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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.
MARLBORO-The Marlboro Volunteer Fire Company (MVFC) officially put its new rescue truck, a 2025 Ford F350, into service Oct. 14 with a traditional fire service "push-in" ceremony.
According to a news release, the new truck cost a fraction of a conventional rescue vehicle and will improve how the department responds across its rural coverage area. The department's previous rescue truck had become increasingly unreliable, at one point stalling on Route 9.
-It has been a great autumn of soccer in the Deerfield Valley so far this year. Both Twin Valley soccer teams have earned the top seed in the Division IV state tournament and both the boys’ and girls’ teams are primed for another deep run in the postseason. Both...
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).
Tom Franks has experience in private, nonprofit, and governmental organizations. He has a master of science in environmental management and policy from Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute. He served as a Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting member. BRATTLEBORO-An open letter to the Brattleboro Selectboard: At your Oct. 6 meeting, one of your members asked town counsel questions about the charter revision process. Counsel responded, "You are just required to put it on for a vote." They further stated that this requirement is "in...
BELLOWS FALLS-Area libraries in Vermont and New Hampshire, spearheaded by the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL), are offering a free showing of an Emmy-Award winning documentary, The Librarians, at the Bellows Falls Opera House Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. RFPL Director Ian Graham said that the free screening is an “opportunity to have a full, civil discussion” on the topic of who should decide what others can or cannot read. Graham said he reached out to 10 other libraries...
-Several dozen people participated in a “No Kings: Vote Early” rally held in Bellows Falls on Oct. 17, with two groups marching through the village and connecting with a larger group in The Square. Many marchers brought their ballots with them and deposited them in an early voting collection box beside the Town Hall. A voter registration table was also available, as were cider, doughnuts and cookies. Rockingham Town Clerk Kathleen Kelly told event organizers Oct. 19 that 65 ballots...
WEST BRATTLEBORO-Housing officials, lenders, and lawmakers gathered Oct. 15 on a freshly dug construction site at 72 Swan Pond Lane to break ground on a $16.7 million apartment building, the first new housing in a multi-phase plan to transform the former Dalem’s Chalet property. Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) and its co-developer, Evernorth, will build 31 affordable apartments on the 17-acre parcel. About half will be permanent supportive housing for people who have experienced homelessness, many of whom already...
BRATTLEBORO-The Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro’s new executive director says his top priority is the young people who come through its doors. Russell Poulin, a licensed social worker who has spent more than two decades in youth development, human services, and nonprofit leadership, has been hired to lead the Flat Street organization that serves children and teens ages 6 to 18. He started Oct. 1, replacing Lisa Ford, its interim executive director, who chairs the nonprofit’s board of directors.
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Center for Photography (VCP) wraps up its third annual silent auction Friday, Oct. 30 with a big celebration at its headquarters at 10 Green St. in Brattleboro. From 5 to 8 pm, “there’ll be food and drinks and festivities, but you know, with an auction, the big hurrah is the closing of the bidding” which will be at 7 p.m., says VCP Executive Director Joshua Farr. This year’s VCP auction, a major fundraiser, features a record number of...
BRATTLEBORO-An unusual pairing is coming to the Latchis Theatre — and it’s all about The Trouble with Harry, Alfred Hitchcock’s quirky 1955 film centered and shot in northern Vermont. The event is the brainchild of producer and creative consultant Alia Quart Khan of Randolph, who was drawn to the film and the story of its creation. “That combination was irresistible to me: one of the world’s most famous filmmakers making one of his least typical films, in Vermont, about a...
BRATTLEBORO-“Fractured, Not Broken,” a quilt made inside Springfield, Vermont’s Southern State Correctional Facility (SSCF) and stitched by more than 100 community members throughout Windham County, is on exhibit at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center through the end of this month. The community quilt, according to a media release, was designed, pieced, and painted by incarcerated participants in a quilting workshop at SSCF to explore themes of “transformation, redemption, resilience, and community connection.” With support of the Vermont Council for...
Mary Kay Sigda has been teaching English and cultural orientation to refugees resettling in Vermont for several years. She works for SIT/World Learning as a senior program officer for the New Vermonter Education Program, but she writes in a personal capacity. BRATTLEBORO-I recently attended the Every Campus a Refuge conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with people from around the country involved in refugee resettlement. I expected to learn best practices, and I did. But I came home realizing something I hadn't fully...
J. Byron Owens builds organizations that stay coherent under pressure. He also writes poetry. PERU-Seven men are named in the lawsuit. I keep thinking about the men outside the room. A Cornell student says she was drugged and raped at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024. According to the complaint, a message went out through the fraternity chat. An invitation. Not to dinner. No criminal charges have been filed. Cornell says its investigation resulted in expulsions and suspensions. The...
NEWFANE-I worked late last night at The Newfane Store and intended to come home and write this essay. But when I sat down to quickly eat my dinner, my housemate asked if he could read me a passage from his morning writing. He's in the early stages of Alzheimer's and is trying to finish a novel he's been working on for more than ten years. He's on the last chapter, which has been coming slowly, dripping in bit by bit,
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts will present Buddhadeva, a solo performance by actor, playwright, and composer Akaina Ghosh, Friday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at 15 Kimball Hill. Buddhadeva, set along the banks of the sacred Ganga River, incorporates music and poetry to explore the life and works of Ghosh’s great-grandfather, the celebrated and prolific Bengali writer and translator Buddhadeva Bose (1908–1974). The performance “delves into the nature of love, loss, language, translation, and the attempt to reconnect with our own histories,”
MARLBORO-What could Marlboro look like 10 years from now? What opportunities could strengthen the town, support local businesses, reduce energy costs, and bring the community together? The Marlboro Energy Committee invites residents, business owners, families, and community partners to a free, interactive workshop Saturday, Oct. 24, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Marlboro Community Center, 524 South Rd. Organized around the theme "Dream–Plan–Do," the workshop will bring people together to share ideas and identify opportunities for the town's future,
BELLOWS FALLS-Zara Bodé’s Little Big Band will play two swing concerts Saturday, Oct. 24, at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Both sets will take place at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC), 72 Blanche Moyse Way. The Little Big Band is “a regional favorite in southern Vermont, known for its fresh take on old radio hits,” organizers said in a news release, adding that the group draws inspiration from the music of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, and Ella Fitzgerald. In addition...
Obituaries • Elaine “Lindy” Amidon Charbonneau, 64, of Putney. Died Sept. 20, 2026, at Pine Heights Nursing Home in Brattleboro, where she had been a patient since Aug. 14. Elaine was born in Brattleboro July 24, 1962, the daughter of Walter J. and Marian (Wood) Amidon. She attended local public schools and graduated from Brattleboro Union High School with the Class of 1981. Elaine worked at several Brattleboro area businesses that included Linden Lodge Nursing Home, Bolster Movers, and FedEx...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) at 10 Vernon St. will host a group discussion of the novel Lonely Crowds, by Stephanie Wambugu, Thursday, Oct. 22, at 5:30 p.m. Lonely Crowds, which appeared on Vulture’s and New York Magazine’s best-of lists for 2025, follows an intense friendship between two young women who meet as the only scholarship students at a Catholic girls’ school. As Ruth and Maria later attempt to succeed in the New York art world, the novel...
Haunted house in downtown Bellows FallsBELLOWS FALLS-The Bellows Falls Opera House will offer tours of "the scariest place in Bellows Falls" for two nights, with a "low scare" option Thursday, Oct. 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and a "full scare" option Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 to 9 p.m. Sponsored by the Bellows Falls Downtown Alliance, the hallowed halls and catacombs beneath the Opera House will be open to visitors to raise funds for the Opera House's lower theater...
WESTMINSTER-The 28th Empty Bowl soup supper to benefit Our Place Community Food Center will take place Saturday, Oct. 24, at 5 p.m. at Kurn Hattin Home and School for Children in Westminster. Tickets are now on sale for the dinner and auction, which includes a social hour with local beer and wine, supper of signature soups prepared by local restaurants and chefs, silent and live auctions of items and services donated by local businesses and individuals, and the launch of...
WARDSBORO-This year's Gilfeather Turnip Festival, the annual celebration of Vermont's state vegetable in the town where it was born, is being held - rain, shine, or snow - on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Wardsboro. Join in with a bowl of Gilfeather Turnip Soup at the outdoor kiosk, sample turnip-based treats at the Turnip Cafébuffet, grab some turnip french fries, take home some turnip-themed merchandise in the Turnip Patch shop, and...
Harvest supper with turkey, stuffing in Dummerston Oct. 24 DUMMERSTON — Evening Star Grange will host its final public supper of the season Saturday, Oct. 24, with servings between 4:30 and 6 p.m. at 1008 East West Rd. On the menu are roast turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, winter squash, green bean casserole, and upside-down pumpkin pie. Bread, milk, coffee, and tea will also be available. Reservations are encouraged but not mandatory, and takeout will be...
NEWFANE-In honor of the nation's 250th birthday, the Historical Society of Windham County (HSWC) presents "A Potluck of Stories: Windham County Remembers," a weekend of stories from Windham County's past and present. A different program for each date will include real-time stories told by residents of our towns: stories that shed a light on where we've come from to become who we are. The HSWC issued invitations to all 23 county towns for stories and tellers. The participating storytellers represent...
BRATTLEBORO-U.S. Sen. Peter Welch provided the coffee and doughnuts, and the 50-or-so people in attendance provided the questions during an hour-long listening session on Oct. 5. The “Common Grounds” event at Brooks Memorial Library was part of a series of events that the state’s junior senator, a Democrat, has held around the state in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 midterm elections. “What we’re seeing in Washington is a direct confrontation with values that we’ve had in Vermont,
