The young black bear was munching on ripe ears of corn in a Newbury field when she heard the hounds yapping shortly after dawn. They barked intermittently but not in the manic, incessant way they would if they’d caught wind of her. She waited, hidden in the little crop circle she’d carved, deep enough in…
When Vermont’s hemp market crashed in 2019, growers Johanna Polsenberg and Warren Nott had two choices: get out of the business they had invested thousands of dollars in, or get creative. The two stayed in. They reduced their cannabis acreage on their Stannard farm by about 90 percent and integrated their hemp business into a shared…
Wispy clouds hovered over a lush green hillside as I walked through rows of marble tombstones in a picturesque rural cemetery. It was a gorgeous southern Vermont summer afternoon, and I had just celebrated three years of continuous sobriety. After making arrangements with my boss and coworkers, I had taken the night off to make…
Longtime carpenter loved animals, traveling and watching old Westerns
Prolific Jericho artist held numerous shows in Vermont galleries and libraries
Call it a different kind of Reefer Madness. The 1936 cult film portrayed “devil weed” marijuana as a gateway to depravity. But a new study predicts that legal cannabis can pave the road to riches — when it comes to property values. States that have recently legalized recreational pot use — Vermont among them —…
Where visitors to the town of Berlin see multilane roads, large parking lots and an aging shopping mall with a 30 percent vacancy rate, Karla Nuissl sees a place to create a new town center with homes, a village green and coffee shops. Nuissl, who grew up on a farm in Berlin, is working with…
It started in a Goodwill parking lot. Jonathan Daniel Mansilla, of Miami, Fla., hit another car with his black Chevy Cobalt and fled the Rutland store. Less than an hour later, the person whose car Mansilla hit spotted the Cobalt in Wallingford, about 10 miles south, and alerted the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department. A deputy…
Artist Jennifer McCandless is from Detroit, works in Connecticut — at the Loomis Chaffee School outside of Hartford — and lives in Vermont. “It’s complicated,” she said of her life. Specifically, she’s held an endowed position at that independent college-prep boarding school since 2010; she teaches ceramics, is chair of the art department and runs…
In October 2016, someone began breaking into the small public library beside Woodbury Elementary School. The librarian, Brett Ann Stanciu, hid a wildlife camera to get a photo of the intruder, who didn’t seem to be stealing, just jimmying a window to enter, then spending time inside. The proximity of the school was a big…
Back in 2012, my favorite movie of the year was Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, a surrealist ode to Paris and the acting profession. When I heard that the French filmmaker had a new feature out and that it was an English-language musical starring Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and the songs of pop duo Sparks, I…
The 2019 mayor’s race in Bridgewater Township, N.J., was well under way when the local police union approached Matthew Moench with an idea. A 12-year council member, Moench was trying to unseat the incumbent mayor of Bridgewater, a town of 45,000 located about 30 miles west of Newark. The town’s growing population required more police…
Seven Days is seeking a columnist who can help our readers make sense of the news. The right writer should have the institutional memory, wisdom and insight of a seasoned journalist who has covered Vermont for a while, combined with the energy and drive of a rookie reporter. She/he/they will be sufficiently motivated to lay…
For the past nine years, Jen Straub and her southern Vermont nonprofit, Dorset Equine Rescue, have taken in more than 200 horses. They come from all over the Northeast in all ages, breeds and sizes. Some have been seized by law enforcement investigating animal neglect and cruelty cases. Others were left homeless after their owners…
Dear Reverend, One of my best friends is blind. He met a woman online, and they’ve been chatting via text and phone for some time. When they finally decided to meet up recently, my girlfriend and I went along as wing people. His date was very nice, and they really hit it off, but something…
The start of my tenure as music editor all but coincided with the most recent Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. As much as I love the existence of the event, I remember being massively relieved when I found out my predecessor, Jordan Adams, had already tackled the fest coverage. For one thing, that’s a hell of…
new in theaters THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2: Everyone’s favorite spooky family returns in the sequel to the 2019 animated comedy. With the voices of Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron. Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon and Laura Brousseau directed. (93 min, PG. Bijou, Essex, Paramount, Playhouse, Star, Sunset, Welden) THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES: This documentary from…
Walking a path near the lakefront, Marty Fogel spied a young man leaving with a fishing rod in hand. A smile broke out on the 76-year-old musician’s face. “That’s a man after my own heart,” Fogel said, his eyes shadowed by a baseball cap pulled low on his brow. “We can talk jazz all day,…
August 18, 2020, marked an important centennial in American history: the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. The work that started at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the de facto birthplace of women’s suffrage, came to fruition 72 years later. More accurately, the 19th Amendment…
(Mother West, CD, digital, vinyl) As a listener with distinctly seasonal musical tastes, I find that September represents a bit of a sticking point for me. I’m shaking off the pop-rock indulgences of summer and prepping to slide into a moody, indie autumn. Winter will bring on a lot of cozy instrumentals and singer-songwriters. And…
‘Democracy on Your Shoulders’ I commend Seven Days on its story that took a deep dive into the problems causing dangerous delays in health care provided at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington [“The Doctor Won’t See You Now,” September 1]. This is the type of meaningful, well-sourced journalism that is as near…
(Afterlyfe Music, digital) Konflik can rightly be called one of the godfathers of Vermont hip-hop. He has been involved with the scene here for almost as long as it has existed. A native of Roxbury, Mass., he’s known throughout the Northeast as an “MC’s MC,” a gifted purist respected by his peers. Since the mid-’90s,…
When Brian Peete was sworn in as Montpelier’s chief of police last year, officials believed he was Vermont’s first Black police chief. However, it turns out that another man predated Peete by more than 140 years. Stephen Bates served as sheriff and chief of police in Vergennes for almost 25 consecutive years between 1879 and…
Troy Headrick likes to have serious fun with his facial hair, and it shows. On September 11, he won a blue ribbon and trophy at the 2021 National Beard and Moustache Championships, presented by Pennsylvania beard care company Honest Amish, and was a contender for Best in Show. Headrick described the annual event, which uses…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the English language, the words “naked” and “nude” have different connotations. Art critic Kenneth Clark noted that “naked” people depicted in painting and sculpture are “deprived of clothes” and embarrassed as a result. Being “nude,” on the other hand, has “no uncomfortable overtone” but indicates “a balanced, prosperous, and confident…
94-year-old woman showed others the way to love and be loved
Salt & Bubbles Wine Bar and Market has been on my radar since I met its owner, hospitality powerhouse and wine wonder woman Kayla Silver, at a networking event. This summer, I watched on Instagram as Silver got her fledgling combination wine bar and retail shop up and running, hiring talented cheesemonger Emma Harvey and…
Prepping last week for a dinner service, Haley Blair collected water from a spring at Smugglers’ Notch. Blair, owner of Live Forever Foods, and her coworker bottled 10 gallons of mountain water in the morning and served it the same evening to guests at a pop-up at Cork Restaurant & Natural Wine Shop in Stowe.…
Matt and Caroline Corrente have put the Arcadian, one of their two Middlebury businesses at 7 Bakery Lane, on pause due to lack of staff. The Italian restaurant served its final (for now) dinners of housemade pastas and seafood on September 18 and entered what Caroline described as “indefinite dormancy.” The Haymaker Bun café and…
The food scene at the Essex Experience will get even hotter this fall, when bramble opens with a menu “kissed by fire” in Suite 101. A custom-built wood-fired oven will anchor the center of the restaurant in the former Orvis outlet. “It’s the heartbeat of what we’re doing,” said Shawn Hyer, who owns the business…
Tip Tap Tuesday 5 Dorrance Dance brings the long history of tap-dancing into the 21st century with a percussive performance at Lyndon Institute Auditorium. Part of Catamount Arts’ KCP Presents series, the fleet-flooted troupe gives an emotional showing with SOUNDspace. The celebration of “movement as music” proves that tap can be thrilling, dynamic and a…
