In our culture team meeting last week, Rebecca Driscoll made a rare announcement: In her two years of compiling and writing the community calendar for Seven Days, she had never processed so many events for a single issue.
Post-Labor Day Vermont is always crazy as we run around, like squirrels, trying to snatch what’s left of the summer. For a few FOMO-fueled weeks, outdoor events continue with a vengeance while colleges start up their public lectures and, of course, the region’s performing arts presenters launch their indoor seasons. This week’s issue previews their myriad offerings. One great way to prepare — and, yes, get excited — for winter is to make plans to attend some of these shows.
Because of her job, Rebecca lives seven to 14 days in the future. The concerts, festivals, protests and chair-yoga sessions she writes about every week have yet to happen when the issue drops every Wednesday.
But happen they do. As I write this on Sunday, I can hear the drumbeat of the Pride Vermont Parade making its way from the bottom of Church Street to Battery Park, a few blocks from where I live in Burlington. Earlier in the day, I walked through the post-parade party setup.
On Saturday, my partner, Tim, and I went to the opening celebration of the annual art show at the Kents Corner State Historic Site in Calais — along with everyone I’ve ever known, it seemed. Parked cars lined the roads that converge at that artful, unpaved intersection. When we rolled back into Burlington at 10 p.m., Pine Street was still packed with people — from the South End Art Hop.
Last Thursday, I went to a benefit for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra at the Essex Resort & Spa. I sat next to a Super Reader who suggested that Seven Days should maintain a master calendar so that arts organizations don’t schedule events that compete with each other. Local presenters have been talking about the need for such a thing since I worked at the Flynn 43 years ago.
Our calendar is for you. And it doesn’t just happen. It takes hard work and discipline to find, verify and assemble the events of the week. In the early years of Seven Days, the notices came to us via the U.S. Postal Service. Now we have an online form. The most time-consuming part remains distilling the promotional material in a kick-ass sentence that is descriptive, accurate and engaging.
Seven Days is the best place to find out what is going on in the state.
Rebecca does this all day, every week, to produce Vermont’s most comprehensive calendar of events. Add in our art, club and movie listings, and Seven Days is the best place to find out what is going on in the state.
Counting on Google for that? You’re missing half the fun. Some notable examples from last week include a Whoopie Pie Festival in downtown Rutland, a Bark & Brew at the Humane Society of Chittenden County, and DJ Craig Mitchell’s musical tribute to Yoko Ono as part of the Art Hop. For those seeking community on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we noted that the Hubbardton Battlefield Site hosted a Day of Remembrance.
To spread the word beyond the print paper and online calendar, we recently launched an Instagram account all about standout Vermont events and ticket drops. Follow @sevendaysoutandabout to get in on the action.
For three years running, the WaterWheel Foundation, the charitable arm of the Burlington-born band Phish, has contributed generously to offset the cost of employing Rebecca. It’s one of the many ways the band is giving back to this place. Our calendar benefits all Vermonters — artists and audiences.
Your part in our cultural scene is just to show up.
Get in our calendar
Submit events to our free community listings at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.
Get in the know
- Find our complete online calendar at sevendaysvt.com/events.
- Sign up to receive staff picks in the Notes on the Weekend newsletter at sevendaysvt.com/newsletters.
- Follow @sevendaysoutandabout on Instagram.
This article appears in Performing Arts Preview • 2026.
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