When Burlington High School’s Institute Road campus opened its doors to students in fall 1964, community members hailed it as a beacon of modernity. In a Burlington Free Press article, one student described it as a “palace of a building, with its shiny new floors and mazes of corridors.” Just shy of 60 years later,…
On an overcast morning in early May, a lone Boston Whaler gently bobbed on the gray waters of Seymour Lake. The three-mile-long lake near the Canadian border is fringed by homes, family camps and public beaches. In summer, it is a beloved place — and lively. In spring, though, it is quiet. On board, a…
Tom Peterson probably holds the record for captaining the shortest boat trips ever offered on Lake Champlain. For three seasons, he piloted Local Motion’s Island Line Bike Ferry, which, from spring through fall, shuttles cyclists and pedestrians across the cut in the Colchester Causeway — a whopping 650-foot journey from start to finish. “I never…
Not many years ago, it was unusual to encounter a tick in the Northeast Kingdom. Now the blood-sucking arachnids are a fact of life at the NorthWoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston. NorthWoods provides training for environmental conservation workers on 1,500 mostly wooded acres just outside Island Pond. Crew members who work in the forest undergrowth…
Memorial Day weekend is around the corner, which means the unofficial start of summer is mere days away. Vermonters know better than most that we should savor our shortest season, because summer in the Green Mountain State is as blissful as it is fleeting. It’s tempting to pack as much into these next three-ish months…
Jonny Adler jumped into the natural pool at the bottom of Madbush Falls on the last day of June 2021. He was visiting the property in the Mad River Valley with an interest in buying it. The day was hot; the water was super cold, but Adler swam for a while in the clear pool…
If there’s one thing Vermonters know intrinsically, it’s that you can’t waste a second of summer. Once the flannel comes off, it’s all about mainlining vitamin D during our oh-so-brief window of sunshine. And seeing live music outdoors is key to that mandate. Vermont weather only gives would-be promoters a few months to throw a…
Editor’s note: This is an updated version of a story that was first published on May 12. The Vermont legislature’s new Democratic supermajority clearly used its power during the 2023 session that ended last Friday, passing bills to address childcare costs, guns and climate change — measures that in past years might have had little…
Like many American kids, I grew up on a bicycle. It was the way we navigated the planned, sidewalk-free development in suburban Maryland that was my home, circa 1970. With bikes, we could easily get to the neighborhood pool, where we spent almost every summer day, parent-free. Bombing down hills, cutting through backyards, riding over…
TAURUS (Apr. 20-May 20): In the coming weeks, you Bulls must brook no bullies or bullying. Likewise, you should tolerate no bullshit from people trying to manipulate or fool you. Be a bulwark of integrity as you refuse to lower your standards. Bulk up the self-protective part of your psyche so you will be invincibly…
Certain records in a band’s career feel transformational. Think Remain in Light by the Talking Heads or The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. Those records were paradigm shifts, sonic and thematic departures that began new phases in those artists’ careers and helped establish them as visionaries. When I started listening to the…
The current exhibition at Northern Daughters is like spring in a box, in more ways than one. The first box is the “white cube” of the Vergennes gallery itself. The second is the grid-based structure of the artwork on view. Yet the feeling of spring is not to be restrained: In Carla Weeks’ solo show…
Eye on the Scene Last week’s live music highlights from photographer Luke Awtry La Nuit at the Flynn Main Stage, Burlington, May 12: Young Burlington-area musicians — and their parents — rejoice! Last Friday, the Flynn held La Nuit, a benefit to support kids’ education and community programs. The old art deco theater was as…
The word doesn’t really have a meaning, but it sounds cool: plex. Maybe an amalgam of plush and flex? Whatever, it’s the name of a brand-new arts festival debuting in Burlington’s Old North End this Saturday, May 20. The event will pack visual art, video, live music, dance, circus performance and tattooing into a single…
May 5 was a beautiful day in Burlington, especially for anyone visiting the city’s 520 acres of parks and open space. But not everyone was thrilled. In the late morning, Neil Preston, Burlington’s lead urban park ranger, was summoned to Pomeroy Park in the city’s Old North End, where a parkgoer was “very upset” by…
Dear Reverend, I just found out through Facebook that an old friend of mine has cancer and the outlook isn’t good. We were really close in college, but life happened and we lost touch. I want to reach out, but I’m sure she has a lot going on, and I don’t know what to say.…
The sun would soon set on a recent May day in Burlington when the flagging crew from Four Seasons Traffic Control arrived for work. At the intersection with Main Street, contractors had cordoned off one side of South Winooski Avenue to prepare for paving over winter’s pockmarks, and the flaggers waved drivers through the construction…
(Self-released, digital) Kinetic Fource is a self-titled debut album with deep roots and a long backstory. The crew behind it could fairly be called a Vermont hip-hop supergroup, but really, this record is part of Montpelier-based duo Boomslang’s continuing legacy. That party-rocking pairing of Sed One (raps) and JL (beats, also some raps) had an…
Lavoie Should Resign [Re “Law and Disorder: Legislators Dig In for an Impeachment Drama Involving Franklin County Law Enforcement,” May 10]: The Seven Days article about the impeachment investigation initiated against the Franklin County state’s attorney involves some very serious, ongoing allegations that should be fully and promptly investigated and taken seriously. I support the…
One day about 50 years ago, Tim Jennings was riding in a van with students from the Mountain Road School in Jeffersonville, returning to campus with a class after a trip to the library. Winding through Lamoille County, the young teacher told the students a story called “Dimwit,” a so-called “three brothers” tale in which…
In Re: S. P. March 14, 2023 TO: Douglas D. Potter NOTICE TO INTERESTED PERSONS OF COMMENCEMENT OF ADOPTION PROCEEDINGS You are hereby notified that a petition requesting the adoption of Sierra Rose Potter has been filed in this court by Kandy-Kay Potter and Ernest Carrier. The petitioners are represented by Paul R. Morwood, Esq.…
(Self-released, digital) In her 2015 book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, writer Sherry Turkle revealed a startling statistic: A three-decades-long study by the University of Michigan found a 40 percent decline in empathy among college students, with the vast majority of that drop happening post-2000. The theory is that the…
I’m sorry, Mom. This Mother’s Day, instead of fêting you with brunch and gifts, I watched a three-hour movie about a man who has major issues with his mother. Writer-director Ari Aster turns from arty horror movies (Hereditary, Midsommar) to just plain art movies with the surreal family comedy-drama-nightmare Beau Is Afraid. In limited release,…
In Vermont, you can watch a play while sheep graze just outside the theater or be part of the cast that puts on a show on a town hall stage. The plays might be so popular that the audience nearly knows the lines, too, or so provocative that director and cast have no idea if…
new in theaters CARMEN: Choreographer Benjamin Millepied offers a “reimagining” of Georges Bizet’s opera with a new plot and score, starring Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal. (116 min, R. Savoy) FAST X: The son of a drug kingpin comes for revenge on everyone’s favorite fast-driving “family.” Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) directed. (141 min,…
The founders of Whetstone Beer in Brattleboro have always been fond of public parks. For the brewery’s 10th anniversary last summer, the company rebranded with a motif that mimics the iconic national park travel posters that were created during the New Deal era to ramp up tourism. It’s only fitting, then, that Whetstone’s newest project…
Past president of the UVM Athletic Council was a lifelong UVM men’s basketball fan
If I had to imagine the ultimate summer road trip meal, it would most likely include a doughnut, a loaded wedge salad, a big burger, crisp shoestring fries and a glass of orange wine. After eating that exact meal — sprinkle-topped doughnut appetizer included — at Fairlee’s Broken Hearts Burger, I can attest that it…
The roads I take to get to Queen Bee’s Snack Bar in Monkton are mostly dirt. One, Piney Woods Road, is so twisty and thick with trees that snack bar owner Kim Jewell’s 7-year-old adopted daughter, Akara, calls it “the haunted forest.” “She doesn’t mind it during the day, because we see all kinds of…
On a sunny Monday morning in May, customers wandered through a Middlebury greenhouse, perusing an assortment of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and hanging baskets filled with crimson and violet blooms. The springtime tableau could have been unfolding at any one of the dozens of nurseries across the state. But there was something unique about this particular…
Charles Reeves, co-owner of the shuttered landmark Penny Cluse Café, has taken his talents around the corner to launch a new menu for Halvorson’s Upstreet Café, another downtown Burlington fixture. The 45-year-old pub and music venue quietly rolled out Reeves’ daytime and dinner menus last week. Reeves co-owned Penny Cluse for almost 25 years with his…
Construction superintendent was passionate about music and loved to sing and play guitar
U.S. Air Force veteran, National Guardsman and entrepreneur loved travel, nature and animals
By now, the feathers in Alison Bechdel’s cap have gotten rather numerous. The Bolton illustrator and former Vermont cartoonist laureate has penned three graphic memoirs, including Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic in 2006, which was later adapted into the 2015 Tony award-winning musical Fun Home. In 2014, she was the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship.…
We Got the Beat Friday 19 Afrobeat-influenced indie band Underground System kick off Next Stage Arts’ Bandwagon Summer Series with a bang at Cooper Field in Putney. Audience members can’t help but get groovy when this eclectic New York City act takes the stage with its signature blend of disco, dance punk and global sounds.…
Former project manager for Burlington’s downtown bus center had a passion for building things and being on the water
Accountant earned numerous degrees, authored a tax guide for professional football players
Avid tennis player and skier found sense of community in her church
Musician, art gallery manager will be remembered for her sharp wit, playful nature and independent spirit
Free-spirited thinker was passionate about learning and sharing his knowledge
