Main Street Arts welcomes spring with the debut performance of De Lomas y Sones, the new Cuban dance band led by singer/percussionist William Armando Rodriguez on Saturday, April 13.
The band's name translates as “Of Hills and Songs,” and pays tribute to its Vermont home base. Its speciality is Afro-Cuban son, the dance style at the root of salsa, cha-cha, and mambo. With congas, bongo acute, bass, piano, flute, saxophone and vocals, De Lomas y Sones promises an evening of deeply grooving Cuban sounds.
To get you in the mood, Main Street Arts is teaming up with Saxtons River eatery, The Dish, offering a Latin-themed buffet dinner from 6 to 7 p.m.
Maricel Lucero will polish your salsa dancing skills, or get you off on the right foot if you're new to salsa, with a dance lesson at 7:30, and the band starts at 8. Pleasant Valley Brewery hosts a cash bar at Main Street Arts before and during the show.
Strolling of the Heifers is seeking strollers, marchers, and heifers for its upcoming parade, as well as entertainers, volunteers and vendors for various Stroll Weekend events. The 12th annual Strolling of Heifers Weekend is June 7-9, with the agriculturally themed parade scheduled for Saturday, June 8, at 10 a.m.,
New England Youth Theatre's (NEYT) annual fundraising gala on Friday, April 19, has a decidedly French flavor. An “Evening of Comédie Italienne and Cuisine Française” is a celebration centered on fine food, wine, and an updated, hilarious “Scapin,” based on a play by Molière, France's king of comedy. “Scapin,”
The Windham County Conservational District is delighted to present its annual plant sale, an opportunity for local gardeners to order nursery stock for spring planting needs. Offerings include plants with landscape, conservation, revegetation, and food value: a rich diversity of plants that are used to control erosion in an ongoing effort to stabilize stream banks and restore backyards following Tropical Storm Irene. Available conifers are balsam fir, Norway spruce, and northern white cedar. Hardwoods are red and sugar maple and...
Do you know a perfect Scout, Jem, or Dill? If so, take note: the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company is holding auditions on Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. for the three youth roles in its late-summer production of the American classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Although all of the adult roles will be filled by Equity actors, the award-winning regional theatre company wishes to provide local, aspiring actors the opportunity to fill the important roles of the children...
We're Americans, right? We believe in democracy, independence, self-determination, self-actualization, and the uniqueness of every individual. But imagine a machine spitting out Ping-Pong balls that bounce around a small room - onto the floor and off the walls. Maybe a few hit the ceiling before they roll around. What if that room is the world? And those Ping-Pong balls? They're us. * * * When I started writing a book about my family, I thought I would be writing interesting...
Despite cosmetic damage and a repair bill of more than $5,000, the Dummerston Selectboard reported at their April 3 meeting that all is safe and (structurally) sound in the West Dummerston Covered Bridge, which was struck by a truck on March 31. Dummerston resident William Miller struck a cross beam and tore the bridge's trimboards over the East-West Road side entrance just after 5 pm, after failing to recognize the Budget rental truck he was driving to collect maple sap...
I have lived in Vermont long enough to know that as soon as I let out that long end-of-winter exhalation, more times than not we are slammed with a late storm. But I am an optimist. I planted spinach and radishes, and for the first time in ages I am trying my hand at starting flower seeds. The little bulbs I put in the ground last fall are just starting to poke their green noses up amidst the brown rubble...
As the Vermont affiliate for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is pleased to announce that five Vermont students have been selected as 2013 National Award recipients. The students are among only 1,600 teens nationwide chosen to receive national medals by a panel of distinguished judges. Works were judged on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of personal vision or voice. Teachers of national winners were also recognized with awards. 2013 marks the 90th...
Strolling of the Heifers announces its 2013 keynote culinary event: The Great New England Quiche Cookoff. Quiche is defined as a baked, open-faced savory tart, comprised of a crust filled with a mixture of eggs, cream, cheese, and a variety of other ingredients. This year's event will showcase quiche as an easy meal. For presentation to the judges and exhibition to the public, entries will be paired with a slice of buttered bread and a salad of dressed, local greens,
Building on the success of a 2012 pilot program, Marlboro College is set to offer its second summer of weeklong programs for high school students. The college will offer nine programs, each combining an introduction to college level work with hands-on exploration, from mid-June to late July. “Many other colleges run summer programs, but the opportunity to do both experiential learning combined with substantial, but not overwhelming, college learning is usually missing,” said Ariel Brooks, director of non-degree programs at...
The Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD) has received another round of funding for a program called Trees for Streams (TFS), to assist landowners with planting vegetated buffers along rivers, streams and brooks in Windham County that were affected by Tropical Storm Irene. The goal of the TFS program is to improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat by preventing erosion and providing shade along damaged water bodies. Through the program, 80 percent of the costs of establishing a...
We see a lot of division in Vermont these days about the proliferation of wind turbines on our ridgelines. However, we don't hear so much public discussion about the impacts of two proposed industrial biomass plants, one in Fair Haven and the other, the North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project (NSSEP), in North Springfield. Why? Because many Vermonters burn wood for heat and assume that burning wood chips for electricity (and sometimes heat) is not much worse than their woodstove. Unfortunately,
I'm writing to thank Richard Henke for his article on my March/April art exhibit at the West Village Meeting House in Brattleboro [Arts, March 20]. I'm very proud of my heritage and vision in my artistic quest, which I think Mr. Henke covered beautifully. I did find, however, what I thought were some very misleading claims. I work with children and, because the creative process is so important for all children, I just want readers to know that as a...
Finalists have been selected in the 2013 Strolling of the Heifers Vermont Business Plan Competition, which offers a total of $60,000 in prizes. The 14 finalists, chosen by a statewide panel of judges, were chosen on the basis of business prospectuses submitted during the first phase of the contest. They will now prepare detailed business plans and will make presentations at the final judging session on June 5. The competition is a collaboration of Strolling of the Heifers, a Brattleboro-based...
If the trains moving in and out of Brattleboro seem a bit faster these days, it's all because of the recent track upgrade that allowed passenger and freight trains to speed up their travel times in Vermont. A two-year, $74 million federally funded program provided for the upgrade and repair of a 190-mile stretch of track, signal, and other key infrastructure equipment owned and maintained by New England Central Railroad (NECR) between the Massachusetts border and St. Albans. As a...
West B Association monthly meeting WEST BRATTLEBORO - The West Brattleboro Association (WBA) holds its monthly meeting at the Community Room in Hayes Court on Thursday, April 11, at 8 a.m. The Association will review the treasury, its participation in both the town's traffic safety study as it regards Route 9 through West Brattleboro, and the planned gathering of West Brattleboro religious groups. The group also will review the work plan for the year, the status of West Brattleboro signage,
Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), March 26, 2013, a son, Leroy Charles Graves-Critchfield, to Mary Elizabeth Graves and Scott E. Critchfield of Bellows Falls; grandson to Brenda L. Graves and the late Earnest Graves, and the late Marion and Charles Critchfield. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), Feb. 20, 2013, a daughter, Margaret April Smith, to Marilyn (Quinn) and Cory Smith of Bellows Falls; granddaughter to Dianne Quinn and William Luce, Art Smith and Sherry (King) Smith. College news •
The fifth Annual New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival is coming to Keene on April 13 and 14, with three films to be screened at the Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College. The Festival is sponsored by the not-for-profit Jewish Federation of New Hampshire, along with the generous support of statewide corporate sponsors and individual Friends of the Festival. The first Keene screening, on Saturday, April 13 at 8:30 p.m., will be “Hava Nagila (The Movie)” (2012) a hilarious and...
Ben Carr returns to Main Street Arts offering ukulele classes for four weeks this spring, beginning Thursday, April 18. Carr will teach the basics of playing melodies, singing, strumming, and ensemble playing to beginner and intermediate adults and teens, and to children over age 8. The class meets from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The fee is $24 for Main Street Arts members and $32 for non-members. Participants can bring their own instruments or contact MSA for help in purchasing one.
In a star-studded - albeit by Vermont standards - ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Brattleboro Retreat unveiled the newly renovated Tyler 4 unit designated for state psychiatric patients. Gov. Peter Shumlin, Mental Health Commissioner Mary Moulton, legislators, state and town officials, advocates, press, and Retreat employees crowded the 14-bed unit on Monday afternoon. Retreat President and CEO Dr. Rob Simpson opened his remarks by reminding the audience that many of them had loved ones who have experienced mental illness and the stigma,
Stone Church Arts welcomes cellist Eugene Friesen and Celtic harper Maeve Gilchrist in concert on Saturday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. The evening includes solos and duets from these innovative player/composers in the warm and beautiful acoustics of The Stone Church. The show is at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St., Bellows Falls. Gilchrist and Friesen share a love and respect for the traditions of their instruments, and both have been influenced by music from South America, Africa, and beyond.
Miguel Mateo Sebastian, a fair trade coffee farmer from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, will visit the Brattleboro Food Co-op on Wednesday, April 16, at 4 p.m., as part of a regional Fair Trade farmer tour. He will also speak at 10 a.m. that day at Keene State College. Both are free events, open to all. Sponsored by FairTrade USA, Fair Trade Towns Brattleboro, and the Keene State College Fair Trade Club, Mateo will talk about cooperatives, climate change, food security, and the...
Some 11,000 bowls of soup later, Laura Leonard and Nancy Dalzell are hanging up their ladles and doffing their aprons. For the past four winters, the pair prepared and served three soups each Wednesday at the Westminster Congregational Church, welcoming all comers for a simple soup and bread lunch for a freewill donation. Most recently, patrons have numbered 40 or 50 a week, coming from surrounding towns as word of the good, homemade soups and the convivial atmosphere have filtered...
Last Saturday, hundreds of bowlers of all ages flocked to Brattleboro Bowl for Youth Services' 32nd annual Bowl for Kids' Sake, the largest fundraising event of the year for its Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Participants join teams and raise money in the weeks leading up to the event, then spend a fun-filled day bowling, winning prizes, and having fun in support of the organization. With several different types of programs in place, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves some 200...
Monday, April 15 is Tax Day. Each year, approximately half of the federal income tax goes into a U.S. military that is more and more out of control - sequester or no sequester. As I write this letter, I am looking at a March 22, 2006 news article from the Brattleboro Reformer, “Kollmorgen gets $2.8 million contract for naval work.” The article points out that U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy secured the contract as a senior member of the Senate Military...
RE: “A community photographer, mentor, and friend” [Editorial, April 3]: Thanks for this fitting tribute to a community hero. Roger Katz recognized and documented the many simple but memorable happenings in this wonderful town of Brattleboro. Thank you, Roger.
RE: “A community photographer, mentor, and friend” [Editorial, April 3]: A lovely tribute to a dear friend. Throughout high school Roger carried that camera slung around his neck on a strap. He masterfully captured the precious moments of our everyday lives and his images caught the magic in us all. He will be missed.
RE: “A community photographer, mentor, and friend” [Editorial, April 3]: This is a lovely and thoughtful tribute. Even Roger Katz, who liked to be under the radar, would have approved of it, though I believe I can see him blushing - something that didn't happen that often, as far as I knew, over the last 35 years. This gentle soul of a man will be greatly missed by so many people. He touched lots of lives in varying ways, all...
RE: “Can we join forces with New Hampshire?” [Letters, March 20]: Vermont should not be outsourcing jobs. For heaven's sake, Mike Ball - do you realize how many people would be out of a job if the state closed the police academy, not to mention the fire academy and state EMS offices? It is the governor's plan to create jobs. A move such as you suggest just adds fuel to Vermont's unemployment problem. Come on! Vermont does not need to...
“Liu Bolin: The Invisible Man,” an exhibition at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), includes popular camouflage photographs from Bolin's celebrated series, “Hiding in the City,” and his subsequent “Hiding in New York.” To create these photographs, Bolin poses for hours in a landscape while his assistants paint him to create a camouflage, blending him into his surroundings. “My intention was not to disappear in the environment but instead to let the environment take possession of me,” he says.
The Selectboard named eight people to the Police-Fire Facility Committee during the board's April 2 meeting. According to Town Manager Barbra Sondag, 17 people submitted applications for the committee. The board interviewed 15 candidates in the Selectboard meeting room. Candidate Arthur Greenbaum could not attend the interview. Martha O'Connor and Steve Shaclumis withdrew their applications. The nine-member committee - eight members plus Selectboard member John Allen - will oversee the $14.1 million upgrade and renovation of the police station, Central...
Weatherizing homes saves energy and money. But many Vermont homeowners can't afford the investment needed to make their homes energy efficient. Well, there's help for that. Efficiency Vermont, Vermont's designated energy efficiency utility, is sponsoring the Vermont Home Energy Challenge, a program aimed at raising residential awareness of home weatherization that in turn will increase energy efficiency across the state. Program coordinators aim to reach the goal of a 25 percent energy savings by 2020, and are on track to...
The Vermont Jazz Center presents the Matt Wilson Trio in a concert honoring their founding director, Attila Zoller, on Saturday, April 13, at 8 p.m. Matt Wilson is a highly acclaimed drummer who was particularly close to Attila. They performed together often during Zoller's final years. There was always a tremendous affinity between them; perhaps it was Wilson's deep groove, or his goofy yet powerfully confident persona that Zoller found compelling. Hungarian born jazz guitarist Zoller was known as a...
Before I get into the details about the spending and revenue bills that were just passed in the state House of Representatives, I'd like to explain how my beliefs informed my decisions during the process that evolved into the legislation that I supported. Let's start with capitalism, the very complex system that guides the flow of money through our economy and our lives. The trick for all of us is to have enough of that money stick to us that...
The Restaurant at Burdick Chocolate, on Main Street in Walpole, N.H., will host its fifth annual benefit dinner for Meeting Waters YMCA's “Reach Out to Youth Fund” on Wednesday, April 17. That night, co-owners Paula and Larry Burdick will donate 10 percent of all dinner receipts to the regional YMCA's scholarship fund. The Burdicks' two children participated in Meeting Waters YMCA's day camp and Youth & Government programs as youth and teens. Son Jake then worked at the camp he'd...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) and Elliot Street Café invite individuals, businesses, and nonprofits to apply for funding for art projects through the next B.E.A.N. Micro-Grant Dinner, which will be held at BMAC on Sunday, April 14, at 6 p.m. Anyone may submit a request. The only criteria are that the proposed project must “contribute to the vitality of art and artists in our community and benefit from a small grant of just a few hundred dollars.” For...
With 78 million baby boomers turning 65 this year, they and their respective aged parents will need to make important medical and legal decisions before it's too late. Thus, according to longtime New York Times Personal Health columnist Jane Brody, it's crucial to know what is necessary to enter this stage of life gently and with dignity. “No matter how healthfully you live, there is no cure for mortality. We all come to an end. If we didn't, we'd be...
A dozen 11th and 12th graders at the Compass School have spent the past six weeks studying films, writing screenplays, and producing their own short films. This week, they put the final touches on their films in preparation for the ninth annual Compass Student Film Festival on Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m. - a culminating event for their film-making class. The film festival, held at Compass School, on Route 5 just south of Bellows Falls, is open to the...
The new Selectboard picked committee assignments at its first full meeting in the Municipal Center on April 2. “My goal in chairing these [Selectboard] meetings is to make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak fully,” said Selectboard chair David Gartenstein. Board duties call for members to serve on various town committees. Gartenstein will continue serving on the Traffic Safety Committee, which oversees parking issues, parking meters, traffic ordinances, and traffic safety. Newly elected members Kate O'Connor and David Schoales...
Trust me: I've been doing this cheesemonger thing for 17{1/2} years, more or less. It is a terrible profession, and you should just put it right out of your mind this instant. No sane person would ever want this job. What day is it? I'm not making some elaborate April Fool's Day joke. I'm serious. Find some other way to earn your living. If you embark upon a “career” as a cheesemonger, you can expect all sorts of miseries. First...
The Strolling of the Heifers, the organization behind the beloved annual parade, is eyeing the Robert H. Gibson River Garden for its headquarters. Orly Munzing, founder and executive director, confirmed in an interview that the organization is preparing to develop a request for proposal (RFP) to acquire the River Garden from its current owner Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB). Strolling of the Heifers sprouted under the shade of BaBB's nonprofit tree when Strolling held its first parade in 2002. “Strolling...
The town's two public libraries were the surprise recipients last week of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant that was submitted by Westminster Elementary School Librarian Mandy Walsh last September. The grant endowed the community with an NEH Bridging Cultures Bookshelf, Muslim Journeys, with 25 books and several DVDs. They are intended to be divided between the two Westminster libraries - Butterfield and Westminster West. Butterfield librarian Linda Fawcett said she knew nothing about the grant until Liz...