Admission to Vermont’s state parks and historic sites isn’t exorbitantly expensive, but if you’re paying for a carfull of kids, it adds up — unless you’re visiting during Vermont Days. The state doesn’t charge visitors during one weekend each June; that Saturday, it’s also free to fish without a license. The freebie is a welcome gift to penny-pinching parents. Two more: the Venture Vermont Outdoor Challenge and the Vermont History Trek. Complete these fun, self-guided scavenger hunts, and you and your family can earn free admission year-round. Download the entry forms at vtstateparks.com or vermontvacation.com. And read about our Venture Vermont and Vermont History Trek adventures this summer at kidsvt.com.

Vermont Days: Free admission to all state parks and historic sites, Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10. Free to fish without a license on Saturday, June 9.

This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.

This article appears in The Dad Issue 2012.

Seven Days’ deputy publisher and co-owner Cathy Resmer is a writer, editor and advocate for local journalism. She works in the paper’s Burlington office and lives vicariously through the reporters while raising money to pay them. Cathy started at Seven Days as a freelance writer in 2001 and still has the Rolodex to prove it. As the paper’s first online editor, she launched Seven Days email newsletters and started the paper’s first social media accounts. Cathy has overseen Kids VT, Vermont’s...