BTV — Winter 2017-2018 

Burlington makes an ideal getaway any time of the year. As Vermont's biggest city, it offers the best of both worlds — rural intimacy and authenticity balanced with urban convenience, hustle and bustle. Visit in the winter, however, and you'll likely spend more time cozying up at your overnight accommodations. Warm blankets and warmer hospitality are fine antidotes to the cold weather.

Charlie Brown remembers the first time he stepped into the Blue Tooth, a tavern on the Sugarbush Access Road in Warren, about an hour from Burlington. It was 53 years ago, and he was a 28-year-old from Philadelphia up for a ski weekend.

This February 9 to 25, athletes from around the globe will go for the gold in sports ranging from Alpine skiing to speed skating at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, held in PyeongChang, South Korea.

But casual outdoor enthusiasts needn't travel quite so far. Right here in Vermont, the hills are alive with the sounds of schussing, skating and sliding. Want to find medal-worthy winter fun in the Green Mountain State? Read on for a sampling.

When entering the Archives, downtown Burlington's classic-game arcade, one of the first consoles you see is Tapper. The 1983 game, in which a bartender must keep up with his patrons' increasingly frenzied demands for beer, is an apt metaphor for the Archives' two raisons d'être: vintage video games and sudsy brews.

When the clock strikes midnight on December 31, Burlington will usher in 2018 with a bang of fireworks over Lake Champlain. But that’s just the final touch on the annual revelry that is First Night Burlington. Founded in 1983, the event has become Vermont’s largest single-day arts celebration, a substance-free festival serving up 13 hours of eclectic entertainment in more than a dozen downtown venues. Buy a button, then crisscross the city for a classic cabaret by Burlington’s Lyric Theatre, aerial artistry and general clowning around by Vermont’s award-winning Circus Smirkus, highenergy funk-rock by local band Gang of Thieves, and so much more. Cheers to the New Year.

Burlington City Arts curates exhibits in three areas of the airport: the Skyway, the area above the escalator and the walls facing security for Gates 1 through 8. Whether you've arrived early for a flight or are waiting to pick up passengers, do take the time to look around!

It's fair to say that Amanda Clayton considers her coworkers family. When the 33-year-old got married in April 2016, she and her husband held their small wedding ceremony on the observation deck of Burlington International Airport, overlooking the runway. Officiating the service was Clayton's boss, BTV director of aviation Gene Richards.