycles. For adventures further afield, they take two vans that Rugged Adventures rents from the ski club. In addition to all the outdoor activities, each camp week features a theme, with one day a week devoted to a field trip related to the theme. For example, flora and fauna week might include a trip to the Montshire Museum in Norwich, Vt. For kids who want to push the envelope, there are two overnight trips. One is three days and two nights on Mt. Mansfield with fully loaded backpacks. The other is a three-day, two-night mountain biking trip at Kingdom Trails in the Northeast Kingdom. Rugged Adventures takes advantage of everything Stowe and Vermont have to offer. “The ski club, the academy, the camp, and the town all complement each other,” says Micheline. “The best part for Taylor and me is that we really get to watch the kids grow.” n
800-242-2740
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ESSENTIALS: ruggedadventurescamp.com. 67
FROM TOP: ETHAN GARCEAU; BACKYARDSLACKLINES.COM; KATE CARTER
GETTING OUTDOORS
Crazy!
HIGHLINING
t
he sport of highlining has arrived in Vermont with one end anchored in Bolton and the other end in... crazy! Highlining is a form of tightrope walking that uses one-inch nylon webbing instead of the tightly strung metal wire that tightrope walkers use. This particular form of insanity was born when rock climbers began stringing the nylon webbing between trees in their camps and walking on it when they had down time. When practiced at a height of a foot or two above the ground, it is called “slack lining,” a safe and effective training tool for athletes of all types, and particularly popular with ski racers. —Ed Brennan
SUMMER FUN Highlining always starts innocently enough. This line in Bolton, Vt., is called Welcome to Boltsemite.
For more than a century, the Lamoille Valley Railroad carried passengers and freight throughout northern Vermont. Now, the long-abandoned rail route is being transformed into a four-season recreation trail that’s expected to provide an economic boost to the region. The 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail is being built in three sections—a leg linking Morristown, Hyde Park, Johnson and Cambridge; a trail from St. Johnsbury to Danville; and a stretch from Sheldon to Swanton. Construction began last 93 miles in all summer on the first 44mile section, and includes one stretch from St. Johnsbury to Danville and another from Cambridge to Morristown. That work is expected to wrap up in late 2015. When completed, the rail trail will run across northern Vermont, from Swanton to St. Johnsbury, and will be the longest in New England. It will follow the route of the former railroad, originally known as the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad, which operated from 1877 to 1994. The tracks disappeared long ago, but the right of way remained largely intact, in state hands. Walkers, cyclists, and horseback riders will be able to use the rail trail in the summer; people will use it to cross-country ski, snowshoe, and ride snowmobiles during the winter. ATVs and motorcycles will be prohibited from the trail. —Lisa McCormack
NEW RAIL TRAIL
Phew! For a time last year, it looked as if the Waterbury Reservoir, popular with swimmers, boaters, paddleboarders, and many others, would be permanently drained to comply with federal clean-water standards and concerns about environmental effects. To the delight of most, the state scrapped that idea last fall. Waterbury Reservoir offers an array of summertime recreation—boating, swimming, hikTo the brim ing—at Little River State Park and Waterbury Center State Park. The reservoir concerns came up as Green Mountain Power applied for a license renewal for the hydropower operation it has at the Waterbury Dam. That application opened a can of worms involving plant and animal life, erosion, water quality, and related issues. In the end, though, the state decided the reservoir should be maintained at its summertime levels year-round, to about 590 feet above sea level. The new water management plan more carefully balances competing interests of power generation and flood control, wildlife habitat, and the enjoyment of semi-wilderness for Vermonters and visitors to Waterbury and Stowe, according to officials. “It’s a real treasure in terms of a natural resource,” says David Mears, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. “It’s been a challenging process to sort out how to balance all of those decisions.” The dam was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1935 and 1938 to control flooding on the Winooski River and to prevent a repeat of the horrific 1927 floods that killed 84 people and destroyed 1,285 bridges, numerous buildings, and miles of roads throughout Vermont. —Matt Mientka
WATERBURY RESERVOIR
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Each June, a popular 5k race in Morrisville pays homage to two student athletes whose lives were cut short in a tragic accident. During a sudden snowstorm in February 2006 14-year-old Trace Santos Barber and 16-yearold Sigrid Bronner were killed when Bronner’s car crossed the center line on Route 15 in Johnson and collided with a school bus. Another student in the car, Conner Hunt, 14, survived. Trace, a freshman, was an avid skier, runner, and mountain biker with many musical talents, which included playing the bass, guitar, bass horn, and drums. Sigrid, a junior, was also a talented musician, an actress, Nordic skier, and cross-country runner. She was also the daughter of Leah Bronner, a longtime science teacher at Peoples Academy Middle Level. Student athletes Both members of the Peoples Academy crosscountry running and ski teams, their coaches, teachers, and parents of their friends organized the first Remembrance Run in June 2006. “The goal was to create an event that would keep the memories of Trace and Sigrid with us as well as create a community event to honor them,” says Peoples Academy Middle School teacher Elizabeth Emerson. “It was also created to help sustain scholarships set up in their names.” Proceeds from the race are split evenly between the two scholarships, which are awarded annually to a graduating Peoples Academy senior. During its first two years the race drew over 400 runners and walkers. Subsequent years have attracted at least 300 participants. “The race has grown in other areas,” Emerson says. “We added a youth mile in 2008 which often draws about 40 kids.” The youth mile was renamed the Ludington Mile in 2012 for Chris Ludington, who died tragically while competing in a local triathlon in Elmore. The amount of the Christopher P. Ludington Scholarship, awarded to a graduating senior, depends on the money raised by the youth mile. It provided $1,500 last year. —Lisa McCormack
MEMORY RUN
ESSENTIALS: Sunday, June 7, 9:30 a.m. Course starts and ends at Peoples Academy, winding around the perimeter of Morrisville village. remembrancerun.net.
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VERMONT FLY SAMPLER
local waters: a fly sampler for catching trout Selecting the perfect trout-fishing fly can be a mystifying process. Many fly patterns create the illusion of a trout’s favorite food item. But other patterns, called attractors, do not resemble anything found in nature. Due to the geological composition of Vermont trout streams, anglers get some leeway with fly selection. Most Vermont rivers are free-stone streams composed of non-porous materials like granite, quartz, and schist, which means that the water chemistry is fairly consistent. Since Vermont trout streams do not hold abundant plant life or water-born insects, anglers often do not need to match the hatch.
Trout in moving water are drift feeders. They will munch on a twig, a piece of debris, or even a fly if it resembles food. Mouth sensors tell the trout if it’s food or not. That double tap you feel when drifting a nymph? A trout just ate your fly and spit it out before you knew what hit you. Water type can also play an important role in fly selection. Match the style of fly to the water. In clear, gentle meandering streams use a fly that is more sparsely tied; it looks more realistic. Faster-moving water requires bulkier patterns so the fish can spot the drifting fly. Deceiver-fly patterns mimic water-born
insects, baitfish, and terrestrials. To see what the fish are eating, turn over rocks in streams, check out spiderwebs, look into puddles along the streambank, and observe signs of life over riffles. Then select a fly that imitates the size, followed by color, of the insects you observe. (Anglers often need to fish deceiver patterns when fishing the main stems of the Lamoille and Winooski rivers.) Attractor fly patterns resemble nothing in Mother Nature. Trout will eat attractor patterns readily in nutrient-poor streams due to a lack of food; during spawning periods trout will attack attractor patterns out of aggression.
WET FLIESo
PRINCE NYMPH #10-#18: A go-to fly for below-the-surface feeding. Tie it with red thread. It is heavily loaded with weight wrapped onto the hook shank and a tungsten gold bead behind the hook eye. The peacock hurl body really gets a trout’s attention. Dead drifting a prince with a long leader and under a strike indicator works very well.
WOOLY BUGGER #8-#12: An all-around fly pattern that catches everything that swims. In Vermont, where crawfish make up a large part of a trout’s diet, a bugger tied in olive, black, and brown are great color selections. Buggers need to be weighted heavily, incorporating weight into the hook shank and tungsten beads or cone heads behind the hook eye. Crawfish live on the bottom and anglers should fish a bugger with a long leader or even a sinking leader or sinking fly line off the bottom with a dead drift or with slight movement.
DRY FLIESo
HARE’S EAR PARACHUTE #10-#22: A great all-purpose Mayfly imitation. A variation of the Adams dry fly, the parachute style lets the body of the fly ride on the surface film. The parachute post can be tied with different colored poly yarn or calf body for higher visibility in the water. Very durable fly; tied mostly with native materials from moose to hare.
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X-CADDIS #14-#20: A favorite Vermont dry fly pattern for simplicity in design and effectiveness on the water. Imitates hatching and egg-laying caddis. Body color can be olive, tan, or black. The elk hair wing is highly visible. Can be fished in a dead drift or swung to prompt a fish to rise. Very easy to tie and works well with a dropper fly tied off its back.
with WILLY DIETRICH photos GLENN CALLAHAN
HOME OR COMMERCIAL STRENGTH, CARDIO & FLEXIBILITY EQUIPMENT
Vermont mountain brooks, with their lack of food, are great places to use attractor flies. Trout flies come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. One fly can be tied 50 different ways depending on the artistic interpretation of the tier. Just remember that regardless of the fly on the end of your leader, it is imperative to drift and present the fly well to any feeding trout. ••• Willy Dietrich owns and operates Catamount Fishing Adventures and has been guiding Vermont waters since 1994.
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CADDIS PUPA/LARVA #14-#20: Most common water-born insect in Vermont’s trout streams. Simple pattern to construct. Wide variety of hatching caddis flies are common. Three color variations to a caddis: olive, tan, and black. Can be heavily weighted or tied and fished with little to no weight. Makes a nice dropper fly for tandem rigs. Fished effectively off the bottom or in the surface film.
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STIMULATOR #8-#16: High-visibility dry fly that can imitate a grasshopper to an adult stonefly. Very good pattern for blind fishing in the summer/early fall. Favorite brook trout pattern; tie it with rubber legs and a Royal Wulff body. Draws lots of violent strikes from trout; excellent when fished tandem with a dropper fly.
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HISTORY LESSON
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SPRUCE PEAK CCC
Story behind the men who built Stowe’s ski area STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS
/ Kevin Walsh
Today, Spruce Peak at Stowe is filled with hikers, skiers, and development. But in the 1930s, the area at the foot of Spruce Peak was home to a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp and the men who lived there. The work of the CCC laid the groundwork for what is today one of the country’s oldest and best-known ski resorts, Stowe Mountain Resort. A public works relief program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, the CCC was part of FDR’s New Deal. The CCC’s dual purpose was to conserve and develop land owned by federal, state, and local governments, while simultaneously employing large numbers of men during the Depression. Nicknamed “Roosevelt’s Forest Army,” the CCC operated as an army of sorts. In order to maintain organization, discipline, and efficiency in a government program that worked in many states and employed about 300,000 men each year, the CCC acted as a quasi-military operation run primarily by Army officers, according to Brian Lindner, a local author and the historian for the Stowe ski area. While CCC workers did not enlist in the Army, their lives were largely governed by military practices. Lindner says that once the men joined the CCC, they wore military-style uniforms, used military equipment such as mess kits and canteens, were subject to the military’s 72
style of discipline, and lived in military-style barracks. The building CCC workers built as their barracks on the Mountain Road still exists today as the Vermont State Ski Dormitory. This building, notes Lindner, is the oldest continuously occupied CCC building in America. Other building remnants and related artifacts the CCC used can still be found today in the woods around the Spruce Peak area of Stowe Mountain Resort. The CCC employed tens of thousands of men in Vermont. Perry Merrill, Vermont’s state forester, directed the state’s CCC program. Since the Depression had left so many men unemployed, it was easy for Merrill to find architects, builders, and tradesmen to fill the ranks of CCC camps. With such a highly skilled workforce, Vermont’s CCC crews built some impressive structures and created noteworthy projects. In his book, Roosevelt’s Forest Army, Merrill writes that the workers were divided into camps, two of which were based in the Moscow and Waterbury areas. According to Lindner, from 1933 to the early 1940s, a small sub-group of several dozen workers settled around Spruce Peak. Their many jobs included cutting the first ski trails on Mt. Mansfield; clearing forestland; forest management; building roads, campgrounds, picnic areas, and stone
CAMP STOWE Remnants of a CCC structure built in the 1930s while CCC workers spent time in the Spruce Peak area to clear ski trails and perform other jobs in Stowe. This foundation is in the woods just off the ski resort’s Spruce Peak pathway. A 1930s postcard of the Stone Hut. (Courtesy of Brian Lindner)
fireplaces; creating the Smugglers’ Notch and Underhill State Parks; developing the area around Big Spring on the upper Mountain Road; and logging. These crews also built buildings, including a part of the Mt. Mansfield Base Lodge, and the Stone Hut on top of Mansfield, next to the Octagon. Built in the mid-1930s, the hut originally served as a warming station for CCC workers while on the mountain. That same hut now serves as a winter cabin for willing adventurers. Other buildings included an officers’ quarters and an incinerator, and the remains of these stone structures still exist in the woods just off the Spruce Peak Pathway. CCC crews built many of the ski trails on Mansfield, including Lord, Nose Dive, and Perry Merrill, all still in use today. These trails increased the popularity of the area as a ski destination, and soon the CCC had to clear a parking area for the burgeoning number of skiers’ cars. According to Professor Blake Harrison in the 2003 summer/fall edition of the Vermont History Journal, the work of the CCC in Vermont during the 1930s was crucial to the development of skiing as a recreation industry for the state. In his article, “The Technological Turn: Skiing and Landscape Change in Vermont, 1930-1970,” Harrison writes that the growing popularity of the Mt. Mansfield ski area fueled the success of snow trains, which brought skiers from urban areas of the Northeast to the mountains, fueling Stowe’s reputation as the Ski Capital of the East, and leading to the creation of other ski areas in Vermont and elsewhere. So, as you drive up the Mountain Road, don’t forget to tip your hat to this band of hardy young men, whose work in the CCC underpins today’s thriving ski industry. n 73
STOWE DANCE ACADEMY Keeping young dancers on their toes for 25 years Story 74
/ Lisa McCormack
Photographs / G l e n n C a l l a h a n
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elena Sullivan, a trim blonde with effortless grace, moves about the room, calling out instructions and scanning each of her students’ form. She’s direct, no-nonsense. Nothing escapes her attention, or so it seems. She places one hand on a student’s chin, another on the girl’s shoulder, until her position is perfect. “Knees back, eyes up, chins out. Look at your fingers,” she instructs, occasionally snapping her fingers and counting out the beat. The students, eager to please, look alternately at their forms in the mirror and at Sullivan, who they address as Miss Helena. After demonstrating a step, she asks, “Do you have it? Are you sure?” She walks over to a dancer who appears to be struggling. “I thought you said you understood,” she says, helping the student adjust her hip and leg into a long, graceful line. The student quickly perfects her form, glancing at Sullivan for approval. “Beautiful. Good,” Miss Helena says, patting her on the back. Then, turning to the class, she asks, “If you balance like that what does it mean? It means you can do two or three pirouettes.” With the grace you’d expect of a professional dancer, Sullivan demonstrates a short piece of choreography the dancers will perform in an upcoming recital. Next, it’s the dancers’ turn as she stands on a chair calling out each step. “That looks like a disaster. Let’s try it again,” she tells them. The dancers run through the routine in pairs again and again until Sullivan finally declares, “Perfect!” And with that, class is over. •••• Stowe might be well known for its state championship athletic teams—ice hockey, field hockey, and tennis, to name a few—but at Stowe Dance Academy you’ll find a different type of well-conditioned young athlete. It takes a certain athletic prowess to gracefully leap several feet into the air while making it appear effortless. Ditto for performing rapid-fire pirouettes en pointe, not to mention fluid hip-hop moves or evocative lyrical and contemporary dance routines. Like any effective coach, Dance Academy founder and owner Helena Sullivan holds her students to high standards, leads by example, and expects them to follow her instructions. Sullivan grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, an area rich in the performing arts. “My family would go to the ballet all the time,” she says. “I’d probably seen Swan Lake 10 times before I took my first class.” After training as a gymnast, she donned her first pair of ballet shoes at age 10 and studied dance at Statens Dans Skola and Balettakademien. At 16 she moved to the U.S. where she studied at the Irine Fokine Dance Studio in New Jersey and performed with its company. Later, she won a two-year scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. After a return to Sweden, she toured throughout Scandinavia with professional dance companies before joining Malmö Stadsteater, performing classical and contemporary works. During this time she met Dave, an American student studying abroad, and together they moved to New York. The couple eventually wound their way north to Vermont, where Dave opened a mountain bike shop in Stowe and Sullivan worked alongside him. Save for an occasional class in Burlington, she didn’t dance for several years. “No one knew I was a dancer,” Sullivan says. “Everyone knew me as Dave’s wife.” In 1990 she started offering dance classes in rented space at the Green Mountain Inn, calling her school the Classic Dance School. Over the next few years she rented space at different locations in Stowe and taught at the Wolcott Children’s Ballet Company before she and Dave bought an old ski house, tore it down, and built their current home and studio. She eventually renamed the school Stowe Dance Academy. As enrollment grew, Sullivan hired other dance instructors and delegated some responsibilities. She still teaches, but now has a 10-person faculty. In 2012 she opened a second school, Mad River Dance Academy, in Waitsfield.
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Helena Sullivan.
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Sullivan’s most dedicated young dancers spend up to 20 hours a week at the academy taking lessons, learning intricate choreography, and rehearsing for national dance competitions. Some spend their summers in New York City and other major cities, studying at elite dance schools: American Ballet Theater, The Joffrey, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, and others. Many took their first lessons before kindergarten and will continue to study until they leave for college. Occasionally, a student goes on to a professional dance career like Morristown native Liana Hunt, who has performed on Broadway in Mamma Mia! and Newsies. But such outcomes are rare. “Being in Stowe, Vt., we’re not going to produce professional ballerinas,” Sullivan says. “Maybe every 10 years or so we’ll have someone who will go on to the city and do that.” Most will pursue other vocations, yet many do apply the lessons learned at the dance academy—from giving every task their best effort to time management—to their studies and life beyond college. “Their time management skills are incredible,” Sullivan says of her students. “They’re learning to be successful adults. We expect a lot out of the kids and they’re willing to do that and will do that in other places such as college. They feel good about themselves.” Annika Norden began studying dance in second grade. Now a senior at Stowe High School, she takes several classes each week and is a member of TRIP, the academy’s competitive youth dance company. “With dance you have discipline,” Norden says. “You have self-control. You have to have control over your feet, your breath. It translates into other parts of your life.” •••• It’s 4 p.m. at an intermediate ballet class and a dozen girls ages 10 to 14 do their warm-up exercises. The studio’s wooden floors are well scuffed from the thousands of dance shoes that have glided across them. Costumes from the academy’s upcoming recital, The Wizard of Oz, hang from the ceiling like a colorful assemblage of satin and taffeta clouds. Dressed in hunter green leotards and pink tights, the girls balance on one leg, while stretching the other in front of them across the barre. For many of the dance academy’s 260 students, the studio is a home away from home. Stop by on a school night and you’ll find the waiting area filled with students writing homework assignments on their laptops, quizzing each other for upcoming exams, or munching snacks in between classes. “We spend a lot of time with them, probably equal to their parents,” says Sullivan. Given that the studio is attached to their home, it’s not surprising that Sullivan’s family makes frequent appearances. Dave is Mr. Fixit, repairing whatever needs a handyman’s touch in the studio and building sets for the annual recital held at Dibden Center for the Arts at Johnson State College. Their daughter, Maria, who holds degrees in marketing and early education through dance from Columbia College Chicago, handles administrative duties, teaches, and choreographs routines for the annual recital. Sullivan’s mother, who once sewed all of the costumes for recitals, now flies in from Sweden to help with alterations, while the family’s Labradoodle, Coppelia, or Copey, is the studio mascot, taking regular romps around the waiting area to sniff out crumbs leftover from snack time. •••• A common thread runs through conversations with Sullivan’s students and colleagues: Miss Helena has high expectations. Whether learning a new dance move or a complex string of choreography, Sullivan expects her students to get it right, and they generally do, even when it takes great effort. “I can yell and get stern, but the next moment I might turn to a kid and say, ‘Nice job,’ ” Sullivan says. When asked how the young dancers view her mother, Maria Sullivan says, “I wouldn’t use the word, ‘terrified.’ It’s just that they respect her and really want to impress her.” Isa Echarte-Drekter, a ninth-grade student at Stowe High School, takes several classes a week, including ballet, jazz hip-hop, and contemporary dance. She acknowledges Sullivan can be demanding, but says she’s as quick to give a compliment as to offer a critique. “She’s intimidating when you’re not trying,” Echarte-Drekter says. “But she can tell when you’re putting in your best effort. She always tells you when you’ve done a good job.” Madeline Cantarella Culpo, founder and artistic director of the Albany Berkshire Ballet, has worked with Sullivan for over a decade on the annual production of The Nutcracker at the Flynn Center for the Arts in Burlington. Sullivan is the rehearsal mistress. “She has an excellent rapport with her students,” Culpo says. “They respect her; they love her; they work very hard for her. She expects a lot from Story continues on page 208
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HEATHER GLENN; STOWE DANCE ACADEMY
TRIP dancers performing at Ladies Night at the Ski Museum and at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center.
Stowe Dance Academy: THE FIRST 25 YEARS 1990: Helena Sullivan founds Stowe Dance Academy, originally called the Classic Dance School. 1991: First recital. 1995: The academy moves to its current location at 177 S. Main St., in Stowe. 2000: Sullivan founds TRIP—an acronym for technique, rehearse, implement, and perform—the academy’s competitive youth dance company. 2012: Sullivan founds Mad River Dance Academy in Waitsfield, after teaching classes throughout the Mad River Valley for 10 years. Number of students in 2015: 260 Number of weekly visits to the dance studio: 700 Number of costumes needed for annual recital: 850
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Story by NANCY WOLFE STEAD / Photographs by CHUCK GANGAS & GLENN CALLAHAN
TWO WINGS & A PRAYER Sustaining habitat for Mansfield’s Bicknell’s thrush
PHOTO BY CHUCK GANGAS
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GLENN CALLAHAN; BANDING PHOTO: KENT MCFARLAND
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tanding still as stone, eyes scrunched shut, I listen with all my soul for the allegedly haunting song, the rapturous cascade of notes, of the Bicknell’s thrush. It is early morning atop Mt. Mansfield, a crisp and sparkling start of a July day. I join Chris Rimmer of Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE), who spent the night at the Stowe Ski Patrol shack in order to be up on the 4,000-foot ridge before dawn to set nylon mist nets so researchers could catch and tag birds for the group’s ongoing study of New England’s high-elevation birds. He is looking, in particular, for Vermont’s rare summer visitor, the Bicknell’s thrush. This tiny, elusive bird is found only in the limited, fragmented habitat of eastern North America’s mountaintops above 3,000 feet. Rimmer has studied the birds during their summer breeding season on Stratton Mountain and Mt. Mansfield since 1992, and for the past several years, in their winter habitat in the Dominican Republic. Little was known about the species and he is now the world’s leading ornithologist on the thrush. The birds are heard far more than they are seen, and their exuberant song more than makes up for their humdrum plumage. Rimmer tells me that the birds are usually heard at dawn and dusk and then mainly during mating At left: Chris Rimmer and nesting season, June and reacquainted himself early July, or during prewith on old friend on Mt. migration in September. Mansfield last July. This Bicknell’s thrush was Rimmer told Stowe Guide banded by Vermont Center & Magazine in 2006 that he for Ecostudies in the would never forget his first Dominican Republic in experience hearing the musiFebruary 2010. It was cal chorus of the birds. “It’s netted atop Mt. Mansfield a magical experience. The in 2011 and again in light is fading, you’re on top 2014, an amazing ornithoof Mt. Mansfield with this logical record of northkind of cascading singing, south migration. A closeup and when you get four, five, of the thrush. A biologist six of them in earshot it’s a measures the wing length of the Bicknell’s thrush. remarkable variance.” But after sunup on this mid-July morning the birds keep silent. Rimmer makes it up to me by reaching for a cotton bag dangling on a jury-rigged line between fir trees and extracting a whisper of flesh and feathers, a netted and banded Bicknell’s thrush, to place in my palm. Rimmer and a half-dozen allied conservation biologists founded VCE in 2007 to deliver the objective, rigorous science needed to make informed decisions for wildlife and their habitats. Whether birds, bees, or salamanders, their research and monitoring lay the groundwork to identify warning signs, investigate threats, and recommend science-based solutions. Rimmer is the group’s executive director. He writes: “Citizen engagement and professional collaborations across the hemisphere are our primary tools. The former creates advocates for sound policy, the latter puts good policy into practice… What we don’t do is conservation advocacy.” But they do excel at partnering, training, recruiting, and coordinating research programs, and soliciting citizen involvement. VCE monitoring on Mansfield shows an increase of breeding songbirds moving to higher elevations. Swainson’s thrush and yellow-bellied flycatchers, formerly found at
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FROM LEFT: CHUCK GANGAS; HAITI PHOTO: JUAN KLAVINS
3,000 feet, are now prevalent at 4,000 feet. Magnolia warblers also show a slight increase. Over recent years fewer cones have formed during the biennial fir-spruce cone cycle, so the population of cone-eating squirrels and other nest predators has plummeted. This has benefitted nesting birds, resulting in higher survival rates of eggs and chicks. It may be a short-lived cycle or it may be a result of climate change. At the same time, according to VCE colleague Chuck Gangas, the numbers of Bicknell’s thrush have dropped precipitously from Nova Scotia and the Maritimes and no one knows why. Global climate change surely affects their choice of habitat, as will temperatures and availability of habitat. Lastly, while no one expected high-altitude songirds to show signs of mercury contamination, Rimmer's team was surprised to find high levels of the environmental toxin in Bicknell's thrush on Mt. Mansfield, though at levels two to three times lower than those found in the bird in its Caribbean wintering grounds. Recent VCE research shows that the Bicknell’s thrush may live much longer than the assumed 4- to 5-year lifespan; one banded male has been repeatedly netted over an 11year period. But what has truly amazed researchers is their sex lives. Observing a nest with two males feeding chicks led to the discovery that 75 percent of the nests were being attended by two to four males. Knowing females are territorial but males are not, they concluded the eggs—up to four are laid—are
Chuck Gangas captured this stunning closeup of the Bicknell’s thrush in its highelevation habitat. “The birds are fragmented,” says Chris Rimmer of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, pictured above on the island of Hispaniola, comprised of the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where the thrush winters. “Mountaintops are essentially islands of habitat. The birds are dotted over the landscape and there’s only a limited amount of that habitat across the landscape, compared to hardwood forests or lowlands. That accounts for its rarity in the first place.” Experts say the bird was first discovered and classified in June 1881 by a 21-year-old amateur ornithologist, Eugene P. Bicknell, in the Catskills of New York state.
fertilized by different males and each male returns to the nest to feed its chick. They have observed 2.2 males for every female, a rare avian ratio. Males and females are also segregated in different winter habitats, with males commandeering the better range. Summer banding and research on Mansfield, together with similar winter research in the Dominican Republic, where 90 percent of Bicknell’s thrush migrate, has established the compelling link between the birds’ summer and winter habitat. Three banded birds have been captured in both places, unprecedented proof of the northsouth migration route. Ninety percent of our summer visitors winter in Hispaniola (the
Dominican Republic and Haiti). This knowledge underscores the importance of protecting both ends of the migratory range to conserve habitat and protect the species. Hispaniola once had wide-ranging cloud forests with enormous old trees. Logging, population pressure, deforestation for agriculture, and lack of planning have decimated much of the ecology. VCE actively collaborates with interested private and government groups and local agencies in the Dominican Republic. Chuck Kerchner is coordinator of Two Worlds, One Bird, a grassroots effort to preserve and protect habit by establishing a carbon-credit program, the first in the Caribbean. It pays landowners to replant forests, encourages small coffee and chocolate businesses to provide jobs, and uses private and public resources to connect three fragile high-altitude habitats into a 25,000 acre conservation preserve. Last summer 11 Dominican conservationists came to the U.S. on a week-long exchange, the highlight of which was netting and banding Bicknell’s thrush in their summer habitat on Mansfield. Their work is desperately needed; Rimmer’s visit to the Dominican’s wintering grounds in January found increased illegal logging and burning for charcoal in the frail national forest ecology. The years VCE staff has spent doing research on Mansfield makes it abundantly clear how vital a resource the habitat is. Approximately 65,000 people visit the Story continues on page 206
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How one small town triumphed over tragedy
WATERBURY 2.0 story: robert kiener
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photographs: gordon miller
Nimble Arts entertains the crowd at the Stowe Street Arts Festival, held downtown every July. Wyatt and Hayden Adams and Will and Mia LaPointe pitch in to help those affected by Tropical Storm Irene.
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“The flood changed everything,” Fauna Hurley tells me as we walk down Elm Street just off Waterbury’s main drag, South Main Street. “It was devastating; a real tragedy. You had to see it to believe it.” Hurley should know. The executive director of Revitalizing Waterbury, a non-profit organization devoted to boosting the town economically, socially, and culturally, she was one of the many volunteers who showed up after the Winooski River spilled over its banks during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 and flooded much of Waterbury. Like many other Vermonters, Hurley, then living and working in Burlington, heard how badly Waterbury was flooded and rushed to the village “to do anything I could do to help.” She joined hundreds of other local, regional, and even out-of-state residents who came to pitch in and clean up the mess that the flood left in its wake. More than 200 properties, nearly a third of all homes and businesses in Waterbury, were damaged by flooding. Walking past Elm Street’s Craft Beer Cellar she points to a sign about 15 feet off the ground on the side of the two-story brick building. “That’s the high water mark from the Great Flood of 1927,” she explains. A newer sign about five feet high on the same building reads, “High Water Mark, August 29, 2011.” “No one here thought they’d ever see the river rise this high again,” says Hurley. “They were wrong.” As we continue down Elm Street toward Randall Street, “Ground Zero” of Irene’s devastation, Hurley explains that the flood bruised and battered Waterbury, but also made it stronger. “I think the flood was a ‘make it’ or ‘break it’ event for Waterbury. The way the residents picked themselves up, rebuilt, and repaired says everything about their character and the love they have for this community.” As if on cue, we bump into Kathy Flanders at her home on the corner of Elm and Randall. She and her husband Skip, Waterbury’s village president, have lived in town their entire lives and here for the last 36 years. Although their home was flooded “as high as our kitchen cabinets,” she never doubted they’d rebuild. “After the flood lots of people asked us why we didn’t move away,’ says Flanders. “But I told them this is Waterbury. We wouldn’t live any place else.” Flanders was impressed how neighbors came together to help one another after the flood. “No, we’re not going anywhere. We love it here.” Flanders is not alone. Nearly every homeowner on Randall Street has a story of “anonymous angels” who showed up after the flood and volunteered to help shovel a slurry of mud and silt out of homes, tear down rotted drywall, and lug out damaged furniture and appliances to curbside dumpsters. Many came bearing food, offers of temporary housing, and some even offered to help dry out and restore treasured family pictures damaged by the rising waters. Tom Drake, principal of Crossett Brook Middle School in nearby Duxbury, remembers seeing a woman on the front lawn of his Randall Street home a day or two after the flood. She used a towel and bucket to wash off a mud-covered couch Drake dragged out of his home. “I went out to thank her and was amazed to learn that she was from Quebec and had taken time out from her vacation in Vermont to lend a hand,” remembers Drake. “Good Samaritans like her appeared all over town.” As neighbor helped neighbor, hand-painted signs popped up throughout Waterbury: “We Are Waterbury Strong,” “We Will Be Back,” “God Bless Waterbury.” Organizations such as Rebuild Waterbury, Waterbury Good Neighbor Fund, and the Waterbury Long Term Community Recovery were set up to help the town recover. “It was a different Waterbury after the flood,” says Flanders. “It was more like an extended family.”
Fauna Hurley, the executive director of Revitalizing Waterbury. One of the many signs that popped up around town thanking neighbors, friends, strangers—the community at large.
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Tamatha Thomas-Haase, who moved from New York’s Westchester County to Waterbury with her husband and two children just before the flood, confesses that she was “continually amazed” by the way
Chad Ummell, Waterbury’s recreation director, in talks with developer Paul Reed. Hiata Defeo in her bookshop, Bridgeside Books.
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residents reached out to help one another. “It’s still going on. It’s just less noticeable,” she says. “People here do kind in a quiet way.” Back in the Revitalizing Waterbury offices on South Main Street Hurley shows me a “We Are Waterbury Strong” sign she keeps as a reminder of the flood and its aftermath. She explains that the spirit that got the town’s 5,000-plus residents back on their feet has also helped Waterbury prosper since then. “There is a real Vermonter wecan-do-this ethos here,” she says as she rattles off a list of businesses and organizations that have prospered over the last four years. “I like to refer to the recovery here as ‘Waterbury 2.0.’ It’s as if we’ve reinvented ourselves.” •••• Almost anywhere you walk in Waterbury you can see signs of the boom that could have been a bust. A $4.5 million 15,000-square-foot municipal building that will house town offices destroyed by the flood will rise on North Main Street. There are several projects for affordable housing throughout the town. The huge, 43-acre Waterbury State Office Complex, much of which was destroyed by the flood, is being rebuilt by the state at a cost of $125 million. When the first round of it reopens later this year some 800-plus state employees will return to Waterbury—a godsend for shops, restaurants, bars, and others that have missed the complex’s 1,400 workers since they were chased out by the flood in 2011. Local developer Paul Reed believes it is Waterbury’s “can-do” ethic that has helped the town rebuild. “In other towns there’s often an ‘Us versus Them” mentality that makes it hard to get things done. But Waterbury has more of a we’re-all-in-this-together attitude that makes planning and implementing projects easier,” he says. Storefronts on Stowe Street boast snazzy new paint jobs and business owners are working hard to market their wares to both residents and visitors. On a sunny Tuesday morning I drop in on Hiata Defeo, owner of Bridgeside Books, and find her five-year-old bookshop packed with customers of all ages. All across the nation small, privately owned bookshops like Defeo’s are on the endangered species list. Hers, however, is flourishing. Indeed, she’s knocked down a wall to expand her premises. “There’s a great dynamic here in Waterbury,” she tells me after she rings up a sale and promises to order a book for a regular customer. “After the flood a lot of us were wondering if our businesses—and the town—were going to make it financially. But business was great. I think a lot of people bought locally because they thought, ‘I want my town to survive.’ ” “People here understand that Waterbury is special,” says Defeo. “They get it.” She ushers me over to an exhibit of posters created by the town’s middle school students who were asked to write on the theme, “Waterbury in My Eyes.” Defeo chooses one and begins reading: “Waterbury is street soccer all day. Walking through the streets for raspberry pancakes. Cruising around town with friends for no reason. Waterbury is my place to be.” Says Defeo, “That spirit is infectious.” A few doors down Stowe Street, Whitney Aldrich, longtime Waterbury resident and the owner of Axel’s Frame Shop and Gallery, shows me her latest artist exhibition and tells me about the success of her promotions such as Art in The Alley and Music in The Alley, outdoor events that take place in the small alley between her shop and the Cork Wine Bar. “We get as many as 70 people to our gallery receptions,” she says. “For a town as small as Waterbury that’s a great turnout.”
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If you want to discover what many consider to be the engine that has revved up Waterbury’s turnaround, just pop into any one of the bars, pubs, and restaurants that make up what’s come to be known as the town’s “Beermuda Triangle” and ask what’s on tap. Beer or more exactly, locally brewed craft beer, has put Waterbury on the map. Wine lovers may dream of visiting the Napa or Loire valleys, but for craft beer aficionados, or “sudsheads” and “hopheads,” paradise is right off Interstate 89’s Exit 10. If Schlitz was once known as “The beer that made Milwaukee famous,” the Alchemist’s Heady Topper is the beer that put Waterbury on every craft beer-lover’s “must-see, must-drink” list back in the town’s antediluvian days. After the Beer Advocate and several other experts rated the grapefruity, highly hoppy brew as the best in the world, beer lovers beat a path to Waterbury, or as the Boston Globe described it, “the liquid gold center” of the craft beer movement. And they are still coming. On a crisp Thursday evening I drop into the Reservoir Restaurant and Tap Room to see what all the fuss is about. The place is packed. Alex Raeburn hands me a beer menu that lists 38 draft beers (the most in the state), 25 of which are brewed in Vermont. When I ask him if it’s always this crowded, he smiles and explains, “This is a quiet night. You should see it on weekends!” There’s almost another full house at the Blue Stone tavern and pizza shop where I have a hard time choosing between the colorfully named draft beers Smuttynose Old Brown Dog or Victory Golden Monkey. I can’t make up my mind so I order a can of Heady Topper. One sip and I have to agree with a Chicago Tribune writer who described it as “a complex web of genius: spicy warmth, bitter pine, juicy citrus, and a remarkable dryness.” I set my can down—it’s considered sacrilegious to drink the beer out of a glass—and ask the tavern’s co-owner Heidi Fish where her customers come from. “Everywhere,” she answers. “Waterbury is like a magnet that attracts serious beer drinkers as well as lots of other people.” She tells me that first-time visitors often comment on how many young people are in town. “Then they ask if we have a college here,” she says. “I tell them that we don’t have a college. But we have a lot of beer.” •••• There is, of course, much more to Waterbury than beer. There’s coffee and ice cream. Both Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and Keurig Green Mountain Coffee are headquartered in Waterbury, as well as other companies such as Rome Snowboards and solar panel company SunCommon. However, Waterbury’s greatest asset, as the aftermath of the flood proved, is its people. “We Are Waterbury Strong” proved to be much more than a slogan on a placard. After the flood a group of townspeople—teachers, students, parents—decided to put on a lantern procession called the River of Light in December. Each year more and more people take part in what’s become one of Waterbury’s most popular events. Participants build their own lighted lanterns and show them off as the parade wends its way through town. “The fascinating thing about the procession is that there are relatively few people on the sidewalks watching it,” says Tamatha Thomas-Haase. “That’s because almost everyone in Waterbury is taking part in it.” Each December this “river” meanders through Waterbury’s streets and features lanterns in the shape of everything from dragons to aliens to giant fish. One of the perennial favorites is a massive white Phoenix, the magical bird that bursts into flames and dies, only to be reborn from its ashes to start a new, long life. n
Whitney Aldrich hangs new art in her store, Axel’s Frame Shop and Gallery. Kate Hall holds fast to a friend in the aftermath of Irene.
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Five years of fun Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center STORY / K a t e C a r t e r
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pruce Peak Performing Arts Center is fitting right in to the Stowe community.
Now entering its fifth season as a full-time yearround performing arts center, the doors officially opened Dec. 26, 2010, with a week of high-profile artists, capped by James Taylor on New Year’s Eve. Since that grand opening celebration, Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center has brought incredibly diverse talent to its stage, from local performers to big-name international artists. The 420-seat auditorium has earned a reputation as one of the finest small auditoriums in New England, acoustically speaking, and it’s put Stowe on the map as the only East Coast destination ski resort to feature a full-time performing arts center. “Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center is an integral part of our community’s infrastructure. It’s like town hall theater. It’s part of all of us. We all own it and because of it we are all richer,” says Executive Director Lance Olson. “Stowe is a destination for cultural activities, especially in the summer, and the performing arts center is a part of that. We’ve created an institution that supports our community and recognizes local as well as visiting audiences, and we bring diverse and complex artists for many different people.” The elegant structure was built according to “green practices” and is energy efficient. Its stage can accommodate musicians, dancers, acrobats, comedians, movies, and even sit-down dinner engagements. Any seat in the audience is a good seat, and the acoustics are marvelous.
The arts center works assertively to support local talent and to introduce performing arts to children of all ages. “We have Vermont artists on stage at least once a month,” says Olson. “We’ve created a network with Flynn Center in Burlington for presenting school matinees. All kids in the region benefitted. About 2,500 elementary through high school students attended these performances in 2014. These are some of the ways we are part of our communities’ infrastructure.” The not-for-profit Spruce Peak Arts Center Foundation relies on contributions and sponsorships to fund its programming and operations. Ticket sales make up a small percent of the center’s revenue. The summer 2015 calendar opens June 20 with the New West Guitar Group and jazz singer Sara Gazarek. “They were here last June and we brought them back. They perform like nobody else, and this time they are bringing Sara Gazarek,” says Olson. Other highlights include world-renowned Mary Chapin Carpenter on July 2, and a physical theater festival from July 30 to August 6, featuring regional performers. “Circus artists do high-risk performance, and you have to see it live to get the true experience,” Olson notes. Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas will raise the roof on August 22. “People will come from all over to hear Alasdair play,” says Olsen. “There is really good material coming to Stowe. It might be something you’ve never heard of before, but you will have a great time, every time, and you will be really glad you went.” See Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center’s full line-up on page 122, or go to sprucepeakarts.org.
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Simply senseless, sensitive, solo, slapstick. Tom Murphy appears in Murphy’s Law—Bullet-Proof Comedy on July 30 at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center.
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story: lisa mccormack
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photographs: glenn callahan
Slope Style
Fashion on Snow: 1930 – 2014
If the mannequins at the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum could talk, they’d tell tales of Vermont’s burgeoning ski areas in the 1940s and 1950s, raucous après-ski parties, and the days when what you wore on the slopes was just as important as how well you skied. Welcome to Slope Style: Fashion on Snow, 19302014, an exhibit that runs through October and documents the evolution of snow sports fashion and fabrication from the 1930s to the present. “It’s a loose historical interpretation,” says guest curator Poppy Gall. Step through the exhibit’s entrance and you’ll run into a trio of skiers in stretch stirrup-style ski pants that were popular in the 1960s. Colors and patterns run the gamut from lime green and pink to plaid to a turquoiseand-yellow-patterned anorak with matching turquoise pants. Just a few feet away you’ll find a family in pleated wool gabardine pants, hand-knit sweaters, and fitted jackets typical of the 1930s and 1940s. There’s also an Army surplus coat worn by a member of the legendary 10th Mountain Division. “People nabbed these after the war and skied with them,” Gall says. Visitors might be surprised to see a mannequin wearing a wool ski skirt with matching culottes underneath. On the wall behind it, a photograph of Stowe ski racer Marilyn Shaw, in a similar outfit, offers proof that skirts were actually worn on the slopes, usually with tights for warmth. There are haute couture ski fashions, as well. Take the sealskin jacket paired with matching après-ski boots. Or the Bogner black-and-gold 1980s silk ski jumpsuit. But perhaps the most eye-catching piece in the exhibit is a 1970s one-piece number worn by Olympian Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee—shiny white stretch pants, a sewn-on red leotard, and blouson sleeves embellished with sparkly snowflakes. Anyone brave enough—or slim enough—to wear it would be guaranteed to draw lots of second looks.
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FLOWER POWER ON THE SLOPES A suit on loan from Stowe resident Kitty Coppock has a bright green stretch corduroy bib worn over a neon flower-power turtleneck. It’s displayed next to a mannequin wearing navy bell-bottom ski pants with red and white floral insets and a bandana tied around the knee. Groovy. Previous page: The exhibit includes skiwear designed by Ann Bonfoey Cooke, who lived in Stowe during World War II. Known as Nosedive Annie, Cooke designed uniforms for the U.S. Olympic ski team, and her sweaters and skiwear were sold at ski shops in high-end department stores, including Bergdorf Goodman. A Cooke ensemble featured in the show has a late 1960s black-and-white parka with bell sleeves, stretch ski pants, and a white fabric-covered helmet with a visor and chin strap, shown above. “She was a real fashion icon,” Gall says. “We’re fortunate to have this outfit.” A ski sweater with sporty insignia.
Guest curator Poppy Gall with a Bogner black and gold 1980s silk ski jumpsuit. A Finnish one-piece ski suit from the 1990s is topped by a current piece of headwear. Helmet Huggers is one of the exhibit sponsors, and the spandex and faux fur helmet covers are available for sale in the museum gift shop.
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From top: Pleated wool gabardine pants. Alpine haberdashery.
Slope Style, co-curated by Meredith Scott, was born from the acquisition last year of 25 ski outfits from Sandra Heath, a former Bogner model and ski movie star who lives in Stowe. Her father established Sandra Heath. Edson Hill Manor, a country inn her family owned and operated for many years. “With this gift, we said it’s time to do a fashion exhibition,” Gall says. “We filled in the edges with pieces from our permanent collection.” In all, the exhibit includes 35 accessorized outfits. Heath, who has long organized vintage ski fashion shows and exhibits, offered suggestions on how to put the outfits and accessories together. One section of the exhibit is dedicated to iconic Vermont brands, both past and present, including Skea, BF Moore & Co., B Sport, LotusDuvet, Burton, and Rome. Heath began modeling for Bogner, the high-fashion skiwear line based in Munich, Germany, in the 1950s. At that time, the sport was taking off in America, and Stowe was a popular weekend destination for the jet set, who would take trains from Boston and New York. What you wore—on and off the slopes—was important. “I think of all the years we had to look good on the slopes when 100
we couldn’t keep up with the boys or do the perfect turn,” Heath recalls. She refers to Bogner as “the Armani of skiwear,” pointing to the company’s use of luxury fabrics, detailed hand stitching, and intricately designed hardwear. “It was expensive, but if you had a Bogner piece, it would last for 300 years.” Before jetting off to Mexico for a few months, Heath, still glamorous in her 70s, showed up at the museum for a final review before the exhibit opened last November. She decided to donate the crème de la crème of her prized collection to the museum because “my condo didn’t have room for it anymore.” Not only did she have outfits she acquired during her modeling days, but Heath’s friends had been sending her their skiwear, adding to her overflowing closets. In addition to her modeling and film career, Heath worked as a ski consultant for Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, and Sig Buchmayr’s Ski Shop. But her favorite job was Ports of Call Travel at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she “worked closely with high-profile personalities and celebrities.” She recalls how ski pants eventually became so tight that customers had to squeeze into them lying down. Afterward, saleswomen would have to help them stand up, though “eventually they loosened up a bit,” she says. The earliest pieces in the exhibit date to the 1930s, when skiwear was made of wool and densely woven cotton. Wool gabardine was the favorite choice for ski pants, which
were usually high-waisted, pleated and baggy, and worn outside of ski boots. Wool was used because it keeps people warm, even when wet. Down ski parkas and quilted materials became popular in the early 1960s. Pants sometimes had padding in strategic areas so “ski racers could get close to the gates without injuring their knees or hips,” Gall says. During the 1960s, Maria Bogner revolutionized the skiwear industry by introducing stretch wool pants designed to be tucked into ski boots. “They made skiing glamorous and sexy,” Gall says. One-piece jumpsuits spanning several decades make up a large part of Slope Style. They were practical as well as stylish. “I skied mostly in one-piece stretch suits,” Heath says. “It was such a joy because you didn’t have to worry about your parka riding up or snow getting inside.” n
ESSENTIALS: Slope Style runs through October. Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum, 1 Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-9911. vtssm.com.
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SHOPPING & GALLERIES
t
Awakening, pastel, by artist Jayne Shoup, part of the exhibit Inside Out: Still Lifes and Interiors, at the Bryan Memorial Gallery through June.
the Helen Day Art Center occupies a central place in Stowe’s art scene, both literally and figuratively. Since taking over the top floor of the old Stowe High School building at the head of School Street in 1981, the Helen Day has provided Stowe with world-class exhibits, community programs, art education, and outreach to tens of thousands of schoolchildren. Notable artists such as Pablo Picasso and Wolf Kahn have shared the space with local artists like Stan Marc Wright, Rett Sturman, and Walton Blodgett, and with countless others from throughout Vermont, the region, and the world. For more, turn to page 104. On the other side of the mountain, the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville is named for Jeffersonville artists Mary and Alden Bryan. Mary Bryan died in 1978 and her husband, also now deceased, built and opened the non-profit gallery in her memory in 1984.
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EXHIBITS & OPENINGS BREAD & PUPPET MUSEUM Route 122, Glover. (802) 525-3031. Daily through October, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Museum tours, 1 p.m. Sundays in July and August.
June 7 Museum Open House, 2 p.m. Bread & Puppet show, Paper Mâche Cathedral, 4 p.m.
BRYAN MEMORIAL GALLERY 180 Main Street, Jeffersonville. Through July 1: Thursday – Sunday, 11 - 4; July 1 – Oct. 12: Daily 11 - 5. (802) 644-5100. bryangallery.org.
Through December 30 2015 Legacy Collection, East Gallery
May 1 – June 28 Paintings by Phil Laughlin, Middle Room
May 1 – June 28 Inside Out: Still Lifes and Interiors, Main Gallery
Blue Bowl with Fruit, oil, John
July 3 – September 7
Petersen.
Generations: Teachers / Living Artists / Students, Main Gallery Exhibit calendar continues on page 106
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H E L E N DAY A RT C E N T E R
HELEN DAY ART CENTER Exhibitions of national and international artists, as well as rotating exhibitions of Vermont artists. Art classes and workshops, lectures, and children’s programs offered throughout the year. 90 Pond St., Stowe Village. (802) 253-8358. Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m. helenday.org. Free; donations welcome.
June 19 – August 23 The Best of the Northeast MFA Exhibition Third biennial introductory exhibition of emerging contemporary artists from Quebec, New England, and New York master of fine arts students.Opening reception: June 19, 6 p.m.
July 11 – October 14 Exposed 24th outdoor sculpture exhibition. Sculpture, site-specific, and participatory work from regional and national artists is exhibited throughout the town of Stowe. Opening walkabout with progressive hors d’oeuvres, 4 p.m.
Clockwise from top: Daniel Bohman, Patchwork, MFA exhibit. Amber DeVoss, Untitled, 2013, Festival of Trees & Light. Michael-Zebrowski, Exposed. Inset: Beka Goedde, thehistoryofeverything, Fractured: Works on Paper.
September 11 – November 22 Fractured: Works on Paper Works on paper that look at fractured space through the lens of the narrative, structure, and optics and how those constructions or deconstructions create new meaning, new perceptions, and new truths. Dawn Clements, Olafur Eliasson, Kiki Smith, Jane South, among others. Opening reception: September 11, 6 p.m.
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December 4 – January 3 Members’ Art Show & Festival of Trees & Light Bringing the community together to share and celebrate the season through decorated evergreens, a Hanukkah display, and over 100 members’ art work. Opening reception: December 4, 5 p.m.
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EXHIBITS & OPENINGS Exhibit calendar continues from page 102
July 3 – September 7 Andrew Orr and David Curtis, Middle Room
September 11 – December 30 Land and Light and Water and Air, Main Gallery
September 11 – November 8 Mary and Alden Bryan, Middle Room
November 13 – December 30 GEMS: Small Picture Show, Middle Room
Caribbean Fishing Sailboat, detail, Emile Gruppe.
EMILE A. GRUPPE GALLERY 22 Barber Farm Rd., Jericho Center. (802) 899-3211, emilegruppegallery.com.
June 4 – July 12 Caspian Arts from Greenboro
July 18 Jericho Plein Air Art Festival: More than 75 artists paint at various spots around Jericho, capturing scenic vistas, lovely gardens, historic buildings.
July 19 – August 9 Exhibition of Plein Air Festival
September 3 – October 11 Watercolorist Annelein Beukenkamp's Flowers, Figures, and Fowl.
October 15 – November 22 Walter Pasko, oils
ERIKSSON FINE ART Comfort Farm, 2313 West Hill Road, Stowe. Noon to 5:30 p.m., Friday to Monday, or by appointment (561) 307-5610.
August 21 - October 18 Edge of Nature: Paintings, ceramic sculptures, textile art. Opening reception Sept. 7. 6 p.m.
FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS IN JEFFERSONVILLE cambridgeartsvt.org or (802) 644-6438.
August 8 Celebrating the creativity of local artists. Artists display their work along Jeffersonville’s charming Main Street. Green Mountain Swing Band, children’s activities, local food. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
GRACE OLD FIREHOUSE The art of GRACE, Grass Roots Art & Community Effort. 13 Mill St., Hardwick. (802) 472-6857, Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. graceart.org.
Ongoing GRACE workshop artists: Old Firehouse Annex, Hardwick; Stoweflake Mountain Resort; Catamount Arts Center, St. Johnsbury. Exhibit calendar continues on page 110
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Katrina Swanson • Oil Alexander Volkov • Oil
Sergio Roffo • Oil
ROBERT PAUL GALLERIES • American & European Paintings •
Tina Palmer • Acrylic
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
Heralded as one of the countries finest art galleries, we offer a truly outstanding selection of original paintings, sculpture and fine glass and porcelain by locally, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. Open seven days a week Baggy Knees Shopping Center • 394 Mountain Road P.O. Box 1413, Stowe, VT 05672 • (802) 253-7282 www.robertpaulgalleries.com
Fred Swan • Acrylic
Gerhard Nesvada • Oil
Joseph Holodook • Acrylic
Matt Seasholtz • Glass
Thomas Arvid • Oil
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M O U N TA I N ROAD MARKETPLACE
STORY & PHOTOS / Kate Carter
RAINMAKERS Some of the business owners and employees of dining,
lodging, and retail establishments in the Mountain Road Marketplace.
A mile and a half up the Mountain Road from Stowe Village is an enclave of businesses, a sort of mini borough, a mini Stowe. Named Mountain Road Marketplace in 2011, it’s the brainchild of Mary Lou Baraw, owner of Green Envy Boutique, manager of Yellow Turtle, and organizer of a group of about 15 business owners who felt there was something special about their little neighborhood. “We have an amazing group of people, products, and services in a compact area. I wanted to get the message out that we have so much to offer in just a half-mile stretch on the Mountain Road,” says Baraw. “In just a half-mile there are over 30 locally owned and operated businesses, all within walking distance. There is so much to do and so many reasons to be here.” The informally organized group meets monthly to discuss marketing efforts, talk shop, and brainstorm ways to attract visitors and residents to their businesses. They want people to know about them. “Mountain Road Marketplace is an intersection of businesses where there’s something for everyone,” explains Rachel Vandenberg, co-owner of Sun & Ski Inn and Suites and spokesperson for the group. The Mountain Road Marketplace falls within the Mountain Road Village District, one of Stowe’s five zoning districts, and extends from Sun & Ski Inn and Suites and Phoenix Table & Bar to Edelweiss Mountain Deli. In between are hotels, numerous specialty boutiques, spirits, restaurants, a convenience store, Realtors, miniature golf, medical services, home decor, yoga, a full spa, and a whole lot more. It also has easy access to the award-winning Stowe Recreation Path. The official zoning designation is commercial, and recent upgrades to the district include the first phase of a sidewalk, which was completed last fall. “The sidewalk has really united the group. It’s the thread that has drawn us together even more closely,” says Vandenberg. “The zoning plan is for more of a streetscape, with businesses close to the road and parking in back,” she adds. “Any
Shop til you drop!
Mountain Road Marketplace carves out its own niche
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future development must meet that criteria.” During the summer, the Stowe Farmers’ Market is a big draw for the Marketplace. Sandwiched between the Blue Donkey and Red Barn Shops, the Sunday market is so popular that special parking arrangements and traffic management become necessary along the Mountain Road. In the near future, the Mountain Road Marketplace will be enhanced by two unique entities that are currently in the planning stages: Stowe Bowl, an eight-lane bowling venue, and the Alchemist Brewery, brewers of the highly coveted Heady Topper. “We are an evolving community made up of entrenched family businesses that are here for the customers and are about customer service,” says Vandenberg. “We are not just about the sale; we are about experiencing a neighborhood.” Mountain Road Marketplace businesses are actively involved in the greater Stowe community. “We sponsor and make donations to a wide variety of local causes, youth programs, North Country Animal League, and families with medical emergencies,” Vandenberg notes. “We care about the community we live in, and with our continuing growth we are able to provide jobs.” “We are a huge draw for people coming to the area and for locals,” adds Baraw. “It’s a special place.” n
Through
Smugglersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Notch, the other side of
Visions of Vermont Art Galleries
Spruce Peak, lies the picturesque Town of Cambridge, the Village of Jeffersonville, and
Jack Winslow
Karen Winslow
Eric Tobin
Thomas R. Curtin
Eric Tobin
Step back in time. Stroll through our three buildings where historic Architecture meets the beauty of local Landscapes. The Victorian House, Carriage Barn and Sugar House Gallery feature Master Painters, past and present.
Three Fine Art Galleries 100 Main Street ~ Jeffersonville
visionsofvermont.com 802 644-8183 11 to 5 Tuesday through Sunday
EXHIBITS & OPENINGS Exhibit calendar continues from page 106
Big Sky, detail, Sandra Noble, Green
Mountain Fine Art Gallery.
GREEN MOUNTAIN FINE ART GALLERY 64 S. Main St., Stowe Village. (802) 253-1818. greenmountainfineart.com. Traditional and contemporary works by Vermont and regional artists.
INSIDE OUT GALLERY 299 Mountain Rd., Stowe. insideoutgalleryvt.com. (802) 253-6945. Ongoing exhibits of paintings, photography and art glass by Vermont artists and fine crafts and jewelry in glass, metals, wood, ceramics and recycled materials by American and European artists.
ECCO
Burlington’s Original Designer Boutique
Established in 1992.
LITTLE RIVER HOTGLASS STUDIO 593 Moscow Rd., Moscow. littleriverhotglass.com. (802) 253-0889. Nationally recognized art glass studio, features Stowe artist Michael Trimpol’s studio.
GALLERY AT RIVER ARTS & COMMON SPACE GALLERY 74 Pleasant St., Morrisville. Monday – Friday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. (802) 888-1261. riverartsvt.org.
Through July 30 River Works Group Exhibit
Paige Denim Vince Velvet by Graham & Spenser Theory BCBG Susana Monaco Amanda Uprichard Citizens of Humanity AG Jeans Michael Stars James Perse Ella Moss Splendid DL 1961 7 For All Mankind Dolce Vita Steve Madden and so much more…
August 3 – 31 Stowe Tango Festival
Through July 30 Kinder Arts 2014-15: Retrospective and Archistream Student Design Charrette Exhibits, Common Space Gallery
ROBERT PAUL GALLERIES Baggy Knees Shopping Center, 394 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-7282. robertpaulgalleries.com. Original paintings, sculpture, and photography from dozens of noted artists.
STOWE CRAFT DESIGN 55 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-4693. stowecraft.com. Art and craft gallery featuring fine crafts, fine art, sculpture, jewelry, and more.
September 10 – 12 Terri Logan Jewelry Trunk Show: River stones, brushed silver, and organic shapes.
October 2015 Tibetan Rug Show Meet Gyurme Sherpa and hear the story of his family’s rug business in Nepal. Hand-dyed, hand-woven rugs. Exhibit calendar continues on page 115
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live with VERMONT STUDIO CENTER LECTURE & READING SERIES May â&#x20AC;&#x201C; October, Lowe Lecture Hall, 58 Lower Main Street East, Johnson. November â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April, VSC Red Mill Dining Room, 80 Pearl St. 8 p.m. Free, confirm day of the event, (802) 635-2727. vermontstudiocenter.org.
June 11 June 15 June 16 June 25 June 26 June 29 July 9 July 13 July 14 July 23 July 24 July 27 August 9 August 10 August 11 August 20 August 21 August 24 Sept. 3 Sept. 7 Sept. 8 Sept. 17 Sept. 18 Sept. 21 Oct. 1 Oct. 5 Oct. 6 Oct. 15 Oct. 19 Oct. 29 Nov. 2 Nov. 3 Nov. 12 Nov. 13 Nov. 16
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (writer) Deana Lawson (artist) Sheila Pepe (artist) Colin Chase (artist) Tommy Dodge (artist) Ehud Havazelet (writer) Madison Smartt Bell (writer) Judy Glantzman (artist) Leonid Lerman (artist) Nayland Blake (artist) Carrie Moyer (artist) Dara Wier (writer) Lisa Russ Spaar (writer) Odili Donald Odita (artist) Jackie Brookner (artist) Jacob Hashimoto (artist) Judith Simonian (artist) Tom Drury (writer) Ron Carlson (writer) Elaine Reichek (artist) Oliver Herring (artist) Carol Prusa (artist) Chuck Webster (artist) Stanley Plumly (writer) Susan Steinberg (writer) John J. O'Connor (artist) Nene Humphrey (artist) Won Lee (artist) Peter Cole (writer) Jose Manuel Prieto (writer) Sarah Walker (artist) Hiroyuki Hamada (artist) Ledelle Moe (artist) Jule de Balincourt (artist) Jody Gladding (writer)
art Artist owned and curated. Contemporary and unexpected designs realized in jewelry, artwork, photography and functional home decor. Unique custom furnishings, lighting, rugs and interior design services. Landmark village buildings: 55 Mountain Road & 34 So. Main Street, Stowe. 1- 877- I LOVEVT
stowecraft.com
The Art of Creative Living 111
DAN CE STUDIO
Stowe Tango Festival returns The impassioned art of tango is ripe for sharing STORY / Jasmine Bigelow
Like so many of life’s worthy exercises, it starts with a breath. A deep inhale that subconsciously accentuates your sense of poise. You don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. On an upbeat, you’re moving. But you’re not thinking about your specific steps. You’re probably not thinking at all. To be engaged in tango is to be connected to the music and the moment, not your mind. Tango is a temptress turned love story. The idea arouses curiosity and a little bit of fear. You think, “Beautiful women in strappy heels and suggestive dresses? It’s probably only safe when kept at a distance.” So your introduction to tango starts out as a dare among friends, an experience you expect to be fodder for laughter. But what happens is you find a different kind of joy. Not one to laugh about, but one you don’t want to be without. When you shed your preconceptions, so much about tango is surprising. Tango is not choreographed. Except by the energy that transpires when two people find the right balance of space and embrace between them. If their connection clicks, the next step—to each of them—is perfectly clear, and the result is a unified journey around the dance floor that appears to be rehearsed, but is actually beautifully improvised. Tango transcends dance. Tango is music. For classical musicians, learning to play tango is like
TANGO TANGO TANGO From top left: Tango dancers at the Tango Trail in front of Stowe’s town hall. Adele Lun, a participant of the Bandoneon Intensive Workshop. The bandoneon is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina, Uruguay, and Lithuania. Hector Del Curto Tango Quintet.
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learning a new language based on a familiar alphabet. It’s a different way of playing the same notes. It’s more dramatic. More innovative. More expressive. Tango is a social culture. It has a storied history, and it had a heyday. Almost a century after its golden age, tango is making a resurgence. Today, in Stowe, the Argentine Tango Society (which makes its U.S. headquarters here) cultivates an emergent community of tango devotees. A community that is enigmatic, yet welcoming. Its enthusiasm for tango fuels a desire to share it with anyone who dares to explore it. With the creation of the Stowe Tango Music Festival, tango gurus are generous with their knowledge. The festival is multifaceted, providing education and entertainment in a varied format that is digestible for everyone: workshops, concerts, milongas, dance classes, and Argentinean cultural exhibits. This kind of local access to world-class tango is a gift. You can tango. Take that first breath. Put yourself out there. Feel intimidated. Get exhilarated. Try a step, or just watch. Tap into your curiosity. Connect. Be in the presence of a high level of passion and fervor. It’s infectious. n ESSENTIALS: Stowe Tango Music Festival: August 19 – 22. stowetangomusicfestival.com.
“Tango is an embrace, and that’s the most important thing. People need to be embraced in life, and when they find that, they don’t want to leave it.”
—Hector Del Curto Stowe Tango Music Festival founder, artistic director, bandoneonist
“Tango music embodies a sense of gesture. It is underlying with passion and a confident elegance. It has a purpose. It’s powerful.”
—Mary Gibson Violinist, 2014 tango music workshop participant
“In the tango community, you meet people of different ages and with different interests. Everyone is positive and accepting. You don’t have to be ‘fit’ or have experience. If you can learn a few steps, you can travel the dance floor, and you can tango.”
—Jisoo Ok Stowe Tango Music Festival founder, executive director, cellist
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EDUCATION TEEN & ADULT CLASSES & WORKSHOPS, YOUTH EDUCATION, SUMMER CAMPS
Teen Art Studio
Expressions in Paint with Claire Desjardins
Helen Day Art Center is a non-profit contemporary arts and education organization in Stowe, Vermont.
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Summer Camps for ages 3 - 18
helenday.com Gallery Hours: Wed - Sun, 12-5 Office Hours: Mon - Fri, 9-5 90 Pond Street, Stowe 802-253-8358
EXHIBITS
360 Sweater Margaret O’leary SKULL CASHMERE Tolani
Exhibit calendar continues from page 110
VISIONS OF VERMONT GALLERY Main Street, Jeffersonville. visionsofvermont.com. (802) 644-8183. Vermont artists Eric Tobin, Jack and Karen Winslow, Alden Bryan, Emile Gruppe, and others, exhibit in three gallery buildings.
June Northern Vermont Artist Association 85th Annual Juried Show
July – August Contemporary Artists, Landscapes & More
September – October Past Masters Revisited
Carol O’Malia, Marking Time, oil on canvas.
WEST BRANCH GALLERY & SCULPTURE PARK One mile from the Village on the Mountain Road, Stowe. (802) 253-8943. westbranchgallery.com. Indoor gallery and outdoor sculpture park, promoting contemporary art in varied media and styles by regional, national, and international artists.
Ongoing Sculpture park: Works by Jonathan Prince, David Stromeyer, Bruce White, Karen Petersen, Chris Curtis, Jeffrey Laudenslager, John Matusz, Chris Miller, and Kim Radochia.
April 22 – June 22 Houses: Kathleen Kolb, watercolors and oils.
May 15 – August 11 Landscapes: Julia Jensen’s dreamy landscapes.
June 5 – July 30 Water: Craig Mooney, Rebecca Kinkead, Mariella Bisson, Carol O’Malia.
June 12 – August 31 Seasons: Susan Wahlrab watercolors on clayboard.
July 1 – July 31 20 Years, An Artist’s Evolution: Stephanie Bush oils on canvas and mylar.
Open 10 - 5:30 Daily
10 - 5 Sunday
August 7 – September 30 Family: Clark Derbes, polychromed wood sculpture.
August 14 – October 5 Hues and Gestures: Val Rossman, acrylic on aluminum and pastels.
September 4 – October 31 American Zen: Beth Donahue, mixed media with old music scores.
come see what’s in for summer
&
fall.
September 4 – December 3 Vernal Pools and Other Landscapes: Jessie Pollock, encaustic and image transfer.
October 9 – December 31 Our World: Gabriel Tempesta, charcoals and casein. n
orla kiely Red Engine Jeans Johnny Was Second Yoga 115
LEANN MUELLER/DECCA RECORDS; YOON S. BYUN
S TOWE PERFORMING ARTS
The Hot Sardines.
M e a d o w M u s i c : Sizzling sounds fill Trapp concert meadow It wouldn’t be summer in Stowe if the concert meadow at Trapp Family Lodge didn’t fill with music. The summer season includes a return of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra; A Far Cry, with its more personal take on classical music; the brassy, rythmic group, The Hot Sardines; and finally the Big Band stylings of the Vermont Jazz Ensemble. Stowe Performing Arts is the only concert producer in these parts that presents a full schedule of outdoor concerts, most of which are free. On July 5 Vermont Symphony Orchestra presents Spellbound, “a dreamscape of enchantment. Musical sorcery, wizards, witches, and trolls, oh my!” The 1812 Overture and spectacular fireworks conclude the show. The self-conducted A Far Cry “brims with personality or, better, personalities, many and varied,” says the New York Times. The collective of tightly knit classical musicians “expands the boundaries of orchestral repertoire and experiments with the ways music is prepared, 116
bles in the state, their big band arrangements will keep your toes tapping, in or out of your seat. Midsummer also brings hot music on hot summer nights—for free. Tuesday evening gazebo concerts on the lawn of Stowe Free Library include Paul Asbell, an Americana/ blues guitarist; Jonathan Henken and the melodic sound of bagpipes; the Elena Uriostel, ever-popular Morrisville Military/ Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Waterbury Community bands; and the upbeat roots music of the Chad performed, and experienced.” They grace the Hollister Trio. meadow stage on July 12. Tuesday evenings gazebo concerts begin at 7 The Hot Sardines sizzle with brass, a rhythm p.m. Just like Stowe Performing Arts’ concert section to die for, and a Fats-Waller-inspired in Trapp meadow, picnics and lawn chairs are piano virtuoso, all led by a front-woman with a welcome. voice from another era. The Sardines, in Stowe Aug. 2, fuse musical influences from the ESSENTIALS: See our calendar, next page. Prohibition era through WWII, and beyond. stoweperformingarts.com. Finally, on Sept. 6, the Vermont Jazz Ensemble brings its 35 years of music-making to Trapps. One of the most popular jazz ensem-
STOWE PERFORMING ARTS NOON MUSIC Free concerts. Wednesdays at noon, Stowe Community Church, Main Street, Stowe.
May 27 Cantemus Chamber Chorus
A Far Cry.
STOWE PERFORMING ARTS MUSIC IN THE MEADOW Trapp Family Lodge Concert Meadow, Trapp Hill Road, Stowe. stoweperformingarts.com for times and tickets. Meadow opens two hours prior to concert.
July 5 Spellbound: Vermont Symphony Orchestra, 1812 Overture, marches, and fireworks conclude the show. 7:30 p.m. July 12 A Far Cry: expanding the boundaries of the classical repertoire. August 2 The Hot Sardines: old standards with vocals, brass, piano, and rhythm. September 6 Vermont Jazz Ensemble: toe-tapping big band jazz. STOWE PERFORMING ARTS GAZEBO CONCERTS Free concerts. Tuesday evenings on the lawn of the Stowe Free Library / Helen Day Art Center. (Rainsite: Stowe Community Church).
July 21 Paul Asbell, Americana/blues guitarist July 28 Jonathan Henken, bagpipes August 4 Morrisville Military/Waterbury Community bands August 11 Chad Hollister Trio—original, upbeat roots music for the soul ADAMANT MUSIC SCHOOL The schedule varies, and includes several weekday evenings and some Sunday afternoons. $10; $6 for seniors; free for members. adamant.org.
July 15 – 31 Concerts at Waterside Hall ART ON PARK Thursdays, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Artists, artisans, live music, local food. facebook.com/artonpark.
June 25 July 2 July 9 July 16 July 23 July 30 August 6 August 13 August 20 August 27
Cooie Sings Phineaus Gage Funky Crustaceans Lite Spider Roulette Seth Yacovone Japhy Ryder TBD The Big Lonesome TBD TBD Music calendar continues on page 118
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MUSIC
Music calendar continues from page 117
BLUEGRASS WITH KENJI BUNCH AND FRIENDS On the Common in Craftsbury. Free, donations welcome. Benefits Craftsbury Chamber Players.
July 12 Violist, fiddler, composer, Bunch is a leading interpreter of new and experimental music. 7 p.m. CRAFTSBURY CHAMBER PLAYERS Featured artists: Kenji Bunch, viola, and Marcantonio Barone, piano. Music director Frances Rowell. Music by Vivaldi, Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, more. $25; $10 students; 12/under free. At the door or craftsburychamberplayers.org.
July 15, July 22, July 29, August 5, August 12, & August 19 University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. Free mini concerts for children, 4 p.m. Aug. 19 location TBD. July 16, July 23, July 30 & August 6, August 13, & August 20 Hardwick Town House, Thursdays 7:30 p.m.
The Woedoggies play at the Rattling Brook Bluegrass Festival in Belvidere in June, and also at Tuesday Night Live in Johnson.
CRAFTSBURY CHAMBER PLAYERS MINI CONCERTS FOR CHILDREN July 15, July 22, July 29, August 5, August 12 & August 19 University of Vermont Recital Hall, Burlington, Wednesdays, 4 p.m. Aug. 19 location TBD. July 16 & July 23 Hardwick Town House, 2 p.m. July 30 & August 6 East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church, 2 p.m. August 13 & August 20 Greensboro United Church of Christ Fellowship Hall, 2 p.m.
RATTLING BROOK BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL Belvidere recreation field, Route 109. (802) 644-1118. 12 - 8. Rain or shine. Admission.
June 20 Great regional bluegrass bands, which have included The Reunion Band, Bob Amos and Catamount Crossing, Bluegrass Revisited, Big Spike Bluegrass, Modern Grass Quintet, and The Woedoggies.
DIBDEN CENTER FOR THE ARTS On the campus of Johnson State College. Box office, (802) 635-1476 or jsc.edu/dibden.
September 25 Made in Vermont, Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Music by Dittersdorf, Holst, Haydn, and an original composition. 7:30 p.m. ELEVA CHAMBER PLAYERS Professional string chamber orchestra. (802) 2448354. $20/$10. RSVP: elevachamberplayers.org. November 7 – 8 Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Bottesini with Andrew Trombley on bass. Nov. 7, United Church of Christ, Main Street, Waterbury, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8, First Church Universalist of Barre, Vermont, 3 p.m. GREEN MOUNTAIN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL UVM Recital Hall, Redstone Campus, 384 S. Prospect St., Burlington. gmcmf.org. $25. 7:30 p.m. Artist faculty of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival.
July 1 – 24 Artist Faculty Series concerts, Wednesdays and Fridays, 7:30 p.m. JAY PEAK MUSIC SERIES Jay Peak Resort, Jay. jaypeakresort.com
June 19 Widespread Panic, with Umphrey’s McGee, Stateside Amphitheater. Doors open at 5 p.m. July 24 – 25 Jeezum Crow Festival, Stateside Amphitheater. July 24: Dark Star Orchestra, Anders Osborne, and Hornbeam. Starts at 4 p.m. July 25: Dark Star Orchestra, Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real, The Weight, Cabinet, The Garcia Project, Roots of the Creation, and Rick Redington & The Luv. 11 a.m. – midnight. $35 one day/$65 both days.
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July 23 Dave Keller: funky, soulful blues July 30 Preydon: Celtic rock August 6 Eames Brothers: blues, funk, soul, rock August 13 Stone Cold Roosters: honky tonk August 20 John Lacard: rock, blues TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE Legion field, Johnson village. 6 - 8:30 p.m. Food vendors. Free. Woedoggies Lewis Franco & the Missing Cats Tammy Fletcher with Bob Hill (6 p.m.), Professor Fairbanks (7:15) July 28 The Funky Crustaceans August 4 Seth Yacovone Blues Trio August 11 Michael Chorney & Hollar General August 18 Mud City Ramblers August 25 Kat Wright & the Indomitable Soul Band
July 7 July 14 July 21
WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE AT THE OXBOW Oxbow Park, downtown Morrisville, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Free yoga 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.; bring your own mat.
ROCKTOBERFEST Portland Street, downtown Morrisville. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. rocktoberfestvt.com. Most events free.
October 3 All-day street festival begins with a 5k fun run at Oxbow Park at 9 a.m. Chad Hollister and others perform on the main stage. Chili cook-off, pumpkin bowling, mini golf, face painting, street graffiti, cornhole tournaments, free movies at the Bijou Cineplex, 4 square competitions, bubble stations, No Strings Marionettes, food, craft vendors, and the painted Adirondack chair auction. Beer tent. RUSTY PARKER PARK CONCERTS Waterbury Rotary Club concerts, Rusty Parker Park, Main Street, Waterbury. Free, Thursdays 6 p.m. (Subject to change, weather dependent)
June 11 June 18 June 25 July 2 July 9 July 16
Mano Malo: blues, funk Studio 2: Beatles tribute band Radio Flyer: rock, blues Unusual Suspects: blues Mellow Yellow: 60s/70s tribute band Slant Sixx: high-energy dance
June 17 Starline Rhythm Boys, Ballet Wolcott at 4:45 p.m. June 24 Shellhouse Carol Ann July 1 Jones Carol Ann Jones July 8 Patrick Fitzsimmons July 15 Eames Brothers July 22 Candy Ambulance, Boatman’s Lament July 29 Fossil Fuel August 5 Stefani Capizzi, Ballet Wolcott, 5 p.m. August 12 Ted & Sergio August 19 Howard Fishman / MoCo free corn roast n
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HIS TORY LESSON FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS Clockwise from top left: An historical report on how Moscow, Vt., got its name. The Tsar Bell in Moscow, Russia. Moscow, Vt., today. The old Moscow general store, circa 1900.
Great Bells of Moscow... Vermont? How a small Stowe hamlet got its name STORY / Kate Carter
Two-and-a-half miles south of Stowe lies the sleepy hamlet of Moscow. People in the know call it Moscow, like Bosco, the chocolate drink. Others call it Moscow, like the bovine that adorns Vermont’s landscape. You can call it what you want, but a nagging question remains: How in the heck did a little village in Vermont get the name Mosco/cow? What were people thinking? The town was originally named Smith’s Falls for both the waterfall on the Little River that flows through the village and for brothers William and Horace Smith of Hartford, Conn., who settled in Stowe in 1806. William’s sons, Lemuel and Able, were millwrights, carpenters, and joiners, and they built several dwellings and industrial buildings near the falls. By 1822 the settlement had become known as Smith’s Falls. It was centered around a thriving sawmill and woodworking industry. Smith’s Falls acquired its second name, Moscow, in 1839. There is no written account of the reason behind the name change, but records at the Stowe Historical Society indicate it had something to do with a famous bell in Moscow, Russia, officially known as Tsar Bell III. Oral accounts, however, vary, as they often do. Tom and Ruth Hamilton, who have lived in Moscow for over 40 years, raised their two children in the house they bought in 1972. “We wanted to live in Moscow because there were so many kids in the neighborhood. The main street was a tiny dirt road that all the kids played on. If a car went by, everyone got up to go see who it was,” Tom says. The Hamilton’s next-door neighbor was Audrey Blanchard, born in the early 1900s. Blanchard was a teacher at the Moscow Schoolhouse, an unusually large one-room school that once held classes with up to 20 kids. Audrey told Ruth about the school’s bell. “Audrey said the school didn’t have any money for a bell. Instead, they had a circular saw blade hanging from a string that she hit with a hammer to call 120
the children to class. They also used it to call people to town meetings.” One story holds that residents associated the improvised bell with the hammer and sickle, the symbol of the Russian Revolution. The hammer represented workers, and together with the sickle illustrated Lenin’s famous slogan about the unity of the proletariat and peasants. But Lenin’s reign came after the Smith’s Falls name change, so that story, though creative, holds no water. More plausible is the reference to the great Bell of Moscow. The Tsar Bell is the largest bell in the world, weighing over 200 tons and standing more than 7-feet high and 8-feet across. Empress Anna Ioannovna wanted to fulfill her uncle’s dream of building the bell and commissioned the Motorins, a father-and-son team, to build it. It was said to be the biggest and clearest-sounding bell to ring anywhere in the world. The casting of this enormous bell was performed by a crew of nearly 200 craftsmen. It took two years. Then bad luck struck. During Moscow’s great fire of 1737, the bell still lay in its casting pit, and burning timber from the structure above it fell into the pit. Bronze has a relatively low melting point, so the question was whether to let it burn and risk melting it, or pour water on it and risk cracking it by cooling it too fast. The water flowed and, as feared, the bronze cracked and a chunk weighing 11.5 tons broke off the bell. The broken Tsar Bell remained in the earth for almost 100 years, until the architect Auguste de Montferrand raised it in 1836—exactly three years before the Smith’s Falls name change— and placed it on its present granite pedestal. It was never rung and remains a mute testimony to the grand days of the Romanov Dynasty, and to the weaknesses of humanity. One can only imagine that in 1836 or so, in the little hamlet of Smith’s Falls, the townsfolk heard about the Great Bell of Moscow’s reincarnation, and when the schoolmarm called the children to school by pounding the circular saw with a hammer, jokes began to fly. “Yo, bro!” one millworker may have called to another. “What’s that I hear?” “Sounds like the Great Bell of Moscow,” came the reply. The village that had once been known as Smith’s Falls soon became known as Moscow, and was federally recognized as the Village of Moscow with the organization of a post office in 1884. John W. Smith of the Smith’s Falls family was Moscow’s first postmaster. Over a hundred years later, in 2008, Moscow was named to the National Register of Historic Places. n
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CARPENTER: RUSS HARRINGTON; KUBÍNEK: D.A. HILL-1
MIXED MEDIA Clockwise from top: Mary Chapin Carpenter, New West Guitar Group, Galumpha Rice, Alisdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, and Tomáš Kubínek.
From top: Co-Lab 1: People Gallery, singer/songwriter Lesley Grant, cast of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, and the Quebe Sisters Band.
Music, theater, family fun at Spruce Peak arts center SPRUCE PEAK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER The 420-seat arts center hosts a wide spectrum of events—theater, music, dance, comedy, film, lectures, and multimedia presentations. Most events fall into four categories: Peak VT Artists, Peak Films, Peak Pop, and Peak Family. The facility is overseen by the nonprofit Spruce Peak Arts Center Foundation, Inc., 122 Hourglass Dr., Spruce Peak, Mountain Road. See sprucepeakarts.org or stowetoday.com for most up-todate information. Box office at (802) 760-4634.
June 20
New West Guitar Group with Sara Gazarek Cutting-edge guitar trio firmly rooted in classic jazz, joined by jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek. 8 p.m. June 27
The Gathering: Celebration for the Longest Day The legacy of Windham Hill Records with contemporary productions by Will Ackerman. 8 p.m. July 2
Mary Chapin Carpenter Grammy award-winning country-music star performs with her trio. 7 p.m.
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July 11
August 6
Indian Classical Music with Ustad Shafaat Khan
Galumpha!
World-renowned Indian classical musician and ensemble on sitar, table, and vocals. 8 p.m. July 18
Stunning acrobatics, striking visual effects, physical comedy, inventive choreography. 7 & up. 7 p.m. August 8
Twangtown Paramours
The Rendez-Vous featuring Krin Haglund
Hybrid of the Nashville and Austin music scenes. Poetic, socially conscious, funny songs. 8 p.m. July 25
The master of comedy, aerial silks, juggling, and the Cyr Wheel. Romance, hilarity, buffoonery, grace converge in a 1920s cabaret. 7 & up. 7 p.m. August 15
All Mixed Up: Counterpoint Sings the Music of Pete Seeger Vermont’s pro ensemble celebrates vision of songwriter, activist, and performer Pete Seeger. 8 p.m. July 30
Tom Murphy in Murphy’s Law—Bullet-Proof Comedy Senseless, sensitive, solo, slapstick. 5 & up. 7 p.m. August 1
Tomáš Kubinek—Certified Lunatic & Master of the Impossible Comic genius, virtuoso vaudevillian, and all-round charmer who gives audiences an utterly joyous experience. 7 & up. 7 p.m.
8 Cuerdas: Passion Meets Tango & Flamenco Argentine tango and milonga and the rich repertoire of Latin American song and its influences from across the sea. 8 p.m. August 22
Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas Undisputed king and queen of Scottish music. 8 p.m. August 29
Northern Third Piano Quartet Music of Mozart, Shostakovich, Middlebury composer Jorge Martin, and Schumann. 8 p.m. Mixed media continues on page 124
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MIXED MEDIA Mixed media continues from page 122
September 5
Dave Keller Band: Soul & Blues from Montpelier to Memphis First-class singer, guitarist, and songwriter. 8 p.m. September 12
Carol Ann Jones Quartet Free-flowing up-tempo rock, country, pop, jazz and blues. 8 p.m. September 19
Ballets With A Twist: Mint Julep and Other Spirited Dances An original mix of charismatic choreography, invigorating music, and exquisite costume design. 7 & up. 7:30 p.m. September 26
Susan Werner Folk, jazz, and pop, all delivered with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. 8 p.m. October 3
Francesca Blanchard Banchard’s intimate music, in French and English. 8 p.m. October 10
The Gathering: Concert for the Autumn Colors Legacy of Windham Hill Records with contemporary productions by Will Ackerman. 8 p.m. October 16
Comedian Paul Reiser Comedian, actor, and bestselling author’s national comedy tour. 8 p.m.
James Kinne, Phineaus Gage Project. ART ON PARK Thursdays, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Artists, artisans, live music, local food. facebook.com/artonpark.
June 25 July 2 July 9 July 16 July 23 July 30 August 6 August 13 August 20 & 27
Cooie Sings Phineaus Gage Funky Crustaceans Lite Spider Roulette Seth Yacovone Japhy Ryder TBD The Big Lonesome TBD
BURKLYN BALLET THEATRE Dibden Center for the Arts, Johnson State College. Admission. burklynballet.com. (877) 287-5596.
ROUTE 15 • JOHNSON, VERMONT (11⁄2 miles west of the village)
Open 7 days a week: 10AM – 7PM
Famous Label, OFF PRICE Clothing for Men, Women & Teens 124
July 4 – August 8 Professional and student dancers. Saturdays, 8 p.m. (July 4 date subject to change) August 2 Preview of Alice in Wonderland to be performed at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. 2:30 p.m. CIRCUS SMIRKUS World Headquarter Circus Barn, Greensboro. smirkus.org. (877) SMIRKUS.
June 28 & August 14 – 15 Big Top Tour: Bon Appetit! June 28, 1 & 6 p.m.; August 15 - 16, Friday, 7 p.m., Saturday, 1 & 6 p.m.
RIVER ARTS YOUTH CAMPS AND CLASSES 74 Pleasant St., Morrisville. Monday – Friday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. (802) 888-1261. riverartsvt.org. STOWE DANCE AND MAD RIVER DANCE ACADEMIES Dibden Center for the Arts, Johnson State College. Tickets at Stowe Dance Academy in Stowe, stowedance.com, or (802) 253-5151.
June 5 – 6 Wizard of Oz and An Evening of Dance: June 5 and 6, 6 p.m.; June 7, 1 p.m. STOWE FREE LIBRARY SUMMER EVENTS School and Pond streets, Stowe Village. Preregister at (802) 253-6145 or stop by the library. stowelibrary.org.
Stowe Free Library Book Sale July 7 – 26 Community book sale on the porch of the library. New stock added daily, specials for children. 9 a.m. to dusk. Storytimes: Mondays, June 22 & 29, July 13 27, and Aug. 10, 10 a.m., ages 2 - 3; Fridays, June 19 & 26, July 10 - 31, and August 7, 10 a.m., babies & toddlers. Preschool music program: With Lesley Grant. Mondays, June 1, July 6, and Aug. 3. June 16 – 18: Young Writer’s Project nature writing workshop, grades 7 - 9. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. June 25: Fantastic Physicists, ages 9 - 12, 1:30 - 3 p.m. June 30: Rockin' Ron the Friendly Pirate Singalong, all ages, 10:30 a.m. Mondays & Wednesdays in July: Stowe Children’s Theatre Drama Club, ages 6 & up, 2 - 3:30 p.m. July 7: Amazing Arthropods Nature Program, ages 4 & up, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. July 8: The Traveling Storyteller presents Nanuk's Arctic Adventure, ages 3 & up, 10:30 a.m. July 16: Storyteller Michael Caduto and Heroes and Tricksters, ages 5 & up, 1 p.m. At Stowe Elementary School. July 21: Wildthings Nature Program, ages 3 10, 10:30 a.m. July 23: Superpowers of Survival, a VINS animal nature program, ages 5 & up, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays in July: Teen Movie Nights, 5:30 beginning July 9. Ages 10 & up.
The Knitting Studio Vermont's friendliest yarn store! WATERBURY ARTS FEST waterburyartsfest.com. Stowe Street, Waterbury.
July 10 – 11 Over 80 artists, live music, gourmet fare. Starts on Stowe Street July 10 with a food and beer garden, and Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band, 6 p.m. July 11 features vendors showcasing fine art, food, and live entertainment, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Free. n
Local Products.
Incredible Service.
Unlimited Inspiration. 112 Main Street Montpelier, Vermont 802-229-2444 www.vtknits.com 125
ONE, TWO, THREE The cast of Nine. The show kicked off the Stowe Theatre Guild’s 2013 season at Town Hall Theatre in the Akeley Memorial Building on Stowe’s Main Street. Inset: The Hyde Park Opera House.
Summer stages make music, madcap adventure, mirth STOWE THEATRE GUILD Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Stowe. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m. Adults $25/children under 18 $15. (802) 253-3961, stowetheatre.com.
June 18 – 20, June 25 – 27, & July 1 – 3 Company Company follows Bobby, a commitment-phobic 35-year old New Yorker, through a musical dissection of love and relationships. Saturday matinees, 2 p.m. July 16 – 18, July 23 – 25, July 30 – 31, & August 1 Shrek The Musical Join Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Lord Farquaad on their way to adventure, friendship, and love. Based on the 2001 hit DreamWorks film, this musical is sure to entertain people of all ages. Saturday matinees, 2 p.m. August 20 – 22, August 27 – 29, & September 3 – 5 Chess Story of two chess grandmasters, an American and a Soviet, fighting over a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other. Saturday matinees, 2 p.m. September 24 – 26, October 1 – 3, & October 8 – 10 A Midsummer Night's Dream: The '40s Musical Shakespeare’s madcap comedy comes to life as
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a musical set in post-World War II Athens, Ind. Saturday matinees, 2 p.m.
LAMOILLE COUNTY PLAYERS Hyde Park Opera House, Main Street. Adults $18, seniors/students $12. Thursday through Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. (802) 888-4507. lamoillecountyplayers.com.
July 23 – 26 & July 30 – August 2 Cats Andrew Lloyd Webber's true musical theater phenomenon. September 24 – 27 & October 1 – 4 Curtains Musical send-up of backstage murder mysteries. November 13 – 15 & 20 – 22 Wait Until Dark Three men terrorize a blind housewife over a heroin-filled doll.
QUARRYWORKS THEATER Quarry Road, Adamant. The Phillips Experimental Theater, seats just 50 people. Unless noted: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Free. 229-6978, quarryworks.org.
July 9 – 12 & July 16 – 19 Baker Street: The Sherlock Holmes Musical July 25 – 26 & August 1 – 2 Rapunzel: Children’s production of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Saturday, 2 and 5 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m. August 6 – 9 & August 13 – 16 The Trip to Bountiful WATERBURY FESTIVAL PLAYERS 2933 Waterbury-Stowe Road (Route 100). Adults $35/Sept. 17 preview $15. Shows at 7:30 p.m. (802) 498-3755. waterburyfestivalplayhouse.com.
September 17 – 19, September 24 – 26, & October 1– 3 Run for Your Wife British farce about a taxi driver who gets away with having two wives in different areas of London because of his irregular work schedule. Complication is piled upon complication as the cabby tries to keep his double life from exploding.
COURTESY PHOTOS. OPERA HOUSE: GLENN CALLAHAN
S U M M E R T H E AT E R
BREAD & PUPPET THEATER Route 122, Glover. Suggested donation $10; no one turned away. (802) 525-3031. breadandpuppet.org.
June 13 – August 29 & September 12 – 26 The Underneath the Above Shows Saturdays 7:30 p.m., suggested donation $10.
JACK SUMBERG
July 7 – August 25 Shape Note Sings, Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m.
Bread & Puppet Theater, Sourdough Circus.
July 12 – August 30 The Overtakelessness Circus and Pageant with Comet’s Passage Over Reality Passion Play Outdoor performance for all ages in the circus field. Sideshows and ding dongs start at 2 p.m.; Circus follows at 3 p.m. Suggested donation $10. September 26 Annual Political Leaf Peeping: Small shows, live music, free potato pancake dinner, 4 p.m.; 7:30 p.m. performance.
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MADE IN VERMONT
Crossview Gardens does daylilies Morrisville couple turns passion into growing business STORY & PHOTOS / Kate Carter
Daylilies are the bomb. They adapt easily to different soil and light conditions, can survive with little care in both cold and warm climates, come in an explosion of colors and a variety of shapes and sizes, and fit any landscape. Not only are they the perfect perennial, they are the perfect choice for Vermont gardens. When Harold and Leila Cross started growing daylilies at their home on Lower Elmore Mountain Road, it was for all those reasons, but also because they simply wanted something pretty to look at when they gazed out on their land, a former dairy farm. With their three children out of the house and few mouths to feed, they decided to convert an overzealous vegetable patch to a flower bed. For their first daylily they chose Mary Todd, named for President Lincoln’s wife. It’s a deep yellow, six-inch-wide bloom with a high bud count. The year was 2000. Mary Todd delighted Harold and Leila so they planted a few more varieties the following year. As their flower gardens expanded and their vegetable gardens shrunk, the couple invited their neighbors to visit during peak bloom and enjoy the colorful daylilies. “It was a summer garden party of sorts,” says Leila. It soon became obvious Leila and Harold had succumbed to a daylily addiction, and in 2004 they
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opened their gardens to visitors and plant buyers on weekends from mid-July to mid-August. Fast forward to 2015 and the former dairy farm has exploded into a daylily mother lode. With over 2,500 varieties, visitors to the garden feel as though they’ve entered a Jackson Pollock painting. In addition to the colossal daylily inventory, Harold and Leila have branched out to other flowering perennials. Towering over the daylilies are over 175 lilium varieties, including Asiatic, Oriental, trumpet, and tiger lilies. They also grow 150 peony varieties and 975 different hostas. Their latest experiment is echinacea, with 75 varieties they are evaluating for growth habit and sales potential. “We are at a point that most backyard gardeners come to. If we bring in any more new plants something else will have to go,” admits Harold. Easy for him to say. He doesn’t have a problem digging and
throwing greenery into the compost. Leila, on the other hand, doesn’t like to kill anything, which explains why a hybridizing experiment ended up along a roadside in Morrisville. “For fun, we tried hybridizing a few of our favorite daylilies, but they were not an improvement on their parents, so we gave them to the highway department to use for soil control in wet areas. Daylilies are very good at retaining water and soil,” Harold explains. Crossview Gardens opens to the public the last two weekends in July and the first two weekends in August. Visitors from near and far—the most far afield from Romania, Mexico, England, and Brazil— wander through the haphazard rows, gawking, taking notes, and snapping photos. Most look dazed, overwhelmed by the visual explosion of color. Harold cheerfully educates visitors on what makes a perfect daylily. “When thinking of daylilies, the first thing that
BLOOM TIME From top left: Harold Cross in the daylily beds. An old tractor announces a sale today. A daylily frames Mt. Mansfield. Leila Cross. The couple has branched out into perennials, including Asiatic lilies. A sampling of daylily blooms. Leila and Harold. An explosion of color. Shoppers make their selections.
comes to mind is the color, which is usually how people choose the plants they purchase. But just as important are the plant’s height, bloom time, and bud count.” These are the details that make some daylilies take center stage and others fade into the background. “Once you start a collection you realize that some daylilies may not be the best growers and may not have a good bud count or branching habit, or they don’t hold up in the rain. There’s a lot more to a daylily than a pretty face,” he says. Though each daylily bloom only lasts a day, a plant with a high bud count will give you more flowers every day over several weeks. A daylily’s color and shape may be unusual, but if it only has eight buds per scape, that doesn’t give you many days to enjoy it. A mature plant with an average of 40 scapes and a high bud count—say 28 buds per scape—has the potential to produce 800 flowers in three weeks. That’s a lot of lilies! A good example is The Jury Is Out, hybridized by Darrel Apps. It has yellow flowers, grows about 30 inches high, and blooms from July through August. Despite a knee replacement, Harold retains his dawn-to-dusk-to-headlamp work ethic, and Leila can tell you exactly in which row and how far down that row you can find the obscure Mabou, or which bed to find lilium Big Brother. But they’ve decided it’s time to pull in the reins on their daylily addiction. Story continues on page 130
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Echinacea in a rainbow of colors.
Story continues from page 129
“We will downsize some, but we will keep the great and worthy plans like Mary Todd, and our perennial bestsellers such as Strawberry Candy, Bill Norris, and Fooled Me,” Leila says. “We’ve started being more subjective and will cut back to about 300 of each color.” With eight colors listed on their website, that’s still 2,400 varieties! They’re also fine tuning their other perennial collections to offer only the best. In the earlier years, Harold and Leila took orders and shipped bare-root plants in the fall. But that became too labor intensive, so now the couple employs the dig-and-carry sales system. “People like taking their perennials home with them and not having to wait until fall,” Leila
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says. “We still do some online business and we dig in the spring for that.” Even if you don’t have garden space or a green thumb, a few hours spent at Crossview Gardens is about as good as it gets. Who can resist the lure of a sprawling cottage garden, the urge to bury your face in Stargazer and breathe deeply, or the need to simply sit in a chair and stare at something beautiful? Who can resist a slice of perfection on a warm summer day? ESSENTIALS: Crossview Gardens, 1801 Lower Emore Mountain Rd., Morrisville. Open last two weekends in July and first two in August, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; other times by appointment. crossviewgardens.com, 888-2409.
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ROBYN ALVIN
story:
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julia
shipley
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photographs:
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Moon Gate, Mandala Gardens in Marion, Illinois. Sculpture and tools in Thea Alvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Morrisville studio.
i n v l h T ea A
STONEMASON, SCULPTOR & ARTIST
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oes your husband do this?” an elderly man asks Thea Alvin, as he sweeps his arm, a gesture encompassing the loop-de-loop rock wall and the egg-shaped monument made solely of stones, and another rock wall that rises sinuously into an arched gateway before pouring itself back out the other side. For years he has driven by this place on Route 100 between Morrisville and Stowe, wondering just who is behind these creations. Today his red pickup truck conveniently overheats directly in front of these mineral miracles, and while waiting for a friend, he finally gets the chance to ask the fivefoot tall woman, with her dark hair hidden under a red kerchief, if she knows how these stone spectacles are made. Forty-seven-year old Thea Alvin fields queries and admiration of passersby, both accidental and intentional, all day long when she’s at her home and studio, which is fronted by these stone sentinels. But this accomplished mason, whose stonework stands in six countries, is often some place else, such as Italy, where she teaches masonry restoration courses, or in Tennessee, installing her sculpture at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Or in Illinois, erecting a stone gate, or in Virginia, installing a wall at a private residence. Here in Vermont, where she’s lived since 1986, her public sculptures grace the landscapes of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Kent’s Corner in Calais, and Yestermorrow Design School in Warren, to name just a few. And, of course, in Stowe. For the last 15 years motorists on Route 100 between Morrisville and Stowe have witnessed the evolution of Thea’s dynamic 1810 homestead burgeoning with murals, farm animals, and the dominating rock art in the front yard. Her work has drawn continual attention, not just from daily commuters, but from reporters for the New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, and so many others. On a rainy afternoon in May 2014, a film crew from the Oprah Winfrey Network l
D Their future is our passion! STOWE DANCE ACADEMY
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Richard Spreda, Proprietor – Custom design projects –
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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: GLENN CALLAHAN; CALLAHAN; ROBYN ALVIN
Thea Alvin installs the sign to her gallery on Route 100 in Morrisville. The gallery, Rock, Paper, Scissors, is part of an open garden and sculpture park. It's open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and by appointment. An arch at Alvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studio and sculpture park. Triple Flip, Morrisville, Vt.
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Indoors or outdoors, these balance pieces hold their solidity. They embody the journey as well as the destination. Although I want my work to live forever, I do love that it is temporary. Directly to the right is an image which is my first collaboration with my late Grandfather, Arthur Alvin. He was an inspiration to me, and would have been so proud to know this woman I have become. The radiating colors piece in the background of this balance pod, contains within each band of color, a line from my Grandfather's published book of poetry: "New Mown Hay."
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FROM TOP: GLENN CALLAHAN; ROBYN ALVIN
B A L A N C E
Thea Alvin in her studio. One of the Alvin’s “balance” pieces, entitled Pod, displayed in Nature of Things, Goddard College, Plainfield, Vt.
drove up from New York, along with Super Soul Sunday producer Chris Gajilan, who flew in from Chicago, and unloaded big, fuzzy microphones, unspooled miles of black cords, and unpacked cameras and sound equipment—all to capture Thea Alvin in her element. As late afternoon turned to evening, Thea led them over to a six-foot tall loop of rock she calls her “Epic Arch” and asked the crew, “Who wants to push it over?” As she recounts the experience, Thea says that both cameramen looked panicked. But not the sound man. His eyes widened, but then he looked away. Thea smiled. “You’re my guy.” She showed him how to place his hands half way up the arch, at the juncture where the force of gravity meets the force of rock’s resistance. The sound man smacked the arch, like a one-sided high five, but nothing happened. When Thea’s stonework is vandalized, which is rare, it can look like a tornado hit, and debris can tumble as far as 50 yards. But if a structure is poorly built, as Thea learned from her early works, then the detritus will fall directly beneath it. Obeying Thea’s command to “break” the arch—mimicking nature’s undoing—the sound man stood with his hands on the wall and leaned into the arch with his whole body, as if pushing a car out of a snowbank. In one final surge, the Epic Arch fell into a jumbled pile of rock. The sound man stepped back and blushed and Chris Gajilan immediately turned to Thea, asking, “Did knocking it over just now make you sad?” Over the course of Thea’s life plenty of things have fallen, been broken, or otherwise collapsed. Growing up in her father’s home in Massachusetts, for instance, lots of things toppled. As she describes in a yet unpublished memoir, from time to time he would fly into rages over some small detail. A quibble at dinner could send him into a bender of “smashing pink antique glass vases, tapered candles, and piles of sheet music, throwing paintings off the wall into a heap, wiping out shelves of books, the pillows from the velvet couch, the tortoiseshell coffee table ornament, the bowl of peanuts...” l
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ROBYN ALVIN; GLENN CALLAHAN; ALVIN; CALLAHAN
Story continues from page 137
This stone chapel, on a private estate in Morristown, required one million pounds of stone. The outside of the chapel courtyard. Windows set into brick. The chapel fountain. 138
Thea also recalls how, at 17, she totaled her father’s Nissan Maxima. Three days after getting a driver’s license, while speeding, she hit a patch of ice. The car spun around and around, bashing against a long line of cedar trees with each revolution. When the Nissan finally came to a halt, every part of the car was dented and every light blown out. Thea also recalls that during the spring she turned 18, when she accepted her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, how her father gathered all of her personal belongings and dumped them on the lawn. This was just the beginning of a decade-long odyssey that included yet more stumbling blocks in her marriage, family, and health. So, to answer Gajilan’s question… No. By comparison, nothing about the rubble of her demolished arch and the Super Soul Sunday crew standing by to film its resurrection made her feel sad. By the time the crew returned the next morning at dawn, little spits of rain had begun to fall. Gajilan held her umbrella over the track camera as Thea prepared to reconstruct her sculpture, stone by stone. According to the crew’s instructions, Thea had precisely one hour to raise her arch out of the rubble. There wasn’t going to be a second take. Thea was 16 years old when she began working for her father, a mason. She became his “tender,” fetching bricks, cement blocks, tools, bringing “load after load of whatever he needed, wherever he needed it to go.” She mixed so many batches of mortar, she memorized the recipe: “One scoop Portland cement, one scoop lime, and six scoops of clean, screened sand, plus water.” She’d push and pull it with a hoe with two holes in it, until the mud slid through, a nice, even, soft gray. She l
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remembers, “As fast as I could carry two buckets to him and two racks of bricks, he’d be out, and I’d have to carry more again.” Her days were filled with the butter-soft sucking sound of each brick sticking in place, the tink-tink of the butt end of the trowel setting it. By her late twenties, after a series of menial jobs, Thea went to work for yet another mason, adding to her understanding of the trade. Then in June 1998, while she was working at an art gallery, Thea lucked into a pile of white marble. She spent hours after work every day stacking up the pieces and watching them topple. Over and over, she struggled to figure out how to angle each stone, how to wedge the pieces, and how to create a negative blank out of wood to support her construction. Time after time, the heavy material pinched her fingers and cracked the skin of her palms and threatened to crush her hands, until one day her creation stood up on its own. The puzzle was solved, and before her appeared a white marble arch of such simple beauty, Thea writes in her memoir, “It filled me with an unparalleled joy.” She promptly dissembled her three-ton achievement and transported it, block by block, in the back of her Volkswagen Jetta thirty miles to Burlington to rebuild it for the South End Art and Business Association (SEABA) sculpture show. In a contest including 120 pieces, Thea’s arch placed third. The following spring Thea quit her gallery job to install landscape and masonry work at a private residence in Stowe, using 35 tons of Vermont fieldstone. Today, Thea’s rock-based projects number in the hundreds—patios, retaining walls, free-form sculptures, pieces with poetic names like Mandala Gardens, Full Circle, Infinity Arch, and Moon Gate. In 2014 alone she handled 700 tons of stones (roughly equivalent to the weight of three blue whales.) While the Super Soul Sunday crew stood watching in the May drizzle, Thea tapped the final rock into the graceful half circle, reestablishing the Epic Arch. No mortar, no hidden rebar, just stones rising into the air, holding onto each other for support. As Thea sees it, the Epic Arch is a version of herself, made of stones, the way a life is made of days. And though each piece she constructs is based on careful plans and years of expertise, she says, “I make ephemeral art, mostly because I use it to learn that everything passes. Relationships, children, houses, dogs, cars, chickens, big things, little things. Everything changes, we age, we lose, we gain, we grow, we wither. My art… once made, it develops and grows of its own volition, it gets moss… soon snakes, chipmunks, and all sorts live in its shadow. It goes out of my hands, and on to a life of its own.” Yet, she notes, grinning at the sound man, oblivious to the wet, chilly day, when something collapses, “The beauty of stonework is, you can put it back together, and be whole.” n
AVIATION ART One of Stowe’s most unique destinations, Plane Profiles aviation art gallery features highly-detailed aircraft renderings by illustrator, Tod Gunter. Limited edition, matted giclée prints are ready to frame for your den, office, or man cave!
Fly into the gallery at 4285 Mountain Road, just north of Top Notch Resort and Trattoria La Festa, at the corner of Brook Road. Open Thurs. through Sat., and by appt. 802-734 -9971 www.planeprofiles.com
M. Lewis Antiques
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ESSENTIALS: myearthwork.com. Link to Super Soul Sunday: http://bit.ly/1j0TKPW. 141
GLENN CALLAHAN; CHEESE CUP: COURTESY PHOTO
DINING & LODGING
The Stowe area boasts a variety of cuisines and dining atmospheres, from swanky bistros that embrace the local-food movement to fine-dining establishments featuring award-winning chefs and busy pubs with the latest microbrews—and everything in between! Check out the area’s great places to stay, as well, from full-service resorts to quaint country inns. Our guide to dining and lodging outlines the myriad choices from which to choose.
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GLENN CALLAHAN
EDIBLES is compiled by Lisa McCormack and photographed by Glenn Callahan.
BURGER BARN Nutty Goat, anyone? f long lines are any indication of good food, one only needs to drive past the Burger Barn in Jeffersonville to realize that this seasonal snack shack is worth a visit. At 7 p.m. on a balmy May weeknight, 14 people stood in line and customers were still streaming into the parking lot at 8 p.m. When owners Judson Gravel and Kierstin Colaceci announced the Burger Barn’s 2015 opening on Facebook, the news garnered virtual cheers from fans. What burger lover wouldn’t cheer for an assortment of 36 burgers, all made from grass-fed beef from nearby Boyden Farm? There are 15 varieties of cheese toppings alone, including some you won’t find at a typical roadside “diner”: smoked gouda, roquefort, brie, red leicester, and camembert. The Burger Barn, painted bright yellow and green with a Holsteininspired black-and-white roof, isn’t much bigger than a food truck. Orders are placed at a window and every burger is made to order. Most customers eat onsite at one of several chartreuse picnic tables. Grass-fed beef aside, it’s the unusual combinations of freshly prepared toppings that make these grilled burgers stand out. The Nutty Goat is a perennial favorite. It’s topped with chèvre, maple crusted walnuts, caramelized onions, and bacon. If you want one, it’s a good idea to arrive before the dinnertime rush. During a recent visit—with
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the goal of sinking her teeth into one—this reporter was dismayed to learn they’d run out. The Ethan Allen is among the most popular burgers, according to the staff. Topped with grilled apples, cheddar, and cranberry-garlic mayonnaise, it’s a perfect balance of sweet and savory, crisp and creamy. New this year is the Nuts about Thai: cabbage, carrots, onion, and peppers lightly sautéed with a spicy Thai peanut sauce. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $5.25 for a burger with lettuce, tomato, and red onion to $10 for the Blue Royale topped with bacon, caramelized onions, and cave-aged Roquefort cheese. If you go, bring cash; credit cards aren’t accepted. The burgers are certainly substantial enough to stand alone as a meal, but those with heartier appetites can also order hand-cut fries by the cup, pint, or quart. Crisp and seasoned with just the right amount of salt, they’re a perfect accompaniment. —Lisa McCormack ESSENTIALS: 4968 Route 15, Jeffersonville. (802) 730-3441. www.facebook.com/#!/BurgerbarnVT.
LISA MCCORMACK
EDIBLES
STIFF PEAKS Stowe woman turns her kitchen into macaron laboratory Lauren Schalski doesn’t make macaroons. She makes macarons. “There’s a world of difference,” says Schalski, who runs her business, Stiff Peak Macarons, from her Stowe home. While both types of cookie originated in France, macaroons are made from egg whites, sugar, and coconut. Macarons are almondflour-based cookies held together with a cream, curd, or fruit-based filling. Schalski works nights as a bartender at the Blackback Pub in Waterbury. She’s put her knowledge about liquor to good use in her macaron business. “I bake what I want to eat—and drink,” she says. “I’ve been bartending for seven years and baking in my spare time, so naturally I gravitate toward great bourbon and even better sweets, so combining the two together just seemed like the obvious path to take.” Schalski is from the Annapolis, Md., area, where she worked in a bakery that specialized in macarons. “It was something I enjoyed, but I didn’t enjoy working for someone else and the stress that came with that,” Schalski says. 146
She started Stiff Peaks about 18 months ago. “I made some macarons for a friend’s birthday party and someone mentioned that I could probably make money selling them,” Schalski says. “People enjoy them so I keep making them.” She views her kitchen as a laboratory where she can experiment with different flavor combinations, especially ones that combine Vermontmade libations with high-quality baking ingre-
dients. For instance, she pairs a tart Gose beer from Lost Nation Brewery with a lemon curd filling. Or she’ll toast cardamom and pair it with Caledonia Spirits Barr Hill Gin. A minty Italian digestif called Fernet pairs well with chocolate, creating an adult take on a chocolate mint cookie. “I use a lot of booze in my cooking,” Schalski says. Salted caramel bourbon macarons are her best-selling product by far. She eschews store-bought sprinkles for ones she makes herself from Tom Cat Gin and other liquors, laying out each strand by hand. One hundred strands make enough sprinkles to fill a shot glass. “It’s one of the most tedious things I do,” Schalski says. “Everything I do I want to do by hand, even if it means laying out 50 sprinkles.” Stiff Peaks Macarons retail for between $10 and $15 a dozen. —Lisa McCormack ESSENTIALS: facebook.com/#!/stiffpeaksmacarons.
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Stan Biasini.
Mt. Mansfield Creamery takes it up a notch
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SCRATCH FOOD AT ITS BEST
Stan Biasini had a problem many cheesemakers would envy. Orders for the cheeses he produces at Mt. Mansfield Creamery were pouring in so fast that he ran out of space in his cheese cave. “Basically, my biggest problem has been running out of cheese,” Biasini says. “During the summer we have to make 70 wheels of Inspiration a week and we still run out.” Last fall he installed a new cave, right next to the existing one at the Morrisville building where he began making cheese in 2009. The caves are 12-feet underground with steel vault doors. The original cave holds up to 6,000 pounds of cheese; the new one holds 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. Biasini expects to produce 12,000 pounds of cheese in 2015. The new cave is where Biasini ages his Half Pipe—an award-winning French alpine cheese—and Patrolman’s Blue—a new blue cheese that pays homage to his nine years on the Mt. Mansfield Ski Patrol. It also provides space for Sage Farm Goat Dairy cheeses, which are produced in Stowe. The thermostat in the caves is set at 50.7 degrees and humidity is a constant 85 to 90 percent. The length of time a cheese ages depends on the variety. He ages Sunrise, a Romano cheese with a rind rubbed with Lake Champlain Chocolates organic cocoa and olive oil, for 10 months. The popular Inspiration—a semi-soft raw milk cheese with a rind washed multiple times with beer—is aged for just 60 days. The cheese wheels are soaked in brine tanks for several hours before being set on pine and ash shelves. “Ours are European recipes and European cheeses tend to have higher salt content,” Biasini says. The aging cheeses need daily care to ensure they develop properly. A perfectionist, Biasini will stop by the caves as often as twice a day to inspect the wheels and wash the rinds with solutions of salt water, beer, or organic cocoa and olive oil. —Lisa McCormack ESSENTIALS: mtmansfieldcreamery.com.
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GLENN CALLAHAN; PRODUCT PHOTO: TOM KNOWS SALSA
EDIBLES
TOM KNOWS SALSA Trainer, clothier make magia in the kitchen Tom Williams knows salsa, namely the authentic salsa verde or green salsa that’s a kitchen staple south of the border. Tom and his wife, Devon, produce Tom Knows Salsa in rented kitchen space at the Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick. About once a month they haul in over 800 pounds of produce—jalapeno and poblano peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, tomatillos, and cilantro—and set to work washing, roasting, peeling, chopping, and jarring. Tom prides himself on using only fresh ingredients. “I will never give up on having it all fresh. Everything that goes into a batch we touch.” During a typical eight-hour stint in the kitchen the Williamses produce about 575 jars of salsa. Tom began experimenting with salsa recipes two and a half years ago at the couple’s log cabin in Eden. “We’ve always cooked a lot and we both love Mexican food,” Tom says. “I couldn’t find a salsa verde I loved.” It took a year of tinkering to come up with 152
a perfect recipe—one that’s not too chunky and won’t slide off of a tortilla chip. “It was just an accident; now it’s a full-time hobby,” he says. Tom has kept his day job as a personal trainer. Devon owns In Company clothing in Stowe. At first Tom would bring jelly jars filled with the salsa to the gym and give it away to his clients. When they started asking for refills and offering to pay for it, he realized he could turn his hobby into a small business. He and Devon do all of the work themselves, from producing the salsa and labeling jars to delivering it to retailers and promoting it at food shows and other special events such as Stowe’s Art in the Park summer series and the Quechee Balloon Festival. “I love to meet the store owners,” Tom says. “We do a lot of tastings and demos.” Tastings are important because many Vermonters aren’t familiar with salsa verde. Tom Knows Salsa has 38 accounts in Vermont and ships jars to out-of-state customers. But Tom isn’t looking to expand nationally just yet. First, he wants to make sure he can continue to meet the demand in Vermont. Tom plans to introduce a roasted red salsa later this year. He’s also promoting his salsa verde as a condiment that can be used to complement different recipes. “It’s wonderful with fish,” Tom says. —Lisa McCormack ESSENTIALS: Find Tom Knows Salsa at Stowe Seafood, Commodities Natural Market, and Harvest Market in Stowe; and Cabot Annex in Waterbury. tomknowssalsa.com. 153
Craig Gile’s only 35, but he’s been in the dairy business for nearly three decades. He grew up on a small dairy farm in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and was milking the family’s 50 Holsteins at age 6. His brother-in-law took over the family’s sugaring operation, but Gile didn’t have a lasting interest in farming. He attended Johnson State College and got a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but he wasn’t particularly interested in that career path, either. After graduating, Gile got a third-shift job dipping cheese at the Cabot Creamery plant. He planned to save some money and move to Boston, but after a year at Cabot, his plans—and passion—began to change and solidify. The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is farmer-owned, involving 1,200 farm families in Vermont and the rest of New England. “(Cabot’s) investors are farmers, and we’re here for them. It’s not just a fad thing,” Gile says, “We’re in it for the long grind.” Gile worked on some special projects and quality-control auditing for Cabot, and earned a job in dairy sensory. He’s a cheese grader, responsible for visiting the four Cabot factories and a handful of warehouses in Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. He gets up close and personal with each batch of cheese, using a long metal tool called a “trier” to pull a core sample from a 600-plus-pound block, and employing four of the five senses to experience what the cheese has to offer. Cabot’s approach to cheddar is a rather organic method of hand-selecting cheeses that fit certain flavor profiles, going beyond categories that rely on age alone to classify the cheese. For example, mild or medium cheddar is usually aged less than six months; sharp cheddars are aged six months to a year or more. There are lots of cheese cultures and recipes, and after aging the fundamental combination of milk, salt, and enzymes, the flavor profiles can be “all over the place,” says Gile, with lots of weird and interesting flavors. For Cabot’s classic cheddars, Gile looks for a particular bundle of flavors he refers to as the “Northeast bite” —a clean, sharp, distinctive taste unique to the region. In other cheddar-producing areas of the country, that acidic “bite” may be an unwanted essence; consider the preference for milder cheddars such as Tillamook in the Northwest. “Everybody loves cheddar, but everybody has different regional preferences,” Gile says. “People think of white, sharp (cheese) when they think of Vermont.” Graders are also looking for flavors and notes that may not be desired in that particular cheese— nutty, fruity, acidic, tangy, sweet. A Cabot grader might grade 200 different cheddars in one day, and with more than 135 million pounds of cheese produced per year, there’s always new cheese to try. Years of experience and training—including a master’s degree in business administration from Champlain College and cheesemaking and dairy classes at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Guelph—propelled Gile further into the world of cheese. He became a member of the American Cheese Society, a club made up of people who know and love cheese—“academics, cheese buyers, distributors, cheese geeks, writers,” Gile says.
THE CHEESE GILE
‘Cool dude with a fun job’
As Gile’s cheese world expanded, he began traveling more, and was invited to be a judge in national and international cheese competitions. He recently returned from judging at the 2015 U.S. championship. At the 2014 world championship, he was one of 50 white-coated judges with varying backgrounds and pedigrees who convened for several days, working in pairs and groups to judge more than 2,000 cheeses in 90 categories. “We spend two days just grading cheese,” Gile says, getting together on the third day to compare notes and assign grades. Gold medal contenders are divided into tables of eight, and an equal number of grouped judges 154
GLENN CALLAHAN
EDIBLES
Craig Gile at the Cabot Annex store in Waterbury Center.
picked two favorites. When it’s down to the sweet 16, there is a gala event for the final judging. “It’s like March Madness,” Gile says, referring to the NCAA basketball tournament. While he has tasted cheese from all over the world and travels frequently, Gile enjoys his Vermont home base. “The food scene, beer scene, cheese scene—it’s pretty rocking,” Gile says, citing producers such as Jasper Hill, Vermont Creamery, and Consider Bardwell Farm as some of his current favorites. His fridge is well-stocked with cheese, as one might imagine, including a buttery offering from Wisconsin called Juusto, a dense block that fries up to form a delicious sort of crispy, squeaky self-sandwich. There are also several unlabeled blocks of Cabot cheese; Gile is still a senior cheese grader at the company, and is now also a new products partner, which entails more traveling to events and shows, interacting with customers, and developing new ideas and products. What’s next for Gile? He’d love to do more international traveling. He’s planning a European trip—Switzerland, France, the usual suspects— but also mentions New Zealand as a great cheese hub. “It’s a hell of a dairy capital—cows, sheep, a really excellent educational system,” and it’s on the forefront of dairy technology. Vermont can hold its own in the cheese world, and Gile says watching the dairy and food scene develop over the past decade has been amazing, with old-school farmers, methods, and traditions combining with the younger crowd and farm-to-table mentality to keep Vermont food fresh, lively, and interesting. “I’m right where I’d like to be,” Gile says. “I’m just a cool dude with a fun job.” —Hannah Marshall
EDIBLES
GET SAUCED! New food store brings Italian takeout to Stowe
Good Food Served Graciously
91 Main Street, Stowe, Vermont 802.253.2691 platestowe.com
A new Italian specialty food store is in the works for Stowe, and it’s going to be pretty saucy! Marinara, bolognese, puttanesca, vodka, alfredo, and owner Sharon Herbert’s favorite, traditional Italian Sunday gravy with meatballs, sausage, and braciola. Mangia! Mangia! Herbert, a New England Culinary Institute graduate, opened Sauce Italian Specialties this spring in the former home of the breakfast-lunch-tapas spot Café Latina on the Mountain Road. Sauce’s “hot table” includes chicken parmesan, meatballs, sausage, and peppers, along with daily specials. Refrigerated cases hold salads, cheeses, fresh pastas, and more. Shelves overflow with specialty products such as olive oils, beer and wine, bread, and dried pastas. Before opening, Herbert consulted on recipes with her friend Joe Leone, who runs a similar business in Point Pleasant, N.J., her hometown. Leone (joeleones.com) worked with Herbert on recipe development “so we are bringing authentic Italian recipes to the menu that you won’t get anywhere else in Vermont. We are honored to have Joe as part of the Sauce family.” Herbert makes her mozzarella fresh daily, and sells it in balls and braids. It’s also used in lots of prepared foods, in addition to specialty items like port-soaked figs wrapped in mozzarella, prosciutto-wrapped boccocini with pesto and balsamic glaze, and come summer, “once the local heirloom tomatoes are in season,” tomato towers. “Sauce really is a prepared food market, with the emphasis on everything to go, though people can sit down and eat at the four tables out front,” she says. “The idea is that whether you’re coming home after a long day at work, or a day on the hill, you can come to Sauce and get everything you need for a quick, restaurant-quality dinner, and enjoy il dolce far niente— the sweetness of doing nothing.” ESSENTIALS: Sauce, 407 Mountain Rd., Stowe. Wednesdays - Sundays, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. (802) 760-6151. saucevt.com.
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EDIBLES At Cold Hollow Cider Mill: Time to make the doughnuts.
DOUGHNUTS! Cold Hollow bakes famous treats fresh daily In the middle of Waterbury Center sits the sweet and savory goodness that is the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. From the welcoming porch and entryway, a trail of colorful apple decals loops through the store to the working cider press, though people often stop to peek in the kitchen windows to see pies and pastries being made. The smells follow an apple theme—warm and toasty upon entry, baking spices and buttery aromas near the kitchen, mineral and clean and subtly sweet near the pressing room. You can watch the 1920s-era press in action, as thousands of pounds of Vermont apples— about 80 percent McIntosh, with a smattering of other types—turn into sweet cider. The cider is made, bottled, and packaged on premise, and blended into an assortment of other products, including the Cold Hollow’s world-famous, perfectly Vermont treat: cider doughnuts. The doughnuts are cake-style, made from a honey whole-wheat recipe with apple cider, a variety of spices, and a custom-ground flour blend, and fried in soy-based shortening. The first hot, fresh batch is made at 8 a.m. daily, and the pillowy, rich treats are mixed and fried throughout the day to ensure a constantly fresh experience. A pair of small fryers work with a Zen-like rhythm, slowly plopping 158
GLENN CALLAHAN
Bistro honored by Yankee Magazine
Wow, what a winter that was! We had the best skiing in the country but thank goodness for spring!
creamy circles of batter into hot oil; they submerge and gently pop up a moment later, bubbling to gilded, crispy perfection. The outside of the doughnut is ever-so-slightly crispy, yielding to a soft, moist, cakey interior. During peak times, such as Columbus Day weekend, the Cider Mill will make and sell 20,000 to 25,000 doughnuts per day. “It’s a really cool place to work,” says manager Marti Austin, who enjoys seeing how the customer crowd varies with the seasons. “In the winter, they’re here to ski,” and they often pop in for a steaming hot cup of cider and a few doughnuts on the way to or from the mountain. “In the summer and fall, they’re here to take it all in.” The mill offers more than just cider and doughnuts. Hundreds of Vermont products are showcased in the retail area, many edible but also including home and kitchen wares, clothing, and handmade pottery. If you’re still hungry after the snacks, check out the Apple Core Luncheonette and Brew. The cozy café offers a variety of hot and cold sandwiches on house-made bread, soups and fresh salads. The signature Apple Core panini is a sweet and savory Vermont delicacy of melty cheddar, sliced apples, cider jelly, and generous rashers of smoky bacon, pressed between golden sourdough slices. —Hannah Marshall
This is another exciting summer for us. Yankee Magazine is including the Bistro in its Best of New England edition for “Best Dining in Stowe 2015.” Linda and I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work our kitchen staff and servers have done to be recognized for this. From Rhode Island, I grew up with Yankee Magazine in my house and always enjoyed the articles and photographs of what makes New England so special. We’re humbled to be a part of that while representing the great town of Stowe. Each new season reenergizes us. We’re always excited to work with Chef Gary to develop new dishes and bring back old favorites. YES! The ceviche is back. We’re also running with the Heady Hoppers (light batter dipped frog’s legs with a Heady Topper dipping sauce) for the summer. For those who were sad to see the lamb chops removed last fall, they are back again this summer! And Stowe's original pork shank will get Chef Gary’s tasty barbecue treatment.
Flavorfully Created Entrees. Handmade Soups, Breads, Salads & Desserts. Craft Beers. Thoughtfully Selected Wines. Fresh Pressed Cocktails. Seafood Special Changes Daily. Fireside Lounge • Bar Seating Elegant Dining • Beautiful Views
OPEN WED-SUN 5-10 P.M.
Linda continues to grow our wedding rehearsal business and I hope to expand our parking lot before someone has to park in the dairy pasture across the road. Harry (16) is off to St. Andrews in Scotland for a 5-week college prep course. His 13-year old brother, Hamish, will join him in Scotland for a week then go to basketball camp with his friends upon his return. Carter (5) will get his first taste of T-ball and looks forward to diving head first into the pool this summer. As always, Linda and I look forward to meeting new summer guests and catching up with all who return. Cheers! Mark & Linda
ESSENTIALS: Route 100, Waterbury Center. coldhollow.com.
14 Barrows Rd., Stowe • tenacreslodge.com • (802) 253-6838 159
EDIBLES GLENN CALLAHAN
A unique restaurant offering a deliciously different dining out experience. The only fondue restaurant in Stowe, so make us your first choice for genuine Swiss fondue and an eclectic selection of beer and wine.
A Cozy Rustic Alpine Setting Serving Savory and Sweet Crepes and Fondue
Serving Lunch and Dinner • Tuesday to Sunday Lunch 11:30 am to 2 pm (crepes & fondue) • Dinner Reservations 5:30 to close (fondue only)
802.999.8785 • stowe2009@gmail.com 48 South Main Street Stowe, VT 05672 • Chef Owned
PIZZA PALACE Pizzeria opens in Morrisville
There’s always an O’Grady to welcome you! Enjoy hand-cut steaks, fresh seafood, pub fare and delicious homemade desserts. Play in our new billiards, dart and foosball room, or relax in the full-service pub with 14 beers on tap. Warm Irish hospitality makes O’Grady’s the family favorite in Stowe.
Céad Mile Fáilte!
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Pizza on Main brings authentic New Yorkstyle pizza to Morrisville. And, you’ll also be able to pick up the phone and place an order. They deliver. Just like NYC! Owners Marisa Menendez and Michael Jansen spent the past year traveling between Stowe and New York to apprentice at Lucio’s Pizza, an iconic pizzeria in Westchester County. Both are Westchester natives, from an area known for its large Italian-American population and abundant neighborhood pizzerias. They pride themselves on their dedication to fresh ingredients. You won’t find frozen meatballs, ready-made pizza sauce, or pizza dough and bread made with conditioners and other additives. “It has flour, yeast, salt, and we’re done,” Jansen says of their bread recipe. They grate their mozzarella cheese on premise to avoid the fillers used by many wholesale food suppliers. From the tomato sauce to the chicken and eggplant Parmesan, it’s all from scratch. “We do as much as possible in-house, even our dressings,” Jansen says. The high-quality cold cuts used in their sandwiches, and as pizza toppings, aren’t cured and don’t contain additives. Jansen has a background in business operations. Menendez is a licensed Realtor. After
NYC STYLE The Pizza on Main crew. At left, front row: owner Marisa Menendez and her son Edward Cinque; next to Menendez is her husband, Michael Jansen.
moving to Stowe following 9/11, she missed New York-style pizza. “Pizza is my favorite food in the whole world,” Menendez says. When Menendez asked her son, Edward Cinque, about opening a pizzeria, he said, “Let’s do it.” Cinque, who was a senior at Stowe High School at the time, helped write a business plan. The business sprouted from the idea that Morrisville needed a pizzeria to call its own. “It needed slices,” Cinque says. “There’s no place where you can run in to buy them except Cumberland Farms.” Menendez envisions Pizza on Main as a friendly place where students from nearby Peoples Academy High School can pick up a slice during their lunch break or hang out after school. “I want to have somewhere for the kids to go. Kids speak pizza.” While preparing to open the restaurant, Jansen and Menendez would go to New York for two weeks at a time to learn every aspect of running a pizzeria while Cinque would apprentice for up to a month. Recently, Menendez and Jansen brought gallons of Morrisville water with them to ensure that it would make tasty pizza dough. They wanted to test the rumor that New York pizza is superior to pizza produced elsewhere because of the quality of the tap water. The couple was pleasantly surprised when the staff at Lucio’s couldn’t tell the difference between dough made with Morrisville water and a batch made from New York water. —Lisa McCormack ESSENTIALS: 53 Lower Main St., Morrisville. pizzaonmainvt.com.
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HANNAH MARSHALL
EDIBLES
SPIRITS RISE Distiller opens tasting room
STARVING for Stowe? TODAY.COM Visit Stowetoday.com and check out what Stowe's hottest restaurants and chefs are cooking up. 162
The region around Mt. Mansfield is truly becoming a destination for seekers of local flavor, packing as much good food, beer, art, spirits, and culture as possible into a fairly compact area. In nearby Waterbury Center, rounding out the localvore trifecta in the Cabot Annex is Smugglers’ Notch Distillery, a small craft spirits enterprise from Jeffersonville, which last fall opened its tasting and barrel room. The distillery joins Cabot Cheese and Lake Champlain Chocolates at the Annex. Ron and Jeremy Elliott, father and son, started the distillery in 2010. The first spirit the Elliotts produced was vodka—a nearly four-year process, according to Ron, noting that Jeremy set out playing to win. “ ‘Dad, we’re going to get double gold,’ he says, and we did,” referring to their out-of-the-gate win of one of 12 coveted double gold medals awarded to vodkas at the 2011 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. But they haven’t rested on their laurels. Next came a single-barrel aged rum, followed by gin and bourbon whiskey. New offerings in 2014 included a limited-release rye whiskey and a hopped gin. The clean, industrial feel of the new location—steely racks, dark slate-gray walls and ceiling, copper-sided counter—is a departure from the rustic woodiness of the Jeffersonville distillery, which occupies an old lumber mill. The sleek store, which opened last winter, isn’t just for show, however—seventy-six 25gallon American oak barrels line three walls of the space, waiting to be filled with liquid treasure. —Hannah Marshall ESSENTIALS: Smugglers’ Notch Distillery, Cabot Annex, Waterbury/Stowe Road, Waterbury Center; or 276 Main St., Jeffersonville. smugglersnotchdistillery.com.
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Sam von Trapp grains the Highland cattle herd at this familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Stowe resort.
FROM TRAPP T O TA B L E
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Sounds of farm life at Trapp Family Lodge Trapp Family Lodge launched an “animal report” sometime last summer. An animal report? Somewhat like a ski or snow report, or trail conditions report, this one is about the resort’s farm animals. They’re scattered in pens and fenced fields around the sprawling Trapps’ property. But since they’re constantly being moved to rotate the grazing and limit damage to the pastures you never know where you might find them. “One of our biggest questions we get these days
story: biddle duke 166
❘
photographs: glenn callahan
This page, from top left: A path through the extensive gardens at Trapp Family Lodge. A Highland cattle calf with the herd. Free-range chickens and their moveable home. Sheep graze and snooze in the pasture. An egg layer in the nest box. Page at left: Pigs at the trough. A rooster surveys his kingdom.
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Page at left: Chicken thighs wrapped in pancetta. Chef Cody Vasek makes the chicken thighs in the resort’s kitchen. Sam von Trapp picks hops at the DeliBakery, where the family sells its beers. The Trapps gardener in one of the family’s many gardens. Hops. Pancetta cures in the cellar. This page: Farm fresh eggs.
is, ‘Where are the animals?’ ” says Sam von Trapp. “Thus, the report, which is printed and posted at the front desk.” Trapps, you see, isn’t only The Sound of Music mecca, a sprawling Nordic skiing and mountain biking center, and emerging micro-brewery. It’s also a growing farm. It’s actually always been a farm. That was one of the appeals when Baron Georg von Trapp and his wife, Maria, and their children bought the original hilltop farm seven decades ago. They became innkeepers but never lost sight of the land. The lodge’s food and flower gardens, introduced by the Baron and Maria and nurtured at first by their children, are legend, and have supplied the lodge’s kitchens since the beginning. Scottish Highland cattle were introduced by lodge president Johannes von Trapp more than three decades ago, long before raising cows and serving “local beef” was trendy. Ironically, customers back then shunned the slightly tougher grass-fed Highland beef, so it was served instead to the von Trapp family and the staff at the lodge. If you ask him, Johannes will tell you that his true heart is in farming; ranching, to be more precise. The family company bought ranchland in Montana in the 1980s and Johannes, his wife Lynne, and their two children spent several years out West with Johannes and Lynne running the Story continues on page 179
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SAM GRAY PHOTOGRAPHY
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Edson Hill Historic Stowe inn reborn under new ownership plumber sprawls on the floor of an upstairs hallway bathroom, dealing with sink fixtures, as someone somewhere hammers incessantly, both workers putting final touches on an old inn’s upgrade. Edson Hill, one of Vermont’s venerable luxury resorts, opened this spring under new ownership—with refurbished rooms, an emphasis again on fine dining, and winter activities from cross-country skiing to snowman-making for the kids. In warmer months, guests will enjoy fishing, hiking, croquet, and an outdoor firepit. The resort, built in 1941, overlooking meadows and a pond and offering views of the Worcester Range, was purchased last July for $1.8 million by three Boston-area families. Other improvements so far: a sprinkler system overhaul for safety’s sake, a pruning of deciduous trees to widen the panorama, and interior redesigning throughout. This redesign includes work in the main house, formally called the manor house, with its nine bedrooms; and in the four hillside guest houses, each with its own batch of suites. “Our goal was to give this place a fresh feeling, to make it a place for families and friends to hang out” while keeping with Vermont tradi-
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tions, says Susan Stacy of Gauthier Stacy, the Boston interior-design firm that worked on the project. Stacy is an owner of Edson Hill, along with relatives, all with children of various ages, all of whom Stacy says are excited about the new endeavor. Tobogganing anyone? Stacy, during her undergraduate days of studying fine arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, skied in Stowe and developed a fondness for the area. In her professional life, she developed a similar affinity for buying properties and “falling madly in love with them and trying to make them better.”
After she noticed the Edson Hill listing, she said, “I could not put it out of my head,” and “viewed it as a fun project for our families.” The deal was sealed. Then it was out with some old and in with some new. An estate sale was held to recycle wing chairs, settees, a few lace-canopied beds and other furniture that “were starting to look very worn,” says Stacy. The original interior of Edson Hill, she says, had “lots of deep, dark colors, offering a very traditional New England look, but a look we wanted to get away from (somewhat) by lightening things up, making things fresher.” Contemporary furniture now shares space with antiques. Rooms are bright in shades of white. As in the past, some walls are pine paneled, and the inn will have 17 fireplaces, retaining a measure of old-style, country-inn ambience. Edson Hill was built in 1941 as a residence by Verner Reed, a wealthy Newport, R.I., man, whose family made a fortune in late-19th-century Colorado gold mining.
JUST LIKE EDIBLES, ONLY SMALLER BITES
The place first became an inn in 1953 and changed hands several times. Originally on 400 acres, it had barns and horse paddocks and was graced with winding ski and hiking trails. But over the years it was trimmed to some 38 acres, a good piece of the original acreage sold off for residential development. For years Edson Hill was among Stowe’s elite destinations for dining, but that, too, was scaled back. Instead, the resort became a go-to spot for elegant weddings. Operating partner Carl Christian, who has years of experience in the food, beverage, and hospitality business in the United Kingdom, San Francisco, New York, and Boston says the 40-seat dining room will reopen with an emphasis on locally sourced classic New England fare and offer a broad wine list. The bar downstairs, called The Tavern, connects to an expansive brick patio and will offer artisanal brews and classic cocktails. The resort’s chef, Chad Hanley, originally from Jeffersonville, Vt., will offer a seasonal menu and include dishes New England is best known for, from smoked and braised meats to chowders and crab cakes. The summer menu offers smoked jalapeno crab cake, duck confit stuffed with mushrooms, and chilled Manhattan-style chowder. There are also lighter entrees, salads, and pickled vegetables. Hanley enjoys grilling a good steak and is proud of his split cowboy cut, a 16- to 18ounce bone-in steak. Hanley gives a special mention to his apple cheddar spice cake with a scoop of rosemaryolive oil ice cream (Hanley’s recipe), made specially for the resort by Stowe Ice Cream. “We want the dining to be elegant, but we also want people to feel comfortable enough to come down for dinner in jeans or slippers,” says Stacy. —Dirk Van Susteren This article first appeared in the Boston Globe, with contributions from Lisa McCormack. ESSENTIALS: 1500 Edson Hill Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-7371. edsonhill.com. •••• On its list of the world’s top brewers, ratebeer.com ranks Hill Farmstead of Greensboro, Vt., as number one. The top 100 brewers in the world are ranked by reviews taken last year and “weighted by performance within and outside of style, balanced by indicators of depth.” The winners reflect the top performing brewers of over 19,000 listed at ratebeer.com. Along with Hill Farmstead, other Vermont brewers in the Top 100 were Lawson’s Finest Liquids and The Alchemist, Waterbury. l
STOWE BEVERAGE & LIQUOR STORE
LIQUOR • BEER •WINE Tel. 253-4525 1880 Mountain Road, Stowe. Open 9-9 M-S • 11-6 Sunday
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KEVIN WALSH; GLENN CALLAHAN, CALLAHAN
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It’s often said that if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. At Boyden Valley Winery in Cambridge, the corollary to that is if life gives you ice, make ice wine. Called “nectar of the gods” by some because of its exceptionally sweet flavor and price tag, ice wine has become one of Boyden Valley Winery’s signature wine products. Developed in Germany in the late 1700s, ice wine was first produced in America in the early 1980s in upstate New York. Boyden Valley Winery sold its first bottle in 2005 and was the first winery in Vermont to make a red ice wine, and the first to produce an ice wine from Frontenac grapes. Ice wines are best enjoyed before dinner or with dessert. It is intensely sweet due to a combination of frozen grapes and the production process. It’s a delicate process fraught with environmental risks and production challenges. All of this means the wine yield per acre of grapevine is very low, resulting in a much higher cost per bottle. Boyden Valley, a fourth generation farm, has operated as a winery for 18 years. Owned by the husband-and-wife team David and Linda Boyden, the winery’s ice wine sales are a sizeable portion of the winery’s total sales volume, says David. He and employee Tom Lambert are Boyden’s wine makers, each hav-
ing received special training in the art. The Boyden Winery has about 10,000 vines spread over 8 acres of land in the Lamoille River valley. To make ice wine, frozen grapes must be quickly processed once picked. This initial process produces a thick juice, or must, from which the wine is made. Because ice wine grapes stay on the vine much longer, more can go wrong. Some grapes rot on the vine, while others are eaten by birds and other creatures. David estimates that only about 10 percent of each acre of ice wine grapes actually makes it into the wine. Harvest day usually falls in late November or early December, whenever temperatures drop to 18 to 25 degrees and create the first heavy frost of the season. For true ice wine, federal law requires that the grapes must be frozen on the vine, not after being picked. On harvest day all available hands gather to pick the grapes, which must be processed within several hours. The gatherers often start around 2 a.m., wearing headlamps to see the grapes in the darkness. Time is of the essence since the grapes lose their special qualities if they start thawing before being pressed. In the basement of the renovated 1875 carriage barn where the production process occurs, the grapes are first pressed to eliminate water. David says his winery’s press process is
HANNAH MARSHALL
ICE WINE
Beef pad kee mao.
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Ocha Thai restaurant is bringing spicy back to Waterbury, in a small and welcoming orchidhued dining room next to Shaw’s supermarket. The dinner menu features Thai stir-fries and curries, noodles and fried rice, rolls and dumplings, soups, salads, and desserts—more than 80 items—plus specials, which on one recent week included whole fried red snapper, mango and shrimp stir-fry, and roasted duck curry. Dishes can be ordered in varying degrees of spiciness. Extra hot is not for the faint of heart; don’t be offended if the server questions your fortitude. Our papaya salad—ordered hot—was indeed
You don’t have to go over the mountain anymore for a taste of Boyden. Boyden Valley Winery’s award-winning wines, Vermont ice wines, hard ciders, and cream liqueurs can now be tasted at the winery’s new tasting room in the Apple Core Luncheonette at Cold Hollow Cider Mill on Route 100 in the village of Waterbury Center.
an important factor that separates his ice wines from many others. Boyden Valley Winery’s large hydraulic presses exert more force than normal winery presses to eliminate more moisture, leaving a thicker and more concentrated must. Because this must has high glucose content, the ice wine it produces is sweeter. Due to the fermentation and clarification processes, it takes nine to twelve months after harvest before any wine can be made. Boyden Valley makes three ice wines: Vermont Ice, Vermont Ice Red, and Vermont Ice Cider (made from apples). Additional ice label products include an ice apple crème liqueur and a maple crème liqueur. So, even though Vermont’s climate may lack the qualities of those found in the wine regions of France or Italy, there is a benefit to cold weather. To paraphrase Boyden Valley Winery’s ice wine promotion: People come to Vermont for the snow, but once here, they fall in love with the ice. —Kevin Walsh ESSENTIALS: boydenvalley.com. spicy, with a generous sprinkling of chili flakes, but the slightly sweet and vinegary dressing tempered the heat, and crunchy julienned papaya and carrots, green beans, romaine lettuce, cabbage, and peanuts made for a fresh and satisfying dish. The green curry with chicken was rich with coconut milk and bright basil flavor, with bamboo-shoot matchsticks, chunks of smooth eggplant, and bell pepper. —Hannah Marshall ESSENTIALS: 1024 Waterbury-Stowe Rd., Waterbury. (802) 882-8275.
Dining options in Stowe village slimmed down this winter when two restaurants abruptly closed. Both Blue Moon Café and Mi Casa Kitchen and Bar shuttered their doors. Blue Moon owner Jim Barton said that “... dining preferences have changed and our level of business has dropped to the point of being no longer sustainable. To the end, I remain extremely proud of the food and quality of service that we provided.” Barton bought the Blue Moon from restaurateur and chef Jack Pickett in 2001. Mi Casa Kitchen and Bar posted its closing on Facebook. “It was a fun run and Mi Casa is now closed for business. Thank you to everyone who supported our endeavor.” The Main Street Stowe restaurant opened last May in the space formerly occupied by Frida’s Taqueria and Grill—coincidentally, also a restaurant that Pickett had opened. —Lisa McCormack •••• The former Vermont Ale House which closed abruptly in December, won’t sit empty long. Fresh plans are afoot for the Mountain Road restaurant—a yet-unnamed beer bar by Eric Warnstedt and William McNeil, co-owners of the Hen of the Wood restaurants in Waterbury and Burlington. The decision to lease the Stowe space wasn’t exactly spontaneous, but kismet was definitely involved. “It sort of fell into our laps,” Warnstedt says. “We weren’t really in the market for a beer bar … it was a couple quick discussions, and we slept on it for a few weeks.” Warnstedt and his crew want to give the bar a more “loungey” feel, and they have enlisted Winooski-based woodworker Doug Walker to make custom tables and furniture. Warnstedt says the Ale House’s 24-draft tap will be supplemented with bottled beer, a small wine and craft cocktail program, and “really rad” Scotches and whiskeys. On tap, expect “everything,” Warnstedt says—brews from friends at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, The Alchemist, Zero Gravity, and more, as well as some macrobrews—offered at reasonable prices, “not just a bunch of $8 pours.” The bar will have a very small menu of “hopefully really good food,” but don’t expect a third Hen. “It’s going to be totally different, completely fresh,” he says. “We’re getting to throw away the Hen of the Wood rulebook. At the end of the day, it’s just a beer bar. In my own mind, I’m still 22 years old, coming off the mountain.” The duo is shooting for a June opening. —Hannah Marshall •••• Warnstedt, nominated for the Best Chef: Northeast award by the James Beard Foundation every year since 2009, cooked at the James Beard House in New York City on April 10. Warnstedt was joined in New York l
• AAA - 10% discount for all members! • 55 rooms - many with spectacular mtn. views • Free WiFi • Some Pet Friendly Rooms! • 3 Three Bedroom Houses • Whirlpool Bath, in-room refrigerator • Queen-sized beds • ESPN/HBO w/remote • Bus Tours Welcome - plenty of parking! • Snowmobile on trails 15 & 100 from your room!
1-800-544-2347 email: sunset@together.net
$3 COUPONS FOR BREAKFAST AT STONEGRILL RESTAURANT NEXT DOOR! Junction of Routes 100 & 15 • Morrisville VT 05661 (802) 888-4956 • Fax (802) 888-3698 173
TIDBITS by chef Doug Paine of Juniper restaurant in Burlington’s Hotel Vermont. The chefs’ seven-course Rustic Modern Vermont menu was designed to “showcase the Green Mountain State’s vibrant culinary community, from farms and artisans to breweries and distilleries,” according to the event description. The menu included Vermont meats such as pork head cheese, lamb, rabbit, beef, and Lake Champlain yellow perch, with beer, cider, or wine pairings for each course, plus a bevy of local cheeses, veggies, spirits, and maple syrup. —Hannah Marshall CELLARS AT JASPER HILL
40 YEARS!
Black Cap Coffee 144 Main Street, Stowe • Across from the church Open Mon-Sat at 7 a.m. • Sunday at 8 a.m. (802) 253-2123 • See us on Facebook 174
The Cellars at Jasper Hill’s Bayley Hazen Blue was awarded World’s Best Unpasteurized Cheese at the World Cheese Awards in London in March. Over 250 cheese experts evaluated over 2,600 cheeses from 33 countries. Bayley Hazen Blue won a super gold award, and subsequently made it into the final round of 16 cheeses, where it was officially recognized as the world’s best unpasteurized cheese. Bayley has a fudge-like texture, toasted-nut sweetness, and anise spice character. The paste is dense and creamy, with well-distributed blue veins. The usual peppery character of blue cheese is subdued, giving way to the grassy, nutty flavors in the milk. Cellars at Jasper Hill also took home gold awards for its Cabot and Moses Sleeper, silver awards for its Harbison and Oma cheeses, and bronze awards for its Weybridge and Kinsman Ridge varieties. Bayley Hazen Blue is made from whole raw milk. It is named for an old military road commissioned by George Washington during the Revolutionary War. ESSENTIALS: jasperhillfarm.com. l
Fledermaus Teahouse
C OFFEES ,
TEAS AND
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IN A METICULOUSLY CONVERTED BARN IN THE HILLS ABOVE
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O PENING FOR THE SEASON IN MID -J UNE . R ESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED . FLEDERMAUSTEAHOUSE . COM 579 PLOT ROAD, JOHNSON VT 802.635.7408 | INFO@FLEDERMAUSTEAHOUSE.COM
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“The World’s Most Decadent Breakfast” –New York Times
LOCATED AT THE GREY FOX INN
990 Mountain Road, Stowe 802-253-8921 | 800-544-8454 greyfoxinn.com
The best burgers in town! Beef, Salmon, Turkey & Veggie Burgers Handcut Fries Local Craft Beers
Southern BBQ & Fresh Salads Milkshakes Creemees
1669 Mountain Road Stowe, Vermont (Just off the Rec Path)
802-253-3100 bluedonkeyvt.com 176
TIDBITS COURTESY PHOTO
IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO GO DUTCH
Shelburne Vineyard’s 2014 vintage Harvest Widow’s Revenge earned a double gold medal at the 2015 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition. In addition, the vineyard’s 2013 Duet ice wine, LaCrescent semi-dry white, and Sonata red dessert wine won gold medals. This year’s field included 3,708 wines from all 50 states, Canada, and 27 other countries. Shelburne Vineyard also earned silver and bronze medals in this competition. The 2014 Harvest Widow’s Revenge, a semi-dry blend of eight different grapes, has a fresh and fruity nose with a rich texture, a touch of sweetness, and a lingering berry finish. Its name was coined by vineyard staff to honor their spouses, partners, and families. ESSENTIALS: 6308 Shelburne Rd., Shelburne. Daily. (802) 985-8222, shelburnevineyard.com. •••• Hopheads, here’s some brew news you can use: by late winter or early spring next year, the Alchemist Brewery will open its new 15,000-square-foot brewery in Stowe. The brewery will abut Stoweflake Inn and Resort on Cottage Club Road. “We’re excited,” brewery owner Jen Kimmich says. “Having our new facility, we’ll be able to bring back some of the old favorites from the pub.” Jen, with husband John, have plenty of recipes. Beers such as Focal Banger, Beelzebub, Luscious, and The Crusher have been a hit with one-off can sales, selling out within hours, and all may make an appearance at the new brewery. But for the past four years, the Alchemist has been known for one thing: Heady Topper, the flagship double IPA that has been called the best beer in the whole world by ratebeer.com and BeerAdvocate. Heady Topper will still be brewed at the Alchemist’s brewery in Waterbury, but plenty of it will be for sale in the new retail store located in Stowe. The Stowe brewery will be relatively small: It is allowed to brew 10,000 barrels per year, and move about 350 cases of beer a day out of its retail spot. —Tommy Gardner l
FAMILY RESTAURANT & SPORTS BAR
Over 25 years of Food, Fun & Friends Stop by for dinner and see why we’re one of Stowe’s favorite spots for more than 25 years!
harvestatstowe.com
BBQ • SEAFOOD • BURGERS Lunch • Dinner • Late Night Great children’s menu!
“You can’t beat that flavor!” Open daily 140 Cottage Club Road, Stowe
802-253-9281 Patio Dining & Tiki Bar Backyard Open for Horseshoes & Volleyball
Chris Pazandak, D.D.S.
Jitka Matherly, D.D.S.
John Hirce, D.M.D. 177
*Seven Days
Fre s h l y m a d e & baked daily in our kitchen
GLENN CALLAHAN
VOTED BEST BAGELS*
TIDBITS
Family owned & operated IN A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE ENJOY:
Breakfast & Lunch All Sandwiches, All Day Sandwich Specialties • Homemade Soup • Fresh Salads Baked Goods • Vegetarian Specialties • Vitamin Waters Cappuccino & Lattes • Our own Bagel Beans Coffee
Eat-in or Take-out • Open daily 6:30 am - 4:30 pm
802.253.9943 CAT E R I N G AVA I L A B L E • F R E E W I - F I 394 MOUNTAIN ROAD • BAGGY KNEES SHOPPING CENTER • STOWE, VERMONT
Est. 1992
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frappes / milkshakes ■ ■
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egg cream
children’s menu ■
delicious sundaes ■
ice cream sodas ■
malts
burgers
■ ■
salads
homemade soups ■
take-out
Ask for fresh vermont beef open 7 days a week - lunch & dinner
253-4269 • 57 DEPOT STREET One block off main street
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A New England hotel chain plans to breathe new life into an iconic Stowe inn and restaurant. Lark Hotels, which owns boutique hotels in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, has big plans for the former Ye Olde England Inne on Stowe’s Mountain Road. Lark Hotels CEO Robert Blood fell in love with Stowe 14 years ago while vacationing here with his wife. When he learned Ye Olde England Inne had been sold at auction, he contacted the real estate developer who had bought it to see if he’d be willing to sell. “We’ve been growing our hospitality portfolio in other areas of New England,” Blood says. “This complements our other properties in a great way. Most of our properties are coastal, so having a property in a mountain town works well for us.” “It’s an amazing location. It’s in good shape and there’s a lot of opportunity for repositioning it,” Blood says. He’s been inspired by the recent renovation of Edson Hill Manor and the expansion at Stowe Mountain Resort. “We see a lot of good things happening in Stowe and look forward to being a part of it.” Lark Hotels hopes to reopen the inn by early September. The 2.5-acre property includes 30 guest rooms, a restaurant and pub, a whirlpool, a covered deck, a pavilion, and an outdoor pool. Blood plans to spend $2.7 million to renovate, furnish, and redecorate the property. Its current motif is a classic English Tudor style, with wallpaper, dark wood moldings, and paintings of equestrian scenes, dogs, and British aristocrats. “It will be a more modern Vermont lodge rather than Vermont country inn,” Blood says. He plans to reopen the inn’s restaurant and pub and is working with a “well-regarded Vermont restaurant group” to design the menu. “It will be more accessible food,” Blood says. “There will be an emphasis on craft beer and, at a risk of sounding cliché, the food will be farmto-table.” The inn, built over 100 years ago, has gone through several major renovations. Chris and Lyn Francis, originally from England, purchased the property in 1983 while vacationing in Stowe. At the time, it was a ski lodge called Sans Souci. They transformed it into a British-themed inn, with a restaurant and pub called Mr. Pickwick’s. n —Lisa McCormack
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ranch. They were memorable years for Johannes. Asked to choose between the two— resort operator or rancher—he likely would not hesitate. Ranching wins every time. Rancher von Trapp returned East in 1993 to reclaim control of the resort business amid family turmoil over its ownership and management. He’s remained at the helm ever since, as do the vestiges of his ranching passion: the grazing cattle. In the past few years, driven by the growing farm-to-table movement and Johannes’ son Sam, who inherited his father’s itch to be a farmer, the lodge’s farm operations have expanded substantially. They now include a whole array of farm animals, and the mobile pens to contain them. Thirty-six pigs get moved around the property all year before reaching Trapps chef Cody Vasek, who cures the meat and, among other things, turns it into specialty hard-to-pronounce charcuterie. The lodge’s 150 laying chickens have their own mobile henhouse, furnishing hundreds of eggs daily for the kitchen. A separate chicken operation is home to about 200 meat birds, and there’s a pen for 45 turkeys. Look for them in the lodge dining room at Thanksgiving. The farm animals are just part of the lodge’s enterprising food and drink activities. Trapps launched its lagers a few years ago and, with growing demand, has vastly increased its output this year at its new brewery on Luce Hill Road. The lodge’s orchard turns out buckets of apples for cider and sauce. The maple sugaring operation provides more than enough sweetness for both the kitchen’s cooking and to sell over the counter. It’s hard to find suitable comparisons, but Trapps has to be one of the few hotels nationwide that grows its own food and makes its own beer. “My family wanted to be farmers when they moved here in 1942,” explains Sam. “My grandfather really liked the grounded-ness of it.” To oversee the growing enterprise, the lodge has a head farmer, “a head of Trapps’ farm enterprises” as Sam calls it, who coordinates among the needs of the kitchens, the seasons, and the production capacity of the Trapps operation to grow, nurture, and eventually harvest the food for consumption on the premises. You can get a tour of the Trapps farming operation weekly through the spring, summer, and fall. The tour should end at the bar or dining room: Anything on the menus marked by a golden crown—notably, the “Johannes Burger,” named after the rancher at the helm, of course—is raised, grown, or made just a stone’s throw from where you are sitting. n
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE
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R E A L E S TAT E & H O M E S Are you searching for the perfect home or vacation getaway? Looking to update your 1970s kitchen, add a great room, or find a stone mason to redo your uneven terrace? Well, the search is over. Our guide to real estate and homes is your one-stop shop to find a new home or connect with the finest architects, interior designers, builders, and other craftsmen and suppliers for everything home-related. Our websitesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;stowetoday.com, stowereporter.com, and waterburyrecord.comâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; are great real estate resources.
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BINGO for baked goods
It’s late afternoon in August, but plenty of people still buzz about Lake Elmore village. Women carrying homemade pies and plates of brownies climb the steps to Town Hall, children count out quarters to buy candy next door at the general store, and empty parking spots quickly fill up. Welcome to Family Bingo Night. Every Thursday, from early July through mid August, Elmore Town Hall turns into a bingo hall. Step inside and you’ll find seniors and small children, families and singles, locals and tourists sitting shoulder to shoulder at long folding tables. And you can’t beat the price. Admission is $1, or free if you 183
BINGO
Joe “Bingo Joe” Ciccolo.
Caller Dave Peters.
bring a baked good for the prize table. Cards are three for $1 with a nine-card maximum. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the games run from 7 p.m. to around 8:45 p.m. Teacups hold colorful playing chips, but instead of playing for cash, folks claim prizes of homemade baked goods, baskets of local produce, beach toys, and dollar-store tchotchkes. Organized by the Lake Elmore Association, the games have taken place for more than four decades. Martha Trombly, a longtime Lake Elmore Association member, has helped out on Bingo Night for 11 years. She’s a “bingo-ette,” collecting admission fees, selling playing cards, and directing people to tables. “Some nights we have 40 people, some nights we have 80,” Trombly says. “We never know how many we’re going to have.” Money raised from the games goes to a fund used to remove milfoil—an invasive plant species—from Lake Elmore. Dave Peters has been a caller for 20 years. During the final game of the season last August he 184
wore a T-shirt with the slogan: Call my name. Call my number. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It gets people together. No one takes it too seriously. It’s good for the community.” His sidekick, Joe Ciccolo, also known as “Bingo Joe,” brings a guitar and starts each game by leading a rendition of his original Lake Elmore song: “I’m going to Lake Elmore, I sure do like it a lot. I’m going to Lake Elmore, the beauty spot of Vermont…”
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BINGO
Ciccolo’s job is to make sure everyone has a good time and to seat strangers together so they meet and talk to one another. “Who has come the farthest?” he asks as hands fly up and players shout out, “Montreal, Maryland, Virginia, Texas.” “I tell people that if they’ve come to win big prizes, they can go home because we don’t have any,” Ciccolo says with a chuckle. He also explains the rules. “Bingo is a game about straight lines,” he tells the crowd using hand motions, explaining how winning lines can go up, down, or diagonally across the card. Cindy Blackburn, a summer lake resident, rarely misses a game. “I just love this town,” Blackburn says. “I love the happy atmosphere. Everyone is so friendly.” By 6:30, when it’s time to call the first round, latecomers must squeeze past tightly packed tables to find the few remaining empty chairs. Within five minutes Marie Bell, a first-time visitor, calls Bingo. A bingo-ette checks Bell’s card and the crowd claps as she claims her prize—a plate of chocolate covered pretzels. The baked goods turn out to be the most popular prizes though a few children gravitate toward the beach toys, carefully surveying them before making a selection and scooting back to their seats. After about an hour of playing a dozen or so rounds, the youngsters grow restless so Peters 186
calls a recess and everyone scurries outside. Just beyond the Town Hall steps, Ciccolo turns a jump rope for anyone who wants to expel pent up energy while others head next door to The Elmore Store for ice cream, cold drinks, and snacks. After the break, it’s time for the “cover all.” The first person to cover an entire bingo card with chips wins a $25 gift certificate to a local business. By 8:30 p.m., with the last letters and numbers called, the final round won, and pies, cookies, and other homemade desserts gone, the sun dips behind the lake and peals of laughter ring out as everyone reluctantly makes their way back to their cars. n
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story: nancy wolfe stead
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photographs: glenn callahan
STAIRWAYS TO PARADISE
A pair of exquisite walnut staircases, the focal points of two very different homes, is the bridge that unites two generations of craftsmen at the helm of Sterling Staircase and Handrail in Stowe. The first staircase, built in 2000, is a graceful open spiral that flows effortlessly upward from a newel post topped with a graceful curl of walnut, through complicated rises and curves, to an open sitting area on the second floor. The black walnut handrail ascends voluptuously, making the smoothest of transitions to form one continuous line. Walnut treads five-feet wide float toward the landing. Almost all of the staircase was hand cut and planed by Frits Momsen, designer, builder, and Renaissance man of Stowe, whose restless intellect led him to tarry, for awhile, in the construction of unique staircases. He considers the project the highlight of his career with Sterling Staircase and Handrail, the one-man company he started in the early 1990s.
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The second staircase, in Locust Valley, N.Y., is an ellipse with a constantly changing pitch built in 2010 by Momsenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s protege, Sandy Thompson. Thompson handcrafted the American black walnut stair treads, stringers, and compound-curved handrails with balusters over a fabricated stainless-steel base. Story continues on page 201, photographs on next page
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Story continues from page 188
It is breathtaking, appearing light as air as it curls its sinuous path between floors in a light-filled entrance hall. “It is magnificent,” says Momsen. “It made Sandy’s mark. There were complexities that would stump the most experienced craftsmen.” After the staircase was completed the client’s wife sent Thompson a request: “We spent the last year-and-a-half filling the house with artwork from around the world, but (my husband’s) favorite part of the house is your staircase.” She commissioned a miniature replica for his office. Momsen is a tall, rangy Dane, with a redhead’s complexion, mustache, and wavy hair going gray. When amused, which is often, his eyes light up and he gives a deep chortle. He is purposeful, a thinker, and loves to be challenged. He also has the gumption, integrity, and varied skills to allow himself to follow his curiosity down myriad paths. Transplanted in youth to Connecticut, Momsen graduated from the University of Maine in 1967 with a degree in anthropology. He toyed with making leather handbags and sandals, or museum work, but started working in public television, first in Maine, then Vermont. His gravelly voice was perfect for announcing, but he also handled production, sound, and even photography, despite his lack of knowledge of the latter. He immediately bought a book on darkroom technique. “I had an understanding boss who caught on to me pretty quickly. My end of the bargain was that I caught on quickly.” Catching on fast is the story of Momsen’s life. As he tired of television, Momsen turned to the building trades. Apprenticed to an experienced builder, he quickly advanced to custom finish work by staying on the job during the winter when the established carpenters taught skiing. He built a spec house, which sold before completion, and morphed into a massive project involving lots of custom work that was as much about sculpture as function. Then, as now, his pleasure lay in finding solutions to complex problems and creating “something that people use every day. Functional art. It’s got to feel good.” The zenith of his functional art, Sterling Staircase and Handrail, was a logical step
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for his questing spirit. “Stair treads are easy. Calculate a radius and project the measurements,” Momsen explains. “Handrails are much more complex.” Fashioning a tangent handrail—the key to the beauty of these staircases—is an 18thcentury art that hadn’t been taught, and rarely practiced, in generations. The method allows for a continuously climbing, curved and twisted, or “wreathed” rail. It is infinitely more difficult, and pleasing, than creating a railing from an assemblage of factorymade parts. Momsen explains, “I have books that go back to 1700. I read them and read them and didn’t understand them; it took a long time. It’s plane geometry. A book by an old Californian, The Simplified Method of Tangent Handrailing, really helped. It’s a different language. Until you have the concept down enough and really understand it, each new problem throws you.” Solving new complexities also required new tools: he redesigned his router and built vises that will hold any shape, allowing individual pieces of the tightly curved railings to be hand carved. It must have been the collusion and collision of stars that led Sandy Thompson to Momsen’s workshop one day in the early 2000s. They were not strangers; the Thompson and Momsen families had been friends for years, with Sandy hanging around the house with the Momsen kids growing up. But they are two old souls—both seek challenge, change, accomplishment—born a generation apart. Thompson is a handsome, deep-voiced, and wildly funny fellow, lanky in frame but not quite reaching Momsen’s altitude. After graduation from University of Vermont he joined his stepfather Ken Squier’s production company televising NASCAR races. Next came production work for the Olympics in Japan, then Sydney, Australia, home of his mother’s family, where he met and married the lovely Genevieve. He worked in carpentry, gaining skills and experience each year. On a visit home to Stowe he stopped at Momsen’s workshop in Sterling Valley. Recalling the moment, Thompson’s eyes sparkle: “He was building the most amazing cupola! It was art as much as craft, in conception and in fact, and it was for the ridgepole of my mother’s new house. I thought this is it—a beautiful shop making beautiful things with exquisite skill.” The timing was perfect. Momsen’s interests had moved on to designing and building, from scratch, all aspects of a retirement complex—home, guesthouse, workshop, and barn—for himself and his wife, Cubby. Momsen very much wanted to have Thompson take over Sterling Staircase, but he was also clear that his role would be as mentor, not working craftsman. Effecting the transition, including moving the Thompson family stateside, was a process. The defining moment of transition arrived in 2007. Years prior, Momsen had given a quote to restore a mahogany handrail in an aban-
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doned and vandalized Victorian home in Mt. Holly, Vt. After saving up for nine years, the owners finally told Momsen they were ready to proceed. Momsen put Sandy in charge. It was the ultimate learning experience. The job was exceptionally complex because the railing made a 180-degree turn and the trajectories didn’t match the curve. “I gnashed my teeth for a week and couldn’t solve it,” Thompson recalls. “I yelled for help from Frits, who came, was equally stumped, and left.” Sandy finally figured it out. At the end, with the staircase completed, the wife sat on a stair as tears ran down her cheeks. “It’s what I love about the jobs,” says Thompson, “getting a complex problem and coming up with a solution. On another project, a multi-species butcher block countertop, my final cut was an incredible mistake and I thought I had ruined it. There were bad words, the throwing of objects, and then an inspired save.” He was very pleased with himself.
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Momsen echoes, “Only a master craftsman can fix his own mistakes. I have a long tale of stories to prove it.” Both men love making exquisite things that people use, functional sculpture. “You touch your handrail more that almost anything in your house,” Thompson says. “Staircases are an opportunity to do something amazing. It’s a shame not to take it.” Thompson is quick to give credit to his talented colleague, Zach Taylor, who “has been a huge part of the carving and artistic side of the company.” Sitting together over tea, Momsen sums up their relationship: “I think the cool thing is that Sandy came along and is carrying on.” Thompson is now the caretaker of the tangent handrailing library but has expanded the business to all kinds of custom work. He nods and toasts, “It’s cool that we have the history and the relationship to do it.” n
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summit each summer, but very few know about the geology, flora, and fauna they’ve come to see. Today, at the top of the Auto Toll Road, the base of an old antenna building houses a small collection of natural history exhibits maintained by the Green Mountain Club. But the VCE and the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources share a vision to create a visitor education center and small research facility that would support scientific study. An important step in the creation of a Mt. Mansfield Science and Stewardship Center occurred last winter at a meeting of the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative, a consortium of like-minded groups including the University of Vermont, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and U.S. Forest Service. The groups have different directives but a common interest in the health of high-elevation forests. At the meeting, VCE planning consultant Dan Lambert underscored the importance of consistent, decades-long observations at the same location to assess and expand studies of mountain air, water, soil, flora, and fauna. It would be the only high-elevation sprucefir forest field station in the Northeast and would also join an international network investigating global environmental issues. Vermont Forest, Parks, and Recreation Commissioner Michael Snyder once worked in field science in New Hampshire and knows just how important it is. “I see so many opportunities arising, for kids, for our stewardship of Vermont’s forests, and as a way of engaging the recreating public in real science,” he says enthusiastically. Everyone appreciates that the small, fragile mountaintop be protected. As Lambert says, “The path to the opening of the center will involve continued negotiation and careful listening.” An impassioned Rimmer adds: “It is a dream with legs! It’s an opportunity to study the ecology, its fragility, and to educate members of the public who so love our mountains but don’t know what they are seeing.” The best words of support for it all— research, collaboration, and the Bicknell’s thrush and its feathered brethren—were uttered by Dominican macadamia nut grower Jesus Moreno on his visit to Stowe last summer: “This bird is a reference point for our whole civilization. We all need to say, ‘Earth, I am sorry, I love you. We need to find a way to live without destroying you. We need to show our friends how to live.’ ” n
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them. She’s as demanding as she should be. Her dancers excel because of it.” Adds Nancy Krakower of Stowe: “Helena is both demanding and encouraging. She has high expectations. She expects her students to be on time, prepared, focused, and diligent in their in-class efforts, and she expects them to make a commitment to their dance. If they are serious about their dance, she expects her students to choose dance over their other activities. In return, Helena’s students get the benefit of a dedicated and extremely talented teacher who has devoted her life to training dancers in the Stowe area.” Krakower, who has known Sullivan for 18 years—her daughters Kara, 22, and Eliza, 20, took up to 11 classes a week as teenagers— acknowledges that some students only want to take a class or two for fun and exercise. “Dancers come in to class with a wide range of reasons for being there, a wide range of goals, and a wide range of coordination and skill,” Krakower says. “Helena manages to engage students all along the spectrum.” •••• Sullivan formed TRIP in 2000 as a way to help older students stretch their wings and meet and train with regional dance students and choreographers. Sullivan took six students to a dance convention in Boston, and while there, they talked about forming a dance company. When one student tripped, the others joked that “TRIP” would be the perfect name for a youth dance company. The name TRIP stuck and stands for “technique, rehearse, implement, perform.” For the first few years, TRIP remained a small, tight-knit group. Sullivan would rent a van to transport the dancers and they’d all share a hotel room. Later, she formed a junior company for younger dance students and membership began to grow as parents stepped up to help with planning and fundraising, allowing Sullivan to devote her time to creating new choreography and hiring outside choreographers as needed. In 2013, Sullivan added a “mini” TRIP group for the youngest dancers, ages 6 to 9. “It makes me feel good about myself,” says TRIP member Ryder Wise, 7, of Stowe who has studied dance since age 3. “She pushes us, but it’s OK because we can do what we couldn’t do before and we feel really good.” TRIP currently has 34 dancers. They practice every Sunday and most take classes daily. They compete at three dance conventions in Montreal and Boston during an eight-month season from September through April, and the dancers give local performances, including an annual fundraising event at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center. This season, TRIP dancers participated in NUVO Dance Convention in Montreal and
STOWE DANCE
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New York City Dance Alliance in Boston, where they competed and performed with some of the top dancers in the country. The dancers, individually and as a group, received accolades and awards at both events. In March, TRIP competed against dancers from throughout the Northeast at the Tremaine Dance Competition in Boston where they earned multiple firstplace awards. During these competition weekends, dancers take challenging classes with famous choreographers and go on to compete for highly coveted scholarships, allowing them to study with professional dance companies in major U.S. cities. “You become part of a family,” TRIP member Annika Norden says. “You all have a connection. It’s a close-knit community.” Despite the nerves and fatigue that can lead to stress at the competitions, Sullivan manages to remain grounded. “Sometimes you see studios that seem to be very intense, and you can almost feel the tension created by the studio owners and their expectations of winning high scores,” Krakower says. “One of the things I admire about Helena is her commitment to keep TRIP fun and to keep it a team effort. Different dancers are featured in dances from time to time, but TRIP functions as a team and the dances are always about the group. It is a great opportunity for the students to learn how to work together for a common goal.” While winning trophies is exciting, Sullivan is most proud of the “Class Act” and “Studio” awards TRIP has won, which are awarded for how a studio carries itself throughout the competition weekend or for appropriateness of choreography, costumes, and staging. High school senior Reilly Faith of Morristown has taken dance classes since kindergarten and been a member of TRIP since second grade. During the ballet portion of the academy’s recital last year she danced the starring role of Maria in the The Sound of Music. The dance academy has greatly impacted her life and helped chart her future. This fall, Faith will study dance at Texas Christian University and she plans to eventually pursue her passion professionally. “I’ve learned everything from dance,” Faith says. “The discipline of showing up for ballet class every day, to behave a certain way, and to look a certain way. It’s very structured and, of course, time management is very important.” Most importantly, says Faith, she’s learned to push herself beyond any preconceived limitations. “It’s taught me to go after what I want and not hold back,” she says. n
STOWE DANCE
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Outdoor clothing and footwear. High-quality bike repairs, on the spot repairs. Bike clothing, helmets, tools, parts and accessories. Mountain, road, hybrid, and kid’s bike rentals, and canoe and kayak rentals. Specialized, Kona, and Felt. 350 Mountain Rd., Stowe. 253-4593. stowesports.com.
GREEN MOUNTAIN FINE ART GALLERY
ANTIQUES M. LEWIS ANTIQUES At this location since 1998, Martha Lewis Antiques holds an extremely large variety of antiques and collectibles, with inventory changing daily. Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sundays 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 10 Stowe St., Waterbury. (802) 244-8919.
APPLIANCES
In the heart of the village. Displaying Stowe’s most diverse collection of traditional and contemporary works by regional artists. Open daily 11-6. 64 South Main, Stowe. (802) 253-1818. greenmountainfineart.com.
HELEN DAY ART CENTER Center for contemporary art and art education, established in 1981. Local, national, and international exhibitors. Art classes. Cultural events. Schedule: Wednesday-Sunday 12-5. 90 Pond St., Stowe. (802) 253-8358, helenday.com.
COCOPLUM APPLIANCES Fastest growing kitchen appliance dealer in the area. Carrying most major brands and providing sales, installation, and service for everything we sell. Locally owned and operated since 1985. (888) 412-1222, appliancedistributors.com.
ARCHITECTS ANDREW VOLANSKY, ARCHITECT, AIA Architectural services: Creative, intuitive, functional, efficient, design solutions for those who value elegant design, natural materials, and environmental consciousness in their home or business. (802) 253-2169. cushmandesign.com.
HARRY HUNT ARCHITECTS Designing environmentally sustainable buildings and communities that stay true to the spirit of Vermont. Member American Institute of Architects LEED AP. (802) 253-2374. harryhuntarchitects.com.
INSIDE OUT GALLERY We offer original fine art and crafts by Vermont and American artists in a spectrum of mediums, styles, and price points, from small gifts to major showpieces. 299 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-6945, insideoutgalleryvt.com.
PLANE PROFILES An aviation art gallery featuring highly detailed aircraft renderings by illustrator Tod Gunter. Superb quality, limited edition Giclee prints available. 4285 Mountain Rd. Open Thursday to Saturday. (802) 734-9971. planeprofiles.com.
ROBERT PAUL GALLERIES One of the country’s finest art galleries, offering an outstanding selection of original paintings, sculpture, and fine art glass by locally, nationally, and internationally acclaimed artists. Celebrating 26 years. Baggy Knees Shopping Center, Stowe. robertpaulgalleries.com. (802) 253-7282.
VISIONS OF VERMONT J. GRAHAM GOLDSMITH, ARCHITECTS Quality design and professional architectural services specializing in residential, hotel, restaurant, retail, and resort development. Member Stowe Area. (800) 862-4053. jggarchitects.com. Email: VT@jggarchitects.com.
LEE HUNTER ARCHITECT, AIA A Stowe-based architectural firm offering a personal approach to creative, elegant design. Residential, commercial, and renovations. (802) 253-9928. leehunterarchitect.com.
SAM SCOFIELD, ARCHITECT AIA Professional architectural services for all phases of design and construction. Residential and commercial. Carlson Building, Main Street, Stowe. samscofieldarchitect.com. (802) 253-9948.
TEKTONIKA STUDIO ARCHITECTS Dedicated to the craft and composition of sustainable, siteinspired design. Emphasis on a collaborative design process to meet our client’s vision and budget. Located in the Stowe Village. (802) 253-2020. tektonikavt.com.
Located in Jeffersonville. We feature Eric Tobin, the Winslows, Thomas Curtin, Emile Gruppe, and many more. A century of painting history is made on the Jeffersonville side of Smugglers’ Notch. (802) 644-8183. visionsofvermont.org.
WEST BRANCH GALLERY & SCULPTURE PARK Contemporary fine art and sculpture indoors and outside on the riverside sculpture grounds. Regional, international, and local artists. Tuesday-Sunday 10-5. One mile from Stowe Village on Mountain Road. (802) 253-8943. westbranchgallery.com.
Designing luxury-custom homes that connect with their natural setting and meet the desires of our clients. View our homes at truexcullins.com. (802) 658-2775.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNERS CUSHMAN DESIGN GROUP INC. Architectural services: Creative, intuitive, functional, efficient design solutions for those who value elegant design, natural materials, and environmental consciousness in their home or business. (802) 253-2169. cushmandesign.com.
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The largest selection of bicycles in Vermont, the best service, and the most experience. Always worth the trip. 2500 Williston Rd., S. Burlington. (802) 864-9197. Toll-free 866-327-5725. earlsbikes.com.
4 POINTS MOUNTAIN BIKE SCHOOL & GUIDE SERVICE Learn to ride, brush up on skills. Private and group lessons, custom packages and new bike and beer tours. (802) 793-9246. info@4pointsvt.com.
NORDIC BARN High-quality bikes and best location guarantee—exclusive access to the Stowe Recreation Path across from Topnotch Resort. Hiking information, trail maps and accessories, extensive line of camping gear. Daily at 9 a.m. (802) 253-6433. nordicbarnvt.com.
BLACKSMITHS BLACKSMITH Richard Spreda fireplace equipment, screens, glass doors, tools, grates, log holders, chandeliers, curtain rods, handrails. Over 22 years in Stowe. 55B Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 793-7634, stowesmith.com; Richard@stowesmith.com.
BOOKSTORES BEAR POND BOOKS Complete family bookstore. NY Times bestsellers and new releases. Children and adult hardcovers, paperbacks, books on CD, daily papers, games, greeting cards. Open 7 days. Depot Building, Main Street, Stowe. (802) 253-8236.
BRICKHOUSE BOOKSHOP Books, paintings and sculptures for sale at the Brick House Bookshop. Open daily by chance or appointment. Search and mail service. Please call ahead. (802) 888-4300 or email brickhouse@vtlink.net.
ART SUPPLIES
BREWERIES
THE ART STORE
CROP BISTRO & BREWERY PUB
Your local art supply store. Arts and crafts material for all abilities, made in USA/sustainable options, gifts, children’s activities, lessons, events, and everyday savings on paint, canvas, and paper. 409 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-ARTS (2787), stoweartstore.com.
BAKERIES EDELWEISS
TRUEXCULLINS ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN
EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS
Homemade breakfast sandwiches and pastries like sticky buns, turnovers, and croissants. Cookies, pies, whoopie pies, cinnamon melt-aways and bars. Special orders/requests with notice. Daily 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 2251 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-4034.
HARVEST MARKET Homemade muffins, cookies, tarts, pies, cakes, and other luscious treats. Incredible breads, including our own French country bread baked in traditional wood-fired ovens. Fine coffees and espresso. Daily 7-7 (in season). (802) 253-3800. harvestatstowe.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE—DELIBAKERY Offering a variety of baked goods, soups, salads, sandwiches, daily specials, and our Trapp lagers. Open daily 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Hours vary seasonally. (802) 253-5705. trappfamily.com.
Featuring an array of lagers and ales brewed on site. Enjoy a beer sampler in the pub or relax on the patio or outdoor bar. Located right off the Stowe Recreation Path. Open 7 days, lunch and dinner. Mountain Road, Stowe. (802) 253-4765. cropvt.com.
MAGIC HAT BREWERY & ARTIFACTORY Where ancient alchemy meets modern-day science to create the best tasting beer on the planet. Visit our brewery for free samples, free tours, and a most unusual shopping experience. (802) 658-BREW. magichat.net.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE Von Trapp Brewing offers a selection of authentic Austrian lagers. Stop by for a pint and enjoy our mountaintop views in our DeliBakery, lounge, or dining room. (802) 253-5705. trappfamily.com.
BUILDERS & CONTRACTORS ADAMS CONSTRUCTION VT LLC Stowe construction company specializing in residential and commercial renovations, custom home building, and construction-project management. (802) 253-7893. adamsconstructionvt.com.
More builders l
Leighton C. Detora Valsangiacomo, Detora & McQuesten Attorneys at Law 172 North Main Street Barre VT 05641 802-476-4181, ext. 309
An Experienced, Full-Service Law Firm email: leighton@vdmlaw.com
WE UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INSURING A HOUSE AND A HOME. Your home is more than a roof over your head. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a valuable asset that shelters you and your valued possessions. As your insurance advisor, we know you need an insurance company that understands the way you live. With more than 130 years of experience, a well-earned reputation for prompt and fair claim settlements, and special expertise in protecting fine homes and their contents, we know Chubb is as different from other insurance companies as a home is from a house. To see how we can create a personal insurance program from Chubb to meet your sophisticated needs, please contact us. 618 South Main Street, PO Box 1457, Stowe VT 05672 s &AX rsmith@hbinsurance.com www.hbinsurance.com Homeowners | Auto | Yacht | Jewelry | Antiques | Collector Car Chubb refers to the insurers of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Chubb Personal Insurance (CPI) is the personal lines property and casualty strategic business unit of Chubb & Son, a division of Federal Insurance Company, as manager and/or agent for the insurers of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. This literature is descriptive only. Not available in all states. Actual coverage is subject to the language of the policies as issued. Chubb, Box 1615, Warren, NJ 07061-1615. Š2015 Chubb & Son, a division of Federal Insurance Company. www.chubb.com/personal
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S TOWE-SMUGGLERS’ BUSINESS DIRECTORY BUILDERS & CONTRACTORS
BUILDING MATERIALS
BEACON HILL BUILDERS
ALLEN LUMBER
A family owned and operated custom-home building company. Over 30+ years of experience building and managing fine custom homes, additions, remodels, and energy efficient upgrades in Stowe and beyond. (802) 244-6767. beaconhillvt.com.
CURTIS LUMBER Family run business serves local communities, providing highquality products and services, priced right. Whether contactor or homeowner, Curtis Lumber has experience in serving you. Daily, except Sundays. 349 Leroy Rd., Williston. (802) 863-3428, curtislumber.com.
GORDON DIXON CONSTRUCTION, INC. Highly respected for fine craftsmanship, attention to detail, integrity, and dependable workmanship. Over 25 years experience. Custom homes, additions, renovations, design/build, and project management. 626 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-9367. gordondixonconstruction.com.
GEOBARNS Geobarns is an environmentally conscious, minimal waste builder, specializing in artistic barns using modified post-andbeam structures with diagonal framing to achieve a combination of strength, versatility, and beauty at reasonable prices. (802) 295-9687. geobarns.com.
MOUNTAIN LOGWORKS, LLC HANDCRAFTED LOG HOMES Specializing in Scandinavian Full Scribe and Adirondack-style log structures with log diameters up to 30 inches. In-house design service available. (802) 748-5929. mountainlogworks.com.
PATTERSON & SMITH CONSTRUCTION, INC. A custom builder, remodeling firm, and general contractor in Stowe. Our mission is to provide each customer and their designer/architect with the highest degree of customer service, management, and craftsmanship. pattersonandsmith.com. (802) 253-3757.
RED HOUSE BUILDING Full-service, employee-owned building company. Emphasis on timeless craftsmanship. We meet the challenges of unique and demanding building projects, from contemporary mountain retreats and meticulously restored historic buildings to high-efficiency homes. (802) 655-0043. redhousebuilding.com.
Specializing in kitchens, baths, doors, and windows. Locations in Barre, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, and Waitsfield. (800) 696-9663. allenlumbercompany.com.
COUNTRY HOME CENTER Our kitchen and bath department offers many types of custom cabinets, solid surface countertops, custom tile showers, energy efficient fixtures, and green products for today’s Vermont lifestyle. 85 Center Rd., Morrisville. (802) 888-3177. countryhomecenter.net.
LOEWEN WINDOW CENTER OF VT & NH Beautifully crafted Douglas fir windows and doors for the discerning homeowner. Double- and triple-glazed options available in aluminum, copper, and bronze clad. Style Inspired By You. loewenvtnh.com, (800) 505-1892, info@loewenvtnh.com.
PARKER & STEARNS, INC. Providing quality building supplies in Johnson and Stowe, we are the contractor’s choice and the homeowner’s advantage. We sell Integrity by Marvin and Merrilat custom kitchens. A True Value Member. Stowe (802) 253-9757; Johnson (802) 635-2377.
Custom home building, remodeling, woodworking, home energy audits and retrofits, quality craftsmanship, resource efficient construction, modest additions to multi-million dollar estates. 30 years in Stowe. References available. sislerbuilders.com. (802) 253-5672.
STEEL CONSTRUCTION, INC. Steel Construction, Inc., has consistently proven to be one of Vermont’s finest custom homebuilders. We have three decades of proven experience and a long list of satisfied homeowners. (802) 253-4572. steelconstructionvt.com.
STOWE REMODELING Experts who add imagination and innovation to any project. Bob Petrichko, 30+ years of design/build experience. P.O. Box 398, Stowe. (802) 253-3928, (800) 469-3452. rjpdesign2@gmail.com. stoweremodeling.com.
TIM MEEHAN BUILDERS Creative remodeling, building excellence, award-winning construction. Post & beam, vintage barns, historic restoration. Construction management consultation. 30 years plus in Stowe. Tim Meehan, (802) 777-0283. northernnehomes.com.
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At the crossroads of Mountain Road and Luce Hill Road. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated every Sunday at 8 and 10 a.m. July through October. The Rev. Rick Swanson officiating. St. John’s is wheelchair friendly and visitors and children are welcome. Office open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. (802) 253-7578. stjohnsinthemountains.org.
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 65 Best St., Rte. 100 South, Morrisville. (802) 888-7884. Bible Study at 9:30 a.m. Worship at 11 a.m. Saturday. Fellowship meal following service. Pastor: Cornel Preda. Everyone welcome.
STOWE COMMUNITY CHURCH Sunday worship services 9:30 a.m. Sunday School 9:30 a.m. (Sept.-June), Bible studies: Sundays 8:30 a.m.; Wednesdays (Sept-May) 9:30 a.m.-11 at church. The Rev. Bruce S. Comiskey: 279-5811, Church: (802) 253-7257.
WATERBURY CENTER COMMUNITY Route 100 next to the Cider Mill. Pastor SangChuri Bae. Sunday worship 10:45 a.m. Handicapped accessible. Church is a National Historic Place. We warmly welcome visitors. (802) 244-6286.
CANOES & KAYAKS BERT’S BOATS & TRANSPORTATION Daily canoe and kayak tours on the Lamoille and Winooski Rivers. Winery tours, sunset tours and two-day overnight adventures offered daily. Repairs, lessons, leases and sales, wedding and transportation services. Outpost at 5399 VT Route 15, Jeffersonville. (802) 644-8189. “We go when you do.”
UMIAK OUTDOOR OUTFITTERS Vermont’s leading paddlesports’ center. Kayaks, canoes, and standup paddleboards. Daily river trips, lakefront rentals, guided tours, demos and fully stocked outfitting stores. 849 South Main St., Stowe; and 1203 Williston Rd., South Burlington. (802) 253-2317; umiak.com.
CHIROPRACTORS STOWE CHIROPRACTIC Dr. Palmer Peet. 30 years experience. Vacationers welcome. Prompt appointments available. Emergency care. X-rays on premises. (802) 253-6955. stowechiro.com.
CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES BOUTIQUE AT STOWE MERCANTILE Fabulous contemporary fashion for women. From casual to professional, Boutique can make you feel beautiful any time. Lingerie, dresses, skirts, tops, jeans, sweaters, more. We’ll dress you for any occasion. Depot Building, Main Street, Stowe. (802) 253-3712.
CREATIVE CONSIGNMENTS Women’s apparel and ski wear. “Because friends shouldn’t let friends pay retail.” Established in 2001. Monday through Saturday, 10 - 5. Sunday, noon - 5. 393 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-8100.
ECCO Burlington’s original designer boutique has been dressing Vermonters in top brands for over 20 years. From denim to dresses, boots to stilettos, ECCO has it all. On Church Street Marketplace. 81 Church St. (802) 860-2220. eccoclothesboutique.com.
CHOCOLATE LAKE CHAMPLAIN CHOCOLATES
SISLER BUILDERS INC.
ST. JOHN’S IN THE MOUNTAINS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
What the New York Times calls “some of the best chocolate in the country.” Made from Belgian chocolate, Vermont cream, other natural ingredients. Caramels, truffles, creamy fudge, pralines, factory seconds. 9-6 daily. Cabot Annex. (802) 241-4150. lakechamplainchocolate.com.
CHURCHES & SYNAGOGUES BLESSED SACRAMENT CATHOLIC CHURCH Mass schedule: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Sunday, 8 and 10:30 a.m.; Daily masses: Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. Thursday, noon, Friday, 8:30 a.m. Confessions Tuesday 6-7 p.m., and Saturday 3:45-4:15 p.m. Rev. Benedict Kiely, pastor. 728 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-7536.
JEWISH COMMUNITY OF GREATER STOWE For information regarding services, holiday gatherings, classes, and workshops: JCOGS, P.O. Box 253, Stowe, Vt. 05672. 1189 Cape Cod Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-1800 or jcogs.org.
THE MOUNTAIN CHAPEL At the halfway point on the Mt. Mansfield Toll Road. A place for meditation, prayer and praise for skiers, hikers, and tourists. Seasonal Sunday service 2 p.m. The Rev. Dr. David P. Ransom. (802) 644-8144.
ESSEX OUTLETS & CINEMA Christopher & Banks, Coach, PUMA, Under Armour, Polo, Orvis, Brooks Brothers, Van Heusen, Reebok, Carter’s, OshKosh, Snow Drop, Phoenix Books, Sweet Clover Market, more. Stadium-seated, T-Rex RealD 3D, digital movie theater. Routes 15 & VT289, exit 10. (802) 878-2851. Essex Junction. essexoutlets.com.
FORGET-ME-NOT-SHOP Treasure hunt through our huge selection of famous label off price clothing for men, women, and teens at 60%-80% off. Route 15 Johnson, just 1.5 miles west of Johnson Village. Open 10-7.
GREEN ENVY Clothing, jewelry, shoes, accessories. Voted best women’s boutique. Over 300 brands. Vince, Kate, Spade, Alex and Ani, Longchamp, Theory, AG, Free People, more. Mon.-Sat. 10-6, Sundays 10-5. 1800 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-2661. Facebook, vermontenvy.com.
IN COMPANY Come see what’s in. Specializing in personalized customer service and top designer labels: 360 Sweater, Johnny Was, Lilla P, Orla Kiely, and more. 10-5:30 p.m. daily, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 344 Mountain Rd., Stowe. 253-4595, incompanyclothing.com.
JOHNSON HARDWARE RENTAL, FARM & GARDEN A big store in a little town, family owned and run for three generations. Rental equipment, plumbing, heating, electrical, Milwaukee tools/repair, toys, clothing, footwear, camping gear, and much more. Route 15, Johnson. (802) 635-7282. jhrvt.com.
JOHNSON WOOLEN MILLS Home of famous Johnson Woolen Outerwear and headquarters for Carhartt, Filson, Pendleton, Woolrich, woolen blankets, fine men’s and ladies sportswear, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, socks. Since 1842. Johnson, VT. (802) 635-2271. johnsonwoolenmills.com.
NORTH FACE STORE AT KL SPORT Epic adventures begin with the proper gear. We carry a comprehensive selection of exclusive outdoor brands like The North Face, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Burton, and Black Diamond. Three locations. (802) 284-3270. klmountainshop.com.
SHAW’S GENERAL STORE Summer clothing by The North Face, Patagonia, Kuhl, Toad & Co., Yak n Yeti, Woolrich, and more. Great shoe selections. Helping Vermonters survive in style since 1895. 54 Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-4040.
Anderson & Associates Peter G. Anderson, Esq. Maureen E. Parker, Esq.
Todd A. Shove, Esq.
A General Practice Law Firm
Serving businesses and individuals throughout Vermont for more than 20 years. Civil Litigation • Criminal Defense Family Law • Commercial Law Business Transactions • Probate and Estate Planning Anderson & Associates prides itself on providing quality legal services responsive to the individual needs of each client.
WELL HEELED Unique collection of shoes, boots, handbags, belts, clothing, and jewelry in a chicly updated Vermont farmhouse halfway up Stowe’s Mountain Road. Our specialty? A one-stop shop for an effortlessly elegant look. Daily 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (802) 253-6077. wellheeledstowe.com.
954 South Main Street | P.O. Box 566 Stowe, Vermont 05672 802-253-4011 | andersonlawvt.com
WINTERFELL A gathering place to experience luxury retail in a living-roomlike setting, featuring Bogner, Fire & Ice, Astis, Colmar, ParaJumpers, and more. 1940 Mountain Rd., Stowe (above Edgewise). (802) 253-0130. winterfellvt.com.
COFFEE HOUSES THE BAGEL Our own Bagel beans ground fresh, plus Nespresso espressos, lattes, and cappuccinos. Breakfast and lunch sandwiches all day plus soups and salads. 394 Mountain Rd., 6:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. (802) 253-9943.
BLACK CAP COFFEE Fresh coffee and authentic espresso in a warm inviting atmosphere. House-baked pastries and tasty treats, light breakfast and lunch options. Open everyday at 7 a.m. 144 Main St. across from the Stowe Community Church. (802) 253-2123. See us on Facebook.
FLEDERMAUS TEA HOUSE Coffees, teas and European inspired pastries in a meticulously converted barn in the hills above Johnson Village. An elegant meeting place to enjoy a light savory lunch. Reservations. (802) 635-7408, fledermausteahouse.com.
HARVEST MARKET Homemade muffins, cookies, tarts, pies, cakes, and other luscious treats. Incredible breads, including our French country bread baked in traditional wood-fired ovens. Fine coffees and espresso. Daily 7-7 (in season). (802) 253-3800. harvestatstowe.com.
COMPUTERS & Software FIXPC FixPC is the leader in sales, maintenance, and troubleshooting of business and personal computers and local area networks. On-site and drop-off service available. Visit 908 South Main St., Stowe. Call (802) 253-8006.
PERENNIAL PLEASURES NURSERY & TEA GARDEN
“Come spend a pleasant day!” Since 1980, specializing in heirloom and unusual flowers and herbs. Enjoy a stroll through our extensive display gardens.
ENGLISH CREAM TEAS Served in a beautiful garden setting or greenhouse. Tea served 12-4 daily except Mondays, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Reservations for tea recommended.
IN OUR GIFT SHOP: A well-chosen collection of useful, unusual and just plain gorgeous items, including stylish clothing, scarves and teapots. Summer and wedding hats are a specialty! Daily 10-5 except Mondays, May 2 to Sept. 17 • Free Garden Tours, Sundays at noon.
Join us for our 13th Annual Phlox Fest, August 2 - 16 www.perennialpleasures.net BRICK HOUSE ROAD, EAST HARDWICK, VT • 1-802-472-5104 A scenic 40 minute drive from Stowe 215
S TOWE-SMUGGLERS’ BUSINESS DIRECTORY DANCE INSTRUCTION
ENGINEERS
STOWE DANCE ACADEMY
VERMONT TESTING & CONSULTING CORP.
Stowe Dance Academy is entering its 25th year under the direction of Helena Sullivan. We’re thrilled to provide exceptional dance instruction for children of all ages, with professional faculty. stowedance.com.
Engineering, structural, geotechnical. Laboratory and field-testing and inspection, consulting. vermonttesting.com. (802) 244-6131.
EXCAVATING DELICATESSEN THE BAGEL Breakfast sandwiches, Nova lox, Reubens, deli sandwiches on breads, English muffins, wraps or NY-style bagels. Salads, soups, baked goods. Baggy Knees, Mountain Rd., Stowe. 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (802) 253-9943.
EDELWEISS New York-style deli sandwiches. Brisket, corned beef, pastrami, bakery products, fresh pies. Beer, wine, soda, groceries, Vermont products. Stowe’s #1 deli and convenience store. Daily 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 2251 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-4034.
DENTISTRY JEFFREY R. MCKECHNIE, DMD & CHRISTOPHER P. ALTADONNA, DDS (802) 253-7932. stowedentalassociates.com.
STOWE FAMILY DENTISTRY Chris Pazandak, DDS, Jitka Matherly, DDS, and John Hirce, DMD. Route 100 North. Gentle, quality care. Full range of state-of-the-art dental services including porcelain crowns, complete in one day. New patients welcome. (802) 253-4157. stowefamilydentistry.com.
DRY CLEANING & LAUNDRY DENOIA’S DRY CLEANERS Perc-free dry cleaning and laundry. Same-day service. Wash, dry, and fold. Free pick-up and delivery. Repairs, suede, leather, storage. Satisfaction guaranteed. Mon.-Fri. 8-6, Sat. 9-1. 638 South Main St., Stoware Common. (802) 253-7861. vermontdrycleaner.com.
STOWE LAUNDRY CO. Full-service laundromat and dry cleaners. Drop-off wash-and-dry and fold, same-day service, and alterations. Professional dry cleaning and shirt service. 44 Park Place, Stowe Village. Open 7 days. (802) 253-9332.
EDUCATION & COLLEGES COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE Learn at 11 of the most stunning mountain communities in Colorado. Choose from two-year career training, bachelor’s degrees, and transfer degrees. Small classes, dedicated faculty. coloradomtn.edu.
JOHNSON STATE COLLEGE Centrally located near Stowe and Smugglers’ Notch, Johnson State College offers undergraduate and graduate programs in education, environmental science, health sciences, outdoor education, the arts, and more from its scenic hilltop campus. (800) 635-2356, jsc.edu.
KIMBALL UNION ACADEMY Top-flight ski racing and academics at the country’s 5th oldest independent school. FIS, USSA, and interscholastic competition with rigorous college prep curriculum. 20 minutes from Dartmouth College. (603) 469-2100 or kua.org.
ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY Unique among American independent schools, we offer students a truly comprehensive curriculum, first-rate facilities, and outstanding faculty. Nationally recognized, we attract over 255 boarding students from the U.S. and around the world each year. stjacademy.org.
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DALE E. PERCY, INC. Excavating contractors, commercial and residential. Earth-moving equipment. Site work. trucking, sand, gravel, soil, sewer, water, drainage systems, and supplies. Snow removal, salting, sanding. Weeks Hill Road. (802) 253-8503. Fax: (802) 253-8520.
FISHING & HUNTING CATAMOUNT FISHING ADVENTURES Guided fly-fishing, spin-fishing, ice-fishing adventures. River wading, canoe, float tube, motorboat fishing. Guiding Vermont since 1994. Equipment provided. All abilities welcome. Willy, owner/guide, (802) 253-8500. Federation of Fly Fishers certified. Licensed, insured. catamountfishing.com.
FLY ROD SHOP Vermont’s most experienced guide service. Live bait, ice fishing supplies. Drift-boat rips or river wading for fly fishing, spinning. Family fishing trips. Simms clothing, waders. 10,000 flies. Visit our hunting department. Route 100 South, Stowe. (802) 253-7346. flyrodshop.com.
FITNESS EQUIPMENT PERSONAL FITNESS INTERIORS Carrying a wide range of fitness products and equipment from leaders in the industry. Precor, True, Inspire, Octane, Tuff Stuff, and more. Quality, selection, service. Locally owned for 25 years. (802) 860-1030, personalfitnessvt.com.
INSIDE OUT GALLERY Be inspired and refresh your sense of home, inside and out, through vignettes of transcontinental seating, tables, lamps, and mirrors. Our samples are just the beginning; we’ll special order too. 299 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-6945, insideoutgalleryvt.com.
RUSTIC FURNITURE GALLERY Your rustic furniture and décor specialists. Working with designers, builders, and homeowners to outfit some of New England’s finest homes and businesses. Call today for a free consultation. (603) 563-7010. Rusticfurnituregallery.com.
WENDELL’S FURNITURE & VERMONT BED STORE Best selection for quality, style, price. Copeland, Norwalk, Flexsteel, and more. Bedroom, living and dining rooms, nursery, office, and entertainment. Next to Costco, 697 Hercules Dr., Colchester. (802) 861-7700. wendellsfurniture.com.
FURNITURE & INTERIOR DESIGN STOWE CRAFT DESIGN CENTER The art of living: unique and custom furnishings, lighting, rugs, art, sculpture, and home decor. Full interior design services. 1800 sq. ft. showroom in one of Stowe’s original buildings. 34 South Main St., (802) 253-7677, stowecraft.com.
GIFT & SPECIALTY SHOPS DANFORTH PEWTER Each piece of Danforth pewter is hand-crafted in Vermont. Extensive line of jewelry, oil lamps, holiday ornaments, key rings, wedding and baby gifts, kitchen and barware, frames, more. Online shopping and locations: danforthpewter.com.
INSIDE OUT GALLERY
FLOORING FLOORING AMERICA Customize your home with flooring that compliments your space while honoring your style. Choose from our leading collection of hardwood, carpet, tile, laminate, vinyl, and rug selections. Williston, (802) 862-5757, www.flooringamerica-vt.com.
PLANET HARDWOOD Vermont business specializing in green materials, with an emphasis on wood flooring. Our 6,000 sq. ft. showroom is the best place to really see wood as well as fabulous green products. (802) 482-4404. planethardwood.com.
FLORISTS & FLOWERS DESIGNS BY WILDFLOWER Stowe’s leading full-service florist. Providing Stowe with quality, creativity, and service for 23 years. Specializing in wildflower, formal, and garden-style weddings and events. “Supporting local growers.” Local deliveries. (802) 253-6303. wildflowerdesignsstowe.com.
FROM MARIA’S GARDEN A fresh floral design studio specializing in “simply beautiful” garden, herbal, and wildflower designs for weddings and all other happy events. Known for our personalized service for your special day. By appointment. (802) 345-3698. maria@frommariasgarden.com.
FURNITURE ALL DECKED OUT One of the largest selection of casual furniture in northern New England. Teak, wicker, aluminum, wrought iron and envirowood. Best selection for dining, entertaining, and lazing. Delivery available. (800) 639-3715. alldeckedoutcasual.com.
Find a full range of gifts and wedding presents, Vermont fine art and crafts, photographs, jewelry, table furnishings, candleholders, picture frames, and outdoor décor. A short walk up from Main Street. 299 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-6945, insideoutgalleryvt.com.
JUNIPER Cards, invitations, journals, gift wrap, and more. Beautifully designed paper items and gifts for life’s celebrations. Located in Stowe Village’s historic 1845 yellow house. Parking adjacent to shop. (802) 253-7300. junipervt.com.
RED BARN SHOPS Stowe’s most exciting stores: The Body Lounge; Stowe Cheese & Wine; Yellow Turtle (children’s clothing/outdoor apparel); The Toy Store/Once Upon a Time Toys. 1799 Mountain Rd., 2 miles north of downtown Stowe.
STOWE KITCHEN BATH & LINENS More than just a kitchen store. Two floors of accessories, gifts, and food for the entire home. Gourmet kitchenware, bedding, shower curtains, lotions, gels. Tons of unique clothing and gifts. 1813 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-8050. stowekitchen.net.
STOWE MERCANTILE Fabulous old country store, Vermont specialty foods, penny candy, clothing, bath and body, wine, craft beer and cider, gift baskets, and toys. Play a game of checkers or a tune on our piano. Depot Building, Main Street, Stowe. (802) 253-4554. stowemercantile.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE SPORT & GIFTS Trapp Family Lodge books, music, clothing, and food. Austrian specialty gifts and gourmet products. Vermont-made products and maple syrup. Visit our two locations. Shop online: trappfamily.com. (802) 253-8511.
GOLF STOWE COUNTRY CLUB Featuring 18 holes of golf, full-service golf shop, expansive practice and training facilities with award-winning golf instructors and dining. One of Vermont’s finest golf facilities. Seasonal and daily memberships available. (802) 760-4653.
STOWE MOUNTAIN CLUB 18 holes of golf on the scenic slopes of Spruce Peak await guests who venture into this Mountain masterpiece. Bob Cuppdesigned Stowe Mountain Club Golf Course features stunning panoramic views. Access to Stowe Mountain Club is limited; call (802) 760-4604 for an introduction.
GOLF — MINIATURE STOWE GOLF PARK
Keep ‘em forever...
On Mountain Road in front of Sun and Ski Inn and Suites. Miniaturized golf course that strives to simulate a real golf environment. Avoid natural obstacles, fairway hazards, sand traps. “For young and old.” May through October. 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (802) 253-9951.
GRANITE COUNTERTOPS BURLINGTON MARBLE & GRANITE
See photos you want in the paper, magazine or online? Just give us a call and we can print ‘em.
We manufacture and install the finest handcrafted stone countertops for Vermont’s premier builders, fine kitchen and bath designers and discriminating homeowners. Warehouse stocked with over 100 full slabs to view. (802) 860-1221. burlingtonmarbleandgranite.com.
We’ve recently moved printing in-house for higher-quality images and customer service.
STOWE REPORTER
HAIR SALONS SALON SALON
ONLINE GALLERIES / Photo by Glenn Callahan
49 School Street • 253-2101 • www.stowereporter.com
Experience the ultimate. World-class Aveda concept salon for men and women. Haircuts, highlighting, coloring, hair straightening, manicures, pedicures, facials, body waxing, body treatments, massage, complete wedding services. Downer Farm Shops, 232 Mountain Rd. By appt. (802) 253-7378. salonsalonvt.com.
HARDWARE STOWE HARDWARE & DRY GOODS Unique hardware store providing North Country necessities and quality products such as Craftsman tools, Cabot Stain, Carhartt clothing, a complete selection of fasteners, houseware, homecare products. Open 8-5:30 Mon.-Sat., Sundays 9-3:30. 430 Mountain Rd. Established since 1829. (802) 253-7205.
Extraordinary Interiors from The Biggest Little Tile Shop in New England
HEALTH CARE COPLEY HOSPITAL Expert, personalized care. Women’s and children’s services, general surgery, orthopedics, 24-hour emergency services, outpatient services, cardiology, urology, rehabilitation and wellness programs. Morrisville, 888-8888, copleyvt.org.
DR. JONATHAN FENTON, DO Dr. Fenton practices non-surgical orthopedics and sports medicine, including cutting-edge techniques using ultrasound and xray guided injections to treat a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. jfentondo.com.
STOWE FAMILY PRACTICE Stowe Family Practice provides routine medical care and treats winter-related and sports injuries. We can cast and splint most types of fractures. Available 24/7 with evening and weekend hours. Call (802) 253-4853. chslv.org.
HEALTH CLUBS & SPAS SWIMMING HOLE Stowe’s premier family fitness and recreation center. 25-meter lap pool, children’s pool, waterslide, group exercise classes, personal training, aqua aerobics, masters swimming, group lessons, kids fitness. State-of-the-art facility. Day passes available. (802) 253-9229. theswimmingholestowe.com.
Gallery Showroom Featuring a Wide Selection from Around the World
UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP
CERAMIC, PORCELAIN & STONE TILE FOR EVERY APPLICATION EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF DECORATIVE & HAND-PAINTED TILES GRANITE, MARBLE, SLATE & SOAPSTONE CUSTOM COUNTERTOPS DESIGN SERVICES, SUPPLIES & ESTIMATES 723 Sylvan Park Road, off Route 100, Lower Village Stowe, Vermont • w w w. d o w n e a s t t i l e . c o m
253-7001 • 800-561-9257
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S TOWE-SMUGGLERS’ BUSINESS DIRECTORY HOME ENTERTAINMENT & SMART HOMES VERMONT ELECTRONICS Providing local support for custom design and installation of home theater, whole house audio, lighting control, shade control, thermostat control, home automation, and your security needs. (802) 253-6509. info@vermontelectronics.biz.
HOUSEKEEPING STOWE COUNTRY HOMES Fully bonded, insured, and trained housekeepers available for private homes or rental properties. We use environmentally friendly products and supplies whenever possible. Ask for Reggie. (802) 253-8132, ext. 105. reggie@stowecountryhomes.com.
ICE CREAM I.C. SCOOPS We serve homemade ice cream, maple creamees, Vegan soft serve, organic yogurt, milkshakes, sundaes. Gluten free cones. 112 Main Street, Stowe. (802) 253-0995. stoweicecream.com.
STOWEICECREAM.COM See our website for stores and restaurants that serve and sell our ice cream.
INNS & RESORTS EDSON HILL Distinguished country inn and restaurant that overlooks Vermont’s Worcester range on 38 acres of forest and rolling countryside. Warm and gracious interiors, luxurious textures, modern amenities. An iconic Stowe boutique hotel. (802) 253-7371, edsonhill.com.
GREEN MOUNTAIN INN Classic 1833 resort in Stowe Village. Over 100 rooms, luxury and family suites, apartments and townhouses, many with fireside Jacuzzis. Two restaurants, newly renovated outdoor yearround heated pool and in-ground spa, fire-pit, health club with Jacuzzi, sauna, massage therapy, game room. Complimentary tea and cookies. (802) 253-7301. greenmountaininn.com.
INN AT THE MOUNTAIN & CONDOMINIUMS AT STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT Classic New England Inn at the base Mt. Mansfield. Spacious rooms and suites, game room, exercise room, library. Fully equipped 1-4 bedroom condos, great for families. Complimentary continental breakfast. Specials and packages: (802) 253-3649, stowe.com.
JAY PEAK RESORT Jay Peak offers skiing and riding on the most snow in Eastern North America, Vermont’s only aerial tramway, championship golf, an indoor ice arena, and the Pump House—Vermont’s only indoor waterpark. (800) 451-4449. jaypeakresort.com.
SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH, VERMONT America’s Family Resort. Mountainside lodging. Award-winning kids’ programs. Year-round zip line canopy tours. Summer: 8 heated pools, 4 waterslides. Winter: 3 big interconnected mountains, 2,610’ vertical. Family Fun Guaranteed! (888) 256-7623, smuggs.com/sg.
STERLING RIDGE & LOG CABINS Secluded on 360 acres of woods and meadows with spectacular views of Mt. Mansfield. Outdoor pool, hot tub, 10-acre secluded pond for boating and fishing, hiking trails. (800) 347-8266. sterlingridgeresort.com.
STOWEFLAKE MOUNTAIN RESORT & SPA Ideally located in the heart of Stowe, featuring luxurious guestrooms and townhouses, Charlie B’s Pub & Restaurant for fireside deck-dining and live entertainment, and Spa at Stoweflake with unique treatments beyond the traditional. (802) 253-7355. stoweflake.com.
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SUNSET MOTOR INN AAA 55 units and 3 houses, free wi-fi. Located on the VAST trail for snowmobiling. $3 breakfast coupon. 10 miles from Stowe. (800) 544-2347. sunsetmotorinn.com.
TOPNOTCH RESORT & SPA Totally reimagined and refreshingly restored, Topnotch wows with all new rooms and suites, 2-3 bedroom resort homes, airy lobby bar and restaurant, top-ranked bistro, world-class Tennis Center and Spa, adventure center, indoor/outdoor pools. (802) 253-8585. topnotchresort.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE Mountain resort in the European tradition. 96-rooms and suites with spectacular mountain views. European-style cuisine, musical entertainment, fitness center, outdoor hot tub, indoor pool, climbing wall, yoga, cross-country and backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, von Trapp history tours. (802) 253-8511. trappfamily.com.
VILLAGE GREEN AT STOWE Fully furnished condominiums at the center of all Stowe has to offer. Fireplaces, indoor pool, sauna, Jacuzzi. Affordable. (802) 253-9705 or (800) 451-3297. vgasstowe.com.
INSURANCE HICKOK & BOARDMAN, INC. Providing superior service and innovative solutions for all your insurance needs. Home, auto, and business insurance since 1821. “Here when you need us.” 618 So. Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-9707.
GREEN ENVY Expansive collection of contemporary jewelry and accessories. Local and international artists. Anna Beck, In2 Design, Coralia Leets, Alex and Ani, Sonja Renee, Baroni, and Dogeared. Monday - Saturday 10-6, Sundays to 5. 1800 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-2661. vermontenvy.com.
INSIDE OUT GALLERY Discover new colorful and creative designs made by American artists. Add inspiration and fun to every day. Easy prices. Enjoyable shopping. Short walk up from Main Street. 299 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-6945, insideoutgalleryvt.com.
PERRYWINKLE’S Every piece of Perrywinkle’s jewelry is unlike any other. The finest diamonds and gemstones are hand selected for crafting our celebrated designs. We invite you to visit our Burlington location. (802) 865-2624, perrywinkles.com
STOWE CRAFT GALLERY Contemporary and unexpected designs by Vermont and American artists realized in jewelry, artwork, photography and functional home décor. Artist owned and curated in a historic Stowe landmark. 55 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-4693, stowecraft.com.
STOWE GEMS Fine handcrafted gold, platinum, sterling jewelry. Diamonds, engagement rings, wedding bands. Amazing selection of tanzanite, tourmaline, Tahitian pearls, North American diamonds. Vermont charms, estate jewelry. Named “Best of Vermont.” Stowe Village. (802) 253-7000. stowegems.com.
STOWE INSURANCE AGENCY, INC. Stowe’s premier multi-line insurance agency since 1955. Our pricing and service is second to none. Glenn Mink, Teela Leach, Robert Mink, and Renee Davis. (802) 253-4855.
INTERIOR DESIGN & DECORATING
VON BARGEN’S JEWELRY A Vermont family business with five locations. We specialize in distinctive artisan jewelry, fine, ideal cut diamonds, and custom jewelry. Stowe Village. Monday-Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-5, Sunday noon-5. (802) 253-2942. vonbargens.com.
KITCHENS & BATHS
AMBER HODGINS DESIGN Full-service interior architecture and design, decorative painting, and color consultations. Specializing in décor, renovations, and new construction for residential or commercial projects. (802) 585-5544. amberhodgins.com.
CUSTOM COVERS Custom Covers at the Grist Mill is a full-service shop. Designer fabrics, trims, wallpaper, custom-made slipcovers, upholstery, window treatments. By appointment. (802) 324-2123. 92 Stowe Street, Waterbury.
DESIGN STUDIO OF STOWE Specializing in renovations. Creative solutions for interior spaces—residential and light commercial work. Services: design, specify, order, and install. Showroom at 626 Mountain Rd. Allied Member ASID. (802) 253-9600. dsofstowe@stowevt.net, designstudioofstowe.com.
GILBERTE INTERIORS Utilizing the largest design library between Boston and Montreal, Gilberte’s team creates, inspirational, functional comfortable spaces that make you feel at home. Cheryl Boghosian, interior designer, ASID. (603) 643-3727, gilberteinteriors.com.
SELDOM SCENE INTERIORS INC. All aspects of interior design. Stowe and Boston. Full architectural services, design build, and project management. Large comprehensive portfolio. By appointment only. 2038 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-3770. seldomsceneinteriors.com.
ALLAIRE CONSTRUCTION Providing professional, personalized quality renovation/remodeling services for 32 years. Our trustworthy team has extensive knowledge in planning, design, and construction for all your individualized kitchen and bath needs. Brent: (802) 793-2675, bda77@comcast.net.
BARRE TILE Rediscovering elegance in the home-place. Our Stone Shop is Vermont’s source for kitchen countertops, bathroom vanities, thresholds, fireplace hearths, more. Make an appointment today to view our extensive stone slab inventory. Over 25 colors. (802) 476-0912. barretile.com.
CLOSE TO HOME Finest selection of quality bath faucets, fixtures, and hardware. We can outfit your home from bath to kitchen to doors. Door hardware and 6,000 cabinet knobs. Ask for a free espresso. 10 Farrell St. S. Burlington. (802)-861-3200. closetohomevt.com.
KNITTING & YARN SHOPS KNITTING STUDIO Full-service knitting store specializing in customer service. Our goal is to help you from the beginning of the process to completion of your project. We carry a huge array of yarns and patterns and offer knitting classes for every level. 112 Main St., Montpelier. 229-2444. vtknits.com.
JEWELRY
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
FERRO JEWELERS
AMBLER DESIGN
Stowe’s premier full-service jewelers since 2006. We specialize in estate jewelry, fine diamonds, custom design, jewelry repair, and appraisals. American Gem Society. 91 Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-3033. ferrojewelers.com/stowe. Visit us on Facebook.
Full-service landscape architecture and construction company in Stowe. Working with plants, water, stone, and earth, we create unique, exceptional, and beautiful outdoor spaces. Recent projects: Piecasso Restaurant entrance and the 2011 HGTV Dream Home. (802) 253-4536. amblerdesign.com.
CYNTHIA KNAUF LANDSCAPE DESIGN Beautiful, functional, and green. Creating memorable outdoor spaces that link buildings and people to the site. Emphasis on sustainability through local materials and craftsmanship, green roofs, and rain gardens. (802) 655-0552. cynthiaknauf.com.
BARRE ELECTRIC & LIGHTING SUPPLY, INC. Indoor and outdoor lighting, fans and home accents. The supplier of choice for area electricians and builders. Come visit our 3,000-square foot showroom featuring working displays for kitchen and bath lighting. Route 302, Barre. (802) 476-0280. barreelectric.com.
LANDSHAPES Serving Vermont’s residential and commercial landscapes with design, installations, and property maintenance. Projects include unlimited varieties of stonework, gardens, water features, and installation of San Juan pools and spas. (802) 434-3500. landshapes.net.
WAGNER HODGSON LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE The process of uniting program, context, form and materials provides the basis for our work, crafting modern sculptural landscapes expressing the essential inherent beauty of natural materials. (802) 864-0010. wagnerhodgson.com.
THE LIGHTING HOUSE Since 1977, Vermont’s premier lighting showroom and much more. Brand-name chandeliers, fans, outdoor lighting, bath lighting, home accessories, occasional furniture, and outdoor furniture are all presented in New England’s largest lighting showroom. (802) 985-2204. thelightinghouse.net.
MAD RIVER ANTLER Handcrafted one-of-a-kind antler creations in the form of chandeliers, sconces, table lamps, floor lamps, and custom creations using naturally shed antler from moose, deer, and elk. (802) 496-9290, madriverantler.com.
LAWYERS
LINGERIE
ANDERSON & ASSOCIATES
ARISTELLE
A general practice of law: civil, family, and criminal litigation, probate and estate planning, business law, and transactions. 954 South Main St., Stowe. (802) 253 4011. andersonlawvt.com.
BARR LAW GROUP Member of Vermont and New York bars. 125 Mountain Rd., Stowe. Vermont, (802) 253-6272; 100 Park Ave., New York, NY, (212) 486-3910.
DARBY THORNDIKE KOLTER & NORDLE, LLP General civil practice, real estate, environmental, estate planning, corporate, litigation, personal injury, and family law. Stowe: 25 Main St., (802) 253-7165; Waterbury: 89 S. Main St. (802) 244-7352.
HORSLEY LAJOIE GOLDFINE, LLC General practice including civil litigation, personal injury, real estate, corporate, estate planning/administration. Located in Stowe village at 166 S. Main St. Member Vermont and Massachusetts bars. (802) 760-6480. hlgattorneys.com.
OLSON & ASSOCIATES, PLC General law practice: commercial and residential real estate, estate planning and probate administration, business formation and maintenance, general litigation, family law, mediation services. 188 South Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-7810.
STACKPOLE AND FRENCH Litigation, real estate, corporate, utility, wills, and estate administration. 255 Maple St., Stowe. (802) 253-7339. stackpolefrench.com.
STEVENS LAW OFFICE Residential and commercial real estate, criminal and family law, civil litigation, personal injury, estate planning, and business formation. 30+ years experience. Stowe and Derby offices. (802) 253-8547 or (866) 786-9530.
VALSANGIACOMO DETORA & MCQUESTEN Personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, real estate, and environmental law. 172 North Main St., Barre. (802) 476-4181 x309.
Bra fitting and fine lingerie store with knowledgeable lingerie specialists and over 100 bra sizes. Carrying brands of exceptional quality, this elegant boutique makes bra shopping fun for all shapes and sizes. 61 Church St., Burlington. (802) 497-3913. aristelle.com.
MARKETS COMMODITIES NATURAL MARKET Now open. One-stop shopping for organic produce, groceries, artisanal cheeses, fresh bread, local meats, huge bulk section, awesome beer and wine, health and wellness products, more. Open 7 days. (802) 253-4464. commoditiesnaturalmarket.com.
HARVEST MARKET Stowe’s one-stop gourmet store. Delicious salads, entrées, baked goods, and breads—prepared by our own chefs and bakers. Specialty cheeses and meats. Espresso bar. Farm fresh produce. Great wine selection. Daily 7-7 (in season). (802) 253-3800. harvestatstowe.com.
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Housewares Cabot stains Painting supplies Electrical supplies Ice and snow removal • Cleaning supplies • Minwax stains • Best selection of fasteners
MASSAGE & BODYWORK KATE GRAVES, CMT, BHS Relaxation, deep tissue, moist heat, energy work (Brennan graduate), maternity, Thai. Practicing integrative medicine over 30 years. Competitive rates. Stowe Yoga Center, 515 Moscow Rd. kgravesmt@gmail.com, (802) 253-8427, stoweyoga.com.
STOWE VILLAGE MASSAGE Massage center offers exceptional bodywork services from relaxation to injury recovery. Certified practitioners in a casual atmosphere. 60-minute massages starting from $75. Daily from 9 a.m. 7 p.m. 49 Depot St., Stowe. Book online at stowevillagemassage.com. (802) 253-6555. info@stowevillagemassage.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE FITNESS CENTER Massage therapists use a blend of techniques to address needs including Swedish, deep tissue, acupressure, and Shiatsu. Other treatments include reflexology, salt glows, and hot stone therapy. Appointments available daily. (802) 253-5722.
MOVIE THEATERS LIGHTING AUTHENTIC DESIGNS Hand building quality lighting for over 50 years in rural Vermont. Chandeliers, sconces, lanterns, and custom work. UL listed, built to last in brass, copper, and locally harvested hardwoods. West Rupert, Vt. (800) 844-9416. authenticdesigns.com.
STOWE CINEMA 3-PLEX First-run movies, all new 7.1 Digital Surround EX and 5.1 digital sound with silver screens and RealD 3D. Full bar available as you view. Fresh popcorn, real butter, full concession. Conventional seating too. 454 Mountain Rd. Movie phone (802) 253-4678; stowecinema.com; or Facebook.
430 Mountain Road, Stowe
253-7205
Mon-Sat 8-5:30 • Sun 9-3:30 219
S TOWE-SMUGGLERS’ BUSINESS DIRECTORY NEEDLEWORK THE WOODEN NEEDLE Charming needle arts shop in heart of Stowe Village. Counted cross-stitch and needlepoint featured. Specializing in linens, hand-painted canvases, Paternayan wool, Weeks Dye Works, Gentle Art cottons, fun fibers. Park and Pond Streets. (802) 253-3086, wooden-needle.com.
NURSERIES PERENNIAL PLEASURES NURSERY & TEA GARDEN Stroll through beautiful display gardens, shop for flowers and herbs. Enjoy tea or light lunches in the tea room, browse for hats in the gift shop. Free Sunday garden tours at noon. East Hardwick. (802) 472-5104. perennialpleasures.net.
OPTOMETRY BERLIN OPTICAL EXPRESSIONS Quality eye care and personal attention. A family optometry practice that prides itself on the individual care and attention paid to all of its patients. (802) 223-2090, oeberlin.com.
BETSY PEREZ, MD — UROLOGIST Board-certified urologist. Specializing in diagnosis and treatment of problems of the male and female urinary tract and the male reproductive organs. Morrisville. (802) 888-8372, copleyvt.org.
THE WOMEN’S CENTER: OB/GYN Board-certified specialists William Ellis, MD, and Anne Stohrer, MD, and certified-nurse midwives, Kipp Bovey, Jackie Bromley, and Marge Kelso. Comprehensive gynecological care. The Women’s Center, (802) 888-8100, copleyvt.org.
PHYSICIANS–Orthopaedics GREEN MOUNTAIN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY Why let an orthopaedic problem keep you from doing what you love? Depend on Green Mountain Orthopaedic Surgery, located in Berlin, Vt., since 2002 to provide you with trusted superior care. (802) 229-2663. greenmountainortho.com.
MANSFIELD ORTHOPAEDICS AT COPLEY Brian Aros, MD; Bryan Huber, MD; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; and Saul Trevino, MD. On-site radiology and rehabilitation facility. Morrisville and Waterbury. (802) 888-8405, mansfieldorthopaedics.com.
DR. ROBERT C. BAUMAN & ASSOCIATES Comprehensive eye exams, immediate treatment of eye injuries/infections. Same-day service on most eyeglasses including bifocals. Area’s largest selection glasses and contact lenses, immediate replacement of lost or damaged contact lenses. Saturday hours available. (802) 253-6322. drrobertbauman.com.
UVMHN CVMC ORTHOPAEDICS & SPINE MEDICINE Dr. Mahlon Bradley: orthopaedics and sports medicine for active patients of all ages. Waterbury and Berlin. (802) 2253970. Dr. John Braun: specializing in diseases and conditions of the spine. Berlin. (802) 225-3965. cvmc.org/ortho.
STOWE EYE CARE At Stowe Eye Care, we provide personalized vision services. We use advanced technology for the most accurate diagnosis, as well as having a frame selection as unique as we are. stowe-eyecare.com. 253-7201.
PHOTOGRAPHY KATE CARTER PHOTOGRAPHY Professional digital photography services for weddings, pet and people portraits, interiors, landscapes, products. Memorable images for digital and print publication, and for fine art prints. (802) 244-5017, wordsandphotosbykate.com.
PAUL ROGERS PHOTOGRAPHY Since 1982, offering quality photographic services to Vermont businesses. Creative images of people, products, and locations. Photography of artwork. Private photographic instruction. RIT photo graduate. (802) 253-7879, paulrogersphotography.com.
PIZZA BENCH Unique to Stowe, wood-fired comfort food including pizza with a focus on local ingredients in a relaxed, rustic modern Vermont atmosphere. Enjoy après ski or dinner. 28 taps, craft beer, cocktails, and extensive wine list. Daily. 492 Mountain Rd., Stowe. benchvt.com or (802) 253-5100.
COPLEY REHABILITATION SERVICES Therapies include physical, occupational, hand, speech, aquatic, pediatric, cardiac and pulmonary, work conditioning, and other comprehensive rehab services. Clinics in Stowe, Hardwick, and Morrisville (Mansfield Orthopaedics and Copley Hospital). (802) 888-8303, copleyvt.org.
PINNACLE PHYSICAL THERAPY Skilled physical therapy for orthopedic and neuromuscular conditions, sports, family wellness, pre- and post-surgery. Personal, professional care: 1878 Mountain Rd., Stowe. Appointment within 24 hours, M-F. 253-2273. ppt@pshift.com.
Property management, maintenance, repair, and renovations specialists. Lawn and garden care, landscaping, trash removal, etc. Renovations large and small. Quality work guaranteed—on budget and schedule. (802) 253-8132, ext. 102, or jeanette@stowecountryhomes.com. stowecountryhomes.com/ propertymanagement.
STOWE HOME CARE MAINTENANCE INC. Full-service property management. Snow plowing/removal, snow shoveling, roofs, and walkways, lot and driveway sanding. Land clearing, driveway grading, trash pick-up, carpentry, furniture moving, brush hogging, tree removal. (802) 888-7736, todd@stowehomecaremaintenance.com, stowehomecare maintenance.com.
STOWE RESORT HOMES Personalized management for Stowe’s vacation homes. Home checks, personal shopping, remodeling project management, maintenance coordination, more. We also offer marketing and rental agent services for select vacation homes. (802) 760-1157. stoweresorthomes.com.
REAL ESTATE & RENTALS BECKWITH REAL ESTATE & LUXURY RENTALS Personal service, local knowledge, and expertise combine for the ultimate experience when buying or renting in Stowe. “Stowe’s Luxury Rental Agent.” Buying or selling: we have a pulse on the market. 1069 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-8858. beckwithrealestate.com, beckwithrentals.com.
LITTLE RIVER REALTY Representing buyers and sellers. Your goals are our #1 priority. Accurate, timely information on buying/selling. We are full time Realtors who appreciate the importance of your real estate decision. (802) 253-1553, lrrvermont.com.
MOUNTAIN ASSOCIATES REALTORS PIECASSO PIZZERIA & LOUNGE Traditional, hand-tossed New York style pizza with modern style, eclectic music, and great vibes. A local favorite, voted a “Top 11 Slice in the Country” by travelandleisure.com. Creative entrees, craft beer, gluten-free menu, online ordering, takeout, delivery. (802) 253-4411, piecasso.com.
POOLS & SPAS POOL WORLD
PHYSICAL THERAPY
STOWE COUNTRY HOMES
Whether you’re looking for a pool hot tub, billiard table or game table, we’ll take care of you. Quality pool, hot tub, gaming products and services. We service pools. Burlington, (802) 860-7665; Barre, (802) 476-9200. poolworld.com.
PORTABLE TOILET RENTALS HARTIGAN COMPANY SEPTIC SERVICE Special events, construction sites, crowd pleasers, commercial, residential. Locally owned and operated since 1956. (802) 253-0376. (800) 696-0761. hartigancompany.com.
PRINTING
Bigger is not always better. We have chosen to remain small, allowing us to offer experienced representation, personalized service, and a team approach to residential and commercial sales. (802) 253-8518. mountainassociates.com.
NEW ENGLAND LANDMARK REALTY A unique team approach to real estate marketing, sales, and rentals. Harnessing technology to create innovative strategies to maximize exposure for our clients. Offices in Stowe and Waterbury. (866) 324-2427. (802) 253-4711. nelandmark.com.
PALL SPERA COMPANY REALTORS Stowe and Lamoille County’s leading real-estate company serving Central and Northern Vermont from 3 offices and 24 hours a day at pallspera.com. Exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. (802) 253-9771, (802) 253-1806, (802) 888-1102. pallspera.com.
SPRUCE PEAK AT STOWE A year-round alpine community that includes world-class skiing, golfing, fine dining, and spa services. Residences from $179,000. (877) 977-7823 or sprucepeak.com.
THE X PRESS UVMHN CVMC REHABILITATION SERVICES Physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Specialized service: Parkinson’s disease, urinary incontinence, vertigo, concussions, and more. Clinic in Waterbury. Get evaluated within 48 hours at Rehab Express in Berlin. cvmc.org/rehab. (802) 371-4242.
PHYSICIANS
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
ADAM KUNIN, MD — CARDIOLOGIST
ALLAIRE CONSTRUCTION
Personalized cardiac care. Board-certified in cardiology, nuclear cardiology, and internal medicine. Providing general cardiology, advanced cardiac tests, and imaging. Morrisville. (802) 888-8372, copleyvt.org.
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Custom business and personal print, copy, and design services. Brochures, letterhead, envelopes, business cards, forms, labels, invitations, banners, specialty products for over 25 years. Office supplies, shipping, scanning/fax service. (802) 253-7883 (fax). Stowe Village, M-F, 8-4:30. (802) 253-9788. thexpressink.com.
Providing personalized care for your home and business needs for 32 years. Professional, reliable, trustworthy, quality workmanship. Eliminate hiring multiple contractors. Security and home checks available. Brent: (802) 793-2675, bda77@comcast.net.
STOWE RED BARN REALTY A small boutique office of four professionals, each with a unique love of Vermont. 17 Towne Farm Lane on the Mountain Road, Stowe. We look forward to helping you fulfill your real estate sales and rental needs. (802) 253-4994. stoweredbarnrealty.com.
STOWE RESORT HOMES Luxury vacation homes for the savvy traveler. Book some of Stowe’s best resort homes—online. Well-appointed, tastefully decorated homes at Topnotch, Spruce Peak, and throughout Stowe. (802) 760-1157. stoweresorthomes.com.
THE VILLAS AT TRAPP FAMIY LODGE Luxurious 3 bedroom villas available for purchase as fractional or whole ownership. Over 2,500 sq. ft. include a “lock-off” master suite, full gourmet kitchen, European-style décor, and use of the lodge amenities. Nightly and weekly rentals also available. (800) 826-7000 or (802) 253-8511.
WILLIAM RAVEIS, STOWE REALTY & STOWE REALTY RENTALS We’re the leader in Stowe vacation rentals and real estate. From trail-side condos and line private homes to quaint cabins, we have the best selection for Stowe accommodations. 25 Maine St., Stowe. (802) 253-8484. stowerealty.com, stowerealtyrentals.com.
RECYCLING 1-800-GOT-JUNK Say goodbye to your junk without lifting a finger. Whether it’s old furniture, appliances, electronics, or renovation debris, we do all the loading and clean-up. We recycle and re-purpose materials. 1-800-Got-Junk. 1800gotjunk.com.
RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL GLASS GLASSWORKS We provide and install Harvey Windows and doors, custom shower enclosures, mirrors, safety glass, insulated glass, tabletops, screens, storm windows, and more. Our technicians provide obligation free site estimates. (802) 244-5449, glassworksvt.com.
DEPOT ST. MALT SHOP Moderately priced lunches and dinners. Kids’ menu. 1950s soda fountain atmosphere. Thick and creamy malts, frappes, sundaes, ice cream sodas, Vermont beef burgers, sandwiches, homemade soups, take-out. Stowe Village. (802) 253-4269.
DISCOVER WATERBURY We are a village of uncommon flavors. Located ten miles from Stowe. Award-winning chefs, international flavors, and worldrenowned beers make Waterbury restaurants a must stop during your visit to Stowe. discoverwaterbury.com.
DUTCH PANCAKE CAFÉ Called by the New York Times one of the “World’s Most Decadent Breakfasts,” we feature over 80 varieties of 12-inch sweet and hearty Dutch pancakes. Breakfast served daily 8 12:30 p.m. 990 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-8921. greyfoxinn.com.
HARRISON’S RESTAURANT & BAR Located in historic Stowe Village. Serving seafood, steaks, burgers, and homemade desserts. Dinner nightly. Experience a local favorite in a cozy atmosphere. Reservations accepted. (802) 253-7773.
HEN OF THE WOOD—WATERBURY Seasonal American food celebrating the farms of Vermont and the Northeast. Serving dinner 5-9 p.m. Tues.-Sat. 92 Stowe St. Waterbury. (802) 244-7300. henofthewood.com.
HOB KNOB RESTAURANT
RESTAURANT & NIGHTCLUBS BENCH Unique to Stowe, wood-fired comfort food including pizza. Local ingredients in a relaxed, rustic modern Vermont atmosphere. Enjoy après ski or dinner with family and friends. 28 taps, craft beer, cocktails, and extensive wine list. Daily. 492 Mountain Rd., Stowe. benchvt.com or (802) 253-5100.
THE BISTRO AT TEN ACRES Simply great, handmade, flavorful food. Craft beers, delicious wines, fresh-pressed cocktails. 1820s Vermont Farmhouse with bar seating, elegant dining rooms, fireside lounge, and beautiful views. Barrows and Luce Hill Roads, Stowe. tenacreslodge.com. (802) 253-6838.
BLUE DONKEY Burgers, southern barbecue, fresh salads, sandwiches, wraps, milkshakes, beer and wine. Just off the rec path on the Mountain Road. Open 11:30-8 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. 253-3100.
CACTUS CAFE Chef owned and operated. Great authentic Mexican entrées, in-house smoked specials, and our famous 16 oz. handmade margaritas. Awesome outside seating in our perennial garden. Dinner nightly from 4:30. Over 34 different tequilas. 2160 Mountain Rd., Stowe. Reservations accepted. Family friendly. (802) 253-7770.
CHARLIE B’S PUB & RESTAURANT Charlie B’s is a Stowe tradition featuring upscale pub fare, an award-winning wine list, and Vermont craft brews on tap. Enjoy fireside deck dining and live entertainment in season. (802) 760-1096, charliebspub.com.
Specializing in certified Angus steaks, duck, and seafood served in an intimate setting. Family owned and operated. Fireside dining with mountain views. Dinner served Thursday through Saturday. Private parties welcome. Reservations appreciated. (802) 253-8549. hobknobinn.com.
KIRKWOOD’S RESTAURANT AT STOWE COUNTRY CLUB Outdoor and indoor dining with mountain views and Stowe’s renowned golf course. Traditional American fare and a great place to relax, even if you’re not playing golf. Lunch daily, cocktails, and pub fare until dusk. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
MCCARTHY’S RESTAURANT / CATERING Delicious breakfasts and lunches. Soups, daily specials. Kids’ menu, low-calorie, low-carb offerings. Homemade muffins, pies etc. Gluten free bread, cappuccino, milkshakes, smoothies. 6:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mountain Road, Stowe. (802) 253-8626.
MICHAEL’S ON THE HILL Farm-to-table European cuisine. Swiss chef owned. Restaurateur & Chef of the Year, Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, Best Chefs America, certified green restaurant. Bar, lounge, groups. 5 minutes from Stowe. Route 100, Waterbury Center. 244-7476. michaelsonthehill.com.
O’GRADY’S GRILL AND BAR Where an O’Grady always welcomes you. Handcut steaks, seafood, pub fare, homemade desserts. New billiards, dart and foosball room. 14 beers on tap. Warm Irish hospitality make O’Grady’s a family favorite. 504 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-8233. ogradysgrill.com.
CLIFF HOUSE RESTAURANT Enjoy panoramic views atop Mt. Mansfield (3,625’), awardwinning American cuisine with rustic Vermont flair, fresh seasonal, artisanal ingredients. Hand-selected wine list, tantalizing cocktails. Lunch daily, 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Reservations: cliffhouse@stowe.com. stowe.com.
CROP BISTRO & BREWERY Homemade, regionally sourced American comfort food. Handcrafted lagers and ales, seasonal libations, great wine list. Lunch/dinner daily from 11:30. Lounge, restaurant, brewpub, patio, biergarten. Brewery tours. Sunday afternoon music. Mountain Road, Stowe. (802) 253-4765. cropvt.com.
PHOENIX TABLE AND BAR Dinner, lunch, weekend brunch. Seven days a week. Moderate pricing, full bar, vegetarian offerings, full handicap access. (802) 253-2838, phoenixtableandbar.com.
PIECASSO PIZZERIA & LOUNGE Traditional, hand-tossed New York style pizza with modern style, eclectic music and great vibes. A local favorite, voted a “Top 11 Slice in the Country” by travelandleisure.com. Creative entrees, craft beer, gluten-free menu, online ordering, takeout, delivery. (802) 253-4411, piecasso.com.
PLATE Winner of the “Best New Restaurant” Daisies award. California flavor meets Vermont style. 50 seats, full bar, open kitchen. Food ranges from serious meat eaters to healthy vegetarians. Everything is homemade, utilizing many local farms. Dinner Wednesday - Sunday 5-10. 91 Main St. (802) 253-2691. platestowe.com.
RIMROCK’S MOUNTAIN TAVERN Dinner daily 4 - 10 p.m. Lunch Thurs.-Sun. Burgers, wings, tacos, sandwiches, more. Craft beer, kids menu, gameroom. Stowe’s best sports venue. DJs Thurs.-Sat. 10 p.m. – close. 394 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-9593. rimrocksmountaintavern.com. See events on Facebook.
THE ROOST & FLANNEL AT TOPNOTCH RESORT Choose from a new lobby bar and restaurant with awe-inspiring views and après attitude, or a warm, friendly bistro with open kitchen. Topnotch masterfully fuses contemporary fare and casual vibe into two superb gathering spots. (802) 253-6445. topnotchresort.com.
RUSTY NAIL NIGHTCLUB Vermont’s premier music hall presents best of regional, national, international artists. Late-night menu: pub fare, wood-fired pizza, other delights. Private parties, birthdays, weddings, rehearsals, corporate events. Performances schedule: rustynailvt.com. (802) 253-NAIL.
SAUCE Sauce is an Italian specialty shop with a focus on restaurant quality prepared foods for takeout. Fresh mozzarella made daily, wine, beer, and an assortment of Italian specialty products. 407 Mountain Rd., Stowe. saucevt.com.
SOLSTICE Elegant without being stuffy, Solstice features local artisaninspired cuisine made using farm-to-table produce, Vermont cheeses, and all-natural meats. Private wine-tastings and dining room for up to 16 guests are also available. 760-4735. solsticevermont.com. Reservations recommended.
SUSHI YOSHI Experience the best in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Eclectic menu with something for everyone. Have a great time with the entire family at Sushi Yoshi Chinese Gourmet Hibachi Steakhouse. Open daily. Outdoor seating. Call for free shuttle. 1128 Mountain Rd., Stowe. (802) 253-4135. sushistowe.com.
SWISS FONDUE BY HEINZ A cozy rustic alpine setting serving savory and sweet crepes and fondue. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. serving crepes and fondue; dinner 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., fondue only. For reservations, call (802) 999-8785, stowe2009@gmail.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE — LOUNGE & DINING ROOM Seasonal menus reflecting both Austrian and Vermont traditions. Open daily. Dining room: breakfast 7:30-10:30 a.m.; dinner 5:30-9 p.m. Reservations: (802) 253-5733. Lounge: lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; tea 3:30-4:30 p.m.; dinner 5-9 p.m.; bar nightly until 11 p.m.; (802) 253-5734.
TRATTORIA LA FESTA Full-service family-style Italian restaurant. Serving Stowe for 30 years. Wine Spectator best wine list. Meet locals and celebrities, great music. Dinner 5 to close; closed Sundays except long weekends. Plenty of parking. Reservations: (802) 253-8480. trattoriastowe.com. trattorialafesta@stoweaccess.com.
WHIP BAR & GRILL Friendly, casual atmosphere with open grill in our newly renovated patio dining and fire pit. Seafood, handcut steaks, vegetarian specialties, children’s menu. Lunch and dinner daily, Sunday brunch. At the Green Mountain Inn. (802) 253-4400, ext 615, for reservations. thewhip.com.
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S TOWE-SMUGGLERS’ BUSINESS DIRECTORY RESTAURANTS & SPORTS BARS SUNSET GRILLE & TAP ROOM Serving a unique brand of Northern style southern barbecue with a side of sports. Barbecue, seafood, steaks, burgers. Patio dining. 30 TVs, six big screens. Just off the beaten path. Cottage Club Road, Stowe. (802) 253-9281. sunsetgrillevt.com.
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
CABOT CREAMERY Come see where the taste of Cabot begins. Sample our awardwinning dairy products. Watch our informative video, take a guided tour. Browse around our store. Stock up on weekly specials. 40 minutes from Stowe. (800) 837-4261.
CAMBRIDGE ARTS COUNCIL Festival of the Arts: Aug. 8, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., on main street in Jeffersonville. Vermont artists, live music, children’s art activities, food, drink. Something for everyone. Rain or shine. More info: (802) 644-1960 or cambridgeartsvt.org.
COPLEY WOODLANDS Independent living in a supportive community. Spacious retirement condos with leasing or ownership options available for adults 55+. Copley Woodlands, 125 Thomas Lane, Stowe. (802) 253-7200. copleywoodlands.com.
SEPTIC SERVICE HARTIGAN COMPANY SEPTIC SERVICE Septic tank pumping, portable toilets, grease trap, and tank pumping. Pump station repair, TV camera inspection, culvert and catch basin cleaning, line jetting, frozen line thawing. (802) 253-0376, (800) 696-0761. hartigancompany.com.
SHOE STORES WELL HEELED Unique collection of shoes, boots, handbags, belts, clothing, and jewelry in a chicly updated Vermont farmhouse halfway up Stowe’s Mountain Road. Our specialty? One-stop shop for an effortlessly elegant look. Daily 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (802) 253-6077. wellheeledstowe.com.
SPA THE SPA AT STOWEFLAKE World-class spa integrates natural surroundings, luxurious amenities, over 150 treatments. Bingham Hydrotherapy waterfall, Hungarian mineral soaking pool, men’s and women’s private lounges with steam, sauna, hot tub, Jacuzzi, yoga, Pilates, fitness classes available to public. (802) 760-1083, spaatstoweflake.com.
THE SPA & WELLNESS CENTER AT STOWE MOUNTAIN LODGE Enjoy a healing lodge with sauna, herbal steam room, Jacuzzi, and cooling rain shower; full-service salon; 18 treatment rooms; full fitness center with heated outdoor pool and classes. (802) 760-4782. stowemountainlodge.com.
TOPNOTCH SPA Voted Vermont’s #1 spa, with 120 spa and salon services—for body, skin, fitness, beauty, peace. Choose “pathways to wellness” or individual treatments and enjoy full-day access to our secluded spa sanctuary, fitness center, his and hers spa lounges, indoor/outdoor pools. (802) 253-6463. topnotchresort.com.
SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS ARBORTREK CANOPY ADVENTURES, LLC Family-friendly, year-round treetop adventures including Vermont’s first “world-class” zipline canopy tour, new treetop obstacle course, and climbing program. Adventures from serene to extreme. Ages 4+, good health, max weight: 250 lbs. Reservations recommended. (802) 644-9300. arbortrek.com.
BRAGG FARM SUGARHOUSE & GIFTS 8th generation sugarhouse, using traditional sugaring methods. Free daily tours, walk through 2,000-acre maple woods. World’s best maple creemees. Farm animals. Route 14N, East Montpelier. Near Cabot Creamery and Grandview Winery. (802) 223-5757.
BREWERY TOURS WITH UMIAK Leave the driving to us on a superb Stowe-area craft-beer tour. Meet with a brewmaster and enjoy world famous microbrews at several regional breweries. Shuttle from your Stowe hotel available. 849 S. Main St., Stowe. (802) 253-2317, umiak.com.
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STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT AUTO TOLL ROAD Drive up Mt. Mansfield’s scenic 4 1/2 mile Toll Road. Park at 3,850-foot elevation and view scenery or hike summit ridge. Located next to the Inn at the Mountain. Stowe Mountain Resort. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT GONDOLA SKYRIDE Take a ride to Vermont’s highest peak—Mt. Mansfield. The eightpassenger Stowe Gondola SkyRide features incredible views plus access to hiking trails and mountaintop dining at the Cliff House Restaurant. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION Non-profit organization responsible for the Catamount Trail- a fully conserved, well maintained public access backcountry ski trail that spans the length of Vermont. (802) 864-5794, catamounttrail.org or rtttovt.com.
COLD HOLLOW CIDER MILL Watch our old-fashioned rack-and-cloth press at work during a self-guided tour with free cider samples. Fresh bakery, live observation beehive, Vermont maple products. Manufacturing hours change with seasons. Route 100, Waterbury. (800) 3-APPLES. coldhollow.com.
DISCOVER WATERBURY Savor, stay, and travel the trails in our town uncommon. Immerse yourself in our art, tour our farms and attractions, and discover the perfect gifts in our shops. discoverwaterbury.com.
GREENSBORO, VERMONT Visit beautiful Greensboro on Caspian Lake. Scenic 30-mile drive from Stowe, with shopping, swimming, sightseeing, arts, and events. Willey’s Store, Miller’s Thumb Gallery, Greensboro Arts Alliance, Circus Smirkus, Jasper Hill Farm cheeses.
LITTLE RIVER HOTGLASS STUDIO A nationally recognized art glass studio with glass blowing demonstrations. Adjacent gallery features work of resident artist Michael Trimpol. Call for studio hours. (802) 253-0889. littleriverhotglass.com.
MONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE Award-winning science center known for its interactive exhibits, outstanding programs, science park with water features, and woodland garden. Daily 10-5. Norwich, Vt. montshire.org.
STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT SUMMER ADVENTURE CAMP Kids ages 3-12 discover the mountains, forests and streams of Stowe Mountain Resort. Rock climbing, tennis, golf, hiking, arts and crafts, swimming, disc golf, scavenger hunts, more. MondaySaturday, 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT TREETOP ADVENTURE Opening summer 2015. Explore numerous aerial tree-to-tree connections with various challenge elements intertwined. Guided activity based out of Mansfield Lodge is ideal for most ages and groups. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT ZIP TOUR ADVENTURE Opening summer 2015. Experience the ultimate point-to-point sky adventure. Zip down Vermont’s highest peak via three exhilarating spans, totaling over 10,000 feet in total length. (802) 253-3000, stowe.com.
STOWE PERFORMING ARTS Founded in 1976, Stowe Performing Arts presents great music— classical, jazz, swing, pop, bluegrass, country—in dramatic settings throughout the community. Noon Music in May, Music in the Meadow, and Gazebo Concerts, most of which are free. (802) 253-7792 or stoweperformingarts.com.
STOWE ROTARY’S 18TH OKTOBERFEST October 2-4, Mayo Events Field under the Big Tent. Silent auction, raffles, children’s activities, featuring Trapp’s Austrian lager, German food, Oompah bands, music, singing, and dancing. stoweoktoberfest.com.
STOWE THEATRE GUILD MORSE FARM MAPLE SUGARWORKS Vermont’s oldest maple place. Ancestral sugarhouse, Woodshed Theatre, maple trail, tours, tasting, great shopping, wonderful views. Full mail-order service. Three miles up Montpelier’s Main Street. Open daily 9-5. (800) 242-2740. morsefarm.com.
SPRUCE PEAK FARMERS MARKET Join us at Spruce Peak for our annual farmers market series, taking place each Friday from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. in July and August. Featuring the area’s freshest produce, along with Vermont’s finest artisan craft and food venders. Live music and free activities for the kids. (802) 253-3500, stowe.com
SPRUCE PEAK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Enjoy “Peak Experiences” in this intimate and acoustically superior arts center with the best in music, dance, comedy, theater, film, and Vermont artists presented each week, year round. (802) 760-4634 or sprucepeakarts.org.
STOWE FARMERS MARKET A central hub for farmers and artists every Sunday from midMay to mid-October. A diverse variety of agricultural products, exquisite handcrafts, music, delicious food. Picnic tables provided. Next to the Red Barn Shops, Mountain Road.
STOWE HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM Preserving Stowe’s rich history. Visit the museum at the West Branch and Bloody Brook Schoolhouses, next to the Stowe Library in the village. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, noon-3 p.m., and when the flags are out. (802) 253-1518. stowehistoricalsociety.org, info@stowehistoricalsociety.org.
Exciting 2015 summer/fall season opens June 18 with Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” followed by “Shrek, the Musical,” “Chess,” the UK version, and ending with “A Midsummer Nights Dream: The 40s Musical.” Tickets at stowetheatre.com or (802) 253-3961.
TUNBRIDGE WORLD’S FAIR Dedicated to family farm traditions and current trends all four days, with livestock shows, Antique Hill Museum, midway, entertainment. Located in the beautiful First Branch of the White River valley. Sept. 17-20. Tunbridge, Vt. tunbridgeworldsfair.com.
VERMONT TEDDY BEAR FACTORY TOURS One of the most popular Vermont activities. Come and experience our store, take a factory tour and make your own bear. 6655 Shelburne Rd., just south of Shelburne Village. (802) 985-3001. vermontteddybear.com.
SPECIALTY FOODS CABOT ANNEX STORE A taste of Vermont tradition. Nibble our award-winning cheeses. Browse our beer and wine corner. Enjoy Vermont’s best specialty food products. Weekly specials. Awarded “Best Cheddar in the World.” Route 100, Waterbury Center, (802) 244-6334. cabotannex.com.
HARVEST MARKET Stowe’s one-stop gourmet store. Delicious salads, entrées, baked goods and breads—prepared by our own chefs and bakers. Specialty cheeses and meats. Espresso bar. Farm fresh produce. Great wine selection. Daily 7-7 (in season). (802) 253-3800. harvestatstowe.com.
LOCAL CHURCHES LAKE CHAMPLAIN CHOCOLATES What the New York Times calls “some of the best chocolate in the country.” Made from Belgian chocolate, Vermont cream, other natural ingredients. Caramels, truffles, creamy fudge, pralines, factory seconds. 9-6 daily. Cabot Annex. (802) 241-4150. lakechamplainchocolates.com.
SPORTING GOODS POWER PLAY SPORTS The authentic small town sporting goods store that has everything. Ski and snowboard sales and service, rentals, backcountry, XC, snowshoes, hockey, bikes, lacrosse, and more. Open 7 days. 35 Portland St., Morrisville. (802) 888-6557. powerplaysportsvt.com.
OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE & GEARX.COM Locally owned since 1995, offering the area’s best prices, service, and selection of gear and clothing for camping, hiking, climbing, paddling, and a life lived outdoors. Open 7 days. Burlington. (802) 860-0190.
WEDDING FACILITIES STOWEFLAKE MOUNTAIN RESORT & SPA Leave the planning to us. The perfect wedding location in the heart of Stowe. Indoor and outdoor spaces for any wedding, reception, or rehearsal. Bridal services at Spa at Stoweflake from hair to makeup on your special day. (802) 760-1130, stoweflake.com.
TRAPP FAMILY LODGE From intimate ceremonies in our lodge to grand receptions under a tent with spectacular mountain views, we tailor to individual tastes and budgets. European-style cuisine, accommodations. (800) 826-7000, (802) 253-8511. trappfamily.com.
WINE & BEER FINE WINE CELLARS Fantastic wine selections from around the world. Great prices. From the rare to the exceptional value. Under $10-$100+ we’re nuts about wine. Please see our ad on page 2. (802) 253-2630. finewinecellars.us.
Advent Christian, Morrisville, 888-4633 Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Stowe, 253-7536
Cambridge United Church, Main St., 644-5564
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Johnson, 635-2009 Church of Jesus Christ, Johnson, 635-2009 Church of the Nazarene, Johnson, 635-2988
Cornerstone Four Square Church, Morrisville, 888-5683
Elmore United Methodist Church, Elmore, 888-3247
First Congregational Church of Christ, Morrisville, 888-2225
SURVEYORS LITTLE RIVER SURVEY COMPANY Surveying, mapping. Boundary, subdivision and topographic surveys. Site plans, FEMA elevation certificates and LOMA’s. Large document copying, scanning, reducing. (802) 253-8214; littleriversurveyvt.com.
TILE DOWN EAST TILE Biggest little tile shop in New England, now under new ownership. Tiles from around the world. Ceramic and stone tile; local artisans; custom natural stone countertops. Decorative tile our specialty. Design services, installation supplies. Sylvan Park Road, Stowe. (802) 253-7001. downeasttile.com.
HARVEST MARKET Great wine selection Napa Cabernets to Argentinean Malbecs. Local Vermont microbrews and farmhouse ciders. Weekly specials. Daily 7-7 (in season). (802) 253-3800. harvestatstowe.com.
STOWE BEVERAGE Full-service wine, beer, liquor, mixers, snacks. Stowe’s best wine selection. Best price in town on Vermont maple syrup. Cigars. Free local paper with wine purchases. 9-9 Monday through Saturday; Sunday 11-6. (802) 253-4525.
STOWE WINE AND CHEESE 1,000 wines, imported and local artisanal cheeses and pates, craft beers, custom gift baskets, maple syrup, fresh baguettes, coffee, croissants, and much more. 253-8606. Find us on Facebook or stowewineandcheese.com.
Grace Bible Church, Stowe, 253-4731 Holy Cross Catholic Church, Morrisville, 888-3318
Hunger Mountain Christian Assembly, Waterbury Center, 244-5921
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jeffersonville, 644-5322; Morrisville, 888-5610
Jewish Community of Greater Stowe, 253-1800
Morrisville Baptist Church, 888-5276 Mountain Chapel, Stowe, 644-8144 New Beginning Miracle Fellowship, Morrisville, 888-4730
TOYS & GAMES
WINERIES & SPIRITS
Puffer United Methodist Church,
ONCE UPON A TIME TOYS/THE TOY STORE
BOYDEN VALLEY WINERY & SPIRITS TASTING ROOM ANNEX
Morrisville, 888-2248
Ever built an R/C dino, then heard it roar? Heard a singing skirt? Vermont’s most exciting toy store for 40 years. Lego/Playmobil, Breyer, music boxes, science/building toys, party/art supplies. Having a birthday? Come in and get your free balloon. 1799 Mountain Rd. (802) 253-8319. stowetoys.com.
Experience Vermont’s award-winning wines, artisan ciders, and craft spirits. Tastings daily. Conveniently located at Cold Hollow Cider Mill in the Waterbury and Stowe areas. (802) 241-3674. boydenvalley.com or on Facebook.
BOYDEN VALLEY WINERY & SPIRITS
TRANSPORTATION & TAXIS BLAZER TRANSPORTATION Stowe’s premier taxi service for over 10 years. Now with stateof-the-art GPS, satellite dispatching. Offering the best price in airport transfers. Licensed and insured. Call anytime (802) 253-0013.
PEG’S PICK UP/STOWE TAXI For all your transportation needs. Airport, bus, train. (Burlington, Boston, Montréal, New York). Errands and deliveries. Daily courier runs to Burlington. Full taxi service. (802) 253-9490, (800) 370-9490, (800) 293-PEGS.
TRAVEL & TOURS MILNE TRAVEL An independent, family owned, travel management company founded in Barre, Vt., in 1975. We operate eight local storefronts in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York with nearly 100 employees. (877) MILNE-4-U. milnetravel.com.
Experience Vermont’s award-winning wine, artisan ciders, and craft spirits. Tastings, gourmet cheese plates, and free tours daily (11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.). Conveniently located 7 miles from Smugglers’ Notch. Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (open to 6 p.m. June to October. (802) 644-8151. boydenvalley.com or Facebook.
SHELBURNE VINEYARD Taste our award-winning wines and enjoy touring our ecofriendly winery to learn about our adventure growing grapes and making wine in Vermont’s northern climate. Open everyday 11-5. (802) 985-8222. shelburnevineyard.com.
Experience more with Yampu’s passionate travel professionals who tailor make sightseeing, culinary, safari, family, and adventure itineraries to Latin America, India, Asia, and Africa. (888) 926-7801, yampu.com.
Park, 888-3636; Jeffersonville, 644-5533
Seventh-Day Adventist, Morrisville, 888-7884
St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal, Stowe, 253-7578
St. John’s the Apostles Church, Johnson, 635-7817
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Cambridge, 644-5073
St. Teresa’s Parish Center, Morrisville, 888-2761
Stowe Community Church, 253-7257 Trinity Assembly of God, Hyde Park, 888-7326
YOGA & PILATES STOWE YOGA CENTER Gentle multi-level classes include guided meditation. Special series: prenatal, mom-baby, senior chair, couples, chakras. Drop-ins $15, private $60. Class cards and mats available. Online schedule. 515 Moscow Rd. (802) 253-8427, stoweyoga.com.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowhip, Stowe, 595-0807
United Church of Johnson, 635-7249 Waterbury Alliance Church, 244-6463 Waterbury Center Community Church, 244-6286
YOGA BARN YAMPU TOURS
Second Congregational Church, Hyde
A serene studio offering a full range of classes from vigorous flow to restorative practices. The talented instructors at our peaceful studio offer something for everyone. Behind Well Heeled, 2850 Mountain Rd. Check theyogabarnstowe.com for schedule.
Waterbury Center Standard Church, 244-6345
Wesley United Methodist Church, Waterbury, 244-6677 223
INDEX 1-800-GOT-JUNK 200 4 POINTS MOUNTAIN BIKE SCHOOL & GUIDES 56 AJ’S SKI & SPORTS 59 ALL DECKED OUT 10 ALLEN’S KITCHEN & BATH 202 ANDERSON & ASSOCIATES 215 ARBORTREK CANOPY ADVENTURES 27 ARISTELLE 123 ART ON PARK IN STOWE 23 ART STORE 110 AUTHENTIC DESIGNS 209 BAGEL 178 BARRE ELECTRIC & LIGHTING SUPPLY 206 BARRE TILE 209 DR. ROBERT C. BAUMAN ASSOCIATES 16 BEACON HILL BUILDERS & ASSOCIATES 185 BECKWITH REAL ESTATE & RENTALS 204 BEN & JERRY’S 149 BENCH 152 BERLIN OPTICAL EXPRESSIONS 139 BERT’S BOATS CANOE & KAYAK TOURS 47 BISTRO AT TEN ACRES 159 BLACK CAP COFFEE 174 BLACKSMITH 134 BLUE DONKEY 176 BODY LOUNGE 55 BOUTIQUE 114 BOYDEN VALLEY WINERY & SPIRITS 147 BRAGG FARM SUGARHOUSE 56 BRYAN MEMORIAL GALLERY 106 BURLINGTON MARBLE & GRANITE 197 CABOT ANNEX STORE 127 CABOT CREAMERY VISITORS CENTER 73 CACTUS CAFÉ 152 CATAMOUNT FISHING ADVENTURES 69 CIRCUS SMIRKUS 49 CLIFF HOUSE RESTAURANT 145 CLOSE TO HOME 202 COCOPLUM APPLIANCES 204 COLD HOLLOW CIDER MILL 137 COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 61 COMMODITIES NATURAL MARKET 173 COUNTRY HOME CENTER 201 CREATIVE CONSIGNMENTS 140 CROP BISTRO & BREWERY 143 CURTIS LUMBER 181 CUSHMAN DESIGN GROUP 185 CYNTHIA KNAUF LANDSCAPE DESIGN 209 DEPOT STREET MALT SHOPPE 178 DESIGN STUDIO OF STOWE 206 DOWN EAST TILE 217 DUTCH PANCAKE CAFE 176 EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS 63 ECCO CLOTHES 110 EDELWEISS MOUNTAIN DELI 158 EDSON HILL 153 ESSEX SHOPPES & CINEMA 130 FERRO ESTATE & CUSTOM JEWELERS 2 FINE WINE CELLARS 2 FLEDERMAUS TEAHOUSE 175 FLOORING AMERICA 211 FLY ROD SHOP 59 FORGET-ME-NOT-SHOP 124 GEOBARNS 208 GILBERTE INTERIORS 197, 199 GOOD STUFF 139 GORDON DIXON CONSTRUCTION 195 GREEN ENVY BOUTIQUE 113, 124 GREEN MOUNTAIN FINE ART GALLERY 105 GREEN MOUNTAIN INN 163, 169 GREEN MOUNTAIN ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY 137 GREENSBORO, VERMONT 49 HARRISON’S RESTAURANT & BAR 179 HARRY HUNT ARCHITECTS 210
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HARVEST MARKET 177 HELEN DAY ART CENTER 26, 114 HEN OF THE WOOD RESTAURANT 148, 150 HICKOK & BOARDMAN INSURANCE 213 HOB KNOB INN & RESTAURANT 156 HORSELY LAJOIE GOLDFINE 195 I.C. SCOOPS 157 IN COMPANY CLOTHING 115 INSIDE OUT GALLERY 117 JASPER HILL FARM 49 J. GRAHAM GOLDSMITH ARCHITECTS 187 JAY PEAK VERMONT 25 JOHNSON HARDWARE RENTAL, FARM & GARDEN 131 JOHNSON STATE COLLEGE 39 JOHNSON WOOLEN MILLS 140 JUNIPER 117 KATHERINE GRAVES BODYWORK THERAPIST 63 KIMBALL UNION ACADEMY 73 KIRWOOD’S PUB 145 KL MOUNTAIN SHOP / NORTH FACE STORE 35 KNITTING STUDIO 125 LAKE CHAMPLAIN CHOCOLATES 161 LANDSHAPES 209 LEE HUNTER ARCHITECT 213 LEIGHTON C. DETORA, ATTORNEY 213 LIGHTING HOUSE 210 LITTLE RIVER HOTGLASS STUDIO & GALLERY 106 LITTLE RIVER REALTY 201 LOEWEN WINDOW CENTER OF VT & NH 208 M. LEWIS ANTIQUES 141 MAD RIVER ANTLER 127 MAGIC HAT BREWERY & ARTIFACTORY 175 MANSFIELD CYCLES 31 MAXI’S 149 MCCARTHY’S RESTAURANT & CATERING 174 MICHAEL’S ON THE HILL 72, 149 MILLER’S THUMB GALLERY 49 MILNE TRAVEL 200 MIRROR ARTS 49 MONTSHIRE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE 130 MORSE FARM MAPLE SUGARWORKS 67 MOUNTAIN LOGWORKS 207 MOUNTAIN ROAD MARKETPLACE 131 MUSIC IN THE MEADOW 19 NORDIC BARN 31 O’GRADY’S GRILL & BAR 160 OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE & GEARX.COM 65 PARKER & STEARNS 217 PAUL ROGERS PHOTOGRAPHY 10 PERENNIAL PLEASURES NURSERY & TEA GARDEN 215 PERRYWINKLE’S FINE JEWELRY 41 PERSONAL FITNESS INTERIORS 71 PHOENIX TABLE & BAR 150 PIECASSO PIZZERIA & LOUNGE 163 PINNACLE PHYSICAL THERAPY 139 PLANE PROFILES 141 PLANET HARDWOOD 200 PLATE 156 POOL WORLD 207 RACE TO THE TOP OF VERMONT 67 RED BARN SHOPS 55 RED HOUSE FINE HOMEBUILDING 199 RESERVOIR RESTAURANT & TAPROOM 148 RIMROCK’S MOUNTAIN TAVERN 162 ROBERT PAUL GALLERIES 107 RUSTY NAIL 155 SALON SALON 35 SAUCE ITALIAN SPECIALTIES 169 SELDOM SCENE INTERIORS 3 SHAW’S GENERAL STORE 45 SHELBURNE VINEYARD 177 SISLER BUILDERS 202 SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH DISTILLERY 149 SMUGGLERS’ NOTCH RESORT 161
SOLSTICE 151 SPRUCE PEAK AT STOWE INSIDE FRONT SPRUCE PEAK FARMERS MARKET 23 SPRUCE PEAK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 121 ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY 39 STEEL CONSTRUCTION 205 STERLING RIDGE RESORT 5 STOWE BEVERAGE & LIQUOR STORE 171 STOWE BREWERY TOURS 53 STOWE COUNTRY HOMES 205 STOWE CRAFT DESIGN 111 STOWE DANCE ACADEMY 134 STOWE FAMILY DENTISTRY 177 STOWE FAMILY PRACTICE 193 STOWE FARMERS MARKET 23 STOWE GEMS 7 STOWE GOLF PARK 51 STOWE HARDWARE & DRY GOODS 219 STOWE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 56 STOWE HOME CARE MAINTENANCE 211 STOWE ICE CREAM 65, 157 STOWE KITCHEN BATH & LINENS 125 STOWE MERCANTILE 119 STOWE MOUNTAIN LODGE 151 STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT 1, 28, 29, 145 STOWE PERFORMING ARTS 19 STOWE RED BARN REALTY 203 STOWE RESORT HOMES 15 STOWE ROTARY OKTOBERFEST 21 STOWE THEATRE GUILD 24 STOWE VILLAGE MASSAGE 69 STOWE WINE & CHEESE 55 STOWE YOGA CENTER 63 STOWEFLAKE RESORT INSIDE BACK SUNSET GRILLE & TAP ROOM 177 SUNSET MOTOR INN 173 SUSHI YOSHI 142 SWIMMING HOLE 61 SWISS FONDUE BY HEINZ 160 TEKTONIKA STUDIO ARCHITECTS 203 TIM MEEHAN BUILDERS 211 TOPNOTCH RESORT & SPA 17 TOY STORE/ONCE UPON A TIME 55 TRAPP FAMILY LODGE 158, 171 TRATTORIA LA FESTA 179 TRUEX CULLINS ARCHITECTURE 180 TUNBRIDGE WORLD’S FAIR 24 UMIAK OUTDOOR OUTFITTERS 53 VERMONT BED STORE 101 VERMONT CANOE & KAYAK 5 VERMONT ELECTRONICS 206 VERMONT REGENERATIVE MEDICINE 71 VERMONT TEDDY FACTORY 139 VILLAGE GREEN AT STOWE BACK COVER VISIONS OF VERMONT 109 VON BARGEN’S JEWELRY 11 WAGNER HODGSON LANDSCAPE ARCH 187 WATERBURY RESTAURANTS 148, 149 WELL HEELED 37 WENDELL’S FURNITURE 101 WEST BRANCH GALLERY & SCULPTURE PARK 103 WHIP BAR & GRILL 169 WILLEY’S STORE 49 WILLIAM RAVEIS STOWE REALTY 9 WINTERFELL 13 WOODEN NEEDLE 141 YELLOW TURTLE 55 YOGA BARN 37
THE HEART of Stowe Spa & Wellness Center at Stoweflake
• Vermont’s most awardwinning spa • Over 150 treatments • Aqua Solarium with cascading waterfalls • Full service salon • Private men and women’s sanctuaries • Day access pass available
• 5 fitness studios with daily classes • Indoor and outdoor heated pools • Sauna, steam, jacuzzi • Nine-hole par three golf course • Tennis, squash & racquetball court
Charlie B’s Pub & Restaurant
• Festive, fun atmosphere • Steak & Seafood • Spa cuisine • Vermont farm fresh food • 50 wines by the glass, Vermont Craft Brews on tap.
• Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner • Kid-friendly menu • Fireside dining • Live music in season • Deck dining
Stowe’s upscale, four-season resort featuring luxurious accommodations and 1,2, and 3 bedroom townhouses with spectacular mountain or garden views. Select room amenities include wet bar, fireplaces and Jacuzzis.
800-253-2232 802-253-7355 www.stoweflake.com
THE VILLAGE GREEN AT STOWE A Condominium Resort For All Seasons Offering affordable rentals for 2 nights or more
Our Town Homes Provide • Spacious 2 & 3 bedroom accommodations • Fully equipped kitchens • Fireplace • Cable TV • Majestic views from 40 acres of beautiful land, surrounded by the Stowe Country Club and Golf Course and Stowe’s award winning recreation path.
Amenities • 2 Pools (1 indoor) • Whirlpool Spa • Sauna • 2 Outdoor Tennis Courts • Recreation Center • Video Games • Ping Pong, Air Hockey and Pool Tables
1003 CAPE COD ROAD, STOWE, VERMONT 05672
802-253-9705 • 800-451-3297 Visit our website at www.vgasstowe.com for more info and rates