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Your support powers every story we tell. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
BRATTLEBORO-River Gallery School of Art welcomes Tibetan monk Lama Tenzin Yignyen to Brattleboro, where he will create the Avalokiteshvara sand mandala — the mandala of compassion.
Lama Tenzin will construct the mandala at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, 10 Vernon St, Wednesday through Saturday, April 8–11. The public is invited to stop in and witness the creation in progress, Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, and all are welcome.
PUTNEY-On Friday, April 3, get ready to move as African, Caribbean, funk, reggae, and Latin grooves collide with traditional fiddle music at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. The Gaslight Tinkers fuse global rhythms with New England old-time and Celtic fiddle traditions, “creating a joyously danceable sound fueled by melody,
WARDSBORO — On Thursday, April 2, at 5:30 p.m. at Wardsboro Public Library, 170 Main St., the Wardsboro Garden Club will present Erica Bowman, licensed landscape architect, garden designer and owner of Evernest Designs. She will discuss how to develop a wildflower meadow that will attract pollinators and describe...
TOWNSHEND-Valley Village (formerly known as Valley Cares) invites the community to kick up their heels at a “Spring Fling Square Dance,” fundraiser, Friday, April 10, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Dutton Gymnasium, 2030 VT Route 30, next to Town Hall. The evening will feature local caller Sally Newton, with live music provided by the Newton family band. The first hour (6:30 to 7:30 p.m.) will be dedicated to beginners and warming up, making the event welcoming and accessible...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present a dynamic double bill Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m., featuring Québécois trio É.T.É and the Celtic guitar duo Keith Murphy & Yann Falquet. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill. The evening showcases two distinct but complementary acts, each offering a fresh take on traditional music. É.T.É brings a contemporary perspective to Québécois trad music. The trio — violinist Élisabeth Moquin, bouzouki player Thierry Clouette, and cellist...
BRATTLEBORO-Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, 181–183 Main St., pays tribute to longtime Putney artist David Rohn, with “Retrospective,” a gallery-wide exhibition, opening Friday, April 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. and continuing through June 7. A “Directors’ Talk” is scheduled for Saturday, May 2, at 5 p.m. Many of the artist’s paintings will be on view for the first time. Rohn (1934–2025) died at his home Dec. 10. He was a teacher, humorist, lover of music and poetry; he has been represented...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Chamber Series is proud to present Musicians from Marlboro Group Three Saturday, April 11, at the BMC, 72 Blanche Moyse Way. This season's third touring ensemble from "the classical world's most coveted retreat" (The New Yorker) showcases four outstanding singers. Bridget Esler, soprano; Chihiro Asano, mezzo-soprano; and Patrick Bessenbacher, tenor; will perform vocal works by Brahms, Schumann, and Britten, with pianist Lydia Brown. The 7 p.m. program will begin and end with Oliver Neubauer, violin;
Obituaries • Doreen Eno, 98, of Bellows Falls. Died March 15, 2026. Doreen was born Dec. 4, 1927, to George Thumwood and Ethel Mayne, in London, England. As a young girl at the beginning of World War II, she was part of Operation Pied Piper, where more than 1.5 million people, mostly schoolchildren, were moved from their homes and families in the cities to the countryside to escape the German bombing raids on English cities. Eventually, she was able to...
The Windham School District Board (Abigail Pelton, Kate Fellows, and Dan Roth) recently sent this letter to state officials and lawmakers, as well as to the media. (Editor’s note: We have very lightly formatted and copy edited the text for readability.) To our elected officials, In the town of Windham on March 3, 2026, the below articles passed unanimously at the Annual Town Meeting: • Article 7: Shall the Town of Windham declare that the current statewide education funding system...
WESTMINSTER WEST-The 65-voice River Singers Community Chorus will perform an eclectic concert of world music Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12, at 4 p.m. at the Congregational Church of Westminster West. The River Singers, in its 35th year, is a multi-generational community choir led by Mary Cay Brass. The choir sings a variety of community-based music from diverse cultural and musical traditions. Brass will be joined by Kathy Bullock, Professor Emerita from Berea College, who is a workshop clinician,
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) invites local educators to a mixer at the museum on Wednesday, April 8, 5 to 7 p.m. Windham County preschool and K–12 teachers, school administrators, staff, paraprofessionals, and coaches are invited to stop by for a complimentary drink, free appetizers, live music, a cash bar, and the opportunity to check out BMAC’s six new exhibits that opened on March 21. Guests will also have the opportunity to see the beginning stages of a...
BELLOWS FALLS-Who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner now and again? That’s what’s on the menu Saturday, April 4, at the Bellows Falls Moose Lodge #527. The first Diner Dinner of 2026 features bacon, sausage, ’taters, eggs — all sorts of breakfast classics served up hot and hearty; affordably priced, and with a heaping helping of the latest news about the Miss Bellows Falls Diner restoration project. Diner Dinners, started in 2025 under the supervision of the late Susan MacNeil, are...
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro Savings & Loan (BS&L) will be a participant in National Financial Literacy Month in April. Recognizing the importance of financial education in empowering individuals and families, BS&L representatives say it will provide essential financial tools and resources through seminars this month. “Financial literacy helps people feel confident about their finances so that they can make better decisions, avoid extra debt, and plan well. Families with strong financial habits spend wisely, support local businesses, and make decisions that help the...
BRATTLEBORO-Tiny Theater and ByWay Books & More will celebrate National Poetry Month this April with a series of poetry readings honoring the diversity of poetic traditions across history and cultures. ByWay and Tiny Theater invite poets and poetry enthusiasts to participate in the readings. Those interested in reading poetry during the series may contact Tiny Theater or ByWay for more information. This free program features performances and readings spanning major poetic movements — from classical traditions to contemporary spoken word...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) hosts a book-club-style discussion of Claire Dederer's book, Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma, Thursday, April 9, at 5:30 p.m. The event is part of the museum's new series, BMAC Reads - Conversations About Books About Art. In this book, Dederer asks: Can we love the work of Hemingway, Polanski, Miles Davis, or Picasso? Should we love it? Does genius deserve special dispensation? Is male monstrosity the same as female monstrosity? "Highly topical, morally wise,
BRATTLEBORO-Windham Regional Career Center (WRCC) Director Nancy Wiese has been named Vermont's Career Tech Center (CTC) Director of the Year. "Over her six-year tenure, Nancy has been a transformative leader - securing vital grants for program equipment, providing unwavering support to students and staff, and expertly navigating the challenges of the pandemic during her very first year. Please join us in celebrating this well-deserved honor," reads a Career Center Facebook post announcing the honor. "It's very nice to be recognized,"
-The Unified high school basketball season begins this week in Vermont, and the Brattleboro Bears hope to be once again in the thick of the postseason. Unified basketball is an all gender-inclusive program that pairs athletes who may have disabilities with partners who do not have disabilities. At any given time, there are three athletes on the floor with two partners. According to Vermont rules, the partners are not allowed to shoot the ball, leaving all the scoring opportunities for...
Tim Stevenson is a community organizer with Post Oil Solutions from Athens (bereal@vermontel.net) and is the author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (Green Writers Press) and Transformative Activism: A Values Revolution in Everyday Life in a Time of Societal Collapse (Apocryphile Press). He is working on a book about mutual care communities. ATHENS-The certainty that Donald Trump will do anything he can to prevent the loss of the House of Representatives (hence, near-certain...
ROCKINGHAM-Do the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital nurses understand the implications of walking off the job now? Their employer is on the skids with a $14.5 million deficit. A strike would further damage the hospital’s already- sagging reputation, driving more patients to Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, Grace Cottage in Townsend, or Dartmouth Hitchcock in Lebanon, depriving the struggling hospital of desperately needed revenue. Chapter 11 bankruptcy wouldn’t be pretty. When a hospital files, it typically enters a court-supervised process intended to...
BRATTLEBORO-Since moving to Brattleboro in the 1970s, I have counted on Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) and its medical practices to be there when I, my friends, and my family have needed care. That care is largely provided by nurses and support staff - the people whom we patients interact with at the bedside, in the lab, and in other hospital departments and medical offices. These health care workers - lifted up as heroes during the pandemic - deserve contracts that...
BRATTLEBORO-In response to Rep. Laura Sibilia's legislative update on House 355, the Defend the Guard Act, introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives on Feb. 26, 2025, yet to be voted on: this act is critical to prevent the federal misuse of the Vermont National Guard. The act would require the governor to review all orders that place the Vermont National Guard on "federal active duty status," and to take "all necessary and appropriate action to prevent the Vermont National...
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." SOUTH NEWFANE-Mark Berman's litany of evil acts of Iran against America left out significant pieces of history which would disrupt his conclusions. To hear him tell it, Iran just arbitrarily decided that they hate us and want to destroy...
Chloe Learey is the executive director of Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro and serves as the steering committee chair of the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance, as well as on the boards of the Vermont Community Loan Fund and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. BRATTLEBORO-Across Vermont and in communities like ours, the child-care workforce crisis is no longer just a looming concern. It is here, it is persistent, and it is holding families, employers, and entire regional...
Fric Spruyt is a property owner and property manager in Brattleboro and a member of the town’s energy committee. BRATTLEBORO-In this moment when everything seems to be getting more chaotic every day, everywhere you look, it might seem like a strange time to imagine a long term vision for a thriving world. I would argue that this is as good a time as ever. Had we collectively (not just a handful of visionary freaks) done so decades ago, we would...
SPRINGFIELD-I serve as the nutrition and wellness coordinator at Senior Solutions, which provides services throughout Windsor and Windham counties. In my work, I regularly see how deeply pets are woven into the daily lives of the older adults we serve. For many, a pet offers companionship, routine, comfort, and a sense of purpose — supports that often grow more important with age. The Foxy Fund was created to help older adults who need assistance caring for their pets. The program...
WILLIAMSVILLE-I'm deeply disappointed that The Commons decided to print Mark Treinkman's blatant ad hominem attack on Kate Casa. While Treinkman claims to decry Casa's analysis about our war with Israel against Iran, the attack predictably attempts to divert us away from underlying facts about the Trump administration's motives and the war's impetus, which are not merely widely reported to be true, but have been admitted by the administration. Demonizing someone with aggressive invective does nothing to change that. Demonizing someone...
BRATTLEBORO-The Building Bridges Veterans Initiative started out in Northampton, Massachusetts in 2015 as a monthly social get-together for veterans — a chance to enjoy a dinner with their comrades. It has since grown to 17 sites around New England, including Brattleboro, and has served 115,000 meals, along with a big helping of friendship and a message to those who served that they are not alone. At the monthly meal in Brattleboro on March 25 at American Legion Post 5, Building...
SAN JOSé, COSTA RICA-Mark Berman left out a big disclosure: that he has represented the state of Israel as an attorney, according to his biography. It's a basic expectation of integrity when commenting on issues in a newspaper to disclose any conflicts of interest one might have. It's something that I as a professional journalist have always done. Berman also gets a great deal of facts wrong. The seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was because the United States...
Jane Katz Field and John Field each worked for many years in Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's pediatrics and oncology departments. This piece is a response to a letter published on March 24 in the Brattleboro Reformer and in this week's Voices section. PUTNEY-Rick Cowan asks: "Do the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) nurses understand the implications of walking off the job now?" The more correct question Cowan should be asking would be: "Does BMH management understand the implications of failing to bargain...
BRATTLEBORO-If you miss Brattleboro’s Festival of Miniatures that garnered lots of well-deserved attention, The Museum of Things Tiny & Found (MTTF), one feature of the holiday event, is now nestled permanently in the lobby of the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery. The museum will open for sneak peeks this weekend, starting at Gallery Walk from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 3, with a tour at 6 p.m. Free champagne and miniature hors d’oeuvres will be served,and miniature cocktails will...
Todd Murchison, a grieving father, has been described as “a local physics geek and inventor/mad scientist.” As described by her family in her obituary, Mayah Anne Murchison (1999–2025) “was a fearless adventurer [who] sought out beauty, freedom, and wonder wherever she went, living with a spirit that was bold, curious, and unbound.” BRATTLEBORO-This spring, I’m going to collect fungi, greens, and flowers of various sorts from around the grave where my 25-year-old daughter was buried the spring before. And test...
