Beautifully-preserved, hand-written notes tell the story of the founding of Meeting Waters YMCA back in 1895. Several organizational meetings were held throughout 1894 and 1895 leading up to a vote among more than 100 founding members on Sept. 2, 1895.
That night, the Bellows Falls YMCA was born.
On Thursday, Aug. 13, hundreds of current Y leaders, volunteers, participants, and staff, along with others from the past, will gather at the regional Y's Lewis Day Camp facility to celebrate the early years of the organization's history.
The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m.
Vendor applications are now being accepted for the 10th season of the Winter Farmers' Market, which will be held at the River Garden. Space for new vendors is limited but interested parties are encouraged to submit an application before the Sept. 1 deadline. The Winter Market opens on Nov.
College news • Rebecca O'Neill of Westminster graduated magna cum laude after majoring in Latin American studies at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. The 2011 graduate of Bellows Falls Union High School graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most prestigious liberal arts honor society. O'Neill...
Brattleboro Police hosts Coffee with a Cop BRATTLEBORO - On Thursday, Aug. 13, from 7 to 9 a.m., officers from the Brattleboro Police Department and community members will once again come together in an informal, neutral space to discuss community issues, build relationships, and drink coffee. All community members are invited to attend. The event will take place at The Works Bakery Cafe, 118 Main St. Contact Officer Ryan Washburn or Officer Adam Petlock with questions at 802-257-7950. Coffee with...
The Rich Earth Institute is hosting a team of academic and industry leaders for a conference on Friday, Aug. 14, entitled “Urine Diversion – Moving Ahead.” Urine diversion refers to separating and capturing urine at the source, in the bathroom, with new types of toilet fixtures and waterless urinals. This method can remove the majority of nitrogen and phosphorus in human waste from the water stream, where it currently causes nutrient pollution, sometimes resulting in algal blooms and eutrophication in...
On Wednesday, Aug, 19, at 7 p.m., in the Brooks Memorial Library's meeting room, authors Adam Krakowski and Kurt Staudter will speak about the history of brewing in Vermont, which is told in their recent book, Vermont Beer: History of a Brewing Revolution. Krakowski is a decorative and fine arts conservator based in Quechee. He holds a B.A. in art history with a minor in museum studies and an M.S. in historic preservation from the University of Vermont. He has...
Ten years ago, WOOL turned on its transmitter for the first time and unleashed one of the first low-power FM stations in the Northeast. A decade later, the station broadcasts with full power and will celebrate its anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 15, with a block party at the Waypoint Center in Bellows Falls. This local radio station will feature area artists with musical performances from Sunny Lowdown, Suzanne Waldren and the Mas Leo Band, Acoustic Sool, Peggy's Cue, and Charlie...
The Screening Committee selected 12 public art projects from the 35 submitted to the town last month as part of the federal Our Town Grant. Town Manager Peter Elwell told the Selectboard last week how much the seven-member screening committee impressed him. Selectboard member Donna Macomber said it was “profoundly motivating” and “incredibly inspiring” to see what people had submitted and how the projects served Brattleboro. According to Elwell, the committee members used a color coding system to winnow the...
Our photographic project “Nursing Is Normal” consists of portraits of mothers breastfeeding their children. The premise for this project is that the more something is seen, the more normal it becomes. In the last century, breastfeeding fell out of favor, thanks to the so-called advances of science pertaining to infant nutrition. When formula was introduced, it was marketed to families as superior to breast milk. Women were made to feel like their milk was not as nutritionally sound. Eventually, the...
It's hard as parents to know when a child is crossing the proverbial line from being willful, high energy, and strong towards being potentially diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Preschool is difficult; it's too soon to tell. Kids are still learning their boundaries, mastery of school skills is only starting, and kids are barely capable of changing their own clothes, let alone handling themselves with the control of an adult. But a parent knows their kid, and a parent knows...
Is there an alternative to stabbing each other in the back when we disagree? While we must condemn the dreadful actions of a few deeply disturbed people, isn't it even more important to take productive steps to prevent such horrors? Can we promote healthy and uplifting relations? Israeli, right-wing terrorists recently perpetrated two hateful murders. In one case, the deadly violence claimed an 18-month-old Palestinian infant. The other victim was a 16-year-old Jewish woman whose transgression was that she did...
Readsboro Arts presents The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow in concert, with a special screening of the award-winning short documentary about the group, as part of the Readsboro Arts Summer Concert Series in the historic EJ Bullock Building, 7012 Main St., on Saturday, Aug. 15, at 8 p.m. The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow brings together five Massachusetts singer-songwriters sharing the stage and performing one another's songs together, combining traditional folk and blues with contemporary folk-rock. The Roadshow is Greg Smith from Charlemont, Tory...
Batterers are opportunistic in finding ways to control their partner, so it's no surprise that household pets, too, might be targets for harm. Abusers often direct their violence at anyone or anything a victim loves, whether to coerce her while she's still in the relationship or to punish her for getting out. For many women, this violence or threat presents an added barrier to leaving, unless there's a safe haven for their pets, too. About a third of survivors have...
Brattleboro Climate Protection and the Brattleboro Solar Summer Subcommittee of the Brattleboro Energy Committee thank those who helped make the July 25 ice cream social in Pliny Park a successful event. This most especially includes the suppliers of the ice cream (Janet Picard and Chelsea Royal Diner Ice Cream) and of the gelato (Peter Solley and Vermont Gelato). Peter was also kind enough to donate a bunch of wooden ice cream spoons. We were regaled with some great music from...
I am deeply appreciative of Curtiss Reed Jr.'s efforts to reach out to Bernie Sanders for the sake of his own growth. I am horrified, but not surprised, at the Facebook page reaction he describes. From the beginning of Bernie's active campaign, I have been saddened and shocked at his cluelessness and myopia on race, his unwillingness to mention it. My fear all along - and it is by no means dispersed - is that he really believes addressing income...
The point is not to focus on Bernie Sanders' faults, at least not if you want him to win. We must vocalize the great things about him and support those who support him. This race is more important than Curtiss Reed Jr.'s 15-year-old son's exposure to profanity.
I support a movement to grow and learn. I see the value in open and safe conversations to begin and continue this journey. To create conversations in which people are included safely, we need to practice empathic and nonviolent communication. Through such communication, we can begin to understand the unresolved grief and shame from America's colonial and slavery history and the ongoing racism. Though empathy and nonviolent communication may not heal all the wounds, it allows us to listen with...
It is not productive to have a public forum where people get to attack and act inappropriately, so I can only say that Curtiss Reed Jr. did the right thing in shutting it down. That there are people out there who express their racism by denying its existence or relevance is the crux of a problem we face in Vermont. In a workshop I was giving, I had one woman say, “Just by talking about race we are being racist.”
I would disagree with Barbra Garmon. She should talk to the residents of East Jamaica and the West River Valley. All of Townshend and the outlying towns know about a drug dealer who has been there for 33 long years and is still going strong with his sales. It's time for the law to take action.
The Thanksgiving Holiday is three months away, but the committee behind the Community Thanksgiving Dinner hopes fellow citizens with start giving their time early. People interested in volunteering for the more than four-decades old community dinner can meet with committee members at the Brattleboro Food Co-op Cafe on Thursday. Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. Current volunteers are looking for people to serve both on subcommittees - such as entertainment - and on the core organizing committee. According to long-time volunteer...
I don't understand how it is that Bernie Sanders' supporters cannot perceive his political shortcomings and want him to improve so that in six months, when he must be adept at racial and international relations concepts, he will be ready. I would like to see Sanders win... but not at the expense of national understanding of, and progress on, environment, immigration, Middle East policy, and race. At this rate, he'll crash and burn in the first debate. Want my vote?
The fifth biennial Windham County History Fair is set for Saturday, Aug. 22, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the historic Newfane Common on Route 30. The Fair is a festival of vintage exhibits, demonstrations and historic tours featuring Windham County's rich heritage. A special exhibit of Windham County artifacts from the collection of the Vermont Historical Society, along with exhibits by many of Windham County's Historical Societies, will feature 18th, 19th, and early 20th century life in Windham...
The fourth annual Deerfield Valley Southern Vermont Jazz Series continues this Saturday, Aug. 15, at Historic Memorial Hall, 14 W. Main St., beginning at 8 p.m. Admission is by freewill donation and concert proceeds benefit The Gathering Place [gatheringplacevt.org], which provides adult day services to promote empowerment, independence, and quality of life for elders, adults with disabilities, and their caregivers. While retaining jazz in its core, this month's concert expands into swing, Broadway show tunes, and bossa nova with saxophonist...
Brooks Memorial Library will keep its doors open longer two days a week starting in September. Thanks to the unexpected $2 million bequest from Brattleboro resident, the late Ronald Read, the library will extend its hours of operation. Starting Sept. 12, the library will remain open into Saturday afternoon and beginning Sept. 17, doors will open Thursday mornings. “It was such good news, I brought a party,” joked Library Director Jerry Carbone when he and members of the Library Trustees...
The Putney Selectboard recently held the second of four public meetings to discuss options for the parcel of land Nat Hendricks donated to the town earlier this year. At their July 29 regular Board meeting, officials went over some recent ideas residents submitted, including connecting the land's hiking trails to those in the Putney Town Forest and other contiguous trail systems. Some residents expressed their concern to board member Scott Henry about not losing hunting access through the Hendricks property.
The Vermont Jazz Center has begun its 40th iteration of the summer jazz workshop. The week-long program takes place on the campus of The Putney School, and encourages intermediate to professional level local and international students; in Vermont they polish their improvisational and musicianship skills while enjoying a hiatus in a beautiful, bucolic setting. These workshops began in 1974, when famed Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller formed the Attila Zoller Guitar Clinics. These informal programs were fundamental in the development of...
The final weekend of Marlboro Music's 65th season will offer three concerts - on Friday, Aug. 14, and Saturday, Aug. 15, at 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Aug. 16, at 2:30 p.m. at Marlboro College's Persons Auditorium. Most of the noted Vermont retreat's 75 resident artists will be heard in chamber works that have had the benefit of many weeks of exploration, as well as performing in the Wagner Siegfried Idyll on Friday and in Mozart's last symphony, No. 41...
Summertime is the time for area nonprofits to hold their benefit golf tournaments on the local links, and local golfers did their part to support some worthy causes in Windham County. • On June 19, Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) hosted its eigth annual golf fundraiser at Woodstock Country Club. Eighty players participated in the tournament, raising more that $20,000 for HCRS's Kindle Farm School. The first place winner of the golf tournament was the Mascoma Savings Bank team...
There are actually two cats at The One Cat, the bed-and-breakfast on 43 Clark St. in Brattleboro that celebrates its one-year anniversary in September. Although owners Pat Sheehan and Conrad Feinson said they named the place after Dexter, the one cat the couple brought with them from England in 2012, the other cat, Piper, does not seem jealous. Lively Piper was adopted from the Windham County Humane Society to keep Dexter company and give him some much-needed exercise. “Dexter is...
Eric Bass, the co-founder and artistic director of Sandglass Theater, recently wrote to U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., inviting him to Vermont for the ninth Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival. Held in and around Putney and Brattleboro from Sept. 11 to 20, this festival of puppetry and unusual theater brings international artists and local community together through a variety of performances, workshops, dialogues, and other special events. “Dear Senator McCain,” Bass writes, “On behalf of Sandglass Theater, let me...
The August art exhibit at the Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., will feature the work of author and illustrator Cyndy Szekeres. On display will be Szekeres's original art from her children's picture books, as well as posters and pencil sketches. Her favorite subject is mice. The exhibit will be up through September. The library is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, contact the library...
Elena Skye first met American folk singer Pete Seeger when she was a small child. Her parents had been aficionados of the folk revival music during the early 1960s, and some of the first albums to which Skye listened were Seeger playing with the Weavers and Almanac Singers. Although she doesn't remember the incident, her parents insist that, at a concert, Seeger patted Skye on the head. Skye and her partner Boo Reiners, who together front the Demolition String Band,
Of the 35 proposals from artists who responded to a call for public art to reflect and inspire the community, 13 will move forward in the process. The town is seeking a public art piece - either visual or performance - as part of a federal Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The project will connect the community to the arts, “magnify the role arts play in Brattleboro,” and inspire the community to create more public...
I recently returned home after a two-day, 1,000 mile trip to see the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is now on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport in Virginia. Discovery logged 150 million miles and 365 days in orbit before being retired in 2011 when the shuttle program was cancelled. This remarkable machine is a triumph of U.S. engineering and raw science that helped our economy to flourish, beginning with early space exploration in the...
August's warm weather brings many people outside for hiking, picnicking, or just spending time in the yard. Asian long-horned Beetles like to come out, too. That is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared August “Tree Check Month,” to help detect and eradicate the infestation of the damaging insect. “August is the time of year when adult beetles are emerging” from inside infested trees, said USDA Public Affairs Specialist Rhonda Santos. As larvae, they burrow deep inside tree...
In May 2012, Dummerston resident and society member Sam Bunker, son of Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, gave the Dummerston Historical Society a big collection of his father's memorabilia: photos, awards and medals, correspondence, manuscripts, art work, news clippings, scrapbooks. Ambassador Bunker, who died in Dummerston in 1984 at the age of 90, was one of the country's most distinguished and influential diplomats, serving in Argentina, Italy, India, Vietnam, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. But much of his collection was of only...
As he opened a small ceremony to mark the awarding of federal brownfield funds to Vermont communities, Town Manager Peter Elwell stood on a lush green lawn bordering the Connecticut River. The green space under Elwell's feet was once a brownfield, a contaminated area that can be expensive to clean and to rehabilitate for productive reuse. Remnants of the town's industrial history still cling to its buildings, seen but not always noticed, such as the outlines of old loading bays...
Members of a biker gang of sorts rode into town last week - and Windham County's small-business community greeted them with new ideas. Investors and advisors on motorcycles participating in the second annual Fresh Tracks Road Pitch traveled to six Vermont communities last week. In Brattleboro, they met with local entrepreneurs who pitched their business ideas, asked for startup money, and sought their advice. The five businesses that pitched during the 90-minute event at the River Garden had previously gone...
On a recent balmy evening, the Putney Grade School Reunion Planning Committee held its final work meeting to prepare for this year's reunion, to be held on Oct. 10. Around the large, rectangular table in the surprisingly cool back room of Putney Town Hall, the committee - six graduates of Putney's grade schools - sat and prepared letters to send to everyone on their list. All 500 of them. “Anybody who went to Putney grade schools is invited,” said Anita...