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For nearly 20 years, many Vermonters’ mid-November traditions have included a trek to the Darn Tough factory’s sock sale in Northfield, a celebrated annual event where Vermonters could buy the coveted footwear for a fraction of the regular retail price. But in 2020, in the first fall of the pandemic, Darn Tough canceled its sock…
Former legislator was a champion for Vermont and its natural environment
The state is rolling out another round of moving reimbursement grants for new Vermonters, four years after gaining national attention for launching its popular remote work program. The $3 million program, which was approved by the legislature this spring, provides grants of up to $7,500 for people who have moved to Vermont to take a…
Vermont lawyer traveled extensively, shared love of thrift stores and crossword puzzles with her daughter
The 23 newly elected Democratic members of the Vermont Senate on Sunday picked Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) to lead the Senate in the upcoming biennium. When the 30-member Senate convenes in January, it will formally elect a Senate president pro tem, but the majority’s pick is all but certain to get the post. The longtime…
Vietnam veteran met with President Nixon, received Bronze Star for his service
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Here are tips on how to get the most out of the next three weeks: 1) Be a master of simmering, ruminating, marinating, steeping, fermenting and effervescing. 2) Summon intense streams of self-forgiveness for any past event that still haunts you. 3) Tap into your forbidden thoughts so they might heal…
It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say Gary Wright grew up on a hockey rink, but only a bit. Born in Burlington, he was raised on the campus of Proctor Academy, a day and boarding school in Andover, N.H. Wright’s professor father also served as Proctor’s athletic director and hockey coach. Winter transformed a…
Invest in Youth [Re “Warning Shots,” November 2]: The City of Burlington, unfortunately, is getting a big bang-bang for the no bucks it devotes to coordinating youth programming for its low-income and disadvantaged youth. Investing in preventive measures, such as adding police and enforcing stricter gun control, might keep the problem of youth violence in…
Do you miss the high-concept adult thrillers that flourished at the box office in the 1980s and ’90s? Blame the streaming revolution for all but pushing those movies out of theaters, though you’ll still find scads of them on Netflix, Hulu and the like. Or look beyond the mainstream theatrical releases to the art house.…
new in theaters AFTERSUN: A woman tries to reconcile memories of a childhood vacation with her dad with what she knows about him now in Charlotte Wells’ acclaimed debut feature. With Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio. (102 min, R. Savoy) BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER: In Marvel Comics’ fictional African kingdom, the Wakandans mourn King T’Challa…
Every year, a small army of Christmas tree sellers descends on the streets of New York City, transforming sidewalk corners into makeshift pine forests. Like Macy’s window displays, the lots of trees are part of the quintessential holiday scene in the Big Apple. Many of the season’s fir-slinging foot soldiers are Vermonters. “I don’t hire New…
In Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (1490-1510), the central panel depicts countless nudes enacting every imaginable fleshly pleasure. Yet something is off: Blind bacchanals happen inside hollow pieces of fruit that encase heads and torsos; one nude figure places a bouquet between the buttocks of another. The same shadow of discomfort seems…
Many visitors to the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art this fall are headed to “Rockwell Kent: Prints From the Ralf C. Nemec Collection” — and for good reason: The black-and-white works are gorgeous and historically pertinent. But, according to museum assistant director Chris Dissinger, most of those visitors find themselves equally drawn to…
Skiers and riders face some tough choices this winter. Their love of sliding on snow hasn’t changed, but the cost of doing it has increased a lot more than their wages have. The U.S. Travel Association keeps track of the cost of activities such as skiing via the Travel Price Index, a collection of travel-related…
A dramatic increase in the cost of fossil fuels has sent more Vermonters scrambling this autumn to weatherize their homes, line up financial assistance and find cheaper heating options. Energy advocates hope the search will lead householders to cleaner fuels that in the long run are easier on the pocketbook — and the climate. Businesses…
People always ask if you remember what you were doing when the important stuff happened. My folks and their friends used to talk about where they were when JFK was assassinated. Gen Xers compare notes on memories of watching the Challenger space shuttle explode on TV. And many of us have our 9/11 recollections, of…
Mike Nick, a winter X Games gold medalist in 1998, can’t remember the last time his feet were over his head on a pair of skis. But the 46-year-old Essex Junction resident has a vivid memory of the winter more than 25 years ago when he taught himself to ski backward — fast and with…
(AfterLyfe Music, CD, digital) Last year, after decades of performing, recording and touring, Burlington rapper Konflik dropped his debut LP, Back to Basics. A short but flawless set, it turned heads across New England and won Best Album at the first annual Vermont Hip Hop Awards. Despite that success, the rapper sounds hungrier than ever…
It’s hard to decipher the graffiti scrawled across the brick exterior of Burlington’s Memorial Auditorium, but it probably doesn’t read, “Welcome to the Queen City.” A new business across the street will offer that proverbial greeting instead, especially to skiers and snowboarders. J Skis, a brand founded in 2013 by Vermont ski designer J Levinthal,…
It was unseasonably warm in Vermont last week — more “Summer Review” than “Winter Preview,” which is the theme of this week’s special issue. It was hotter still at my house. On Wednesday morning, I woke up in a pool of sweat and tore off the covers. It was almost 50 degrees outside, but every…
Early on a chilly morning in late October, three cars sat in the otherwise empty parking lot of the Hard’ack Recreation Area in St. Albans. In a few short months, maybe even weeks, the lot would be full, and the echo of chirping crickets would give way to the clatter of sledders, skiers and snowboarders…
(Self-released, CD, vinyl, digital) It’s hard to believe that Used to Be the Next Big Thing is Maple Run Band’s sophomore effort. It can take groups many years and albums to find the cohesive sound and natural chemistry that this four-piece Americana band from northern Vermont has achieved in two records. The album opens with…
Dear Reverend, I have lived in Vermont all my life, and I love it. But as I get older, I find myself dreading the winters more and more. I don’t want to move, but I also don’t want to be miserable six months of the year. Is it possible to shake the winter blues? Heat…
Even on a weeknight, Spare Time Entertainment serves up an onslaught of sensory stimuli: the thud of bowling balls on the faux-wooden lanes. The clatter of knocked-down tenpins. Pop songs piped in over the loudspeakers, while music videos play on giant screens spanning the lanes. In the adjacent Game Zone of the Colchester center, arcade…
By the time Seven Days’ Winter Preview issue rolls around in early November, we’ve typically already had a taste of what’s to come, weather-wise: a blast of temps in the teens, some flurries — hell, sometimes even a full-blown snowstorm. This year? Not so much. Over the weekend, Vermonters grabbed their sunscreen and sported shorts…
In the final months of his life, Berlin police officer Jeffrey Strock would break down and cry, a coworker recounted to Vermont State Police investigators. Strock was upset about his on-again, off-again relationship with ex-girlfriend Julie Fandino. Sometimes, Strock would say things were looking up because Fandino was still communicating with him, Officer David Rhoden…
Waterbury resident Sandy Yusen is not an early morning person, so it was 9 a.m. by the time she made it to Stowe Mountain Resort one Saturday last winter for a few quick runs on her snowboard. Yusen was too late. She drove several laps around the lot but couldn’t find a parking space. “I…
Lifelong Vermonter remembered for her hilarious wit, love of animals, and ability to sing country-and-western songs
Compared with nearby Dover, Wilmington isn’t exactly a ski town. But its main intersection sees plenty of traffic bound for Mount Snow and southern Vermont’s other ski areas, all winter long. “You pretty much have to turn here to go to the mountain, unless you’re on the back roads,” Justin Maturo said. Close to that…
Since Piecemeal Pies opened in White River Junction in 2016, it has built a stellar reputation for its singular Vermont take on the British meat pie. The restaurant’s squat, golden-domed pies boast classic, sturdy hot-water crusts while being executed with more creativity and far less stodge than is typical of English pub grub. Piecemeal’s rotating…
At the height of the season at Reap & Sow Farm in Monkton, Matt Lasser hardly has time to eat. Lasser, 32, is the operator and co-owner of the two-acre diversified vegetable farm. With a tiny crew, he grows, markets, sells and delivers produce, such as green-and-purple striated dragon tongue beans and sweet honeynut squash.…
Downtown Burlington’s buzzy Monarch & the Milkweed will serve its last egg-white-crowned Tonka Puff and butterfly-garnished Monarch cocktail the weekend after Thanksgiving — but the bar will go on. During December, the current team, led by operating manager Taylor Watts, will run the venue under a temporary moniker, Devil Takes a Holiday Cocktail Lounge. It…
Former Stowe Cider general manager Dan Snyder confirmed that he and a silent partner have bought Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury Center from its co-owners of 22 years, Gayle and Paul Brown, for an undisclosed price. For close to half a century, the cider mill on Route 100 between Interstate 89 and Stowe has…
A new wine and beer shop opened in Middlesex on Thursday, November 3, bringing a bit of buzz to Camp Meade’s community and business hub at 961 Route 2. The Local occupies the space most recently used as additional café seating for neighboring Red Hen Baking. It stocks Vermont beer staples and wines at various…
Eager shoppers whizzed though the hallways of Camels Hump Middle School on Sunday toting snowboards and ski boots. It was the last day of the Cochran Ski & Ride Sale, but the much-anticipated feeding frenzy showed no sign of slowing down. More than 100 patrons rummaged through new and consigned ski and snowboard gear, hoping…
Sweet Tooth Thursday 10 YouTube pastry chef and best-selling cookbook author Claire Saffitz stops by the Norwich Congregational Church to launch her newest collection of recipes, What’s for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People. Every cake, pie, custard and cookie in the book can be made by bakers of any skill level, without any fancy…
A plan to install a 20-foot-tall sculpture in Dewey Park in Burlington’s Old North End is generating some controversy among neighbors. The sculpture, which will be named “Embrace and Belonging,” was commissioned by the city’s Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in summer 2021 to be a “landmark focal point” for the community. Some…
