Vermont may have flattened the curve of projected COVID-19-related hospitalizations, but the vital signs of the state’s lifeblood — its economy — are deeply troubling. Many local businesses are struggling to survive. Postponed nuptials have sidelined photographers, caterers and florists. Closing the border to Canadian tourists keeps them from patronizing Vermont restaurants and stores that rely on…
Back in May, Seven Days reported that Vermonters appeared to be drinking more booze than normal while staying home during the coronavirus pandemic. According to data from the state Department of Liquor and Lottery, distilled spirits sales at retail outlets were up nearly 16 percent in April from the year before. Based on my own…
I’m an unabashed farmers market fan. I love them in the summer and the winter. I love them in the sun and in the rain. I love them big, and I love them small. And, yes, I love them even in an unprecedented, pandemic-altered season. A few Saturdays ago, I attended the Burlington market on…
The Skinny Pancake opened at 454 Mountain Road in Stowe on July 15, the 10th location for the crêperie that started as a food cart on Burlington’s Church Street in 2003. Like its sister restaurants in Burlington, Montpelier and Quechee, the Stowe Skinny Pancake offers outdoor dining and takeout. It’s housed in the former McCarthy’s…
Jericho man leaves behind loving wife and family
The funeral of Jesse Ben Budnick, who died April 25, 2020, will take place on August 1, 2020, at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Church in Burlington, Vt. After the service, there will be a procession to Lakeview Cemetery for his burial and final goodbyes. All are welcome to attend. His full obituary is published…
A proud mother loved cooking, Elton John and her daughters
Vermont’s music community is exceptionally vast in relation to the state’s small population. It’s also incredibly eclectic. That means Seven Days never runs out of interesting albums to review. In fact, we get more submissions than we know what to do with — including records from formerly local bands and artists. Though we usually keep…
Just after 11 p.m. on June 18, Brandon del Pozo tweeted. The former Burlington Police Department chief and newly minted PhD shared a link to a BuzzFeed News video titled “Why Aren’t Police Held Accountable for Wrongdoings?” The piece examined how officers such as Derek Chauvin — the Minneapolis cop who knelt on George Floyd’s…
Iconic Vermont businesses such as Darn Tough Vermont and the Trapp Family Lodge are among thousands of Green Mountain State businesses that received a combined $1.2 billion in federal pandemic relief through the Paycheck Protection Program. And last week, Vermont launched its own $152 million program to provide grants of up to $50,000 to hard-hit…
After Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont in 2011, a group of Woodstock locals leapt into action. In weeks, the volunteers raised about $440,000 to help residents and businesses recover from the flood. Nine years later, some of those same volunteers are back at it. As the coronavirus pandemic shut down the state in mid-March, a…
Nearly three years ago in August, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, neo-Nazis and other far-right groups convened in Charlottesville, Va., for a Unite the Right rally. During the event, self-identified white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. Like most people who…
The Orleans County fairgrounds in Barton hasn’t seen much action this year, but that changed in early July. Now, Wednesdays through Sundays, it’s the site of a drive-in theater where locals can watch Vin Diesel steer his way to victory in The Fate of the Furious while enjoying popcorn, hot dogs and lots of space…
Dear Reverend, My husband and I have been quarantined since early March. We’re both considered high risk, so his two daughters are shopping for us. He’s concerned about asking too much of them, so he’s been rationing food. I don’t want to rock the boat, but how do I talk to him about easing up?…
Right Motivation [Re “Not Buying It,” July 8]: When I first encountered a swastika at an antique show as a young child, I was horrified. As I grew, I delighted in hearing antiques dealers and veterans bring history to life: Their words imbued the objects they showed me with an intemporal quality. I not only…
(Self-released, digital) For obvious reasons, making music in 2020 has become a different sort of beast. Everyone is basically an emotional basket case, so how that affects songwriting in general promises to be weird as all hell. On a technical level, making records when you can’t be in the same room with bandmates or a…
(Self-released, CD, digital, vinyl) Lil Wayne and Travis Barker. John Mulaney and Pete Davidson. Whiskey and pickle juice. These musical, comedy and flavor combos are proof that unexpected pairings can yield unpredictably awesome results. The model is true in the case of Dorset roots duo Carling & Will, who marry banjo and electric guitar on…
No matter which route you choose, it takes two and a half hours to drive between Burlington and Arlington. It’s a trip I’ve made hundreds of times: as a kid, usually heading west into New York State up Route 22A from the small town in Bennington County where I grew up. Driving south when I…
Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has blown by its self-imposed July 1 deadline to close the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, the state’s only youth lockup. But the coronavirus crisis nearly helped shutter the Essex facility months earlier. On March 22, officials decided to repurpose the detention center into a COVID-19 recovery site for adults with mental…
CANCER (June 21-July 22): As a Cancerian, you have a natural propensity to study and understand what author Margaret Atwood describes as “echoes and emptiness and shadow.” I believe this aspect of your repertoire will be especially active and available to you in the coming weeks. For best results, regard your attunement to these echoes…
More than 180 of Vermont’s churches and religious groups collectively got more than $6 million in COVID-19 aid, according to Seven Days’ analysis of federal data. Most of the religious beneficiaries of the CARES Act-funded Paycheck Protection Program received forgivable loans of less than $50,000 — below the threshold at which the feds made a…
Amid 16 raised beds of black-eyed peas, collard greens, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra and more at Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte, conversation turned to gumbo. “My mother grew so many tomatoes and canned them for winter to use in sauce and gumbo,” said Lydia Clemmons, who was raised on the farm. “I have my grandparents’…
The granite stones on the flour mill at Elmore Mountain Bread need sharpening, and the sifter could use an upgrade. But Andrew Heyn, who designed and built the mill, is too busy making stone mills for other bakers to work on his own machine. Heyn and his wife, baker Blair Marvin, own and operate the…
Chef-owner Josue Chanduvi opened a second outpost of his Plattsburgh, N.Y., restaurant, Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen, in Orlando’s Bar & Lounge at 1 Lawson Lane in early June. It replaced Smokey’s Pit Stop, an offshoot of South Burlington barbecue restaurant Smokey’s Low N’ Slow. Chanduvi, 28, grew up in Plattsburgh, where his culinary preferences were strongly…
