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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.
SAXTONS RIVER-Music, community, and dessert come together for a good cause on Saturday, May 2, at 7 p.m. with “Just Desserts” — a benefit concert featuring the folk quartet 2×2 with an opening act by Half Giraffe — in the Assembly Hall at 24 Main Street Community Building.
This special evening will support 24 Main Street Community Building, a local nonprofit center. Founded in 2018, 24 Main Street Limited is a nonprofit steward of the building, which was formerly a church. The building has been in use since 1842, and today houses Village Early Learning Center. It remains a hub for local events, gatherings, and support services.
Half Giraffe is Vermont Academy’s jazz trio, followed by the main act, a performance by 2×2 — Valerie Kosednar, Mark Grieco, and Lee and Betsy Rybeck Lynd — a vocal and instrumental quartet known for their harmonies and folk repertoire sung in multiple languages with guitar, dobro, and banjo accompaniment.
In addition to music, guests will be treated to locally made desserts and the chance to purchase tickets for raffle prizes, including a handmade quilt by 2 Material Girls of Saxtons River (on display at Saxtons River Village Market) and a collage by Stephanie Payne of Chester.
Obituaries • Carol A. Brown, 80, formerly of Jamaica. Died April 7, 2026, at Vernon Green Nursing Home, where she had resided since 2011. Carol was born Dec. 22, 1945, at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, the daughter of Arthur and Janet May (McFarlane) Jacques. Carol grew up at her childhood...
ROCKINGHAM-Wildlife enthusiasts itching for spring are invited to check out the “Herricks Cove Wildlife Festival” Sunday, May 3, at Herricks Cove in Windham at the confluence of the Williams and Connecticut rivers. The festival is presented by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, Ascutney Mountain Audubon Society (AMAS), and...
PUTNEY-The Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District will mark its 80th birthday with a plant-themed party. The district is expanding its annual plant sale into an event celebrating native plants, gardening, and conservation. “Plant Palooza” will take place Saturday, May 2, from 9 a.m. to noon at Green Mountain Orchards, 130 West Hill Rd. As in previous years, pre-ordered plants can be picked up. A larger selection of plants will be available for day-of purchases than offered in previous years’
WALPOLE, N.H.-Cameo Arts Foundation presents Cameo Baroque on Sunday, May 3, at 4 p.m. at the Walpole Unitarian Church, 14 Union St. The program includes works of Couperin, Leclair, Boismortier and others, and is a benefit for the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP). Cameo Baroque (Leslie Stroud, traverso; Beth Hilgartner, recorders and voice; Laurie Rabut, violin and viola da gamba, and Ernie Drown, harpsichord) specializes in historically informed performance on original instruments. Admission is by free-will offering, all of which...
BRATTLEBORO-Southern Vermont–based jazz combo Kwartetto Mambo will share the stage with the Fiery Hope chorus Sat., May 2, at the Beloved Community Center, 18 Town Crier Drive in a 7:30 p.m. show. Kwartetto Mambo is Dan DeWalt (keyboard and trombone), John Clark (French horn), Julian Gerstin (percussion), and Wes Brown (acoustic bass). Fiery Hope, a western Massachusetts-based chorus, is made up of members who hail from several New England states. They will present recent original material as well as songs...
BRATTLEBORO-Director Bob Thies and Rock Voices, a community rock choir, offer an evening of choral music Friday, May 1 at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Rock Voices is backed up by a full, professional rock band. The harmonies of Tony Lechner’s arrangements are sung by a 100-voice choir. “Rock Voices represents everything that is wonderful about the greater Brattleboro area: a sense of community, a love of music, and a...
-Green Up Day on Saturday, May 2, marks the 56th year of a treasured Vermont tradition launched in 1970 by then-Gov. Deane Davis. Thousands of Vermonters are expected to come together in communities throughout the state to clean up roadside litter and tidy up public spaces to refresh Vermont’s naturally beautiful landscape. Brattleboro will host four locations on Green Up Day. The traditional bright green-heavy duty trash bags will be available beforehand at the Brattleboro Regional Chamber of Commerce (180...
BELLOWS FALLS-On Friday, May 1, from noon to 1 p.m., Indivisible Greater Falls and Grafton Supporters of Democracy will host a May Day rally in The Square in Bellows Falls in honor of International Workers’ Day. All are welcome to join the event in solidarity with workers and for democracy. Materials will be available at a voter information and registration table in the Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Bellows Falls area groups join more than 1,000 other...
Gallery Walk features international face painting BRATTLEBORO — Au pairs from Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic will be offering free face painting for kids at Brattleboro Gallery Walk Friday, May 1, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Cultural Care will be on the lawn in front of Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., as part of Gallery Walk’s new event, “Big Blanket Super Picnic.” Ann Newsmith, local coordinator for Cultural Care Au Pair, will also be available to talk with...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary folk music Saturday, May 2, at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:45 p.m. This singer-songwriter showcase brings together four artists — Alice Howe, Freebo, Sam Robbins, and Halley Neal — for an in-the-round performance that organizers say will highlight both individual artistry and collaborative spirit. In this shared-concert format, performers will take turns presenting original songs while also joining...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) Chamber Series continues Saturday, May 2, at 7 p.m. with Castle of Our Skins’ concert entitled “And, Perhaps, To Bloom.” The program “explores the driving will cast deep in the heart and blood of a people seeking freedom, life, humanity, and peace,” wrote organizers in a news release. “Their mass exodus — be it to swamps to form maroon societies or the Great Migration to the North and Midwestern cities like Detroit — were arduous...
BRATTLEBORO-The Windham County Humane Society (WCHS) recently announced it has received a $5,000 grant dedicated to providing 100 free spay/neuter surgeries for cats owned by residents of the Tri-Park Cooperative Housing Corporation. This targeted initiative will take place in May to address the growing feline population in the community. According to its website, Tri-Park houses approximately 1,000 residents, nearly 10% of Brattleboro’s population. WCHS estimates there are between 300 and 400 cats living within the Tri-Park community, including both owned...
BELLOWS FALLS-After a four-month search, Rockingham and Bellows Falls officials hired Aaron Patt as the new municipal manager. Previously the town administrator for Greenfield, New Hampshire, a role he has had since 2011, Patt will start May 26. He replaces Scott Pickup, who left after serving five years to take a similar position with the town of Springfield. Alex Torpey served as interim municipal manager after Pickup left in January. At an April 21 meeting, the Selectboard and the Bellows...
DUMMERSTON-Standing on the banks of the West River and looking up at Black Mountain, it’s hard today to imagine the industrial landscape that once dominated this quiet corner of Dummerston. Where forest now covers the slopes, there were once derricks, donkey engines, boarding houses, slag piles, and teams of men cutting some of the hardest granite in New England. George Kohout brings this lost world vividly back to life through stories, photos, and firsthand recollections. Kohout’s talk, “Quarries of Black...
BRATTLEBORO-Vermont lawmakers and community members gathered April 25 at Brattleboro Union High School to discuss a sweeping education reform proposal that could significantly reshape how schools are funded and governed across the state. The discussion took place during an informational meeting hosted by the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) and Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) that drew an audience seeking clarity on what could become one of the most consequential education reforms in Vermont in recent years. The bill under...
BRATTLEBORO-As soon as she made her first public performance at the age of 10, Emily Margaret knew that being on stage was where she belonged. “I love being on stage and sharing my music,” she said. “As soon as I did it, I knew that this is what I wanted to do, and I knew I wanted to do it as much as I could.” Margaret — known off stage as Emily Matthew-Muller — was only 16 when she formed...
NEWFANE-Crowell Art Gallery at Moore Free Library, 23 West St., will feature "Spring!," a show by members of the Brattleboro-West Arts group from Saturday, May 2 to Saturday, May 30. A reception will be held Saturday, May 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. The Brattleboro-West Arts member artists include Beth Aten, Maisie Crowther, Kay Curtis, John Dorsey, Cyndi Ferrante, Lesley Heathcote, Naomi Lindenfeld, Steve Lloyd, Heidi Mario, Kris McDermet, Greg Moschetti, Sharon Myers, Gene Parulis, Jack Pombriant, Carol Violanda, and...
Katherine Partington is co-owner of Weatherhead Hollow, a 1792 Vermont Farmstead that hosts artist residencies, country getaways, events and weddings. GUILFORD-We went through an eight-year Act 250 review process in Vermont. We ultimately received the permit, but the process itself felt punitive the entire time. That experience is why we’re paying close attention to how Act 181 is being rolled out. Because once again, it feels ... unclear. And that’s a problem. How a law is implemented matters just as...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, presents an evening with author Victoria Redel in conversation with award-winning writer Robin MacArthur Friday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:45 p.m.) The event will also be available via livestream. Redel will discuss her new novel, I Am You, an imagined story set in 17th-century Amsterdam. Inspired by historical fact, the novel follows Gerta Pieters, a young girl raised as a boy in service to a Dutch household, and Maria van...
BRATTLEBORO-Let’s face it — Majorie Taylor Greene is right. Donald Trump is clearly insane, and we are flummoxed about what to do about him. If we rely on his cabinet and Vice President JD Vance to act by invoking the 25th Amendment, we will get nowhere and spend the night knowing that once again we along with Israel are parties to genocide. The damage the mad king is doing to the country and the world is incalculable. Yet every day...
-Last week was spring vacation week for Vermont schools. Most high school sports teams took the week off given the difficulty of having enough players due to field trips, family vacations, and other commitments. For the teams that decided to play last week, the payoff was a chance to stay sharp and keep working on their skills. For the other teams, we’ll see if the time off from competition does them good. Softball • Bellows Falls made it to the...
BRATTLEBORO-When I tune into a Selectboard meeting, I expect public input, respectful discourse, human emotion - and above all, leadership. Watching the April 21 Brattleboro Selectboard meeting, I saw too little of the latter. What I witnessed was not decisive leadership, but hesitation, deference, and an apparent inability to move important agenda items forward without punting them down the road. Leadership is not tiptoeing around one another's feelings. Leadership is making hard calls. And because communication is often as much...
BRATTLEBORO-I support of Wendy M. Levy's candidacy for president of the Bellows Falls Village Trustees. Wendy and I have had many personal and professional interactions over the past 15 years or so. She is someone who enjoys the thoughtful discourse necessary for such a position and has always valued civic engagement on the local level. I recall Wendy being quite charmed by the Bellows Falls village after moving there some time ago, and I know she would be a good...
Emilie Kornheiser, a Democrat, represents the Windham-7 district in Brattleboro in the Vermont House of Representatives. Among other committee assignments, she chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means. BRATTLEBORO-I'm writing today to update you on legislation that recently passed out of the Vermont House and is now in the Senate. H.955, a bill detailing the next steps in Act 73, sets Vermont on the path toward school district consolidation through a voluntary democratic process that will be guided by...
BELLOWS FALLS-Tim Fontaine, a well-known and much-loved Bellows Falls athlete and business owner, died in 2004, just a few days after he turned 47, following a 10-month struggle with cancer. Now, more than 20 years later, his brother, Thomas E. “Tommy” Fontaine, has just released a book, My Journey: Brother to Brother, a very personal memoir of a very difficult period based on the journal he kept while he watched his brother fade and die. Fontaine, now of Perkinsville, has...
HINSDALE, N.H.-An April 20 joint session of Brattleboro Selectboard members and their counterparts from Hinsdale, New Hampshire, resulted in consensus to form a working group, including board members and police chiefs, to explore solutions and review existing proposals. But jurisdiction and resource allocation for policing the Anna Hunt Marsh and Charles Dana bridge area remain a critical unresolved issue. “I believe the goal here is for us to have some nice discussion about the bridges,” said Hinsdale Selectman Chair Steve...
BRATTLEBORO-As someone who has known Wendy M. Levy for many years, I enthusiastically endorse her for president of the Bellows Falls Village Trustees. She is smart, capable, creative, caring, responsible, aware of the issues, and most importantly aware of the suffering of others, with the compassionate intent to alleviate that suffering. Michael Gigante, Ph.D. Brattleboro This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons. This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the...
WESTMINSTER WEST-Many of you helped swell the numbers at the recent No Kings demonstrations in Vermont. As you saw, there was a huge pro-democracy turnout of spirited citizens across the state, nation, and world. To stay involved between the major protest events, you can participate in other actions, such as the upcoming May Day Strong, on Friday, May 1. The website of the national organization Indivisible announces a "nationwide day of collective action" to demonstrate our collective power as workers...
The Root Social Justice Center submitted this statement via Britaney Watson, the center's Families United coordinator. Learn more about this issue and find ways to take action by visiting therootsjc.org/dcftakeaction. BRATTLEBORO-The Root Social Justice Center affirms its ongoing commitment to ensuring justice, care, and dignity for all children and youth in Vermont, especially those impacted by the state Department for Children and Families' systems of custody. We understand from recent reporting in the Brattleboro Reformer and WCAX that the DCF...
