Kathleen Hawes

In it for the elephants

In it for the elephants

Newfane volunteer assists Sri Lanka’s endangered wildlife

Last month, Hollis Burbank-Hammarlund left her home in Newfane to board a plane for Sri Lanka - arriving just in time for one of the country's oldest and grandest of Buddhist festivals, the Kandy Esala Perahera.

But while this 10-day celebration of fire-dancing, costumed acrobats, and traditional song flooded the streets of Kandy, Burbank-Hammarlund was tasked with a less festive job.

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The dog with nine lives

After a harrowing spring, Farmer the Dog finds love with a new family

“He was covered in ticks and, worse, he was just fur and bones,” said Cassandra Holloway. “I had no idea how long he had been there” On July 4, when Holloway found Farmer by the porch of her mother's house in West Townshend, it had been months since she...

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Tomatoes? No. Salsa from local tomatoes? Yes.

Windham Grows seeks to create jobs by cultivating businesses that support farms

The closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in December 2014 has meant the loss of some 600 jobs locally. Jim Verzino, Director and Co-founder of Windham Grows, is working on a seven-year-plan to fill that gap by helping to expand local businesses that derive their products or...

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Nonprofit matches Vermonters with bikes

David Cohen, founder of VBikes, is now working with local bike shops to make Vermont bike culture more “inclusive,” a movement that he says is “less about the bike and more about being a human being.” VBikes is a nonprofit advocacy organization which, in contract with GoVermont, a division within the Vermont Agency of Transportation, has been providing free bike consultations to individuals seeking what founder David Cohen calls “car reduction therapy.” Cohen does so with the help of e-cargo...

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Bakery re-opens in Brattleboro

Jasmine's Bakery and Peter Havens restaurant have teamed up in a shared space of deliciousness. In the two years since Jasmine Bernier stopped selling her cupcakes out of North End Butchers on Putney Road and returned to baking at home, many folks in town couldn't get their buttercream frosting fix. But she has set up shop on 34 Elliot St., next door to Peter Havens. The location is not a coincidence. Bernier is a long-time friend of Zach Corbin, Peter...

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Conversation, community, and commerce

After living in Baltimore for 15 years, artists Katie Bachler and Scott Berzofsky have moved back to the Green Mountains and are now running the Avenue Grocery at 82 Western Ave. Though the two have kept the same corner-store vibe the shop has maintained for over 40 years, they are also integrating some changes. While you can still buy a pack of cigarettes, lottery tickets, or the cone of soft-serve ice cream regionally known as a creemee, now customers may...

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‘A very moving moment’

On a beautiful July morning, a small crowd gathered on Walnut Street to witness an unusual event - the sight of seven pianos being hoisted from the second-floor window of the Brattleboro Music Center so they could be whisked away in moving vans. The flying pianos was the grand finale to a project that has been years in the planning and months in the execution - moving the BMC from its cozy quarters on 38 Walnut St. into a new...

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