Issue #628
Gallery features work by new artists
For the month of September, Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, 187 Main St., will exhibit two new artists: Gay Malin, sculpture, and Cameron Schmitz, paintings.
Also on view are two prints by Wolf Kahn, new pieces by Jim Urbaska, landscapes; prints by Emily Mason and Susan Osgood; mixed media paintings by Lisa Mackie; watercolors by Homer Johnson; sculpture by Tim Segar; and assemblages by Maine artist Lauren Pollaro.
Grants support LGBTQ community in state
The Samara Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, has awarded $38,000 in general operating support and project grants to 11 nonprofit organizations in its 10th annual competitive grant round as part of the foundation. The Samara Fund's priorities for the 2021 grantmaking cycle included projects and...
Milestones
College news • Emma Li of Brattleboro was named to the Dean's List for the spring 2021 semester at Simmons University in Boston. • Miles Anton of West Dover and Ginny Ware of Westminster were named to the President's List for the spring 2021 semester at Community College of...
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Brattleboro’s mask mandate nixed by state
It's OK for the Selectboard to suggest that people wear facial coverings in indoor public spaces to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but it is not OK for the Selectboard to require it. That was the verdict rendered last week by the Scott administration, which explicitly told the town that it cannot impose an indoor masking mandate and that only the governor has that power. While saying that the virus in Brattleboro doesn't warrant such a response, Brittney Wilson, deputy...
60 ‘Bigs’ needed to match waiting ‘Littles’
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont (BBBSVT) has issued an urgent call to action to find 60 Bigs in 60 Days, urging adults throughout the state to volunteer and become a Big to one of more than 60 children ready and waiting for a mentor. “Mentoring is fun, flexible, and a powerful way to make a real difference in one's community by providing guidance and support to a young person, igniting their potential for a bright future,” representatives of the...
Online auction, raffle, and barbecue benefits Westminster West Church
After the pandemic led to cancellation of last year's Westminster West Community Fair, planners thought Vermont's great vaccination rate would allow a return to in-person events this year. Instead, they said that the surge of cases with the delta variant has them creating alternatives - from curbside pickup of take-out barbecue to a raffle and an online auction. Most events take place the weekend of Sept. 10-12. The Community Fair is the largest annual fundraiser for the Congregational Church of...
Circus school will host open house on Sept. 4
New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) hosts a free Open House at its trapezium on Saturday, Sept. 4, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Quench your curiosity and see how circus classes can help anyone express themselves, reach fitness goals, de-stress, and have fun,” the school wrote in a news release. “Play on a low trapeze, learn to juggle, balance on a wire, test out aerial silks, and meet NECCA's expert instructors. Beginners welcome!” Visitors can watch student demos...
Around the Towns
Sanders to hold town meeting event on Labor Day BRATTLEBORO - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will hold five town meetings across Vermont over Labor Day weekend, including one scheduled for Monday, Sept. 6, at noon on the Brattleboro Common. According to a news release, the town meeting is an opportunity for communities “to hear about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and how it will make major investments in working families in Vermont and across the country.” As Chair of...
Hunter and Aho to discuss railroad art exhibit
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents a conversation with artist Charlie Hunter and curator Eric Aho about the exhibit “Charlie Hunter: Semaphore.” The free talk will take place on Thursday, Sept. 2, at 7:30 p.m. via livestream. Register at brattleboromuseum.org. Hunter, of Bellows Falls, and Aho, of Saxtons River, both nationally known artists, will discuss Hunter's precisely rendered railroad-themed paintings, their shared history with New England's railroads, and broader questions about life and art. “Charlie and I grew...
Jewish New Year begins with virtual services at BAJC
At sundown on Monday, Sept. 6, Jewish people in Vermont - and all over the world - will welcome Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year of 5782. Rosh Hashanah begins a sacred period known as the Days of Awe, culminating 10 days later on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Laura Berkowitz, president of Congregation Shir Heharim (the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community), invites people to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, all of which will be held virtually, led...
In-Sight exhibition, auction returns
The 23rd Annual In-Sight Photography exhibition and benefit auction will open on Friday, Sept. 3, from 5 to 8 p.m., during September's Gallery Walk. Proceeds support the scholarship fund at In-Sight, which empowers youth through photography to find their own creative voices and to communicate their unique personal visions. Classes in photographic arts are provided to youth regardless of ability to pay. Curriculum is guided by an understanding and respect for individuals, communities, and cultures. Works are donated by local,
What does it mean to serve as executor of an estate? Hospice presentation offers details.
Taking Steps Brattleboro will present “Being an Executor: What you need to know,” with presenters Amelia W.L. Darrow and Robert Szpila, a free program on Thursday, Sept. 16, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center. Have you been asked by a family member or friend to be the executor of their estate and are wondering what is involved? Or perhaps you are considering asking someone to take on this role for you? This presentation by...
Foodshelf launches food drive
September is Hunger Action Month, and this year, with the ongoing pandemic, the importance of raising awareness and taking action against hunger in our community remains high. The Putney Foodshelf says it will be running a month-long food drive to do just that. Throughout September, during the Fill the Foodshelf drive, shoppers at the Putney Food Co-op and Putney General Store will have an opportunity to select cases of specific grocery items from an order form to add to their...
Work Today seeks area project sites for labor program
Work Today, a fledgling Youth Services day-labor program piloted last summer, has a little over a month left of resumed operations, this time expanding work sites beyond maintenance and project work for the town of Brattleboro, its primary employer last year. Area businesses, nonprofits, or property owners who need temporary labor at their homes on a Tuesday or Thursday before Oct. 1 are encouraged to sign up now, preferably with at least a week's advance notice on when workers are...
Youth tackle invasive species at Deer Run Nature Preserve
A group of 19 young people with a shared dedication to environmental protections recently cleared three acres of glossy buckthorn from a beaver pond at Deer Run Nature Preserve. This summer's Youth Empowerment Project, made up of a diverse group of people from 11 towns, provided an opportunity to get outside, do good work, and make new friends in a safe way after a long, stressful COVID-19 lockdown. For a second year in a row, the Green Mountain Conservancy partnered...
Program explores industrial history of Bellows Falls
On Saturday, Sept. 4, join Dr. David Deacon for a walk and talk along the Under the Hill history trail. The program is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Under the Hill is the site of the locks on the first transportation canal in the United States built between 1791 and 1801. During much of the 19th and into the 20th century, it was the core of the town's industrial zone with sawmills, pulp and paper mills, and the Adams...
For museum, a ‘new model of artistic leadership’
Sarah Freeman has been appointed director of exhibitions of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC). In her new role, Freeman will oversee the artistic and curatorial facets of the museum's contemporary art exhibitions. She will also continue to manage the production of those exhibitions, which she has done as BMAC's exhibitions manager since 2015. Freeman's appointment coincides with the impending retirement of longtime BMAC Chief Curator Mara Williams. “Sarah will bring the perfect combination of expertise, experience, empathy, curiosity,
Vermont Center of Photography celebrates grand reopening
Vaune Trachtman's “Now is Always” is the inaugural exhibit for the grand reopening of Vermont Center of Photography (VCP) in its new space at the corner of High and Green streets. The exhibit opens during Gallery Walk on Friday, Sept. 3 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 31. As described in a news release, Trachtman's work reveals a collaboration across time between her father and herself. Using her father's 90-year-old negatives from the Great Depression in Philadelphia and her own cell...
Londonderry to vote on cannabis sales, local-option sales tax
The Selectboard has set a Special Town Meeting for Friday, Sept. 17 for voters to decide whether to permit cannabis sales in the community and whether to establish a 1-percent local-option sales tax. Voting will take place by Australian ballot at the Town Office at 100 Old School St., with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. An informational hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 6 p.m., at the Town Hall, 139 Middletown Rd. To provide information...
FOMAG Labor Day festival returns this weekend
Back from a one-year pandemic hiatus, the annual Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) Labor Day Weekend Festival returns for a 55th season on Sunday, Sept. 5 at the Organ Barn at 158 Kopkind Rd. The outdoor concert begins at 3 p.m. and will last approximately an hour, without intermission. The Guilford Festival Orchestra, conducted by Ken Olsson, will perform works by various composers, including Gluck, Mozart, and Fauré, as well as lighter contemporary fare. The concert will conclude, as...
After pausing for a pandemic, Guilford Fair will return
When the Guilford Fair returns on Sunday, Sept. 5 and Monday, Sept. 6, in addition to rides, vendors, entertainment, blue ribbons, and Bingo, you can also get a COVID-19 vaccination. Rescue Inc. will be outside the front gate offering the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and both Pfizer doses at the Fair from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days. Those ages 12 to 17 years who want to get the Pfizer vaccine will need to be accompanied by a...
‘Moving Wall’ coming soon to Brattleboro
After more than two years of planning and the disruption of the pandemic, the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall is coming to town from Sept. 16 to 20. The Moving Wall will be on display at Moore's Field on Putney Road, in front of the Fulflex plant near the junction of Routes 5 and 9 and Interstate 91. Len Derby, a member of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 843 in Brattleboro, has led efforts to bring to town the half-size...
Vermont schools deal with shortage of sports officials
With the start of the fall high school sports season on Friday in Vermont, we're starting to hear about a shortages of referees to officiate the games. It's been a perennial problem in Vermont as more and more people are working in jobs that require longer and, sometimes, irregular hours. Being a referee in soccer or field hockey, or a game official in football, means a significant time commitment, plus having flexibility to travel all over the state to do...
A new beginning for ‘Journey’s End’
Before her death at age 104, Daisy Turner - a local storyteller whose autobiographical tales dated back to her African ancestors and formerly enslaved parents - loved to share how her family came to settle in this picture postcard of a town a century and a half ago. “The home place was named Journey's End,” she would say, “'cause father never wanted to go no further after he got up there on that hilltop.” Patriarch Alec Turner had fought with...
Crowell Gallery hosts exhibit of works by Nancy Calicchio
For the month of September, the Crowell Gallery, 23 West St., hosts an exhibit of works by Nancy Calicchio. An artist reception is planned on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. “Through the Seasons” is a collection of 20 paintings created during pandemic isolation. Calicchio had always painted en plein air, enjoying Vermont's native beauty through the shifting seasons and in the fleeting light. COVID-19 changed that, forcing her to work inside her studio, where she found some...
Tropical Storm Irene’s impact, one year in
Yup, a hard rain fell. And some more hard rain's a-gonna fall. And then some more. A year after Tropical Storm (née Hurricane) Irene hit Vermont and changed just about everything, a few people were still arguing whether it was a once-in-a-10-year storm or a once-in-100-year storm. But most acknowledged this uneasy truth: we've entered the Era of Climate Change, and Irene might only be the beginning. A report by the Environment America Research and Policy Center called “Global Warming...