The Summer Preview Issue 2018
A Bucket List for a Too-Short Season; Communing With the Trees in ‘Forest Bathing’; Vermont Brewers Reveal New Hot-Weather Quaffs
Seriously: Bathing in Vetoes
In this episode, Bryan tries some “forest bathing” and finds himself awash in vetoes from Gov. Phil Scott. CREDITS Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: Luke Eastman, John Walters, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Alicia Freese, Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime Logo/art direction by: Don Eggert Music/audio by: Bryan Parmelee, Freesound Related Stories
Good Citizen Challenge Offers Kids an Interactive Summer Civics Lesson — and Prizes
In 2018, we the people of the United States are deeply divided — by race, gender, socio-economic status and political affiliation. That’s true even here in Vermont, where by some accounts the recently concluded legislative session was one of the most divisive in recent memory. What better time to focus on the democratic values that…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Legal Weed Won’t Extend Into Lake Champlain
We’re fast approaching Memorial Day — the last holiday before cannabis becomes legal July 1. Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer and many will take to the lake. Keep in mind that even once Vermont legalizes marijuana, it will remain illegal to consume on Lake Champlain. Say what? Here’s what the Burlington Free Press…
![Spirit of Ethan Allen Turns 35 [SIV533]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/episode533-6-scaled-e1755131823120.webp?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Spirit of Ethan Allen Turns 35 [SIV533]
5/16/18: The Spirit of Ethan Allen has been cruising the waters of Lake Champlain for the past 35 years and last Wednesday, they had a party on board to celebrate. Eva came along for the ride and found out why this family-run business has been sharing the lake with locals and tourists alike for over…
Can Vermont Make Schools Safer?
Lake Region Union High School principal Andre Messier stood outside the rural Northeast Kingdom school last Thursday and pointed uphill into nearby woods. In the event of a shooting, he said, fleeing students would follow a network of trails to meet law enforcement officers at a gathering point some distance from the school. By the…
Amen Dunes’ Damon McMahon Talks Spirituality, Tom Petty and His New Album, ‘Freedom’
Miki Dora was a famous, game-changing surfer who rose to prominence in the 1960s. Known as much for his mad carving skills and churlish attitude as for a litany of fraud charges and other troubles with the law, his legacy is permanently trapped between hero and villain. New York City singer-songwriter Damon McMahon cast Dora…
Cowbell Mobile Bike Shop Makes House Calls With a Van
People try to bring their bicycles to mechanic Todd Chewning’s residence all the time. They don’t have to do that. “I come to your house or your office and tune your bike up,” he tells them. A recent Burlington transplant from New Hampshire, Chewning, 48, is the owner of Cowbell Mobile Bike Shop. He works…
Eat This Week, May 23 to 29, 2018: Bluegrass, Bottles, Barbecue
On Friday, oenophiles gather at Shelburne Vineyard’s airy tasting room for sips of winemaker Ethan Joseph’s award-winning cold-climate wines. If it’s hot, a glass of crisp, mineral-driven Louise Swenson might fit the bill, while a round-bodied, purple-red glass of Marquette will warm bellies if the weather is cooler. Regardless of the beverage choice, folks from…
GreenSpark Launches First Sustainability Park
In a grassy field in Waterbury Center, Alex Chernomazov is transforming a retrofitted shipping container into, of all things, a welcome center. And he’s in a bit of a time crunch. That’s because on Saturday, June 2, he plans to greet visitors at the grand opening of GreenSpark, a combination museum and quirky roadside attraction.…
Waterbury Breakfast Club to Pop Up in June
Ever wish you could go to three brunch places at the same time, instead of choosing just one? That’ll be possible starting in June, when the Waterbury Breakfast Club welcomes visitors for Sunday pop-up brunch. Organizers Georgia and Jeremy Ayers have partnered with Becky and Ben Colley of Petit Noir, which has hosted occasional café…
How to Spend Three to Six Hours in St. Albans
If Winooski is the Brooklyn of Burlington, then in an inexact local analogy, St. Albans is the Hudson Valley. But really, it’s a place all its own. A half-hour drive north of Burlington and just 20 minutes from the Canadian border, “Snalbins,” as it’s often colloquially pronounced, is just far enough from the more populated…
Album Review: Jonny Wanser, ‘Modern Pines’
(Self-released, digital download, vinyl) “I’m 29 and I feel like I’ve [been] living off of wasted time,” writes Burlington musician Jonny Wanser on his website. “I’m done with saying I’m gonna do something then not follow[ing] through.” After three years of work and enough scrapped material to fill three albums, Wanser comes through in a…
Spring Open Brings New and Familiar Faces to Off Center
Burlington, get ready for some offbeat entertainment. For the second year, the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts is throwing a Spring Open Artist Showcase. The four distinctively different acts featured are lucky ducks — and not just because they don’t have to pay to play. “In March, we literally pulled names out of a…
An Epic Bucket List to Help You Plan Your Summer
Traditionally speaking, summer of 2018 includes 99 days spanning Memorial Day to Labor Day. Technically speaking, we have even less time: 93 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes, to be precise — June 21 to September 22. And then there is the cold, hard truth: Summer in Vermont might be all but over by the…
Second Act: Vermont Legislative Leaders Sharpen Skills in Year Two
Last year, the Vermont legislature’s Democratic leaders repeatedly delayed adjournment as they tried in vain to strike a deal with Gov. Phil Scott. They never settled on a compelling counterargument, and they weakened their position by continuously bickering with one another. It was, in short, a mess. This year, the legislature and governor are once…
Vermont Film Premieres Take Viewers Around the Globe
From the rocky Mediterranean coast of Sardinia to arid Arabian deserts to desolate Tibetan mountain ranges, local moviegoers will be issued a cinematic passport to distant lands past and present over the next two weekends. On Sunday, May 27, Main Street Landing in Burlington will host the Vermont premiere of Aterúe: The Singers From Elsewhere,…
Work: State Apiarist David Tremblay Is Buzzing
Name: David Tremblay Town: Montpelier Job: Vermont state apiarist and bee inspector David Tremblay is really humming this time of year. The Vermont state apiarist and bee inspector is traveling the state inspecting bee colonies for signs of diseases, mites and other infestations that can devastate Vermont’s bee population. Some arrive on nucleus bee colonies,…
With Frank Obituaries, Families Aim to Lay Stigmas to Rest
It took Bill Hickok five days to write his wife’s obituary. Sitting with pen and paper at the kitchen table in his Burlington home, Hickok wiped away tears as he revised it again and again. But there’s one thing he never changed. He defied convention and was brutally honest about how she died. “Patricia A.…
What’s With the Gong in Burlington City Hall Park?
Have you ever strolled through Burlington City Hall Park and wondered about the chiming sounds behind Rí Rá the Irish Local and the Whiskey Room on College Street? The sounds emanate from the nearby towering, stainless steel pyramid that’s supported by four granite posts; inside, a slow-moving pendulum clangs every three seconds, as rhythmically as…
Movie Review: Four Veteran Actresses Enliven a Not-So-Page-Turning ‘Book Club’
In a prologue, we learn that timid widow Diane (Diane Keaton), high-powered hotelier Vivian (Jane Fonda), federal judge Sharon (Candice Bergen) and restaurateur Carol (Mary Steenburgen) are fast friends who’ve been meeting for their regular book club since the ’70s. Two of them are Stanford grads, and their first book was Erica Jong’s Fear of…
Album Review: Emma Back, ‘Little World’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Emma Back is an inquisitive singer-songwriter based in Worcester, Vt. The artist ponders questions big and small on nearly every track of her full-length debut, Little World. From existential queries (“What’s of the flesh? And what’s of the mind?”) to scathing admonishments (“You think that you can tame me?”), she seems…
Summer Preview — 2018
Welcome to our shortest annual theme issue! We kid, we kid. If anything, this week’s edition is overloaded with hot season fun. Exhibit A: an epic summer bucket list, which outlines everything you should do before it snows again. To that end, get your bicycle tuned. Good news: Cowbell Mobile Bike Shop will come to…
Guerilla Artist Donates Oversize Xylophones to Burlington School
A guerilla artist who erected giant xylophones by the Burlington waterfront has donated the instruments to a city school. Mike Waters, a carpenter, had initially hung the oversize instruments in trees along the Burlington Bike Path last December, without asking anyone’s permission. The city’s parks department asked him to remove them. Waters didn’t want the…
Art Review: ‘Made in Vermont,’ Hall Art Foundation
The Hall Art Foundation in Reading, a premier venue for contemporary art in Vermont since it opened in 2012, is trying something new this year: an exhibit of recent works by Vermont-based artists that are offered for sale. The show is called simply “Made in Vermont.” The foundation’s southern Vermont location — there’s another in…
Three Great Vermont Spots to Dine by the Water
Vermonters find many ways to eat outdoors in the summertime: a picnic on a favorite hike, hot dogs and creemees at a snack shack, a backyard barbecue, or a front porch sandwich. But perhaps no culinary experience can surpass a summer meal by a lake or river. The sunshine, water, sky and a gentle breeze…
Quick Lit: ‘Still Lives’ by Maria Hummel
The human fascination with death manifests itself throughout history, from the ornate tombs of the Egyptians to the Mexican Día de los Muertos. Those traditions hinge on offerings to the dead meant to ease their passage to the afterlife. Mexicans leave ofrendas, tiny replicas of household goods and foods, for their ancestors. But what happens…
On Your Mark: Candidates Line Up for the 2018 Campaign
It seems awfully early. But it’s almost too late. Vermont’s filing deadline for major party candidates in the 2018 election is May 31. As of this writing, most contenders have yet to turn in petitions, but the broad outlines of the campaign are becoming visible. Short version? Democrats are aiming for legislative gains, Republicans are…
Forest Bathing: A Deep Cleanse Among the Trees
Last week, I sat in my car flipping through my phone. I checked my two email accounts, my Instagram, and a few stray news alerts and texts as I prepared to leave my shiny little brick in the glove compartment for two hours. I was about to go forest bathing, and phones aren’t allowed. The…
Letters to the Editor (5/23/18)
Sign of the Times? I am a big fan of your publication. But I was bummed to see the cover of your latest issue, in which you replaced a man’s sign with your logo [“Betrayed,” May 16]. Clever and cheeky? Yes. Consistent with your flavor and style? For sure. But it made me cringe to…
Scarlett Letters: My Mother Has Been Duped by a Man Online
Dear Scarlett, I am writing for advice on a difficult subject: my mother’s love life. My father passed away four years ago, and my mother has been lonely. She met a man online, and my siblings and I were happy for her — until we learned she’d been “catfished.” She sent this person $1,000-plus —…
Movie Review: ‘Deadpool 2’ Doesn’t Do Much to Subvert the Superhero Tentpole Machine
When the memo arrived announcing that henceforth the movie industry would focus primarily on tentpoles adapted from comic books, I was dubious. Following Avatar’s huge success, after all, pundits predicted most films would henceforth be exclusively in 3D. That lasted about five minutes. What were the chances an idea this pinheaded would fly? Turns out…
Soundbites: Loverboys; Full English
One of my most shameful habits is reading online comments. I don’t know why I do it, because it just makes me angry and depressed. But anytime I read a hot-take think piece, blog post or article about a controversial issue, I find myself glued to the discussion forum — emotional hangover be damned. Do I…
Free Will Astrology (5/23/18)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Now is a favorable time to worship at the shrine of your own intuition. It’s a ripe moment to boost your faith in your intuition’s wild and holy powers. To an extraordinary degree, you can harness this alternate mode of intelligence to gather insights that are beyond the power of your…
Vermont Brewers Reveal New Quaffs for Summer
Summertime is happy time for many Vermonters, and for the state’s tourists, too. And when it’s hot outside, most of us want to tip back a cold brew or two. Vermont’s craft breweries oblige with plenty of reasons to don your drinking shoes. Do you like hoppy IPAs? You’ll find those flowing at Frost Beer…
Stowe’s Ranch Camp Combines Bikes, Beer and Burritos
When Ranch Camp opens in mid-June at 311 Mountain Road in Stowe, it’ll offer complete mountain bike sales and service, along with beers on draft and casual grab-and-go foods, according to cofounder Nate Freund. “We’re essentially going to be a ride-in, ride-out eatery, craft beer bar and bike shop,” Freund told Seven Days. A principal…
