BRATTLEBORO-p>The Brattleboro Women's Chorus invites new members to sing for their 30th fall season on Thursday mornings or evenings. The first rehearsals, on Sept. 11, are open rehearsals for new singers to come and check out the chorus to see if it is a good fit for them. Advance registration is required via our website.
Rehearsals are held Thursday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Brattleboro Music Center, or Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church in West Brattleboro.
This fall's repertoire will feature music in celebration of founder Becky Graber's 30th and last year as Musical Director. She chooses "an eclectic mix of music from around the world that is spirited, uplifting, and memorable," wrote chorus representatives in a news release. Reflecting on this milestone, Graber said, "I am deeply grateful for the many years of singing with this community of women. Leading the chorus has been one of the great joys of my life, and I look forward to sharing music together in this celebratory season."
Graber will be collaborating again this year with local musician, song leader, and future musical director of the Chorus, Anna Patton, whose wealth of musical knowledge and experience will add to the repertoire. "I'm honored to step into this role and to help carry forward the spirit of the chorus," said Patton. "Becky has built such a vibrant and welcoming singing community, and I'm excited to continue that tradition for years to come."...
-Out in the Open will host its 13th annual "Summit for Rural LGBTQ+ People" Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 13 and 14, at the organization's newly acquired land in southern Vermont. The annual gathering brings together LGBTQ+ people from rural and small-town communities across the region "to build community, share...
GUILFORD-The Back O'Town Cajun Band, featuring local musicians, will perform Sunday, Sept. 14, at 5 p.m. on the lawn at Christ Church Guilford, Route 5 in Algiers Village. Back O'Town Cajun Band - with members Pete and Linda Simoneaux on fiddle, accordion, and vocals, and Michael Pattavina on acoustic...
BRATTLEBORO-Peter Siegel, founding member of The Gaslight Tinkers, hosts local seasoned and touring songwriter acts on the first Sunday of every month at the new Marigold on Main Street. On Sept. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., he will be joined by singer-songwriter and songleader Shawn Magee. "Shawn is a masterful lyricist with deep musical roots. He was known as a part of the Barbary Ghosts, a well known sea chantey singing band from the West Coast," wrote Siegel in...
Obituaries • Gary Roger Crowley, 86, of Guilford. Died at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital on Aug. 23, 2025, following a period of declining health. Gary was born in Hornell, New York, on July 5, 1939, the son of Harry and Luella (Knapp) Crowley. He was raised and educated in Hornell, graduating from Hornell High School with the Class of 1957. Gary proudly served his country in the Army and was honorably discharged following his active service. He then went on to...
GUILFORD-Young people ages 13–18 in the greater Brattleboro area are invited to attend an information session on joining a multicultural interfaith youth group. The meeting will be from noon to 2:30 p.m. at the Pavilion at Guilford Community Park. The youth group typically meets at that time once a month, on the first Sunday, culminating in a week-long service trip in the spring of 2026. According to organizers, the purpose of this group is "to build a multicultural community through...
BRATTLEBORO-Artists of all ages are invited to submit their work for an upcoming an upcoming exhibit, "What Does Democracy Look Like?" Submissions may be in any medium - visual, literary, or performance - for the exhibition, which takes place at the Latchis Theatre Sunday, Nov. 16. Organizers said this one-night event "aims to uncover the heart and soul of democratic community through visual art, performance, storytelling, moderated community discussion, and creative audience participation to address the question, 'What Does Democracy...
BRATTLEBORO-On Saturday, Sept. 6, at Living Memorial Park's Rotary Stage, the Next Stage Arts Bandwagon Summer Series continues with Crocodile River Music. Crocodile River Music brings together talented artists from Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Tanzania, and the U.S. "With a deep commitment to connecting audiences with the rich traditions of African music and art," wrote organizers in a news release, "their mission extends beyond performance. They also seek to educate and inspire through the power of African cultural expression."
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents a multimedia dance performance, "The Water Runs Through It: Tools for Water," Friday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. Presented in connection with the exhibition "Making Space," the performance will be followed by a discussion. The performance brings together visual artists Michelle Samour and Sue Rees with activists and dancers Souleymane Badolo and Abdoul Aziz Dermé. It is based on an installation by Samour that covers one large wall of the museum as...
Internet safety workshop in Marlboro MARLBORO - On Saturday, Sept. 6, at 1 p.m. at the Marlboro Community Center at 524 South Rd., DVFiber and AARP will host a free presentation, "Staying Safe on the Internet." Attendees will learn critical strategies to safeguard their personal information from scams and fraud. Alan Baker, AARP representative and former member of the DVFiber Governing Board, will cover topics such as online privacy, security, identity theft, methods used by scammers, and how to safeguard...
BELLOWS FALLS-A pair of performing songwriters, Phil Henry and Erin Ash Sullivan, will play a 3 p.m. matinee at Stage 33 Live Sunday, Sept. 7. Henry is a singer-songwriter steeped in folk tradition, but not bound by it. "He's penned a treasure chest of relatable tunes," wrote organizers in a news release, "building detailed worlds and characters with vivid imagery, upbeat rhythm, and strong melodic sensibility." His songs are often described in cinematic terms by journalists and fans, organizers added.
BRATTLEBORO-Sarasa Ensemble's upcoming performance at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Friday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. focuses on works heard by 18th-century audiences. The program, "@1775 in Boston, London, Paris & Vienna," will include works popular with audiences in four capital cities in the mid- to late-1700s, by composers like Billings, Arne, J.C. Bach, Barsanti, Cervetto, Baltzar, Lanzetti, Haydn, and Mozart. "Do not neglect your music," Thomas Jefferson once wrote his daughter. "It will be a companion which will sweeten...
BRATTLEBORO-Under the Maple presents the duo Dearest Dear for an outdoor concert Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. Rooted in the musical traditions of New England, Dearest Dear presents traditional tunes from Ireland, New England, Québec, and France, and craft vocal harmonies for age-old songs with modern relevance. Rose Jackson (fiddle, vocals), draws her sound from her upbringing in the folk scene of western Massachusetts, grounded in her "deep love of old repertoire" and her experience touring festivals with bands...
BRATTLEBORO-On Saturday, Sept. 13, at 3 p.m., ByWay Books & More, 399 Canal St., hosts Terry Hauptman and Toni Ortner as they showcase their latest published poetry. They are longtime friends who have often partnered in poetry readings. Ortner grew up in Woodmere, Long Island, and now lives in Vermont. She has had 33 books published by small presses, most recently, The Vincent van Gogh Notebooks, published by Dancing Girl Press & Studio. She hosts the Putney Public Library Writers...
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) launches its winter-spring season of classes, starting in mid-September. Most sessions are 10 weeks long and begin the week of Sept. 14. This season's offerings include a new free daytime course that focuses on the history of jazz and shares lots of tips to enhance one's listening experience. All are welcome to Jazz 101 with jazz scholar and educator Ben Young, director of the Jazz History Database and educator at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The course...
Trees precariously balanced on power lines, dragging them down to the ground, surrounded by darkened streetlights and homes. Road-closed signs warning of downed electrical cables ahead. The sound of chainsaws wielded by line workers trying to safely remove felled trees and restore electricity to homes, schools, doctors' offices, and businesses. The smell of gasoline-powered generators for those intrepid enough to keep them filled. These year-round scenes are becoming more common in Windham County, as harder, heavier, more destructive weather events...
-In 2022, the Twin Valley Wildcats girls' soccer team had a 0-14 record and did not score a goal all season. Last year, the Wildcats had a 6-7-1 record and lost 2-0 to Winooski in the first round of the Division IV playoffs. Can the Wildcats continue their improvement this season? Against Sharon Academy, a team that upset Leland & Gray in the first round of the Division IV playoffs last year, the Wildcats dominated from start to finish in...
BRATTLEBORO-On the way to a meeting, I encountered a 90-year-old retired businessman. We talked about shoes, and he talked about the past and what he hoped to do today. I winced when the conversation turned to current politics and when he praised President Trump's agendas. We disagreed. However, we continued to talk. We seemed to agree on two issues: that monopolies in the telecommunications sector is a negative, and that government oversight of the health insurance industry is a benefit...
WESTMINSTER-"Vermont is what America should be," said U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, speaking on Aug. 30 in Westminster in a rolling green meadow under sunlit skies and towering elms and black maples. Approximately 75 Windham County Democrats met with the senator to eat barbecue and hear about the state of American democracy. The report was not good. But then, the Democrats expected that. "We all are sharing a horror that there's state-sponsored discrimination," Welch said. "We all are horrified that...
BRATTLEBORO-Eighty years ago this week, World War II was officially declared over with the formal signing of documents of surrender by Japan on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945. The ranks of those in uniform that day - and who remember the sense of relief that came with the end of the most destructive conflict in human history - are dwindling by the day. Two such veterans were honored on Aug. 25 at...
BOSTON-It seems only yesterday that Brattleboro was checkered with homes flying Tibetan prayer flags on their front porches and yard signs that read "Hate Has No Home Here" and "Stop the Hate." Because those make up my memories of living in Brattleboro, I was stunned to recently see a large sign of a screaming, fist-clenched individual in the front window of a shop on Main Street that encourages us to "Remain Outraged." I was so dumbfounded that I took a...
Tim Stevenson ([email protected]) is a community organizer with Post Oil Solutions and is the author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (Green Writers Press) and Transformative Activism: A Values Revolution in Everyday Life in a Time of Societal Collapse (Apocryphile Press). He is working on a book about mutual care associations. ATHENS-By any definition, we are rapidly becoming a police state. The U.S. is sliding toward fascism faster than ever. Consider all that has...
Cassandra Holloway works for a nonprofit that focuses on substance misuse prevention and youth empowerment. Gavin Rea Holloway (2007–2024) "left a void that will never be filled, and the thoughts of how he has enriched the lives of so many in his world will stay with them always," his family wrote in his obituary. "His essence, his spirit, his person - every part of him - is carried in all who knew him." BRATTLEBORO-He wasn't just being a difficult teenager. My...
Editor's note: As we go to press with this issue, drivers have returned to work. Story, A1. BRATTLEBORO-Here's some important context to keep in mind with regard to the school bus debacle. Last year Whitsons, a New York company backed by private equity firm GenNx360 Capital Partners, purchased the local food service company Fresh Picks, which served most of the schools in WSESU. Immediately, the quality of the food started to decline, and there were issues with the quantity of...
WARDSBORO-It was interesting to read the Tristan Roberts' "The long, uphill battle against the working class" [Viewpoint, Aug. 19] and Erica Walch's article "Can we take care of our own?" [Response, Aug. 26]. To combine the best of both of their good ideas, are they saying that we could take some of those unfortunate people that Tristan encounters crossing the pedestrian bridge to the Co-op and return to them some communal land - maybe create a modern version of the...
GRAFTON-Inspired by Dan DeWalt's recent Viewpoint, I submit the following letter to the editor: On Jan. 6, 2021, a violent, armed mob that was assembled, exhorted, and coordinated by then-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the presidential election he had lost. Despite this attempted coup, he retained the support of members of the MAGA movement and, by their complicity, the Republican party at large. This once-failed seditionist has been given a second opportunity to install...
Disclosure: Michael Bosworth is the treasurer of the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit organization that publishes The Commons. BRATTLEBORO-Thanks so much to Tristan Roberts for getting the conversation started ["The long, uphill battle against the working class," Viewpoint, Aug. 19] about wealth, poverty and the working class; to Steev Lynn for his helpful correctives ["A'skewed and cherry-picked version of English property history'," Letters, Aug. 26], and to Erica Walch ["Can we take care of our own?,"
NEWFANE-A relative newcomer on the venue scene, Music at Union Hall (MAUH), a Newfane-based concert series, is gaining traction. Housed in the 1832 architectural gem on the town's Common, the series is focused on providing stage time for local musicians, on building a community of musicians and music technicians, and to some extent, on presenting musicians from a bigger pool. In that last zone, according to a recent press release, MAUH hosts a double bill of solo immersive guitar performances...
BELLOWS FALLS-WOOL-FM 91.5 Black Sheep Radio in Bellows Falls is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and looking to the future with fundraising plans to replace the station's aging transmitter and get more volunteers involved in broadcasting. As one of only two full-power FM noncommercial community radio stations in the state - and with fewer than a dozen in New England - WOOL transmits diverse programming, much of it locally created. From polka, Celtic, bluegrass, the Great American Songbook, alt-country,
WESTMINSTER WEST-The United States is in a different place from where it was seven months ago. We have a president who is ignoring the courts and the Constitution, and we have a Congress who is turning a blind eye. Below are a few suggestions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on how you can help: • Stay strong and protest - peacefully! Violence is not the answer. • Look at your phone contacts and ask friends who have Republican senators to...
BRATTLEBORO-Busing issues in the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) caused real mayhem last week on the first day of school after TravelKuz, the district's bus contractor, locked out regular drivers. While the drivers, whose contract with the transportation vendor expired in June, returned to work on Sept. 2, it seems clear that a rift remains. On Sept. 1, TravelKuz issued a press release saying, "We are heartened to hear that Teamsters Local 597 is ready to come back to the...
GUILFORD-I want to commend Steev Lynn for correcting the historical record in response to Tristan Roberts' commentary. Where Roberts tried to explain today's homelessness crisis through the lens of English enclosures, Lynn rightly pointed out that the story was far more complicated. What Roberts overlooks is that the defining feature of English and later British landholding was not some lost utopia of shared commons, but hereditary control that persists to this day. Serfs were bound to feudal lords for centuries.
BRATTLEBORO-It promises to be an afternoon of humanitarian support and fine music as a host of regionally and internationally recognized musicians queue up for Life Aid for Palestine, a benefit concert on Sunday, Sept. 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, and on livestream. Organized by local advocates for Palestinian justice and liberation and co-sponsored by Southern Vermont for Palestine, the event, according to its press release, comes "at a time when many of us...
BRATTLEBORO-Actions taken by the town of Brattleboro to remove encampments of homeless individuals in recent weeks have left observers expressing urgency about finding shelter for the community's unhoused population. In August, camps were dismantled in the Prospect Hill and Morningside cemeteries and under the new General John Stark bridge to Hinsdale, New Hampshire, according to town Health Officer Charles Keir III. A notice to evict was also given to a man camped on the abandoned rail right-of-way off Riverside Drive,