Seven Days, September 2, 2026

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VE RMO NT ’S IN DEPE NDEN T VO IC E SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026 VOL.31 NO.52 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

PAGE 14

COLLEGE TRY At a time when many universities are struggling, Community College of Vermont is providing a practical, affordable education to a wide range of students

BY ALISON NOVAK, PAGE 26

PUNCHING UP

PAGE 34

Granite City MMA swings big

THE CREAM RISES

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UVM teams refuel with chocolate milk

PICTURE PERFECT

PAGE 52

Shelburne Museum fêtes Rockwell

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AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY POOL PHOTO BY GREGORY J. LAMOUREUX/COUNTY COURIER

WHITE OUT Diane Wheeler in 2016

A grant will allow a team of New England researchers to create a regional monitoring system for snowpack, Vermont Public reported. Expect better ski reports.

CHECKING TWICE

CITY: PROSECUTOR’S DOG SHOULD BE PUT DOWN

The City of Burlington has recommended that Moose, a dog accused of attacking several pets and humans over the past three years, be euthanized to protect the public.

The recommendation was shared on Monday night with the city’s Animal Control Committee, which took testimony from several people who said Moose had bitten or charged them. The committee said it will issue a written decision in the coming weeks.

That decision, though, may not be the end of the matter.

That’s because Moose’s owner, Diane Wheeler, says she and the mutt have moved out of the city. A deputy prosecutor in Franklin County, Wheeler plans to retire next month and said on Monday that she’s currently “transient,” living with family outside of Burlington while she waits to move into a new apartment.

“This committee has no jurisdiction over Moose or me,” Wheeler said.

Residents of the New North End neighborhood where Wheeler had previously lived with her mother don’t want the dog coming back — ever. During testimony, several urged the animal committee to back the city’s euthanasia

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recommendation. They said Moose has been terrorizing them since Wheeler adopted the mutt in 2023 and that she hasn’t prevented the dog from hurting people.

Among those to testify was Betsy Hibbitts, a defense attorney. In April Moose bit her on the face near a St. Albans courthouse. Wheeler invited Hibbitts over to her car to say hello to the dog, whereupon he lunged at and bit her.

“This is a problem that should have been solved before I went to the hospital with my upper lip hanging from my face,” Hibbitts said. “I’m sorry for Moose, but Moose is not a safe dog, and I don’t know how he could be made safe.”

Wheeler told the committee that she is getting Moose more training, including to be a service dog. She disputed Hibbitts’ account and suggested that the defense attorney was asking to get bit by sticking her face into the car in an apparent attempt to kiss Moose.

“Moose did not move any part of the body other than his jaw,” Wheeler said. “Moose did exactly what he was supposed to do as a dog, and that is, he snapped at her.”

Read Colin Flanders’ full story at sevendaysvt.com.

A review of Vermont voter rolls found nearly 900 people were registered to vote inadvertently over the past 25 years, though none had voted.

Officials say they’ve fixed the errors.

SAFER SPAN The Quechee Gorge Bridge has reopened after a yearslong project to install suicide barriers. A fine sight to see.

BOOK IT Middlebury’s Ilsley Public Library reopened after a nearly 18-month, $17 million renovation. Read on!

added to its campus, the Putney school for neurodivergent students announced, almost tripling its size.

TOPFIVE

MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM

1. “Teen Cyclist Was in Crosswalk Marked by Flashing Lights When Fatally Struck by Vehicle” by Colin Flanders. Authorities detailed the case against driver Douglas Knapp when he appeared in court last week.

2. “Prosecutor to Retire Amid More Complaints About Problematic Dog” by Colin Flanders.

A Franklin County prosecutor whose dog has attacked people and pets is retiring this month. See a related story on this page.

3. “South Burlington Police Make an Effort to Stop More Cars” by Colin Flanders. In a bid to make the roads safer, South Burlington police are bucking a national trend of fewer traffic stops.

4. “The Closures of Four Dairy Plants Lead to Worry in Vermont” by Kevin McCallum. The unexpected shuttering of several milkprocessing plants is bad news for Vermont’s dairy industry.

5. “Ralston’s Restaurant to Open in St. Albans”

by Jordan Barry. A Franklin County chef’s twostory spot will serve New England and French Canadian “reimagined classics.”

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License Plate Readers Are Not Flocking Around Vermont Vermont is not filled with automatic license plate reader technology, but at least four cameras associated with the controversial company Flock have come to roost in the parking lot of a Lowe’s in South Burlington, the Other Paper reported. The company’s website says it uses the technology to “help ensure security, prevent theft and fraud,” among other reasons.

Read more at vtcng.com/otherpapersbvt.

THAT’S SO VERMONT

FINDING PEACE Clusters of tiny peace-sign stickers scattered in Burlington parks have lifted Celia Cuddy’s spirits. “Stuff is just so hard right now in the community and in the country,” Cuddy said, referring to local struggles with homelessness and drug addiction and what she called the “mean-spiritedness” of the Trump administration.

When she learned in July of the Peace & Justice Center’s sticker scavenger hunt, she and her wife, JB Barna, printed out the clues — written as poems — and started searching.

Thirty-three clutches of half-inch-wide, metallic-blue peace signs are hiding in 24 parks.

As of last week, Cuddy and Barna had found

15. “It’s not easy,” Cuddy said, but she’s had fun finding new corners of parks she thought she knew well and discovering one — Potvin Park — she hadn’t heard of at all.

Peace & Justice Center operations director Kason Hudman created the challenge, patterned after the dérive — based on the French word for “drift” — advocated by the Situationist International, a group of artists, writers and social critics active in Europe in the mid-20th century. The idea of the dérive, Hudman said, was to encourage artists to look at their surroundings in a new way through unstructured rambles.

I could set up a scavenger hunt that would encourage people to go and look around, he remembered thinking.

His pilot last summer featured a single sticker at each spot, which proved too difficult.

So, he added more stickers, posted a photo of each cluster online and relaunched the Burlington hunt in July. (Find the clues at btvderive.pjcvt.org.)

One person has found all 33.

“I love having this renewed sense of curiosity about my hometown,” Cuddy said.

She has turned some people on to the hunt and prompted others to steer clear of her. “I’ll be studying, like, a lamppost or a grill in a park, and people will walk by, and they’ll just give me a funny look,” she said.

“Whenever we find one of these little clusters of stickers, it’s like disproportional happiness,” she said. In the current social and political climate, she said, “it’s really nice to have these little bursts of delight.”

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8/10/26 10:32 AM

THREE IN ONE

Cathy Resmer’s “From the Deputy Publisher” piece [“School Daze,” August 26] was great. And, without realizing it, in that one day, Cathy moved us a tiny bit closer to solving three huge problems in our state. Opening up their home (again) to three younger people, she and her wife are helping with our affordable housing problem. Giving that rent money to their two college-aged kids, they are helping with the student debt problem. And by paying her “fat speeding ticket,” she is doing her bit to help our state budget.

That was quite a day.

Susan McMillan

COLCHESTER

STATE SHOULD PREVAIL

[Re “Double Duty: Some Vermont Cops Are Paid to Patrol the Border — Despite a State Policy That Bans Collaboration With Federal Immigration Authorities,” August 19]: What was Chittenden County Deputy Sheriff Scott Costella doing in Franklin County, engaging U.S. Border Patrol in a traffic stop? Working for Operation Stonegarden, his call to Border Patrol for a traffic ticket in violation of the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy resulted in trauma to another immigrant family, deportation of Alex Jimenez to Mexico and a weakened policy.

I’m glad to see that Chittenden County Sheriff Dan Gamelin has since suspended his agency’s participation in Operation Stonegarden. That probably took some courage on his part. But suspension is a temporary measure; what effect will that suspension have on the Chittenden County Sheriff ’s Office and on the policing policy over time?

I’m sorry to see that Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark supports Operation Stonegarden; she does not appear to understand the conflict between this program and Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, which is required by state statute and necessary for the integrity of Vermont’s law enforcement system.

CORRECTION

An August 19 news story, “Winooski Man Charged in Fatal Downtown Burlington Stabbing,” misstated the age of the victim, Deng Dau. He was 23 years old.

Thanks to Vermont’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union for standing up for fair and impartial policing! Given that one sheriff’s office wants to weaken the state’s policy, we’re in for a difficult discussion with the Vermont Criminal Justice Council to clarify the relationship between Operation Stonegarden, the Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, and law enforcement.

Immigrants sustaining our dairy farms and other businesses should not have to live in daily terror of being deported.

Sylvia Knight

BURLINGTON

FEDS ARE IN CHARGE

[Re “Double Duty,” August 19]: If Sgt. Scott Costella was working and being paid by the federal government on this detail, then Migrant Justice’s issue is with the federal government’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security — although I don’t

believe it has a legitimate complaint. As far as Sheriff Dan Gamelin making a statement about this deputy being investigated, my opinion is that Gamelin should’ve told Migrant Justice to take a hike. This gentleman, Costella, was not being paid under Gamelin’s office. The Fair and Impartial Policing Policy is clearly, I’m guessing from the article, not part of Homeland Security’s concerns.

Tonya Lawyer

BRISTOL

TOO MANY TRAILS

I read with interest the article “Rogue Rage” [August 19].

Having been a biker, skier and throughhiker in past decades, I have now settled on ambling trailed and untrailed northern Vermont woodlands. My walks are more like food than exercise. I first noticed random mountain biking trails appearing around here about 20 years ago. Those

early trails were not overly wide and were relatively considerate of the landscape.

As one who appreciates the quietude and exquisite details of changing habitat as I walk, I am very disturbed to see the current trend toward ever more extreme and imposing constructs in the landscape.

I suppose it should not be surprising given the American attitudes toward nature of extract, impose and dominate, which in the end are proving to be unsustainable.

I also suppose it is unreasonable to expect an understanding and respect for the concept of entering nature for the express purpose of, dare I say, spiritual commune, from those who see it merely as a convenient arena for activity. Their naïve sense of entitled mission is remarkable, with the landscape paying the price.

I am not anti-mountain bike. Having been a biker, I understand the appeal. There are currently abundant, beautiful trails enjoyed by many that never seem crowded.

Can’t we keep some perspective on the cost of uncontrolled, inconsiderate expansion?

Jim Kelso

WORCESTER

UNFAIR PUNISHMENT

While the article “Rogue Rage” [August 19] was some of the more fair reporting on the topic that I’ve seen, I think it’s important to look at the larger picture.

Here we have a local who became so enthusiastic about a sport that he dedicated countless hours and spent his own money on tools and materials to create one of the most creative, thrilling and challenging ways to enjoy that sport. Then he took what he learned, joined a local organization and dedicated many more thousands of volunteer hours to building sanctioned, legal trails in Stowe. Then he was punished?

Of course it wasn’t “right” to build the trail on state land without approval, yet we

all know how difficult it is to get anything approved by the state, let alone a doubleblack, expert-only mountain bike trail. But a bike trail is not a road or a ski glade; it’s an 8-by-12-inch-wide squiggly line and 30-inch-wide corridor through the woods.

Comparisons to the existing logging roads and clear-cut patches on the very same parcel turn the entire suite of arguments

by Mike Snyder and Lisa Lynn into a farcical exercise of hypocrisy, NIMBYism and personal vendettas. People like that make Vermont worse.

Many bike trail networks started as collections of unsanctioned trails built by dedicated enthusiasts. Many, many more backcountry skiing lines were illegally cut and continue to be enjoyed every winter.

People like Cyril Brunner are heroes to the rest of us who love the outdoor activities Vermont offers.

Harrison Gatos

BURLINGTON

ONLY TAKES ONE

[Re “Rogue Rage,” August 19]: In response to the valid frustration of skiers, bikers and outdoor enthusiasts, Seven Days reports that “State officials say they have improved their processes.”

This is patently false. Sanctioned backcountry ski zones are almost entirely in Green Mountain National Forest, not on state land. Similarly, the visionaries from Vermont Huts & Trails (who are behind the effort to build a bike trail the length of the state like the Long Trail or Catamount Trail), have made huge progress in the national forest but are stonewalled on state land, like when the state refused to allow a parking area off Route 100 in Warren for an essential connection.

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COLLEGE TRY At a time when many universities are struggling, Community College of Vermont is providing a practical, affordable education to a wide range of students

BY AL ISON NO VA K

26

Seat at the ‘Situation Table’ A new Burlington program brings together social service providers to help people address their problems

Smugglers’ Market

A man who helped people sneak across the border posted their testimonials on TikTok to attract more customers

STUCK IN VERMONT

For the Love of Figs

In Vermont’s short season, a Monkton grower goes to great lengths to cultivate the fruit

11 Magnificent 7 13 From the Publisher 39 Side Dishes 50 Movie Review 56 Soundbites 60 Album Review 93 Ask the Reverend

Settlement to Address Language Barriers in Prisons

NEWS+POLITICS 14

42

COLUMNS

COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN • IMAGES DARIA BISHOP

14

CHURCH ST. MARKETPLACE, RED SQUARE ALLEY, 30 THORSEN WAY

Class Action Suit Filed Over Contamination in Bennington Burlington Teen Cyclist Was in Crosswalk When Fatally Hit by Car

Online Thursday

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FEATURES 26 One-Two Punch

With recent wins at bare-knuckle fighting’s highest level, Sophia Hayes and Chris Perreault put Granite City MMA on the map

ARTS+CULTURE 44 Dark Matters

A haunting new “disaster comic” turns an unflinching eye to the dehumanization that fuels genocides

Arlington as Apple Pie An exhibition at Shelburne Museum showcases Norman Rockwell’s connections to community SUPPORTED BY: Isaac Bissell is a macrophotographer who documents the “tiny dramas” of bees and wasps in his South Burlington backyard. He shares the photos at Vermont Pollinator Photography on Instagram, where “pollinator nerds” are welcome. Seven Days’ Eva Sollberger got a tour and met some of his subjects.

MON-WED 9:30AM-8:30PM TH-SAT - 9:30AM-9PM • SUN - 10AM-7:30PM Cannabis has not been analyzed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For use by individuals 21 years of age or older or registered qualifying patient only. KEEP THIS PRODUCT AWAY FROM CHILDREN AND PETS. DO NOT USE IF PREGNANT OR BREASTFEEDING. Possession or use of cannabis may carry significant legal penalties in some jurisdictions and under federal law. It may not be transported outside of the state of Vermont. The effects of edible cannabis may be delayed by two hours or more. Cannabis may be habit forming and can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Persons 25 years and younger may be more likely to experience harm to the developing brain. It is against the law to drive or operate machinery when under the influence of this product. National Poison Control Center 1-800-222-1222.

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SECTIONS 22 Life Lines 38 Food + Drink 44 Culture 50 On Screen 52 Art 56 Music + Nightlife 62 Calendar 72 Classes 73 Classifieds + Puzzles 89 Fun Stuff 92 Personals

Monkey Business

A Burlington woman has sold the letters she and her family received from Curious George creators H.A. and Margret Rey

BurlinGton, VermonT

LIVE MUSIC EVERY FRIDAY • 4-7PM September 4

Mike MacDonald We have

September 11

Ryan Sweezey September 18

Kyle Stevens Find a new job in the classifieds section on page 80 and online at jobs.sevendaysvt.com.

September 25

Dan Parks 1076 Williston Road, S. Burlington 862.6585 | WindjammerRestaurant.com

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9/1/26

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Celebrate Creativity and Community at Art Hop! SEABA is thrilled to usher in the 34th Annual South End Art Hop with two miles of fun along Pine Street! Explore 100+ artist studios, businesses, and enjoy family-friendly activities around every corner.

Free to attend with lots of opportunities to purchase artwork, take in a performance, visit a food truck and shop in the South End Arts District!

Burlington, Vermont’s

SOUTH END ARTS DISTRICT Sat., Sept. 12

FASHION SHOW P! HO RETURNS TO ART Purchase your tickets now at seaba.com/strut

September 11, 12, & 13 Learn More at SEABA.com

10

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

COURTESY OF BOBBI RICH

LOOKING FORWARD

MAGNIFICENT MUST SEE, MUST DO THIS WEEK

BY REBECCA DRISCOL L

FRIDAY 4

Sharp-Dressed Men The show must go on for 1980s MTV royalty ZZ Top, despite the recent death of longtime drummer Frank Beard. The little ol’ band from Texas proves it’s still got the down-and-dirty moves — epic facial hair and all — at a high-voltage concert of blues-rock anthems at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. Special guests (and resident bad boys) George Thorogood and the Destroyers complete the bill.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 65

SATURDAY 5

Go Green At Chelsea’s North Common, the Arts on the Green Market and Festival gathers 45 local makers and artisans for a showcase of handcrafted gems. Groovy tunes by Jennings & McComber, Doug Perkins & the Sidewinders, and other local talents provide the good vibrations while treasure hunters bid in a silent auction, get creative in the community art-making tent and dig into eclectic eats.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 66

SUNDAY 6

OLD SOULS The Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green series continues at Shelburne Museum with a sold-out performance by Grammy Award-winning outfit Alabama Shakes. Soaring vintage soul meets modern alt-rock power in the commanding presence of front woman Brittany Howard, whose vocals summon the spirit of old-school music legends such as Nina Simone and Al Green.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 67

SATURDAY 5

Boots on the Ground Yeeeehaw! LGBTQ+ party people don their best bedazzled blue-jean attire and git up to get down at Higher Ground’s Pride Ball in South Burlington.

Hosted by Vermont’s own drag superstar Emoji Nightmare, the “Denim & Diamonds”-themed gala mixes grit and glamour on the dance floor, where homegrown DJs and showstopping acts get those rhinestone-encrusted cowboy boots scootin’.

SEE CLUB LISTING ON PAGE 61

SATURDAY 5

Cloves Off

SATURDAY 5

© IRINA MESHCHERYAKOVA | DREAMSTIME

Paw Patrol Fun fact: Queen Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime! Owners and fans of the breed are corgially invited to downtown Montréal for the annual Corgi Pawty MTL, where the legs are stout, the snouts are long, and the rear ends are heart-shaped. The short but sweet gathering boasts group photo ops (lift them high!), a fluffy procession and a bestdressed pet contest.

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 65

With a tag like “Eat, Drink & Get Stinky With Us,” you’d be hard-pressed to find a more fragrant happening than downtown Bennington’s Garlic Town, USA. From humble farmers market roots, the timehonored tradition whets appetites with everything from garlic braiding and composting workshops to healthy eating seminars and specialty food tastings.

(Vampires: Beware the garlic gelato!)

SEE CALENDAR LISTING ON PAGE 66

CLOSES SUNDAY 6

Expect the Unexpected Now’s your chance to catch the final days of multidisciplinary Vermont artist Phil Godenschwager’s exhibit, “Bringing It All Together: From Then to Now,” at Chandler Gallery in Randolph. The mixed-media retrospective showcases sculptures, ink drawings and cartoons, as well as less typical artistic endeavors, including a six-sided glass gazebo and a presidentialthemed putting green.

SEE GALLERY LISTING AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/ART

BROWSE THE FULL CALENDAR, ART SHOWS, AND MUSIC+NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM. SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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September 11 – October 11, 2026 Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays + quiet Mondays 10 am – 5 pm

SAVE THE DATE!

With media support from

Saturday September 12 3 – 5 pm Kents’ Corner State Historic Site / 7 Old West Church Road, Calais, VT

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Vacation Mode

south to Boston Logan International Airport; shimmering views of the Earth from 36,000 feet; and, after an impossibly short night, a different world.

Only on vacation would I stand for four hours in the blazing Tuscan sun to catch a glimpse of Italians racing horses bareback around an urban piazza, an 800-year-old tradition in the city of Siena. Ditto traveling impossibly narrow roads on the west coast of Ireland, an experience Tim described as “sphincter-clenching.”

While “on holiday,” we also read books, slept well and met wonderful people.

There never seems to be enough time for these things when we’re in the throes of our busy lives here.

The irony, of course, is: Comparable marvels abound in Vermont. Following the advice of Seven Days, on Saturday we drove north to 200 gorgeous acres in Enosburg Falls, where sculptor David Stromeyer makes and exhibits his large-scale work.

We spent the day walking among his inventive steel creations and wondering why it took us so long to discover Cold Hollow Sculpture Park, Vermont’s Storm King.

If there was a better way to spend the last day of my vacation, I can’t think of it.

PAULA ROUTLY

Have I forgotten how to travel? I ask myself that question every time I have to pack for a trip like the one my partner, Tim, and I took last month to Italy and Ireland.

It’s gotten harder to figure out what I might require in a different place. David Stromeyer’s Is that because my needs “What More Can I Say?” at Cold Hollow Sculpture Park have become more numerous and complicated? Or because I don’t leave home frequently enough to get in the groove?

Probably both.

Either way, and no matter the distance or duration of the sojourn, preparing for a vacation feels akin to planning a military operation.

I set up a staging area to gather items contending for space in the impossibly small suitcase. I try to anticipate odd necessities: travel plug adapters, sun hat, raincoat, washcloth, personal fan, swim goggles.

I make lists: of books to bring; last-minute things to remember; toiletries, such as nail clippers, that I’m not sure can go in the carry-on luggage. Does anyone know what the TSA rules are anymore? On the plane, I need warm socks, lip balm and, in case of turbulence, crossword puzzles.

Harder, though, is tearing myself away from Seven Days.

There is no good time of year to leave — for a week, no less two — and I want to avoid missing important meetings or deadlines for challenging projects. I do as much work as I can in advance: compiling letters to the editor, for example, which has been my responsibility since we started Seven Days 31 years ago. I’ve learned that nothing motivates colleagues to reach out — with questions, concerns, last-minute clarifications — like an impending departure date. In short, my workload tends to balloon before I leave on a trip.

Did I mention cleaning up for the house sitter?

Responding to bon voyage texts from friends? Remembering to pay the property taxes in advance? By the time everything is stuffed into too many bags, I’m a physical and mental wreck. I spend the first hour of every “vacation” obsessing about what I forgot.

And then … my eyes open. Once it’s too late to fix anything, I see the lushness of Vermont while traveling

I SPEND THE FIRST HOUR OF EVERY “VACATION” OBSESSING ABOUT WHAT I FORGOT. Paula Routly

If you like Seven Days and can help pay for it, become a Super Reader!

Look for the “Donate” button at the top of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your address and contact info to: SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS P.O. BOX 1164 BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

13

news

LAW ENFORCEMENT

MORE INSIDE

NEW SUIT OVER FOREVER CHEMICALS PAGE 16

Settlement to Address Language Barriers in Prisons

FATAL CRASH DRIVER IN COURT PAGE 17

A cell in Northwest State Correctional Facility

FILE :LUKE AWTRY

ROB DONNELLY

B Y LUC Y TO MPK I NS lucy@sevendaysvt.com

Smugglers’ Market A man who helped people sneak across the border posted their testimonials on TikTok to attract more customers B Y LU CY TO MP K INS • lucy@sevendaysvt.com

A

t first glance, the videos look like testimonials for a travel agent. Happy customers speak into the camera and praise the safety and efficiency of their journeys.

They thank their guide by name and enthusiastically recommend the service to others.

But these are no ordinary trips.

Human smugglers are advertising their services by posting videos on TikTok of migrants they’ve helped cross illegally from Canada into Vermont. The practice shows the increasingly overt and creative ways smugglers market themselves by 14

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

promising a seamless and stress-free shot at the American dream.

While they’re targeting potential clients, the videos have also caught the attention of federal agents, who recently formed a multiagency task force to investigate smuggling networks operating in Vermont.

On March 26, a federal grand jury in Burlington indicted a Mexican man who is “believed to be the most prolific human smuggling coordinator” in the state, according to prosecutors. Sergio Gomez Romero, aka Tony, has been linked to at least a dozen incidents in the past year.

They involved 41 migrants who were later apprehended and eight drivers tasked with picking them up after they crossed illegally, according to court records.

Gomez Romero allegedly instructed the drivers to make video testimonials of migrants attesting to the ease of their crossing, records show. The videos were posted to a TikTok page called “viajes.tony,” using the Spanish word for “trips.”

IMMIGRATION SMUGGLERS’ MARKET

» P.16

The Vermont Department of Corrections has reached a legal settlement with the state Human Rights Commission related to a discrimination complaint filed in January about the treatment of federal immigration detainees.

The settlement agreement, made public on Tuesday, requires Corrections to ensure detainees have access to legal counsel, medical care and other services in their native language. As part of the deal, the department does not admit to any wrongdoing.

The original complaint is confidential, according to Big Hartman, executive director of the Human Rights Commission.

Hartman’s organization filed the complaint after the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont testified before lawmakers about language barriers detainees experienced in state prisons.

The Department of Corrections has long-standing agreements to hold federal detainees in Vermont prisons, a practice that has come under new scrutiny as the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement.

The settlement sets standards for allowing lawyers to visit and meet with detainees and expands the availability of tablets and other devices for providing translation. The department will also distribute documents detailing detainees’ basic rights to legal counsel and medical care and display phone numbers and email addresses where they can report rights violations.

“It was a unique process, but one that was very important to the department to be responsive,” said Lauri Fisher, general counsel for the Department of Corrections.

The settlement agreement is the result of months of collaborative work and discussion to update the DOC’s existing policies, Hartman said.

“I just want to express my real gratitude that the Department of Corrections leadership took this issue really seriously and was fully engaged in coming to the table and working out solutions with us,” Hartman said. ➆

Seat at the ‘Situation Table’

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A new Burlington program brings together social service providers to help people address their problems

W

BY AARON CALVIN • aaron@sevendaysvt.com

hen Burlington’s urban alone despite serious physical and mental park rangers encountered health issues was connected to home a family camping illegally health services. in a public park, they Progressive Mayor Emma Mulvaneybrought the matter to a relatively new Stanak and Democratic city councilors local resource: the situation table. have been at odds over how to address A small field team of service provid- homelessness, drug use and other ills ers and public assistance coordinators plaguing the city. When defending her from the state listened as the park rangers public safety record, the mayor has shared details about the pointed to the situation family and the issues they table, as well as another faced. The team was able program that takes aim to convince the family at crime “hot spots” and to accept help from a a “support court” for people who are frequently broader group of social assistance nonprofits and arrested, as examples health agencies. Within a of her commitment to week, the family was out innovative and humane of the tent and into stable solutions. housing.

These programs will Burlington and several ultimately succeed in other Vermont municipushing people to address palities are among dozens the underlying social B U RLIN GTON MAYOR of communities across problems that lead them EMMA MU LVAN E Ythe country that have “to be unlawful and cause STAN AK adopted the situation harm in our community,” table model. It allows city Mulvaney-Stanak asserted staff, state social services, during a press conference health care providers last month. and substance-use treatBurlington Democrats, ment programs to pool resources and responding to complaints from business quickly get help to people with complex owners and concerned residents, are problems. growing increasingly impatient with In Burlington, representatives from the mayor’s current approach to public more than 30 agencies and service safety. In a wide-ranging resolution providers come to the table weekly presented in July, they called for expandto hear about cases. Last winter, they ing police presence downtown and in learned of a man who was living on known problem areas while encouragthe streets, even though he had serious ing a firmer hand from law enforcement medical problems and relied on a wheel- around public drug use and unsanctioned chair. The group was able to connect camping. him with his family, who were able to The Queen City’s reputation has taken intervene. a battering in the national press, where A couple camping in the city initially Mulvaney-Stanak, Chittenden County declined help but were eventually State’s Attorney Sarah George and their convinced to secure a housing voucher.

An elderly Burlingtonian who was living SEAT AT THE ‘SITUATION TABLE’ » P.18

I AM NOT OK WITH THE STATUS QUO

t e V e h t Ask

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vm ph, dst li s es Starr, m

Jam y & Veterinary Specia With Dr.Em ergenc Burlington

Dear Dr. Starrce, full

ot a fa My dog just g hat? quills. Now w of porcupine

OF WHAT’S GOING ON IN OUR DOWNTOWN AND COMMUNITY.

A: Ah yes. The porcupine encounter — a Vermont rite of passage for curious dogs everywhere.

Spoiler: the dog never wins.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Do not try to remove quills at home. I know it’s tempting, but quills are barbed, which means pulling them out without proper technique can break them off under the skin or drive them deeper. A dog in pain may also bite — even the sweetest ones. This is a job for your veterinarian, who can sedate your dog and remove quills safely and completely.

Call your primary care vet as soon as possible.

The sooner quills are removed, the better — they can migrate through tissue over time and cause serious internal damage if left in place.

Watch for these warning signs in the meantime: pawing at the face, excessive drooling, trouble swallowing, or swelling around the mouth and throat. A dog who managed to get quills inside the mouth or throat needs prompt attention.

And yes — some dogs do it more than once. If yours is a repeat offender, a good recall command might be worth the investment.

If your dog is in significant distress or your regular vet isn’t available, BEVS is here 24/7.

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4/15/26 11:46 AM

news Smugglers’ Market « P.14

ENVIRONMENT

Class Action Suit Filed Over Contamination in Bennington B Y K E VI N M C C AL L U M kevin@sevendaysvt.com FILE: MICHAEL TONN

Attorneys from Bennington have filed a class action suit against the makers of so-called forever chemicals following revelations that contamination in the area is more widely spread than originally thought. BarrSternberg Moss, Silver & Munson, which brought a similar class action lawsuit in 2016, filed the new suit in federal court last week.

The firm’s previous litigation resulted in a $34 million settlement that provided compensation and medical monitoring to an estimated 2,400 property owners.

They alleged that Saint-Gobain, the former owner of a fabric-coating factory in North Bennington, was responsible for contaminating the soil and groundwater around their homes. The new suit is also against Saint-Gobain but adds international chemical makers 3M and DuPont as defendants.

All are alleged to be responsible for contaminating hundreds of additional properties with PFOAs, one of the many compounds known as PFAS that have been linked to multiple health risks.

“PFOA contamination from SaintGobain has spread significantly to affect many new innocent homeowners with poisonous, toxic, carcinogenic chemicals,” attorney David Silver told Seven Days.

Silver estimated that “at least 1,000 people, maybe more” have been affected by contamination that was not fully understood at the time of the previous case. How many remains unclear because testing by the state is still ongoing, he said. The suit claims that approximately 250 additional wells have been identified as contaminated.

For more than two decades, the Chemfab facility in North Bennington, which closed in 2002, baked liquid Teflon onto fabrics to make them waterproof and durable. Airborne PFOAs wound up in the groundwater that people drank. A number of plaintiffs claim to have PFOAs in their blood.

The suit alleges that the multinational chemical companies knew of the health risks of PFAS and ignored them.

The previous case took six years to resolve. ➆

16

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

The New York City man is also accused of collecting and coordinating payments for smuggling, which often amounted to thousands of dollars per migrant, according to a motion for detention filed by prosecutors.

Gomez Romero is charged with five counts related to smuggling migrants into the U.S. for financial gain. He pleaded not guilty on May 20 in federal court in Burlington and was later released on bond pending trial. A second Mexican man, Marco Antonio Ocampo Francisco, was also indicted in the same case and arrested in New Jersey on July 8. He remains in custody in Vermont.

Gomez Romero’s attorney, David Sleigh, declined to comment on the case.

According to court records, Gomez Romero, who is in his early forties, is undocumented and has lived in the United States for 25 years. He has worked as a chef at the same Brooklyn restaurant for more than a decade and has three young children. He has no criminal history.

The viajes.tony account appears to have been taken down, but similar accounts reviewed by Seven Days feature dozens of videos of migrants walking through the woods carrying backpacks or riding in the back of a car after getting picked up. Some videos show groups of migrants running from wooded areas into a waiting car on a rural road. They include families and small children.

The videos are often overlaid with upbeat Mexican music and feature emojis of the American and Canadian flags. The smugglers advertise trips in both directions across the U.S.-Canada border and offer several methods of getting across, including riding in the sleeper cab of a semitruck — “sin caminar,” or “no walking needed.”

Most videos begin with the migrants stating the day they successfully crossed and the countries they left and entered.

“Today, July 13th, 2026, we are crossing from Montréal to New York, United States,” a man says in Spanish in one video. “Many thanks to 727 and JR for the great service you’ve given us and for keeping us very safe throughout the trip.”

At the end of the video, four men riding in the car give thumbs-up signs.

“Smugglers adapt all the time to the needs of the market,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University who studies migration and human smuggling. She began to notice TikTok gain momentum as a medium used by smugglers postpandemic, when migration surged and the social media platform was growing in popularity.

SMUGGLERS ADAPT ALL THE TIME TO THE NEEDS OF THE MARKET.

GUAD AL UP E C O R R E A- C A B R ER A

“They use the same platforms people use for communication,” Correa-Cabrera said. “It’s how you sell your service. You have to show how good it is.”

The platform allows smugglers to promote themselves while maintaining a degree of anonymity, Correa-Cabrera added. Interested clients can reach out to be connected to smugglers directly via WhatsApp. If TikTok suspends an account, smugglers can easily make a new one.

Even as President Donald Trump has ramped up border enforcement and the number of apprehensions has dropped significantly, smugglers continue to facilitate illegal crossings.

“People don’t ever stop,” CorreaCabrera said. “Now the journeys are more clandestine.”

Since December 2025, a task force of federal agencies has been investigating human smuggling in Vermont, according to court records. The joint operation consists of a Burlington-based Homeland Security Investigations team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Investigative division of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Border

Patrol Swanton Sector Intelligence Unit in Swanton.

Investigators learned of Gomez Romero after several drivers were apprehended and arrested for transporting migrants who had just walked across the border into Vermont, according to court records.

In one instance in April 2025, agents searched a driver’s phone and found he was in contact with a number linked to Gomez Romero. The night before, the driver received $200 from a “sergio romero.”

In December 2025, a separate driver was arrested and charged with transporting migrants. That person told agents that they had done four or five such trips for payment, all of which were coordinated by a contact they knew only as “viajes.”

Records from Gomez Romero’s Zelle account show he paid the driver $1,000 in October 2025 and $1,200 the following month.

About a week later, Border Patrol agents arrested a smuggler transporting two adults and two minors in West Berkshire. The smuggler told investigators he was working for someone named “Tony” and was planning to drive to a gas station in Queens, where Tony would meet them to collect cash from the migrants.

Tony also wanted videos of the migrants praising the safety of the trip to post on TikTok “as a form of advertising,” the smuggler told investigators. In January 2026, the smuggler was convicted for transporting migrants.

After surveilling Gomez Romero for weeks, federal agents raided his home and arrested him in Queens, according to a search warrant.

Investigators seized two cellphones and found “numerous conversations, images, financial transactions, testimonials and more” that are indicative of human smuggling, according to the search warrant. The findings include testimonial videos of migrants.

Though the viajes.tony profile is no longer active, a new one appears to have taken its place. In April, ViajesCarlitos27 started posting videos using the hashtag #viajestony.

The account has dozens of videos already, the most recent posted on August 17.

“New account,” one video caption reads. “We’re at your service.” ➆ Lucy Tompkins covers immigration, the border and new American communities in Vermont for Seven Days. She is a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Find out more at reportforamerica.org.

COLIN FLANDERS

PRICES HOORAY SLASHED!

A memorial on Pine Street

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Burlington Teen Cyclist Was in Crosswalk When Fatally Hit by Car B Y CO L I N F L AN D E RS • colin@sevendaysvt.com GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER

Shiloh Skalka was riding her e-bike along Locust Street on July 16 when she reached its T-intersection with Pine Street. The 16-year-old pressed a button to activate the flashing amber lights that signal to drivers someone is crossing the street. She waited three seconds and then entered the crosswalk on her bike.

A few seconds later, according to police, Douglas Knapp, 79, ran her over with his black Dodge Grand Caravan.

Skalka, who was wearing a helmet, later died.

The chain of events was outlined in a police affidavit made public last Thursday after Knapp, a well-known local folk artist, pleaded not guilty to a charge of negligent operation with death resulting.

The offense, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $3,000 fine. A judge granted a request from prosecutors that Knapp be prohibited from driving while the case proceeds.

Police used video footage from nearby buildings to calculate that Knapp had about 150 feet to stop from the time that Skalka first activated the pedestrian lights, according to the affidavit from Det. Cpl. Padric Hartnett.

But Knapp, who police estimate was driving a few miles per hour over Pine Street’s 25 mph speed limit, does not appear to have hit the brakes until just before hitting Skalka, the charging documents say.

“An attentive, prudent and careful operator would have yielded,” Hartnett wrote.

Knapp told responding officers that he did not remember seeing the flashing lights. He said it seemed Skalka was in front of him all of a sudden. He denied having consumed alcohol.

Two weeks after the crash, Hartnett tried to interview Knapp. Knapp declined,

Douglas Knapp citing the advice of his attorney, although he did tell the detective that he was not using his cellphone at the time of the crash, stating that it was back at his studio.

It is unclear from the charging documents whether police independently verified this. Hartnett referred questions to the chief, who did not immediately respond.

Skalka was a rising junior at Burlington High School. At a vigil ride held in her honor last month, her father, Christian, called her “beautiful and righteous” and said she “loved to ride her bike and watch the world go by.”

Her parents attended last Thursday’s hearing alongside more than a dozen friends and fellow cyclists. They declined to speak to the media afterward.

Knapp provided a brief statement through his attorney, Austin Howard, who extended his client’s condolences to Skalka’s family and said the defense’s investigation was “just beginning.”

“Mr. Knapp looks forward to engaging in the process and letting that process play out,” Howard said. ➆

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news SASHA GOLDSTEIN

Seat at the ‘Situation Table’ « P.15 progressive politics are often blamed for the state of the city’s downtown. Just last week, Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen insinuated that declining enrollment at the University of Vermont was related to these issues and lamented the failure of center-left candidate Bram Kranichfeld to unseat George in August’s Democratic primary. That comes on the heels of an Atlantic article that included Burlington in a look at how a handful of liberal cities have been ravaged by the homelessness and opioid epidemics.

Last Friday, Mulvaney-Stanak faced Burlington business owners who had packed city hall to vent their frustrations about needle litter, defecation in public spaces, and other bad behavior involving homeless people in and around Church Street.

“As mayor of our city, I am not OK with the status quo of what’s going on in our downtown and community,” MulvaneyStanak told the crowd.

First introduced in North America 15 years ago, the situation table program has since spread around the U.S. The state began funding several using a federal grant in 2022 as part of Gov. Phil Scott’s 10-point public safety plan. They’re all supported by Cordata, a Cincinnati health care company that has helped St. Johnsbury, Rutland, Springfield, Barre, Bennington and other cities across the country stand up their own situation tables.

Ingrid Jonas, a former major in the Vermont State Police and community safety adviser in the mayor’s office, started the program in Burlington. She handed it off to Anna Wageling, who now heads up the city’s small, busy team of community support officers and liaisons. Embedded in the police department, these five social workers interact with the homeless population, provide support to domestic violence victims and assist officers with death notifications.

Wageling is the situation table’s primary coordinator. When people in need are receptive, she said, the initiative allows service providers to better communicate and deliver assistance.

For the situation table to get involved, the subjects have to waive confidentiality, allowing agencies to share information about them. Then resources from the fleet of support services can come into play.

After police, the fire department brings the most situations to the table.

“I can’t express how helpful having them in the city is. I really feel like they’re the glue at times,” Burlington Fire Department’s EMS battalion chief Marsha McCombie said of Wageling and her team.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

From left: Anna Wageling, Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, State’s Attorney Sarah George, library director Mary Danko and interim Police Chief Shawn Burke

The results have been somewhat promising. The group has tried to intervene in 102 cases since the program began in July 2025. Nearly 60 people involved were successfully connected to services.

But roughly one in four people weren’t, either because of systemic barriers, such as a lack of housing or medical care, or they refused assistance. Twelve participants lost contact after the process began, and one died.

PEOPLE ARE STILL STRUGGLING.

JUST BECAUSE THEY KNOW ABOUT SERVICES DOESN’T MEAN THAT THEIR RISK REALLY HAS LOWERED. ANN A WA GE L ING

Under Mulvaney-Stanak, the city has created other initiatives that, like the situation table, explore creative solutions to the city’s public safety issues. For example, a “hot spot” program that began in 2024 to address issues at Fletcher Free Library was restarted in July. Director Mary Danko said she wants to bring the lessons she’s learned from easing tensions at the library to public spaces such as parks and parking garages. Police and drug incidents at the library dropped significantly after a security guard and a Howard Center social worker were assigned to the facility.

“We’re really just trying to think of quick, innovative ways where hopefully

we can just bring the temperature down,” she said in an interview. “And one of those ways is hopefully giving people some of the services and connections that they need.”

Initiatives such as these receive only a small amount of the city’s overall public safety investment. The library security guard costs $135,000 a year. A $25,000 federal grant paid for Cordata to provide training, and the state continues to pay for the program out of the opioid abatement settlement fund. But most of those involved in these programs are already city staffers and have simply added the extra work to their day-to-day jobs.

Interim Police Chief Shawn Burke said he admires how the situation table gets “the right solution on the right problems” but said it doesn’t make up for the department’s desperate need for more uniformed officers.

“There’s limits as to what we can use our community support liaisons for, and we are completely outnumbered on the sworn side, given the call demands,” he said.

The number of police employed in Burlington was at 92 in June 2020 but had declined to 55 as of late August. Only 44 of those officers are actually available for active duty, Burke said, and half of them are deployed downtown.

Mulvaney-Stanak’s current municipal budget includes funding for 10 more police officers. But according to Burke, the city’s “political landscape” has meant that, despite offering salaries above the industry standard and a $25,000 signing bonus for qualified officers, the department has attracted few new applicants.

“If I had the luxury of putting a uniformed cop in [City Hall] Park, we would

see the behavior there change drastically,” Burke said.

Responding to growing pressure, the police department in August made 11 lowlevel drug arrests in the park with support from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The arrests were about the optics of cleaning up the park, Burke acknowledged.

Such cases were not the best use of the drug unit’s time, he said, which would be better served focusing on “mid- to upper-level traffickers.”

Burlington’s public safety officials have long asserted that a small number of people create a large number of problems in the city.

Just 56 people were involved in 18 percent of all police-related incidents through the first half of 2026, according to department data.

Of that number, 13 have been brought to the situation table.

Another 20 of those 56 people are involved in State’s Attorney George’s support court, which is meant to address repeat offenders facing lowlevel charges. The aim of the court is to quickly address the underlying causes of the participant’s recidivism. A handful of these repeat offenders are involved in both programs.

While the situation table has increased the speed and coordination of assistance, the program has its limitations.

Wageling has found that just connecting someone with a provider isn’t enough. She has helped people get into rehab programs only to see them back on the street after their insurance runs out. Those who are able to obtain a coveted housing voucher then have to follow the rules to keep it or end up back on the street.

“People are still struggling. Just because they know about services doesn’t mean that their risk really has lowered,” Wageling said.

With a city data analyst, Jeff Nicholson, Wageling has developed a system to track outcomes so she can recognize the barriers that people face. Over the small sample size analyzed so far, most have been unable to access housing and often can’t obtain medical care.

Wageling acknowledged that more needs to be done to solve the public safety problems. But she’s confident her program is making a difference. Wageling has met with people involved with other situation tables, including some outside Vermont. Burlington’s woes, she said, are common.

“We are all struggling with more barriers being put up, more resources depleted, people who are just really struggling,” she said. “And I think it’s important to remind ourselves of that, especially if we’re feeling like this is the only place that it’s happening.

It’s not. It’s everywhere.” ➆

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the Agency of Natural Resources, was stonewalled when one state bureaucrat opposed the Act 250 application (which the state could do as the abutting landowner). At Waterbury’s Perry Hill, a landowner generously offered his land for a new trail. The state required a bear study to go across 100 yards of state land.

When the state didn’t like the result, it required another bear study, which killed the project.

This is not land stewardship; it is depriving taxpayers of a public resource.

To build recreational resources that everyone can enjoy, it takes a village: professional trail builders, thousands of volunteer hours, money and advocacy.

But it only takes one person at the state to kill a project.

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UNION MAD

A number of readers responded to Aaron Calvin’s August 12 article “Labor Pains,” about Healthy Living’s appeal to the National Labor Relations Board to block recognition of its union. Find more letters at sevendaysvt.com.

It’s really sad to see a company that I once respected going to such great lengths to crush the will of its workers. The regional labor board’s decision to dismiss the company’s objections outright should have been where this ended. The company’s decision to appeal to the Trumpcontrolled federal board amounts to an extremely expensive temper tantrum that shows just how out of touch the owners of Healthy Living truly are.

At a time when national support for unions remains around 70 percent, the owners are alleging that the only way workers at their store could possibly support a union is if they were paid “infiltrators” or “disabled.” Most times when workers organize, it is out of a sense of solidarity with their coworkers and a belief that, together, they can make their company better for everyone involved.

I hope the company can recognize that in its own workers and begin bargaining.

Avery MacLean

BURLINGTON

The recent article on Healthy Living’s attempt to overturn the union election misses the impact its actions have on workers, including myself. As one of the workers accused of being a “union plant” in the company’s 700-plus-page manifesto to the Trump-appointed National Labor Relations Board, I have some thoughts to share.

It was increasingly difficult for me to go into work knowing that Healthy Living owners and their entire HR team had been actively surveilling many of us inside and outside the workplace.

Their appeal, in a major violation of our privacy, includes alleged political activities, personal data and photos of us from social media. None of this information is pertinent to the validity of our union (and it is often incorrect), and it is

disturbing to think about the resources they invested into developing a massive conspiracy theory that will amount to nothing except wasted time and money.

They have shown just how detached they are from the economic and political landscape in which they do business, and they have disrespected all of us on a deeply personal level.

Despite everything, the union campaign gave me a great sense of solidarity with my coworkers and my community, and that is what kept me going back every day. I hope the owners know that it is never too late to do the right thing and negotiate a fair contract, because this process will make Healthy Living a better workplace for everyone — including them.

Jesse Carpentier

BURLINGTON

The idealistic union representatives who recently organized Healthy Living should exercise their right to start their own business instead of telling others how to run theirs. Then they could pay their employees whatever they want, give them the benefits they want and never terminate anyone. It would be everything they’re asking of Healthy Living.

The socialists need to wake up to the fact that robust businesses are the cornerstone of a healthy economy and the source of success, professional growth and personal fulfillment for workers. I find it impossible to imagine how the Workers United folks can feel good about grabbing the steering wheel from a local family who have worked their tails off for 40 years to build a business into a local institution, providing a great service to the community and hundreds of good-paying jobs. Disgusting.

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OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Barbara Rose Shenefiel Myers

JUNE 18, 1933-AUGUST 26, 2026 WILLISTON, VT. “We will see you tomorrow, Mom.” “If the Good Lord is willing and the creek don’t rise.”

On August 26, 2026, the Good Lord willed that Barbara Rose Shenefiel Myers, 93, of Williston, Vt., go home to be with her husband, Gilbert, and her deceased family. A service to celebrate Barbara’s life will be on Saturday, September 5, 2026, 11 a.m., at the Essex Center United Methodist Church with Pastor Rev. Dr. Joel Daniel Hubbard III. Barbara died peacefully of heart failure at the McClure Miller Respite House after several years of care at home by her family and friends because of Alzheimer’s. She was predeceased by her husband, Gilbert, in 2020, after 65 years of marriage. They raised two extraordinary children: Christopher Myers (San Angelo, Texas, with wife Sharlene) and Amy LaChance (Essex Junction, Vt., with husband André).

She was so proud to be “Nana” for her grandchildren: Elijah Timmothy LaChance (Shrewsbury, Vt., with wife Megan), AnnaGrace Thérèse LaChance (Williston, Vt.) and Zinnia Maleekah LaChance (Birmingham, England, with partner Edward James Loveman).

Barbara was born to David and Rosa Hoxie Shenefiel in her Hoxie grandparents’ farmhouse on June 18, 1933, in Napoli, N.Y. She was the third of seven children and spent her early years on her parents’ dairy farm in Randolph, N.Y. She often recalled life during the Great Depression without modern lighting, an indoor bathroom or an automobile. The Shenefiel family gathered to enjoy their battery-operated farm radio and listen to popular programming.

Barbara often replied “the Shadow knows” whenever someone would say “Who knows?,” quoting one of her favorite lines from those radio broadcasts.

Barbara was especially fond and proud of her father, having been born as a “Father’s Day present.”

During World War II, David built a

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small windmill to generate a few watts of electricity for their farmhouse. Electric power lines did not extend to their remote farm until 1945, when her father helped organize the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Rural Electric Cooperative, bringing commercial electricity to their rural community. Barbara often said she thought her father liked being an electrician more than farming.

Barbara married her childhood sweetheart (Gilbert Myers) in Napoli, N.Y., in October 1955, after Gilbert sold his motorcycle to purchase the engagement ring. They were soon sent to Fort Knox, Ky., for Gilbert’s U.S. Army basic training. Barbara often talked about their next move (Bad Nauhiem, Germany) and traveling in Europe, where she worked as a nurse. They returned to Randolph, N.Y., in 1957, then moved to Boston for Gill to attend Boston University School of Law while Barbara supported him as an OR nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Barbara loved her work at the hospital, and she played a key role in the first-ever hip replacement surgery. The doctors at the hospital also loved having her there, so much so that they offered to help Gill obtain a job at any law firm he wanted in Boston as long as Barbara worked at the hospital. However, both Barbara and Gill were tired of city life and by now were raising their young son. They decided they wanted to raise their family in a quieter, more rural setting that reminded them of where they had grown up. So they packed up and followed one of Gill’s law school friends to Vermont.

After living in Poultney, Vt., for a few years, during which time they had their daughter, they settled in Essex Junction and Essex Center. After both children were in school, Barb worked as Gill’s office manager and paralegal for the Myers Attorney offices in Essex Junction, where she worked with some wonderful people, including friends Jean LaGrange and Toddy Ferguson. But she eventually found her favorite “job” of all: helping to raise her grandchildren.

Known as “Nana” to her

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

grandchildren and many others who enjoyed being included in her life, she excelled at quilting, knitting, sewing, and caring for her grandchildren and for “Papa” (Gilbert). The many “Nana Hats” she knitted for Amy’s elementary school students were legendary. She was always there when her family needed her the most, caring for them through illnesses and the everyday challenges of life. Whether it was doing a quick load of laundry or watching her grandchildren over a long weekend, Nana was a constant and loving presence to her family. Nana appreciated the simple things: waking early, the color blue, her birds at the feeders, coffee ice cream and going out for dinner (almost always ordering salmon). She was an avid quilter, frequently going to quilting conventions and fiber festivals with her youngest sister, Lola. Having completed dozens of quilts over the years, she gifted most of them to her friends, children and grandchildren.

Barbara and Gill shared some hobbies and were avid birdwatching partners, traveling all over to observe their unique birds.

They enjoyed summers at Prince Edward Island in their later years and loved visiting Barbara’s sister Lola on Chebeague Island in Maine.

Barbara and Gill were very engaged with members of the Essex United Methodist Church, contributing in whatever ways they could to their faith community.

In addition to Gilbert, Barbara was predeceased by her parents, David and Rosa; brothers Bruce and David Shenefiel; and sisters Margaret Shenefiel Bailey and Allegra Shenefiel Lake. She is survived by her siblings Randall (Frances) Shenefiel, (Falconer, N.Y.) and Lola (William) Armstrong (Chebeague Island, Maine). Barbara’s ashes will be mixed with Gilbert’s ashes and spread in a private ceremony on PEI at a future time. The family wishes to thank the members of the church who regularly visited Nana and brought her to church outings (especially Claire Noble). Special thanks to Dr. Pam Dawson at Thomas Chittenden; Ann Laramee, NP at University of Vermont Health; the talented pharmacists at Vermont Family Pharmacy; and the wonderful people at UVM Home Health & Hospice. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Barbara’s name to the Essex United Methodist Church. The family invites memories at awrfh.com.

Matthew J. Parisi JANUARY 29, 1931AUGUST 14, 2026 UNDERHILL CENTER, VT.

Matthew J. Parisi, 95, of Underhill Center, Vt., passed away with family members by his side on August 14, 2026.

Matt was born on January 29, 1931, in Philadelphia, Pa., to Michela and Vito Parisi.

Matt graduated from Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Air Force in December 1950. He trained in radar operations and was stationed in St. Albans, Vt., in 1951, where he met his wife of 70 years, Mary R. Muldoon. After marrying in 1952, Matt was deployed to Fontainebleau, France, where they lived for three years and their first two children were born. They traveled extensively throughout Europe during this time. After returning to the U.S., they settled in Underhill Center, Vt., where their other two children were born.

Matt (aka “Pops”) began his career in masonry, which turned into a lifelong business, Parisi Masonry. Matt was a true Renaissance man with multiple interests and talents. His passion for learning included music (a trumpet player with his own band; he also loved to play the piano daily — especially at happy hour) and antique car restoration (including a 1929 Auburn), and he was a sports fanatic (go Phillies, and he was the founder of a men’s softball league which included 14 teams in Chittenden and Lamoille counties that he managed for 45-plus years), builder (including an Underhill stone house and a Newark Pond camp), storyteller, fisherman, conversationalist (he never met a stranger), geography nut, traveler (especially New Smyrna Beach, Fla. and Italy),

and a huge old movie buff. Matt was strong in his Catholic faith.

He attended Mass weekly and was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was a true gentleman who shared laughter, compliments and gratitude with everyone blessed to know him.

Matt leaves behind his four children, Mindy Parisi (Ernie Eldred), Cathy Weymouth (Bob Linde), Matt Parisi Jr. and Roberta Parisi (Brian O’Toole); seven grandchildren, Dustin Aldrich (Diana), Maria Weymouth, Matt Parisi III (Jenn), Brad Weymouth (Jamie), Dominique Parisi (Josh Senna), Francesca Parisi and David Parisi (Madi Labounty); and six greatgrandchildren.

Matt is predeceased by his wife, Mary R. Parisi; grandson Benjamin Parisi; parents; and siblings, Vito Parisi, Gabriel Parisi and Elizabeth Wall.

The family would like to thank the Live Well companions (Rebecca and Natalie), the University of Vermont VNA Hospice Team (Jim and Jen), and the compassionate team at the McClure Miller Respite House.

In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to Bases Loaded Baseball & Softball Academy in Williston, Vt.; Browns River Little League in Jericho, Vt.; or the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund.

Visiting hours will be held on September 16, 2026, 4 to 6 p.m., at the Underhill Central School Baseball Field, Underhill Center, Vt. Come dressed thinking baseball! Rain or shine. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on September 17, 2026, 11 a.m., at St. Thomas Catholic Church, Underhill Center, Vt., with inurnment to follow at the Doran Cemetery, 365 Pleasant Valley Rd., Underhill, VT. Please visit awrfh.com to share your memories and condolences.

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OBITUARIES Paulette Ann (Higbee) Leclair SEPTEMBER 21, 1949AUGUST 23, 2026 MONKTON, VT.

Paulette, beloved wife, mom, sister, “Nana” and friend, passed away peacefully at home on August 23, 2026. She was born on September 21, 1949, in Middlebury, Vt., and grew up in New Haven, Vt., and her generous warm heart touched the lives of many no matter where she was.

She graduated from Beeman Academy in 1967, graduating top 10 in her class, which not many of us can say. (The class size was 10). Paulette married Paul Leclair on August 31, 1968. Their love created three children, who were primarily raised in Shelburne.

In 1989 they purchased land and built their current home in Monkton. Over the years, they developed many deep life-lasting, loving friendships.

Paulette’s journey through life began as a homemaker and caregiver to their three children. She extended her caregiving to others by operating her own daycare. Additionally, over the years, Paulette watched all of her grandchildren, whom she enjoyed immensely, taking them on field trips to local farms, playgrounds and every place in between. Those memories are cherished and will be remembered by them always. Paulette was an incredible parent and grandparent who never

missed an opportunity to express how proud she was of each and every one of us. Paulette also claimed that the best job she ever had was being a mom and Nana!

She was a strong, independent and at times stubborn woman, too, but no one can argue that Paulette had a big heart and was undoubtedly a generous, caring and loving individual who thought of others before herself. Her bond with her sisters-in-law kept the families together through countless gatherings that included her homemade spaghetti sauce and rigatoni, which is now fondly named “Nana’s Rigatoni” and will be enjoyed for years to come. In her leisure time prior to her declining vision, she enjoyed running the roads, especially in her Mustang. She found joy in simple pleasures such as visiting family and friends, sightseeing, taking long drives, and being a collector of Indian artifacts and bells.

Paulette belonged to and participated in her faith at the New Haven Congregational Church, along with being a member of the Ladies Union. Her love of all music, whether on the radio or playing her vinyls, included favorites such as Elvis Presley and Barry Manilow. She would sing and dance as well — or at least try … as the phrase goes … with two left feet.

Paulette held a special place in her heart for her four-legged feline kids that came into her life by choice or by accident. They brought her immense companionship, everlasting joy and love which was undoubtedly reciprocated.

She leaves her husband, Paul, of Monkton; daughter Melissa Boutin and partner Shawn Juaire of Grand Isle, Vt.; son, Steven Leclair, and wife Shannon of Shelburne, Vt.; daughter Rebecca Kilburn and husband Shawn of Vergennes, Vt.; brothers Richard Higbee and wife Suzanne of New Haven, John Higbee and partner Sue Crawford, Mark Higbee and wife Donna, and Michael Higbee and wife Stacie, all of Florida; her grandchildren and great-grandson; along with several brothers-in-law, sisters-inlaw, cousins, nieces and nephews.

Paulette was predeceased by her parents, Amos and Evelyn (Carrie) Higbee.

Paulette will continue to surround us with her love as we will continue to find comfort in our treasured memories and keep her in our hearts that will love her FOREVER. Please join us in celebrating the life of Paulette, with visitation on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, 5 to 7 p.m., at the New Haven Congregational Church (NHCC); a service on Thursday, September 10, 2026, 11 a.m.; and a burial at the Evergreen Cemetery on Town Hill Road. There will be a luncheon following at NHCC that all are welcome to attend.

The family would like to thank Dr. Grenoble and her staff at Hinesburg Family Health; Dr. Everett and her staff at UVM Medical Center; along with her nurse, John, and all staff at Addison Home Health & Hospice.

For those who would like, donations may be made to Homeward Bound, Addison County Humane Society located in Middlebury, as one of Paulette’s final wishes.

Mark your family’s milestones in lifelines. sevendaysvt.com/lifelines

Beatrice “Bea” Jordan APRIL 20, 1941AUGUST 24, 2026 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.

Beatrice “Bea” Jordan, 85, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2026.

Bea was born on April 20, 1941, in Medford, Mass., to the late Alfred Miele and Beatrice (Ritchie) Miele. Bea was predeceased by siblings Christine Miele, Paul Miele and Timothy Miele.

Bea is survived by her beloved husband of 66 years, Ronald Jordan; son Ron and wife Gail (Sweet) Jordan; daughter, Marie, and husband Peter King; son Paul and wife Martha (Allen) Jordan; and her three treasured grandchildren, Elizabeth Conyers, Maxwell Jordan and Vivian Jordan. She is also survived by her sisters Elizabeth (Miele) Budryk, Annemarie Miele, Theresa Miele and their families; many cousins; and her devoted friend Nancy Barker.

Bea spent her childhood years in Medford, Mass., and the early years of her married life in Weston, Conn., and Grafton, Mass., before settling in Milton, Vt., to raise her family. After 53 years in Milton, she spent the remainder of her life in South Burlington, Vt. Bea lived with strength, generosity, curiosity and an unwavering devotion to her family. She believed her family was everything and often said that her children were her greatest accomplishment. Her home — beautiful, comfortable and warm — reflected the care she gave to freely to everyone around her.

She was a true and kind friend who always seemed to make room for one more person. Celebrations often included a “stray” warmly welcomed into gatherings that brought family and friends together around food, laughter and cherished traditions. She will be remembered for her homemade soup, apple crisp, a nice cup of tea and her fervor for doing laundry.

Bea embraced life with enthusiasm. With her husband, Ron, she traveled the world to 16 countries. Highlights include a night on the Eiffel Tower, dancing on the Great Wall of China, whitewater rafting through the island of Roatan and a visit to Stonehenge. Ron and Bea

embarked on a three-month cross-country tour of the U.S. with stops at a Texas rodeo, Colorado’s hot-air balloon fest and the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Always the adventurist, Bea took part in BMW racing, biplane rides, playing an extra in movies, participating in the I-89 ribbon cutting, and attending both the Winter and Summer Olympics.

Bea summered in York Beach, Maine, every year from the age of 8. Her love of Long Sands Beach, the Goldenrod and Nubble Lighthouse were contagious and has become a legacy that has passed on to family and friends for generations.

She delighted in flea markets, estate sales, garage sales, thrift shops, antique shops and auctions, and she had a gift for spotting an overlooked treasure. Through Vermont Hand Crafters, she created pressedflower art, window jewelry, sun catchers and mixed-media wall décor.

Even with living with Parkinson’s disease, she continued to embrace life fully and took part in many Parkinson’srelated events.

Bea’s life was filled with family, friendship, creativity, travel, tradition and laughter. Her resilience and love will remain with all who knew her, and she will be deeply missed.

A special thank-you to the incredible friends that helped bridge the chores and challenges over the past couple of years. You are deeply cherished.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations made be made in Bea’s name to the Movement for Parkinson’s program (The Flynn, 153 Main St., Burlington, VT 05401) or the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (apdaparkinson.org).

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lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Larry Place SEPTEMBER 9, 1939AUGUST 10, 2026 BRISTOL, VT.

You might not think that a pristine, freshly swept floor is a gift. It might not signal to you a son’s devotion, a husband’s love or a father’s care. But to us, the loved ones of Larry Place, the clean, cool cement floor of the garage, the everything-inits-place organization of the shelves in the basement and the neatly stacked firewood outside all represent the care he took in making our home.

Larry departed this realm on August 10, 2026, and these things are the tiniest fraction of what we miss about him.

Larry was born in 1939 in his aunt and uncle Mildred and Guy Tracy’s farmhouse in Monkton, and he first learned

to use a push broom in his father Leon Place’s dairy barn while growing up on the family farm in Hinesburg. If the mangers weren’t swept immaculately clean, well, Dad simply made him do it over again. Picture Larry as a boy, riding his bike between the rows of stanchions while listening to the Red Sox game

Margaret Ellen Roy ESSEX JUNCTION, VT.

Margaret Ellen Roy of Essex Junction, Vt., passed away peacefully on August 27, 2026, surrounded by the love of her family. She was a devoted wife, sister, mother, grandmother and friend whose warmth and kindness touched all who knew her.

Margaret Goff was born in Lewiston, Maine, to Francis and Gladys Goff and spent her childhood in White River Junction, Vt. She graduated from Hartford High School and went on to attend the Jeanne Mance School of Nursing, where she began preparing for a career dedicated to helping others.

While in nursing school, Margaret met the love of her life, Marc Roy. Their romance began when they were set up on a blind date by Marc’s cousin, who was also Margaret’s friend. What started as a simple introduction blossomed into a lifelong partnership filled with love, laughter and adventure. Together they built a beautiful family, welcoming their son, Chris, followed by daughters Stephanie

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on the radio. Picture him in a smart bow tie and jacket graduating from Hinesburg High in 1957. Picture his mother, Joyce, writing him every day while he was in the Army for the next three years, stationed in Germany driving heavy equipment to rebuild roads and bridges. Did he tell her about the time they

and Sarah. They raised their family in South Burlington, where they lived for more than 50 years.

Margaret enjoyed a fulfilling career as a nurse. After retiring, Margaret embraced a new chapter alongside Marc. Together they spent much of their time traveling, exploring destinations around the world with friends, and making cherished visits to their children and grandchildren. Whether abroad or gathered around a family table, Margaret found her greatest joy in creating memories with those she loved.

A lifelong reader, Margaret was rarely without a book in hand. She treasured the friendships she cultivated through her beloved book group, which she faithfully attended for over 45 years. Those gatherings brought her great happiness and reflected her love of learning, meaningful conversation and enduring friendship.

Above all, Margaret was known for her generous heart. To know Margaret was to love her. She possessed a remarkable gift for making everyone feel welcome, whether they were a stranger

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

went to Barcelona on leave?

Is that when he got that tattoo?

If you were lucky enough to work with Larry at G.S. Blodgett in Burlington, you would know all about those spotlessly swept floors and meticulously organized work stations. Over 41 years with the company, Larry rose through the ranks from sweeping to spot welding to shipping and retired as a production supervisor.

Never one to rest on his laurels, his retirement jobs included helping out (yes, even cleaning the floors) at Almost Home Market in Bristol, building timber frames with his son and grandson, countless home improvement projects, and, most recently, nine years at WowToyz in Vergennes.

He loved his coworkers and

or close friend. Her kindness, grace and genuine interest in others created lasting bonds wherever she went.

Margaret is survived by her loving husband, Marc Roy; daughters, Stephanie Hahn and her husband, Josh, and Sarah Biedenkapp and her husband, Joe; daughter-in-law, Katy Roy; cherished grandchildren, Miles, Max, Sam, Anna and Quinn; brothers John Goff and his wife, Kathy, and David Goff and his wife, Shelly; several nieces and nephews; and many cousins and friends.

She was predeceased by her parents, Francis and Gladys Goff, and by her beloved son, Christopher Roy. The family would like to give special thanks to her wonderful and loving caregivers at Maple Ridge Memory Care and Home Instead, especially Jovi Perez, Dana Homer and Wayne Crandall.

Visiting hours will be held on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, 4 to 6 p.m., at LaVigne Funeral and Cremation Services, 132 Main St., Winooski, VT. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, September 3, 2026, 11 a.m., at St. Francis Xavier Church, with burial to follow in Resurrection Park Cemetery. To send condolences to her family, please visit vtfuneralhomes.com. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Margaret’s name to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

bestowed upon them the same care and attention that he learned on the farm and carried throughout his life.

He did all of this while also maintaining the tidiest and most bountiful backyard vegetable gardens; harvesting, cutting and splitting wood to heat the house every winter; fishing year-round; and worshipping at the altar of Fenway Park.

Larry is survived by his wife of 43 years, Beth NewmanPlace; children, Diane (Jeff) Sisters, Tracy (Rose), Stephen (Michelle), Karen (Roger) Bell, Andrew and Amy (Nick Bosco); seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; sister, Kathy (David) Newton; brothers, Hilton (the late Elaine), Sidney (Sallie), Jeff (Lorin), Glenn (Laurie) and Dennis (Jody); and a large,

loving extended family and community of friends who remember his kindness and sense of humor. Picture his face lit up not just by the birthday candles while we all sing. Picture him standing proudly by the trailer nearly overflowing with giant logs. Picture all of us at the ballpark together — it could be Fenway or it could be somewhere further afield. We could be sitting behind home plate or in the bleachers, but we’re having a grand time.

Please join us for a celebration of Larry’s life on September 20, 2026, 2 to 6 p.m., at Buck Ridge Barns, 8470 Route 116 in Hinesburg.

Come as you are, and wear your Red Sox cap or your barn jacket. In lieu of flowers, consider planting a tree and giving your loved ones some really good hugs.

Jonathan H. Stevens BURLINGTON, VT.

Jonathan H. Stevens, age 75, passed away peacefully in his sleep on August 13, 2026, after a long and valiant fight against juvenile diabetes.

He dedicated many years to the practice of law. He was part of a small partnership in Burlington and then later worked at Paul, Frank and Collins. He later studied environmental law at the Vermont Law School and was employed by the State of Vermont working on statewide water quality issues. His early years were spent in Southern California, but most of his school years were in Eastchester, N.Y. There he developed a lifelong love of Scouting and obtained the rank of Eagle Scout. He was a graduate of Eastchester High School and obtained his bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University before attending law school at Cleveland State University and then settling in Burlington.

Jonathan was also a lover of music. He sang; played multiple instruments, including the harmonica and banjo; and was known to serenade his neighbors on his front porch on Drew Street with his ukulele renditions of old standards. For many years, he attended the Unitarian Church in Burlington and was a member of their board of directors.

He was predeceased by his parents, Don and Martha Jane Stevens. He is survived by his brother, Andrew Stevens.

Jonathan’s memorial ceremony will be on Saturday, September 12, 2026, 2:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Church at the top of Church Street in Burlington, Vt.

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Susan Northrop Sperry NOVEMBER 22, 1942AUGUST 19, 2026 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.

Susan Northrop Sperry passed away on August 19, 2026, at the young age of 83. She was born in Rutland, Vt., on November 22, 1942, to Mary Mears and John Northrop. She grew up in Proctor with her many sisters and brothers and married Mark Sperry in 1963. Together they raised four children in Middlebury before moving to South Burlington.

Susan was a lifelong Vermonter and proud University of Vermont graduate. She had a passion for history, antiques and vintage finds. For decades she ran an antique business called Evening Shadows. She loved the thrill of the chase and could be spotted on any weekend combing yard sales and auctions for potential treasures.

The more mysterious the find, the better! She was a dogged researcher and would not stop until she could identify the obscure object in question.

Often described by her children as a “force of nature,” Susan was never without strong perfume and a wicked sense of humor. She loved gardening, boating on Lake Champlain with her husband, playing mah-jongg with friends, lunching with her sisters and brothers at Tozier’s, gazing at the full moon, singing Roy Orbison songs, and watching her grandchildren in music concerts, dance competitions and hockey games.

Susan is survived by Mark, her husband of 63 years; daughter Abigail Sperry; son Dwight Sperry and his wife, Marieke; daughter Julia Sperry and her husband, Jim Sandberg; and son Tyler Sperry and his wife, Karen.

She is also survived by her grandchildren, Rose Sperry, Gabriela Torrens-Sperry, Violet Sperry, Oliver Sperry and Emma Sperry; as well as her five siblings, John Northrop, Rebecca Blicharz, Rachel Keyser, Jim Northrop and Naomi Northrop, and their spouses and children. Susan was predeceased by her sister Ellen Northrop and her granddaughters Amelia Sperry and Sasha Torrens-Sperry. She forever held Ellen, Amelia and Sasha in her heart.

There will be no service at this time. To honor Susan’s memory, donations can be made to the Golisano Children’s Hospital and the Addiction Treatment Center at the UVM Medical Center.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Ready Funeral & Cremation Services. To share memories, photos and condolences with the family, please visit readyfuneral.com.

IN MEMORIAM Elaine Parker 1955-2026

There will be a memorial service for friends and family to honor our beloved Elaine on Friday, September 18, 2026, 5 p.m., at Memorial Hall on Mirror Lake, 207 G.A.R. Rd., North Calais, VT. Feel free to bring stories, songs, poems and anecdotes to share. There will be a potluck meal afterward.

Shawna Alyson Lidsky

SEPTEMBER 4, 1975AUGUST 28, 2026 SHELBURNE, VT. After five decades of dancing to Bruce Springsteen, Shawna Alyson Lidsky danced into the light on Friday, August 28, 2026, with the Boss belting out her favorite tracks, “Ghosts” and “Thunder Road.”

Shawna died peacefully in her happy place — her home in Shelburne — surrounded by family and her Vermont “sisters,” just days before her 51st birthday. And, in typical Shawna fashion, she made sure her fridge was filled with cake for her loved ones to celebrate what she called, just before she passed, “a great life.”

Shawna was born in New Jersey on September 4, 1975, to Sharon Silver and Arnold Lidsky. They named her Shawna because she was born on the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. It’s a holiday marked by eating sweets, so it’s perhaps no coincidence that in 2008 Shawna satisfied her own sweet tooth by building a brownie business from scratch.

The Vermont Brownie Company was one of Shawna’s proudest professional achievements, and many hours were spent in her kitchen during her final weeks testing out new, yummy flavors. A highlight for Shawna was when she defeated celebrity chef Bobby Flay in 2010 on an episode of his Food Network show.

That victory triggered a wave of coast-to-coast orders for her gourmet brownies.

And for Shawna, brownies were also a love language.

She loved sharing them at special events, including bar/bat mitzvahs, where she transported hundreds on long drives to celebrate with close friends and her Canadian cousins. Whether she was spoiling someone with brownies, flannels, pajamas, laughter or simply her presence, Shawna took loving her people seriously.

Even from a young age, at Marlboro High School and later as a basketball star at Salisbury University, when Shawna walked into a room, it was impossible not to notice her feisty, outgoing disposition and fun-loving personality. And network execs wanted that winning combination on the air, which

is how Shawna got offered a job as a sports reporter and anchor for WCAX-TV (Channel 3) in Burlington. Her older sister, Kara, helped her pack up the car and move her into her first home there, which marked the beginning of a chapter that would shape the rest of Shawna’s life. Whipsmart and witty — everyone wanted to be in Shawna’s world! As a morning show host, viewers were thrilled to wake up to her cheery voice.

Vermont was Shawna’s playground, and she loved nothing more than being outdoors — hiking the state’s highest peaks with her friends in the summer and skiing down those mountains in the winter. Always up for a new adventure, Shawna developed a love for mountain biking in recent years, saying that being able to ride with her boys, Teddy and Hugh, was “her greatest joy.”

Without a doubt, the absolute best decision Shawna ever made was agreeing to a blind date with Doug Hamilton in the early 2000s.

Doug was instantly smitten by the woman he called the “life of the party.” It was a classic case of opposites attracting: Doug’s quiet, gentle reserve was the perfect match for Shawna’s effervescent, high-energy spirit. The real turning point came when Doug cracked the code to her heart — good food. A strategically planned second date at a Japanese restaurant officially sealed the deal.

After dating for some time, Doug said Shawna jokingly recalled telling herself on a hike along the Rocky Peak Ridge in the Adirondacks that if he didn’t propose, this would be the last hike. Well, fortunately, Doug was ready with a ring! And so began their magical love story. Doug was Shawna’s knight, her hero and her rock. And her boys, Teddy and Hugh, were her best buddies. Shawna was so proud of them and

loved nothing more than being their mom, whether she was cheering Teddy on at his cross-country meets, taking Hugh to his polo lessons or just reading with them. Their family was finally complete in 2020 when Shawna got her fur daughter, River, who never left her side.

When Shawna was diagnosed with cancer in early 2021, she refused to let the disease stop her from planning adventures, making memories and living every day to its fullest. Shawna loved to travel, and between treatments in Boston, she squeezed in trips to Ireland, Austria, Croatia, Toronto and Wyoming, as well as Springsteen concerts in Montréal, Ottawa and New Jersey. She loved her traditions, from Thanksgiving with Doug’s family to Passover with her dad, Arnold; stepmother, Margo; and cousins. And one of Shawna’s greatest life moments was dancing the night away at her epic 50th birthday party, dressed in her prom dress — which, she boasted, “still fit!”

Shawna did not move tentatively through the world.

She went full force. Her appetite for life extended equally to the grand adventure and the wonderfully ordinary.

Shawna could be just as happy traveling somewhere new as she was sitting on the porch with friends or searching TJ Maxx and HomeGoods for a “find.”

Shawna said battling cancer was a roller-coaster ride, but she never complained.

When asked, she would steer the conversation to ask how you were doing. If you offered help, she would say she just wanted to be treated like everyone else.

Shawna’s mantra? Make every moment count. And don’t waste time doomscrolling, gossiping or feeling sorry for oneself. Even before getting cancer, Shawna had no time for pettiness or drama.

She loved a good debate but would listen respectfully to those who shared different opinions. Shawna hated conflict but was fiercely protective of those she loved.

She stood up for people, especially the underdog. She knew what she believed. She knew what she wanted. And she loved with her whole heart!

And she had many close friends. I was Shawna’s best friend. You were Shawna’s

best friend. And you, and you … because Shawna made every single one of her girlfriends feel like her bestie!

When she looked at you, she really looked at you. When she hugged you, she REALLY hugged you. Shawna had a knack for making everyone feel like they were the most special person to her, because they were!

In her CaringBridge posts, and in private moments, Shawna made her thoughts, values and wishes clear. So — if you ever ask yourself, “What Would Shawna Do?,” here are some precious “Lidsky Lessons” you can live by: • If you’ve got your health, you’ve got your wealth. The rest is just details.

• The hardest things in life often have the biggest payoff.

• Look for the silver lining.

It’s there, and Shawna made sure to find it.

• Move your body. Every day. Breathe fresh air! Don bridesmaid dresses and hike with your friends up Camel’s Hump, because why not?! Or go to the gym with your friends (because doing squats together is much more fun!).

• Don’t apologize for being YOU. Ever. Live proudly, with confidence.

• Go live your life — and don’t let anything hold you back.

• Laugh! Shawna loved to laugh. “Maintain the merry theme of life” — a line from the documentary on comedian Martin Short, which she loved — perfectly encapsulates Shawna Lidsky’s vibrant life and spirit.

The world lost a lot of its light when Shawna left us.

But if she read that line, she’d roll her eyes and say, “Well then, stop moping and start brightening it!”

And then she might even dance and belt out this line from the Springsteen song “Badlands”: “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.”

And that is the No. 1 Lidsky Lesson we all ought to live by!

Near the end of her life, Shawna summed it all up in a way only she could: “Thanks for the fun. I’ve had a great run.”

So did we, Shawna.

So did we.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Ready Funeral & Cremation Services. To share memories, photos and condolences to the family, please visit readyfuneral.com.

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COLLEGE TRY At a time when many universities are struggling, Community College of Vermont is providing a practical, affordable education to a wide range of students S T ORY AL IS O N NO VAK | PH OT OS D AR IA BIS H O P

T

he purpose was part welcome, part pep talk. Joyce Judy, president of Community College of Vermont, greeted about 50 high school students and their parents on August 25, offering words of wisdom and encouragement: Don’t fret too much about the semester ahead. Take it one assignment at a time. Later, the teens dug into ice cream and broke into groups for tours of the school.

These were not ordinary high school students on a college visit — they were entering the state’s only community college as first-year students under a program that allows them to enroll in college in place of their senior year.

The decade-long arrangement is just one of the unconventional paths that Community College of Vermont, known as CCV, has employed to attract a student body of all ages — its average is 26 — to locations around the state. And it is a sign of the adaptability and pluck that have won CCV a reputation for success when many other colleges are struggling to draw students and pay the bills. For the past decade, annual enrollment has held steady at around 10,000 students, making it Vermont’s second-largest institution of higher learning. This fall, enrollment at CCV is on track to tick up by 9 percent, a minor triumph amid declining ranks of college-age students in the state.

Since its founding in 1970, the school has provided an accessible, low-cost path to higher education for thousands of Vermonters, giving some the skills they need to go directly into a hungry labor 26

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

President Joyce Judy at an Early College ice cream social

IF WE DON’T CONSTANTLY INNOVATE, WE’LL BE DEAD. J OYC E J UD Y

market and others a cheaper route to traditional four-year institutions that otherwise would have been out of reach.

CCV’s bent for practical training and offerings that appeal to a wide range of students help it stand out in a landscape where private colleges and public institutions, such as Vermont State University and even the University of Vermont,

grapple with shifting demographics and wider societal skepticism over the worth of a four-year degree. UVM’s president, Marlene Tromp, last week confirmed earlier projections of a 7 percent drop in undergraduate enrollment at the state’s flagship institution.

CCV has come a long way from when offerings such as cosmetology and

typing catered to women who met for class in church basements and public libraries. The college now boasts more than a dozen associate degree programs, including liberal studies, health science and information technology, plus 27 certificates for specific jobs, from bookkeeper to funeral director. Although CCV still mostly serves adult learners, it enrolls hundreds of high school students each year through a pair of programs, Dual Enrollment and Early College.

Among its attendees are military service members and veterans, single parents, and new Americans. Even incarcerated people can take classes through a partnership with the state Department of Corrections.

Through all of its changes, CCV has sought to provide postsecondary education to any Vermonter who applies. The sticker price for a two-year degree is around $17,000 for Vermont residents — well below the cost for UVM and Vermont State, though on the high end when compared to community colleges in other states. More students than ever qualify for free tuition.

CCV tailors its course offerings every fall, spring and summer term, based on student interest. Administrators can immediately gauge whether they’re on the right track by the number who enroll.

All of its roughly 460 faculty members, who need at least a master’s degree, teach part time. Some are employed in the fields they teach, while others cobble together multiple gigs to make ends meet. The

CCV’s academic center in downtown Winooski

school also has a stable of financial aid and academic advisers.

“We have a structure where, if we don’t constantly innovate, we’ll be dead,” longtime president Judy said.

CCV’s role could grow at a precarious moment for the state’s workforce. More than 17,000 Vermonters are projected to retire each year during the coming decade, creating potentially large gaps in a range of critical industries, including health care, social services, education and business.

But only about 5,300 Vermonters graduate from high school each year, and fewer than half of them seek higher education soon after. That’s left a small pool of young adults to fill jobs that need at least some postsecondary training.

“I’ve been pretty impressed with the way [CCV has] been able to essentially keep an eye on what’s happening in the labor market … and to shift curriculum much more rapidly than other institutions to meet those labor market needs,” said Kevin Chu, executive director of the Vermont Futures Project, an arm of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce focused on economic growth in the state.

CCV’s continued success may hinge, in part, on factors outside of its control.

Vermont’s investment in higher education, as measured by public spending, is among the lowest in the country, leaving colleges and universities to compete for limited state funds. Neither the public nor philanthropic support that have made the college more affordable are guaranteed for the long run. And whether students COLLEGE TRY

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Where are Vermont's young people?

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Seven Days is delving into the far-reaching ramifications of the declining number of young Vermonters.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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COLLEGE TRY « P.27

educated in-state stick around is hardly a given: Vermont ranks last in the country when it comes to holding on to collegeeducated young people produced by its institutions of higher learning.

Nonetheless, other schools could learn from CCV’s open-to-all approach, according to Vermont State Colleges System chancellor Beth Mauch, who oversees both CCV and Vermont State.

Moving into the future, there will likely be more people who need higher education at different stages in their lives, Mauch said.

“As that need ebbs and flows, we’ve got to be that trusted partner … something CCV has been doing for 50-plus years.”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

On a Monday morning in early August, a dozen or so chemistry students sat in a fourth-floor classroom in CCV’s academic center in downtown Winooski, a modern brick-and-glass building that opened in 2010. Two large periodic tables of the elements adorned the walls. Beneath long counters, cabinets bore labels of lab equipment: beakers, flasks, cylinders. The instructor, Traci Jensen, projected onto the whiteboard some warm-up exercises related to gas pressure and molecular structure, then moved about the room as students pecked away on graphing calculators and jotted answers in notebooks.

One of those students, Theresa Mann, was in the final stretch of her associate degree in environmental science. When Mann, 57, graduated from high school in Connecticut, college felt out of reach, financially and academically. She moved to Vermont and for 25 years ran a successful residential painting business. But eventually, the work became too physically demanding, and she felt drawn back to the classroom to learn new skills.

Mann met with a financial aid counselor and learned that she was eligible for help under the 802 Opportunity program, which offers free tuition to Vermonters with an annual family income of less than $100,000. The program, launched in 2021, is a collaboration between the college and the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, or VSAC, a nonprofit state agency that helps Vermonters plan and pay for college or career training. Applicants must first seek a federal Pell Grant worth up to $7,400; the state covers the rest.

Mann “took a deep breath,” she said, and jumped back into school two years ago. She was nervous that she wouldn’t fit in but soon 28

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Students Will Cervi and Addie Bissonette at the ice cream social

felt at home among her teachers, advisers and fellow students, several of whom formed a multigenerational study group that met on Sundays at the library. Mann excelled at her studies and was able to keep her business running while taking classes.

Working adults such as Mann were exactly the people that CCV and VSAC intended to reach when they launched 802 Opportunity in the aftermath of the pandemic, a time when many people were reassessing their career paths.

That population earned too much for need-based financial aid but not enough to afford higher education on top of household expenses, explained VSAC president Scott Giles. Since the statefunded program’s inception, nearly 1,600

The appeal, Andreas said, was that “it was in my community and not dormstyle living and not commuting.” She’s now executive director of Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity and serves on the selectboard in Hartford.

Erica Scott had tried four-year colleges three separate times before she enrolled at CCV at age 38. She was working as an office manager at Lamoille Home Health & Hospice in Morrisville when her boss told her she’d need a college degree to advance there. Scott’s first CCV course was an intensive 12-week class for which she had to create a portfolio that documented all of her professional experience, allowing her to start with a large number of college credits in hand. After that, she took online classes

THROUGH ALL OF ITS CHANGES, CCV HAS SOUGHT TO PROVIDE POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION TO ANY VERMONTER WHO APPLIES. grant recipients have earned credentials or degrees. The grants lessen the need for loans; more than three-fourths of CCV students now graduate without debt.

In addition to affordability, many adult learners say they are drawn to the flexibility of community college. After failing out of a four-year college and having a child, Ashley Andreas earned a business degree in 2016 at CCV’s White River Junction campus while her daughter was little.

part time for several years while working.

Earlier this year, she finished her associate degree in business. She’s now executive director of Lamoille Home Health.

At Scott’s graduation ceremony in June, her father — Vermont Gov. Phil Scott — spoke about his daughter’s education journey in remarks before approximately 500 graduates. As he handed Erica her diploma, followed by a hug, the governor beamed with pride.

“What I loved was, there was no stigma,” the younger Scott said about her experience at CCV. She especially enjoyed the wide mix of ages in her classes, from high school students to 70-year-olds.

“I never felt like I shouldn’t be there,” she said. “When they say they’re inclusive — they are.”

STAYING SCRAPPY

It was a previous Republican governor, Deane Davis, who in 1970 established a commission to design a new model for higher education in the state. The goal: to bring classes to adult learners in their communities and hire instructors who were already working in local industries.

The project’s director was Peter Smith, a 24-year-old Princeton University graduate from a well-connected Vermont family who was partial to experimentation in education and was later elected to Congress.

In CCV’s early years, free classes were taught by volunteers and convened in a hodgepodge of locations in central Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom. Around 150 students enrolled in the first semester with subjects — art appreciation, child development and consumer protection among them — that were designed primarily for a low-income, female audience. These details and more are chronicled in Kind of a Miracle: The Unlikely Story of the Community College of Vermont, a 2024 book by Weybridge author Doug Wilhelm.

By spring 1973, more than 1,200 Vermonters were taking classes at the

newly named Community College of Vermont. A decade later, the college underwent a further expansion into Chittenden, Addison and Rutland counties.

By the mid-1980s, it was serving almost 3,000 students across the state and had started developing a more cohesive identity and higher academic expectations.

It was around that time that Joyce Judy, the current president, began working at the college as a part-time adviser in Springfield and White River Junction.

Judy “has deep passion for CCV and its students and a pretty global understanding of what is happening within higher education,” said Giles, the VSAC president. “If you’re looking to talk to someone and say, ‘What will higher education look like in the next five years?,’ Joyce is probably the first place that you go to engage in that conversation.”

In 43 years working at CCV, Judy has honed her ability to create partnerships that benefit Vermonters and the state as

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Instructor Matt Messier teaching an educational-inquiry class

Judy, now 70, grew up on a dairy farm in Plainfield, N.H., that her siblings still operate. Soon after her parents were married, Judy’s father fell off a horse, an accident that rendered him unable to walk and with only limited use of his hands. He went on to lead a full life, becoming a father of five who served on the local school board. Instead of dwelling on the hardship, Judy recalled in an interview, her parents found opportunities where they could and moved forward with their lives — a trait she sees among many students at CCV. Even though Judy’s family had little money, “we never thought we were poor,” she said. “It’s a little like a community college budget … I never think that we’re a poor institution. We don’t have a lot of extra money to do things. But I also believe that people do their best work when their backs are against the wall.”

Judy’s first CCV job more than 40 years ago gave her a chance to do a little of everything — working one-on-one with students, hiring faculty, navigating financial aid. That eclectic experience served her well as she rose through the ranks, becoming CCV’s seventh president in 2009.

Those who work closely with Judy say her institutional knowledge and commitment to expanding educational opportunities for Vermonters are big reasons why CCV has thrived.

a whole, said Carolyn Weir, executive director of the J. Warren & Lois McClure Foundation, an affiliate of the Vermont Community Foundation and a major supporter of CCV initiatives. “She has led the community college through some big shifts in Vermont.”

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One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the college’s exclusive use of parttime faculty — a contrast with four-year colleges, which tend to rely on full-time professors, many with doctoral degrees and decades of teaching and peerreviewed scholarship, complemented by part-time adjuncts. The original rationale for CCV’s part-time arrangement stemmed from the college’s scattered presence around the state.

You couldn’t “hire one person to teach journalism and ask them to teach one section in Burlington and one section in Bennington,” Judy said.

The part-time model has allowed the college to employ instructors with handson expertise in their field, such as nurses, IT professionals and scientists, without having to provide them with health insurance or retirement benefits. It has also saved CCV a lot of money, but Judy

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said that is not the primary reason for the arrangement.

Former instructor Emily Casey, who helped form the college’s faculty union in 2018, said CCV has plenty of high-quality teachers, but she views the part-time model as unfavorable for faculty.

“It’s the gig economy,” said Casey, who is now a senior lecturer in the English department at UVM. “You have people there teaching at multiple places and [working] multiple jobs to make ends meet. It’s not a livable-wage job for Vermonters.”

The arrival of the union led to better pay for faculty members and more control over the classes they would teach, Casey said. But she said CCV needs to be better funded if it is to compensate faculty appropriately. The college, which doesn’t provide student housing or dining services, has an annual budget of around $33 million, $100 million less than Vermont State’s and a small fraction of the $457 million spent at UVM, which has around 10,800 undergraduates.

“I know they’re doing their best with what they have, and it’s very limited resources,” Casey said. “I really worry about promoting that model. I don’t think it’s the vision we should move to in our country.”

Another key component of that model is online instruction, which has increased dramatically on Judy’s watch. CCV dabbled in a more rudimentary version of computer-based instruction as early as 1996 and has offered some online classes for decades. But, as at many schools around the country, the pandemic supercharged the practice.

Currently, between 70 and 75 percent of CCV classes are taught online, compared to about 40 percent pre-pandemic. That offers learning opportunities to parents and caregivers, people with medical issues, or those who balance unpredictable work schedules, such as first responders and members of the military. And it jibes with CCV’s commitment to accessibility, Judy said. The college offers asynchronous courses that allow students to go at their own pace and hybrid classes that meet in person occasionally or give students the option of attending remotely.

Many of the CCV students and graduates interviewed for this story said easy access to online classes facilitated their pursuit of higher education. But others preferred in-person classes — and wished more were offered.

Mann, the 57-year-old recent graduate, said the online experience would likely 30

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Jessica Gokey restocking the “library of things” in the student resource center

staffs the resource center, said she’s always impressed by the younger students who are attending school while working and helping their families.

“They’re kids,” she said. “I’m amazed at what they’re balancing.”

Katie Boone grabbing snacks in the student resource center

THE YOUTH MARKET

improve if the college provided a class on basic computer skills for those like her who are unfamiliar with the technology.

Jensen, the chemistry instructor, said she prefers teaching in person so that she can interact with students and watch them working together. At the same time, she said, she has learned new skills from teaching online, such as how to make good informational videos and design effective computer-based activities. Fern Fryer, a longtime humanities instructor, said weekly discussion forums employed in her online classes require everyone to participate and respond to others’ comments.

She finds that format allows students to express their ideas in greater depth.

Students who come to campus can find a wide range of support in and out of

the classroom. The college partners with United Way’s Working Bridges program to connect students with resources for childcare and housing. Several years ago, CCV used philanthropic dollars to start a program that provides students up to $500 for emergency expenses, such as car repairs, rental assistance and medical issues. A student resource center in the Winooski building offers free snacks, drinks and frozen meals to take home.

A “library of things” lends out a host of useful items, including a kitchen mixer, a rice cooker and jumper cables. A bulletin board is filled with flyers advertising support groups, free services and health care resources.

Jess Gokey, a 41-year-old health science student who hopes to become a nurse and

Collin Clair’s parents didn’t attend college, and, in his early days at Vergennes Union High School, he wasn’t convinced that higher education was worth the money or would prepare him for a job. But during his junior year, he learned from a school counselor about CCV’s Early College program. He could enroll in place of his senior year of high school, then finish his associate degree for free through a philanthropic program available to students who successfully complete Early College.

“Sign me up,” he remembers thinking at the time.

Clair is among 2,000 high school students who have studied through the Early College program since the legislature created it about a decade ago. That law, Act 77, also expanded an option known as Dual Enrollment, which allows high school juniors and seniors to take two college classes for free, most commonly at CCV. Clair was also part of a smaller group — of about 130 high school students — who continued on and received their associate degree from CCV at no cost through the Free Degree Promise. The McClure Foundation, an education-focused nonprofit,

began that program in 2022 and has vowed to support it at least through the 2028-29 school year.

Though high school students still represent a small percentage of CCV’s overall student body, their ranks have grown steadily over time, mirroring national trends for community colleges.

To spread the word, the college has recruited students to speak to other young people about their experiences. At the recent ice-cream gathering at CCV, Cailie Ballard and Allie Hamilton — both heading into their second year — gave survival tips to the new Early College cohort.

“College is totally different than high school. You have to take the initiative in all the communication, in all of your classes,” Hamilton told the group. When an assignment is difficult, “you have to talk to your teachers, set up a meeting … because they won’t say anything to you.”

admissions officers at colleges in Boston about transferring credits.

About a third of students who complete a degree or certificate at CCV go on to enroll in four-year colleges; that share is higher when it comes to recent high school graduates. Agreements between CCV and other colleges, including UVM and Vermont State, smooth the process. According to a UVM spokesperson, around 100 CCV students have transferred there each year since 2023.

A separate transfer program allows CCV grads to easily shift their credits to private four-year institutions, including Norwich University and Champlain and Saint Michael’s colleges, and to qualify for a broader range of financial aid options than traditional transfer students.

Chelsea Tatro graduated from UVM with a degree in history this spring after arriving from CCV with an associate degree. Tatro plans to work as a substi-

ABOUT A THIRD OF STUDENTS WHO COMPLETE A DEGREE OR CERTIFICATE AT CCV GO ON TO ENROLL IN FOUR-YEAR COLLEGES. Nabina Basnet learned about CCV when representatives visited Winooski Middle & High School to talk up their offerings. Basnet, who came to Vermont from Nepal a decade ago, wants to be a traveling nurse. She’s planning to study health science for two years at CCV, then transfer to a four-year school for a bachelor’s degree.

Giles, VSAC’s president, said that route is increasingly appealing for young people.

“Fifteen years ago, if you talked to families, they would view the early parts of a traditional education as an opportunity to explore your interests,” Giles said. Now, however, “that feels like a fairly risky prospect. We are hearing more families talk about using CCV as a place to begin to get that clarity.”

Molly Silvia of Shelburne is hoping to become a speech-language pathologist or clinical psychologist one day — careers that require a graduate school degree.

Enrolling in CCV for free, then transferring to a four-year college with two years of credits under her belt, seemed a practical way to “save money up front,” she said. Her CCV schedule allowed her to continue participating in theater at high school and stay connected to classmates. She is starting her second year at CCV and has already begun talking to

tute teacher in Milton this year while studying for her license to teach history in high school. It was tricky to get used to in-person classes at UVM after learning mostly online at CCV, she said, but she thinks her community college training served her well.

Tatro got the impression that some of her high school classmates viewed a community college education as inferior, she said. But she saw little difference in the quality of instruction between UVM and CCV, especially in introductory classes, which are typically much smaller at the community college.

“It irks me when some people try to rat out community college,” Tatro said.

Students there are “trying to do the same thing you are: learn and better themselves.”

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WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a steep decline in students at community colleges across the country, a hole from which many are still trying to dig out. But CCV, bolstered by strong, stable leadership and a well-timed infusion of both public and COLLEGE TRY

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philanthropic dollars, was able to keep its enrollment steady. That’s left it on solid footing as it steps into the future as a source of needed workers.

Between an aging population and a dearth of young people, Vermont has a serious workforce problem. To address the anticipated exodus of retiring workers, the state will need to inject an average of 13,500 people into the labor force annually for the next 10 to 15 years, according to the Vermont Futures Project.

That will mean attracting more workers to the state. But it will also hinge on cultivating homegrown talent, something many think CCV is well positioned to do.

In a labor market with open positions in an array of fields, it makes sense for people unsure of their professional interests to use CCV to explore different careers and earn relevant credentials, rather than commit to a narrow, four-year channel, said Chu of the Vermont Futures Project.

CCV could also serve an important role in helping small companies train their workers in order to remain competitive in a future shaped by artificial intelligence, Chu said. Moreover, many of the college’s certificate and degree programs lead to jobs that are likely to be “more prevalent, resilient and less likely to be disrupted” by AI, he said, including in social services, health care and education. Those areas are among Vermont’s “most promising jobs,” according to an annual report from the Vermont Department of Labor and the McClure Foundation, even though they aren’t particularly lucrative ones in a state with a high cost of living.

That’s the route that Natalie Geoffroy is hoping will pay off. She went directly to the college after high school, earning an associate degree in health science and a medical assistant certificate in 2024. For the past two years, Geoffroy has worked at the Hardwick Area Health Center, where she takes patients’ vital signs, draws blood and gives shots — all skills she learned at community college. Eventually, Geoffroy said, she hopes to go back to school to become a registered nurse.

A new, nearly $1 billion federal grant for rural health will allow CCV and Vermont State to expand their offerings in nursing and mental health care.

Mauch, in two and a half years as Vermont State Colleges chancellor, said she’s been encouraged that the legislature and governor have supported initiatives at CCV and Vermont State. Yet 32

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Emmett Edwards and Keith Nguyen in a ceramics class

Justine St. Martin and Clifford Gordon in a ceramics class

BETWEEN AN AGING POPULATION AND A DEARTH OF YOUNG PEOPLE, VERMONT HAS A SERIOUS WORKFORCE PROBLEM. Vermont remains at the bottom nationally when it comes to the share of the state budget spent on higher education, making it difficult, she said, for CCV to invest in technical training that requires the expensive equipment found at some other community colleges. Mauch hopes

CCV can tap into the federal rural health funds to launch a certificate program in sonography, a program that requires a hefty up-front investment.

The federal Pell Grants that play a key part in financing lower-income students are secure for the next two years. But their

future is clouded by a budget shortfall that could reach $17 billion, a gap that Congress will need to address. On the positive side, Vermont plans to apply for a new federal grant for short-term, career-focused training that could prove advantageous for CCV. The college is also expanding its work in the state’s correctional facilities. For several years, it’s offered free classes to inmates and Department of Corrections staff. This year, the college received a $2.9 million, three-year grant to create a program aimed at preparing incarcerated people for life after prison through job training, with a focus on manufacturing. The grant from a national nonprofit will also fund “navigators” who will help those recently released from prison continue their education and connect with resources.

The quest for ways to reach more Vermonters, especially those who have “checked out for whatever reason,” has helped set CCV apart, Judy said. She would love to see the state make community college free for everyone without a bachelor’s degree, as Massachusetts did in 2024.

“Vermont doesn’t have many people, so we’ve got to make sure everyone is operating at their full potential,” Judy said.

Mann, the painter turned student, is well on her way. This fall, she’ll continue her studies at UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, entering as a junior and aiming for a bachelor’s degree. She’s received scholarships that will cover nearly all of her expenses.

Before attending CCV, “I didn’t know I would be capable of any of this,” Mann said. “You just don’t know until you try.” ➆

Dear friends & neighbors, September is a great month to be downtown. The weather starts to cool off, everyone is getting back into a routine, and there’s still plenty of reason to get out and enjoy our city.

At Pascolo Ristorante, we’re looking forward to a b busy month. We love this time of year because we get the best of b both worlds summer is winding down, but people are still outsid outside, meeting up for dinner, grabbing a drink, and making the most of do downtown.

We’re also looking forward to being part of two eve events happening on the Marketplace this month. On Friday, September 18, Cheese the Day will take over Church Street for an evening celebrating Vermont Cheese Week. There will be free tastings, live music, and a wine garden right here at Pascolo. We’ll have wine flowing and plenty of good things to eat, so come down, try some Vermont cheese, and make an evening of it.

The next day, Saturday, September 19, Party on the Bricks kicks off its fall series. Pascolo will be the featured resta restaurant, with food and drinks on the Marketplace and Jenni Johnson & The JJunketeers playing live from 4–6pm. Grab a table, meet up with some friends, have a few drinks, and listen to some music. No big plan required.

And if you can’t make either event, we’ll be doing what we do every day - serving pasta, pizza, wine, cocktails, and di dinner on Church Street. Stop in after work, bring the family, meet a friend for a drink, or come hungry and let us take care of dinner.

One of the best things about owning a restaurant downtown is being part of the day-to-day life of the city. We get to see the regulars who come in every week, the people celebrating something special, visitors discovering Burlington for the first time, and everyone in between. We’re lucky to be right in the middle of it.

So come spend some time on Church Street this September.

Check out an event, grab a drink, stay for dinner, and support the local businesses that keep downtown moving.

We’ll see you at Pascolo.

-Jed Davis & The Farmhouse Group team

SEPTEMBER HAPPENINGS UNA PASSEGGIATA

Wednesdays, 5-8pm | Through September 23 Shop, grab an aperitivo, linger over dinner, and connect with your neighbors.

CHEESE THE DAY

Friday, September 18, 5-8pm Enjoy free cheese tastings, a wine garden at Pascolo, and live music as downtown Burlington transforms into a cheese lover's paradise. Whether you're a lifelong cheddar enthusiast or just looking for a fun night out, there's something delicious waiting around every corner.

Supported by our friends at Vermont Cheese Council. Media Sponsor: Seven Days.

PARTY ON THE BRICKS - FALL SERIES

Saturdays, 9/19-10/10, 3:30-6pm We’re bringing live music, local food, drinks, and good company back to the Marketplace for four dates! Settle in for dinner, grab a drink, enjoy the changing season, and listen to live music right in the heart of downtown Burlington.

9/19: Jenni Johnson & The Junketeers / Pascolo / Opera Block 9/26: Jon McBride’s Big Easy / Honey Road / City Hall Block 10/3: Mother of Pearl / Halvorson’s / Top Block 10/10: Night Protocol / Ken’s Pizza and Pub / Leahy Block Sponsored by FOAM Brewers. Media Sponsors: BANG and Seven Days

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CONSTRUCTION FEST Saturday, October 3, 10am - 12pm

HOWL’WEEN DOG COSTUME CONTEST Saturday, October 31 | Registration at 12pm

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Follow us on social or subscribe to our monthly newsletter to check out what’s happening on the Marketplace. Business features, upcoming events, deals and promotions, seasonal photography, and much, much more!

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One-Two Punch

With recent wins at bare-knuckle fighting’s highest level, Sophia Hayes and Chris Perreault put Granite City MMA on the map B Y S TEPHA NI E CUEPO WOB BY

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Sophia Hayes (right) versus Alexandra Ballou at BKFC Fight Night at Mohegan Sun Arena

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME A VERMONT GYM SENT MULTIPLE FIGHTERS

JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

uring open mat at Granite City MMA last month, 20-year-old Sophia Hayes donned her gloves to do some pad work — training to help her improve her skills in striking.

Opposite her stood Lucas John, the gym’s owner and head coach, who had slipped his own hands into padded mitts for her to hit and avoid. Shafts of early evening light streamed through the former church’s gabled windows, illuminating the pair: Light-footed Hayes, lean and lithe, advanced to strike, gracefully dodging her mentor’s sweeping hooks. Meanwhile, John, 44, in near-constant retreat, deftly guided his pupil around pair upon pair of jiujitsu students grappling this way and that along the mat.

Then it was Chris Perreault’s turn.

Each meeting of his fists with John’s mitts was so thunderous an observer could feel it in their chest. The muscular 33-year-old towered over his coach and, like Hayes, made real-time adjustments based on John’s feedback. The two moved with unbroken focus, as if practicing a dance only they knew — a remarkable feat, given their chaotic surroundings.

Granite City MMA is a mixed martial arts gym in Graniteville that caters to students of all ages and abilities. John and his coaches primarily teach Brazilian jiujitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing, prominent grappling and striking styles, respectively, in the growing world of MMA. As it is most evenings, the gym was sensory overload for the uninitiated. Along what used to be the gallery of the former St. Sylvester Catholic Church in Graniteville, a timer buzzed every six minutes to indicate the end of a practice round.

In the former nave, the ground quaked as students practiced new submission techniques. On what was once the pulpit, music blasted from a speaker.

Amid all the energy on the mat, the space pulsed with special excitement for the two star pupils training in the middle of the former sanctuary, who were about to put the small central Vermont gym on the national map. But first, the gloves would have to come off.

A couple of weeks later, on August 21, Hayes and Perreault competed at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Fight Night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. — as bantamweight and light heavyweight, respectively. Both emerged victorious with technical knockouts. Hayes overwhelmed and bloodied Alexandra

TO THE COUNTRY’S PREMIER BARE-KNUCKLE FIGHTING PROMOTION.

Hayes training with Lucas John

Ballou before the doctor stopped the fight in the second round, while Perreault needed just 37 seconds to dispatch Joe Powers. John coached both fighters from the ring corner, sporting his signature close-cropped mohawk and a bright-red Granite City MMA T-shirt.

The occasion marked a high point in the state’s martial arts history: It was the first time a Vermont gym sent multiple fighters to the country’s premier promotion for bareknuckle fighting, a growing combat sport where, unlike MMA or boxing, fighters wear no padding over their knuckles. For John,

introducing his fighters and his gym on the national stage might seem like a career breakthrough. Yet the coach stressed that what mattered most was seeing his students realize their full potential in the ring.

“Watching them hit [milestones] … that’s what makes it all worth it,” John said after the fights. “That’s what makes the long hours worth it, what the emotions are down to: watching them live out their dreams.”

John turned to martial arts nearly two decades ago when he found himself at a personal crossroads after a breakup. So he threw himself into learning Muay Thai and Brazilian and Japanese jiujitsu. While he was a voracious student, he never fought competitively in a meaningful way.

In 2017, John’s fiancée became pregnant with their daughter, Gracie, named after the family that developed Brazilian jiujitsu. John had been training in Burlington for years, commuting 45 miles from Barre several times a week, but parenthood made that schedule unsustainable. Eventually, he stopped going to Burlington altogether.

Fighters with whom John had trained continued to reach out for guidance and instruction, though. So that same year, he started an informal training operation in his garage. The number of fighters swelled as friends brought friends who

at the gym. Hayes has pink streaks in her hair and a prominent butterfly tattoo — its thorax a sword — in the center of her neck. When she’s not training or leading a class, she’s shooting videos for Granite City MMA’s social media.

Hayes started training with John at age 14, inspired by watching Ronda Rousey, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first women’s bantamweight champion. As a multisport athlete at Oxbow High School in Bradford, she had a promising future in track and field — javelin, in particular — that prompted college scholarship offers.

Chris Perreault (right) training with John

SEVEN DAYS MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN VERMONT WITH EXCELLENT JOURNALISM

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brought friends, and he began seriously considering opening his own gym. Once the idea took hold, he told Seven Days, it came to fruition after just two months.

In 2018, Granite City MMA opened its first official home above the House of Tang restaurant in Montpelier. Interest in classes surged, and the gym outgrew the space on River Street almost as quickly as it had John’s garage.

In early fall 2021, acting on a tip from one of his students, John made an offer to purchase a former Catholic church and its rectory in nearby Graniteville.

By that November, he had transformed the rectory into his family home and the church into Granite City MMA’s new sanctuary.

“I never wanted to own my own gym,” John said, explaining that training fighters was more of a calling than a conscious goal. “This was not my master plan; it just happened.”

But to hear his students talk of his intuition and “insane fight IQ,” as Hayes described it, John seems to have been preordained to coach.

His star students, Hayes and Perreault, have followed in his footsteps by teaching

Gregory Brown

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Here are some of the repeat and recurring Super Readers who sustain us all year:

But she just couldn’t ignore the pull of combat sports.

“She’ll literally cut everything out to be here,” her older brother, Matthew, said. “She loves fighting. She just wants to always fight. And when she fights, she’s like, ‘When’s my next fight? I’m ready to go again.’”

Hayes made her amateur debut in 2023 at 18, winning her first MMA fight against competitor Darian Fagan with an armbar submission, hyperextending Fagan’s elbow until she tapped out.

While Hayes found early success in mixed martial arts, she soon realized that she’d rather stay standing in the ring than grapple with opponents — and use smaller gloves, if any.

She looked into small-glove Muay Thai kickboxing, but there were no local options for serious competition. And, she said, she had “always wanted to dabble in bare-knuckle.”

Bare-knuckle fighting — or bareknuckle boxing — is just as brutal as it sounds. Competitors often leave bouts with broken hands and faces. During the ONE-TWO PUNCH

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From left: Sophia Hayes, Lucas John and Chris Perreault at Granite City MMA

COURTESY OF BKFC

fight in Connecticut last month, Hayes picked up a few nicks, while her opponent, Ballou, bled profusely from several cuts to her cheeks, forehead, mouth and nose. A deep gash on her left eyebrow prompted the doctor to stop the fight.

For Hayes, the appeal of bare-knuckle fighting is the freedom to strike without gloves, which she has never felt comfortable wearing. “I just like the feel of it,” she said.

John doesn’t have a background in bare-knuckle fighting, so he leaned on his own training in Muay Thai, Western boxing and Dutch-style boxing to prepare Hayes. With his help, she signed a multifight contract with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, which frees her from working a day job and allows her to focus solely on training.

Hayes made her professional BKFC debut at Mohegan Sun in March as the youngest fighter on the card. She held her own through the three-round fight but lost by unanimous judges’ decision. Perreault coached as a cornerman alongside John and was recruited that same evening to fight in the August event.

A former nationally ranked wrestler at Plymouth State University, Perreault said he had been “really religious” about the sport since fourth grade. Then he started watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he said, “and I was like, I want to do that.”

At six foot two and 200 pounds, Perreault is an imposing presence in the ring. But, like Hayes, he is soft-spoken and reflective in conversation. He entered the amateur MMA circuit in 2013, when he was a rising college sophomore, and won his debut fight via technical knockout in 10 seconds. Over the following several years, he traveled the country to fight and train in top mixed martial arts gyms before returning home to Vermont. He finally settled

Perreault at BKFC Fight Night at Mohegan Sun Arena

at Granite City MMA in 2021, moving to central Vermont from his native St. Johnsbury to be closer to the gym.

Two years later, Perreault won his first professional MMA fight against Daniel Keepers, scoring a submission with a standing rear naked choke — a choke hold applied from behind the opponent.

Perreault now has a 4-1 MMA record as a pro, with most of his wins coming by knockout or technical knockout, and all but one in the first round — meaning he hits hard.

But he’d never considered a career in bareknuckle fighting until he was approached by a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship matchmaker the evening of Hayes’ debut.

Given his own successful debut last month, his future in the sport looks bright.

Perreault, who works as a carpenter, trains with his younger brother, Jonny,

who is one of his cornermen. Also in his corner, figuratively speaking, is his wife, Julia, whom he met at Plymouth State. A former college athlete herself, Julia said she admires her husband’s commitment to combat sports and trusts his skills in the ring, despite the risks.

“It’s just something that he has always done, and he chooses to do it,” she said.

“I just know how hard he works, so I’ve always been really confident when he goes into fights.”

To the surprise of no one, Hayes and Perreault were back in the gym the Monday after their Friday night fights.

Neither ever misses a class. Part of the gym’s lore is that Hayes once broke her arm trying out a submission hold and still showed up the next day.

That level of dedication trickles down from the gym’s founder. In addition to running the gym, John is a full-time technician at Darn Tough Vermont in Waterbury. He wakes four days a week at 2:30 a.m. to work an 11.5-hour shift, then opens Granite City an hour after clocking out and stays well into the evening.

Six days a week he oversees classes, in addition to leading open mat sessions and teaching private lessons. In turn, his students rarely miss class.

“If I plateau, so will they,” John said.

“If I hit that wall, so will they.”

He’s not wrong, though students such as Hayes and Perreault are just as likely to run through that wall if John asks them to.

“Lucas always looks out for his students,” Hayes said of her coach, noting the family atmosphere at Granite City. “He always puts his students first.

He’s just really good at what he does.”

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food+drink

Big Milk on Campus Miller Farm in Vernon refuels UVM student athletes with organic creamline chocolate milk B Y M E L I SSA PASANEN • pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

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most campus coffee stations and for catering, “It’s an anchor account,” Miller said.

“It stabilizes production, gets us into some economies of scale on a few things and has also improved our plant efficiency. We were painfully inefficient before we had to figure out how to make 1,000 of these guys.”

Ninety percent of the milk from Miller Farm’s 240-cow herd goes into Stonyfield Organic yogurt, but the Millers started bottling under their own name in 2000, aiming for a little more control of the price of some of their milk.

They have carved out a niche by selling creamline plain, chocolate, maple and coffee whole milk, plus heavy cream and half-and-half. Creamline milk is not homogenized, which means that every bottle has a thick cap of cream. Miller Farm labels urge “Shake it, baby!” to blend the milk and the cream — and, in the case of chocolate, the cocoa powder that settles at the bottom because the mix contains no additives to keep it dispersed. The result is a rich, frothy beverage that drinks almost like a milkshake.

Miller, 57, and his older brother, Arthur, run the family biz with Peter’s 29-year-old daughter, Abigail Bucossi.

It took guts and more than $500,000 of pandemic business-support funding, paired with a Northeast Dairy Business

FOOD LOVER?

GET YOUR FILL ONLINE...

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BIG MILK ON CAMPUS

Above: Miller Farm cows and milk; below: Peter Miller handing out chocolate milk at the University of Vermont Cheese and Dairy Fest in 2024 COURTESY PHOTOS

BAC K

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hree times a week during basketball season, University of Vermont point guard Cat Gilwee and her teammates hit the weight room. After an intense hour of dead lifts, bench presses and squats, the student athletes chug half-pints of organic chocolate milk from Miller Farm in Vernon.

“Our team loves it. Some people on our team take, like, three to go,” the 23-year-old Shelburne native said.

“Especially as a Vermonter, I think it’s awesome to have a local farm’s milk.”

The creamy, cocoadark elixir is more than a reward for a workout well done; it’s a critical part of the athletic training regimen. Since fall 2023, UVM has bought between 1,000 and 1,200 bottles of milk each week during the sports season from the fifth-generation southern Vermont dairy.

“Their milk is unreal,” said Marc Hickok, the university’s assistant director of athletics and director of athletic performance, who was instrumental in sourcing the local refueling drink. “[It] tastes great, is all natural, and is the perfect mix of carbs and protein to help them recover after training.”

The steady commitment from UVM Athletics has also helped fuel a relatively new bottled-milk business for the 110-yearold family farm, co-owner Peter Miller said. Along with UVM Dining Services, which uses Miller Farm half-and-half at

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POCO co-owners chef STEFANO CICIRELLO and his sister, SUSIE ELY, have announced that they will stop offering dinner at their restaurant at 55 Main Street in Burlington and switch to lunch. The pair confirmed that they will serve their last evening meals — for now — Thursday, September 3, through Saturday, September 5. After closing for a week, they’ll reopen for lunch on Saturday, September 12.

The new lunch menu of sandwiches and salads will allow the siblings to “lean into our Italian heritage,” they said by email. The sandwiches are named for family members; the Giovanni, after their father, features mortadella, pistachio, tomato salad and pecorino-ricotta spread on ciabatta. Poco will serve coffee drinks and retain a full bar.

Cicirello and Ely said they “like switching things up” but also attributed the shift in meal offerings to difficulty finding “consistent kitchen staff.” They said they hope to reopen for dinner if they can secure staffing but will likely offer a lighter menu than in the past.

The siblings opened their small restaurant for lunch in April 2019, after Cicirello established a fan base through his Dolce VT food truck. Eventually switching to evening service, Poco

became known for its hip, urban vibe; inventive, globe-spanning menu; and no-reservations policy, which led to lines out the door.

Montpelier’s Ondis Simplifies Its Menu After Chef Departure After the departure of James Beardrecognized chef MAX VOGEL, ONDIS in Montpelier has scaled back its food menu to snacks and small plates.

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COURTESY

Poco in Burlington to Pause Dinner and Open for Lunch

Stefano Cicirello and Susie Ely at Poco in 2019

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COURTESY PHOTOS

Above: Former UVM basketball players Bella Vito and Anna Olson with post-workout Miller Farm chocolate milk in 2023; right: Abigail Bucossi and her grandfather Paul Miller

Big Milk on Campus « P.38

can help raise the farm’s profile in Chittenden County, where, he said, stores have Innovation Center grant, to build process- been relatively slow to pick up the milk. In ing and bottling plants — each in a ship- addition to UVM campus stores, Momo’s ping container — to try to make a better Market, a corner market in Burlington’s margin on some of their milk.

Old North End, stocks Miller Farm’s Almost six years in, the bottled prod- chocolate pints ($3.99), but they’re hard ucts are sold throughout the Northeast. to come by elsewhere in the county. The The family expects to hit $1 million in Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op carries chocolate, maple and coffee pints. branded milk sales this year.

Just 10 percent of the herd’s producCatering to the protein-maxxing craze, tion now accounts for a third of the Miller Farm is about to launch a new farm’s total revenue. But the bottled- higher-protein chocolate milk, which milk balance sheet also Miller said UVM Athletics has shown interest in includes additional costs in processing, packaging buying, too. By simply adding organic nonfat and marketing. powdered milk, the In the case of the UVM deal, Miller said, grams of protein per pint “I basically had to pay to double to 38. play.” To sell milk to the But is such a megadose athletics department, actually useful?

CAT GILWE E Miller Farm chose to Chris Skinner, an become an “official sponsor” of UVM assistant professor of nutrition at UVM sports. In exchange for a sponsorship who teaches sports nutrition, vouched for payment of $8,250 a year, Miller Farm also the value of chocolate milk as a “wonderful receives some game event advertising and post-workout drink, because it has a great the right to give out samples at a few games breakdown of simple sugars and protein per year. for maximal muscle recovery and then Miller has run the numbers, he said, and growth.” they justified signing a second three-year The sugar in chocolate milk is key. contract. He hopes the UVM partnership Although Skinner noted that sugar gets

AS A VERMONTER, I THINK IT’S AWESOME

TO HAVE A LOCAL FARM’S MILK.

a bad rap, exercise depletes the body’s sugar stores. The best refueling options include sugars and protein, at a ratio of about 3-to-1. “With athletics,” he said, “it’s so important to have adequate amounts of sugar to fuel your body because you run on carbs first … Carbohydrates are kind of king when it comes to exercise.”

When it comes to protein, Skinner said, milk has the added benefit of being a naturally complete protein with all the essential amino acids. Nutrition pros often refer to chocolate milk as “the poor man’s protein supplement,” he said.

Regarding Miller Farm’s higher-protein chocolate milk, Skinner said consuming

about 25 to 30 grams of protein within a couple hours of working out is considered “the sweet spot.” He acknowledged that there is much debate about the amount of protein people can absorb but that “the general thinking is that younger, fitter people absorb more, so UVM student athletes would be in that population.”

The women’s basketball team, meantime, will be aiming for its third consecutive America East conference title this season, fueled in part by Miller Farm chocolate milk. ➆

INFO Learn more at vtmillerfarm.com.

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Co-owner EMMA SANFORD said she decided against seeking a new full-time chef.

She’s working in the kitchen at 207 Barre Street to turn out casual but satisfying dishes to go with the cocktails, wine, beer and nonalcoholic drinks on offer in the intimate space.

Sanford’s current menu includes hand-cut fries with housemade garlic aioli, a kale Caesar dressed with aged Parmesan and cured egg yolks, local tomatoes and burrata, and a bread plate with house pickles and 5th Quarter rillettes from Waitsfield. The fries and Caesar pair perfectly with her favorite “shaken and swampy” dirty martini, Sanford said.

Sanford, 35, and her partner, CHRISTOPHER LEIGHTON, opened Ondis in December 2023. Leighton also owns APRÈS cocktail lounge in Stowe, where he spends most of his time.

“Restaurants are such an undertaking.

Staffing is incredibly hard, and finding someone as talented as Max was going to be even harder,” Sanford said. “I’m stripping back to basics, focusing on simple done really well.” She added that Ondis is open to hosting chef pop-ups.

Vogel ran Ondis’ kitchen from its debut until August 15. In January 2026, he was among three Vermont chefs named semifinalists in the James Beard Awards’ regional Best Chef:

COURTESY

SIDEdishes «

Wunderkammer Biermanufaktur’s new beer garden

Northeast category for his dishes such as sea scallops with pancetta, beech mushrooms, bok choy and cognac-miso beurre blanc.

Vogel confirmed by text that he has moved to a position as sous chef at BARR HILL’s cocktail bar in Montpelier.

Also new to that kitchen is chef JORDAN ATWOOD, formerly of SALT & BUBBLES WINE BAR AND MARKET in Essex. The colleagues are collaborating on a new menu of “elevated bar snacks and share plates,” Atwood wrote by text, “trying to lean more seasonal and local while still putting out a balance of hearty and fresh that will pair well with the cocktails.”

Wunderkammer Biermanufaktur Launches Craftsbury Beer Garden Brewer-owner VASILIOS GLETSOS of WUNDERKAMMER BIERMANUFAKTUR has launched a seasonal weekend beer garden in his Craftsbury Common backyard at 7628 Route 14. Weather permitting, Gletsos will offer draft pours of his mixed-culture beers alongside some of his newer “regular beers” almost every Friday and Saturday evening through

October 3. The beer garden will be closed September 25 to 26 due to beer-festival travel plans.

“I want people to be able to come together here over beer,” the brewer said.

Gletsos, 48, started brewing Wunderkammer beers in 2016 as a side project while working at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro Bend. He officially established his microbrewery in Albany in 2021 and has built a cult following for his use of foraged and locally cultivated ingredients and mixed cultures. The brewer described his approach as producing “dry, tart and eccentric beers that incorporate landscape and slow production methods.”

Wunderkammer beers are distributed throughout northern Vermont and now include some more classic styles, such as one Gletsos described as a “Britishinflected session pale ale.”

Gletsos encourages visitors to bring food to enjoy with his beer in his scenic backyard. He highlighted the GENNY, one of Craftsbury’s two general stores, as offering great takeout fare nearby. He will also fill growlers and sell bottled beer to go. Current hours of 4 to 8 p.m. may change; follow Wunderkammer @wunderkammerbier on Instagram for weekly updates. ➆

CONNECT Follow us for the latest food gossip!

On Instagram: Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry; Melissa Pasanen: @mpasanen.

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Warren Dixon with some of his figs

For the Love of Figs In Vermont’s short season, a Monkton grower goes to great lengths to cultivate the fruit STORY & PHOTOS BY R AC H E L S TE AR NS

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et’s get this out of the way: Fig growing in the Green Mountains is not for the faint of heart. Having originated in the Mediterranean, the trees prefer a subtropical climate with a long, lazy growing season and winter lows that rarely dip below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. But Fearless Figs owner Warren Dixon, a potter and tinkerer in Monkton, has taken on the task of growing more than 500 trees of 100 varieties in his backyard.

Coaxing fruit from these needy trees in Vermont’s less-than-ideal environment involves burying them in trenches each winter or relocating them to a climate-controlled area for a period of comfy 20- to 50-degree dormancy. The finickiness of figs doesn’t stop at their overwintering needs, either. Successful growers need to get a handle on their long ripening season, the differences among the hundreds of varieties, and the learning curve of propagating a cutting, protecting them from pests and knowing when to harvest — an art in itself.

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AGRICULTURE

A variety of Fearless Figs (from left): Pellegrino, Randino, Adriatic JH, Socorro black and Kesariani

“The longer you wait, the more complex the flavor gets, but you risk it going too far. It can go from perfectly ripe to moldy in a few hours,” Dixon said.

For optimal enjoyment, figs must be picked ripe (they soften after picking but do not continue to ripen), so they don’t travel well. Due to the labor-intensive practices needed to keep them alive in Vermont, few local growers produce them in sizable quantities.

Charlotte’s Golden Apple Family Farm sells some organic fig trees and figs, but “most of ours go to Honey Road,” co-owner Heather Herrington said. Last September, LePage Farm in Barre posted about harvesting enough figs to share after a few years of experimentation; time will tell what this year brings.

“I think it’s safe to say that I’m the largest [grower in Vermont] at this point,” Dixon said.

He increases his yield each year, with mature trees producing hundreds of figs each, and expects to harvest as many as 10,000 this season. “I’m going to be a picking fool this year,” he said, laughing.

Particular about proper picking, he generally harvests solo. (Friends do sometimes volunteer to help move his potted trees indoors for the winter, though; if he’s going it alone, the process can take an entire week.)

Fig season generally runs from mid-August through October. Dixon sells at the Shelburne Farmers Market on Saturdays and Hinesburg’s Yates Family Orchard on Sundays ($7 per half-pint basket) and offers by-appointment tours of his operation (suggested $10 donation). He plans to sell the bulk of his fruit fresh, offering 50-fig flats in peak season ($50, expected in the second half of September). Backup plans include freezing or drying extra fruit.

This August at Dixon’s homestead, I savored the different flavor notes while trying to resist the urge to gobble up the fruit immediately. All good figs should be soft, Dixon said, “almost like a bag of jelly.”

And looks aren’t everything: Brown spots, cracks and oozing sugars can all be signs of the complexities within.

“The uglier, the better!” he said.

But the figs were gorgeous inside, gleaming in shades ranging from caramel to ruby. Their flavor was a concentrated, honeyed berry, with some leaning more toward jammy fruit, some closer to pure honey. The texture had the segmented feel of the inside of an orange, with the thin skin and tiny seeds of a blueberry. Each piece

food+drink melted delightfully in my mouth. Was I in Monkton or heaven?

No stranger to a fickle crop, Dixon, 49, has grown niche items such as ginger, turmeric, saffron, shiitake mushrooms and hardy kiwis. He’s been homesteading with his wife, a teacher, for 16 years on a piece of foreclosed property they purchased at auction.

One winter about six years ago, Dixon discovered a thriving online community of fig growers. He clicked his way through fig forums and an eBay-like platform for all things fig, sites where people were giving away free cuttings

and selling rare varieties “from some grandfather’s tree in Italy,” he said, for upwards of $500 apiece.

He was intrigued by the idea of growing figs up north and pushing their limits. “I found a fairly big grower in Pennsylvania.

I’m like, Well, that’s kind of close,” he said.

He also loved that a single branch could form a whole new tree with relative speed.

“Seeing a stick come to life is still exciting for me,” he said.

Dixon sells trees ($25-115) and cuttings ($5-10) to those who want their own pet project and even offers troubleshooting when things go wrong. Fearless Figs has

piqued the interest of restaurants, orchards and co-ops, Dixon said, but for now, he’s noncommittal about branching out.

“I’ll see how it goes. But I don’t want to be driving all over the state to try to distribute them,” he said. “I enjoy growing the things and chatting with people about them.”

If you’re up for the challenge of starting your own grove, more power to you — but consider yourself warned. ➆

INFO Fearless Figs, 802-425-4441, fearlessfigs. square.site.

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Figs ripening at Fearless Figs

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culture

Dark Matters

A haunting new “disaster comic” turns an unflinching eye to the dehumanization that fuels genocides

BY K E N P IC AR D • ken@sevendaysvt.com

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umans are not genetically hardwired to kill other humans, despite centuries of seemingly overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Rather, our innate biological aversion to taking another human life, reinforced by religious and social mores, has to be deliberately overridden in order to get people to commit murder en masse. Military trainers have known this for decades, as have perpetrators of genocide. It’s why the latter systematically portray their enemies as less than human and thus undeserving of compassion or sympathy.

Dana Mashoian Walrath, an anthropologist, artist, writer and poet, has steeped herself in the bitter poison of such dehumanization and hatred to better understand it.

Her home studio, in the Queen City Park neighborhood of South Burlington, is lined with her near-life-size pencil drawings of genocide victims, displayed beside those of the various creatures — flies, leeches, jackals, snakes — to which the victims were equated by their oppressors. In a perverse way, surrounding herself with such disturbing imagery inspires Walrath, 66, to press on with her work. Her ambitious goal is to stop ongoing genocides and prevent future ones.

Walrath’s haunting new graphic narrative, or “disaster comic,” as she calls it, is The Book of Genocides, which traces the history of 10 mass exterminations of racial, ethnic and religious minorities in the past 500 years. Though the circumstances surrounding each genocide are unique, certain themes are timeless: “A line red from blood led from the Roman arena through the gallows of France to the pogrom of Bialystok,” wrote Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jewish jurist who coined the term “genocide” in 1944. Lemkin, who lost 49 family members in the Holocaust including his parents, created a heuristic model for identifying the 10 stages of genocide that scholars and legal experts still use today. Though Walrath doesn’t specifically reference Lemkin’s stages of genocide, he appears in the book.

Walrath’s work has been featured in the Lancet, the Irish Times, Slate and Foreign

BOOKS

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Policy, as well as on NPR. A Fulbright Scholar and Atlantic Fellow, she has written three previous books: the award-winning Aliceheimer’s: Alzheimer’s Through the Looking Glass, a graphic memoir about her experiences caring for her late mother

after she developed dementia; I Am a Bird, a children’s picture book; and Like Water on Stone, a young adult novel in verse about the Armenian genocide in the early 20th century, which Walrath’s grandparents survived.

The Book of Genocides unfolds

chronologically, beginning with the extermination of the First Peoples of the Americas and running through the genocide of the Muslim Rohingya by the Myanmar military, whose persecution continues to the present day. The book also includes chapters on slavery in the Americas, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Killing Fields, the Bosnian genocide, the Aboriginal genocide in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, and the Nakba, or forced expulsion and killing of hundreds of thousands of Arabs in Palestine beginning in 1948. Walrath traveled to the sites of every genocide but Myanmar; instead, she visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Often, those trips made Walrath physically ill — not with nausea or vomiting, she said, but with respiratory ailments, as if the very air in those places was tainted with profound sadness and grief.

One of Walrath’s favorite quotes in the book comes from Bruce Pascoe, a Bunurong, Yuin, Koori and Tasmanian scholar, who wrote about the 500 tribes of Australia.

Pascoe noted that despite their 65,000 years of cultural continuity, Australia’s tribes never committed the atrocities that European settlers did: “The idea to pour boiling oil on enemies,” he wrote, “seems not to have occurred to anyone in Australia.”

Some readers may assume that The Book of Genocides, out September 8, is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza, as Walrath includes a chapter called “The Palestinian Genocide.”

Many international legal scholars, including a 2025 United Nations Commission of Inquiry, have concluded that Israel has committed genocidal acts there. In fact, Walrath began her project a decade ago, with an art installation she created for Studio Place Arts in Barre.

“In my mind, it was genocide [starting] in 1948,” she said, referring to the Nakba. “It’s always been about land theft … and settler colonization.”

In fall 2016, Walrath brought her exhibit to a predominantly Black high school in Philadelphia for its all-school read of her book Like Water on Stone. The exhibit featured nine genocides, positioning Black slavery alongside the Nazi extermination of Jews.

COURTESY IMAGES

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Artwork from The Book of Genocides

“I wanted the Black students to see their [ancestors’] experience on an equal footing with the Holocaust,” Walrath explained.

That art show, like The Book of Genocides it inspired, featured pages from a 1943 textbook titled General Zoology by Tracy Storer; Walrath’s mother used the book while a student at Duke University. Walrath excerpted pages of detailed descriptions of animal species, including humans, which she then repurposed to fit each mass extermination.

For example, because enslaved Black people were treated like livestock, she chose text that described animal husbandry. Similarly, because the Nazis dehumanized the Jews by portraying them as parasites and vermin, Walrath drew illustrations of rats and bloodsucking worms juxtaposed with the textbook’s depictions of those creatures’ anatomy.

Walrath began reinterpreting the art exhibit as a book during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.

Walrath designed The Book of Genocides

sponsored violence, Walrath was told virtually nothing by her grandparents about the Armenian genocide; the Turkish government still refuses to acknowledge it. When such crimes and traumas go unacknowledged and unpunished, she said, victims often harbor lifelong feelings of shame and guilt, as though they Our delightful menu caters to were to blame for allowing the slaughter gluten-free & vegan preferences. to happen.

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202 Cornerstone Drive, Williston, VT At Barnard College, Walrath divided her undergraduate studies between the visual arts and biology, eventually earn-12v-aromasofIndia070126.indd 1 9/1/26 6:11 PM ing a doctorate in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. After moving to Vermont with her then-husband and three sons in 2000, she took a job at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. Her role involved creating informational comics that were used to teach medical students.

Graphic narratives, she explained, can make many subjects, especially disturbing ones, more palatable and accessible. That much was obvious in Walrath’s studio, where a large sketch of a lynched Black man stands on an easel. Had it been an actual photograph, the image would have been even more difficult to sit with for more than an hour, as this reporter did during a recent interview.

Reading comics, Walrath said, is also more active than reading prose, as it stimulates many different parts of the brain simultaneously. It can tap into the subconscious — such as through the judicious use of the color red to represent blood, which 2638 RT 7 NEW HAVEN, VT 12v-SheepWoolFest060326 1GREENHAVENGARDENSANDNURSERY.COM 6/1/26 1:04 PM can evoke a visceral response.

GREENHAVENGARDENSVT (802)453-5382 “And when it’s a really hard subject, you feel the presence of the comic artist through their hands,” she added.

For Walrath, traveling to the sites of genocides and speaking to survivors highlighted the common threads that run through all of them. She also witnessed the healing that can result when survivors recognize themselves in the experiences of others.

When Walrath met with Tutsi survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she handed out zine versions of her art exhibit, which portrayed the First Peoples of the Americas receiving blankets laced with smallpox.

“They did that to us, too!” one Tutsi survivor told Walrath. “They put us all in the woods and released tsetse flies,” which cause the fatal sleeping sickness.

Similarly, Walrath visited the Tuol Sleng

to be interactive in an unusual way. Each illustration of an animal and genocide victim is divided into thirds, demarcated with dotted lines. She invites the reader to cut along those dotted lines to create a turn-the-flap book that lets the reader see, for example, a Rwandan’s face on the body of an insect, or a Bosnian with the head of a vampire bat.

“The act of cutting is not an act of desecration,” Walrath writes.

“Instead, I invite you to consider it a form of liberation.”

The Book of Genocides, drawn in a folkart style that eschews hyperrealism and polished graphics, reads like a chronicle of group violence rather than a single narrative. Each chapter stands on its own, though its constant references to General Zoology make it feel like an encyclopedia of the mass misery humans inflict upon each other.

Born in North Carolina and raised in New York City, Walrath spent years as a teen living in Yemen, Brazil and Egypt as her family followed her father, a water engineer, on his various overseas work projects.

Like many descendants of state-

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culture

Monkey Business A Burlington woman has sold the letters she and her family received from Curious George creators H.A. and Margret Rey

BY MARY ANN LICKTEIG • maryann@sevendaysvt.com

COURTESY OF DE GRUMMOND CHILDREN'S LITERATURE COLLECTION

COURTESY OF CAROL GREENHOUSE

CHILDREN’S AUTHORS

The drawing H.A. Rey made for Carol Greenhouse inside a copy of Curious George

I

n 1969, 6-year-old Carol Greenhouse, vacationing with her parents in Florida, saw a man feeding seagulls on the beach. “I was fascinated,” said Carol, now 63 and living in Burlington.

“I’d never seen anyone feed a seagull before.” The man tossed food into the air, where the birds caught it midflight, and he taught her to toss it, too.

The man feeding the seagulls, she soon learned, was Hans Augusto Rey, better known as H.A. Rey, who, with his wife, Margret, created Curious George.

The mischievous monkey has been the subject of dozens of children’s books and an Emmy Award-winning animated TV series. During their two-week stay on Longboat Key, Greenhouse and her parents, Sam and Eleanore Greenhouse, met Hans on the beach several times and 46

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fed seagulls together. After the family returned home to Maryland, a copy of Curious George arrived in the mail. “For Carol,” Hans wrote inside the book, “from her friend, H.A. Rey.” Below the inscription, he drew and colored a picture of Curious George tossing food to a seagull diving toward the beach.

The book — along with eight years of correspondence that followed — is now housed at the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Carol, whose parents are deceased, sold her family’s memorabilia to the executor of

H.A. and Margret Rey

the Rey estate last month. Letters she and her parents wrote to Hans were already part of the Rey collection, which fills 300 boxes at the Hattiesburg, Miss., library, where the Reys and Ezra Jack Keats, best known for The Snowy Day, are the most researched children’s authors.

The acquisition offers researchers a more complete picture of Curious George’s creators, while the money it brought Carol — she declined to say how much — allows her to help her daughter pursue medical school. Zoe Greenhouse, 23, is enrolled in the postbaccalaureate

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1941, THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE ADVENTUROUS MONKEY

HAS NEVER BEEN OUT OF PRINT.

premedical program at the University of Vermont.

Like her mother, Zoe grew up reading Curious George. First published in 1941, the original story of the adventurous monkey has never been out of print. The Reys began working on it when they lived in Paris. On June 12, 1940, as Nazi troops approached the city, the couple, who were Jewish, fled on bicycles that Hans had assembled from spare parts, carrying their manuscript with them, said Louise Borden, author of The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey. Two days later, the German army occupied Paris.

Carol doesn’t remember how many letters she wrote to Hans; the de MONKEY BUSINESS

» P.48

COURTESY IMAGES

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FRI 18 SAT 19 DOORS OPEN AT 5:30PM 6PM-10PM

DOORS OPEN AT 4:30PM 5PM-9PM

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Dark Matters « P.45

Tickets on Sale

Artwork from The Book of Genocides

Genocide Museum, in people can buy copies of Phnom Penh, Camboher book and cut it up dia, which had previtogether. Her next book, ously been a prison already in the works and camp where people tentatively titled Repair, were tortured before is about her path toward being sent to the Killhealing and reconciliaing Fields. There, she tion, which she hopes encountered a man who will help others on their was so thrilled to meet her own journeys. that he ran home “Every time I to bring his family was right in the there, too. Why? As horror, I would just Walrath explained, see the patterns [of her success in life, genocide] again despite being the and again,” she grandchild of genosaid. “It’s taught, cide survivors, gave and it’s learned ... him hope for the which means we DANA MAS H O IAN WALRATH future of his own can change it. It grandchildren. doesn’t have to be this way.” ➆ Walrath collaborated with South African director Dylan Valley and a South INFO African team on animated and virtual The Book of Genocides by Dana Mashoian reality versions of the book called “The Walrath, Harvard University Press, Animated Book of Genocides: Girl Earth 432 pages. $24.95.

Fire Time” and “Between the Wall and Walrath displays her work during the South End Art Hop on Friday, September the Sides.” Both animations will be on the 11, 5-9 p.m., and gives a talk on Saturday, festival circuit later this year.

September 12, 4 p.m., at the Maltex Building Walrath will also have an exhibit of her in Burlington. Free. seaba.com work on Saturday, September 12, at the Learn more about Walrath at South End Art Hop in Burlington, where danawalrath.com.

WHEN IT’S A REALLY HARD SUBJECT, YOU FEEL THE PRESENCE OF THE COMIC ARTIST

NOW

Tickets

THROUGH THEIR HANDS.

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book should also be good-humored, not ‘preachy’ — people don’t like to be preached to. A little irony in the right place can give some spice.

“Well, now it’s me who is preaching, almost,” Hans wrote, “so I’d better stop … Best to all three Greenhouses, Fondly, Hans.”

The two men often exchanged or referenced articles they had read.

Eleanore occasionally included a note. While Hans mainly directed the substance of his letters to Carol’s parents, he often doodled something at the bottom for her. On one, he drew a skipping Curious George holding a blue flower and wrote, “This flower is for Carol.” On another, next to a tiny Curious George tossing a ball: “throwing a kiss to Carol.”

They all, at times, chastised themselves

N

From top: Zoe and Carol Greenhouse; a childhood letter from Carol to H.A. Rey

for not writing sooner, and they all spoke of the desire to see each other again, though they never did. The Greenhouses never met Margret, who died at age 90, in 1996.

ENVIRONMENT

Vermont Pollinator Photography

COMPOSITE PHOTO: EVA SOLLBERGER

48

Four years ago, Isaac Bissell got into macrophotography, which uses extreme close-ups to make tiny creatures look larger than life. He found the perfect subjects buzzing around his South Burlington backyard. Thanks to his interest in permaculture and soil biology, the biodiversity hot spot is dense with food-producing and native plants that attract a wide variety of pollinators. The sandy soils of the old Winooski River delta provide an ideal habitat for ground-nesting bees.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

In an undated letter to Hans, Carol wrote — and drew pictures — on a page torn from a spiral notebook. Obviously older at that point, she employed capital and lowercase letters and dotted her i’s with circles: “Dear Mr. Rey, Hi! When are you going to write more Curious George books? Isn’t it disgusting the way we don’t return your letters? I’ll be your Pen Pal! What’s new? How are you? How is Curious George? He hasn’t done some naughty thing and landed in the hospital again has he?”

On July 14, 1977, Margret sent a short note to Carol thanking her for a postcard she had sent and informing her that Hans had been ailing with heart trouble and was no longer writing, “but he sends his love to you all and so does George and so do I...”

That note marked the end of their correspondence, Carol believes. She was 14. The letters her family received were set aside in a manila envelope. Carol hadn’t considered their monetary value until her daughter decided to study medicine, she said.

De Grummond curator Karlie Herndon facilitated the sale. When she asked Carol how much she wanted for the collection, Carol named a price range, and Herndon relayed it to the executor of the Rey estate, who agreed.

On August 4, without a written sales agreement, Carol put the package in the mail, asking herself if she was too trustful.

Shortly after, a check arrived — for more than she had asked.

“It felt like 1969,” she said, a time when a verbal agreement sealed with a handshake was as good as a contract. “It felt very loyal to my dad and Hans Rey.” ➆ COURTE

Grummond has two. The first was written shortly after they met. “DEAR Mr. REY,” it says, in (mostly) all caps, “I MISS YOU. I MISS FLORIDA TOO. IM SENDING YOU SOMETHING.” She drew a picture of a $100 bill and signed her name. Her mother included a note and a picture that Carol drew for Hans the day the family got home from Florida. It included two stars, one to represent Jupiter and one, Venus, Eleanore explained. Hans, who published two books on astronomy, had apparently discussed stars with Carol.

On May 15, 1969, he wrote back: “Shame on me for not having answered your letter sooner & for not having said thank you to my friend Carol for sending me ‘something’ — $100, to be precise.

Thank you very much, Carol dear!”

He addressed the rest of the two-page letter to Carol’s parents and signed it, “Cordially, your fellow beachcomber, Hans.”

For eight years, until Hans died in 1977, the families exchanged letters. Most of the correspondence was between Hans and Sam, who had bonded over their shared German-Jewish heritage and interest in world affairs, Carol said.

They discussed antiballistic missiles, the promise of wind power, inflation and the possibility of basing currency on a unit of energy. “[I]t sounds rather far out,” Hans wrote in 1974, “but there is some logic to it.”

Sam, a statistician who worked for the federal government, had published magazine articles and letters to the editor in the New York Times. Hans sent him a copy of The Elements of Style, a writing manual

by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, and encouraged him to write more. In 1974, he went into considerable detail advising Sam to write a book, free of academic jargon, on the U.S. Constitution, a volume that adolescents and adults “will want to read, that holds their attention & makes them curious, even,” he wrote. “Such a

MARY ANN LICKTEIG

Monkey Business « P.46

INFO Learn more at degrummond.org and curiousgeorge.com/author-illustrator.

Bissell has taken tens of thousands of photographs of bees and wasps — about 32,000 this year alone — and he shares their curated “tiny dramas” on his Instagram page, Vermont Pollinator Photography, where “pollinator nerds” are welcome.

In the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger got a tour of Bissell’s backyard paradise and met some of his glamorous flying subjects.

Seven Days has been airing the award-winning video series “Stuck in Vermont” since 2007. Watch the new episode on sevendaysvt.com this Thursday or on the WCAX-TV evening news on Friday.

Exhibiting at the Tech Jam Paid Off!

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W Allison Lawrence

e love the Vermont Tech Jam because the connections we make there can truly stand the test of time. Several years ago, a casual conversation at our booth introduced us to Allison Lawrence. That initial chat about technology turned into a longterm career. Today, Allison is a vital member of the IT team at OnLogic, helping keep our systems and global operations running smoothly. Events like the Tech Jam make it possible to discover incredible local talent right here in Vermont.

DAREK FANTON, Communications Manager at OnLogic about Allison Lawrence, IT Business Relationships Manager

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REVIEW

The Dog Stars ★★★

D

uring the 2020 lockdown, I read a spate of pandemic- and isolation-themed novels. My favorite was Michael Crummey’s Sweetland, but I also enjoyed Peter Heller’s 2012 novel The Dog Stars, a moody, meandering, style-forward tale of a pilot and his dog stranded at the end of the world. Imagine my surprise, six years later, when the trailer for Ridley Scott’s film adaptation advertised a thrill-a-minute action flick starring the year’s biggest heartthrob. The jarring bookto-film transition felt like a Hollywood parable right out of The Player.

Then again, we know not to trust trailers, don’t we?

The deal

Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot and handyman, is one of the few survivors of a flu pandemic that decimated humanity.

Having lost his wife, he lives on an abandoned Colorado airfield with his German shepherd, Jasper; and survivalist Bangley (Josh Brolin), who protects their compound with Marine-trained marksmanship. Lonely and restless, Hig makes supply runs in his vintage Cessna, trades with nearby Mennonites and monitors his radio for news of other survivors. The cynical Bangley, by contrast, views all outsiders as “roaches” to be exterminated.

After his beloved Jasper dies valiantly fighting off raiders (dog lovers, you’ve been warned), Hig sets off in search of the phantom voice (Allison Janney) he’s been hearing on the radio for years. Forced to crash land en route, he stumbles onto the property of a gun-toting rancher (Guy Pearce) and his daughter (Margaret Qualley). Will they crush him like a roach? Considering that Elordi and Qualley look like a celebrity couple, is that even a question?

Will you like it?

If the trailer for The Dog Stars feels dramatically at odds with its source material, that may be because the source material feels at odds with itself. The bulk of the novel is a slow burn, like a more hopeful version of The Road laced 50

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

with Ernest Hemingway outdoorsy ruggedness. In the last third, however, Heller turns his storytelling up to a frantic 11: Hig just happens to meet a smart, gorgeous, very single woman in the middle of nowhere, and they head off into a rip-roaring action sequence. While the post-collapse scenario itself is far from fresh, one can easily imagine the property selling to Hollywood executives on the strength of these developments alone.

Scott and writers Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) and Christopher Wilkinson have cut down on the story’s less screen-friendly detours. Gone is a lengthy hike in the wilderness, for instance. To their credit, though, the filmmakers attempt to capture the book’s soul-searching tone as well as its harrowing survival action. Contrary to what the trailer suggests, the battles with bloodthirsty raiders are outnumbered by scenes of Hig doing chores, visiting his former home in Denver to moon over memories of his wife and contemplating airborne suicide via mountain. His conversations with Bangley still convey a major theme of the book: Can we afford hope or empathy after civilization falls, or must we focus on brute survival?

The novel’s characters are more iconic than individual, which may be why the quirky supporting performances prove more interesting here than the romantic leads. Brolin was born to play crusty misanthropes like Bangley, while Janney creates an indelibly odd impression with just a few minutes of screen time.

By contrast, Elordi appears to have trouble getting inside his role. He looks the part of a soulful, tinkering, dog-loving Marlboro Man, but we don’t feel Hig’s desolation, his love of nature or his ambivalence about survival. He just seems … bored. Perhaps the problem is casting a young actor as a character whose ruminations feel distinctly middle-aged, or perhaps Hig is a shaky construct that doesn’t work on-screen. Whatever the reason, the protagonist is a void at the center of the movie. Qualley brings a suspicious scrappiness to Hig’s love interest, Cima, but she can’t overcome her own character’s lack of shadings.

Don’t get too attached to the pooch who costars with Jacob Elordi in Ridley Scott’s adaptation of a post-pandemic novel.

Hig and Cima appear to be destined for each other simply because they’re the only attractive, age-appropriate, non-murderous survivors within hundreds of miles. The nightmarish scenario becomes their meet-cute so the story can reaffirm the value of human connection. Everything else — including the various raiders and other, more outlandish threats — is just flashy window dressing to keep viewers from dozing off.

Perhaps The Dog Stars’ biggest problem is that we’ve already seen half a century of more memorable postapocalyptic cinema. (The clock starts in 1975 with the deeply deranged A Boy and His Dog, which shares the canine motif.) The movie isn’t aggressively bad in any way, but it fails to capitalize on the book’s best aspects and doubles down on its hackneyed ones, making it a watch fit mainly for the dog days.

MARGO T HARRI S O N margot@sevendaysvt.com

IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY… MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015; rentable): The cultish, murderous raiders shown in The Dog Stars feel cribbed from the more colorful War Boys in George Miller’s postapocalyptic action drama.

THE ROVER (2014; HBO Max, YouTube Primetime, rentable): Dog love is also involved in this post-collapse road-trip Western from Australia, in which Pearce plays a bitter loner and Robert Pattinson is the simple fellow he protects. If you like your apocalypses arty and meditative, it could be a better choice.

“STATION ELEVEN” (one season, 2021-2022; HBO Max, YouTube Primetime): This adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s pandemic novel had the bad luck to be released during an actual pandemic surge. Now we can appreciate it as a beautifully made survival elegy that depicts a broader swath of humanity than The Dog Stars.

COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

on screen

COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

By Any Means

NEW IN THEATERS BUDDY: Kids must escape a deadly children’s TV show in this slasher from Casper Kelly, starring Cristin Milioti. (95 min, R. Majestic, Paramount)

BY ANY MEANS: In Elegance Bratton’s crime thriller, set in 1966 Mississippi, a mafia hit man (Mark Wahlberg) and an FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) join forces. (107 min, R. Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic) FALL 2: DEADPOINT: Two mountaineers cling to a plank 4,000 feet up in this survival thriller. (97 min, PG-13. Majestic, Star) HANGING BY A WIRE: Six students are trapped in a malfunctioning cable car in the Himalayan foothills in this documentary from Mohammed Ali Naqvi. (98 min, NR. Savoy)

FOR SALE TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMAHHHHH A filmmaker (Hannah Einbinder) becomes obsessed with a final girl (Gillian Anderson) in this horror comedy from Jane Schoenbrun. (112 min, R. Partizanfilm, Savoy; reviewed 8/26) TONYHHHH Dominic Sessa plays the young Anthony Bourdain in this dark comedy inspired by his memoir. Matt Johnson directed. (106 min, R. Big Picture, Essex, Majestic, Partizanfilm) TOY STORY 5HHH1/2 Electronics are the threat in the latest installment of Pixar’s animated series. (102 min, PG. Essex, Majestic, Sunset)

OLDER FILMS AND SPECIAL SCREENINGS BLUE COLLAR (Partizanfilm, Mon only) CARS 20TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex, Majestic, Sunset) HOW TO DIVORCE DURING THE WAR (VTIFF, Thu only) THE HUNGER GAMES (Essex, Thu only) THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES (Essex, Mon only) THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Essex, Fri only) THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY: PART 1 (Essex, Sat only)

LATE FAME: An obscure, working-class poet (Willem Dafoe) finds himself unexpectedly celebrated by a group of hipsters in Kent Jones’ comedy-drama, with Greta Lee. (96 min, NR. Partizanfilm)

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY: PART 2 (Essex, Sun only)

ONSLAUGHT: A sniper fights genetically engineered soldiers in the desert in this sci-fi action thriller from Adam Wingard (You’re Next). Adria Arjona and Dan Stevens star. (92 min, R. Essex, Majestic, Sunset)

WILD INSIDE (VTIFF, Sat only)

CURRENTLY PLAYING COYOTE VS. ACMEHHHH Looney Tunes’ Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme corporation for its faulty products in this live action/animated comedy.

(101 min, PG. Bijou, City Cinema, Essex, Majestic, Paramount, Savoy, Star, Stowe, Sunset) THE DOG STARSHHH In Ridley Scott’s drama, an isolated pilot (Jacob Elordi) must fend off other survivors of a global pandemic. (118 min, R. Bijou, Capitol, City Cinema, Essex, Majestic, Playhouse, Sunset, Welden; reviewed 9/2) THE END OF OAK STREETHHH1/2 A family must cope when their suburban home lands in a monsterfilled dimension in this survival thriller. (99 min, PG-13. Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Star; reviewed 8/19) FINDING EMILYHHH A young man enlists the help of a psychology student to help him locate the dream girl he just missed in this rom-com. (111 min, PG-13.

Majestic) INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHERHH1/2 A young mom (Amelia Eve) discovers she has a disturbing connection to the spirit world in this horror sequel.

(106 min, PG-13. City Cinema, Majestic, Sunset) THE ODYSSEYHHHH Christopher Nolan takes on the Homeric epic of a weary warrior (Matt Damon) trying to return home. (180 min, R. Capitol, Essex, Majestic; reviewed 7/22) PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIEHH1/2 The team must save a dinosaur island in this animated family adventure. (88 min, PG. Bethel, Bijou, Essex, Majestic, Star, Stowe, Welden) PETER ASHER: EVERYWHERE MAN: This documentary traces the career of the manager and producer who helped shape the careers of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. (117 min, NR. Catamount) SPA WEEKENDH1/2 In this comedy, three friends’ getaway goes awry when their chaotic pal joins them. 97 min, R. Welden) SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAYHHH1/2 The world has forgotten that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) exists, but can he stay under the radar? (145 min, PG-13.

Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Star, Stowe, Sunset, Welden)

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BETHEL DRIVE-IN: 36 Bethel Dr., Bethel, 728-3740, betheldrivein.com *BIG PICTURE THEATER: 48 Carroll Rd., Waitsfield, 496-8994, bigpicturetheater.info. Closed through April 29.

BIJOU CINEPLEX 4: 107 Portland St., Morrisville, 888-3293, bijou4.com CAPITOL THEATER: 93 State St., Montpelier, 229-0343, fgbtheaters.com CATAMOUNT ARTS: 115 Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 748-2600, catamountarts.org CITY CINEMA: 137 Waterfront Plaza, Newport, 334-2610, citycinemanewport.com ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com MAJESTIC 10: 190 Boxwood St., Williston, 878-2010, majestic10.com MARQUIS THEATER: 65 Main St., Middlebury, 388-4841, middleburymarquis.com. Closed through September 9.

PARAMOUNT TWIN CINEMA: 241 N. Main St., Barre, 479-9621, fgbtheaters.com PARTIZANFILM: 230 College St., Unit 13, Burlington, 276-4588, partizanfilm.org PLAYHOUSE MOVIE THEATRE: 11 S. Main St., Randolph, 728-4012, playhouseflicks.com SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com THE SCREENING ROOM @ VTIFF: 60 Lake St., Ste. 1C, Burlington, 660-2600, vtiff.org STAR THEATRE: 17 Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 748-9511, stjaytheatre.com *STOWE CINEMA 3PLEX: 454 Mountain Rd., Stowe, 253-4678, stowecinema.com

COACH THEM ON AND OFF THE FIELD. Make sure they understand the risks of underage drinking and other drug use.

Show young people you care by discouraging risky behaviors and talking with them about the dangers of drinking alcohol and using other drugs. For tips on how—and when—to begin the conversation, visit talktheyhearyou.samhsa.gov

SUNSET DRIVE-IN: 155 Porters Point Rd., Colchester, 862-1800, sunsetdrivein.com *WELDEN THEATRE: 104 N. Main St., St. Albans, 527-7888, weldentheatre.com

#TalkTheyHearYou PEP23-03-01-014

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COURTESY PHOTOS

art

Arlington as Apple Pie An exhibition at Shelburne Museum showcases Norman Rockwell’s connections to community B Y A L I CE D OD GE • adodge@sevendaysvt.com

REVIEW

E

ven in the age of prediction markets, there are few sure bets.

One of them: Everyone reading this has seen a Norman Rockwell.

The artist was best known for the more than 300 covers he illustrated for the Saturday Evening Post from 1916 to 1963. He populated them with quintessentially American small-town characters: plucky kids, nosy neighbors, a goofy GI. While his scenes are widely considered to represent Anytown, USA, many of them are modeled on the southern Vermont town of Arlington.

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“The Craftsman”

This summer at Shelburne Museum, “Norman Rockwell: At Home in Vermont,” on view through October 25, makes the connection clear. “Rockwell not only was informed and inspired by Arlington,” curator Carolyn Bauer said on a tour of the show, “he was at all the swing dances, all the PTA meetings. He did all the art fair judging. He bought a portion of a cemetery.

He was part of the fabric of that community, through and through, during the 14 years he lived there.”

Rockwell and his wife moved to

Vermont in 1938, seeking to escape the growing suburb of New Rochelle, N.Y., for somewhere more rural. Deciding that Bennington and Dorset were “a little too posh for their taste,” according to the exhibition catalog, they bought a 60-acre farmstead less than 24 hours after setting foot in Arlington.

Rockwell was a singular figure — he was already nationally well known when he moved to Vermont and continues to be among the most popular American artists of any era — but the exhibition stresses his

connections to a wider creative community.

Author Dorothy Canfield Fisher lived in Arlington and promoted a vision of rural identity that was similar to Rockwell’s.

Folk artist Grandma Moses lived in nearby Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and painted nostalgic scenes of country ways; she became one of Rockwell’s friends late in her life.

The exhibition presents works by contemporaries who also illustrated for the Saturday Evening Post — Mead Schaeffer, George Hughes, John Atherton and Gene Pelham — and who also relocated to Arlington from larger cities. Pelham became Rockwell’s studio assistant and took many of Rockwell’s reference photos, sometimes of his own children.

Melinda Pelham was the baby pictured in “The Babysitter,” from 1947. The squalling infant grabs the red hair of her tween caretaker, who is clearly frustrated but determined as she reads a book titled Hints to the Baby Sitter amid a chaos of toys and her own homework. An original work on loan from the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art, the painting has an unusual detail: a real safety pin, affixed to the canvas as though on the baby’s diaper.

Apparently, it was used to prick Melinda’s feet to make her cry for the photos.

Rockwell and Pelham didn’t always resort to such drastic measures. “The Young Lady With the Shiner” pictures then10-year-old Mary Whalen, disheveled but smiling proudly as she waits outside the principal’s office, sporting a black eye. After trying makeup and charcoal, Rockwell couldn’t quite get the correct color on the bruise. He took out at an ad in the Berkshire Eagle seeking photos of fresh bruises. The winning reference, for which he paid $25, was of a 2-year-old who had fallen down the stairs.

Both Melinda Pelham and Whalen will be joined by other Rockwell models who still live in Vermont in a September 26 panel discussion at Shelburne Museum.

It’s part of Rockwell Day, which will also include curatorial tours of the show; a (clothed) figure-drawing session inspired

by Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” series, prints of which are on view; and a talk by art historian Russell Lord of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts, who will discuss how Rockwell used photography.

Rockwell’s art has always been wildly popular with the general public but not as well received by the art world. When others in the same era were pursuing abstraction and art for art’s sake — some of them, such as Helen Frankenthaler, just down the road at Bennington College — Rockwell’s work was wholly commercial.

The tension between artistic and commercial imagery is visible in some of the pieces in the show, particularly those

by John Atherton. Though his “Shaftsbury

ART SHOWS

“Kneeling Girl”; below: “Portrait of Norman Rockwell” by Gene Pelham

Railroad Station,” a 1944 Saturday Evening Post cover, centers a quaint, old-timey woodstove in a nostalgic picture, his “Old Barn, Connecticut” is a dark, dilapidated vision of rural life. “Pine Tree” is weirder still, playing with trompe l’oeil perspective and deconstructed architecture in a surreal image.

Though Rockwell’s friends grappled with the conflict between fine art and illustration, Shelburne Museum curator Thomas Denenberg said, “Rockwell was really enjoying his status and didn’t feel the need to be a tortured artist.” Instead, he often incorporated fine-art references and techniques in his commercial work.

That’s clear from the three pieces that spurred the development of the show: 1955’s “Kneeling Girl,” 1963’s “The Craftsman” and a study for “The Craftsman.”

Rock of Ages in Barre commissioned the works after Rockwell had moved to Massachusetts. Québec firm Polycor purchased Rock of Ages in 2016 and last year donated the paintings to the Shelburne Museum.

These are unabashedly ads for headstones — the one in “Kneeling Girl,” in particular, seems to gleam in a polished way that’s unusually clean for an image of a graveyard. But with “The Craftsman,” which shows a worker designing a headstone in a granite shed, we can see in Rockwell’s study how he is deeply interested in the geometry of the building, the light, the craftsman’s focus. Gray beams crisscross vertically and horizontally across the space, mirroring the design on the central tombstone, which bears the name “Norwell” — a portmanteau of his own.

Moving from the study to the finished piece, Rockwell emphasized dramatic light — something unusual for him, Bauer said. That and an angel monument, which seems to be watching over the craftsman, lend a Renaissance air to the scene. Rockwell selected George Seivwright, an actual stonecutter at Rock of Ages, as a model for the painting. As much as it’s selling a concept of traditional American culture to the wider world, it’s also celebrating a specific Vermonter. ➆

INFO “Norman Rockwell: At Home in Vermont,” on view through October 25; Rockwell Day, Friday, September 25, 5:30-6:30 p.m., and Saturday, September 26, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m., at Shelburne Museum. shelburnemuseum.org 2V-middcollart090226 1

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art SEP. 2-9 OPENINGS + RECEPTIONS

VISUAL ART EVENTS ARTIST TALK: WILL KASSO CONDRY: A discussion with the artist of his role as cofounder of Juniper Creative Arts and his solo exhibition, “Everything Is Everything,” including an exploration of his community art making, creative practice, journey of healing and family mythology. BCA Center, Burlington, Thursday, September 3, 6-7 p.m. Free.

EL TOWLE: Paintings of Vermont landscapes, lakescapes, wildlife and farm animals by the South Alburgh painter and art teacher. South Burlington Public Art Gallery, through September 30.

‘LIBRARY CARDS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY (AND BEYOND!)’: A display of library cards from around the country, a few U.S. territories and Montréal, alongside fun facts about the libraries they come from, on view in celebration of Library Card Sign-up Month in September.

South Burlington Public Library Art Wall, through September 30.

LIFE DRAWING AND PAINTING: A drop-in event for artists working with the figure from a live model. T.W. Wood Museum, Montpelier, Thursday, September 3, 7-9 p.m. Free; $15 suggested donation.

‘GALLERY WALK: CIRCUS AT THE MUSEUM’: Performances outside the museum by acrobats and aerialists from New England Center for Circus Arts, presented at 6 and 6:45 p.m. as part of Brattleboro’s Gallery Walk. Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Friday, September 4, 5-8 p.m. Free.

‘WE THE UNSEEN PEOPLE’: An exhibition organized

by Sarah Rooker and artist Luciana Frigerio exploring objects from the archives that speak to the unknown residents of early Norwich, particularly women. The exhibition includes a rare first facsimile on silk of the Declaration of Independence, produced in 1818 by Benjamin Owen Tyler. Reception: Thursday, September 3, 5-7 p.m. Norwich Historical Society and Community Center, September 3-January 31.

ARTIST TALK: ACE LEHNER: “Portraiture, Identity and Representation,” a lecture by the University of Vermont photo professor on their creative practice and the ways photographing others is both a personal and cultural act. Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, Friday, September 4, 5:30 p.m. Free.

‘LAND & LIGHT & WATER & AIR’: A flagship exhibit of plein air and traditional landscape paintings, showcasing more than 100 works by regional artists.

Some works receive awards, which are presented at the reception. Reception and awards ceremony: Thursday, September 3, 5-7 p.m. Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, through October 25.

ART & DESIGN SUMMER RESEARCH: An exhibition of grant-funded Art & Design summer research projects by Chloe Brown ’27 (fashion design), Dominic Douglass ’27 (painting), Abbey Gyurko ’27 (graphic design), Sonnet Lawson ’28 (painting) and Sage McCabe ’29 (sculpture.) Reception: Thursday, September 3, 6-7 p.m. McCarthy Art Gallery, Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, through September 5.

‘THE CUT & SEW SHOW’: A collaborative exhibition of unfinished chore coats altered and reinterpreted by 29 artists and designers working with Burlington designer April Cornell and the Shelter Cultivation Project. Reception: Thursday, September 3, 6-9 p.m.

Karma Bird House Gallery, Burlington, September 3-December 1.

MARY THÉRÈSE WRIGHT AND ELLEN CONE MADDREY: “What Are Paintings For?” Recent abstract works by the artists, whose show emerged from the New York Times series of the same name encouraging readers to look at a particular painting for 10 minutes. 118 Elliot, Brattleboro, September 3-October 31.

‘PAINTERS OF VERMONT, 1900-1955’: A group exhibition of painters whose work was inspired by the Vermont landscape and made in the first half of the 20th century. J. Kenneth Fine Art, Shelburne, September 3-October 3.

ROB HITZIG: “Mind Machines,” a solo show of abstract works that contradict the idea that art doesn’t “do anything” by breaking down hardened beliefs. Reception: Friday, September 4, 4-7 p.m. The Front, Montpelier, September 4-27.

RAY BROWN: An exhibition celebrating the life and work of the late artist and featuring his later bold, abstract color-field paintings alongside views of Vermont barns and landscapes. Coproduced with the Northern New England Museum of Contemporary Art. Reception: Saturday, September 5, 5-7 p.m. Front Four Gallery, Stowe, through September 21.

‘YOU ARE HERE’: A group show exploring aspects of Mount Abraham, Camel’s Hump, the Lake Champlain Basin and the Breadloaf Wilderness through the eyes of Jill Madden, Dorothy Punderson and Will Amidon. Reception: Thursday, September 17, 5-7 p.m.

Johnson Memorial Building, Middlebury College, through September 25.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

“Ginger Blossom” by Kelli Thompson

COURTESY

‘POSTCARDS FROM HERE’: An exhibition reimagining vintage postcards and capturing the nostalgia of travel. Reception: Thursday, September 3, 5-7 p.m. Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, through October 25.

ARTIST TALK: STEVE ARCONE: The artist discusses the process of creating his exhibition “Icescapes in the Abstract,” for which he photographed the fleeting architectures produced by freeze-thaw cycles on small New Hampshire ponds at an intimate scale, from 8 to 40 centimeters away. AVA Gallery and Art Center, Lebanon, N.H., Friday, September 4, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Free.

EXHIBITION

No Shrinking Violets Hexum Gallery owner and curator John Zaso wanted to do a show featuring flowers, he said, but not typical bundles of blooms. He was fascinated by the idea of the wallflower: someone simultaneously showy and shy. The works in “Wallflower,” on view through September 25 at the second-floor Montpelier gallery, aren’t portraits of reticent partygoers but convey a similar complicated psychology.

Kelli Thompson’s “Ginger Blossom” hides the subject’s face out of frame, the weird bloom seemingly growing through their forehead and announcing a strength of personality. Elizabeth Powell’s “Thistle” and Matteo Callegari’s “Telepathine (Self-Portrait as Passiflora)” both present careful, close-up views of flowers that read more bodily than botanical. Danielle Mysliwiec’s sculptural “Spring” demonstrates passion and precision in equal measure. Rather than picturing a blossom or using a brush, the artist made the green-and-yellow gradient relief by piping her paint to create a dimensional, wovenlooking surface. It reminds the viewer that, in addition to smelling the roses, touching grass is also spectacular.

‘WALLFLOWER’ On view through September 25 at Hexum Gallery in Montpelier. hexumgallery.com

MACKENZIE KOVAKA: “Is That a Table Saw?,” an exploration of common woodworking tools presented in watercolor and created during the 2026 studio residency program. Reception: Saturday, September 19, 4:30-6 p.m. Studio Place Arts, Barre, September 9-October 24.

MARK LORAH: “Incidental Objects,” dimensional wall work and sculptures by the Brookfield artist that employ materials and remnants of the human-made environment and explore our physical connection with the ordinary. On view in the Third-Floor Gallery.

Reception: Saturday, September 19, 4:30-6 p.m.

Studio Place Arts, Barre, September 9-October 24.

‘ROCK SOLID’: An annual exhibition, run since 2000, of stone sculptures and assemblages by area artists and this year featuring a group of sculptures by the

late John A. Matusz, who was a contributor for 14 years. On view in the Main Floor Gallery. Reception: Saturday, September 19, 4:30-6 p.m. Studio Place Arts, Barre, September 9-October 24.

ROZ DANIELS: “At the Car Wash,” abstract photographs picturing the locale, on display in the Quick Change Gallery. Reception: Saturday.

September 19, 4:30-6 p.m. Studio Place Arts, Barre, September 9-October 24.

‘THE GEORGE FLOYD QUILTS’: Eleven pieces created by the Sacred Heart Quilt Ministry in an effort to spark conversation about racial and social injustice in our country following the tragic death of George Floyd. Closing reception and film screening: Friday, September 25, 5 p.m. Susan Calza Black Box Gallery, Visual Arts Center, Johnson, through September 25.

‘ART MAKING ON THE LAND’ WALKING TOUR: An exploration of large-scale sculptures by David Stromeyer with docent Laura Need. Cold Hollow Sculpture Park, Enosburg Falls, Saturday, September 5, 1:15-2 p.m. Free.

SOCIAL SUNDAY: An opportunity for children and caregivers to stop in and complete a 15- to 30-minute activity during the two-hour workshop.

Milton Artists’ Guild Art Center & Gallery, Sunday, September 6, 1-3 p.m. Free.

PORTRAIT DRAWING AND PAINTING: A drop-in event where artists can practice skills in any medium. T.W. Wood Museum, Montpelier, Monday, September 7, 10 a.m.-noon. Free; $15 suggested donation.

CARVING CIRCLE: A space for printmakers to carve, glue or incise blocks together. Studio tools available; no printing takes place. Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, Tuesday, September 8, 6-8 p.m. Free.

CALLS TO ARTISTS ‘BODY HORROR: IMMORAL FEAST III’: Seeking works for an exhibition exploring body processes such as healing, failure, leakage, mutation, modification, decay, desire and rot; visceral materials such as organs, fluids, growths, scars, teeth, hair, skin; and themes of anatomy, pleasure, illness, disability, transhumanism, sexuality, gender, aging, reproduction, mortality, mutation, kinship, autonomy or any other interpretation in any medium. Info at spiralhouse.collective@gmail.com.

Deadline: September 21. Spiral House Art Collective, Burlington. Free.

FY27 ARTIST DEVELOPMENT GRANTS: Now accepting applications for activities that enhance mastery of an artist’s craft or skills or increase viability of their business. Apply at vermontartscouncil. org. Deadline: September 7. Vermont Arts Council, Montpelier.

‘MADE IN THE MOUNTAINS’: Vermont artists of all levels are invited to submit 12-by-12-inch works in all mediums for a community-centered art exhibition.

Works should be priced between $50 and $250; 40 percent of proceeds support Corner School’s arts programming. The show opens on September 20 and runs through mid-October. Contact vtcornerschool@ gmail.com for submission form. Deadline: September 4. Granville Corner School. Free. ➆

View all free summer events

Summer in the City Burlington’s

Over 100 Free Events from June - September

September

Artist Talk w/ Will Kasso Condry of Juniper Creative Arts

Thursday, September 3, BCA Center, 6-7 PM

Art Amplified w/ Paper Castle & Roost.World Wednesday, September 9 BCA Center, 5-7 PM

Experience the gallery in a whole new light with DJs, live music, and fun drinks.

Art Hop at BCA Studios Friday, September 11 5-8 PM: Open House @ BCA Studios 7-10 PM: Interstitial Yoko Dreams Come out to the Community Room at BCA Studios and immerse yourself in Craig Mitchell’s original Yoko Ono remixes and community-based projections from the Media Factory and John Killacky.

Saturday, September 12 11 AM-1 PM: Family Make n’ Take @ Kids Hop 7-10 PM: Live from BCA w/ Jessie Taylor Band and Yabai!

Rock out at Art Hop in the Community Room at BCA Studios.

Cheese the Day

Friday, September 18, 5-8 PM Church Street Marketplace

A celebration of Vermont cheesemakers with free tastings.

Latin American Connection Celebration Saturday, September 19 City Hall Park, 12-9 PM

All are invited for a day of Latin music, food, dance, culture, and art in the park that kicks off with a community parade at noon.

Barbershop: The Art of Queer Failure

Opening Friday, September 25, 5-7 PM Through October 3, BCA Center An interactive installation by artist Ace Lehner that reimagines the traditional barbershop as a queer community space.

Throughout each performance, the artist, who is not trained as a barber, offers haircuts to the public in return for a commitment to engage in an act of queer world-making before their hair grows out.

Party on the Bricks

Saturdays, Church Street Marketplace 3:30-6 PM, Band at 4 PM Each week, the party pops up on a different block of the Marketplace, spotlighting an amazing restaurant and a local band.

September 19: Jenni Johnson & The Junketeers at Pascolo Ristorante September 26: Jon McBride’s Big Easy at Honey Road October 3: Mother of Pearl at Halvorson’s Upstreet Cafe October 10: Night Protocol at Ken’s Pizza and Pub

Splash Dance w/ DJ cRAIG mITCHELL Saturday, September 26 City Hall Park, 1-3 PM

BTV Market

Saturday, September 26 City Hall Park, 11 AM-3 PM

loveburlington.org/summerinthecity

Summer in the City Media Sponsors: Seven Days and WCAX. BCA’s Summer in the City programming is made possible in part thanks to Underwriters at the Pomerleau Family Foundation; Supporters Burlington Telecom, Myti, Soundtoys, and Lake Champlain Chocolates, and Community Partner American Flatbread Burlington & Mothership Brewery. Church Street Marketplace’s Party on the Bricks is made possible by presenting sponsor, Foam Brewers, and media sponsor, Burlington Area Newspaper Group.

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8/31/26 11:49 AM

music+nightlife COURTESY OF SARAH PEET

S UNDbites News and views on the local music + nightlife scene B Y CHRI S FARNSWO RT H • farnsworth@sevendaysvt.com

Ryan Miller and Friends at last year’s Homegrown in Vermont Festival

Wet, Hot Vermont Summer Spruce Peak Arts’ Homegrown festival returns The text thread between Fairfax singersongwriter TROY MILLETTE and Spruce Peak Arts executive director SETH SOLOWAY is not for the faint of heart.

“Oh, it’s horrible,” Millette said with a laugh in a recent Zoom conversation with Soloway and Seven Days. “It’s all sports trash talk and texts about bands we love, usually at 2 a.m. We’re always on the lookout.”

Millette and Soloway have been working together closely for the past several years, turning Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe — traditionally a stage for world-class touring artists — into a haven for local musicians, too. The culmination of their efforts is the Homegrown in Vermont Music Festival, taking place this Saturday, September 5. Now in its third year, the daylong event features a robust lineup of local singer-songwriters and Americana, pop and folk-rock acts that includes the likes of MADAILA, ALI MCGUIRK, 56

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

KYLE CHADBURN, REID PARSONS, Millette and plenty more. More than 20 artists will appear on two stages for the biggest Homegrown fest yet.

“We wanted to overstuff the fest this year,” Soloway said.

The festival’s marquee draw is a closing set from GUSTER front man and Williston resident RYAN MILLER, backed

by MICHAEL CHORNEY’s seven-piece jazzfusion outfit, FREEWAY CLYDE. The Vermont supergroup will perform TOM PETTY’s Wildflowers in its entirety. How faithful that rendition is remains to be seen.

Founded by Chorney, the Tony Award-winning Hadestown composer and leader of such boundary-pushing local outfits as VIPERHOUSE and HOLLAR GENERAL, Freeway Clyde specialize in a surrealist style of composition — specifically, fashioning soundtracks to movies that don’t exist. Miller knew that Chorney and bandmates such as MATT

LAROCCA, an artistic adviser and project conductor with the VERMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, wouldn’t be interested in a note-for-note re-creation of Petty’s 1994 classic.

“That’s not how they roll,” Miller said in a video call from his houseboat, No Regerts — and yes, the name is a reference to a Milky Way commercial.

At last year’s Homegrown fest, Miller spearheaded a relatively straightforward Vermont all-star tribute to the KINKS. This year, he looked for an album he could put his own imprint on. “Wildflowers is kind of like three chords and the truth,” he said. “It feels like a cool record to be able to fuck with. You can’t really fuck with something like, say, Pet Sounds,” he added, referring to the breakthrough BEACH BOYS album.

While members of Freeway Clyde have a deep love of the source material — according to Miller, electro-

pop producer and trumpet player WILL ANDREWS, aka WILLVERINE, claims Wildflowers is one of his favorite LPs of all time — Chorney’s familiarity with it might be looser.

“Chorney is so funny, man,” Miller said. “He doesn’t really know that record at all. I thought I had obscure tastes, but he goes really, really obscure.

“But I knew that I needed a record I could sing — so, no BJÖRK — and a record that eight musicians would love enough to learn, unlearn and re-create,” Miller continued.

For Millette, the festival isn’t just an opportunity to play in front of more than 1,000 people; it’s a chance to connect with a local music community that is far bigger than he ever realized. He hopes the growing festival will illuminate more of the Green Mountain musical ecosystem each year.

“I’ve never been so thankful to be ignorant on a subject,” Millette said. “I thought I had my thumb on the pulse of what’s going on, but every new friend I make in the scene introduces me to another incredible musician that I never knew about. So when we get to the fest, it’s almost like a Vermont singersongwriter summer camp.”

Adding the second stage was a nobrainer for Millette and Soloway. That allows there to be no breaks between acts: When a band on the WhistlePig Pavilion stage finishes, the next artist will kick off their set in the Acoustic Station.

“We asked ourselves, How do we squeeze some of these acts that are kind of playing Triple-A ball and let them take some swings with a major league at bat?”

Millette said. “And the result is more music and, selfishly for me, more pals on the bill.”

Soloway, who previously worked in music and arts in Nashville and New York City, has been impressed with the camaraderie of the Vermont scene, which he’s watched closely since taking the top job at Spruce Peak Arts in 2023.

“After the first year of Homegrown, I saw how this scene inspires and creates community,” he said. “There’s no cutthroat backstage-antics kind of stuff; no one is worried about time slots.

It’s just people playing hacky sack or jamming together for the first time.”

“There’s not a lot of gatekeepers in this scene,” Millette agreed. “That’s part of the magic.”

For more on the Homegrown in Vermont Music Festival, visit sprucepeakarts.org. ➆

GOT MUSIC NEWS? MUSIC@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

© HUTCHINSPHOTO | DREAMSTIME

Reggie Watts

4T-BurlBaroque090226 1

On the Beat As first reported by Rolling Stone last month, comedian and musician REGGIE WATTS is facing disturbing allegations regarding several past partners, including his ex-girlfriend KATHERINE MCCOLLOUGH, who died by suicide earlier this year. The public fallout against the comic and former bandleader of “The Late Late Show With JAMES CORDEN” has been swift, resulting in multiple show cancellations, including in Vermont.

In the Rolling Stone story, multiple people, including former partners of Watts, accuse him of pushing ketamine use on McCollough. An anonymous source called Watts “incredibly reckless” with his own use of the drug, for which he’s been an outspoken advocate, and for how he administered dosages to others.

Watts is also accused of psychological and emotional abuse; withholding payment to McCollough, who was a producer on Watts’ talk ON THE BEAT

Listening In (Spotify mix of local jams) 1. “LIGHTSPHERES ON THEIR WAY” by Lily Seabird 2. “DOWN AT THE DUCK”

by Chin Ho! 3. “DEEP BELOW” by Lillian Leadbetter 4. “GUARDIAN ANGEL”

by Bo Malcolm 5. “IT TAKES ROOT” by YABAI! 6. “KEEP IT COMING”

by Roost.World 7. “YOUNGER GENERATION”

by Eustis

8/28/26 11:01 AM

Head North!

Find our stories about Québec for Vermont travelers at:

sevendaysvt.com/quebec.

Scan to listen

SPONSORED BY:

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GUIDE

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music+nightlife On the Beat « P.57

It’s a good week for fresh music from Vermont artists. First up is a relatively new outfit composed of scene stalwarts: the VOLCANOS. The band is a local

COURTESY PHOTOS

show “Watch Watts Happen Live”; and knowingly exposing partners to sexually transmitted diseases.

While Watts declined to speak to Rolling Stone, his lawyer, ANDREW BRETTLER, issued a strong denial, defending his client. Brettler called the accusations “dangerously false” and cited McCollough’s past drug use, predating her relationship with Watts.

In response to the controversy, the podcast “Comedy Bang! Bang!” removed its Watts-composed theme song, and the comedian has been removed from multiple festivals, including the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, the Shambala and Greenbelt fests in the UK, and Electric Picnic in Ireland.

Watts does still list a handful of active club dates on his website, but those don’t include his planned five-show run from November 5 to 7 at Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington, which has been canceled — though whether by Watts or the venue is unclear. Vermont Comedy Club confirmed the shows were off but declined to comment on the matter.

As of press time, the comedy club hasn’t filled Watts’ now-vacant November dates. However, the following weekend, November 12 to 14, totally not-canceled comedian and TV and podcast host ADAM CONOVER returns to the club. Which is really just a reminder that Vermont Comedy Club always has something great in the pipeline.

Or maybe that’s two pipelines: Its new performance space, Vermont Comedy Arts, opens across the street this month.

The Volcanos

supergroup of sorts, featuring vocalist and guitarist ROB VOLAND, WREN KITZ on drums, NOAH CROWTHER on bass, and TYLER GEORGE-MINETTI on guitar and lap steel.

The Volcanos recently issued their debut single, “Curious.” A hushed mix of folk and psych rock, the slowburning track has an accompanying music video directed by Kitz. The band’s self-titled debut LP drops on October 2, but if you want to see what the band is all about, catch its upcoming South End Art Hop gig at Sterling Furniture Works in Burlington on Saturday, September 12. “Curious”

is streaming on Spotify, and you can see the music video on YouTube.

Upper Valley singersongwriter ALLISON FAY has released “Infatuation,” the third single from an upcoming EP. The tune finds Fay singing with fellow Vermont singer-songwriters JES RAYMOND and LISA PICCIRILLO, crafting gorgeous harmonies over a jaunty, uplifting folk song.

“Infatuation” follows the release of “Trust the Process” and “Blessing in Disguise” and, like those earlier singles,

was recorded with Grammy-nominated producer MATT APPLETON and mastered by veteran Vermont producer LANE GIBSON. Stream “Infatuation” on Spotify.

Experimental musician and percussionist JABE LEDOUX is back with a new three-track collection titled Total Refusal (Preparation VIII). Inspired by the book Soundtrack to the Revolution: Free Jazz and Leftist Nationalism in Québec, 1967-1975 by ERIC FILLION, Ledoux’s latest work is “a meditation on the current state of the world and what we can do about it,” he said.

With an average run time of about 20 minutes per track, Total Refusal is a long, percussive journey with Ledoux and his unconventional kit, which includes a whiskey-barrel drum, gongs, cowbells, temple blocks and beads. Check it out at fluxovtime.bandcamp.com.

Finally, Waitsfield’s Afterthoughts has hosted several big-name hip-hop shows recently, including the PHARCYDE and TALIB KWELI. We love to see it.

There’s another R.A. the Rugged Man rager planned for this Thursday, September 3, when the club welcomes veteran rapper and producer R.A. THE RUGGED MAN. The MC has collaborated with the likes of GHOSTFACE KILLAH and ICE-T, but he’s almost as well known for his music journalism as his records.

He’s written for a host of hip-hop and culture magazines, including the Source and Complex. For any doubters of his credentials, this is the same rapper about whom the NOTORIOUS B.I.G. once said, “I thought I was the illest.”

C HRI S FARN S W O RT H

COURTESY PHOTOS

1. LUKAS NELSON & MOLLY TUTTLE at Ben & Jerry’s Concerts

The Disco Biscuits

on the Green at Shelburne Museum, September 10 2. UB40 at MTELUS in Montréal, September 19 3. TURNSTILE at Thompson’s Point in Portland,

Maine, September 26 4. OLIVER WOOD at Zenbarn in Waterbury

Center, September 27

COURTESY OF DAVE DECRESCENTE

Shows to Watch Out For

BY CHRIS FARNSWORTH

58

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Dababy

5. DABABY & G HERBO at the MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y., October 3 6. THE DISCO BISCUITS at Paramount Theatre in Rutland, October 8 7. KRONOS QUARTET at

Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hanover, N.H., October 23

Kronos Quartet

CLUB DATES

Find the most up-to-date info on live music, DJs, comedy and more at sevendaysvt.com/music. If you’re a talent booker or artist planning live entertainment at a bar, nightclub, café, restaurant, brewery or coffee shop, send event details to music@sevendaysvt.com or submit the info using our form at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.

COURTESY

live music WED.2

Bluegrass Nights (bluegrass) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 6 p.m.

Free.

Shane’s Apothecary (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m. Free.

Sister Speak (singer-songwriter) at Shelburne Vineyard, 2 p.m.

Free.

Soup for Two, Salmo (indie folk) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10.

Dark Star Project (Grateful Dead tribute) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. $10.

Jazz Jam (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Uncle John’s Band (rock) at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, Essex, 2 p.m. Free.

Jazz Night with Ray Vega (jazz) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.

The Unfaithful Servants (bluegrass) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $18/$20.

Jenny Porter (singer-songwriter) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Lillian Leadbetter, Millions of Birds (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 7 p.m. $10.

Shane McGrath (country, pop) at the Tunbridge General Store, 5 p.m. Free.

Slow Teeth, Invisible Homes, Rose Asteroid (post rock) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7:30 p.m. $10.

THU.3

SUN.6

Andriana & the Bananas (indie pop) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 1 p.m. Free.

FRI.4 // MJT [ROCK]

Band of Brothers Hailing from Long Island, N.Y.,

Bronwyn (bluegrass, folk) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $20/$25.

MJT are composed of

three prog-rocking siblings. The Godfrey brothers grew up as jazz prodigies — with a detour playing in their high school marching band — before forming a family band. The trio pushed into R&B and funk territory early on but embraced alternative rock and punk sounds on a

Billy Wylder, Mikahely (art rock at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8 p.m. $10/$20.

2016 debut, Nightmares and Daydreams. Their latest offering, Mr. NoOne (Pt. 2), finds the

Devon McGarry (acoustic) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 6 p.m. Free.

They’re set to perform at Radio Bean in Burlington on Friday, September 4 — a rescheduled

brothers fusing blues, soul, Southern rock and pop elements into heady, high-powered jams. date from a canceled January show — with support from local funk-jazz outfit MOON PPL.

Funk Jam (funk) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Garrison Bones (singersongwriter) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8 p.m. Free.

Lincoln Sprague (piano) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 5 p.m. Free.

MJT, moon ppl (rock) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $15.

CombustOmatics (rock) at the Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.

MSJ Jazz Trio (jazz) at Two Heroes Brewery & Public House, South Hero, 6 p.m. Free.

Mavstar (hip-hop) at Specs, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

Never Come Down (bluegrass) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. $20.

Dead Sessions (Grateful Dead tribute) at Shelburne Vineyard, 8 p.m. $20.

Quinn Sullivan (blues, rock) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $30.

Happy Spangler (indie rock) at Bent Nails Roadhouse, Middlesex, 8:30 p.m. Free.

R.A. the Rugged Man (hip-hop) at Afterthoughts, Waitsfield, 8 p.m. $25.

IncaHoots (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m.

Free.

Red Hot Juba (jazz) at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.

Joe Something, Tabarnak (rock) at Monkey House, Winooski, 8:15 p.m. $10.

Summer Concert Series on the Patio: David Karl Roberts (singer-songwriter) at Folino’s Pizza, Williston, 6 p.m. Free.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Rebirth Brass Band (funk, jazz) at Stone Church, Brattleboro, 8 p.m. $60/$70.

Thursday Night Live Music at the Eleven (live music series) at the Foundry Pub & Grille, Jay, 6 p.m.

Free.

Lady Moon & the Eclipse, Beccs (soul, funk) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Tournesol (jazz) at Standing Stone Wines, Winooski, 7 p.m.

Donations.

FRI.4

Bright Brown (folk, rock) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Lara Cwass’ Super Soul Funk Jam (jam) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 8 p.m. $15/$18.

Live Music and Hot Pizza at Wood Fired Fridays (music series) at the Clubhouse Grille, Jay, 5 p.m. Free.

Luis Betancourt, Puppy Love (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

Mean Waltons (bluegrass) at Poultney Pub, 6 p.m. Free.

The Phil Abair Band (covers) at the Old Post, South Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Punk Rock Queer Prom with Cat Crash, the Eyetraps, Emo Girls Kissing, We’re Here! To Kill (punk) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8 p.m. $10.

David O & Mike Schuster (bluegrass, country) at Shelburne Vineyard, 6 p.m. Free.

Dusty Buckets (bluegrass) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8:30 p.m. Free.

Holding Napoleon & Alice Grace (experimental, ambient) at Community of Sound, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5-$25.

Jeff Salisbury Band (blues) at Two Heroes Brewery & Public House, South Hero, 6 p.m. Free.

Second Hand Blues (blues) at Dick Wright Public House, Franklin, 6 p.m. $10 suggested donation.

Jerband (rock) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 9 p.m. Free.

Shane McGrath (acoustic) at Gusto’s, Barre, 6 p.m. Free.

Mowgli Giannitti (singer-songwriter) at Switchback Beer Garden & Smokehouse, Burlington, 5:30 p.m. Free.

She Was Right (covers) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 5 p.m.

Free.

Ursa & the Major Key (indie rock) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8:30 p.m. Free.

VT Bluegrass Pioneers (bluegrass) at Jericho Café & Tavern, 6 p.m. Free.

Zachary DeFranco (folk) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 4 p.m. Free.

SAT.5

Aria (singer-songwriter) at the Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.

Bermuda Search Party, Miki Fiki, Silverlined (indie rock) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $15.

Josh Panda (rock) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

The Night Shift (rock) at the Alchemist, Stowe, 4 p.m. Free.

Paris Monster (funk, soul) at the Mill, Westport, N.Y., 8 p.m. $30-$40.

Raised by Hippies (rock) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, 7 p.m. Free.

The Red Newts (blues, country) at Monkey House, Winooski, 8 p.m. $5.

Rick Maguire, Vehicle (indie) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8 p.m. $15.

Saturday Night Live Music at the Eleven (live music series) at the Foundry Pub & Grille, Jay, 7 p.m.

Free.

Jazz Night with Ray Vega (jazz) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.

Ken Clark Duo (jazz) at Two Heroes Brewery & Public House, South Hero, 6 p.m. Free.

Phantom Airwave (funk, soul) at Halvorson’s, Burlington, 6:30 p.m.

Donations. shepup, Keta Ester, Vehicle, Ashna Maj Hille (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 8 p.m. $5.

Soup for Two, Salmo, Hannah Roberts, Perry Donovan (singer-songwriter) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 6:30 p.m. $10.

String Out Your Dead (Grateful Dead tribute) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7 p.m. $10.

WAX, DJ Hoppa, Grieves, Robscure (hip-hop) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $30.

Phineas Gage (folk) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsfield, 3 p.m.

Free.

djs

Seth Yacovone (acoustic) at the Alchemist, Stowe, 4 p.m. Free.

THU.3

Sunday Brunch Tunes (singersongwriter) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 10 a.m.

Wine & Jazz Sundays (jazz) at Shelburne Vineyard, 5 p.m. Free.

MON.7 Cheddar (funk, soul) at the Alchemist, Stowe, 5 p.m. Free.

Dead Man Strumming (Grateful Dead tribute) at River Roost Brewery, White River Junction, 5 p.m. Free.

Timbo & Lonesome Country (bluegrass, country) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Pegzilla, Violet Crimes, Dog Water (metal, punk) at 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 8 p.m. $15.

Jazz Jam (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

TURNmusic Presents Matthew Ryals (synth) at the Phoenix, Waterbury, 7:30 p.m. $15-$30.

Victoryland, or best offer, Vega (pop rock) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $15.

TUE.8

Big Easy Tuesdays with Jon McBride (jazz) at the 126, Burlington, 9 p.m. Free.

Bluegrass Jam (bluegrass) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free.

Dead Is Alive with Dobbs’ Dead (Grateful Dead tribute) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 8 p.m. $15.

Evan Alsop (singer-songwriter) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Waitsfield, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Honky Tonk Tuesday with Wild Leek River (country, bluegrass) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. $10.

Lavendair, Isabel and Friends (indie) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Oli D Remembers, Bo Malcom, Ashna Maj Hille (singersongwriter) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 6 p.m. $10.

WED.9

Bluegrass Nights (bluegrass) at Foam Brewers, Burlington, 6 p.m.

Free.

In Good Company (jazz) at Stone Valley Arts, Poultney, 7 p.m. Free.

Kate Kush (DJ) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 10:30 p.m. $10.

Thirsty Thursday (DJ) at Rí Rá Irish Pub & Whiskey Room, Burlington, 10 p.m. Free.

Two Sev, JP Black (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

Vinyl Night (DJ) at Poultney Pub, 6 p.m. Free.

Vinyl Thursdays (DJ) at Hotel Vermont, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

FRI.4

DJ LaFountaine (DJ) at Gusto’s, Barre, 9 p.m. Free.

DJ Taka (DJ) at Light Club Lamp Shop, Burlington, 11 p.m. $10/$15.

Ecstatic Dance Vermont (DJ) at Capital City Grange, Berlin, 7 p.m. $10 donation.

Friday Night at Specs (DJ) at Specs Cafe & Bar, Winooski, 7 p.m.

Free.

Pride VT Fundraiser with No Fun Intended (DJ) at Standing Stone Wines, Winooski, 5 p.m. $10.

Two Sev, Ron Stoppable, Eli, Aras (DJ) at Red Square, Burlington, 8 p.m. Free.

SAT.5

DJ Big Dog (DJ) at Thingz From Yaad, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

DJ OH-J Freshhh (DJ) at Gusto’s, Barre, 9 p.m. Free.

Habibi Funk (DJ) at Radio Bean, Burlington, 10 p.m. $10.

SUN.6

Sunday Night Mass (EDM) at Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $30.

TUE.8

Bashment Tuesday (DJ) at Akes’ Place, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

OPEN MICS & JAMS

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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music+nightlife

REVIEW this MOMDAD, MotherFather

(SELF-RELEASED, CASSETTE, DIGITAL)

L E A R N M O R E + G E T T I C K E T S : S P RU C E P E A K A RT S . O RG 4T-sppac082626 1

8/25/26 10:48 AM

BEST OF THE ALBUM ERA ALL THE TIME

Against the backdrop of steady rainfall, MOMDAD make an entrance befitting a film-noir detective on their debut album, MotherFather. Drenched in atmosphere, opening track “January Rain” simmers with regret amid midnight-in-the-city sax solos and singer-keyboardist Owen Leavey’s tortured vocals.

“There’s a time and a place for all that’s been done,” Leavey belts out in a soulful, searching melody. “There’s a time and a place where I’m not the one / Who’s tossin’ and turnin’ / And dreamin’ and schemin’ / and thinking of ways to get out.”

The record is as heavy on vibes as it gets. And as debuts go, MotherFather is fully formed and polished — no small feat for a band that only assembled a year ago. “Write Me, Rachael,” the album’s first single, is an excellent primer for MOMDAD’s sound.

Take Lake Street Dive’s R&B-inflected indie pop; throw in a dash of blues and jazz rock, some jam-adjacent traits, and a penchant for horn-driven dynamics; and the result is a sound bursting at the seams. The pulsing funk of “S.A.A.W.” feels poised to explode, but the band keeps a tight leash, ready to shift back into slow jams at a moment’s notice.

Leavey, a Renaissance man who is also an actor and photographer, boasts

a deeply resonant and melodically expansive voice. It often takes center stage, with power and emotional immediacy similar to that of Future Islands’ Samuel Herring. Leavey is a young man who wrote these songs in his twenties, so it’s unsurprising that much of MotherFather is suffused with lust and longing, not unlike the smoldering horniness of early Dave Matthews fare.

“Why don’t you kiss me / With those lips?” Leavey sings on “jojo.” “Why don’t you show me / With those hips?” he continues as bassist Eamon Lynch and drummer Matthew Jadin link up in a steady, pulsing groove.

And what goes better with sexy than spooky? On “The Line,” MOMDAD conjure a sort of gothic funk-folk, brimming with demons, howling wolves and the washing of hands in the River Styx. Sarah Berry’s slashing cello and guitarist Sean Ryan’s blues licks inject the perfect amount of menace.

The record closes with birdsong on “Something Like You,” evoking the promise of a clear summer morning in contrast to the gloomy downpour of “January Rain.” Here Leavey puts aside past heartbreaks and finds love again, imparting a sense of closure to MotherFather that feels wholly earned.

MotherFather is available at momdadband.bandcamp.com and on major streaming services. MOMDAD play at Light Club Lamp Shop in Burlington on Friday, September 11.

CHRIS FARNSWORTH

GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED: ARE YOU A VT ARTIST OR BAND? SEND US YOUR MUSIC! DIGITAL: MUSIC@SEVENDAYSVT.COM; SNAIL MAIL: MUSIC C/O SEVEN DAYS, 255 S. CHAMPLAIN ST., SUITE 5, BURLINGTON, VT 05401

say you saw it in

Streaming on CLASSICHITSVERMONT.com 60

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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7/9/24 5:21 PM

COURTESY OF ALEXA KING STONE

open mics & jams CONTINUED FROM P.59

WED.2

Open Celtic Session (open jam) at Bent Nails Roadhouse, Middlesex, 6 p.m. Free.

Open Mic (open mic) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free.

Open Mic (open mic) at the Whammy Bar, Calais, 7 p.m. Free.

FRI.4

Monday Night Open Mic (open mic) at Pearl Street Pub, Essex Junction, 6 p.m. Free.

Open Mic (open mic) at Stone Corral, Richmond, 7 p.m. Free.

TUE.8

Doug’s Open Mic (open mic) at Two Heroes Brewery & Public House, South Hero, 6 p.m. Free.

WED.9

Open Mic (open mic) at Poultney Pub, 7 p.m. Free.

comedy WED.2

Sam Jam (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5.

Standup Open Mic (comedy open mic) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Alfie’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Rí Rá Irish Pub & Whiskey Room, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Fiddle Management Nashville fiddler

when she was just 3 years old. Her music career as an adult has been one of constant evolution. The Grammy winner and two-time International Bluegrass Music Association Fiddle Player of the Year founded the Boston outfit Mile Twelve before leaving in 2021 and joining Molly Tuttle’s band Golden Highway. As a solo artist, Bronwyn has leveled up on each of her albums, including her instrumental debut, Fiddler’s Pastime, in 2020; trying her hand as a vocalist in 2024 with I Built a World; and as a singer-songwriter on her new LP, Rattlin’ Bones. Check out her latest transformation as she swings through Zenbarn in Waterbury Center on Sunday, September 6.

THU.3

Strapped-In: A Queer Comedy Showcase (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. $20.

MON.7

Chris Fleming (comedy) at Grand Maple Ballroom, Dudley H. Davis Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, 7 p.m. $35.

Standup Open Mic (comedy open mic) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 8:30 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Four Quarters Brewing, Winooski, 6 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, 6 p.m.

Free.

Trivia Night with College (trivia) at Bent Nails Roadhouse, Middlesex, 7 p.m. Free.

FRI.4

Boogie Bingo (bingo, DJ) at the Alchemist, Stowe, 5 p.m. Free.

Karaoke Friday Night (karaoke) at Park Place Tavern & Grill, Essex Junction, 8 p.m. Free.

Karaoke with DJ Big T (karaoke) at McKee’s Original, Winooski, 9 p.m. Free.

SAT.5

WED.9

WED.2

Family-Friendly Karaoke (karaoke) at Old Soul Design Shop, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 5 p.m.

Free.

Supported by:

Watch at: sevendaysvt.com/stuckinvt

Taproom Trivia (trivia) at 14th Star Brewing, St. Albans, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Trivia Night (trivia) at Gusto’s, Barre, 6:30 p.m. Free.

Trivia Tuesday (trivia) at On Tap Bar & Grill, Essex Junction, 7 p.m.

Free.

WED.9

Karaoke Friday Night (karaoke) at Park Place Tavern & Grill, Essex Junction, 8 p.m. Free.

Karaoke with Cam (karaoke) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 9 p.m. Free.

Live Band Karaoke (live band karaoke) at Bent Nails Roadhouse, Middlesex, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Alfie’s Wild Ride, Stowe, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m.

Free. ➆

SAT.5

Eva Sollberger’s

Karaoke with DJ Vociferous (karaoke) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 9:30 p.m.

Free.

Queeraoke with Lizzie Murderz (karaoke) at Standing Stone Wines, Winooski, 9 p.m. Free.

trivia, karaoke, etc.

Karaoke Friday Night (karaoke) at Park Place Tavern & Grill, Essex Junction, 8 p.m. Free.

TUE.8

Trivia (trivia) at Rí Rá Irish Pub & Whiskey Room, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

TUE.8

$5 Improv Night (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 p.m. $5.

Trivia Monday with Top Hat Entertainment (trivia) at McKee’s Original, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia with Craig Mitchell (trivia) at Monkey House, Winooski, 7 p.m. Free.

FRI.4

All That Jazz Open Mic Comedy (comedy) at the 126, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

Trivia Monday (trivia) at Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, Essex, 6 p.m. Free.

Karaoke (karaoke) at Gusto’s, Barre, 8 p.m. Free.

Pride Ball (drag) at Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington, 8 p.m. $35.

Matthew Broussard (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 & 9 p.m. $30.

Retro Game Night (gaming) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, 6 p.m. Free.

Trivia with Brain (trivia) at Charlie-O’s World Famous, Montpelier, 8 p.m. Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Einstein’s Tap House, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

BRONWYN started playing

MON.7

Country Line Dancing (line dancing) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Karaoke in the Alley (karaoke) at Red Square, Burlington, 8 p.m.

Free.

SUN.6 // BRONWYN [BLUEGRASS, FOLK]

Matthew Broussard (comedy) at Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington, 7 & 9 p.m. $30.

4H-Stuckinvt090226.indd 1

Trivia (trivia) at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center, 5:30 p.m. Free.

Karaoke Friday Night (karaoke) at Park Place Tavern & Grill, Essex Junction, 8 p.m. Free.

Red Brick Coffee House (open mic) at Red Brick Meeting House, Westford, 7 p.m. Free.

MON.7

Trivia (trivia) at Two Heroes Brewery & Public House, South Hero, 6 p.m. Free.

THU.3

THU.3

Olde Time Jam Session (open jam) at the Den at Harry’s Hardware, Cabot, noon. Free.

Sunday Funday (games) at 1st Republic Brewing, Essex, noon.

Free.

Trivia (trivia) at Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge, Burlington, 7 p.m.

Free.

The Ribbit Review Open Mic & Jam (open mic) at Lily’s Pad, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

SUN.6

Karaoke with Cam (karaoke) at Monopole, Plattsburgh, N.Y., 9 p.m. Free.

SUN.6

WATCH HER LATEST VIDEO! Isaac Bissell is a macrophotographer who documents the “tiny dramas” of bees and wasps in his South Burlington backyard.

He shares the photos at Vermont Pollinator Photography on Instagram, where “pollinator nerds” are welcome. Seven Days’ Eva Sollberger got a tour and met some of his subjects.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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calendar S E P T E M B E R

WED.2

cognitive disorders and their caregivers gather to make friends and have fun. Stowe Free Library, 10-11:30 a.m. Free.

DISABLED ACCESS & ADVOCACY OF THE RUTLAND AREA MONTHLY ZOOM MEETING: Community members gather online to advocate for accessibility and other disability-rights measures. 11:30 a.m.-noon.

Free.

PASSEGGIATA: Inspired by an Italian social ritual, locals take to the streets for a community-building stroll of the pedestrian promenade.

Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free.

activism

agriculture

WEDNESDAYS WITH FARMER FRED: The site’s resident farmer and storyteller demonstrates historical agricultural tools and techniques, including sheep shearing, rye harvesting and cider pressing. President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, Plymouth, noon-2 p.m. Regular admission, $4-12; free for kids under 6.

business

‘RECLAIMING CONFIDENCE: DISMANTLING THE INVISIBLE BARRIERS THAT FUEL IMPOSTOR SYNDROME’: Transformational coach Jamie Green helps participants gain practical tools to shift limiting beliefs, fortify self-trust and reconnect with their authentic strengths. Hosted by Women Business Owners Network of Vermont. Noon-1:30 p.m. $20; free for members and first-time attendees; preregister.

VERMONT WOMENPRENEURS BIZ BUZZ ZOOM: A monthly virtual networking meetup provides a space for female business owners to connect. 10-11:15 a.m. Free; preregister.

community

CONNECTIONS CAFÉ: Those living with dementia or other

PASSEGGIATA WATERBURY: Neighbors adopt a timeless Mediterranean tradition of civic engagement and social bonding during an evening amble. Downtown Waterbury, 5-8 p.m. Free.

crafts

FIBER ARTS NIGHT: Knitters, crocheters and weavers make progress on projects while soaking up creativity and connection. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 5:30-7 p.m. Free.

2 0 2 6

lifelong care. Merrymac Animal Sanctuary, Charlotte, 2-3 p.m. $25.

MUSEUM TOURS: A guided tour charts a course through regional history, uncovering the archaeological secrets hidden beneath the waves. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Free.

fairs & festivals

food & drink

CHAIR YOGA: Waterbury Public Library instructor Diana Whitney leads at-home participants in gentle stretches supported by seats. 10 a.m. Free.

YARN CRAFTERS GROUP: A drop-in meetup welcomes knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers and other fiber artists. BYO snacks and drinks.

Must Love Yarn, Shelburne, 5-7 p.m. Free.

COMMUNITY COOKING: Helping hands join up with the nonprofit’s staff and volunteers to make a yummy meal for distribution. Outright Vermont, Burlington, 6-8 p.m.

Free.

etc.

CUPPA ON CAMPUS: Community members mingle over tea and coffee, swapping bright ideas for the future of the property. The Creative Campus at Goddard, Plainfield, 8-10 a.m. Free.

GUIDED TOURS: Guests get to know the personal histories of rescued farm animals at an educational walk-through highlighting the nuances of

All submissions must be received by Thursday at noon for consideration in the following Wednesday’s newspaper.

Find our convenient form and guidelines at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.

Seven Days calendar writer Rebecca Driscoll selects and writes calendar spotlights. To help process the hundreds of event submissions we receive each week, some listings are compiled with the help of AI. Driscoll reviews, edits and verifies every entry before publication.

Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

WEDNESDAY WINE DOWN FARMERS MARKET: Folks uncork happiness while browsing local produce and products, sipping vino, and enjoying live music by noteworthy outfits. Shelburne Vineyard, 5-9 p.m. Free.

health & fitness

YARN & YAK: A weekly club for fiber fanatics of all skill levels makes knitting and crocheting more sociable. Milton Artists’ Guild Art Center & Gallery, 5-7 p.m. Free.

CHAMP MASTERS TOASTMASTERS CLUB: Those looking to strengthen their speaking and leadership skills gain new tools. Virtual option available. Dealer.com, Burlington, 6-7:30 p.m. Free; preregister.

MARKET ON THE GREEN: Shoppers feast their eyes on fresh produce, prepared foods and artisanal goods as they enjoy live local music. Woodstock Village Green, 3-6 p.m. Free.

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: Vermonters enjoy a smorgasbord of rides, games and fun, from the demolition derby and 4-H dairy shows to carousels and culinary events.

Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, noon-10 p.m. $7-20; $10 for parking; free for kids 4 and under.

CHAMPLAIN ISLANDS FARMERS MARKET: Talented artisans and vendors showcase their farm-fresh veggies, meats, eggs, flowers, honey and other goodies. South Hero St. Rose of Lima Church, 3-6 p.m. Free.

LIST YOUR UPCOMING EVENT HERE FOR FREE!

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2 - 9 ,

FARM TABLE AT SPRUCE PEAK: JASPER HILL CELLARS: Diners savor early fall flavors paired with the local dairy farm’s award-winning fromage across a multicourse menu. The Lodge at Spruce Peak, Stowe, 6-9 p.m. $185.

DANVILLE FARMERS MARKET: Villagers connect over live music and family-friendly activities at a weekly gathering featuring Northeast Kingdom produce, artisan wares and culinary creations. Danville Town Green, 3:30-7 p.m. Free.

FIND MORE LOCAL EVENTS IN THIS ISSUE AND ONLINE: art Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.

film See what’s playing in the On Screen section.

music + nightlife Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/music.

= ONLINE EVENT = GET TICKETS ON SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

CARE PIT STOP: AARP Vermont hosts a quick and convenient drive-through event connecting community members with helpful resources from the comfort of their car. Kinney Drugs, South Burlington, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Free.

PEOPLE’S HEALTH & WELLNESS FREE CLINIC: A monthly community social work and nursing clinic provides accessible support for locals in need. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 3-5 p.m. Free.

MUSIC ON THE HILL SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: Outdoor music lovers pack a picnic and revel in vibrant performances at this weekly celebration of seasonal sounds. See artistreevt.org for lineup. Artistree Community Arts Center, South Pomfret, 6:30 p.m. Free.

ST. J BLUEGRASS JAM: Players and fans get together for some old-time picking and fiddling. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of St. Johnsbury, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted.

SUMMER LIVE MUSIC SERIES: Weekly performances by top local acts, authentic tacos from Las Hermosas, summery bevvies and sweet treats make for the perfect hump-day capper. See thetillermanvt.com for lineup.

The Tillerman, Bristol, 5-8 p.m.

Free; cost of food and drink.

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: Five full acres of puzzling twists and turns challenge families’ directional skills, followed by a sweet reward of maple creemees.

Silloway Maple, Randolph Center, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $10.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: With a new design every year, this sprawling 24-acre labyrinth presents a fresh challenge for fall revelers. Great Vermont Corn Maze, Danville, 9 a.m.-noon.

Various prices; preregister.

WHALEBOAT WEDNESDAYS: Lake lovers embark on a unique aquatic adventure by rowing and sailing a traditionally rigged wooden craft across the water. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 4-7 p.m. $60 suggested donation.

THE ALL-INCLUSIVE DYKETACULAR: A weekly get-together and listening party celebrates the LGBTQ+ community with feel-good tunes, dancing and drinks. Doma Bar, Burlington, 5-10 p.m. Free; cost of food and drink.

music

BROWN BAG LUNCH SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: Live music by local talent comes to the heart of downtown Montpelier, showcasing a diverse mix of artists and genres over four weeks.

See monteverdimusic.org for lineup. Christ Episcopal Church, Montpelier, noon. Free.

MICHAEL BROSNAN: A New Hampshire poet and writer reads from his new collection, Pareidolia, examining the great mystery of human existence through a lyrical lens. The Norwich Bookstore, 7 p.m. Free.

WORTHEN SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES: MILLICENT EIDSON: An award-winning author and public health instructor digs into the real-world science behind her medical thrillers. Worthen Library, South Hero, 6:30 p.m.

Free.

THU.3

sports

language

lgbtq

‘LOBBY HERO’: Dorset Theatre Festival mounts Kenneth Lonergan’s dramedy following four New Yorkers whose lives intertwine during a local murder investigation. Dorset Playhouse, 2 & 7:30 p.m. $62-68.

words

GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE TENNIS CLUB: Ping-Pong players block, chop and lob in singles and doubles matches. Rutland Area Christian School, 7-9 p.m. Free for first two sessions; $30 annual membership.

SPANISH CONVERSATION: Fluent and beginner speakers brush up on their vocabulario with a discussion led by a Spanish teacher. Presented by Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. 5-6 p.m.

Free; preregister.

theater

‘PRIMARY TRUST’: Weston Theater Company stages University of Vermont alumna Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play about new beginnings and old friends. Weston Theater at Walker Farm, 2 & 7:30 p.m. $25-98.

RECOVERY DHARMA: Individuals struggling with addiction gather weekly for an evening of meditation, topical readings and open discussion in a supportive environment. First United Methodist Church, Burlington, 6-7 p.m. Free.

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: Lunch breaks transform into global conversation circles as participants hone their multilingual abilities.

See kellogghubbard.org for details. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, noon. Free.

folklore from colonial whiskey to Prohibition-era bathtub gin.

Milton Grange, 6:30 p.m. Free.

community

MONTPELIER RAMBLE: Locals take to the streets for a weekly community-building stroll in the heart of the Capital City.

Downtown Montpelier, 5-7 p.m.

Free.

OPEN MIC: An all-inclusive monthly showcase invites both seasoned and first-time acts to share their talents and connect with fellow artists. BYOB and food. Brookfield Old Town Hall, 6:30-8 p.m. Free.

crafts

talks

MICIAH STASIS HARDING: A traditional tattoo practitioner, wampum artist and quill worker from the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts shares the history of tattooing among Northeastern Indigenous peoples. Shelburne Museum, 5:30 p.m. Free; preregister.

REBECCA RUPP: In “Paul Revere’s Rum” a local author traces humanity’s long-standing relationship with alcohol, exploring liquid

KNITTING GROUP: Knitters of every experience level get together to spin yarns. Latham Library, Thetford, 7 p.m. Free.

WOODWORKING LAB: Visionaries create a project or learn a new skill with the help of mentors and access to makerspace tools and equipment. Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center, Middlebury, 5-8 p.m. $7.50.

These community event listings are sponsored by the WaterWheel Foundation, a project of the Vermont band Phish.

LIST YOUR EVENT FOR FREE AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTEVENT

BTV CLEAN UP CREW: Good Samaritans dispose of needles, trash and other unwanted objects. BYO gloves encouraged.

Top of Church St., Burlington, 7:30-10 a.m. Free.

SEP. 6 | MUSIC

COURTESY

environment

etc.

GUIDED TOURS: See WED.2.

NIGHT OWL CLUB: Astronomers and space exploration experts discuss the latest in extraterrestrial news with curious attendees.

Presented by Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium. 7 p.m. Free.

SHIPWRECK TOUR: What lies beneath? Spectators view real-time footage of a sunken craft transmitted from a robotic camera. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 10:30 a.m.noon. $25-45; preregister.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.2.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: Join scientists on a journey through a surreal world of bugeyed giants and egg-laying mammals. Dealer.com 3D Theater, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, noon, 2 & 4 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

‘HOW TO DIVORCE DURING THE WAR’: Andrius Blazevicius’ 2025 dramedy follows a Lithuanian couple embroiled in a painful separation while the RussiaUkraine war intensifies at their doorstep. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 4 & 7 p.m. $6-12.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: Shot on the dramatic and uninhabited sub-Antarctic Crozet Archipelago, this thrilling documentary short zooms in on a lone male suitor seeking his special someone among a colony of rivals. Dealer.com 3D Theater,

Jennifer Koh

Bach It Up The Wall Street Journal hails boundary-breaking string virtuoso Jennifer Koh as “a musician of immaculate control [and] keen intelligence.” With more accolades than you can shake a bow at — including a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo — Koh pulls audiences into her fiercely forward-thinking artistic ethos through modern interpretations of classical compositions. At the Manchester Music Festival, local listeners can witness Koh’s commanding style in person at Southern Vermont Arts Center’s Arkell Pavilion, where the acclaimed musician executes a pitch-perfect presentation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

MANCHESTER MUSIC FESTIVAL: JENNIFER KOH Sunday, September 6, 3 p.m., at Arkell Pavilion, Southern Vermont Arts Center, in Manchester Center. $15.30-76.50. Info, 802-362-1956, mmfvt.org.

ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 10:30 a.m., 12:30, 2:30 & 4:30 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: A highstakes investigation into the underwater realm reveals how humanity’s future hinges on the fate of the ocean’s toothiest inhabitants. Dealer.com 3D Theater, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 11:30 a.m., 1:30 & 3:30 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: Dedicated wildlife rehabilitation teams rescue and release injured and orphaned animals back into nature in this heartwarming documentary short. Dealer.com 3D Theater, ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. $3-5 plus regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

food & drink

BARK & BREW: Pups romp around the play yard while pet owners quench their thirst with local craft beers. Humane Society THU.3

FAMILY burlington FUN

supportive environment. Hosted by Dad Guild. 8:45-10 p.m. Free.

Check out these family-friendly events for parents, caregivers and kids of all ages.

• Plan ahead at sevendaysvt.com/family-fun.

• Post your event at sevendaysvt.com/postevent.

WED.2

CO-PARENTING DADS: Experiencing separation, divorce or long-term co-parenting? Fathers assemble virtually to connect, build community and share experiences in a

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: Curious minds dive into the science and history of Vermont’s most iconic legend at this family-friendly exhibit featuring interactive games, a design studio, multimedia displays, a 30-foot sculpture and photo ops.

ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: Young explorers take an unforgettable journey through a hands-on prehistoric world where life-size animatronic dinosaurs come to life. ECHO Leahy Center for Lake

Champlain, Burlington, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Regular admission, $17-23; free for members and kids 2 and under.

chittenden county

BABY TIME: Nonmobile infants and their caregivers embark on a slow-paced social hour featuring songs, rhymes and restorative connection. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

CHILDREN’S STORY TIME WITH CHRISTINE: Young bookworms wiggle, sing and turn pages at an interactive session led by a former early childhood educator. Wild Meadows Books & Café, Williston, 10:30 a.m. Free.

barre/montpelier

BABY & CAREGIVER MEETUP: Wiggly ones ages birth to 18 months play and explore in a calm, supportive setting while adults relax and connect on the sidelines. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free.

BASEMENT TEEN CENTER: A drop-in hangout session welcomes kids ages 12 to 17 for lively games, arts and crafts, and snacks. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 2-6 p.m. Free.

CHESS & BOARD GAME DAY: Players ages 18 and under test their skills with instructor Robert and peers. KelloggHubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free.

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mad river valley/ waterbury

TEEN QUEER READS: LGBTQIA+ and allied youths get together each month to read and discuss ideas around gender, sexuality and identity. Waterbury Public Library, 6-7 p.m. Free; preregister.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: Aspiring innovators examine biological designs of the natural world to better understand and solve human engineering challenges.

Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Regular admission, $1821; free for members and kids under 2.

WED.2 SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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of Chittenden County, South Burlington, 5:30-7:30 p.m. $20.

PIZZA SOCIAL: Epicureans scarf down dinner baked in NOFA-VT’s wood-fired oven, followed by a tour of the grass-based dairy farm. Sweet Rowen Farmstead, West Glover, 5:30 p.m. $10-30; free for BIPOC and kids 3 and under; preregister.

VERGENNES FARMERS MARKET: Locals delight in fresh organic produce, artisan cheeses, meats, baked goods, crafts and live music. Vergennes City Park, 3-7 p.m. Free.

games

CHESS FOR FUN: Sharp minds select an opening gambit, go on the attack and protect their king in friendly competition. Cobleigh Public Library, Lyndonville, 5-8 p.m. Free.

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: Snacks and coffee fuel bouts of a classic card game. Burlington Bridge Club, Williston, 12:30 p.m. $6.

FRIENDLY GAME OF BRIDGE: Strategic thinkers have a blast with the popular card game.

Heineberg Senior Center, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Free.

lgbtq

COURTESY OF RICK RUSSELL

THU.3

POP-UP HAPPY HOUR: Locals connect over drinks at a speakeasy-style bar, hosted by OUT in the 802. Lincolns, Burlington, 5:30-7 p.m. Free.

music

FEAST & FIELD MUSIC SERIES: FABIOLA MÉNDEZ: A Puerto Rican cuatrista and Emmynominated composer enchants with her unique blend of folk, jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. Fable Farm, Barnard, 6 p.m. $5-25.

GARY MULLEN & THE WORKS: Chevron mustaches and face-melting guitar solos make for a startlingly authentic tribute to legendary British rock band Queen. Paramount Theatre, Rutland, 7:30 p.m. $35-50.

ON THE DOOR RADIO: A laid-back summer series features tantalizing food-truck fare and a rotating pair of local DJs backed by sunset cocktail vibes. The Pinery, Burlington, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free.

PIZZA BY THE POND MUSIC NIGHTS: A wood-fired oven delivers all-you-can-eat pies while local musicians regale diners with irresistible toe tappers.

BYOB. Blueberry Hill Inn, Goshen, 5-8 p.m. $23-34; free for kids 6 and under; preregister.

The 2025 cast of Shakespeare Alive! A Bard-Based Variety Show

SEP. 5 | THEATER

trailside marketplace. Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport Recreational Path, South Burlington, 5-7 p.m. Free.

PEER SUPPORT DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Beginners wanted! Players get lost in the fantasy-filled tabletop role-playing game while focusing on teamwork, connection and community building. Morgan House, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. Free.

TROY MILLETTE & THE FIRE BELOW: Heartfelt original country-rock songs carry through the air, courtesy of the crowd-favorite Fairfax musician and his band. Maquam Barn & Winery, Milton, 6-8 p.m. Free; cost of food and drink.

WEEKLY CHESS FOR FUN: Competitors of all ability levels face off and learn new strategies.

United Community Church, St. Johnsbury, 5:30-9 p.m. Free; donations accepted.

outdoors

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

Hark! New York City collective Stand Up Shakespeare arrives at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth to present the latest edition of its theatrical mélange Shakespeare Alive! A Bard-Based Variety Show. For more than 25 years, the troupe has descended upon the town with original scenes, skits, soliloquies and songs — as well as the cream of the crop from Will’s canon. And lo, verily, this year’s freshly minted showcase hits all the marks, from comedy and romance to tragedy and history.

As the company beckons: “Come for the beautiful Elizabethan verse; stay for the music and the hilarious parody and prose.”

health & fitness

talks

‘SHAKESPEARE ALIVE! A BARD-BASED VARIETY SHOW’

COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS: Volunteer coach Andrea Marion leads a weekly practice for stress reduction, followed by a discussion and Q&A. 5-6 p.m.

Free; preregister.

SEATED TAI CHI: Adina guides at-home participants — including those with limited mobility or difficulty standing — through a sequence of slow, connected movements.

Sponsored by the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. 1 p.m. Free; preregister.

language

ITALIAN CONVERSATION GROUP: Parla Italiano? Language learners practice pronunciation and more at a friendly gathering. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, noon-1 p.m. Free.

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: See WED.2.

MANDARIN CONVERSATION CIRCLE: Volunteers from Vermont Chinese School help students learn or improve their fluency.

South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 11 a.m.-noon. Free.

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THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

DOROTHY TOD: A documentary filmmaker shares fascinating facts about the life and work of photographer Mae Blair, whose historical images are displayed on-site. East Warren Schoolhouse, 5 p.m. Free.

tech

TECH HELP: Users with digital dilemmas seek expert guidance about everything from smartphone settings to ebook downloads. Norwich Public Library, 1-4 p.m. Free.

theater

‘CONTROL TOP’: Lost Nation Theater stages a reading of Vermont playwright Carole Vasta Folley’s heartwarming comedy following five women reflecting on their life experiences through clothing. Virtual option available.

Lost Nation Theater, Montpelier City Hall, 7:30 p.m. $20-28.

‘LOBBY HERO’: See WED.2, 7:30 p.m.

‘PRIMARY TRUST’: See WED.2, 2 p.m.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Where There’s a Will

Saturday, September 5, noon, at President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth. Free.

Info, 802-672-3773, coolidgefoundation.org.

words

ELIZABETH WELLINGTON ROLLINS: A local author shares her debut novel, The Three Graces of Pearl Street, following three generations of Italian American women who must confront long-held family secrets.

Woodstock Town Hall Theatre, 7 p.m. Free; preregister.

MICIAH BAY GAULT: A local author launches her new thriller, The Nobody Code, about a mother whose rebellious teenage past returns to haunt her. Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, 7 p.m. Free.

FRI.4 crafts

FIRST FRIDAY FIBER GROUP: Fiber-arts fans make progress on projects while chatting over snacks. GRACE, Hardwick, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted.

environment

INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY: Avian enthusiasts discover the vital ecological roles of nature’s cleanup crew and learn what can be done to protect species under threat.

Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Regular admission, $4.50-9; free for members and kids under 3.

etc.

JANE AUSTEN WEEKEND: ‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’: A leisurely weekend of literary-inspired diversions includes afternoon tea, a Regency-style dinner party, English country dancing, Sunday brunch and talks. The Governor’s House in Hyde Park. Various prices.

MUSEUM TOURS: See WED.2.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.2.

STREETFEST: Pedestrians take over the roadway for a lively

evening of dining, music and hands-on entertainment for kids. Factory Point Town Green, Manchester, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: See THU.3.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: See THU.3.

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: See THU.3.

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: See THU.3.

food & drink

RICHMOND FARMERS MARKET: An open-air marketplace complete with live music connects cultivators and fresh-food browsers. Volunteers Green, Richmond, 3-6:30 p.m. Free.

SOUTH BURLINGTON FARMERS MARKET: Locals stock up on fresh produce, score homemade goods and connect with neighbors at a brand-new

SOUTH END GET DOWN: Local food trucks dish out mouthwatering meals and libations while live DJs and outdoor entertainment add to the ambience. Coal Collective, Burlington, 5-9 p.m.

Free; cost of food and drink.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: See THU.3, 10 a.m.

MAH-JONGG: It’s not just for old ladies! Tile traders of all experience levels gather for a rousing game. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 1-3 p.m. Free.

health & fitness

GUIDED MEDITATION ONLINE: Dorothy Alling Memorial Library invites attendees to relax on their lunch breaks and reconnect with their bodies. Noon-12:30 p.m. Free; preregister.

LAUGHTER YOGA: Spontaneous, joyful movement and breath promote physical and emotional health. Virtual option available.

Iyengar Yoga Center of Vermont, Burlington, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Free.

WEEKLY MEDITATION: Expert Zac Ispa-Landa shares tools to quiet the mind, slow down and reset. Outright Vermont, Burlington, 8-8:45 a.m. Free.

holidays

ISLAND POND LABOR DAY CELEBRATION: A live performance by chart-topping country singer John King kicks off a holiday weekend to remember, complete with raffles, a canoe race and a bevy of family-friendly

LIST YOUR EVENT FOR FREE AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTEVENT

activities. Lakeside Park, Island Pond. Free.

language

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: See WED.2.

lgbtq

RPG NIGHT: Members of the LGBTQ community get together weekly for role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Everway. Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre, 5:308:30 p.m. Free.

music

5 FRIDAYS CONCERT SERIES: BLOCK PARTY: Five hours of music by Burlington art-rockers Billy Wylder and Vermont DJ Serena Kim soundtrack a late-summer dance party and a theatrical closet sale. Town Hall Theater, Middlebury, 3-8 p.m.

Free; preregister; cash bar.

ANA GUIGUI: An acclaimed pianist and vocalist entertains listeners with a wide variety of styles and genres. The Brandon Inn, 7-9:30 p.m. Free.

BEN & JERRY’S CONCERTS ON THE GREEN: SIERRA FERRELL: SOLD OUT. A breakout Americana singer-songwriter blends traditional country, bluegrass and folk sounds with unexpected elements of jazz manouche, tango, calypso and ragtime. Shelburne Museum, 7 p.m.

DRUM CIRCLE WITH JEAN JACQUES MAURY: From mastering basic techniques to building a shared rhythmic vocabulary, an all-abilities music-making session taps into a deep mindbody connection. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 6-7 p.m.

Free.

SUMMER MUSIC AT GRACE: ANDREW WELLS-OBEREGGER: A Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer captivates listeners with his mastery of acoustic instruments, including classical guitar, lute, oud, bouzouki and santoor. Grace Episcopal Church, Sheldon, 7 p.m. By donation.

ZZ TOP: That little ol’ band from Texas inspires listeners to grow their beards out with a high-energy performance of blues-rock and driving boogie rhythms. Special guests George Thorogood and the Destroyers complete the bill. Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, 6 p.m. $39-69.

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

OPEN GARDEN DAYS: Guests cultivate horticultural inspiration at this self-guided greenhouse tour benefiting local charities. von Trapp Greenhouse, Waitsfield, 10 a.m.4 p.m. $10-10.50; free for kids under 18.

sports

OPEN DINGHY SAILING: Skippers with sailing knowledge

celebrate the end of the week with a nautical adventure. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 4-7 p.m. $40 suggested donation; preregister.

goods and handmade wares at an all-day boutique showcasing regional creators. Homer Knight Barn, Island Arts Center, North Hero, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.

tech

MAKERS MARKET: Browsers discover unique, handmade goods and meet the talented people behind them at a weekly showcase of local artists, bakers, distillers and crafters. Addison West, Waitsfield, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Free.

MORNING TECH HELP: Experts answer questions about phones, laptops, e-readers and other devices in one-on-one sessions.

South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Free; preregister.

theater

‘CALIFORNIA SUITE’: The Lamoille County Players mount Neil Simon’s introspective stage comedy zooming in on different guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 1970s. Hyde Park Opera House, 7 p.m. $15-20.

‘CONTROL TOP’: See THU.3.

‘LOBBY HERO’: See WED.2, 7:30 p.m.

‘PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE’: Bennington Theater raises the curtain on Steve Martin’s playful absurdist comedy about a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso. Bennington Theater, 7 p.m. $25-30.

‘PRIMARY TRUST’: See WED.2, 7:30 p.m.

words

TILLIE WALDEN: The New York Times best-selling author and former Vermont cartoonist laureate shares her new graphic novel, Charity & Sylvia, about an openly lesbian couple in 19th-century Vermont. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 6 p.m.

Free; preregister.

SAT.5 bazaars

ARTISAN MARKET: Shoppers browse a variety of homegrown

FOMO? Find even more local events in this newspaper and online:

art Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.

film See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.

music + nightlife Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/ music.

Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.

= ONLINE EVENT = GET TICKETS ON SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

community

MENOPAUSE CAFÉ: All ages and genders gather to explore the physical, emotional and hormonal changes associated with the monumental life change at this monthly community discussion. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, noon. Free.

SISTERHOOD CAMPFIRE: Women and genderqueer folks gather in a safe and inclusive space to build community through journaling, storytelling, gentle music and stargazing.

Leddy Park, Burlington, 7-9 p.m.

Free.

dance

BERLIN CONTRA DANCE: Dancers of all ages and abilities learn at a gathering that encourages joy, laughter and friendship. Bring clean, soft-soled shoes. See capitalcitygrange.org for callers and bands. Capital City Grange, Berlin, 8-11 p.m. $520 sliding scale.

‘FOREST’: SOLD OUT. Audience members stroll down a quiet dirt road to witness Hannah Dennison’s site-specific choreography and theatrical scenes blooming among the trees.

Various Washington locations, 11 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. Wait list available.

MONTPELIER CONTRA DANCE & CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER: An evening of community building through movement features live music by Kingfisher and calling

by Annie Kidwell. Proceeds benefit Capital City Grange. Bring clean, soft-soled shoes. Capital City Grange, Berlin, beginner lesson, 7:45 p.m.; music, 8-11 p.m. $5-20.

etc.

CORGI PAWTY MTL: Calling all corgi owners and fans! The characteristically stubby and smiley breed gets its moment at this gathering, which features group photo ops, a pup parade and a best-dressed pet contest.

Various Montréal locations, 4 p.m. Free.

THE FELINE CONNECTION: Animal lovers meet cute and cuddly kitties available for adoption and learn more about the rescue org’s important work.

Phoenix Books, Rutland, 10 a.m.2 p.m. Free.

Job of theWeek WOODLOT MANAGER Wood4Good

Get the scoop on this position from Wood4Good Executive Director Eric Axelrod.

What are some specific challenges of this position, and why is it important?

Wood4Good’s work is important because heat is a basic need, and no Vermonter should have to choose between staying warm and paying for food, medicine or other necessities. Our greatest challenges are meeting the growing demand for free firewood while securing the volunteers, partnerships and necessary equipment to help the most vulnerable in our population. Just as importantly, we are building a community of caring volunteers who are contributing to a better Vermont.

What is unique about working for Wood4Good?

Wood4Good began as an idea in 2019, when my family and I had extra wood and started helping neighbors who could not afford enough firewood to stay warm. We turn a local waste stream — trees that would otherwise be discarded — into free home heating while bringing Vermonters together through hands-on service.

We became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2021 and have since grown into Vermont’s largest firewood bank, helping more communities annually, with almost 200 families served last year. We currently serve Chittenden, Franklin, Lamoille, Washington, Grand Isle and Addison counties, with plans to expand statewide. The position includes regular regional driving, loading and delivering firewood, operating heavy equipment, maintaining the woodlot, training volunteers, and managing operations. It is physically demanding work, but a good portion of that workload is running heavy equipment, good balance of physical and non-physical work.

GUIDED TOURS: See WED.2.

Apply for this great local job and many more: jobs.sevendaysvt.com

JANE AUSTEN WEEKEND: ‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’: See FRI.4.

SAT.5

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OPEN STUDIO & PORCH PARTY: Snacks, cool drinks, mountain views and DJ beats set the tone for the recording studio’s first-birthday bash. Destroy Audio, Wolcott, 1-5 p.m. Free; preregister.

COURTESY

calendar

SEP. 6 | FAIRS & FESTIVALS

SOLDIERS ATOP THE MOUNT: History buffs step back to 1776 as camp-life demos, military drills and a mock skirmish honor the historic fort’s 250th anniversary. Mount Independence State Historic Site, Orwell, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Regular admission, $1-9; free for kids under 6.

fairs & festivals

ARTS ON THE GREEN MARKET AND FESTIVAL: The Chelsea Arts Collective hosts a showcase of more than 40 local artists’ work, made merrier by a silent auction, live music and an eclectic mix of food vendors. North Common, Chelsea, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.2, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

GARLIC TOWN, USA: It’s the best stinkin’ time of the year! Garlic ice cream and other odiferous offerings make for a funky festival celebrating all things allium.

Various Bennington locations, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $7-35.

GUILFORD FAIR: Sheep shearing, ox pulls, chainsaw contests, circus arts and other fun-filled activities make for a memorable time on the midway. Guilford Fairgrounds, 7 a.m. $5-10; free for kids 5 and under.

MAD RIVER VALLEY CRAFT FAIR: Myriad artisans from across New England arrive to peddle their wares alongside live music, food and craft cocktails. Proceeds benefit the Valley Players.

Kenyon’s Field, Waitsfield, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $5; free for kids 12 and under.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: See THU.3.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: See THU.3.

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: See THU.3.

‘WILD INSIDE’: Penny Lane’s 2026 documentary follows the story of a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco who escaped from the Central Park Zoo and became an international icon. The Screening Room @ VTIFF, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 1 & 3 p.m. $6-12.

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: See THU.3.

food & drink

BURLINGTON FARMERS MARKET: Live local music lends flair to dozens of stands overflowing with seasonal produce, flowers, artisanal wares and prepared foods. 345 Pine St., Burlington, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Free.

CHAMPLAIN ISLANDS FARMERS MARKET: Talented artisans and

66

Morris dancers

games

Northern Attitude At Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, the 34th annual New World Festival summons Celtic and Québécois culture and traditions to ignite the senses with music, dance, theater and food. The cross-cultural assemblage of international artists and activities features called dances by Yaëlle Azouley and Sarah Gibson, a puppet show by No Strings Marionette, and street performances by Vermont folk dance companies On the Border Morris and Midnight Capers. A noteworthy roster of music acts, including trad outfits Cantrip, É.T.É, Mélisande and Cécilia, fills 11 hours and five stages with modernized sounds of yore.

NEW WORLD FESTIVAL Sunday, September 6, noon-11 p.m., at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. $35-65; free for kids 12 and under. Info, 802-728-9878, chandler-arts.org.

vendors showcase their farmfresh veggies, meats, eggs, flowers, honey and other goodies.

Grand Isle St. Joseph’s Church, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free.

FLANNEL FRIDAY LAUNCH PARTY: Outdoor games, prize giveaways and live music fuel a family-friendly release party for the limited-edition beer inspired by autumn in New England.

Harpoon Brewery Riverbend Taps & Beer Garden, Windsor, 3-7 p.m.

Free.

JANE AUSTEN TEA: Regency revelers jam out at a Victorianstyle tea party while learning

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

about the teatime traditions of the writer’s era. The Governor’s House in Hyde Park, 2 p.m. $48; preregister.

MARSHFIELD FARMERS MARKET: Locavores find much to do at a weekly outdoor offering with live music, skill shares, vendors and community resource swaps. Old Schoolhouse Common, Marshfield, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

NORTHWEST FARMERS MARKET: Browsers stock up on produce, preserves, baked goods and other treasures to the beat of live

music. Taylor Park, St. Albans, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Free.

ST. JOHNSBURY FARMERS MARKET: Growers, bakers, makers and crafters gather weekly at booths centered on local eats. Pearl St. & Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

SUMMER GARDEN ADVENTURE DINNER: An abundant shared meal highlights nearby farms’ produce, meats and cheeses, accentuated by four thoughtful wine and cocktail (or mocktail) pairings. Horsford Gardens & Nursery, Charlotte, 6-9 p.m. $185.

CHESS CLUB: Proficient players of all ages face off and learn new strategies. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 11 a.m.

Free.

D&D & TTRPG GROUP: Fans of Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games embark on a new adventure with a rotating cast of game masters. Virtual option available.

Waterbury Public Library, 1-5 p.m. Free.

holidays

HOMEGROWN IN VERMONT MUSIC FESTIVAL: Local acts including Guster front man Ryan Miller and Michael Chorney’s Freeway Clyde showcase their

FOMO? Find even more local events in this newspaper and online:

art

ISLAND POND LABOR DAY CELEBRATION: See FRI.4.

Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt.com/art.

music

film

ANA GUIGUI: See FRI.4.

BOW WOW, SOULJA BOY AND FAT JOE: Three of the early-2000s’ biggest names in hip-hop unite to bring the house down at a concert of nostalgic bangers. Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, 7 p.m. $39-69.

BURNHAM PRESENTS CONCERT SERIES: DAYNA KURTZ: A decorated singer-songwriter takes the stage with Memphis guitarist Robert Maché to wow listeners with a unique blend of jazz, folk, pop and blues traditions.

Burnham Hall, Lincoln, 7:30 p.m. $25-30.

See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.

music + nightlife Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/ music.

Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.

= ONLINE EVENT = GET TICKETS ON SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

LIST YOUR EVENT FOR FREE AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTEVENT

musical prowess. The WhistlePig Pavilion, Stowe, noon. $5-20; free for kids 5 and under.

PLYMOUTH FOLK & BLUES FESTIVAL: Concertgoers revel in the sounds of Grace Morrison, KeruBo, Sister Speak and others at this annual affair dubbed a “signature event” by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, Plymouth, 2-5 p.m. Regular admission, $4-12; free for kids under 6.

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

GUIDED SHORT TRAIL HIKE: Outdoor enthusiasts explore the fundamentals of local path maintenance and regional hiking history at an expert-led trek along a scenic wooded loop. Green Mountain Club Headquarters, Waterbury Center, 2-3 p.m. Free.

OPEN GARDEN DAYS: See FRI.4.

SENSING THE SEASON: Nature lovers hone their observation abilities to study seasonal shifts at this guided outdoor stroll ending in shared discoveries. Rock Point Center, Burlington, 10:30 a.m. Free; preregister.

WEEKLY BIRD WALK: Featheredfriend seekers join expert Lachlan Ziegler for a morning trek to sharpen their identification skills. Rock Point Center, Burlington, 8-10 a.m. Free; preregister.

seminars

NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION: Curious creatives and multimedia enthusiasts tour the facilities and check out available gear. The Media Factory, Burlington, 1-3 p.m. Free; donations accepted; preregister.

sports

VMBA DAY: The Vermont Mountain Bike Association invites downhill riders of all skill levels to hit the trails for lift-served laps, guided group rides, on-mountain activities, raffles and après festivities. Bolton Valley Resort, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $5; free for members; preregister.

theater

‘CALIFORNIA SUITE’: See FRI.4.

‘LOBBY HERO’: See WED.2, 2 p.m.

‘PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE’: See FRI.4.

‘PRIMARY TRUST’: See WED.2.

‘SHAKESPEARE ALIVE! A BARDBASED VARIETY SHOW’: Something hilarious this way comes! New York City’s Stand Up Shakespeare troupe debuts a new collection of scenes, skits, soliloquies and songs.

See calendar spotlight. President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, Plymouth, noon. Free.

‘THE UPSIDE DOWN WORLD CIRCUS’: The troupe’s summer show mystifies and dazzles with colorful puppetry, towering stilters, papier-mâché beasts and a riotous brass band.

Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Hancock, 3:30 p.m. $20.

words

WRITE NOW!: Wordsmiths of all experience levels hone their craft in a supportive and critique-free environment. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 10 a.m. Free.

SUN.6 crafts

SPINNING DROP-IN: Expert spinner Nora Rubinstein teaches visitors ages 12 and up about the age-old art of transforming raw fibers into yarn.

Poultney Historical Society, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Free.

dance

‘FOREST’: See SAT.5.

LGBTQIA+ WOMEN’S DANCE: Party people socialize, go for a dip and get groovy at this inclusive evening backed by DJ-spun sets. Burlington St. John’s Club, 4-8 p.m. $15-20 suggested donation; cash bar.

environment

COUNTING BUTTERFLIES FOR CONSERVATION: THE SECOND VERMONT BUTTERFLY ATLAS: Vermont Center for Ecostudies invites insect lovers to an info session about conservation and volunteer-collected data, followed by an optional field visit in Jonesville. Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington, 2 p.m. $5-15 suggested donation; preregister.

etc.

GUIDED TOURS: See WED.2, 1-2 p.m.

JANE AUSTEN WEEKEND: ‘PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’: See FRI.4.

MOUNT INDEPENDENCEHUBBARDTON MILITARY ROAD AUTO TOUR: History buffs start their engines with a special orientation and reading, followed by a self-driven tour of the historic Revolutionary War supply route. Mount Independence State Historic Site, Orwell, 1-3 p.m. Regular admission, $1-8; free for kids under 6.

SOLDIERS ATOP THE MOUNT: See SAT.5, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

fairs & festivals

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY FAIR: See WED.2, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

GUILFORD FAIR: See SAT.5.

MAD RIVER VALLEY CRAFT FAIR: See SAT.5.

NEW WORLD FESTIVAL: The 34th annual celebration of Celtic and French Canadian culture features lauded acts such as Cécilia, É.T.É, Mélisande and the Pine Tree Flyers, as well as street performances, group dancing, kids’ activities and puppetry. See calendar spotlight. Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph, noon-11 p.m. $35-65; free for kids 12 and under.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: See THU.3.

FILM NIGHT: ‘THE BOY WITH THE DINOSAUR HEAD’ AND ‘DEFINITELY GANGSTER’: Stowe Story Labs presents screenings of the 2026 short film following a troubled boy

who is convinced he’s a dinosaur and the 2025 animated comedy about an 8-year-old’s quest to become a mobster. Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe Mountain Resort, 6:30 p.m. Free; preregister.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: See THU.3.

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: See THU.3.

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: See THU.3.

food & drink

ROYALTON FARMERS MARKET: Twenty local vendors offer everything from fresh produce to prepared foods to artisan goods while kids’ activities, live music and workshops build community. South Royalton Town Green, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Free.

STOWE FARMERS MARKET: An appetizing assortment of fresh veggies, pasture-raised meats, milk, berries, herbs, beverages and handcrafted wares tempts shoppers. Stowe Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free.

WINOOSKI FARMERS MARKET: More than 25 area growers and bakers offer local and global fare against a backdrop of live music and activities.

Winooski Falls Way, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Free.

games

DUPLICATE BRIDGE GAMES: See THU.3, 1 p.m.

health & fitness

KARUNA COMMUNITY MEDITATION: A YEAR TO LIVE (FULLY): Participants practice keeping joy, generosity and gratitude at the forefront of their minds. Jenna’s House, Johnson, 10-11:15 a.m. Free; donations accepted.

NEW LEAF SANGHA MINDFULNESS PRACTICE: New and experienced meditators alike sit together in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. Hot Yoga Burlington, 6-7:45 p.m. Free.

NEW MINDFULNESS MEDITATION GATHERING: Certified instructors lead hourlong sessions of the ancient contemplative practice rooted in compassion and generosity. Hood Plant, Burlington, 5:30-6:30 p.m. By donation.

Pavilion, Manchester Center, 3 p.m. $15.30-76.50.

PLYMOUTH FOLK & BLUES FESTIVAL: See SAT.5.

outdoors

Great for Parties, Team Building and Events

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

sports

SUNDAY POLO MATCH: Pack a tailgate picnic and prepare to experience the fast-paced thrill of the traditional equestrian team sport. Amdez Polo Club, Shelburne, 3 p.m. $10-20.

theater

‘PRIMARY TRUST’: See WED.2, 2 p.m.

8/27/26 12:55 PM 18th Annual Financial Literacy Educator’s Conference

MON.7

October 2, 2026 in Killington, VT

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‘CALIFORNIA SUITE’: See FRI.4, 2 p.m.

‘PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE’: See FRI.4, 2 p.m.

etc.

MUSEUM TOURS: See WED.2.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: See THU.3.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: See THU.3.

games

BURLINGTON ELKS BINGO: Players grab their daubers for a competitive night of card stamping for cash prizes. Burlington Elks Lodge, 6 p.m.

Various prices.

MAH-JONGG MONDAYS: Tile traders gather for friendly bouts of the ancient game of skill, strategy and luck.12v-JumpStart090226 1 St. Albans Free Library, 1-3 p.m. Free.

health & fitness

ISLAND POND LABOR DAY CELEBRATION: See FRI.4.

music

language

MANCHESTER MUSIC FESTIVAL: JENNIFER KOH: A worldrenowned string virtuoso leads listeners on a musical journey with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. See calendar spotlight.

Southern Vermont Arts Center Arkell

Learn more and register at vermontjumpstart.com

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: See THU.3.

holidays

BEN & JERRY’S CONCERTS ON THE GREEN: ALABAMA SHAKES: SOLD OUT. Front woman Brittany Howard brings her powerhouse pipes to an electrifying concert of Grammywinning hits, including “Don’t Wanna Fight.” Shelburne Museum, 7 p.m.

Wait list available.

Practical tools Expert insights Earn educational credits

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: See THU.3.

MONTPELIER INSIGHT MEDITATION: Practitioners of all levels gather to quiet mental chatter and boost physical well-being at a weekly mindfulness session. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, 6-7:15 p.m. Free.

ALI T: A Vermont indie-pop singer-songwriter and producer enthralls listeners with catchy ’90s-inspired originals. Maquam Barn & Winery, Milton, 2:30-4:30 p.m. Free; cost of food and drink.

Call for fall hours 802-793-7229

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: See WED.2.

lgbtq

BOARD GAME NIGHT: LGBTQ tabletop fans bring their own favorite games to the party. Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Free.

music

BANDWAGON SUMMER SERIES: CELTIC & QUÉBÉCOIS MUSIC FESTIVAL: Outdoor crowds soak up fiddles, foot-tapping rhythms and transatlantic folk traditions at a family-friendly celebration of Irish, Scottish and French Canadian music.

Scott Farm Orchard, Dummerston, 3-6 p.m. $28-32; free for kids under 12.

MON.7

Your Your paper. paper.

Your Your community. community.

Your Your choice. choice.

8/31/26 11:36 AM

Support the businesses who support our work.

Support the businesses who support our work.

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STORY TIME: Early literacy takes center stage as infants and toddlers engage in a melodic mix of books and songs.

Norwich Public Library, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Free.

THU.3

burlington

BABY & ME CLASS: Parents and their infants ages birth to 1 explore massage, lullabies and gentle movements while discussing the struggles and joys of parenthood. Greater Burlington YMCA, 9:45-10:45 a.m. $10; free for members.

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

GROW PRESCHOOL YOGA: Colleen from Grow Prenatal and Family Yoga leads kids ages 2 to 5 in songs, movement and other fun activities. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m.

Free.

TWEEN GROUP: A new program for queer and gender-creative youths ages 10 to 12 offers space to make new friends, join in fun activities and build community. Outright Vermont, Burlington, 4-6 p.m. Free.

chittenden county

FIRST THURSDAYS: MUSIC & MOVEMENT WITH MISS EMMA: Caregivers and their tiny charges boost early literacy through a rhythmic regimen of singing, dancing and motor-skill development. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

PRESCHOOL PLAY TIME: Pre-K patrons play and socialize after music time.

Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 11-11:30 a.m. Free.

barre/montpelier

BASEMENT TEEN CENTER: See WED.2, 2-8 p.m.

POKÉMON DAY: I choose you, Pikachu!

Elementary and teenage fans of the franchise — and beginners, too — trade cards and play games. KelloggHubbard Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free.

STORY TIME: Kids and their caregivers meet for stories, songs and bubbles.

Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

STORY TIME AT THE GARY RESIDENCE: Families enjoy a community-building morning of songs, tales and crafts. Gary Residence, Montpelier, 10:30 a.m. Free.

stowe/smuggs

WEE ONES PLAY TIME: Caregivers bring kiddos under 4 to a new sensory learning experience each week. Morristown Centennial Library, Morrisville, 10 a.m. Free.

mad river valley/ waterbury

BUSY BEES PLAYGROUP: Blocks, toys, books and songs engage little ones 24 months and younger. Waterbury Public Library, 10-11:30 a.m. Free.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

KINDNESS ROCKS: Creative kiddos transform ordinary stones into colorful, hidden acts of goodwill meant to surprise unsuspecting passersby.

Norwich Public Library, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Free.

northeast kingdom

ACORN CLUB STORY TIME: Youngsters 5 and under play, sing, hear stories and color. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

ENCHANTED KINGDOM MINI GOLF: Putters of all ages hit the artist-designed course for some lighthearted competition, whimsy and thrills. Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro. $4-5.

FRI.4

burlington BURLINGTON FNG: Self-identified LGBTQ+ and questioning youths ages 13 to 19 gather weekly to socialize in a supportive environment. Outright Vermont, Burlington, 6:30-8 p.m. Free.

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

DROP-IN: An afterschool hangout space invites teens ages 13 to 19 to relax, connect, grab a snack or browse the nonprofit’s clothing closet.

Outright Vermont, Burlington, 2:30 p.m. Free.

FAMILY FRIDAY WITH LINDA BASSICK: Caretakers and wee ones enjoy a weekly morning mashup of muffins and music played by the local legend.

Pingala Café North Avenue, Burlington, 9-9:30 a.m. Free.

barre/montpelier

LEGO DAY: Budding builders create geometric structures with snap-together blocks. KelloggHubbard Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free.

STORY TIME & PLAYGROUP: Participants ages 5 and under enjoy themed science, art and nature activities. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 10:30 a.m. Free.

middlebury area

STORY TIME: Lake-centric stories, coloring and crafts anchor little ones at a weekly maritime-themed reading circle. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 11 a.m.-noon. Free.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

STORY TIME: Preschoolers take part in tales, tunes and playtime. Latham Library, Thetford, 11 a.m. Free.

northeast kingdom

ENCHANTED KINGDOM MINI GOLF: See THU.3.

PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: Youngsters and their caregivers delight in beautiful books, silly songs, creative crafts and unplugged play in the library’s cozy children’s room. Craftsbury Public Library, Craftsbury Common, 10 a.m.

Free.

SAT.5

COLLEGE READY WEBINAR: Parents and caregivers of high schoolers decode the maze of higher education costs through expert strategies on financial aid, tax perks and smart saving techniques. Hosted

by Elephant Corner Financial. 11 a.m.-noon. Free; preregister.

burlington

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

LEGO TIME: Mini makers ages 4 to 11 design and build original, colorful creations. Fletcher Free Library New North End Branch, Burlington, 11 a.m.noon. Free.

chittenden county

TOQEHSUWOK IN THE FARMYARD: Drumming, singing and dancing fill the children’s farmyard as the Passamaquoddy duo shares traditional music and movement. Shelburne Farms, noon. Free.

barre/montpelier

GROUND DOWN TO RISE UP: Bubbles, herbal tea and family-friendly activities fuel a morning dedicated to community building and environmental advocacy.

Vermont Statehouse lawn, Montpelier, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Free.

MEET TEDDY THE THERAPY DOG: Animal lovers pop by the library to make friends with a very good boy, learn about his therapy duties and see some of his astounding tricks. KelloggHubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, noon-12:45 p.m.

Free.

stowe/smuggs

CHILDREN’S INSTRUCTIONAL AFTERNOON TEA: Tots don their finest dress-up outfits for a spot of history and sumptuous snacks, including mini sandwiches, warm scones and bite-size sweets. The Governor’s House in Hyde Park, 1 p.m. $20-48; preregister.

mad river valley/ waterbury

SATURDAY STORY TIME: Stories and songs help children develop social and literacy skills. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

northeast kingdom

ENCHANTED KINGDOM MINI GOLF: See THU.3.

SUN.6

TUE.8

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

burlington

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

chittenden county

CHILDREN’S STORY TIME WITH CHRISTINE: See WED.2.

SOCIAL SUNDAYS: Families participate in fun and educational art activities with diverse mediums and themes.

All supplies and instruction provided. Milton Artists’ Guild Art Center & Gallery, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Free.

mad river valley/ waterbury

THE GREAT DUCK RACE: Waitsfield’s quackiest fundraiser features a rubber-duck race, tasty treats, a magic show and kids’ activities. Proceeds benefit the Mad River Valley Rotary Club. Lareau Park, Waitsfield, 2-3:30 p.m. Free.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

northeast kingdom

ENCHANTED KINGDOM MINI GOLF: See THU.3.

MON.7

burlington

SING-ALONG WITH LINDA BASSICK: Babies, toddlers and preschoolers sing, dance and wiggle along with the local musician. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, 11-11:30 a.m. Free.

chittenden county

STORY TIME: Youngsters from birth to 5 enjoy a session of reading, rhyming and singing. Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

barre/montpelier

BASEMENT TEEN CENTER: See WED.2.

CRAFT DAY: Youths ages 18 and under flex their creative muscles with various DIY projects. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free.

THE NEST: Good Beginnings of Central Vermont hosts a baby-friendly space where prenatal and postpartum families can connect. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

‘PLAYING FIELDS’: The Flynn presents a back-to-school celebration for students, families and neighbors, featuring a mesmerizing outdoor performance by famed French street theater company Plasticiens Volants. Barre City Elementary and Middle School, 6 p.m. Free.

upper valley

burlington

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

LEGO TUESDAYS: Youth architects tackle construction challenges or follow their own blueprints at a creative building session complete with snacks. Norwich Public Library, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Free.

‘DINOSAUR SAFARI’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

northeast kingdom

chittenden county

NATURE PLAYGROUP: Kids up to age 5 and their caregivers experience the wonders of the great outdoors at a guided exploration and story time led by a naturalist. Green Mountain Audubon Center, Huntington, 9:30-11 a.m. Free; preregister.

barre/montpelier

FUSE BEADS DAY: Aspiring artisans bring ideas or borrow patterns to make beaded creations. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 2nd Floor, Children’s Library, Montpelier, 3:30-5 p.m. Free.

mad river valley/ waterbury

TODDLER TIME: Little kids ages 5 and under have a blast with songs, stories, rhymes and dancing. Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free.

upper valley

‘CREATIVIDAD SILVESTRE/WILD CREATIVITY’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

STORY TIME WITH BETH: An engaging bookseller and librarian reads picture books on a different theme each week.

The Norwich Bookstore, 10 a.m. Free.

LAPSIT STORY TIME: Babies 2 and under learn to love reading while singing and playing with their caregivers.

Siblings welcome. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 10:30-11 a.m. Free.

PRESCHOOL STORY TIME: See FRI.4.

WED.9

burlington

‘CHAMP: AMERICA’S LAKE MONSTER’ EXHIBIT: See WED.2.

MAGNATILE MASTERPIECES: Future architects ages 3 and up build imaginative creations with magnetic toys. Fletcher Free Library New North End Branch, Burlington, 10-10:45 a.m. Free.

chittenden county BABY TIME: See WED.2.

CHILDREN’S STORY TIME WITH CHRISTINE: See WED.2.

barre/montpelier

BABY & CAREGIVER MEETUP: See WED.2.

BASEMENT TEEN CENTER: See WED.2.

CHESS & BOARD GAME DAY: See WED.2.

rutland/killington

‘PLAYING FIELDS’: See TUE.8, Rutland Middle School.

upper valley

STORY TIME: See WED.2. K

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ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK MARCHING BAND: Band nerds, dancers, singers, jugglers, stilt walkers, unicyclists, tiny car drivers, balloon artists and more unite for a one-of-a-kind music-making procession. Dick Wright Public House, Franklin, 11 a.m.-noon. Free.

ONION RIVER CHORUS REHEARSAL: The non-auditioned community ensemble conducted by Richard Riley invites interested vocalists to join in spirited song. Bethany United Church of Christ, Montpelier, 7-9 p.m. Free.

GOOD OD NEWS NE EWS TRAVELS TRA S

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

words

ANIME GROUP: Fans of Japanese animation and comics convene weekly to swap ideas, read stories and connect over shared interests in handdrawn media. Pathways Vermont Morgan’s Place Peer Support Center, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. Free.

BOOK LAUNCH: Contributors Frances Cannon, Clover Ajamie, Kat Consler, Isa DeMarco and Eve Alexandra share their eclectic transdisciplinary anthology, Queer Flora, Fauna and Funga: A Radical Forage Through Art and Writing. HardPressed Community Print Shop & Zine Library, West Danville, 5-7 p.m. Free.

SCRIPTWRITERS’ GROUP: Got a story to tell?

Talented local writers swap techniques and constructive critiques. Junction Arts & Media, White River Junction, 5:30-7 p.m. Free; preregister.

TUE.8

PHOTO CREDIT: DARIA BISHOP

community

CURRENT EVENTS DISCUSSION GROUP: Brownell Library holds a virtual roundtable for neighbors to pause and reflect on the news cycle. 10-11:30 a.m. Free.

crafts

Along Main Street.

WATERCOLOR DROP-IN: Painters bring their own supplies to a weekly, instruction-free session to brush up on their skills in a communal setting.

Waterbury Public Library, 10:30 a.m. Free.

Routes #1 Williston and #11 City Connector now provide a bus every 15 minutes along the improved Main Street corridor between Downtown Burlington and South Burlington.

ALL HANDS TOGETHER COMMUNITY CRAFTING GROUP: Marshfield spinning maven Donna Hisson hosts a casual gathering for fiber fans of all abilities to work on old projects or start something new. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield, 6-7:30 p.m. Free.

environment

MINI CLEAN UP CREW: Good Samaritans turn their Tuesday morning routine into civic pride by tidying up and refreshing the city’s much-loved green space. BYO gloves encouraged. Burlington City Hall Park, 8-8:30 a.m. Free.

film

See what’s playing at local theaters in the On Screen section.

‘DINOSAURS OF ANTARCTICA 3D’: See THU.3.

‘THE LIBRARIANS’: Kim A. Snyder’s stirring 2025 documentary follows a courageous group of librarians who become unlikely defenders of democracy amid an unprecedented wave of book bans. A panel discussion follows. Welden Theatre, St. Albans, 6:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted.

At Dorset Street, the routes go their separate ways: Route #1 continues along Market Street to Williston.

Route #11 serves South Burlington before returning to Market Street and downtown Burlington.

If you're traveling along Main Street, simply take the first bus that arrives.

MIDDLEBURY CLASSIC FILM CLUB: Cinephiles watch and bond over groundbreaking ’90s flicks, from Clueless to The Truman Show. See ilsleypubliclibrary.org for lineup. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury, 1 p.m. Free.

‘NACHO LIBRE’: A monk follows his dream and dons a mask to moonlight as a Mexican wrestler in this 2006 slapstick comedy starring Jack TUE.8

Every Eve v rry tri ve trip rriip ip yo yyou u take k ke builds d a stro ds stronger, rronger, r more r, r connected community re community. ty. ty y.

RideGMT.com | 802-540-2468

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Black. Film House, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington, 7 p.m. Free.

‘PENGUIN ISLAND 3D’: See THU.3.

‘SHARK KINGDOM 3D’: See THU.3.

‘WILD RESCUE 3D’: See THU.3.

Featured in the new PBS documentary, From Rails to Trails, the Island Line Trail is the longest rail trail over water in the world. It is a must see!

games

BOARD GAME NIGHT: Neighbors show off their skills at an evening of friendly competition playing European tabletop staples such as Catan, Splendor and Concordia. Waterbury Public Library, 6-8 p.m. Free.

health & fitness

We rent ebikes for the 10-mile-trip out to the Causeway.

We also offer Segway tours and Vermont gifts and souvenirs at our shop downtown or online at

AllThingsVermont.com

BURLINGTONebikes.com 86 Main Street Burlington (802) 489-5113

FALL SALE

20% - 50% off

9/4 - 10/1

GET OFF OF

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COPPER!

TAI CHI: Practitioners get a feel for the Chinese martial art combining controlled breathing, meditation and slow, gentle movements. Ida Boch Park, Bradford, 10-11 a.m. Free.

TREAT YOURSELF TUESDAYS: Guests ages 21 and up relax with a complimentary glass of Champagne and access to the spa’s healing lodges, sanctuary lounge, outdoor heated pool and fitness center. The Spa at Spruce Peak, Stowe, 4-7 p.m. $50.

BURLINGTON | VERMONT BANGOR | MAINE SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

3/13/26 5:30 PM

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

québec

‘NOS ESPOIRS FURIEUX’: A new performance by Alex Trahan combines theater, dance and circus arts to explore a pressing question: How can we cultivate hope in a collapsing world? La Chapelle, Montréal, 7:30 p.m. $18-47.

tech

AFTERNOON TECH HELP: Experts answer questions about phones, laptops, e-readers and other devices in one-on-one meetings. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 1-4 p.m. Free; preregister.

words

BURLINGTON LITERATURE GROUP: Over the course of five weeks, readers analyze Nikos Kazantzakis’ 1946 novel Zorba the Greek, about a young man seeking to escape his bookish life with help from a boisterous and mysterious character.

6:30-8 p.m. Free.

WRITER’S CIRCLE: Creative sparks fly as participants tackle curated prompts and read their latest drafts aloud in a collaborative environment. Virtual option available. Pathways Vermont Morgan’s Place Peer Support Center, Burlington, 4-5:30 p.m. Free.

WED.9 activism

YOGA AS A HEALING ART: HOPE Works hosts a supportive series for survivors of sexual violence, inviting participants to explore healing through movement, meditation and discussion. 6-7:30 p.m.

Free; preregister.

language

agriculture

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: See WED.2.

802-771-2100 (BURLINGTON) 207-561-655O (BANGOR) 800-338-4084 (TOLL-FREE) WWW.MYCVS.IO

VERMONT’S FREEDOM & UNITY CHORUS: Singers come together for a weekly rehearsal inspiring positive change through the power of music. Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, 7 p.m. Free.

DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL APPRECIATION DAY: Vermonters assemble on the lawn to champion the dedicated workforce helping neighbors with developmental disabilities live, work and thrive in their communities. Vermont Statehouse lawn, Montpelier, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

ITALIAN LANGUAGE LUNCH: Speakers hone their skills in the Romance language over bagged lunches. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, noon-1 p.m.

Free.

We will replace copper lines to internet-based services (VoIP and SIP). You don’t have to lift a finger.

Just let our team get to work.

4T-CVS031826.indd 1

COMMUNITY MEDITATION: All experience levels engage in the ancient Buddhist practice of clearing the mind to achieve a state of calm. First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, 5:15-6 p.m. Free; donations accepted.

PARKINSON’S MUTUAL AID GROUP: Affected individuals and caregivers find community, resources and practical ideas 8/28/26 10:11 AM for improving quality of life at this monthly meetup. The Old Meeting House, East Montpelier, 2-3 p.m. Free.

AND START SAVING MONEY NOW.

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BEGINNER TAI CHI: Weight transference and mindful breathing help practitioners cultivate agility through a contemporary sequence of quintessential martial arts postures. Virtual option available.

Unitarian Universalist Church, Springfield, 10-11 a.m. Free.

music

PAUSE-CAFÉ MARDI: Francophones and Frenchlanguage learners meet pour parler la belle langue.

Burlington Bay Market & Café, 5-7 p.m. Free.

WEDNESDAYS WITH FARMER FRED: See WED.2.

business

VERMONT WOMENPRENEURS BIZ BUZZ BURLINGTON: A monthly networking meetup provides a space for female business owners to connect over coffee, tea and snacks.

Deep City, Burlington, 9:45-11:15 a.m. $14; free for members; preregister.

community

CURRENT EVENTS: Neighbors have an informal discussion about what’s in the news.

Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free.

PASSEGGIATA: See WED.2.

PASSEGGIATA WATERBURY: See WED.2.

crafts

GREEN MOUNTAIN CHAPTER OF THE EMBROIDERERS’ GUILD OF AMERICA: Anyone with an interest in the needle arts can bring a project to this monthly meeting. Holy Family Parish Hall, Essex Junction, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.

YARN & YAK: See WED.2.

YARN CRAFTERS GROUP: See WED.2.

etc.

GUIDED TOURS: See WED.2.

MUSEUM TOURS: See WED.2.

TOASTMASTERS OF GREATER BURLINGTON: Those looking to strengthen their speaking and leadership skills gain new tools. Virtual option available. Generator Makerspace, Burlington, 6-7:30 p.m. Free; preregister.

food & drink

CHAMPLAIN ISLANDS FARMERS MARKET: See WED.2.

COMMUNITY COOKING: See WED.2.

CUPPA ON CAMPUS: See WED.2.

DANVILLE FARMERS MARKET: See WED.2.

MARKET ON THE GREEN: See WED.2.

WEDNESDAY WINE DOWN FARMERS MARKET: See WED.2.

health & fitness CHAIR YOGA: See WED.2.

RECOVERY DHARMA: See WED.2.

FOMO? Find even more local events in this newspaper and online:

art Find visual art exhibits and events in the Art section and at sevendaysvt. com/art.

film See what’s playing at theaters in the On Screen section.

music + nightlife Find club dates at local venues in the Music + Nightlife section online at sevendaysvt.com/music.

Learn more about highlighted listings in the Magnificent 7 on page 11.

= ONLINE EVENT = GET TICKETS ON SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

LIST YOUR EVENT FOR FREE AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTEVENT

language

ITALIAN CONVERSATION GROUP: Practitioners sharpen their skills and connect with neighbors at a bimonthly meetup facilitated by a native speaker. South Burlington Public Library & City Hall, 10-11 a.m. Free.

LANGUAGE LOUNGE: See WED.2.

lgbtq

THE ALL-INCLUSIVE DYKETACULAR: See WED.2.

QUEER WRITERS’ GROUP: LGBTQ+ authors meet monthly to discuss their work, write from prompts, and give each other advice and feedback. Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre, 5:30-7 p.m. Free.

music

ART AMPLIFIED: PAPER CASTLES AND ROOST.WORLD: Gallery strollers mingle over drinks while back-to-back performances by two local acts provide the soundtrack. BCA Center, Burlington, 5-8 p.m. Free.

BROWN BAG LUNCH SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: See WED.2.

MUSIC ON THE HILL SUMMER CONCERT SERIES: See WED.2.

teaches participants how to slow down and observe the natural world through sketching and writing, followed by an optional group reflection. Rock Point Center, Burlington, 10 a.m.-noon.

By donation; preregister.

québec

‘NOS ESPOIRS FURIEUX’: See TUE.8.

seminars

SUMMER LIVE MUSIC SERIES: See WED.2.

outdoors

THE AMAZING CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE: See WED.2.

NATURE JOURNALING: Artist and naturalist Lorna Dielentheis

INTRO TO EDITING WITH DAVINCI RESOLVE: Media buffs learn how to configure their workspace, import and organize files, and fine-tune to create a finished product. The Media Factory, Burlington, 6-8 p.m. Free; donations accepted; preregister.

sports

GREEN MOUNTAIN TABLE TENNIS CLUB: See WED.2.

WHALEBOAT WEDNESDAYS: See WED.2.

talks

DEEP DIVES SERIES: Listeners plunge into the depths of local maritime history at a biweekly lecture series featuring illuminating presentations by archaeologists, educators and researchers. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, 6-7 p.m. Free; preregister.

JIM RAMSEY: In “America at 250: The Politics of National Memory,” the senior adviser to the United States Capitol Historical Society examines how monuments, memorials, museums and beyond

shape the stories Americans tell about themselves. Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home, Manchester, 6 p.m. $10-100 sliding scale; preregister.

words

FFL BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP: Readers convene via Zoom to dissect Fredrik Backman’s dual-timeline novel My Friends, about a hidden legacy found within a famous painting. 6:30-8 p.m. Free.

FORD VON REYN: A Geisel School of Medicine professor and author shares his debut novel, Love From Afar: Finland, following a salesman whose Cold War peace mission unexpectedly transforms his life. The Norwich Bookstore, 7 p.m. Free.

THACHER HURD: In “Growing Up in a World of Children’s Books,” the son of renowned illustrator Clement Hurd and author Edith Thacher Hurd shares details about his unique upbringing, surrounded by the creativity of writers such as Margaret Wise Brown and Maurice Sendak.

Shelburne Town Hall, 6:30 p.m.

Free; preregister.

TRASH FOR THE TROPE: A ROMANCE LOVER’S BOOK CLUB: Lit lovers dissect the nuances of Lisa Kleypas’ spicy historical novel Devil in Winter, about a shy heiress and a notorious rake who enter into a marriage of convenience. Phoenix Books, Burlington, 6 p.m. Free; preregister. ➆

Great Expectations What’s your idea of Assisted Living?

Fresh local foods, close-knit friends, and a stress-free lifestyle — our community is not what you expect. Add a little care, and great Assisted Living can mean greater independence.

Write your next great chapter!

Independent, Assisted & Memory Care Living Now also in:

Essex Junction | 802-760-6018

S. Burlington | 802-489-7627

Middlebury | 802-231-3645

Shelburne | 802-992-8420

23t-ExploreComm(LCB)090226 1

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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8/28/26 11:34 AM

Help Advance a Vaccine Study for C. diff

To learn more, please scan code below

Adults Age 65+ Needed for a Vaccine Research Study!

Having frequent doctor’s visits, a recent hospitalization, or recent antibiotic use?

HELP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VACCINE TO PROTECT AGAINST AN INTESTINAL BACTERIAL INFECTION •

3.5 year-long study that includes screening, at least 5 clinic visits, and 3 phone visits

•

Compensation is $1320 if all visits are completed

•

Additional compensation if more visits or activities are required

Call: 802-656-0013 • Email: uvmvtc@uvm.edu Visit: uvm.edu/larnermed/mmg/vaccine-testing-center 4t-UVMDeptMed(65+Study)081226.indd 1

8/4/26 1:29 PM

Constitution Day

CELEBRATION AND FUNDRAISER! Burlington Beer Company, Burlington, VT.

Thursday, September 17

5:30pm

Gather in honor and support of a government which has guided our nation for nearly 250 years and has inspired the rule of law around the world. As supporters of democracy, let's continue to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the United States. Come celebrate with us, reflect on the values that shape our democracy, and help us to bring civics knowledge into communities around the country.

Tickets include appetizers, dinner, 2 drink tickets, and a show. We will also have civics trivia and giveaways!

Your support helps Scan for American Civics Snaptickets or visit shots (amcivsnap.org) givebutter.com continue its work connecting people with civic learning and conversation.

Become a sponsor by contacting Mike at mkane@amcivsnap.org or 802-203-6488

TICKET PRICING (Price reduced so we can all celebrate together!) $250 $200 — Single • $450 $350 — Couple • $2250 $1787 — Table of 10

AMERICAN CIVICS SNAPSHOTS SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS HERE FOR AS LITTLE AS $21.25/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE).

NEWSPAPER DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 3 P.M. POST CLASS ADS AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS. GET HELP AT CLASSES@SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

family 40/10/40 TAI CHI AND HIGHINTENSITY TRAINING: Designed for active adults in a familyfriendly environment, classes include 40 minutes of passive tai chi/qi gong for mindfulness and balance, a 10-minute restorative break, and 40 minutes of high-intensity training (HIT) with an intense warm-up targeting strength, flexibility and endurance. Participants also practice foundational self-defense and movements from eight traditional martial arts. Introductory reduced monthly rates are offered for single or combined sessions. Learn proper movement developed over centuries by the masters. Dates: Tue. & Thu., 6:30-7:10 p.m. & 7:20-8 p.m.

1st class is free. Location: School of Oom Yung Doe, 1127 North Ave., Burlington. Info: Wade E. Prescott, 802-495-6034, inst.wade@gmail.com.

‘THE BASICS’ CAKE DECORATING CLASS: Join us for this in-person workshop at our space in downtown Waterbury!

In this workshop, we will talk through the basics of filling and crumb-coating a cake, work on getting nice smooth edges, and do some rosette piping. You’ll leave with great new techniques and a two-layer, six-inch cake that serves eight. Date: Tue., Sep. 22, 6-7:30 p.m. Cost: $85; bring a plus-one, $15. Location: Red Poppy Cakery, 1 Elm St., Waterbury. Info: 203-400-0700, sevendaystickets.com.

INJERA 101: ERITREAN & ETHIOPIAN BREAD: The class will cover the preparation of injera, a staple bread of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Participants will enjoy an appetizer and watch Alganesh make the batter from scratch, then take turns cooking their injera. Class will end with gathering together for a traditional dinner, savoring delicious food with our hands while learning proper Eritrean dining etiquette. Date: Fri., Sep. 18, 5-7:30 p.m. Cost: $70.

Location: Richmond Community Kitchen, 13 Jolina Ct. Info: sevendaystickets.com.

LEARN FRENCH! FALL CLASSES AT WINGSPAN: Sign up for 9/1/26 6:48 PM

a fantastique French class and begin or continue your learning journey! We start in late September and continue all fall. Multiple levels available, plus an opportunity to join a full-day French trip to the Eastern Townships of Québec.

Small, interactive classes with a supportive, fun and knowledgeable instructor. Expand your French, exercise your brain and open doors to new adventures.

Allons-y! Location: 4 Howard St., Burlington. Cost: $315. Info: maggiestandley@gmail.com, wingspanstudioeduc.com.

food & drink

language

is a 501c3 project of Tiny Seed Vermont.

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classes energy. Join our community and find resiliency, power and grace.

Inclusive training, gender-neutral dressing room/bathrooms and a safe space for all. Visitors are always welcome to watch a class! Vermont’s only intensive aikido programs. Location: Aikido of Champlain Valley, 257 Pine St., Burlington. Info: bpincus@burlingtonaikido.org, burlingtonaikido.org.

NEW TAI CHI BEGINNERS CLASS IN BURLINGTON: Long River Tai Chi Circle is the school of Wolfe Lowenthal, student of professor Cheng Man Ching and author of three classic works on tai chi chaun. Patrick Cavanaugh is a longtime student and assistant of Wolfe’s and a senior instructor at Long River Tai Chi Circle in Vermont and New Hampshire and will be teaching the class in Burlington. Dates: Wed. mornings beginning Oct. 7, 9-10 a.m. Registration will remain open until Oct. 28. Cost: $65/ mo. Location: Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church (in the gym), 305 Flynn Ave., Burlington. Info: Patrick Cavanaugh, 802-4906405, patricklrtcc@gmail.com, longrivertaichinewengland. com.

music

martial arts AIKIDO: FREE WORKSHOPS AND INTRODUCTORY CLASSES: Sep. 12 workshop schedule: Youth/families (ages 7-12) at 10 a.m., adult class at 11:30 a.m., and Pride Workshop at 1 p.m. for LGBTQIA+ and allies.

Beginners’ classes five days a week. Cultivate core power, aerobic fitness and resiliency. The dynamic, circular movements emphasize throws, joint locks and the development of internal

TAIKO TUESDAYS, DJEMBE WEDNESDAYS!: Drum with Stuart Paton! New sessions each month, starting the weeks of Sep. 15, Oct. 22, Nov. 24 and Jan. 5. Taiko on Tue.: Kids & Parents Taiko, 4-5:30 p.m.; Adult Intro Taiko, 5:30-7 p.m.; Accelerated Intro Taiko 7-8:30 p.m. Djembe on Wed.: Intermediate Djembe 5:30-7 p.m.; Beginner Djembe, 7-8:30 p.m. Drums provided.

Cost: $92/4 weeks; 90-min classes; $72/person for Kids & Parents class. Location: Burlington Taiko, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3-G, Burlington. Info: Stuart Paton, 802-448-0150, burlingtontaiko.org.

Find and purchase tickets for these and other classes at sevendaystickets.com.

= TICKETED CLASS

Humane Buy & Sell »

ANTIQUES, FURNITURE, GARAGE SALES

Community »

ANNOUNCEMENTS, LOST & FOUND, SUPPORT GROUPS

Rentals & Real Estate »

APARTMENTS, HOMES, FOR SALE BY OWNER

Vehicles »

CARS, BIKES, BOATS, RVS

Suki AGE/SEX: 12-year-old spayed female ARRIVAL DATE: April 29, 2026 SUMMARY: Sweet senior Suki is looking for a calm, cat-savvy

retirement home! At her age, Suki’s seen it all and knows what she likes (pets from her people, cozy naps, playing with her wand toys) and what she doesn’t like (strangers, other cats and sudden noises). Suki would love to find a kindred spirit who will appreciate her independent nature and discerning taste. If you have a peaceful retirement home where Suki can enjoy her golden years on her own terms, visit HSCC to learn more about meeting Suki in her foster home!

DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Suki is looking for a home without other

Services »

cats. She has experience living with dogs and may do well with a cat-savvy canine in a new home. She would prefer a calm home without young children.

Musicians & Artists »

Visit the Humane Society of Chittenden County at 142 Kindness Court, South Burlington, Tuesday-Wednesday 1-5 p.m., Thursday-Friday 1-6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Call 862-0135 or visit hsccvt.org for more info.

FINANCIAL, CHILDCARE, HOME & GARDEN

LESSONS, CASTING, REHEARSAL SPACE

Society of Chittenden County

DID YOU KNOW? If you’re wondering how long it usually takes for a new cat to adjust to a new home, follow the “Rule of Threes”: three days to decompress; three weeks to learn your routine; and three months to feel at home.

Sponsored by:

Jobs »

NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS. SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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Post ads by Monday at 3 p.m. sevendaysvt.com/classifieds Need help? 802-865-1020, ext. 115 classifieds@sevendaysvt.com

Buy y & Sell e

BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC VINTAGE MAGAZINES Field & Stream & Outdoor Life. Info, 802-282-7865.

GARAGE & ESTATE SALES EPIC SNAP-ON TOOL ESTATE SALE One epic Snap-On sale — just about everything! This online sale contains a selection of exceptional Snap-On tools from the estate of Ross E. Arsenault, a lifelong Franklin County resident, businessman & passionate car collector.

Ross’ extensive Snap-On collection reflects only the very best, w/ many tools never used & in

impeccable condition.

Whether you’re a professional mechanic, serious car enthusiast or simply appreciate quality tools, this is a collection you won’t want to miss. Through Wed., Sep. 16, 10:15 p.m. Info, estatesalesofvermont. com.

HOME & GARDEN PREPARE FOR POWER OUTAGES Prepare for power outages today w/ a Generac home standby generator. Act now to receive a free 5-year warranty w/ qualifying purchase. Call 1-866-3810627 today to schedule a free quote. It’s not just a generator. It’s a power move. (AAN CAN)

MISCELLANEOUS HOME INTERNET Connect to the best wireless home internet w/ EarthLink. Enjoy speeds from 5G & 4G LTE networks, no contracts, easy installation, & data plans up to 300 GB. Call 855-873-2215. (AAN CAN)

CLASSIFIEDS KEY appt. appointment apt. apartment BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability, presence of minor children in the family, receipt of public assistance, citizenship, immigration status, or status as a victim or survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertis-

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ALL YOUR ENTERTAINMENT Nothing on your roof!

Sign up for DirecTV & get your 1st 3 mos. of Max, Paramount+, Showtime, Starz, MGM+ & Cinemax incl. Choice package, $84.99/mo. Some restrictions apply. Call 1-855-606-4520. (AAN CAN)

Community C ommunity mmuni y

ANNOUNCEMENTS SLAVIC LIFE The Slavic Life Movement is an organization dedicated to the preservation & evolution of Slavic culture.

Musicians M cians & Ar Artists ts

MUSIC LESSONS LEARN PIANO ON A STEINWAY GRAND Piano lessons avail. for beginner through advanced players. All ages & all genres of music. I have 20 years’ teaching experience & am at a new South End piano studio. Be in touch! Info, randal. pierce@gmail.com randalpiercemusic.com.

ing for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels they have encountered discrimination should contact: HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 1-800-669-9777 hud.gov/reporthousingdiscrimination — OR — Vermont Human Rights Commission 12 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 800-416-2010 human.rights@vermont.gov

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Buy & Sell, Community, Musicians & Artists, Vehicles 1-week combo: $12 All print combos include 2-week combo: $22 30 days free online!

4-week combo: $42

Rentals R e als & R al Est Real Estate Esta

APARTMENTS & HOUSES FOR RENT CHARLOTTE ARE YOU? 1595 Mount Philo Rd. Furnished 1-BR, 1,000 sq.ft. Seeking housemate. $1,600.

Info, 802-825-2832, gvassar1595@gmail. com.

COZY 1-BR APT. FOR RENT IN WINOOSKI Unfurnished 1-BR apt. for rent w/ enclosed porches front & back.

Large fenced-in yard.

Gas heat. Very clean.

HDWD. NS. Private parking. Pictures upon request. $1,500. For more information, call, text or email: 802-3554099, skyhorse205@ yahoo.com.

COLCHESTER/ MALLETTS BAY, 2-BR HOUSE 161 Three Islands Rd. Unfurnished, 2-BR, 1-BA, 1,100 sq.ft., Very nice, fairly private, vaulted ceiling house, 100 feet to the lake. Lake views through trees, a place for your kayak & a small island you can use for swimming or fishing.

Tent platform in the woods behind the house. Small lawn & a great neighborhood.

Only 3 houses on 8 acres. 18 mins. to downtown Burlington.

Great place to walk & ride bikes. People who live here love it. Some have called it magical.

It’s beautiful here. 1-year lease. $2,300. Info, 802373-5301, cleopold@ hallradio.net.

BURLINGTON HILL SECTION, SINGLE ROOM FOR RENT Furnished 1-BR at 27 Latham Ct. Single furnished room w/ shared BA. No cooking, NS & no pets. Sheets & towels provided. On the bus line. $200/ week or $867/mo. Call 802-862-2389.

yoga studio but suitable for a variety of other uses. Nice BA & large, oversized closet room; cathedral ceiling & beautiful wood-finished floor; heated mudroom w/ nice window & doors. $1,800/mo. lease.

(1-year or multiyear lease avail.) Electricity & heat incl. For more information, call or text 802-249-0414 or email info@campmeade. today.

INDOOR BOAT, CAMPER, VEHICLE & EQUIPMENT STORAGE IN RYEGATE, VT. Now taking reservations for winter storage (2 bays left). Indoor storage bays avail. for boats, campers, trailers, vehicles & equipment.

34 feet long by 9.5 feet wide by 10.5 feet high.

Dry gravel-floor bay.

Covered indoor storage.

Easy access from paved road. Level/spacious area for access into bay.

Seasonal or year-round storage. $125/mo.

Info, 802-417-6432, karynbjilk@yahoo.com.

HOUSEMATES AMAZING JERICHO HOMESHARE Share a rural home, close to the village, w/ an independent host in her 70s who enjoys the outdoors, walks & values social justice. Spacious BR, private BA & shared common areas. $650/ mo., $75/mo. utils. Must be dog-friendly! Call 802-863-5625 or visit homesharevermont. org for application.

Interview, refs. & background checks req.

EHO.

Services rv es

FINANCIAL & LEGAL

COMMERCIAL & OFFICE RENTALS

STRUGGLING W/ CREDIT CARD DEBT? If you owe $10,000+, we can help you become debt-free in 24-48 mos. Make 1 monthly affordable payment.

Get help now! Call: 1-877-895-5782. (AAN CAN)

GORGEOUS MIDDLESEX STUDIO FOR LEASE Conveniently located just off Interstate 89.

647 sq.ft. of attractive, versatile space currently used as a

TAX WORRIES? End your tax worries today. Let us make your tax problem our priority.

Scared, stuck w/ high tax amounts? Our A+ tax

Rentals & Real Estate 1-week combo: $25 2-week combo: $45 4-week combo: $85

Services 1-week combo: $15 2-week combo: $25 4-week combo: $45

professionals can help.

Call Priority Tax now for a free consultation: 1- 855-496-0514. (AAN CAN) STOP OVERPAYING FOR AUTO INSURANCE A recent survey says most Americans are overpaying for their car insurance. Let us show you how much you can save. Call now for a no-obligation quote: 1-877-856-0046. (AAN CAN)

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Buying or Selling this Fall?

Let’s make it happen!

Robbi Handy Holmes • 802-951-2128 robbihandyholmes@vtregroup.com Client focused

CAREGIVING Making it happen for you!

Retired nurse avail. for private in-home light caregiving. NS & no heavy lifting. $30/hour, negotiable. Overnights, 16t-robbihandiholmes090325.indd 1 9/1/25 12:34 PM weekends & on call.

Please call 802-495LIVE AUCTION: Friday, Sept. 11 @ 3PM 1954 & leave message.

3-BD, 1-BTH Home in Hardwick, VT

SLIDING-SCALE COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE $25-50: You decide!

Acupuncture can help a variety of issues, such as pain anywhere in the body, menstrual problems, stress, insomnia & more. We have helped thousands of people feel better.

Learn more or schedule on our website: casobu. org. Email: info@casobu. org.

208 Mackville Road Hardwick, VT 05843

Located in the town of Hardwick, this two-story home, built in 1910, offers 1,044± square feet.

With its traditional early 20thcentury Vermont character, the home provides an opportunity for homeowners, investors, or buyers looking for a property they can update to fit their needs.

PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR COUPLES & INDIVIDUALS Immediate openings for individuals & couples.

Skip the wait list. Secure statewide telehealth or in-person in Burlington.

Blue Cross Blue Shield & Medicaid accepted. Take THCAuction.com  802-888-4662 the 1st step today. Call or text 802-777-5499, or visit psychologytoday. com/us/therapists/ 12v-hirchakbrothers090226 1 8/28/26 4:54 PM rachel-kling-burlingtonvt/297880 to learn more.

CLINICAL SUPERVISION & SUPERVISED BILLING Immediate statewide openings for prelicensed professionals or practices seeking operational backing.

Tailored guidance from an experienced Burlington-based provider. Call/text 802-777-5499 today to discuss your clinical track.

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Calcoku SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS »

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

24x

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Show and tell.

Sudoku View and post up to

numbers 1-9 only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.

3 7

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CALCOKU

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

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DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. The numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A one-box cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.

9

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8

57+

Extra! Extra!

Post & browse ads Complete the following puzzle by using the at your convenience.

6 photos per ad online.

10x

3-

Open 24/7/365.

7 4 2

9 Difficulty - Medium

SUDOKU

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

See how fast you can solve this weekly 10-word puzzle.

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. The same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.

8 4 6 2 1 5 9 3 7 3 5 1 6 9 7 4 8 2 9 2 7 3 4 8 1 6 5 ANSWERS ON P.76 7 8 H4H = 5CHALLENGING 6 1 2HH9H = 3HOO, BOY! H = MODERATE 6 3 2 9 8 4 7 5 1 1 AFAR 9 5 7 2 3 8 4 6 FELINE FROM ANSWERS ON P. 76 2 »6 8 1 3 9 5 7 4 5 1 9 4 7 6 3 2 8 4 7 3 8 5 2 6 1 9

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Put your knowledge of Vermont news to the test.

say you saw it in

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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75

Legal Notices Services rv es

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VEHICLE GOT AN UNWANTED CAR? DONATE IT TO PATRIOTIC HEARTS Fast, free pickup.

Patriotic Hearts’ programs help veterans find work or start their own business. Call 24-7: 1-877-318-7973. (AAN CAN)

Vehicles

CARS & TRUCKS 2022 FORD ESCAPE PLUG-IN HYBRID SEL Silver/light blue metallic, 5-door, excellent condition.

Over 40 miles/charge in summer! Takes 5 hours to charge on 120v receptacle & about 3 hours on a 240v charger.

4 snow tires, mounted on wheels. Heated front seats & steering wheel. Power driver seat w/ “memory” for 3 drivers. Large moon roof. Adaptive cruise control & front wipers.

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WARNING POLICY ADOPTION CHAMPLAIN VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT Th e Board of School Directors gives public notice of its intent to act on local district policies dealing with the following at its meeting scheduled on August 18, 2026: Code F21 Field Trips/Elective Trips - Repeal Code F28 Pupil Privacy Rights - Adoption Code F30 Admission of Non-Resident Students - Adoption Code F33 Student Clubs and Activities - Adoption Code G3 Responsible Computer, Network and Internet Use - Adoption Code G7 Coordinated Action Plan - Adoption Code G15 Class Size - Adoption Code H1 Use of School Facilities - Adoption Code F29 Tuition for Admitted Students - Reaffirmation Copies of the above policies may be obtained for public review at the Offi ce of the Human Resources Dept. in Shelburne, VT.

Phone Number: 315-706-9149 Email: sbhkern@gmail.com

Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.

Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: Sept. 2, 2026

For more information contact Kaitlin Hayes at the address or telephone number below.

Name of Probate Court: Lamoille Probate Division Address of Probate Court: 154 Main Street, Hyde Park, VT 05655

Dated this August 26, 2026.

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION 4C0978-14B-1 10 V.S.A. §§ 6000 - 6111 Application 4C0978-14B-1 from Leandro Vazquez PO Box 86, Charlotte, VT 05445 was received on August 17, 2026 and deemed complete on August 24, 2026. Th e project specifi cally authorizes the after-the- fact construction of a 2,538 square feet single family dwelling unit within an established building envelope on Lot 15 of the Greystone Estates Subdivision.

Th e project is located at 121 Highland Drive in Richmond, Vermont. Th e application may be viewed on the Land Use Review Board’s website (https://act250.vermont.gov/) by clicking “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0978-14B-1.”

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION LAMOILLE UNIT DOCKET NO.: 26-PR-03359 In re ESTATE of Suzanne Kern NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Suzanne Kern, late of Morrisville, Vermont.

I have been appointed to administer this estate.

All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. Th e claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. Th e claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Dated: 08/26/2026 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Sarah Kern Executor/Administrator: Sarah Kern Mailing Address: 794 Ridge Road, Queensbury, NY 12804

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before September 22, 2026, a party notifi es the District 4 Commission in writing of an issue requiring a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required, and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c) (1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. To request party status and a hearing, fill out the Party Status Petition Form on the Board’s website: https://act250. vermont.gov/documents/party-status-petitionform, and email it to the District 4 Offi ce at: Act250.Essex@vermont.gov. Findings of Fact and

PUZZLE ANSWERS FROM P.75 5 3

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1

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4

2 24x 8 4-3 9 17 6 1 52 5 4

2 1 5 4 6 3

4 6 2 5 1 3-6 2 7 3 2÷ 8 4 5 32÷ 2 4-9 9 5 7 6 8 1 17+ 9 4 7 3 8

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15- 5 9 310x7 9 7 2-4 8 2 4 8 1 6 5 6+ 6 1 2 9 3 8 4 13+ 7 53 1 2 3 8 4 6 3 9 5 7 4 713+6 3 2 8 5 2 6 Difficulty 1 -9Hard

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

Calcoku

Difficulty - Medium

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

1

76

PLACE AN AFFORDABLE NOTICE AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LEGAL-NOTICES OR CALL 802-865-1020, EXT. 121.

By: /s/ Kaitlin Hayes Kaitlin Hayes District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 (802) 622-4084 kaitlin.hayes@vermont.gov STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT CASE NO. 26-CV-04424 IN RE: ABANDONED MOBILE HOME OF BARBARA PAYNE (A/K/A BARBRA PAYNE) NOTICE OF HEARING A hearing on Th e Housing Foundation, Inc.’s Verifi ed Complaint to declare as abandoned and uninhabitable the mobile home of Barbara Payne located at the Fernwood Manor Mobile Home Park, Lot #30A, 171 East Street in Bolton, Vermont has been set for Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 8:45 a.m. in person at the Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Civil Division located at 175 Main Street in Burlington, Vermont.

Date: August 18, 2026 Nancy L. Bean, Judicial Assistant Chittenden Unit VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR ABANDONMENT PURSUANT TO 10 V.S.A. § 6249(i) (Uninhabitable) NOW COMES Th e Housing Foundation, Inc. (“HFI”), by and through its counsel Nadine L. Scibek, and hereby complains as follows: 1. HFI, a Vermont non-profi t corporation with a principal place of business in Montpelier, County of Washington, State of Vermont, is the record owner of a mobile home park known as the Fernwood Manor Mobile Home Park located in the Town of Bolton, Vermont (the “Park”). Th e Park is managed by the Vermont State Housing Authority.

2. Barbara Payne (a/k/a Barbra Payne) (“Payne”) is the record owner of a certain mobile home, described as a 1982 Oxford, bearing serial number OHM2046 (the “Mobile Home”), located on Lot #30A, Fernwood Manor Mobile Home Park, 171 East Street in Bolton, Vermont. See attached Bill of Sale.

3. Payne leased a lot in the Park for the mobile home from HFI pursuant to a written lease. Payne paid a security deposit in the amount of $505.00 to HFI. See attached Lease.

4. Payne is deceased. Her date of death is April 3, 2026. See attached Death Certifi cate and Obituary.

5. No petition to open a probate estate has been filed for Payne per the Chittenden County Probate Court.

6. Th e last known resident of the mobile home was Payne. Th e mobile home has been abandoned and is unoccupied. Payne did not provide any emergency contact information nor next of kin information to HFI. No one has contacted HFI on behalf of Payne regarding the mobile home.

7. Th e following security interests, mortgages, liens and encumbrances appear of record with respect to the mobile home: a. Payne is in arrears on obligations to pay property taxes to the Town of Bolton, Vermont in the amount of $450.63, plus interest and penalties for delinquent taxes. See attached Tax Bill & Delinquent Tax Report.

8. Mobile home storage fees continue to accrue at the rate of $558.00 per month. Rent, storage fees and late charges due HFI as of August, 2026 total $2,748.00. Court costs and attorney’s fees from this action to date exceed $750.00. See attached Account History.

9. HFI sent written notice by certifi ed mail

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SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

Show and tell.

»

to the Town of Bolton on June 16, 2026 of HFI’s intent to commence this abandonment action as required by statute. See attached.

10. The mobile home is uninhabitable. Tyler Willis, Property Manager and duly authorized agent for the Park owner, will testify under oath as to the poor and unlivable condition of this mobile home at the abandonment hearing.

WHEREFORE, HFI respectfully requests that the Honorable Court enter an order as follows: 1. Declare that the mobile home has been abandoned; 2. Transfer the mobile home that is unfit for human habitation to Park owner HFI without a public auction so that it may be removed and disposed of accordingly.

3. Order pursuant to 10 V.S.A. § 6249(j) that the mobile home and any security deposit paid be conveyed to the Park Owner in “as is” condition, and free from all liens and other encumbrances of record.

August 18, 2026 BY: Tyler Willis Duly Authorized Agent for HFI

DATED August 18, 2026.

THE HOUSING FOUNDATION, INC.

This hearing will begin at 6:30pm. Members of the public that are interested in participating in this hearing can do so by attending in person at Winooski City Hall, 27 West Allen Street, Winooski, VT; or electronically by visiting https://us06web. zoom.us/j/82129899225 or by calling (301) 715 8592 and using Webinar ID: 821 2989 9225. Toll charges may apply.

BY: Nadine L. Scibek Attorney for HFI I declare that the above statement is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

I understand that if the above statement is false, I will be subject to the penalty of perjury or other sanctions in the discretion of the Court.

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PUBLIC HEARING WINOOSKI DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD A public hearing will be held by the Winooski Development Review Board on Thursday, September 17, 2026 beginning at 6:30 p.m. to consider the following: Final Subdivision Review Application – 50 Park St. Applicant has submitted a request to create a Planned Unit Development with 24 dwelling units.

This property is also known as “the Armory”. This property is located in the City’s Residential A (R-A) Zoning District. Final Subdivision Review under Section 6.2 of the ULUDR is required for creating new Planned Unit Developments.

Members of the public interested in participating in the above captioned hearing are requested,

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but not required to make their intentions known by completing the public comment request form located on the City’s website at https://www.winooskivt.gov/FormCenter/Human-Resources-6/ Public-Comment-Request-Form-61 at least 24 hours in advance to ensure this information is included in the record of the hearing. This will also allow the chair to recognize participants to provide testimony at the appropriate time during the hearing.

The Development Review Board will hold a public hearing on this matter before rendering a decision. Decisions of the Development Review Board can be appealed by “interested persons” (as defined by 24 V.S.A. § 4465) to the Environmental Division of the Vermont Superior Court.

Questions or comments on this matter can be directed to Ravi Venkataraman, AICP, CFM, Director of City Planning by calling 802.655.6410 or visiting Winooski City Hall at 27 West Allen Street during normal business hours. Information related to this matter will also be available on the City’s website at https://www.winooskivt. gov/229/Development-Review-Board.

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.:​26-PR-02571

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To the creditors of: George Sherman, Jr., late of Williston.

I have been appointed to administer this estate.

All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Dated: 08/28/2026 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Denise M Schultz Executor/Administrator: Denise M Schultz Mailing Address: 910 Good Intent Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325 Phone Number: 717-752-0857 Email: denise.schultz96@gmail.com Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 9/2/26 Name of Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court Chittenden Unit - Probate Division Address of Probate Court: 175 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05401

In re ESTATE of George Sherman, Jr. NOTICE TO CREDITORS

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026 77 3/2/21 6:38 PM

Support Groups A CIRCLE OF PARENTS SUPPORT GROUPS Please join our professionally facilitated peer-led support groups designed to share our questions, concerns & struggles, as well as our resources & successes! Contribute to our discussion of the unique but shared experience of parenting. For more info or to register, please contact Heather at hniquette@pcavt.org, 802-498-0607, pcavt. org/family-support-programs.

BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR DRAGON BOAT TEAM Looking for a fun way to do something active & health-giving? Want to connect w/ other breast cancer survivors? Come join Dragonheart Vermont. We are a breast cancer survivor & supporter dragon boat team who paddle together in Burlington. Please contact us at info@dragonheartvermont.org for info.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS If you want to drink, that’s your business. If you want to stop, that’s ours. Call the Vermont statewide anonymous hotline: 802-802-2288.

Alcoholics Anonymous holds daily meetings all over Vermont, both in person & online. For meetings & events throughout Vermont, see aavt.org.

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT SUICIDE Conversations About Suicide is a judgment-free & open space to talk about personal experiences of suicidal ideation. The group is facilitated by peer support staff w/ lived experience of suicidality. Thu., 3:45-4:45 p.m., at Morgan’s Place, 50 S. Willard St., Burlington. Email us for more info: morgansplace@pathwaysvermont. org, pathwaysvermont.org/programs/ peersupportcenter.

ANXIETY RELIEF GROUP Anxiety Relief Group is a safe setting for relaxing & exploring your feelings w/ others through gentle socialization & self-expression, building up what makes you centered & strong. Wed., 4-5:30 p.m. Online, email us for the Zoom link & more info: morgansplace@pathwaysvermont. org.

BRAIN INJURY SUPPORT GROUP Vermont Center for Independent Living offers virtual monthly meetings, held on the 3rd Wed. of every mo., 1-2:30 p.m. The support group will offer valuable resources & info about brain injury.

It will be a place to share experiences in a safe, secure & confidential environment. To join, email Linda Meleady at lindam@vcil.org & ask to be put on the TBI mailing list. Info: 800-639-1522.

What’s next for your career?

Work it out with Seven Days Jobs.

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HARD OF HEARING SUPPORT GROUP New support group for the hard of hearing.

Beginning Mon., Sep. 14, 3-4:30 p.m., in the Quiet Reading Room at the South Burlington Public Library on Market Street. Please join us to share technology, struggles & coping strategies in your hearing-loss adventures. Group will be on the first Mon. of the mo. & the following Mon. if on a holiday. Info, 802-999-8005, buffett402@aol. com.

HEARING VOICES SUPPORT GROUP This Hearing Voices Group seeks to find understanding of voice-hearing experiences as real lived experiences that may happen to anyone at any time. We choose to share experiences, support & empathy. We validate anyone’s experience & stories about their experience as their own, as being an honest & accurate representation of their experience, & as being acceptable exactly as they are. Tue., 2:30-4 p.m. Morgan’s Place, 50 S. Willard St., Burlington.

Email us for more information: morgansplace@ pathwaysvermont.org, pathwaysvermont.org/programs/ peersupportcenter.

KINDRED CONNECTIONS PROGRAM OFFERED FOR CHITTENDEN COUNTY CANCER SURVIVORS The Kindred Connections program provides peer support for all those touched by cancer. Cancer patients, as well as caregivers, are provided w/ a mentor who has been through the cancer experience & knows what it’s like to go through it. In addition to sensitive listening, Kindred Connections provides practical help such as rides to doctors’ offices & meal deliveries. The program has people who have experienced a wide variety of cancers. For further info, please contact info@vcsn.net.

LIVING THROUGH LOSS The Volunteer Chaplaincy Program of Gifford Medical Center sponsors a weekly meeting of its “Living Through Loss” grief support group.

Anyone who has experienced a significant loss over the past year or so is warmly invited to attend the free weekly meetings every Fri., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. For info, contact the Rev. Tim Eberhardt, Gifford’s spiritual care coordinator, at 802-728-2107.

MYELOMA SUPPORT GROUP Area myeloma survivors, families & caregivers have come together to form a Multiple Myeloma Support Group. We provide emotional support, resources about treatment options, coping strategies & a support network by participating in the group experience w/ people who have been through similar situations. 3rd Tue. of every mo., 5-6 p.m., on Zoom. Info: Kay Cromie, 655-9136, kgcromey@aol.com.

NARCANON BURLINGTON GROUP Group meets every Mon. at 7 p.m., at the Turning Point Center, 179 S. Winooski Ave., Suite 301, Burlington. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend. Info: Amanda H., 338-8106.

78 SEVEN1DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026 8v-jobfiller-career2021.indd 7/30/21 1:54 PM

CONTACT CLASSIFIEDS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM OR 802-865-1020 EXT. 115 TO UPDATE YOUR SUPPORT GROUP

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS Narcotics Anonymous is a group of recovering addicts who live without the use of drugs. It costs nothing to join. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using. Held in Burlington, St Albans, Morrisville, Barre & Stowe.

Info, 833-436-6166 or cvana.org.

violence. Groups are avail. for survivors at any stage of the healing process. Intake for all support groups is ongoing. If you are interested in learning more or would like to schedule an intake to become a group member, please call our office at 864-0555, ext. 19, or email our victim advocate at advocate@sover.net. Visit hopeworksvt.com for more info.

NEW (& EXPECTING) MAMAS & PAPAS & EVERY PRIMARY CAREGIVER TO A BABY Drop-in play every day: The Children’s Room in Waterbury is open Mon.-Fri. for anyone w/ children ages 0-6 to come & play. Check the TCR calendar for hours & school closure days.

Caregiver & Baby Circle: Weekly drop-in on Mon., 11 a.m., at the Children’s Room. We are pleased to offer a weekly gathering for babies (0-18 mos.) & their caregivers, sponsored by Good Beginnings & hosted by the Children’s Room. Nature Explorations: Tue., 10-11:30 a.m., at various trailheads in the area. Get outside for some fresh air & fun! Every week we go to a different trailhead or natural area to explore.

Ages 0-6; carriers are helpful for little ones.

Email childrensroom@huusd.org to sign up; enrollment is always open. Music & Movement: drop-in, Wed., 10:30-11:30 a.m., at the Children’s Room in Brookside Primary School. We begin by singing songs & moving together & allow time at the end to play w/ instruments, as well as time for adults & kids to socialize. Ages 0-6.

Exploration & Art Fridays: drop-in, Fri., anytime from 9 a.m.-noon at the Children’s Room in Brookside Primary School. We’ll be engaging in different hands-on explorations & using various mediums every week — sometimes combined.

Come to TCR to explore, play & create! For info, email childrensroom@huusd.org.

STEPS SUPPORT GROUP Steps offers a weekly support group w/ drop-in options for those who have experienced or who have been affected by domestic violence.

Women’s Support Group meets virtually every Tue., 5-6:30 p.m. Gender Inclusive Support Group meets virtually every Thu., 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Both groups offer a safe, supportive & confidential place to connect w/ others, heal & recover.

For more info, call us at 658-1996 or email steps@ stepsvt.org.

PARKINSON’S MUTUAL AID GROUP For individuals & caregivers dealing w/ the challenges of Parkinson’s, we meet to share resources & practical ideas for improving quality of life. This in-person group is free & open to the public. Every 2nd Tue. of the mo., 2-3 p.m., at the Old Meeting House, 1620 Center Rd., East Montpelier. Please contact admin@oldmeetinghouse.org or 229-9593.

SURVIVORS OF SUICIDE: S. BURLINGTON This group is for people experiencing the impact of the loss of a loved one to suicide. 1st Wed. of each mo., 6-7:00 p.m., at the Comfort Inn & Suites, 3 Dorset St., S. Burlington. Info: Bob Purvee at 802-922-4685 or Aya Kuki at 802-8813606, or by email at survivorsofsuicidelosssb@ gmail.com.

RECOVERY DHARMA Recovery Dharma uses Buddhist practices & principles to help people recover from all kinds of addictions & addictive behaviors. This peer-led, nontheistic group offers opportunities to deepen understanding, explore personal inquiry & connect w/ others. We meet every Wed., 6-7 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church in Burlington (the Red Door Church, 21 Buell St.). Enter through the administrative office door (at far left when viewed from Buell St.). We also meet on Thu., 1-2 p.m., at the Turning Point Center, 179 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington. No meditation experience required; all are welcome. Email rd.burlington. vt@gmail.com for more info.

SMART RECOVERY SMART Recovery is a mutual support group where, through open confidential discussion, we help each other & ourselves w/ recovery from any type of addictive behavior. Regardless of whether your recovery goals include abstinence, reduction in use, or harm reduction, you are welcome here. You determine your goals; SMART provides tools & support to help you achieve them.Our approach uses self-empowering skills that help you build & maintain motivation; cope w/ urges; manage thoughts, feelings & behaviors; & live a balanced life. For the latest information about in-person & online groups, go to meetings.smartrecovery.org.

SEX & LOVE ADDICTS ANONYMOUS 12-step recovery group. Do you have a problem w/ sex or relationships? We can help. Info: Visit slaafws.org or saa-recovery.org for meetings near you.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE SUPPORT HOPE Works offers free support groups to women, men & teens who are survivors of sexual

STUTTERING SUPPORT GROUPS We offer 3 monthly National Stuttering Association (NSA) stuttering support groups for adults, teens & school-age children (7-12).

Meetings take place monthly at UVM & by Zoom.

Contact burlingtonstutters@gmail.com for more information.

SUICIDE HOTLINES IN VT Brattleboro, 257-7989; Montpelier (Washington County Mental Health Emergency Services), 2290591; Randolph (Clara Martin Center Emergency Service), 800-639-6360.

SUPPORT GROUP FOR WOMEN Group for women who have experienced intimate partner abuse. Facilitated by Circle (Washington Co. only). Please call 877-543-9498 for more info.

THE COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS SUPPORT GROUP The Compassionate Friends international support group for parents, siblings & families grieving the loss of a child meets the 4th Tue. of every mo., 7-8:30 p.m., at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 160 Hinesburg Rd., S. Burlington. Call/email Alan at 802-2330544, alanday88@gmail.com, or call Claire at 802-448-3569.

TRANS PARENT GROUP This support group is for adult family members & caregivers of queer &/or questioning youths. It is held on the 1st Mon. of every mo., 6-7:30 p.m., online; & on the 3rd Mon. of every mo., 6-7:30 p.m., at Outright Vermont, 241 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington. This group is for adults only. For more info, email info@outrightvt.org.

TRANSGUARDIANS SUPPORT GROUP We will be in community w/ parents of trans kids of all ages & supporting each other w/ storytelling, listening, learning & love. If we want to protect our trans kids, our 1st line of defense is uplifting their parents & guardians! This is a peer-support group & will be facilitated by Alison & Shawna. 4th Tue. of every mo., 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Rainbow Bridge Community Center. Contact 622-0692 or info@rainbowbridgevt.org or go to rainbowbridgevt.org.

TRAUMA SUPPORT GROUP Our group is a space for mutual support for everyone who is living w/ mental/emotional trauma. The group meets every Fri., 2:15-3:15 p.m., at Morgan’s Place Peer Support Center, 50 S. Willard St., Burlington, or on Zoom.

Email morgansplace@pathwaysvermont.org. https://www.pathwaysvermont.org/programs/ peersupportcenter/

PAULA ROUTLY

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80 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST YOUR JOBS AT: PRINT DEADLINE: FOR RATES & INFO:

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) GILLIAN COMITO, 802-341-3060 GCOMITO@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

YOUR TRUSTED LOCAL SOURCE. JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM HIRING IMMEDIATELY

Aging in Place with Pets

Worksite Wellness Associate

Volunteer

For more information & to apply: 7dvt.pub/appets

Polyurethane foam insulation applicator helper/general laborer.

Call 802-316-1374 Room for advancement for the right person.

Director of People & Operations Help build the workplace behind the mission. Hunger Free Vermont is seeking a Director of People & Operations to help build an equitable, collaborative, and thriving workplace. This role brings together people, culture, finance, operations, and technology to strengthen our organization and advance our mission.

Visit hungerfreevt.org/employment to learn more and apply.

Invest EAP/Centers for Wellbeing is hiring for a flexible part-time position (5–10+ hours/week) 1 8/30/21 5:25 PM 1t-aginginplacewithpets050626.indd 1 5/1/26 1t-SprayedOnSystems090121.indd 12:28 PM SEE THE HEART OF THE MATTER serving the Addison County region.

This role promotes worksite Echocardiographer at Northeastern The Northlands Job Corps Center has a need for a wellness and mental health Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) Food Service Supervisor to join our school.

This is a full supports to local employers. time, year round position that offers a competitive wage, Ideal candidates will have strong Help patients see the full picture of their heart major medical insurance plan, dental, vision, 401K and presentation and outreach skills, health while building a rewarding career in the heart more. Northlands Job Corps provides career training to excellent time management, and of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. NVRH is seeking an Echocardiographer students 16 to 24 years of age who come to our center to gain valuable skills comfort working independently to join our Diagnostic Imaging team. Perform diagnostic cardiac ultrasound and start a career. Our students are mostly from the Northeast US and about and remotely. This position is studies, collaborate with physicians and care teams, and make a meaningful 40% are from Vermont.

We are probably the most diverse school in the state well-suited for semi-retired impact on patient care every day. and our success, as measured by our students’ performance, is one of the professionals or those seeking best in the country. The ideal Food Service Supervisor would be someone meaningful, autonomous part-time Qualifications: who wants to work in a collaborative environment, possesses the skills and work. Reliable access to a personal RDCS or RCS certification required • BLS required • Minimum of ability to manage a cafeteria, can supervise others, and wants to support our vehicle is required. one (1) year of echocardiography experience required mission of preparing students for success. This position will require regular To apply, please submit a resume interaction with our students and Culinary Instructor.

Why NVRH? and cover letter to: wellbeing@ Our kitchen currently supports over a hundred students and could grow to investeap.org. Invest EAP is Excellent benefits • Competitive pay • Student loan repayment 200. At Northlands we build success that lasts a lifetime. Our online portal an equal opportunity employer Tuition reimbursement • Generous PTO • 401(k) match has all our current openings listed. Please contact us if you have an interest committed to diversity, equity, and Apply today: nvrh.org/careers and would like to learn more. Apply: mcjury.cassidy@jobcorps.org inclusion. $26.50/hour.

Food Service Supervisor

THE GRIND GOT YOU DOWN?

Fishing & Marine Sales Specialist Join Bibens Ace Hardware!

Perk up!

Browse 100+ new job postings from trusted, local employers.

Are you passionate about fishing, boating, and helping neighbors find the right products for their outdoor needs?

We are looking for a Fishing & Marine Sales Specialist to join our Colchester team!

This role is key to delivering quality service by providing knowledgeable service, building strong customer relationships, and helping grow one of the store’s most important departments. The Fishing and Marine category is a significant part of this location’s business and store footprint, with strong opportunity for continued growth through the right customer service, product knowledge, merchandising, and inventory support.

Pay ranging from $18 to $20 per hour

jobs.sevendaysvt.com

Apply here: 7dvt.pub/aubuchon

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7/24/26 11:10 AM

ASSISTANT PUPPY WRANGLER The Part-Time Assistant Wrangler supports our team with a mix of administrative tasks, cleaning and facility care, and—most importantly—the safe, humane handling, socialization, and training of dogs. This is an entry-level, part-time position working with a wide variety of puppies and adult dogs, both one-on-one and in small group settings, as well as interacting with their human guardians. This role offers hands-on experience and on-the-job training under experienced staff, with opportunities to build practical skills and grow within the company over time.

To apply, please send resume and cover letter to maria@fetchtheleash.biz

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8/28/26 11:11 AM

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Parallel Justice Program Specialist

Fulfillment Technician ADMINISTRATOR PART TIME The Underhill Jericho Fire Department is looking for an experienced Administrator.

This is a Part-time position, Monday-Friday, between 8:00am-4:00pm, 8 to 30 hours per week, with competitive pay and no benefits.

Flexible Hours, full job descriptions, and requirements are available at ujfd.org/employment.

If you would like to join our team, please email your cover letter and resume as a PDF to info@ujfd.org. Positions will remain open until filled.

81 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

This position provides trauma-informed, victim-centered advocacy, case management, resource coordination, referral, and restorative justice services for individuals impacted by crime and harm throughout Chittenden County. This position is paid at $65,936.00 - $73,486.40 annually and comes with a comprehensive benefits package.

Full Time Tata Harper Skincare is seeking passionate, driven individuals to join our team at our Vermont Manufacturing Facility in Whiting, VT. As a leader in 100% natural, highperformance skincare, we’re committed to sustainability, innovation, and excellence.

Join a growing brand that’s transforming beauty naturally.

Temporary position until the end of June 2027

Communications, Volunteer and Operations Specialist The Communications, Volunteer & Operations Specialist serves as a key ambassador for the Chittenden County Community Justice Center (CCCJC), helping create a welcoming, organized, and community-centered environment for participants, volunteers, partners, and visitors. This position is paid at $55,244.80 - $61,505.60 annually and comes with a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications: Process driven, attention to detail, able to lift 25lbs Job Summary: The prospective candidate will be responsible for picking and packing orders. Other responsibilities may include but are not limited to cycle counting inventory, data entry, and other administrative tasks.

Compensation: $20.00 per hour Benefits: 401(k), Life insurance, Medical, Dental & Vision insurance - Gratis product allowance - Paid time off and Holidays

To learn more about these two roles and to apply: 7dvt.pub/justice

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8/31/26 5:14 PM

Navigate New Possibilities™ Your Career at NDI is Waiting

Send resume to amy@ap.tataharper.com

The UJFD is an EOE.

Electronics Assembler 3v-UnderhillJerichoFireDepartment081226.indd8/10/26 1 5v-TataHarperSkincare090226.indd 3:46 PM 1

8/28/26 11:01 AM

The Town of Westford is seeking a full-time

Outreach Program Coordinator

Road Crew Member

(Project-Based)

Benefits include:

Lyric Theatre Company Compensation: $7,500 stipend

- A 4-day work week

Lyric Theatre Company is launching an exciting new program dedicated to breaking down barriers to live theatre. Funded by a grant from Vermont Community Foundation, this flexible role will focus on creating inclusive, engaging theatre experiences for underserved local communities. If you are a passionate community builder with experience in program coordination, arts administration, or working with historically underserved populations, and/or neurodivergent communities, we want to hear from you. Please apply by September 14 at 5:00 PM.

- Generous overtime policy

For full description and to apply visit: 7dvt.pub/lyric

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When the world’s top medical device OEMs and academic institutes need real-time medical instrument navigation, they call NDI. Why? Because no one can rival the accuracy and reliability of our optical measurement and electromagnetic tracking solutions. NDI team members are passionate about delivering innovative technology that will help to unlock new procedures and solutions. Interested in becoming a valued member of the NDI team? We’re growing and looking for great people to join us.

Highlights of the position: • Performs electrical assembly of NDI products with the use of microscope, solder and epoxies.

- Annual clothing allowance

• Performs mechanical assembly of NDI Products • Performs encapsulation of electrical components in nonconductive material(s) as required

- Frequently updated equipment

• Works in a safe manner & engages in good housekeeping practices

- 100% employer-paid single-person health, dental and vision insurance

• Help improve manufacturing processes

- A retirement plan with an employer contribution match

The successful candidate will be joining our team of professionals at the Northern Digital office located in Shelburne, Vermont. Located in a campus like setting that includes a courtyard, large outdoor areas, skylights, ample parking, pizza, wine and beer, and much more!

- Must pass pre-employment physical exam and drug test.

For consideration, please submit resume, references, and employment application to: Town of Westford, Attn: Tommy O’Connor, 1713 VT Route 128, Westford, VT 05494.

For more information, contact Tommy O’Connor (Town Administrator) at 802-878-4587 or townadmin@westfordvt.us.

Steps away from Shelburne Museum which hosts frequent festivals and a summer concert series.

Position open until filled.

If this sounds like the right fit for you, we invite you to apply online and introduce yourself: 7dvt.pub/NDI

Westford is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

E.O.E.

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8/20/26 11:22 AM

YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST CONTACT GILLIAN COMITO: GCOMITO@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

82 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

WHY NOT HAVE A JOB YOU LOVE? Champlain Community Services is growing, and we want you to be part of our team. Benefit package includes 29 paid days off in the first year, comprehensive health insurance with up to $6,400 to go towards medical deductibles and copays, retirement match and so much more. And that’s on top of working at one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for eight years in a row.

Therapeutic Supports Senior Manager Provide clinical leadership, supervision, and therapeutic consultation to a strong team of Service Coordinators supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. In this role you will serve as a key team leader to develop, plan and implement comprehensive, person centered services for individuals.

Compensation is $60,000 annual salary.

Safety and Maintenance Officer This is an excellent role for someone who enjoys keeping a building healthy and working in a collaborative environment.

Oversee the grounds, building, and CCS equipment including scheduling routine maintenance for a small fleet of accessible vans. This role also conducts the safety and accessibility inspections for homes of individuals in shared living provider situations. Compensation is $25.50/hr.

Service Coordinator Join our team of professionals providing case management for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In this role you will learn about strategies for individualized supports; build trusting, professional relationships; lead teams towards a greater goal; and continue your career in human services in a supportive & fun environment. Compensation is $24.60/hr plus on call stipend.

Youth Coaches: Burlington & St Albans Drop-In Center and Supported Housing, full & part-time shifts available

with individuals with developmental disabilities, have strong communication, organization and customer service skills, and have a genuine interest in helping people receive the supports they need. Compensation is $24.60/hr plus on call stipend.

Employment Specialist

Young Adult Peer Navigator

Join our award-winning supported employment program working with individuals to develop career goals, seek and secure employment, and build partnerships with local businesses for long term employment. The ideal candidate will have strong communication skills, enjoy working in a collaborative environment and have the desire to make an impact on their community. Compensation is $21/hr.

Youth Development Program Coordinator

Respite staff

Direct Support Professional Provide 1-to-1 supports to help individuals reach their goals in a variety of settings and make a big impact on someone’s life. This is a great position to start or continue your career in human services. Full and part time positions available.

Compensation is $20/hr.

Join our team today and help build a community where everyone participates and belongs.

Contact: ccscareers.org

Scan QR code to apply.

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8/24/26 2:46 PM

Intake Coordinator Be the first step in someone’s journey toward meaningful support at CCS. The ideal candidate will have experience working

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8/31/26 5:32 PM

You’re in good hands with...

Montpelier Stove Works ASSISTANT INSTALLER

Get a quote when posting online.

Contact Gillian Comito 802-341-3060 gcomito@sevendaysvt.com

Stove and Flag Works in Montpelier is looking for an assistant installer. On the job training provided as well as competitive pay and benefits.

Requirements include a valid Vermont license as well as working occasional Saturdays.

178 River Street, Montpelier 802-229-0150 Apply: msw@myfairpoint.net

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Music Director/ Organist Shelburne United Methodist Church (Shelburne VT) is seeking a Music Director/Organist, whose role in our faith community will be to strengthen the music ministry as a key aspect of our worship services.

Responsibilities include collaboratively planning music for worship services (four-manual pipedigital organ & piano), playing and leading congregational hymns, and directing the adult choir.

This is a part-time position (10-12 hours/week).

For a full job description including application requirements, please email Shelburne UMC at office@shelburneumc.org, subject line: “Music Director/Organist Position.” Position open until filled.

8/25/26 2:17 PM 2v-MontpelierStoveWorks082626.indd 1

8/21/26 1:37 PM

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

83 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) We are currently looking for a Maintenance Technician within our Building Operations. This is an excellent opportunity to join the Housing Retention Services team, where you can gain a deep understanding of our business , make a difference in people’s lives every day, and advance your career.

Who We Are: Burlington Housing Authority serves the greater Burlington community with housing that is affordable, rental assistance, and support services. Our mission is to provide low-income, vulnerable members of our community access to safe, affordable housing and retention support services in ways that encourage stability, improve quality of life, end homelessness, and foster vibrant neighborhoods.

BHA serves a diverse population of tenants and partners with a variety of community agencies. To most effectively carry out our vision of delivering safe and affordable housing to all, we are committed to cultivating a staff that reflects varied lived experiences, viewpoints, and educational histories. Therefore, we strongly encourage candidates from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and women to apply. Multilingualism is a plus!

Position Overview: The Maintenance Technician performs general maintenance work in BHA owned and managed properties. This includes building exteriors, common areas, apartments, building systems, fixtures, and grounds. Our Building Operations Techs are required to participate in the on-call rotation, which covers night and weekend emergencies. Current rotation is once every 6-7 weeks.

Work Location and Other Requirements • This position is an in-person in Burlington, VT. • A valid driver’s license is required to carry out the duties of this position Qualifications: While all applicants need to demonstrate a passion for supporting our residents and helping advance Burlington Housing Authority’s mission, we recognize that some applicants may not possess all qualifications listed. We are willing to consider individuals who demonstrate comparable life experience and education in lieu of specific requirements, and/or the will, ability, and initiative to grow into new areas of responsibility.

Knowledge and Experience • Qualified candidates should have a minimum of two years of work in general building maintenance or building trades. The ideal candidate would have a demonstrated proficiency in building trades including carpentry, electrical, painting, plumbing, grounds keeping, and snow removal.

• The physical activities for this position include squatting, ascending and descending ladders, scaffolding, and stairs, working in small or confined spaces, twisting and lifting up to 100 pounds, often repeating motions with wrists, fingers, and hands. This position works in all environmental conditions.

• Technicians must be detail oriented, efficient, be able to work within time sensitive parameters, and able to work independently, as well as part of a team.

• Having strong interpersonal skills and being sensitive to the needs of the elderly, disabled, and very low-income households is a must.

• Completed high school or equivalency, or any equivalent trade school along with a combination of training and maintenance experience.

• Must have the ability to perform painting and janitorial work, perform minor electrical and plumbing repairs, and to get along well with fellow employees and Residents.

Physical Requirements Occasionally: • Ascends and descends ladders, stairs, scaffolding, ramps, poles and the like • Remaining in a stationary position, often standing or sitting for prolonged periods of time Constantly: • Moving self in different positions to accomplish tasks in various environments including tight and confined spaces • Moving to accomplish tasks or moving from one job site to another • Adjusting or moving objects

• Repeating motions that may include the wrists, hands, and/or fingers • Operating machinery / heavy equipment and/or power tools • Operating motor vehicles • Assessing the accuracy, neatness and thoroughness of the work assigned • Communicating with others to exchange information Environmental Conditions Occasionally working in: • Low and high temperatures • Outdoor elements such as precipitation and wind.

• Noisy environments • Hazardous conditions • Poor ventilation • Small and/or enclosed spaces Physical Demands: Occasionally: • Sedentary work that primarily involves sitting and/or standing • Light work that includes moving objects up to 20 pounds • Medium work that includes moving objects up to 50 pounds • Heavy work that includes moving objects up to 100 pounds or more Total Compensation Base wages Pay range is between $24.00 - $26.00 per hour. PLUS, a $1,500 sign on bonus – paid in two installments. This is a full time position with benefits.

Benefits • Health Insurance (BHA covers between 80% to 83% of the premium for employees) or a $6,000 opt-out payment in lieu of BHA health insurance. (To qualify for the OptOut, proof of health insurance is required.)

• Health Reimbursement Account. BHA pays 90% of the deductible as the insurance is being used. That’s up to $2,880 for single enrollment and up to $5,760 for twoperson and family • Flexible Spending and Dependent Care Accounts • Dental and vision insurance (Voluntary plans offered at a discounted group rate.)

• Short and long term disability coverage (BHA pays 50% of discounted group rate) • Basic life insurance and accidental death (provided at no cost to employees) • Retire plan is a defined contribution plan. BHA makes annual contribution equal to 10% of base wages • Section 457 plan. BHA employees can contribute to this retirement plan • Employee Assistance Plan • Generous time off policy including 12 days of paid time off and 12 days of sick time in the first year. In addition to the paid time off, BHA recognizes 13 (paid) holidays and 2 (paid) floating cultural holidays • Annual Performance Bonus Interested in this career opportunity? Send a cover letter and resume to: humanresources@burlingtonhousing.org.

Human Resources, Burlington Housing Authority 65 Main Street, Suite 101, Burlington, VT 05401 Find more info about these career opportunities at burlingtonhousing.org.

BHA is an E.O.E.

YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST CONTACT GILLIAN COMITO: GCOMITO@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

84 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Senior Cook OFFICE AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seeks an energetic, civic-minded individual to serve as an Office and Events Coordinator on his Vermont Staff. This position is responsible for coordinating annual and one-time events hosted by the office throughout the state and provides support for a wide variety of office operations from scheduling to event logistics. This position closely collaborates with colleagues in our Vermont and DC offices to advance the Senator’s priorities. Strong communication, organization, time and project management skills are required. Experience with event planning and managing multiple, co-occurring projects is highly preferred. A successful candidate will have an appreciation for Vermont, a desire to develop new opportunities to engage with Vermonters, a proven ability to communicate professionally, and a commitment to creative problem-solving in a fast paced, ever-changing environment. This position requires regular travel throughout Vermont. The Senator’s office is an equal opportunity employer. The office does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or uniformed service. The office is committed to inclusion and encourages all individuals from all backgrounds to apply. The starting salary is $65,000.

To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, and brief writing sample to events_job@sanders.senate.gov by September 7, 2026.

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The Supportive Service for Veteran Families (SSVF) program at the University of Vermont seeks a Housing Service Coordinator to advance housing stability services for very low-income Veteran families experiencing or at risk of homelessness in northern Vermont and Clinton County, NY. This role centers on four core concepts: delivering Housing with Supportive Services through a trauma-informed approach without preconditions like sobriety or income; providing an immediate Crisis Response to housing emergencies; prioritizing Veteran Choice in housing plans; and using Progressive Engagement to tailor interventions to individual needs. The position requires a Bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, or a related field, two years of experience, and strong communication skills.

Experiential knowledge as a military veteran, familiarity with homelessness, or experience with the HUD Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is highly desirable.

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The Joint Urban Ministry Project/ JUMP manages an Outreach Center that assists thousands of Vermont households and individuals in need each year in practical, thoughtful ways.

This role leads JUMP fundraising and communications initiatives to achieve annual fundraising goals while building strong relationships with faith communities, donors, and community partners.

Our kitchen currently supports over a hundred students and could grow to 200. At Northlands we build success that lasts a lifetime. Our online portal has all our current openings listed. Please contact us if you have an interest & would like to learn more. Apply: mcjury.cassidy@jobcorps.org

Part-time: 30 hours per week; $25 to $30/hour Benefits: Semi-flexible schedule, professional development opportunities, paid time off.

For full job description & to apply: 7dvt.pub/jump2026

8/25/26 3v-JUMP090226.indd 11:40 AM 1

Housing Services Coordinator

Apply: uvmjobs.com, posting# S6170PO

Development & Communications Coordinator

The Northlands Job Corps Center has a need for a Senior Cook to join our school. This is a full time, year round position that offers a competitive wage, major medical insurance plan, dental, vision, 401K and more. Northlands Job Corps provides career training to students 16 to 24 years of age who come to our center to gain valuable skills and start a career. Our students are mostly from the Northeast US and about 40% are from Vermont. We are probably the most diverse school in the state and our success, as measured by our students’ performance, is one of the best in the country. The Senior Cook oversees the cafeteria during assigned shifts and also would prepare and oversee the preparation of meals as their primary duties. This position may require regular interaction with our students and Culinary Instructor.

8/28/26 10:56 AM

Woodlot Manager Wood4Good, New England's largest firewood bank in Jericho, is hiring a Woodlot Manager to lead firewood production and volunteer operations. Responsibilities include operating heavy equipment, expert chainsaw work, preparing for volunteer days, coordinating firewood distribution, and maintaining equipment. Qualified candidates should have strong mechanical skills, and a clean driving record. Ideal for a woodsman, logger, arborist, mechanic, or equipment operator who wants meaningful work helping Vermont families stay warm.

Competitive pay and benefits based on experience, with opportunities for growth.

Salery: $50-60k To apply, email your resume to Patti@wood4good.org.

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New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day! sevendaysvt.com/classifieds

8/28/26 6-postings-cmyk.indd 11:15 AM 1

5/7/19 12:07 PM

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

85 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

Burlington Housing Authority (BHA) We are currently looking for a Housing Retention Specialist within our Housing Retention Services department.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the Housing Retention Services team, where you can gain a deep understanding of our business, make a difference in people’s lives every day, and advance your career.

Who We Are: Burlington Housing Authority serves the greater Burlington community with housing that is affordable, rental assistance, and support services. Our mission is to provide lowincome, vulnerable members of our community access to safe, affordable housing and retention support services in ways that encourage stability, improve quality of life, end homelessness, and foster vibrant neighborhoods.

BHA serves a diverse population of tenants and partners with a variety of community agencies. To most effectively carry out our vision of delivering safe and affordable housing to all, we are committed to cultivating a staff that reflects varied lived experiences, viewpoints, and educational histories. Therefore, we strongly encourage candidates from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and women to apply. Multilingualism is a plus!

Position Overview Housing Retention Specialist: Provides assistance to residents who have barriers to maintaining housing and/or subsidy. The Housing Retention Specialist works with residents in Chittenden County for the most part and will occasionally provide support to neighboring regions. The Housing Retention Specialist works collaboratively with community service agencies and providers in addition to Section 8, Property Management and Inspection Staff and reports to the Director of Housing Retention and Services.

Permanent Supportive Housing Specialist: Provides assistance to community members within Chittenden County who are without housing and have significant medical/mental health barriers to locating and securing housing in Burlington Housing Authority’s service area.

Work Location and Other Requirements These positions are in person in Burlington, VT. A valid driver’s license along with reliable personal transportation, with vehicle insurance and registration, is required to carry out the duties of this position Qualifications: While all applicants need to demonstrate a passion for supporting our residents and helping advance Burlington Housing Authority’s mission, we recognize that some applicants may not possess all qualifications listed. We are willing to consider individuals who demonstrate comparable life experience and education in lieu of specific requirements, and/or the will, ability, and initiative to grow into new areas of responsibility.

Knowledge and Experience • Bachelor’s degree in social work (or related field) with two to five years of direct service experience, including experience with mental health and substance use supports.

• Must have experience with diverse and vulnerable populations.

• Effective verbal and written communication and knowledge of the social services network in the greater Burlington area.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and internet navigation preferred.

• Excellent organizational skills required.

• Must be adept at fostering positive and collaborative relationships with staff, residents, vendors and community agencies

• Must have a patient and compassionate approach to working with the most vulnerable populations Total Compensation This is a full time position with benefits Base wages Housing Retention Specialist: $24.00 - $26.00 per hour PLUS $2000 SIGN ON BONUS Permanent Supportive Housing Specialist: $26.00 - $27.00 per hour PLUS $2000 SIGN ON BONUS Benefits • Health Insurance (BHA covers between 80% to 83% of the premium for employees) or a $6,000 opt-out payment in lieu of health insurance • Health Reimbursement Account. BHA pays 90% of the deductible as the insurance is being used. That’s up to $2,880 for single enrollment and up to $5,760 for two-person and family.

• Flexible Spending and Dependent Care Accounts • Dental and vision insurance (Voluntary plans offered at a discounted group rate.)

• Short and long term disability coverage (BHA pays 50% of discounted group rate) • Basic life insurance and accidental death (provided at no cost to employees) • Retire plan is a defined contribution plan. BHA makes annual contribution equal to 10% of base wages

CLINICIANS CASE WORKERS CARE COORDINATORS DIRECT SERVICE Washington County Mental Health Services is adding brand new positions and expanding our mental and behavioral health teams to better serve our community.

We have openings for clinicians, case workers, care coordinators, and direct service work. Several of our positions that are hiring for multiple openings require only a high school diploma and we will train you. If you have a good work ethic and love to help people, we want to hear from you today! With industry-leading paid time off benefits and competitive pay and benefits, it's time to consider a career at WCMHS. Check out our openings at www.wcmhs.org/careers.

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• Section 457 plan. BHA employees can contribute to this retirement plan • Employee Assistance Plan • Generous time off policy including 12 days of paid time off and 12 days of sick time in the first year. In addition to the paid time off, BHA recognizes 13 (paid) holidays and 2 (paid) floating cultural holidays.

• Annual Performance Bonus Interested in this career opportunity? Send a cover letter and resume to: humanresources@burlingtonhousing.org.

Human Resources Burlington Housing Authority 65 Main Street, Suite 101 Burlington, VT 05401 Find more info about these career opportunities at burlingtonhousing.org.

BHA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Hiring Dog Warden The Town of Westford is seeking a qualified candidate to be the Town’s Dog Warden.

It is a $300 annual stipend.

Duties include: - Enforcing local ordinance - Complaint Response & Handling - Investigations into Complaints/Bites - Providing Reports to Selectboard All interested applicants can send a letter of interest and a resume to townadmin@ westfordvt.us or via USPS to the office 1713 Vermont Rt. 128, Westford, VT 05494

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YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST CONTACT GILLIAN COMITO: GCOMITO@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

86 SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

urlington

learning community for students who are ecially when they have the kind of support ls and helps them make and meet their own of Living, Learning, Giving, and Engaging.

Construction Project Manager ement Coach

Lamoille & Chittenden County gement Coach We are growing and building more ch homes and we need an additional h Project Manager. Green Mountain apply: mansfi eldhall.org/employment Habitat for Humanity (GMHFH) seeks a motivated and hardworking individual to serve as our Construction Project Manager.

Salary: $65,400 - $75,400 To see full description and apply, visit:

Mansfield Hall is hiring in Burlington Mansfield Hall is a living and learning community for students who are capable of great things – especially when they have the kind of support that values them as individuals and helps them make and meet their own goals in our Four Core Areas of Living, Learning, Giving, and Engaging.

Open positions:

Experienced provider preferred. Tax free stipend, training, clinical support, and respite provided.

For more information & to apply: mansfieldhall.org/employment

8/31/264t-MansfieldHall090226.indd 4:55 PM 1

47 Year old man - Seeks non-smoking home provider in the Burlington area, without young children.

He enjoys playing basketball, watching sports, lawn mowing, camping, Karaoke, boating and fishing.

• Academic Director • Full-time Community Engagement Coach • Part-time Community Engagement Coach • Part-time Connections Coach • Part-time Substitute Coach

GO HIRE.

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Home Provider

Call Brittany - 802-798-9115

Lead and grow commercial and wholesale sales at High Mowing Organic Seeds. Bring 3+ years’ experience as a Sales Director, ideally in agriculture or organic seed, and familiarity with organic vegetable production. Build customer relationships and drive brand recognition and revenue growth across the U.S. and Canada.

Full Time: $90,000 to $125,000 Comprehensive Benefits For complete job description & to apply, visit highmowingseeds.com/ staff-and-careers E.O.E.

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Accept applications and manage the hiring process via our applicant tracking tool.

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Easily manage your open job listings from your recruiter dashboard.

Get a quote when you post online or contact Gillian Comito: 802-341-3060, GComito@sevendaysvt.com.

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DIRECTOR OF SALES

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4/7/26 3:41 PM

Last Chance to Take the Challenge!

You’ve got a few days left to enter this fun summer civics project for K-8 students.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS Participants do an activity and submit the evidence at goodcitizenvt.com to earn stars.

Each star is an entry into drawings to win prizes including $50 gift cards to Phoenix Books and the grand prize — a trip to Washington, D.C. The deadline is Labor Day, September 7.

Students who complete all 25 activities will earn the title of “Distinguished Citizen” — and will be honored at the Statehouse. Submit activities as you go to win weekly prizes!

Get more info and submit entries at goodcitizenvt.com

FROM THE GOOD CITIZEN HALL OF FAME Hannah Younse, 7, of Richmond learned about the behind-the-scenes work at the WCAX studio while completing activity No. 20 “Talk to a Journalist.” She saw the green screen used for weather reporting and performed a magic trick with station manager Jay Barton!

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UNDERWRITTEN BY

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.75) CROSSWORD (P.75)

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL SEPTEMBER 3-9

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEP. 22)

You’ve been extra reasonable lately.

How do you manage to be so responsible, measured and composed?

I’m not complaining. I admire your integrity. But now the cosmic omens are clear that’s it’s time to address your soul’s needs for more wonder and awe and reverence. So I will slip you a tantalizing prod: What’s the best, most healing trouble you could provoke right now? I’m not referring to recklessness and chaos, of course.

I mean twists and tweaks that stir up inspiration and liberate creativity. Are you bold enough to follow the truth and beauty that thrills and intrigues you?

ARIES (Mar. 21-Apr. 19): Most of us are

surprisingly clueless about the inner workings of our own bodies. Do you know where your gallbladder and spleen actually live or what jobs they perform on your behalf? Can you trace the journey your breath takes after it slips into your lungs? Have you ever experimented to discover in detail which foods best suit your one‑of‑a‑kind system? Do you know, from experience rather than guesswork, how much sleep you require to stay vividly awake and emotionally balanced? The current astrological climate favors your becoming a curious apprentice of your body’s gorgeous mysteries.

TAURUS (Apr. 20-May 20): The English idiom “cut to the chase” comes from the silent

films of the early 20th century. When the plot dragged, directors would literally switch to a chase scene to restore audience interest.

Various languages have other ways to say “get to the point” or “skip to the crux.” Spanish: ir al grano. French: aller droit au but.

Italian: venire al dunque. Japanese: hondai ni hairu. In accordance with astrological omens, Taurus, I suggest you do that in the coming days. Skip the boring parts. Jump to the action scenes. You can return later and fill in the story details, but for now you’re best served by moving toward the exciting essence or the crucial core of things.

GEMINI (May 21-Jun. 20): This is one of those unusual times when laziness and apathy work in your favor. Life is organizing a relaxing renewal on your behalf, and your main job is to not interfere. So I advise you to skip the hustle and enjoy the thrill of being still.

Put a pause on doing and indulge in the fine art of simply being. Please, Gemini? Set aside your ambitions for now. Hide your to-do list.

Inform your chattering monkey mind that it’s on temporary leave from its usual jumping and squawking. Feel guilt-free as you immerse yourself in the most relaxed versions of feeling good and welcome whatever fresh vitality wants to flow in.

CANCER (Jun. 21-Jul. 22): In the 17th

century, Dutch inventor Christiaan Huygens discovered that two pendulum clocks hanging on the same wall gradually synchronized their swings. Why? He eventually realized that tiny vibrations traveled through the wall and made the clocks influence each other.

Scientists call this “entrainment.” Now is prime time for you to capitalize on this phenomenon, Cancerian. I urge you to be extra alert for how your moods, rhythms and intentions subtly affect the people around you, and vice versa. If you cultivate qualities you’d like to predominate in your relationships, you will find others unconsciously aligning with your rhythm.

LEO (Jul. 23-Aug. 22): Now is an ideal time

to have fun cultivating the art of receptivity.

Have fun being as open to influence as you can imagine. Be innocent! Be amenable! Be willing and eager to be surprised! It doesn’t

mean surrendering your drive or drifting aimlessly while life happens around you. I’m talking about an active, alert sensitivity that invites wonder and transformation. You think boldly, act with purpose and radiate what’s uniquely yours, and yet you also remain humbly aware that learning never ends and that wisdom can arrive from unpredictable directions.

LIBRA (Sep. 23-Oct. 22): I am asking you to give yourself slack in situations where you sometimes treat yourself carelessly or unkindly. Instead of tightening, loosen. Instead of cornering yourself, offer an escape hatch.

Ask: “What if I give myself 20 percent more mercy, 20 percent more time or 20 percent less pressure?” Maybe you’ll get an extension on a deadline or allow yourself to be a learner instead of an expert. Rather than calling yourself a failure because you’re less than perfect, you’ll decide, “It’s good enough for now.” As you slip away from the traps you set for yourself, you’ll teach your nervous system a fresh truth: You can be gentle with yourself but still be responsible.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio, you rarely need to be lighter and breezier. Your assignment is almost always to delve deeper and explore further. This is true now even more than usual. Other people might shiver and cower in the face of your intensity, but I celebrate it because it drives you to excavate the rich, messy truths and complicated feelings that really shouldn’t stay hidden. Regard this horoscope as your authorization to wield your emotional X-ray vision with precision and to trust that the treasures you seek are often buried in places that scare others away.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In classical music, composers often develop a simple motif into a complex symphony. A short sequence of notes becomes the foundation for an entire composition. A key passage gets rearranged and elaborated in multiple ways. You will have a comparable opportunity in the coming weeks, Sagittarius: A seed of potential that seems modest at first could expand into more substantial riches if you cultivate it patiently.

Your visionary aplomb and optimism can transform a core cell into a full orchestration.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You seem

to be wandering in a frontier for which there are no maps. You’re hovering in liminal zones, between worlds. So for now, I guess you will have to steer without your usual guidance. That’s a good thing! What I can do is name the gifts that are likely to come your way as you explore the unknown: 1) turbocharged intuitions about your best possible future; 2) a talent for spotting surprising connections you didn’t even know you were looking for; and 3) a provocative unpredictability that magnetizes allies who can help tease out and illuminate your hidden and buried desires.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The pla-

cebo effect has a lesser-known counterpart called the nocebo effect: Negative expectations can create negative outcomes. If you’re told a harmless pill might cause headaches, you’re more likely to develop them. Your belief in harm creates actual harm. I bring this up, Aquarius, because I’m worried you may be nocebo-ing yourself right now. Your conviction that certain outcomes are inevitable is encouraging them to manifest. So here’s my counsel: Which negative expectations or predictions are you treating as facts? Consider the possibility that the problems you’re so skilled at identifying are being called into existence by your identification of them. And if you find that’s happening, STOP! Formulate some healing alternatives.

PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): “Dear Rob: Your

horoscopes delight me in a spooky way. They make me feel as if you’re watching me from afar, not like a stalker, but like an eccentric guardian angel who gives me a heads-up before I do something foolish, tells me about opportunities I haven’t noticed, and shakes awake the part of me that’s inclined to quit.

Thanks a million times! —Deep Pisces.” Dear Deep: You have exquisite timing, because now is an ideal moment to pour out gratitude for the people who’ve lifted you up and helped you. Offering appreciation now will function as a potent prayer that will be far more effective than pleading for what you don’t have. It will set in motion an irresistible magic that draws even more blessings in your direction.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

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Respond to these people online: dating.sevendaysvt.com WOMEN seeking...

SEEKING PARTNER IN CRIME Well-traveled, friendly extrovert who loves dancing, art, music, good food, laughter, downhill and cross-country skiing, biking, cuddling, bonfires, bubble baths. Seeking that special person to create memories with; to dance, sing, hold hands and laugh with. Someone who has also led an interesting life. Is healthy, smart, self-confident, supportive, passionate, musical and adventurous.

By the way: Pisces, Virgo rising, like the song. carpediem802, 70, seeking: M, l

SLIGHTLY FERAL, WELL TRAVELED Slightly feral, well-traveled woman. Fun, interesting, spontaneous, mischievous and whimsical and also boring, quiet and introspective. I have a dark sense of humor, can talk all night and have made enough questionable decisions to have some good stories. Seeking a man that will love me, make me laugh and leave me alone most of the time.

Coriander64, 62, seeking: M, l

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Someone warmhearted and ready for fun. Karrington, 63, seeking: M, l

GRACEFUL AGGIE I’m an active, well-educated woman seeking a kind, honest, intelligent man for companionship and fun. I’m a writer and editor working in regenerative agriculture.

I love to dance, deejay, hike and garden, and my silly side appreciates dad jokes, board games, dogs and cats, concerts, plays, other languages, new foods, and sitting around doing nothing. Want to join me? Graceful_Aggie, 64, seeking: M, l

CURIOUS WANDERER, COLLECTS EXPERIENCES I like to gather passport stamps, weird hobbies and conversation topics that go one layer deeper. Looking for someone who’d rather dig into a new idea than talk about the weather and who considers exploring new places a routine activity.

Bonus points if you’re a lifelong learner and love to swap stories. LuceStellare, 40, seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, l

SOULFUL POET Strong, open-minded, down-to-earth native Vermont woman of modest means seeks a like-minded kindred spirit who loves to laugh, walk, hike, and spend time inside sharing meals, movies and behind-closed-door sensuous adventures.

My glass is half full, and despite the unforeseen roadblocks in life, I find inspiration and strength in moving beyond past pain. smspoet, 64, seeking: M, l

READY TO SHARE MY WORLD Life is simple and beautiful.

Betsy, 53, seeking: M

SHINY, HAPPY SOUL, SMILING I’ve been told I have a vibe that draws people to me. My laugh is loud and genuine. Friends say I am open, warm, loving, energetic. What am I looking for?

That special click: a sizzling passion, a partner who is happy and full of life.

We’ll crack each other up, talk about the hard stuff, work hard, play hard.

SmilingDeeply, 50, seeking: M, l

WANT TO RESPOND?

You read Seven Days, these people read Seven Days — you already have at least one thing in common!

All the action is online.

Create an account or login to browse hundreds of singles with profiles including photos, habits, desires, views and more. It’s free to place your own profile online. photos of l See this person online.

W = Women M = Men TW = Trans women TM = Trans men Q = Genderqueer people NBP = Nonbinary people NC = Gender nonconformists Cp = Couples Gp = Groups

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CURIOUS. PLAYFUL. TENDER. Direct, kind, darkly funny, endlessly curious. I’m an animal lover, cello novice, cold-case sleuth, winter person, researchrabbit-hole enthusiast and believer in science with room for a little woo. I’m seeking steady companionship, mutual curiosity, adult communication and maybe more if it grows naturally. Homebodyfriendly, independent, quirky, emotionally mature. No smoking or drugs; infrequent social drinking only. MissionImpossible, 56, seeking: W, TM, TW, l

COMPASSIONATE CAN-DO LADY Just a few things to pique your interest; the rest you will need to find out for yourself. My friends consider me to be a positive person who loves life with all the best it has to offer. Some of my values are honesty and compassion with a can-do attitude. Charlie342026, 77, seeking: M ECHOLOCATION Single, kind, funny, real. Looking for a meaningful, sustainable connection.

I like movies, theater, comedy, music, books, and effortless conversations, both deep and stupid. You, too?

Let’s go for a walk to see if we vibe. firewatcher3000, 53, seeking: M PERIPATETIC, CREATIVE, INDEPENDENT ARTIST I’m considering relocating to Vermont or perhaps Canada. I’m applying for my certificate of Canadian citizenship based on my great-grandmother’s citizenship.

I enjoy hiking and horseback riding in Vermont. Villanelle, 70, seeking: M COMFORTABLE IN MY OWN SKIN I’m ready to meet interesting people who like to be active and involved in real life. I’m honest and happy to be on the ocean or in the mountains. Cooking and baking is more fun with someone who appreciates a good meal. I miss sharing my thoughts and feelings with a good man. Could this be you?

Nativeislander, 74, seeking: M, l PASSIONATE INTELLECTUAL, CARING AND CAFFEINATED! I spend my days and nights caring for others, and in my downtime I want to have fun! I love sci-fi and fantasy, both books and shows. I’m looking for a male partner to share life with. I’m a coffee enthusiast, morning person, animal lover.

Kindness and sincerity are important to me, as is my sobriety. I also love Chinese takeout. Tordycat, 47, seeking: M, l

MEN seeking...

LAID-BACK AND FUN I enjoy seeing others succeed and overcoming their obstacles. I enjoy cooking and cleaning to decompress from stress. Am returning to school to get my master’s as a second career. bluesky333, 40, seeking: W

ENERGETIC HEARTFELT POSITIVE CUP I believe in nature, connections, laughter, hugging, hugging a lot, colors, textures and patterns, working hard, witty conversations, me. I am strong, feminine, funny and talkative. I like most sports and outdoor activities. I sew, crochet, paint. I like card games. I own a cabin, an ATV, a brush hog. I love music and dancing. I love my family. Cabingirl, 70, seeking: M, l

THE SPORTY GEEK My name is John, and I am from southern Vermont! Currently serving in the Army while also working full time as a manufacturing technician for a biopharmaceutical company. I am a part-time graduate student studying biology. For fun, I enjoy being outside in my town, mainly walking with my pups, along with playing rugby! I also read, on occasion. JohnM7, 30, seeking: W, l

ACTIVE AND FUNNY I am a person who loves to be active.

I enjoy nature and being outdoors.

Hiking, biking, walking, dancing are a few of my favorites. I am looking for a long-term relationship, and I realize these things take time, so getting to know each other first is the best place to start. ActiveAnnie, 62, seeking: M

AN OLD-SCHOOL MAN I am a single man who works outside.

I love to take walks and hikes. I love going out for a meal and casual drink, or just staying home and watching a movie and cuddling. Probably would just meet and see where things go. Massey1839, 69, seeking: W

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

SEEKING OLDER BUSTY WOMAN Respectful, easygoing younger guy seeking a local older woman for friendship, closeness, affection. I love and crave full curves and soft, generous breasts — no such thing as too big — and want to worship them and you properly: attention, appreciation, no rush. Looking for someone comfortable in her body who likes being held and adored; real chemistry. Lowdrama, eager to meet someone local.

MyNameIsRemus, 41, seeking: W, l ADVENTURES AND MAKING MEMORIES After years of thinking about what kind of partner I see myself with, I came to realize I want someone who loves the outdoors as much as I do.

Hiking, camping, random road trips.

The No. 1 thing I want in a partner is someone who enjoys cycling. cyclingsteve, 45, seeking: W, l OLD-SCHOOL Sweet, but rough edges. billy1237, 64, seeking: W, l SEEK COPILOT/NAVIGATOR I am seeking a travel companion.

Alaska to Argentina and beyond. But first Barnard and Barnet, Poultney and Peacham. Must enjoy music, conversation and silence. Clean driving record and criminal record necessary. No drama and minimal baggage. Ass gas and grass not required but not prohibited.

Español hablantes preferidas. Vamos a la playa! TomasChela, 66, seeking: W, l MAN, 27, LOOKING FOR CONNECTIONS My name is Josiah. I was adopted. I have degrees in computer science and computer engineering. I have no experience dating of any kind. Now, I’m looking to make a change in this area of my life. I’m deeply caring and will go out of my way to help those I care for. I am loyal and honest.

Josiah1999, 27, seeking: M, W, l WRITER OF NOTE A writer, I have an Orwellian novel in play with a European artist of note. We fear Homo sapiens are threatened by fossil fuel extraction, mainly by cars, trucks and AI. “America the Great” has become “America the Greed.” Earth’s membrane, our atmosphere, is in peril. Take a breath over any fire and think about this, gadgets set aside. Glede, 81, seeking: W LIVING ON FRINGE I find myself in a unique situation. I am looking for adventure! I don’t know exactly what that means. I know it means not being in Vermont for the winter. Are you a dreamer? Do you like my vibe? I am a good guy with a kind heart. Do you want an adventure?

Nauset228, 48, seeking: W, l NONJUDGMENTAL GUY SEEKS SAME I am a 27-year-old male with a rightside weakness due to a stroke. This does not define or hinder me. I have a biology degree and am currently working towards being a licensed science teacher. In my personal life, I am caring, empathetic, moral, humorous and creative. I want someone who has similar values and embraces authenticity.

VTNative98, 27, seeking: W, l FOR 1N1 ONLY I’m a modern man with traditional values and a wide variety of interests and hobbies such as travel, day trips, fairs, festivals, sports, exercise, biking, antiques, crafts, visiting family and friends, pets and animals, nature. I try to help family, friends and neighbors however I can and am ISO a woman who is active and appreciates the world around us. Fixitfred, 69, seeking: W

I’M NEW HERE I’m an honest, caring person who is loyal to his friends, but, like most humans, has imperfections. I’m looking to find some new friends and hope to stumble along a life partner in the process.

NewguyinNH, 79, seeking: W, l ONWARD, PREFERABLY WITH A WOMAN Life with me is never dull — too much to do and not enough time to do it!

Enjoy working with my hands but need to find time to research solutions to complex problems and act with protagonists to address them, whether it be local flooding or homelessness.

MalcilmS, 85, seeking: W, l SENIOR DEADHEAD TRAVELER Gay deadhead seeks same to explore time, space, and fun with like-minded, intelligent, kind, active and creative soulmate. 50s to 70 age range, in shape, liberal, free thinker, 420 lover and open-minded. Travel, music, sports, and enjoying Vermont and beyond are my passions, as well as some other things that I won’t mention here; those we can discuss privately.

Deadhead68, 66, seeking: M

NONBINARY PEOPLE seeking...

SCRAPPY BUT SWEET — HI Hairy and awesome, I like to fight with sticks at the river and ride mopeds and eat yummy food. I like my friends, dancing and music. I’m looking to meet cool people and do fun adventures or whatever. Life is life, and love is wonderful. Just getting lunch is cool, too.

LuckyDragon, 22, seeking: W, NBP, l COOL, CARING, CRUNCHY BUTCH A jacked butch with a big heart. I’m a great conversationalist who will cook you dinner, change your oil and bring you flowers. I’m a homebody, but I’m equally happy cruising in my convertible. Most evenings you’ll find me in my garden or practicing martial arts. I’m looking for the Scully to my Mulder. Are you up for an adventure? little_car, 25, seeking: W, l NERDY, CREATIVE ENM I am AFAB femme in an open marriage.

I am demisexual and need to get to know someone before jumping into bed. My ideal match would be someone who wanted to make a connection with me and who got along alright with my (straight male) spouse. Being able to all hang out, play games and fool around sounds lovely. Wordynerd, 42, seeking: M, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP

COUPLES seeking...

HOW DO YOU LOVE ME? We are getting closer. We are excited to receive each other! You may not think you want poly-fidelity, but if you did, what would we be like together? How are we welcoming children into our life together? Nataraja, 46, seeking: M, W, l LOOKING FOR FUN PEEPS Fun, open-minded couple seeking playmates. Shoot us a note if interested so we can share details and desires.

Jackrabbits, 62, seeking: W, Cp FUN COUPLE LOOKING FOR EXPLORATION We are a secure couple who enjoy the outdoors, good wine, great food, playing with each other, exploring our boundaries and trying new things. We are 50 and 52, looking for a fun couple or bi man to play and explore with us. We are easygoing, and we’d love to meet you and see where our mutual adventures take us. vthappycouple, 52, seeking: M, Cp, Gp

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

MIDDLEBURY CO-OP, SO MANY SMILES You were gorgeous dressed in all black as we exchanged multiple big smiles and eye contact. I saw you drive away in a white Mazda. I tried talking to you on your way out, but perhaps you were shy, too, as opposed to involved with someone else? Would love the opportunity to have a real conversation and connect again. When: Sunday, August 30, 2026. Where: Middlebury Co-op. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916660

YOU ARE SO VERY HANDSOME You came straight toward me; I was awestruck with your physique. Your gray shirt fit you perfectly. I couldn’t help but push my glasses up. I had things in my hands and realized too late that I used my middle finger. My mind was like, Oh, no, for many reasons. I know you saw me clearly. Clearly vulgar! No offense. When: Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Where: Hannafords NNE. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916656

SHELBURNE QUEEN CITY CONTRA DANCE Met you last night at the Shelburne Queen City Contra Dance. You are an architect in Burlington. We talked about design, writing and sailing. I taught you how to waltz. Would you like to get a cuppa coffee? I regret not finding you before you departed.

When: Friday, August 28, 2026. Where: Shelburne Queen City Contra Dance Hall. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916659

ON THE BACK ROADS TO WORK … in your maroon Toyota, you said you were hoping to see me again. You asked the time; I, glancing at my watch, said, “What time should it be to sit and talk?” My attempted teasing only turned more obtuse and borderline rude. I’m sorry for souring a sparkly moment and betraying your intuition, but thank you for taking a chance.

When: Sunday, August 16, 2026. Where: between Marshfield and Montpelier.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916655

PEACH PURSE AT BREAD AND PUPPET Exchanged big smiles as you were walking up the aisle. Beautiful red/ brown hair; there with your parents and friend? You had a little brown purse with a peach. I grow peaches! Tried to find you after, to no avail. I was there with my mom, too. Would you want to connect and talk political activism, art and hanging with our parents? When: Friday, August 28, 2026. Where: Flynn Theater. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916658 MY HEART DANCES You are beautiful. We have danced with each other a couple of times. Your smile so happy and free; makes my world so much better. When I’m around you, I want to be with you. You have an aura that is indescribable. If you are reading this, I hope you feel the same way. Again, you are beautiful. When: Tuesday, August 18, 2026. Where: a lesson. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916652

GMP DRIVE-BY You drove by in the passenger seat of the yellow Green Mountain Power truck. I was sitting on my front steps and saw you and couldn’t look away. I have contemplated breaking shit so you have to come fix it. If nothing else, thanks, because our eyes locking gave me enough energy to finish all my chores for the day. When: Friday, August 21, 2026. Where: Maple Street, Waterbury Center. You: Man. Me: Woman. #916654 PERRYWINKLE’S You told me you’re new to Vermont.

Just moved here from Minneapolis.

Need someone you show you the sights? I’d happily oblige. When: Friday, August 21, 2026. Where: Perrywinkle’s.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916653

Ask REVEREND 

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

With football season coming up, I’m worried my partner will spend more time on his fantasy picks than with me.

How do I make sure we have time for us without ruining his fun?

Draft Dodger (WOMAN, 39)

WHY SO ANGRY?!

I found it unsettling to be exposed to such petty behavior. You used to frown upon people like her. I wish you no ill will. I could have turned bitter and righteous. I only want you to be happy.

It’s hard to believe we will ever lose connection. But, if that’s what you want, so be it. As you wish. When: Monday, August 17, 2026. Where: Winooski.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #916651 ROYAL PURPLE SANTA CRUZ STIG I spied you as the sun began to sink over the Adirondacks. I interrupted your cooldown with small talk about Camel’s Hump. You mentioned you were headed to Farmers & Foragers post-ride, because it is part of the loop. While I rely on fate to cause our paths to cross again, I threw it to the winds of iSpy. When: Saturday, August 15, 2026. Where: Causeway bike path. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916650 STORM You’ve been on my mind lately. I hope you are well. I miss your soul. Have you visited a rage room yet? Let’s make beautiful art and cook ridiculously delicious food together. We can begin with a proper blackberry maple balsamic reduction. Are you game? — Sarah When: Saturday, June 13, 2026.

Where: Williston (please forgive me, I forgot exactly how you identify).

You: Woman. Me: Woman. #916649 HEALTHY LIVING RECOGNIZED FROM UVM You peeked into the restroom I was exiting to get paper towels because the dispenser in your restroom was empty. I said I recognized you from 1 S. Prospect St. You immediately agreed and said, “We’re dancing around each other.” We exited at the same time, and I foolishly kept on walking. I’d like to have a longer conversation. When: Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Where: Healthy Living, South Burlington.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916647 BEAUTIFUL KAYAKER AT WATERBURY RESERVOIR You were just getting out of the water on Sunday morning; you had a white blouse on. I offered to help you load it, but you turned down my offer. Please reach out if you’re single. When: Sunday, August 9, 2026. Where: Blush Hill boat launch. You: Woman. Me: Man. #916646

Dear Draft Dodger,

I don’t know a dang thing about football — fantasy or otherwise. However, I do have some friends who partake in the fantasy variety, so I consulted an expert.

My buddy told me the amount of time a person spends on fantasy football boils down to how obsessive a fan they are.

Making the draft picks at the beginning doesn’t necessarily take that long. It’s watching the games and checking the apps that are the real time sucks.

Before football season starts, set some clear expectations with your partner. Sitting around in pajamas, eating snacks and watching football for 12 hours on a crappy, cold Sunday is all fine

YOU PULLED ME ASIDE You whispered in my ear and asked if I had an address here. Now pull me aside and tell me why you were looking here.

When: Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Where: building, not sure of the date.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916648

DEAR ZOË I got shy and embarrassed when I realized you were really looking at me, and I was really looking at you.

It’s midnight, and the rain is falling on the forest outside my window.

I was so excited to talk to you, but your attention surprised me. Can we swim in a river, eat fruit and read each other poetry? When: Sunday, August 2, 2026. Where: Waterfront Park.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916641

DEAR SAILWITHME Saw your personals profile a while ago when I was contemplating online dating.

I joined another platform, and you disappeared from this one. Then, just yesterday, I thought I’d check, wondering if you might be back, and there you were.

Opportunity knocking, perhaps? One way to find out is for you to respond to this. Please do! When: Sunday, August 9, 2026. Where: Seven Days Personals.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #916645

I COMPLIMENTED YOUR DENIM SHORTS I saw you paying for your items at the self-checkout, and I complimented your cool roll-up shorts. You really gave me a nice smile, and you told me I had a lot of style. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I left. You were attractive, and you left me wanting to talk to you some more! When: Saturday, August 1, 2026.

Where: Market 32 Rutland, around 5:45 p.m. You: Man. Me: Man. #916640

KAYAKING LAPLATTE RIVER You were in a long yellow kayak on the LaPlatte River; we talked about how far you could get upstream before the beaver dams stopped you. I was in a green/blue kayak and passed you again on your way out. Wish I had said hi while you were putting your kayak on your red Subaru. When: Sunday, August 9, 2026. Where: LaPlatte River, Shelburne.

You: Woman. Me: Woman. #916644 MAGIC HAT T-SHIRT We passed each other running on the bike path, and you had the sweetest smile on your face despite the horrid heat!

Later I saw you on the sidewalk, and you were sitting, still smiling, petting a cat. I stopped and pet the cat a bit with you, but you got a phone call and walked off! When: Friday, August 7, 2026. Where: Saturday.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916643 WATERFRONT Blonde with a red coat tied around her waist. We met twice, and I didn’t get the chance to talk with you or get your name. When: Monday, August 3, 2026. Where: Waterfront.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916642 TEA TENT SMILE We shared a lovely smile in the tea tent at Decaturfest. I went to find you as I was leaving, but you had disappeared. You’re tall, stunning, and we both have a gap in our teeth. I bet I’ll see you around, but maybe this’ll increase the chances? When: Saturday, July 25, 2026. Where: Decaturfest.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916637

and good. But fall is fickle and fleeting.

When it’s a beautiful day, make a pact to get out and enjoy it. Your partner can peek at the stats when you’re out picking pumpkins or traipsing through a corn maze — or doing any other, nonHallmark-movie activities.

The apps are designed to be addictive, so make sure your partner is aware of that fact. It’s not unreasonable to suggest some screen-time limits when you’re

RESERVOIR SERENADE You were knee-deep in the water, serenading the setting sun, loons, fish and all of us lucky to be by you. I could only make out your long hair and long beard, but I felt deep resonance with your soothing and haunting melodies.

Wish I’d come over on my canoe for a closer listen and to meet you. When: Saturday, July 25, 2026. Where: Green River Reservoir. You: Genderqueer.

Me: Nonbinary person. #916639 TRIED CARROT CAKE AT TJ’S We chatted over a carrot cake sample at a Trader Joe’s. We talked about the store’s artwork; you told me how you draw and paint, and I mentioned photography. I bet your artwork is equally mysterious and charming — you’ve got me curious.

Walk sometime? When: Monday, July 27, 2026. Where: Trader Joe’s.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916638 BLISS BEE Saturday evening, we were both waiting for takeout. You were wicked cute and had a tree tattoo on your arm. I said that I liked it. We kept smiling at each other on the way out, and now I’m kicking myself, wishing I had asked for your number. You have a beautiful smile. I’d love to see you again! When: Saturday, July 25, 2026. Where: Bliss Bee, Williston.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #916636

together, especially when you want to have a romantic evening.

Fantasy football season typically lasts 17 weeks, with 14 games. That sounds like a lot, but there’s plenty of time in between to have fun together. You can also treat game days as “you time” and indulge in your own hobbies or meet up with friends.

Speaking of you: Have you considered taking the “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” tack? Perhaps you should start a roster of your own and join in the fantasy fun. Who knows? You may benefit from beginner’s luck and win some cash. You can use it to take your partner out on the town.

Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

93

SWM. I’m seeking female companionship to share lonely moments, including outdoors, doing outdoor activities, coffee, dinner, romance, breakfast, etc.

Your number will be useful; happy to connect. #L1966 I’m a 67-y/o female seeking a 60- to 70-y/o man. Living in central Vermont. Looking for an honest, loving relationship.

Enjoy gardening, family, my dog and quiet times. Retired postal employee. #L1965

I’m a man, 78. I love nature, good food; love the outdoors. Native Vermonter seeking a woman, 30s to 60s, for friendship and to spend quality time with. Would like to develop a friendship.

I love doing things together outside in summertime. #L1971 Tall, thin, cuddly nerd looking for someone to share my passions with, whether wrapped in a blanket or on a nature walk. #L1970 I’m a 24-y/o male seeking a casually oriented older gentleman, 35-plus, wellendowed, with a well airconditioned home with offstreet parking close to Trinity campus. #L1969

F, 22, looking for someone who loves this community as much as I do and wants to make it better. Let’s delight together in all the things our beautiful home state has to offer (including Seven Days!) #L1968 M, 29, seeking F, 23-39, who loves adventure, chaos and getting freaky. Must help me conquer the world, abolish clothing, establish a nudist empire and make questionable decisions together. Serious applicants only. World domination experience preferred, but enthusiasm and a complete disregard for pants are acceptable. #L1967

HOW TO REPLY TO THESE LOVE LETTERS: Seal your reply — including your preferred contact info — inside an envelope. Write your pen pal’s box number on the outside of that envelope and place it inside another envelope with payment. Responses for Love Letters must begin with the #L box number.

MAIL TO: Seven Days Love Letters

PO Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402

PAYMENT: $5/response. Include cash or check

(made out to “Seven Days”) in the outer envelope. To send unlimited replies for only $15/month, call us at 802-865-1020, ext. 161 for a membership (credit accepted).

PUBLISH YOUR MESSAGE ON THIS PAGE!

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Submit your FREE message at sevendaysvt.com/loveletters or use the handy form at right.

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We’ll publish as many messages as we can in the Love Letters section above.

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required!

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 2-9, 2026

SWF, 58, with high level of fun physical and sexual energy, looking for single male, 45-plus, who can match my energy and have fun adventures in and out of the bedroom. I like walks, live music, travels, going out to eat, learning new things, games, art galleries, being outside and so much more. Anyone care to join me? #L1962 Lonely 75-y/o man seeking a fairly attractive woman in her upper 70s or 80s. Would love to hear from you. Phone number, please. #L1963 Looking for someone 65 and up to go on boat trips, RV camping, gardening, dinners and road trips. I go up to Maine with my boat and cruise the coast for a few weeks, spend time in my gardens (I have large gardens), love to cook at home or go out. I am retired and looking for some company to spend time with.

Thank you. #L1959

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. SWM, 65, widower, seeking adventurous, edgy woman for sexy dressing and consensual one-to-one fun. Any body type.

Sane, fit, secure. I’ll make you laugh. Emotionally available.

The world is too serious. Let’s have some fun. Possible LTR. Woodstock. #L1961 52-y/o woman seeking a man.

You care about your health and clean up good. Emotions aren’t a foreign language. You’re comfortable in your skin and know better than to let a good thing go. Am I dreaming? Make your move, Romeo. #L1960 Older gentlemen, bi-bottom, seeking well hung bi-top. No drugs, no alcohol, just clean fun.

Burlington only. Phone or text. #L1957 I believe in love and friendship and USPS! 45, F, musician-er and medic, based in Adirondacks but working everywhere. Single, queer, sober. Busco amistades por correspondencia en inglés y español. ¿Qué tal si nos enviamos mixtapes, reflexiones y zines? #L1955

Soulful sojourner DWF seeks single man, 48 to 65, for walks, hikes, swimming or other outside activity. Hoping you’ve made peace with past relationships. I’m sensuously attractive. Italian/Celtic. Open to a meet and greet. #L1958 We’re a couple: male/female, 70 and 71, seeking a woman, 60 to 70. Fun-loving couple looking for a woman for a nice threesome.

We give pleasure and wish pleasure back. All will be pleased.

Discreet first meeting to determine compatibility is very important. #L1953 23-y/o male seeking 23y/o lobster. Must be terrible at Minecraft and watch “Skibidi Toilet” all day. Also must make really funny horse jokes and make fun of her boyfriend’s spice tolerance. Must be a weirdo, too. #L1954 M, 23, looking for 22- to 25-y/o F who wants to help save this city and maybe save ourselves along the way. Would love to get some sun this summer and fall biking, hiking and exploring Vermont together. #L1951

Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below:

Required confidential info:

(OR, ATTACH A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER.)

__________________________________________

I’m a _________________________________________________ __ ____

NAME

AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL)

seeking a____________________________________________ ___________ AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL)

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_______________________________________________________ MAIL TO: SEVEN DAYS LOVE LETTERS • PO BOX 1164, BURLINGTON, VT 05402 OPTIONAL WEB FORM: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LOVELETTERS HELP: 802-865-1020, EXT. 161, LOVELETTERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

THIS FORM IS FOR LOVE LETTERS ONLY. Messages for the Personals and I-Spy sections must be submitted online at dating.sevendaysvt.com.

Second Saturdays | Your Place Is at This Table

Vintage Piping Cake Decorating Class THU., SEP. 3 RED POPPY CAKERY, WATERBURY

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R.A. the Rugged Man

Our Flag Means Pride

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Counting Butterflies for Conservation: The Second Vermont Butterfly Atlas

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Marcus Rezak’s Gumbo

Capital City Concerts Presents | New Beginnings with Palaver Strings Quartet

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TURNmusic Presents Matthew Ryals, Synthesist and Composer-Improviser

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Trash for the Trope: A Romance Lover's Book Club

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FOTW Women's Ride

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Burlington Baroque Festival 2026 LOW

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JoAnna Farrer | 'The Diviner's Path'

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