The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) has joined the Welcoming Network, a global network of local governments and nonprofits committed to making communities more welcoming. Led by the nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Welcoming America, the network provides BDCC access to research, technical assistance, webinars, and collaborative programs with other Welcoming Network organizations.
"Joining Welcoming America has long been an aspiration for the BDCC," said Alex Beck, BDCC Welcoming Communities manager, in a news release. "The success of our own Welcoming Communities initiative, now in its third year, encouraged us to dive headfirst into this national network of partners."
According to BDCC, Welcoming America uses a multi-sector approach to leverage the Welcoming Standard "as a comprehensive roadmap to identify areas in which members can make their community more equitable. Member organizations receive timely resources related to a variety of topics, including: government leadership, language access, healthcare, economic development, and more."
"We are thrilled to have the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation join the Welcoming Network. Their membership is a testament to their commitment to creating a more welcoming place for all people living in Windham County and we look forward to working with them," said Rachel Perić, executive director of Welcoming America.
Obituaries • Elizabeth "Beth" Brassel, 59, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Died peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, on July 28, 2023. Beth lived every day of her life to the fullest, and never took for granted the time she had in this world. The daughter of Barbara J. (Lynch) Brassel...
On Saturday, Sept. 16, Green Mountain Conservancy celebrates the opening of the new North Trail at Deer Run Nature Preserve with a pair of hikes led by trail builder Roger Haydock, and naturalist and ecologist Dan Dubie. All interested should meet at Deer Run Nature Preserve Trailhead, 940 Camp...
In 1973, the Andrews Inn opened in Bellows Falls and became a legendary dance club, restaurant, hotel, and gathering place for southern Vermont's LGBTQ+ community for more than a decade. Fifty years later, in honor of the people and culture that shaped the inn's legacy, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) hosts a day-long celebration of the inn on Saturday, Sept. 23. In partnership with Vermont Folklife and Out in the Open, BMAC is inviting visitors to drop in...
It will be food instead of films when the Bellows Falls Opera House becomes the stage for the annual Overflow the Opera House food drive to benefit Our Place Drop-in Center Thursday, Sept. 21. Beginning at 8 a.m. and continuing to 4 p.m., board members and other volunteers will be on hand curbside to accept donations of food and funds to stock the food pantry at Our Place. Employees of Chroma Technology and Sonnax are also playing a role in...
Lissa Harris has joined the staff at the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) as the Director of Strategic Development. According to a NECCA news release, this position "was created as part of the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan to build financial longevity, increase capacity for program impact in the community, and to address the pressing need of increasing wages and benefits for staff." As former development director for Food Connects, Harris created financial stability for that nonprofit organization through strategic...
As a headline in the June 7 issue of The Commons reported, "Hard-hit Windham County farms hope for federal relief for an overnight devastating loss of fruit, berry, and vegetable crops." Beneath a close-up photo of brown and shriveled buds on trees at Green Mountain Orchards in Putney, a caption elaborated: "Apple buds in orchards throughout Windham County and Vermont were damaged by freezing temperatures overnight on May 17–18, destroying much of this year's crop." The Commons reached out to...
When Brattleboro residents and musicians Rachel Bell and Becky Tracy heard about Vermont's apple crop devastation, the fans of Scott Farm Orchard decided to do something about it. "We were so distressed to hear how they lost 90% of their apple crop this year due to the deep freeze in May [see sidebar, this issue], so we wanted to do something to help," notes Bell. The two members of the musical duo Eloise & Co. invite the public to Scott...
As former appellant on cases 22-ENV-0003 and 23-AP-080, I write to honor all the courageous, honest people who took a stand and signed a petition to the Putney Selectboard to withdraw approval of Windham & Windsor Housing Trust's permit for construction of 25 units of mixed-income housing, in two massive buildings, accompanied by a 25 space parking lot, south of the Community Garden, on 0.91 acres east of Alice Holway Drive. Between Aug. 11, when the petition began circulating, and...
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents "Glass | Pastel," a group show exhibiting blown and sculpted glass with pastel paintings from local artists. Glass | Pastel opens on 3rd Friday Gallery Night, Sept. 15, with a celebration and chance to meet the artists from 5 to 7 p.m. The show will be on view through Saturday, Nov. 4. Artists include Clare Adams, Robert Burch, Deedee Jones, Nicholas Kekic, Marcie Maynard, Patricia McPike, Melissa Rubin, Chris Sherwin, and Maggie...
The unemployed, the unhoused, the people with mental health problems, the panhandlers, the drug users, the dealers, the travelers, the thieves - it is hard to tell the players on the street without a scorecard. When I first thought about writing about homelessness in Brattleboro, I lumped all of the above together because homelessness has become an all-encompassing word. Yet it shouldn't be. Brattleboro has problems, certainly. But why should this town be different from everywhere else in the country?
"Portals," a series of abstract paintings by Liz Hawkes deNiord, is now on exhibit at Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., through Dec. 2. "Liz's dynamic paintings reflect her immersion in the physical process as well as her love of saturated, radiant color and luminosity," the library said in a news release. "The paintings are both dreamlike and grounded. Her process is one of multiple layering, scraping, covering up, and building up heavily textured surfaces with palette knife and paint.
Introduction to hawkwatching offered in Putney PUTNEY - On Saturday, Sept. 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., longtime Putney Mountain hawkwatcher John Anderson will give an introduction to hawkwatching. Those interested can join Anderson in the Putney Mountain summit clearing for this event. While not absolutely necessary, binoculars are highly recommended. Participants should also bring food, water, and sunscreen. After finding their way to the summit clearing, participants should introduce themselves to Anderson and wait patiently for what is...
In June, the Vermont Legislature demonstrated strong commitment to families by overriding the governor's veto and enacting the 2023 Child Care Bill into law. This landmark legislation, investing $125 million annually into the child care system through sustainable and fiscally responsible public investment, stabilizes Vermont's child care sector. It also represents a monumental leap forward in providing accessible, high-quality child care for all Vermont families. By championing this law, Vermont has positioned itself as a national leader in child care,
After WVEW-LP 107.7 FM saw its second-floor studios and transmitter at the Brooks House heavily damaged in the April 17, 2011 fire that gutted the downtown landmark, the nonprofit, independent community radio station found itself homeless and unable to broadcast. A year later, WVEW was back on the air from its new broadcast studio at the Hooker-Dunham Building, across the street from the Brooks House. But there was one big problem with the station's new home in the repurposed shoe...
I was prescribed, and took, a 0.5 mg pill of clonazepam nightly to suppress night terrors for four years, starting in 2011. It's a low dose, but I became habituated - as one does. I stopped cold turkey eight years ago this month and then used somatic therapy to heal my life-destroying sleep disorder. This choice rescued my life. Knowing that my medical conditions are isolating yet widespread in Vermont and the U.S., I wanted to pass on a few...
It was almost 11 p.m., about 2{1/2} hours into a three-hour discussion on Sept. 7 about how the town will provide emergency medical services (EMS) in the future, when the conversation focused a beam directly on the town's partnership with previous provider, Rescue Inc. For a nanosecond, you could hear a pin drop after board member Elizabeth "Liz" McLoughlin, asked the board to direct town staff members to plan to outline a history of the Brattleboro Fire Department's previous relationship...
In the latest legal confrontation in a long string of civil claims and counterclaims surrounding one of the last independent pharmacies in the area, the former owners of Greater Falls Pharmacy are seeking judicial intervention to keep the current owners from closing the business. On Sept. 8, Michelle and Donald Laurendeau, who have operated the pharmacy since 2018, announced on the pharmacy Facebook page that, "due to the changing pharmacy environment and the impact these changes have had on our...
A week of hot weather and thunderstorms is not unusual in early September. However, last week's heat wave, followed by a series of violent thunderstorms, is highly unusual for this time of year. As a result of Vermont getting weather that was more like July than September, the high school sports schedule was thrown into chaos. Football saw the most chaos as nearly every team in Vermont was unable to complete its games due to thunderstorms. The mess was compounded...
Actors Theatre Playhouse (ATP) offers a "Pay-What-You-Like Season-Ending Celebration: Shakespeare to Durang" on Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 15 to Sept. 30, with a theatrical sampler of sorts. The show is designed as a dip-sticking into theater history with monologues, scenes, and one-acts by a host of playwrights and authors. While the Playhouse chooses to keep as a surprise the title of each work on the program, the range of writers tips a hand to the variety in store. •
With the final piece of financing approved on Sept. 11 by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, Tri-Park Cooperative Housing Corporation, which owns three Brattleboro mobile home parks - Mountain Home Park, Glen Park, and Black Mountain Park - is set to implement flood resiliency projects outlined in its 2020 Master Plan. The majority of the $6 million in federal and state grant funds assembled for the project will be used for a voluntary buyback program to relocate 26 Mountain Home...
The Vermont Jazz Center kicks off its 2023–24 season on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. with exciting, cutting-edge Cuban jazz, featuring pianist Dayramir González and his Habana enTRANCé quartet, which includes James Robbins on bass, Juan Chiavassa on drums, and Taka Nikaido on percussion. With piano playing reminiscent of that of his Cuban compatriots Chucho Valdés and Alfredo Rodriguez, González developed blazing technique through rigorous practicing in the classical tradition. He's supercharged it by an embodied sense of internalized...
Billboard calls him "the real thing, people." Singer-songwriter Martin Sexton returns to the Stone Church for the second time, on Friday, Sept. 15 with what Rolling Stone calls his "soul-marinated voice," along with his acoustic guitar and a suitcase full of heartfelt songs. His 2023 tour has taken Sexton across North America in support of his latest release, 2020 Vision, produced by three-time Grammy nominee John Alagía, whose work includes collaborations with Lukas Nelson, John Mayer (who guests on Sexton's...
Out of the gate at the Sept. 12 public forum at Brooks Memorial Library, Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland surprised some by recommending the Selectboard choose a fire-based EMS service for the town - a move supported by the 10 other town staff members present, each speaking in favor of it. "I believe we have a fantastic opportunity in the municipal model," Moreland said. He continued to note that after reviewing the Request for Proposal (RFP) responses from American Medical...