BELLOWS FALLS-Virginia Driscoll will be exhibiting her artwork at the Rockingham Free Public Library until Monday, June 30. Her exhibit consists of an oil portrait series and a collection of watercolors named "Passing Fancies."
Driscoll says "Passing Fancies" watercolors were created as a way to hold space for creativity when it seemed like there was no time. On early weekend mornings, she found half an hour to start the day with creativity. "The result is this collection of whimsical, serious, colorful [...] paintings," she says.
Driscoll has been painting since childhood, saying one of her first playthings was a set of watercolor paints. She focused on intermedia arts while studying at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. She's been a resident of Bellows Falls for a little over 10 years.
This art exhibit, which is free, is located in the Fiction room in the Rockingham Library. For more information, call the library at 802-463-4270, email [email protected], or go to rockinghamlibrary.org.
Plant sale at RFPL on May 31BELLOWS FALLS - On Saturday, May 31, from 9 a.m. until noon, the Friends of the Rockingham Free Public Library will host its annual plant sale. Proceeds from the sale will help fund many of the library's needs in furnishings, sponsored talks and...
BRATTLEBORO-The 19th annual Walk for Amber, a fundraising event for the Amber Bernier Scholarship, will be held on Sunday, June 1, at 11 a.m. Registration begins at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital parking lot at 10:30 a.m. The course is a 5-mile loop beginning and ending at the hospital. All...
Elayne Clift (elayne-clift.com) has written this column about women, politics, and social issues for almost 20 years. BRATTLEBORO-Some time ago I wrote a piece about my fear of flying. It was after reading Erica Jong's 1973 novel Fear of Flying, which had nothing to do with flying. But it had a bit in it about her own fear of flying that captured my anxiety. Her description of trembling on takeoff mirrored mine. Whenever I think about boarding a hunk of...
WEST BRATTLEBORO-Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center (BEEC) presents "Forest of Melody," a celebration of music, nature, and community, taking place Sunday, June 8, at 1221 Bonnyvale Rd. Patrons may wander through blooming meadows and lush forest trails on a magical, 1.5-hour journey where the sounds of nature mingle with live music. Along this enchanting half-mile path, journeyers will discover a variety of short, live performances tucked in natural settings. Groups depart every 20 minutes from 2 to 4:40 p.m. Tickets are...
GUILFORD-A day of "delicious discoveries and good times with a purpose" will be on tap at the Brattleboro Brewers Festival on Saturday, May 31 with "a vibrant celebration of craft beverages, live music, and community fun," said organizers in a news release. The Brattleboro Brewers Festival has been an annual event since 2010. This year's festival expands its sampling to include ready-to-serve cocktails alongside the local microbrews and ciders. Returning Vermont brewers include Lawson's Finest, Upper Pass, and Citizen Cider,
BELLOWS FALLS-Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents solo shows by Kathleen Kathan and Marianne Shaugnessy. Both exhibitions are open through July 13. Kathan, based in Acworth, New Hampshire, uses oil paint and realism to express the importance to the artist of rural backyard agriculture and wildlife. Kathan's paintings of agricultural life, such as "Three Jerseys Grazing" and "Heifers On Summer Pasture," show the landscape and domesticated animals who live on it. In artworks "In from The Sea" and...
College news • Jonathan Griffin, a business administration major from West Townshend, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Griffin was named to the spring 2025 President's List and was also hired in April, before his graduation, to be an administrative innkeeper at the Windham Hill Inn in West Townshend. • Rei Kimura of Brattleboro was named to the spring 2025 Dean's List at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. • Makenna Milbauer of Grafton was...
BRATTLEBORO-Boston-based Juventas New Music Ensemble presents "Sounds of New England," a program of music inspired by natural places in each New England state. From the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the lighthouses of Rhode Island, this concert offers a musical tour, set for Friday, May 30, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center. The program includes Stacy Garrop's "Beacon of the Bay," Oliver Caplan's In the Direction of Dreams, Rachel Panitch's "Sand and Snow," Jason Cain's "Granite Peaks...
MARLBORO-"Can It Happen Here?," a conversation with longtime teacher and activist Tim Kipp, will take place on Thursday, June 5, at 7 p.m. at the Marlboro Community Center, 534 South Rd. This event is free. Kipp taught history and political science at Brattleboro Union High School for 39 years, and has been a political activist since the 1960s. It Can't Happen Here is the title of the 1935 Sinclair Lewis novel about a fascist takeover of the country. In the...
BRATTLEBORO-The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont presents its 38th annual AIDS Walk, taking place on Saturday, May 31, from 10 a.m. to noon. This annual tradition will be held at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. All are invited to join for a morning of speakers, music, community celebration, and remembrance. This year, the event has been officially renamed the Ron & Shirley Squires AIDS Walk, recognizing the enduring legacy and advocacy of the Squires family. "Ron Squires made history...
BRATTLEBORO-A diverse body of artwork by Guyanese-American artist Carl E. Hazlewood is currently on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC). "Infinite Passage" includes 50 of Hazlewood's mixed-media paintings, drawings, and installations, in which the artist explores themes such as the passage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic and the landscapes and seascapes in Guyana. Hazlewood will discuss the exhibition in an online conversation hosted by BMAC on Tuesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. He will be joined...
PUTNEY-Twilight Music and Next Stage Arts Project launch the 22nd Twilight on the Tavern Lawn series of bluegrass, Americana, world, swing, and pop music summer concerts on Sunday, June 1, with progressive world music quartet Acoustic Nomads. The seven-concert series continues every other Sunday through Aug. 24. All concerts begin at 6 p.m. in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn or, in case of rain, at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill. The series is sponsored by Next Stage,
BRATTLEBORO-"Music of Beethoven," with Bruce Griffin at the piano will be presented at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Sunday, June 1, at 3 p.m. Griffin, a BMC Faculty member, presents a program that traces the composer's evolution through three creative periods. Included in the program are Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1; Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major, Op. 27, No. 1, "Quasi una fantasia"; Andante favori WoO 57; and Sonata No.32 in C minor, Op.
BRATTLEBORO—Special Representative Town Meeting has approved a FY26 budget of $24,971,305 after failing to do so in March and sending it back to the Selectboard. The body met Tuesday, May 27 at Brattleboro Union High School, after press time. After almost two hours, the question was called and a roll call vote taken in which the proposed budget passed 110-4. The vote to approve came after a failed amendment to add $43,045 to the budget, clearly intended to restore the...
-It's always a treat to see two top high school pitchers throw strikes and frustrate hitters. Baseball fans got to see that on a chilly afternoon on May 21 as Mount Anthony's Jacoby Dicranian and Brattleboro's Jayke Glidden engaged in an old-fashioned pitcher duel at Tenney Field. Glidden and Dicranian are two of the best pitchers in southern Vermont. When they faced each other in Bennington on May 14, Dicranian and the MAU Patriots got the better of Glidden and...
BRATTLEBORO-The annual Memorial Day Service at American Legion Post 5 on May 26 may have seemed low-key compared to past years, but the sentiments of honoring the sacrifice of those who served their country shined bright. "We need to be consistently reminded of our gift of freedom, and those who gave all to make sure future generations continue to know life in a free and democratic society," said Post 5 Chaplain Mike LeClaire at the start of the service. However,
MARLBORO-As a longtime volunteer and chair of the town's new cemetery commission, Marcia Hamilton annually prepares for Memorial Day by helping place American flags at the graves of local soldiers. This year, that tradition hit especially close to home with the latest addition to the list: The 102-year-old World War II hero she knew as Dad. Richard Henry Hamilton was born to nearby Brattleboro farmers on Sept. 28, 1922. The family didn't plug into electricity until after he graduated from...
Timothy Belknap is a Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting member representing District 9. For more information about the town charter review process, including the results of the survey mentioned in this piece, visit brattleboro.gov/charter-commission. BRATTLEBORO-A recent analysis of responses to Brattleboro's Charter Revision Survey reveals deep and widespread dissatisfaction with the current Representative Town Meeting (RTM) system. In Districts 7, 8, and 9, a strong majority of respondents - 66%, 78%, and 62%, respectively - expressed discontent with how RTM functions,
Meg Mott is professor emerita of Marlboro College and Emerson College and describes herself as a "Constitution Wrangler." PUTNEY-Due process, like free speech, is a bedrock principle of constitutional democracy. The Fifth Amendment states that "no person" shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The due process clause prevents public officials from detaining anyone without a formal charge or finding someone guilty without giving them a chance to present their defense. The federal courts...
BRATTLEBORO-Selectboard members are proceeding with caution about if and how the town might step up if the Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge is repurposed. "There are risks and liabilities, and we need to be mindful of them," said Board Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin. "And there are financial responsibilities. Hinsdale and Brattleboro are playing a very interesting game of Old Maid that no one wants this responsibility." Town representatives had met with the Board of Selectmen in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, in March to...
BELLOWS FALLS-In one of three contested races, Paul Obuchowski won his bid for Village Trustees president, defeating Deborah Wright 145–18. Both have served as president in past years. Incumbent trustee Susan MacNeil and newcomer Samantha Snow also won seats, with 131 and 135 votes, respectively, while former trustee Wright received 30 votes. In the race for village treasurer, Donna Harty beat challenger Pamela Willard, 108–47. Voters assembled downstairs in the Town Hall for the Annual Village Meeting on May 19,
NEWFANE-There was a time when the 1825 jail house in Newfane would house up to a few dozen prisoners, according to conjecture - from hardened criminals to petty thieves, mostly men, with some women. The jail, situated on the green across from Newfane's picturesque Common where the 1825 Windham County Courthouse stands, was shut down in 1971. In 1986, the Windham County Sheriff's Department repurposed the clapboard structure to serve as its headquarters until 2022, when it moved to Old...
BRATTLEBORO-A new podcast, Brattleboro-grown, is now available from Vermont Public. Produced by Elissa Pine and Jennifer Sutton of Two Daughters Productions, The Afghan Women of Brattleboro profiles the lives of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power there in 2021. Of the tens of thousands of Afghans the U.S. evacuated to safety that year, some 100 people of all ages ended up in the greater Brattleboro area. The six-episode podcast was the first such project for Pine, executive...
BRATTLEBORO-The local music scene is getting even richer since Glenn Alper of Northampton, Massachusetts, bought the River Garden building last summer. The space at 157 Main St., most recently the River Garden Marketplace, has reopened as Marigold, a café, bar, and live music venue. "I see us being kind of a social hub for Brattleboro, the surrounding communities, and the creative community especially," Alper says. "I'm blown away by how much talent there is locally and want to support that...
NEWFANE-Like a spoiled child, Donald Trump is whining about wanting a birthday parade that will cost us, the taxpayers, as much as $45 million. Like a spoiled child, Trump runs home whenever possible to escape the political heat of Washington to indulge in golf. We foot that bill, too. As of February, or one month into his presidency, one estimate of his trips to Mar-a-Lago was over $10.7 million (more than half a billion dollars if this continues for four...
BELLOWS FALLS-My name is Dylan Stewart, and I am a senior at Windham Regional Career Center studying business. On May 20, my class and I were able to attend the 2025 Southern Vermont Economy Summit at Mount Snow, which included a presentation regarding employment in southern Vermont. Basically, Baby Boomers (a huge portion of the workforce) are retiring, and Gen Z doesn't seem to want to work. Businesses are complaining about not hiring the next generation of workers, but what...