WEST DUMMERSTON - Everyone is invited to put on their finest attire and come to the Dummerston Community Center on West Street on Saturday, Jan. 27, from noon to 2 p.m., for a sophisticated Afternoon Tea affair with exquisite teas, delectable treats, and party games.
The cost is $20 with the option to purchase a tea cup and bring it home. Reservations are required. Call or text 802-380-1424 by Thursday, Jan. 25. This fundraiser is to benefit the Community Center's new playground fund.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.
...The Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) and Sandglass Theater invite everyone to experience the refugee journey firsthand through two events in Brattleboro. These events will raise awareness about the challenges and triumphs faced by refugees resettling in the community while also generating support for ECDC's vital work. This is...
Next Stage Arts presents improvisational artist and musician Lonnie Holley in performance with Afrofuturist collective Mourning [A] BLKstar at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill, on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. "Lonnie's work over the past few decades has been a shining example of an outsider artist's work becoming...
Rita Corbin, a graphic artist and printmaker, became involved in the Catholic Worker movement while living in New York City in the 1950s. The co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement and Catholic Worker newspaper, Dorothy Day, hired Corbin to make illustrations for the newspaper, and they became friends. Corbin became a lifelong contributor and was one of the three primary Catholic Worker artists, along with Fritz Eichenberg and Ade Bethune. In 1954, she married Martin Corbin, editor and literary critic.
The New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA) recently received a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts to bring in a show specifically for family audiences as well as a free workshop by the performers, also for young people and their families. Please Ship this Wet Gift will be performed as a one-hour matinee at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27, at the circus school Trapezium, and the free workshop is on Sunday, Jan. 28, from 1...
College news • Maria Carfora of Brattleboro was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. • Keigan Illingworth, a dance major from Westminster, was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. • Kim Amidon of Vernon, Nicholas Douglass of Saxtons River, Venus Fu of Brattleboro, and Corina Mitchell of Westminster West were all named to the Dean's List for the fall...
The Brattleboro Music Center's Chamber Series continues Friday, Jan. 19, with pianist Benjamin Hochman, in a concert entitled "Resonances." In all roles, from orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician to conductor, Hochman says he regards music as vital and essential. "Composers, fellow musicians, orchestras, and audiences all recognize his deep commitment to insightful programming and performances of quality," organizers say in a news release. The program for the 7 p.m. concert at the BMC includes Carlo Gesualdo's Madrigals in five...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) invite the public to join Art Costa for a cardboard-sculpture-making workshop on Saturday, Jan. 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. Inspired by Costa's own sculptures currently on display at the museum in an exhibit titled "Sounds Deep," this workshop will enable participants to discover the creative possibilities that can arise from this ubiquitous, recyclable material. Costa's artwork in "Sounds Deep" takes viewers down below the surface of the ocean, into a world of...
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains kicked off the 2024 Girl Scout Cookie season in Vermont and New Hampshire with a cookie rally on Saturday, Jan. 6, as they prepared for the annual Girl Scout Cookie program. "These Girl Scouts are unboxing their futures as young female entrepreneurs through the world's largest entrepreneurial program for girls," organizers said in a news release. "The rally featured games and other activities to introduce the newest Girl Scouts to the cookie...
The Rock River Players launch 2024 with several events planned for the next few Saturdays. On Saturday, Jan. 21, at 3 p.m., the annual meeting of the Rock River Players will be held in the lower level of the Williamsville Hall on Dover Road. All are welcome to the event to hear a brief review of RRP's 2023 work and to hear plans, and contribute to plans, for 2024's lineup of one-acts, full-length plays, a guest presenter series, improv jams,
The Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro begins 2024 at its Flat Street Teen Club with programming that offers a full range of skill-based programs focusing on workforce development, community service, environmental stewardship, and academic achievement. The club is collaborating with HatchSpace, River Gallery School, the Art Lords, The Women's Freedom Center, The New England Skateboard Association, Brattleboro Recreation & Parks, and the Brattleboro Police Department for these programs, which are free for members. Membership is available for youth in...
GennaRose Nethercott will present a creative writing workshop on Sunday, Jan. 21. "Eclipse Folklore as Inspiration" will be held at 1 p.m. at the Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford Center. In this workshop, participants will take a tour through eclipse folklore, myths, and superstitions, and then reimagine these old stories to create new ones. Nethercott is the author of a novel, Thistlefoot, the soon-to-be-published Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart, and a book-length poem, The Lumberjack's Dove, which was...
State planners and regional water quality partners are hosting a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at 6 p.m. to introduce the state's kick-off of the update to the Tactical Basin Plan for the Deerfield and lower Connecticut Rivers and adjacent Connecticut River Tributaries (Basin 12). This plan is being developed to protect and restore rivers, lakes, and wetlands in southeastern Vermont from Stratton to Vernon. Register in advance for this meeting at bit.ly/748-river. The public is invited to provide...
Join the Housing Coalition of Southeast Vermont, homeless and formerly homeless Vermonters, service providers, homelessness and housing advocates, faith communities, and other concerned citizens from Windham County "as we gather to engage with our neighbors, remember those who have died without a home, and renew our commitment to end homelessness in Vermont," says Fred Breunig, an organizer with the housing coalition. The program at 4 p.m. at Pliny Park (on the corner of Main and High streets) will include a...
On Sunday, January 21, at 1 p.m., the Latchis Gallery will host "Meditation & Creation-A Duet of Sound and Color," rescheduled after being postponed on Jan. 7 due to weather. Artist Julia Volodina and percussionist/gong specialist Stephan Brandstatter will combine their talents to create both an improvised soundscape and an original, abstract-impressionist work of art. Volodina will create a painting while working within the sound environment created by Brandstatter. This improvised event will take place in Theatre 4 of the...
January is the month when Vermonters pore over the seed catalogs and dream wistfully about how their flower and vegetable gardens will grow in the coming year. And, for more than 60 years, one of the determining factors for which annuals and perennials will survive in Vermont is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Plant Hardiness Zone Map. The map assigns a zone number to an area, reflecting the average annual extreme low temperature in an area over a 10-year period.
It's no fun losing game after game, but the Brattleboro Bears girls' hockey team are not giving up. In the Bears' defense, they are playing more experienced teams with more players. With the deck stacked that much against you, all that can be hoped for is to play competitively for as long as you are able and for the younger players to learn the lessons that need to be learned to become a better team in the future. With just...
Through no fault of her own, Rep. Becca Balint's second year in Congress is starting to look a lot like her first year in office: mad, chaotic, wasteful, cynical and insane. In the beginning, the Vermont Democrat idealistically went down to Washington ready to work on legislation to help solve her constituents' most pressing problems: housing, mental health, a broken health care system, equal rights, LGBTQIA rights, and then some. But with a slim Republican majority in the House of...
Dan DeWalt, a frequent contributor to these pages and one of the founders of this newspaper, writes that if he didn't love his country, he "wouldn't spend so much time trying to get it to live up to its purported principles." Since the eruption of violence in Israel/Palestine on Oct. 7, some narratives have been espoused by apologists for Israel. First, they say that terrorist violence is unique to Palestinians/Hamas, and that Israel faces an existential threat to which it...
Richard Witty is a former CPA who worked in Brattleboro for many years. He served as treasurer on the board of Vermont Independent Media, which publishes this newspaper. He notes: "I personally don't have TV and have not seen daily video of the results, so I reason from words, stills, and a few videos posted on Facebook." Why is all this happening? Without question, the effects of the Israeli military efforts in Gaza have been very harsh, causing significant suffering,
Sara Coffey, a Democrat, represents Guilford and Vernon in the Vermont House of Representatives, where she chairs the House Transportation Committee. What does it mean to be fiscally responsible? When it comes to Vermont transportation, it means being clear about where the rubber meets the road. Like other states, we in Vermont pay for our transportation program using a mix of funding sources. Revenue comes from the gas and diesel tax, a portion of the motor vehicle purchase and use...
Concerned that poor Town Meeting attendance is not good for a direct democracy, an informal group of citizens is trying to figure out how to get more people to attend. Only 3% of the town's 3,819 registered voters attended the Annual Town Meeting in 2023. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Rockingham and its villages have a population of 4,832. At the 2023 meeting, town officials agreed to study what might be the causes of such low voter turnout and...
Town officials are inviting creative community members to design six new outdoor benches where community members can literally take a seat. "Newfane is interested in finding ways to encourage our residents and neighbors to enjoy our beautiful town and have new places to be together," says Selectboard member Jeff Chevalier. "I had the idea to put this competition together after the pandemic, when I realized how much I missed opportunities to see my neighbors casually and I wanted to have...
Vida King is a born and raised Vermonter who's traded the Green Mountains for the Blue Ridge Mountains, for now. She spends her time caretaking, making art, and riding waves of grief, rage, and awe. As many of you are aware, Covid is badly surging all across the country. Infection levels are higher than during 90% of the pandemic. I know many readers will instinctively want to ignore this piece. We are exhausted and traumatized by living within this unremitting...
A paper mill has operated next to Sacketts Brook in downtown Putney for more than 150 years - a tradition that has come to an abrupt end on Jan. 16 with the sudden closure of Putney Paper Mill by its current owner, New Jersey–based Soundview Vermont Holdings LLC. According to the Vermont Department of Labor, 127 employees are affected. Workers expecting to report for duty on Tuesday were notified of the closure when they were directed to stay home. Some...