Springfield retools: A mill town looks to the past to create its future
By Lynn Barrett and Christine Rolland The story of Springfield, Vermont might echo the tales of many rust-belt towns across the country which are facing changing times. Mention Springfield, and someone will immediately say, “The Simpsons,” thanks to its winning the right to be considered Homer Simpson’s “real” home and to premiere The Simpsons Movie in 2007. But the town has a colorful and inventive history that goes beyond the...
Mitchell-Giddings: Matching artist with collector
By Arlene Distler Celebrating its first year anniversary, Mitchell-Giddings Fine Art is a sleek and airy gallery in Brattleboro, designed with plenty of wall and floor space to show the kind of large-scale work favored by so many contemporary artists. The space was formerly a basement recording studio that the couple totally renovated. Brattleboro, known as an art town, nevertheless has not had a gallery like this. Owners Petria...
Wilburton Inn: Family, theater, creativity and glitz
By Joyce Marcel Here’s a description of Manchester’s Wilburton Inn from Country Life magazine in October of 1933: “Splendidly constructed of tapestry brick, (it) crowns a steep, picturesque eminence approach over a well-built drive winding 1,000 feet or more up… Surrounded by charming gardens and delightful wall terraces, it commands superb panoramic views…an excellent trout stream and. many acres of lovely woodland on the...
Scroll up: Terry Hauptman’s dancing, vibrant drawings
By Arlene Distler This is Terry Hauptman’s moment. One of her works on paper, from the group of large drawings in ink and acrylics she calls “scrolls,” will be part of a group show at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in October titled “Drawing On, In, Out.” The same month her “Songline Scrolls” will grace the walls of the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, just in time to serve as sublime backdrop for the Brattleboro Literary...
Talk of the Arts: Bennington Museum engineers “creative collisions”
By Robert Wolterstorff A museum can’t just be about old art by dead artists—it’s got to be about the present, and inspire the future. That conviction has been driving all the recent changes at the Bennington Museum. Our goal, simply stated, is to be more edgy, more relevant, and more deeply embedded in the southern Vermont community. That’s why we have created new galleries for photography and Bennington Modernism, why we’re hosting...
Planning to win: Regional business competition highlights entrepreneurs
Congratulations to the winners of the Strolling of the Heifers and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation Business Planning Competition. A total of $64,000 in prize funds were given out: $10,000 to each of four first-place category winners, $3,000 each to the four second-place category winners, and $1,000 each to the 12 runners-up. Funding for the competition came from a grant from the Windham County Economic Development...
Art for the Heart: A cardiologist’s gallery
By Kevin O’Connor Dr. Mark Burke, a board member of the Vermont Arts Council, has seen his share of unusual galleries, be it in basements, warehouses or garages. But that’s not what inspired the Brattleboro cardiologist to create his own space in an even less typical location: His hospital examination and waiting rooms. “We opened this office,” he recalls, “and had a lot of empty walls.” Burke, a writer and photographer in his free...
118 Elliot: A stylish new arts and education venue
Once home to the storied Lawrence Water Cure and more recently an abandoned laundromat, the building now known as 118 Elliot is now a stylish new arts and education venue breathing life to a neglected area of Downtown Brattleboro. A flexible, modern environment that is fully ADA accessible, the space can accommodate anything from small screenings, music and intimate theater to workshops, conferences, production offices, art and other...
Headaches from wine? It’s not the sulfites
By Marty Ramsburg At least once a week, someone comes into the shop asking for sulfite-free wine because, he or she says, sulfites give him or her headaches. Because we are asked so frequently, we have done some modest investigation into the possible causes of wine headaches. Sulfites Sulfites are often added to wine to neutralize the bacteria that, over time, can produce chemical reactions that result in unpleasant aromas and...
Farmers’ Markets
For more information about Farmers’ Markets in Southern Vermont, including a full schedule of market days/hours, visit nofavt.org. Most Farmers’ Markets in Vermont close by the end of October. Every Saturday Brattleboro Farmers’ Market, Western Avenue (just west of Creamery Covered Bridge), Brattleboro, 9a – 2p, http://www.brattleborofarmersmarket.com. Norwich Farmers’ Market, Route 5 south in Norwich,...
Pumpkin festivals
31st Townshend Pumpkin Festival Townshend, on the common townshenvermont.org Oct 17 • The Pumpkin Festival is a country fair with a craft show, plus Pumpkin Decorating contest, Halloween Costume Parade, best pumpkin pie contest, food vendors, FREE pony rides for kids during Vermont’s foliage season. pumpkin pie sale whole pie or bythepiece. Manchester Pumpkin Festival Equinox Valley Nursery, Manchester visitmanchestervt.com Oct 17 •...
Open studio tours, craft fairs, antiques shows
Chester Vermont Fall Festival on the Green Chester, on the green http://www.chesterfallfestival.org Sept 19-20, 10a-4p • At the peak of Vermont’s preeminent fall foliage, the charm and elegance of the Chester Village Green will come to life as it hosts the 40th Annual Fall Craft Festival. The Chester Annual Craft Fair is a celebration of Vermont’s gifted artisans, Chester’s unique history, Vermont’s matchless beauty and its timeless,...
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