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Southern Vermont Travel & Tourism Guide

Park-McCullough: A Grand Home on Stage Summer Events Across the Region Homesteading & Life in Southern Vermont

JULY/AUGUST 2026

General Surgery Diagnostic Imaging Ear, Nose, and Throat Emergency Care Gynecology Infusion Therapy Orthopaedics Podiatry Urology Adult Day Services Physical Rehabilitation

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BENNINGTON, VT DROP LOCATIONS 1. Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce 100 Veterans Memorial Drive, Bennington, VT • 802-447-3311 2. Better Bennington Corp. 215 South Street, Bennington, VT 05201 • 802-442-5758 3. Madison’s 428 Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201 • 802-442-7397 4. Bennington Welcome Center 100 VT-279 Bennington, VT 05201 5. Avocado Pit 201 South St, Bennington, VT 05201 6. Juniper Lane 445 Main St Bennington, VT • 802-440-5755 7. The 421 Craft Bar and Kitchen 421 Main St, Bennington, VT • 802-440-5972 8. Jay’s Art & Frame Gallery 115 South St Bennington, VT • 802-447-2342 9. Elm Street Market 251 Elm St, Bennington, VT • 802-753-7366 10. Bennington Bookshop 109 south St, Bennington, VT 0501 • 802-442-5059 11. Bennington Museum 75 Main St, Bennington, VT • (802) 447-1571 MANCHESTER, VT DROP LOCATIONS 1. Equinox Golf Resort & Spa 3567 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05254 • 802-362-4700 2. Kimpton Taconic Hotel 3835 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05254 • 802-362-0147 3. Manchester Business Assoc 4826 Main Street, Manchester Center, VT 05255 • 617-869-3591 4. Northshire Bookstore 4869 Main Street, Manchester Center, VT 05255 • 802-362-2200 5. Reluctant Panther 9W Road, Manchester, VT • 802-362-2568 6. Casablanca Motel 5927 Main St, Manchester Center, VT 05255

PITTSFIELD, MA & TROY, NY DROP LOCATIONS 1. Berkshire Roots 501 Dalton Avenue, Pittsfield, MA 01201 • 413-553-9333 NORTH BENNINGTON, VT DROP LOCATIONS 1. Pangaea 3 Prospect St. North Bennington • 802-442-4466

2. Powers Market 9 Main St North Bennington, VT • 802-440-0871 3. Prospect Coffee House 1 Prospect St, North Bennington • 802-753-7847 BRATTLEBORO, VT DROP LOCATIONS 1. Market 32 499 Canal St., Brattleboro, VT 2. Panda North 1332 Putney Rd., Brattleboro, VT 3. Brattleboro Food Coop 2 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 4. Latchis Hotel 50 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 •802-254-6300 5. Vermont Country Deli 436 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, VT 05301 • 802-257-9254 6. Vermont Market Place 580 Canal Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 • 802-254-5861 7. Holiday Inn Express 100 Chickering Drive, Brattleboro, VT 05301 • 802-257-2400

OTHER LOCATIONS 1. Vermont Distillers 7755 Route 9 East, Marlboro, VT • 802-464-2003 2. The Newfane Store 596 VT-30 Newfane, VT • 802-365-7775 3. Harmonyville Store 1412 Vt-30 Townsend, VT • 802-365-9417 4. Riverbend Farm Market 625 Vt-30 Townsend, VT • 802-365-4600 5. HN Williams, Dorset 2732 VT-30 Dorset, VT • 802-867-5353 6. Smitty’s Chester Market 526 Depot St. Chester, VT 7. Stone House Antique Center 557 - VT-103 Chester, VT 8. Vermont Antique Mall Route 4 Quechee, VT 9. Four Columns Inn 21 West St., Newfane, VT 10. West Townshend Country Store 6573 VT-30 West Townshend, VT 11. West River Provisions 3816 VT-30 Jamaica, VT 12. Shaw’s Market 97 E Main St., Wilmington, VT 13. Allen Brothers Farm Market 6023 US -5 Westminster VT 14. Quechee Gorge Visitor Center 5966 Woodstock Rd. Quechee VT 15. Windsor House 54 Main St. Windsor VT 16. Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site 3780 VT-100A Plymouth VT 17. Plainfield Country Store 1190 NH-12A Plainfield NH PUTNEY, VT DROP LOCATIONS 8. Putney General Store

4 Kimball Hill, Putney, VT 05346 9. Putney Food Co-op 8 Carol Brown Way, Putney, VT

Contact us at info@vermontcountry.com - Follow us @vtcomagazine on Facebook and Instagram - www.vermontcountry.com VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 1

On the cover President and Publisher

Jordan Brechenser jbrechenser@reformer.com

Editor Ahmad Yassir ayassir@benningtonbanner.com

Designer

Join the Park-McCullough in celebrating their 160-year anniversary with free museum admission, a season of events filled with arts, culture, and recreation, and by sharing your 'Big House' stories through the Community Archives Initiative. From History & Heritage Lunches to yoga and Qigong, Afternoon Teas and the Arts & Ancestry Circle, opportunities to engage are throughout the season. The grounds, surrounding gardens, and trails are open from dawn to dusk year-round. Don't miss the special exhibit on women's handwork, orchestrated by exhibit design and museum studies students at Bennington College, “The Stitches Between Us: Women’s Handwork & Our Shared Stories.” Read their article on page 4.

2 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Cicely M. Eastman cicelyeastman@gmail.com

Windham County Sales Manager Lylah Wright lwright@reformer.com

Account Executives Richard Lolatte rlolatte@reformer.com Richard Battista rbattista@reformer.com

Bennington County Sales Manager

Susan Plaisance splaisance@benningtonbanner.com

Vermont Country magazine is a publication of

TABLE OF CONTENTS & CONTRIBUTORS

10 24 40 43

Must-Visit Swimming Spots By Xander Belogour

Park-McCullough — A Grand home

Inside Prospect Street Writer's House

Whitingham's Old Home Week: Yellow Barn Farm Gardens Worth the Trip By Xander Belogour

33 Summer Events

By Danielle M. Crosier

By Ahmad Yassir

Trapp Family 8 von Lodge & Resort By Bob Schwartz

Day Spa 12 Signature By Douglas Cardoza

14 Arts & Culture Scene

Theatre's 15 Dorset Season Finale Theater: 18 Weston 90 years By Ahmad Yassir

Remarkable Tony Lu 20 The By Jeff McRae

Arts & Culture Scene

26 By Chris Mays Gallery Shop in 28 New Bennington

Memorial Hall is Back

By Danielle M. Crosier

Under 30 Jay's New Stewardship

Film & 31 Vermont Folklore Festival

By Danielle M. Crosier

Public Art, All Year Long

34 Bennington's Labor Day Festival By Anne Archer

36 By Danny Zaffarano 38 Townshend's Pickle Day Vermont State Fair

42 Homesteader from 48 Products the Ocean Chance 50 Second Composting

By Scott Grimm-Lyon

Country 52 Vermont Homes

Curry: 53 Justine REALTOR® of the Year

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 3

The Park-McCullough: Southern Vermont's Grand Home for History, Culture, and Community

Photo provided by Park-McCullough mansion and carriage barn.

By Ahmad Yassir

Vermont Country Magazine While the French Second Empire mansion with Italianate influences draws eyes toward its elegant mansard roof and wrap-aroundporch, the surrounding park-like grounds with 100 plus year old trees providing shade epitomize the Park-McCullough House in North Bennington, Vermont.

“It’s a place where people go every day for their morning walks, or their picnics, or to hang out with neighbors, or to play croquet, and it’s also a museum and historic site,” said Mike Rice, Director of Philanthropy at Park-McCullough. The Park-McCullough House is a community asset North Bennington residents enjoy sharing with families traveling through Southern Vermont, friends day tripping from across the border, or Vermonters looking for something to do.

Visitors of all ages and interests find an activity to enjoy – a history lesson marked with stories of a wealthy American family, a comfortable rest on the “Front Porch for the Community,” a stroll around the grounds, or a walk through

woods and farm fields.

The 1865 mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the most prominent feature on the property, but the motivation behind its construction – family – is the most endearing.

In the early 1850s, Laura Hall, a North Bennington native and daughter of Vermont’s 25th governor, Hiland Hall, moved to California with her husband, Trenor Park, a lawyer and entrepreneur. The move came at the request of Hall, then serving as a U.S. Land Commissioner, who enlisted Park to help settle land disputes in the rapidly growing state. While there, Park made a fortune through a series of successful business investments.

Today, the 35-room mansion, carriage house, gardens, and grounds – originally Hall Farm property that was purchased from Laura’s father – are cared for by the Park-McCullough House Association, Inc., a local nonprofit formed in 1969 when the family could no

After many years away from Vermont and many letters exchanged to and from family members who were still living in the east (the couple had 14 siblings between them), Laura and Trenor decided it was time to move back to North Bennington to be closer to family. And while family was the motivation behind the Park-McCullough House, community is the reason the property still exists.

4 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

David Morelos Zaragoza

The Mile Around Woods.

Park-McCullough House

longer care for the extensive property.

To celebrate 160 years of history, family, and community support, the nonprofit has waived admission to the house during the 2026 season. The Free Admissions Initiative is generously supported by Bank of Bennington, Four Corner Properties, and the Joseph J. Costa Charitable Trust.

“There’s the pressure to come up with a plan where we’re stewarding the property successfully into the future without having family benefactors or an established endowment,” Rice said, referring to how the Free Admissions Initiative came to fruition. “By getting new eyes on the place, or by bringing in people who haven’t visited in a while, hopefully we will remind people that community institutions need support.” From dawn until dusk, folks can be found sitting in wicker chairs on the wrap-around porch chatting with friends and neighbors, or wandering the manicured garden filled with blooms and scents of the season, or seeking refuge in the shade from a scorching sun.

It’s not hard to imagine the Park-McCullough clan doing the same throughout their 100-year stint at the house – Laura Park in a day dress with a cage crinoline under her skirt sitting on the porch next to Trenor Park in a wide,

1 Park Street (access parking from West Street) North Bennington, Vermont HOURS: Grounds: year-round, dawn to dusk. FREE ADMISSION 2026 MUSEUM OPENING HOURS: May 22 - October 19 Friday - Monday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.* check website for hours. To view Park-McCullough events, go to the 2026 calendar listed on the website. Pay-What-You-Will Membership Become a Member: www.parkmccullough. org Community Archives Initiative: www.parkmccullough.org/ community-archives To share a story, a photograph, or an artifact from the Park-McCullough House, email info@parkmccullough.org, call 802-442-5441 ext. 3, or fill out a short form introducing yourself at Community Archives Initiative.

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VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 5

property. She hopes to preserve these stories and make them accessible to visitors, creating a richer understanding of the site's history. The effort recognizes that the community stewards who have cherished and sustained the property over the decades are as much a part of its story as the family and staff who once called it home.

loosely-cut suit as their children play in the life-sized, miniature version of the mansion playhouse that once served as the bull mastiff ’s doghouse.

As if the gardens themselves were not relaxing enough, Trenor Park sought an even deeper sense of peace by creating The Mile Around Woods trail, a looping walk that begins behind the gardens and winds through farmland and forest (leashed dogs welcome). Local lore holds that Park personally cut the trail as a meditative retreat after the intense pressures of his work in Gold Rush-era California.

While history is rooted in the property, Rice and Raine know keeping the place current and the grounds open to the community is important for its survival.

Thanks to the Fund for North Bennington, Trenor’s mile long walk can turn into a hike by taking any of the pathways that jut out from the loop, adding an additional nine miles of trails.

Guided or self-guided tours of the mansion introduce visitors to Victorian Era architecture and décor. Many of the family’s original furnishings and belongings remain in the house, giving more insight into the lives of the family, particularly the lives of Eliza (Lizzie) Park McCullough, daughter to Laura and Trenor Park, and her husband John McCullough. Lizzie’s husband John McCullough, an attorney, was elected to the Vermont State Senate. He became Vermont Governor in 1902, turning the Park-McCullough House into the Governor’s Mansion (Vermont is one of five states that does not have an official Governor’s Mansion). While business and politics were happening behind thick wooden pocket doors securing the Gentlemen’s Parlor, across the hallway in the Ladies Parlor, Lizzie, who according to volunteer docent Maria Martinez, was “fun to be around,” was receiving guests well into the day.

The Ladies Parlor was also the music room, and musical instruments can be seen in three of the four corners of the room. Near the front of the parlor sits a tabletop double stereopticon viewer that Martinez playfully suggested would have offered an opportunity for young courting couples to “accidently” brush knees. Adjacent to the Gentlemen’s Parlor is the game room which holds the family’s original English Billiards table. Every member played the game but according to Martinez, Lizzie and her father Trenor would engage in some particularly competitive games. In August 1891, eyes from around the country were on North Bennington when Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States, stayed for two nights with the family during the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument. In the dining room, a copy of the menu from the dinner with the President is on display.

Park-McCullough Historic Governors Mansion's interior doorway. The table is set with the evening’s dessert – a jelly cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – conjuring up an image of a well-trained, perhaps nervous staff which would have included local residents.

According to Polly Raine, Museum Director at Park-McCullough Historic Governor's Mansion, family records, many of which are preserved in the University of Vermont archives, show that the house and Hall Farm employed hundreds of members of the local community. The estate remained in family hands until 1965, when Mrs. Bess Johnson, the last family member to reside in the house, passed away.

For some, the property is where life happened.

“Their grandparent may have worked on Hall Farm, they were married here in the carriage barn, they had their baby shower here, or they’ve been taking family photos in the garden every year for decades,” Raine said, referring to the years after Mrs. Johnson’s death. “So many residents have deep histories here.” Raine’s passion for history and culture prompted her to dive deeper, speaking with local residents and learning about their connection to the property. The more she learned, the more she wanted to learn, triggering the Community Archives Initiative, a project that involves the gathering of memories, photographs, and artifacts tied to the Park-McCullough House. Currently, Raine is seeking oral histories, written accounts and photographs from those with memories connected to the

6 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Throughout the summer, Park-McCullough bustles with community-hosted and in-house programming, including Sunday Morning Yoga on the Lawn, Qigong Among the Trees, a croquet league, The Carriage Barn at Park-McCullough Reading Series in partnership with the Prospect Street Writers House and the Bennington Bookshop, and Living Room Theatre’s three-week production of The Tyrant Play (with performances moved to the Carriage House during inclement weather). The schedule also includes several self-hosted offerings such as History & Heritage Lunches, the Arts & Ancestry Circle, and Afternoon Teas on the Veranda—all currently being added to the calendar and expected to be live by publication. For those who are unable to physically visit the house, the organization is bringing the house to them courtesy of the digital age.

Recently, Park-McCullough joined Bloomberg Connects, a no-cost, ad-free mobile app developed by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The app serves as a digital guide, sharing content from more than 1,200 arts and cultural heritage sites around the world. Visitors can download the app using the QR code on the Park-McCullough website.

While the Free Admissions Initiative has covered the entrance fee to tour the Park-McCullough House during the 2026 season, the organization still needs support through donations and memberships. “We are a membership-based organization, and we invite everyone to join us in stewarding this special place as members of the Park-McCullough,” Rice said. “This season, we’ve introduced a new Pay-What-You-Will Membership, providing no minimum barrier of entry to become a member.”

There are varying levels of membership, and members at the sustainer level ($125) and above receive free or reduced admission to more than 1,400 museums across North America through the North American Reciprocal Museum Association. The Park-McCullough House has been a part of the fabric of the North Bennington community for 160 years. The property, with its grand mansion and park-like grounds, continues to invite visitors to share in a piece of small-town Vermont history and culture.

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Lodge in summer.

von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort Named to Historic Hotels of America’s 2026 Top 25 Most Magnificent Gardens List By Bob Schwartz STOWE, VT — The von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort is proud to announce its inclusion on the prestigious 2026 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America® Most Magnificent Gardens List, recognizing some of the most extraordinary historic hotel gardens across the United States. The annual list, curated by Historic Hotels of America®, celebrates properties whose gardens provide exceptional beauty, historical significance, and memorable guest experiences.

Nestled on 2,600 acres in Vermont’s Green Mountains, the gardens at the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort are a living reflection of the family’s Austrian heritage and enduring connection to the land. Originally designed by Maria von Trapp when the family established the lodge in 1950, the gardens feature winding pathways, alpine-inspired plantings, colorful flower terraces, and thoughtfully maintained spaces that have welcomed generations of visitors. Historic Hotels of America highlighted the property's cutting garden, vegetable gardens, pollinator-friendly plantings, and the family cemetery gardens as key elements that make the landscape uniquely meaningful and beautiful. “We are honored to be recognized among the nation’s most magnificent historic hotel gardens,” said Kristina von Trapp. “Our gardens have always been an important part of the guest experience and a reflection of the values that my grandmother instilled in the property—beauty, stewardship, and a deep appreciation for nature. This recognition celebrates the dedication of our grounds and gardening teams who work tirelessly to preserve and enhance these special spaces. We are proud of our gardens team, headed by Stephanie Locke, for helping us make this amazing list.” The gardens continue to play an important role in the resort’s daily operations and guest experience. Fresh flowers from the cutting garden are used throughout the lodge, while produce, herbs, and microgreens from the property's extensive vegetable gardens are incorporated into culinary offerings. Guests are invited to stroll the pathways, relax by the frog pond, enjoy the gazebo and pergola areas, 8 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

and experience the peaceful setting that has become a hallmark of the resort. The recognition comes just two years after the resort’s induction into Historic Hotels of America, further highlighting the property's commitment to preserving its history while creating memorable experiences for guests from around the world. For more information about the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort, visit the lodge’s website or contact the resort directly.

About the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort

Founded in 1950 by the von Trapp family, whose story inspired The Sound of Music, the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort is a four-season destination in Stowe, Vermont. Situated on 2,600 acres, the property offers Austrian-inspired hospitality, outdoor recreation, farm-to-table experiences, and breathtaking mountain views while preserving the family’s rich history and traditions.

The gardens in summer.

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Dorset Quarry.

Southern Vermont's Must-Visit Swimming Spots

By Xander Belogour, Vermont Country correspondent

Summer in Vermont is synonymous with swimming, and the state is home to countless rivers, streams, and other places to cool off. When the Green Mountains warm up, Vermonters trade their snow gear for swimsuits and head straight to these favorite spots:

A note of caution: Vermont's swimming holes are part of what makes summer here so special, but nature always deserves respect. Conditions can change quickly depending on the weather. Swim with a friend, keep a close eye on children, and use good judgment when exploring these beloved local spots. A little caution helps ensure these treasured places remain safe and enjoyable for everyone. Remember to pick up any litter you may bring to help keep our spots pristine.

Guilford: Green River Covered Bridge and Timber Dam

Perhaps one of Southern Vermont’s most quintessential spots is the Green River Covered Bridge and Timber Dam. Nestled deep in the valleys of Guilford, the Green River flows through the mountains of southern Vermont, and its clear, cool water is certainly a favorite for locals and visitors alike. The timber dam and covered bridge frame the main swimming hole on either side. A waterfall complements the view, and after wading through chest-high portions of the hole, a local custom is to sit beneath the falls for a free back massage. Parking is available by the bridge and down along River Road. The dam is a minute walk from Sheppie’s Meadow, a perfect spot for a quick walk or picnic amidst the pink and white summer hydrangeas.

Whitingham: Harriman Reservoir

A lesser-known spot still perfect for a day in the water or a quick dip is the Harriman Reservoir, specifically the Harriman Reservoir Car 10 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Top Carry-In Access Boat Ramp in Whitingham. After a brisk on-trail 2-minute walk, visitors can explore a stone outcrop and views of the vast Reservoir.

Various picnic tables and grills are on site, and nearby hiking trails are easily accessible by foot or car, making this spot ideal for a family day trip. The reservoir and nearby boat launch sites give this spot the potential for both a big lake-day trip and a more sequestered swimming-hole feel.

Dummerston: West River

Beneath the historic Dummerston Covered Bridge, the longest covered bridge in Vermont, is a spot known for its rocky beaches and lazy river. Currents here don’t flow too fast, and the water is just deep enough to wade through to search for deeper pockets to swim in.

Parking is ample off Route 30. Easy car access means this spot is good for bringing a floaty on the river or having a picnic on the beach. Still, visitors are advised to be mindful of taking their garbage back with them after they leave.

Jamaica: Salmon Hole

Salmon Hole is located in Jamaica State Park, where the river is slow-moving and clear. This swimming hole, part of the West River, is deep enough to swim in after a hike on the surrounding state park trails. Sandy and rocky beaches make Salmon Hole a perfect spot to cool off in, especially in hot weather. The park has well-maintained bathrooms nearby, and no dogs or fishing are allowed on site to maintain the spot’s tranquility. Travelers who venture to Salmon Hole can walk the four-mile trail to see Hamilton Falls. The spot is a mile from Jamaica’s town center, where visitors can stop for a quick lunch or coffee in the town’s local shops and restaurants.

Dorset: Dorset Marble Quarry

One of the most famous swimming spots in the state can be a bit crowded at times, but it is still a must-visit for travelers seeking a unique experience swimming in the country’s first commercial quarry, which opened in 1785. When commercial marble extraction stopped in the 1920s, the site gradually filled with water until its height today, reaching up to 60’ deep in certain parts. Today, cliff jumping from the 25’ ledges, swimming, and diving are all popular activities in the especially deep, cold quarry water. There are a few portable toilets on site, and visitors should expect to pay for parking on weekends. Jumpers are asked to use cliff ledges responsibly and exercise their sound judgment.

Guilford Timber Dam.

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A Signature Day Spa: Your Ultimate Escape From The Daily Grind

By Douglas Cardoza, Vermont Country correspondent

Amidst the hustle, bustle, and stress of daily life, an oasis for the mind, body and soul can be found at A Signature Day Spa in Rutland, Vermont. This amazing spot of rejuvenation was founded in 2005 by a true visionary: Deanna McGinness. Using her 30+ years of experience in the world of beauty, health and rejuvenation as both background and inspiration, Ms. McGinness has created a true haven for the weary traveler. With a mantra that “Every guest deserves a unique experience”, A Signature Day Spa uses their gifts of intuition and understanding to customize every treatment to each visitor's specific needs. The relaxing experience begins before you even enter the establishment. Upon driving into the parking lot, you are greeted not by a sterile medical-looking building, but by what is perceived as a quaint home, surrounded with flowers and bushes, as if you were visiting a good friend. You then open the door and enter into a welcoming foyer filled with overstuffed couches, plants, and statues that create a relaxing atmosphere.

A Signature Day Spa is more than just an average spa. The staff is constantly updated and trained in the latest physical techniques and holistic regimens to treat the whole person. Plus, it is a continuing training center for those who have just earned their license. When asked, Ms. McGinness explained, “I think that one of the things that we do that a lot of salons or spas don't, is we do a lot of continuous education. When someone comes into our spa to work for us, we expand what they can do or their 'tool box' by teaching them everything that their license allows them to do. We have a massage program, a nail technician apprentice program, and we also have an aesthetics or facial apprenticeship program, and they continue to grow and expand, so that they can do almost everything on the menu.”

And “Whenever we have downtime, we have training days. We bring in models at discounted rates so our trainees can practice on them.”

Unlike many spas, A Signature Day Spa goes far beyond the average massage, facial or mani/pedi. “We are a spa, not a hair salon with a massage person or technician.” They currently have seven nail technicians, six massage therapists, and seven aestheticians, so if you want to come in for a couples or small group experience, they have, on average, more technicians than many other spas. This, of course, increases the chances of a client getting an appointment, rather than a spa where there is only one or two therapists or technicians.

However, the greatest thing about A Signature Day Spa is that they work together as a team. If someone has a vision or idea, they come together to work it out into a proper concept. This works wonderfully because rather than one single vision, it becomes multiple visions or ideas that can help the original vision become a reality. This has worked for such ideas as turning a classic pedicure into a “Signature pedicure” that includes a personalized box containing the customer's own pedicure soak, scrub, mask, butter, and hydration paraffin cube. McGinness admits, “If it were just me, I would not have time to come up with all of that. When it is all of us, we get in a group, we decide, and we come up with something.” Whether it's for massage therapy, facials, men’s grooming services, Reiki energy work, lash and brow design, waxing, or detoxifying body therapies, A Signature Day Spa is the perfect destination for people who want to get away and escape. Appointments can be booked online, and it is well worth the experience.

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VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 13

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Photo provided by Dorset Theatre Festival.

14 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Desi Oakley as Roxy in Chicago.

The Season Finale: Welcoming Director M. Bevin O’Gara to Dorset By Vermont Country staff in collaboration with Dorset Theatre Festival artistic leadership

M. Bevin O'Gara

In the director’s chair is M. Bevin O’Gara, the veteran theater director and producer who helmed last season’s world premiere of Salvage. This production marks O’Gara’s second time directing at the historic Dorset Playhouse. Just weeks before heading into the rehearsal room with her company of actors, Vermont Country Magazine caught up with O’Gara to talk first impressions, the pull of live theater, and her love of all things Vermont.

On First Impressions of the Characters

Vermont Country Magazine: Kenneth Lonergan is famous for his hyper-realistic, beautifully flawed characters. Lobby Hero is an ensemble piece, but as you prepare to dive into rehearsals, what was your initial reaction to the main character, Jeff, and what are you most looking forward to exploring about his mix of humor and personal stagnation? M. Bevin O’Gara: First, I love that you refer to this as an ensemble piece. One of the things I get most excited about as a director is working on true ensemble pieces that put equal weight on a variety of individuals and ideas; there is something I find very interesting about that kind of group dynamic.

In terms of Jeff, he is someone who is looking for motivation and aspiration. He has had a string of bad luck, is dealing with outside forces, and constantly compares himself to a lot of different people—which is always a recipe for disaster. The way he tackles these challenges is by always laughing, telling jokes, and turning on the charm. I love the juxtaposition of someone who is deeply hurt, unfocused, and wanting something better without having the proper tools to get it, and then hiding all of that behind humor.

I also love how the other characters bring out different elements in him. There is the humorous mask he puts on for his boss or the cop, which contrasts with the vulnerability he ultimately shows to Dawn. This is a play that explores different versions of masculinity, and I am particularly excited about how Dawn comes in and shakes up those expectations for each of the three men, especially Jeff. She allows him to tap into a different sense of self than we see with anyone else, moving from hiding behind his mask to ultimately showing her who he really is.

The other thing I love about Jeff, and find so exciting to think about in terms of his stagnation, is that he genuinely believes he is trying to get his life together. Whether or not we agree with his tactics, or even agree that he is successfully doing it, in his heart of

hearts, he thinks he is. That is something I am very interested in exploring.

Lee Aaron Rosen

Ugo Chukwu

Tobias Segal

Carmen Flood

The Festival’s season finale features a powerhouse four-person ensemble celebrated for their work in major film franchises and critically acclaimed dramas. The cast includes Tobias Segal, a Drama Desk nominee well known as Earl in John Wick (Chapters 2 & 3), and Lee Aaron Rosen, a Broadway veteran seen in The Normal Heart and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Rounding out the ensemble are Ugo Chukwu, featured in the Tony-winning national tour of Oklahoma! and the celebrated Off-Broadway VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 15

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Dorset Theatre Festival is preparing to close its 49th summer season with a powerhouse finale: Kenneth Lonergan’s sharp comedy-drama, Lobby Hero (August 21 – September 5, 2026). Written by the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Manchester by the Sea, the play follows Jeff, a drifting Manhattan security guard drawn into a high-stakes moral dilemma.

production of Primary Trust, and Carmen Flood, widely known for her starring role in the Netflix comedy series Brews Brothers.

Creating in the Mountains

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

VCM: This summer marks your second time working at the Dorset Playhouse, which has such a rich legacy in New England regional theater. You’ve been an artistic director, a producer at large companies, and an educator in addition to directing. Regardless of the role you’re playing, what are you hungriest for when it comes to the collaborative energy of a four-person stage rehearsal? And how does the unique, intimate energy of the Playhouse contribute to that process?

MBO: I am so thrilled to be returning to Dorset this year. It is a place I wanted to work for a really long time, and last year exceeded all my expectations. I am just so happy to return to a company that is as warm, caring, and thoughtful as the team at Dorset; it is a real professional gift to be able to return to the Festival.

As for the collaborative energy, I just love a group dynamic and true ensemble shows. While Jeff is our protagonist, these are four equally weighted characters with M. Bevin O’Gara in rehearsal equally complex for SALVAGE by Lena Kaminsky and compelling during the 2025 Festival Season journeys. I am with actor Robbie Sublett really interested in how the play asks questions about our individual responsibility to fix or address the flaws in the system. All of these characters are doing what they think is right, and what is fascinating is how certain they are of their choices at some points, how much they question them at others, and how the play creates a seesaw of right and wrong. I am incredibly excited to develop that dynamic with four different individuals.

I also love that this will be a piece where audiences go away debating what the truth was, who was right, and who was wrong. Many people will have different opinions, and that is always an exciting thing to craft. I look forward to talking a lot about the mess that happens in the gray space between the rules and the truth. Are you being loyal? Are you being truthful? Those are the questions I am interested in exploring. It’s a funny play, so I also look forward to laughing in the room with a group of tremendous artists.

The Gray Areas of Morality

VCM: Lobby Hero deals with truth, loyalty, and regular people under pressure. As a director looking at this script today, how do 16 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

you think Lonergan’s themes of everyday heroism and institutional compromise will strike a chord with modern audiences?

MBO: In terms of its resonance today, I think we are currently asking a lot of questions about personal responsibility, culpability, and what it truly means to be a hero. This play wrestles with those concepts, making it even more poignant to explore at this moment. When the play was written in 2001, conversations about truth and loyalty looked a bit different, but today, they feel even more vital. The show is about regular people grappling with these massive ideas, and given where the world is right now, I can't think of a more timely conversation for us to be having.

Loving Vermont

T. Charles Erikson

Robbie Sublett, Eva Kaminsky, and Marcia DeBonis in Salvage by Lena Kaminsky, directed by M. Bevin O'Gara.

VCM: Your family has a long connection with the Dorset community. Outside of the rehearsal room, what are you most looking forward to exploring in the Green Mountains, and is there anything specific on your Vermont summer bucket list? MBO: There are so many things I love about Dorset. My parents have been a part of the community for two decades now, and it has become one of my favorite places in the entire world. I actually got married at the Barrows House a number of years ago!

This summer, I am looking forward to taking advantage of a wonderful housing perk—the pool at the Barrows House—with my son, who will be joining me. I am also excited for him to have the chance to play in the treehouse my parents have for him. The Dorset Quarry is another one of my absolute favorite spots, though unfortunately, we won't spend too much time there this year since my son is only six and isn't quite ready for that level of swimming yet.

Instead, we love visiting the animals at North Meadow Farm, and we recently discovered the Manchester skate park, so we will be spending a lot of time there, as well as at the Manchester library. The list could go on and on. This area really is my happy place, and I am so grateful to be able to create work here surrounded by my family. To be able to do this as both a working professional and a full-time mom is just such a gift.

Dorset Playhouse.

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 17

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Always — Patsy Cline.

Hubert Schriebl

Almost Heaven.

Owen Leavey

90 Years of Storytelling

Weston Theater Company Celebrates a Landmark Season

By Ahmad Yassir,

Vermont Country Magazine In a village of just a few hundred residents, audiences have been gathering for nearly nine decades to experience something timeless: the shared magic of live theater.

This year, Weston Theater Company celebrates its 90th season, marking an extraordinary milestone not only for the organization itself, but for Vermont's cultural landscape. From its earliest days during the Great Depression to its current role as one of the nation's most respected regional theaters, Weston has remained rooted in a simple idea: bringing people together through stories.

The theater's origins trace back to a time when Weston was largely isolated during long Vermont winters. Residents gathered to stage productions that connected them to worlds beyond the surrounding hills. A former church, renovated by Weston-born architect Raymond Austin for the town's dramatic club, eventually became home to the theater's first professional summer season under director Harlan Grant in 1937.

Over the decades, the theater persevered through wartime uncertainty, devastat-

ing fires, floods and changing cultural landscapes. Families including the Walkers, the Lloyds, and many others helped build a theater that grew in reputation while never losing its connection to community.

By the 1950s, the Weston Playhouse had become a destination for visitors traveling throughout Southern Vermont. The pathway between Walker Farm and the Playhouse became known as the "Avenue of the Stars," reflecting the growing number of notable performers who found their way to Weston. A major transformation came under the three-decade leadership of Malcolm Ewen, Tim Fort and Steve Stettler, starting in 1988. During that era, Weston evolved into a fully professional theater known for bringing Broadway-caliber talent to Vermont while maintaining its welcoming, community-centered spirit. Audiences came to know Weston as the home of "Broadway in Vermont."

The next chapter began in 2017 with the opening of a second venue at Walker Farm, creating a year-round center for the arts that expanded the organization's educational programming, original works development and community

18 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

engagement. In 2021, the organization formally became Weston Theater Company, reflecting a broader mission that extended beyond a single stage. Today, the company welcomes more than 15,000 visitors annually, connecting Weston to audiences from across Vermont and beyond.

That commitment to connection sits at the heart of Season 90.

For nine decades, Weston has been a place where strangers become neighbors and where conversations continue long after the curtain falls. This anniversary season celebrates that legacy while looking toward the future through a diverse lineup of productions, artists and events. By the time this issue reaches readers, audiences will have already enjoyed the season's opening productions, Ring of Fire and Schoolhouse Rock Live!, which launched the anniversary year with music, storytelling, and family-friendly entertainment. Still to come is one of the most celebrated musicals of the modern era, and a show celebrating its own 30th Anniversary

From July 22 through Aug. 16, Weston presents Rent, Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking rock musical that transformed American theater. Set in New York City's East Village during the AIDS crisis, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning production follows a group of friends navigating love, loss, creativity, and chosen family. Nearly 30 years after its debut, Rent remains as urgent, heartfelt, and exhilarating as ever.

Later in the season, from Aug. 26 through Sept. 6, audiences can experience Primary Trust by Eboni Booth. Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play follows Kenneth, a man whose carefully structured life is sud-

Hair.

Owen Leavey

White Christmas.

denly disrupted, forcing him to confront change, vulnerability, and the possibility of deeper connection. Both moving and unexpectedly funny, the production offers an intimate reflection on friendship, resilience, and personal transformation.

Beyond the mainstage productions, Weston continues to offer opportunities for audiences to engage with artists and ideas through its Spotlight Sessions series and special events. Summer highlights include performances by celebrated Weston and Broadway artists Margo Seibert, Jefferson McDonald, and Julie Benko, as well as an appearance by Pulitzer-Prize Winning journalist for The New York times, author David E.

Hubert Schriebl

Owen Leavey

Sanger. The season culminates with The Stick Season Gala in October.

As Weston Theater Company celebrates 90 years, its mission remains remarkably consistent: to create theater that engages, entertains, and inspires an ever-expanding community. For residents, second-home owners, and visitors alike, the theater remains one of Southern Vermont's most enduring cultural destinations, a place where the lights dim, the curtain rises, and stories continue to bring people together. For tickets, subscriptions, and season information, visit westontheater.org or contact the box office at 802-824-5288.

Almost Heaven.

Owen Leavey

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

A Distinct Society.

Navigating Life’s Push and Pull

The Remarkable Journey of Pianist and Teacher Tony Lu Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

By Jeff McRae

Vermont Country Magazine Though I’m a drummer and knew a lot of the musicians and venue owners in the Shires, I’d never had reason to meet Polly van der Linde. I’d heard of her piano camps and gigged pretty regularly with one of her teachers, Matt Edwards, who’d recently bent my ear about another faculty member, a guy named Tony Lu. “He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.” We are fortunate, in southern Vermont, to be home to a lot of highly skilled musicians. One did not generally first refer to them by their brains. “Why do you say that?”

“He grew up in China and studied at Bennington College and earned a Masters in Piano Performance from Austin Peay State University. He also teaches math at the Hoosac School,” he said. “And he’s blind.”

Tony Lu is seated at a grand piano, conducting a master class to a group of adult students at the Sonata Piano Camp. Though blind, his computer, paired to a large screen, is full of opened tabs, visual aids for his lessons. He’s speaking about the musical “push and pull” in a passage of nebulous Scriabin. “You want the music to move you, you don’t want to move the music. Don’t superimpose something on top of it. Let it move you.”

Lu at the piano.

Photos by Jeff McRae, Vermont Country.

I find a chair and observe the handful of mostly retirement-aged adult students taking notes. At the conclusion, I shake his outstretched hand while van der Linde, owner of Sonatina and Sonata Piano Camps, makes the introductions and leads us into an adjacent room full of couches for our interview. “I teach math, history and music at the Hoosac School,” he says referring to the nearby private boarding school just over the state line in New York. “At Bennington College, I earned degrees in all three subjects. They were very open to it.”

Lu tells his story over lunch.

Tony Lu discusses the finer points.

20 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

I was familiar with the Bennington model where students blended subjects into a unique course of study. I hadn’t heard of someone earn-

ing triple degrees.

“Sometimes I try not to connect everything I teach,” he said. “My approach is more invested in how you think about things. My teaching here at the camp has little to do with music history, on the surface. But I mix it in. When I play music, I tell people I’m never thinking about functions and equations. My brain is full of music. But it’s the logical steps you put into math that connect.”

“So, I was sort of homeschooled though homeschooling wasn’t really a thing in China at the time. My parents and grandparents just figured out something. Because sports weren’t an option, they were like, ‘Ok, we’ll try piano,’ and I liked it. Finding a teacher, though, was challenging.” “My parents hired college students to give me lessons but I struggled to memorize the music. I didn’t really practice until later when phones developed recording features. Then, one teacher would record one-minute clips and tell me I was going to have to figure them out.” “Over time, I found a way to do it. By the time I learned about music braille, I was working on pieces that were too complicated. The braille system stops around the intermediate level.”

His life is a seeming non-stop string of teaching engagements. He teaches students of every age and at every level. In addition to the music camps and his math gig at the Hoosac School, he offers in-person and online lessons.

“Tony has been a great colleague at Hoosac,” says Kevin Robichaud, Asst. Headmaster and fellow math department teacher. “He is incredibly dedicated to his students and is teaching in some capacity almost year-round.” On top of Lu’s math classes, one of last year’s music targets was to secure at least a dozen piano students for him at Hoosac. Instead, he attracted over 60.

“Some people joke that I’m crazy because I never stop,” he says. “I’m always doing something. A lot of it is that you don’t view what you’re doing as one thing that you finish and then go on to the next thing. They’re all connected.”

Tony’s life has found its holistic rhythm in the States. His blindness requires daily assistance but he is supported by people who value his talents and will do what it takes to keep him around. He lives in one half of a duplex about a

dozen miles away, owned by one of van der Linde’s sons, Taylor Cobb, who now runs the Summer Sonatina camp. He drives Tony back and forth to Old Bennington. Previously, Polly housed Tony at the mansion and former convent where the immensely popular camps are held and where she maintains a residence. Tony memorized the house layout on his first visit.

While at camp, Tony relies on van der Linde to tell him his daily teaching schedule, kept on the wall. “We can email it to him, too,” she says. “We find ways.” “It’s so rare in the music world to have someone who can lecture. It really is. So, we needed to find a way (to keep him) and we found it,” she says. Van der Linde introduced Lu to the Headmaster of Hoosac and explained how a cooperative employment would help him to remain in the area where he was happy and where he could continue to develop his vocation at both institutions. And so, it came to be.

“I made some visits home to China during summer breaks at Bennington College. I would do some light teaching, usually piano, and some advising about American colleges. Around 2018 the environment there changed. The government gave every Chinese citizen a social credit score so they could track your activity all the time.”

According to Stanford University, “China's social credit system is a broad, data-driven governance strategy designed to track, eval-

Student's in Lu's Sonata Masterclass. VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 21

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

“I was 5 and a half when I started playing piano. My early training began because my parents wanted me to do something and that something came about because no schools wanted to deal with a blind kid.”

“I was already reading on my own and talking to my teachers about this little letter that Chopin wrote and my teacher wasn’t interested–she was like, ‘Let's get back to the nocturne.’ That’s when I discovered that I was interested in music in a way that not everyone else was.”

uate, and rate the ‘trustworthiness’ of individuals, businesses, and government institutions. It operates as a decentralized network of regulations, blacklists, and reward mechanisms…applied to every citizen.” Fall Foliage

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“When I was ready to fly back to the U.S., an immigration officer stopped me and said my score had been lowered and I was banned from flying. I found out the day they dropped my score and I tracked back to what I was doing. I was giving lessons with that teacher. I eventually discovered that her husband was a government official. She reported me.” “So, my parents took me to Hong Kong by the slow train because I was banned from high speed rail, too. I eventually flew out and that was the last time I saw my parents.” Between his teaching duties, family separation (he has a younger sister) and navigating the logistics of blindness, Tony’s life is, like learning an instrument, a process of mastery and refinement.

Bennington Museum

Bennington Monument

“I remember my parents telling me, from when I was really young, ‘You will always find a way.’ So that’s what I do. I look for ways, for solutions.” His restrictions affect his parents, too. Repeatedly using the same internet account could attract government attention at home. They must find new ways to stay in touch with their child on the far side of the world.

Old First Church

Unique Lodging

“The part that made me not feel extremely bad was that that teacher reported me about my teaching method,” he says. “She felt I was spreading Western ideology to young students. My method was so different from the Chinese teaching method.” “I made students open up with directions like, ‘this little section should be told like it’s a story,’ and that’s not so Chinese at all. In the Chinese method, the teacher gives you instruction and you just receive it.”

Craft Breweries

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“I would give instruction but would also encourage the students to talk with me and give me their opinions. It took time for the adults to open up and make interesting stories out of the music, but in that, I think I did the right thing.”

“I do want to inspire students to find whatever their voice is. In music, it has a lot to do with interpretation and what their approach is. In math they’re forming arguments, as well. I try to help them discover themselves with whatever they’re working on.” PHOTO CREDIT: CRAFT BREWERIES BY GREG NESBIT, © MARU LEÓN DESIGN

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Snow Playgrounds

Theatre

“I ‘got in trouble’ with a piano teacher there because I taught an ‘improper’ class,” Tony says between mouthfuls of salad. “I was working with her students and noticed that, for some reason, she was not really friendly after the lessons.”

Walkable Downtown

Covered Bridges

“Music needs some push and pull. I’m talking about sensing that nuance. Learning is about process and that process sometimes takes a long time.”

Maybe life needs some push and pull to keep it going, to give it meaning. In art, restriction often demands creative innovation. Lu’s had plenty of cause to argue with circumstance. Instead, his pragmatic sensibility coupled with a sturdy optimism and a habit of inquiry has led him to a place of balance, at least for now, with life’s elegant tensions.

Plan your visit! Bennington’s Online Visitor Guide

22 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Jeff McRae is a reporter for the Manchester Journal and Bennington Banner. He’s worked as a fly rod builder, a copywriter, an employment consultant and for fifteen years as a creative writing and literature adjunct professor. His book, The Kingdom Where No One Dies, was shortlisted for the Vermont Book Award in Poetry. An active musician, he also performs in theaters, clubs and concert halls throughout New England.

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Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

The House on the Hill Where Writers Find Their Way: Inside Prospect Street Writers House

By Danielle M. Crosier, Vermont Country Magazine. NORTH BENNINGTON — Perched atop a North Bennington hillside located just steps away from the picturesque back entrance to Bennington College, sits the Prospect Street Writers House – its sunny yellow door offering a promise of what is inside. Once a former nursing home, where stories lived their final chapters, light now pours through the tall windows. The coffee steams on the counter, and the quiet hum overheard isn’t of machines or televisions — it’s of people making sentences.

Once a place of endings, the building now houses an airy, award-winning residency where writers come for a week or two at a time – to work, to replenish, to find each other, and to build new stories. The Prospect Street Writers House is the late‑in‑life “senior project” of a onetime New York finance professional who reinvented himself as a poet and literary host. After an MFA program experience changed his life, Hansmann bought the derelict building in 2018 and spent years transforming it into a writers residency. With no mandatory programming and

Photos by Danielle M. Crosier – Vermont Country

24 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Perched atop a North Bennington hillside located just steps away from the picturesque back entrance to Bennington College, sits the Prospect Writers House – its brilliant yellow door offering a promise of what is inside.

dinners cooked five nights a week by a local chef, the house offers something rare in a noisy world — the time, the place, the space, and the kind of friendships that can shape a writing life.

For its founder, V. Hansmann, the Prospect Writers House offers the answer to a question that haunted him after retirement: What now? “I was retired,” he said, offering a wry smile. “And retirement is just an antechamber for death. And, when I was put out to pasture," said Hansmann, laughing, "I decided that I was going to be the English major I always intended to be. So, I applied to the Bennington College writing seminars." It was then and there that Hansmann saw the old nursing home on the hill, noticed it again years later, and began to

dream of his next chapter.

The building had sat on the market for five years. To most people it looked like a wreck but, to Hansmann – it offered a blank page.

By December 2018, it was his. Construction began the following June with Centerline Architects of Bennington. And, providing architect Gary Corey with simple instructions – 12 bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, an all‑purpose room, and a library – Hansmann felt secure in the vision. “A lot of this is just him,” Hansmann said of the transformational design, which later won an award from the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “But, Gary Corey – he got me.” By March of 2020 – just as the pandemic hit – Hansmann had sold his New York apartment, moved into a rental in downtown Bennington, and “bore witness” as his vision came to life. Construction wrapped up in June of 2021 and, by June of 2022, Prospect Writers House was welcoming its very first paying guests.

The model for the business is deliberately simple. From early May through mid‑November, Prospect Street Writers House offers one‑ and two‑week residencies. A typical stay is six nights; with two‑week residents doubling it. “We’re appealing to people with jobs, and to moms,” Hansmann said, noting that moms can "get the mother‑in‑law to take the kids for a week, but not for a whole month.” Unlike many residencies, however, there’s no formal programming.

Natural light floods the Prospect Street Writers House in North Bennington, as bees buzz busily in the plantings outdoors. “They just come here and do their work,” he explained. “We offer them dinner, but not breakfast and lunch, and we just stay out of their way. There are no lectures or readings or nonsense in the evenings. And, everybody gets work done.”

Dinner is prepared five nights a week by chef Amy Buckley, formerly of the Brown Cow Café on Main Street.

The house has 12 bedrooms grouped into suites, and each suite hosts a shared sitting room and kitchenette. Most rooms have private baths. Sunlight washes across and through the large bedroom windows; dappled glass in the bathrooms protects privacy without blocking light. On the porch, rocking chairs face the steep slope to the village. In the library, shelves rise to the ceiling. And, in the open kitchen, folks gather in the casual familial atmosphere as dinner is prepared. There’s also the yellow‑door motif, which has become both a brand and a metaphor. Prospect Street’s Yellow Door Fellowships fund 12 fully paid residencies a year – at last round, 90 writers applied. With managing director Gary Clark, formerly of Vermont Studio Center, Hansmann now also offers financial aid to many who have been unable to secure a fellowship. “Gary’s idea is to follow up with the people who didn’t get the fellowships and tell them, you’ve been admitted,” V says. “We offer financial aid, if you still want to come.”

Sometimes, residents arrive alone and leave with new friends and future collaborators – and that’s by design. Reaching for a line from poet and essayist Donald Hall, whose name graces the house’s main event room, “The friendship of writers is the history of a literature.”

“And, I try to do my best to embody that,” said Hansmann.

Although Hansmann has not yet published a book himself, a poetry collection might be in the works. In the meantime, his work is all around him – in the lines being drafted at the inviting tables, in the notes in the guest book, in the gentle hum of stimulating conversation, in the renewal offered by the welcoming space, and in the sturdy and warm reception of the yellow door on the hill.

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 25

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

“What I loved [about Bennington College's writing programs] were those residencies, and hanging out with smart people who were interested in making better sentences,” Hansmann recalled. “It was great. It was creative, it was intellectual – it was all kinds of stuff. And, I had fun building this — and now, I'm having fun as a businessman.”

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Memorial Hall reactivated with variety of programming

Photo by Ashley Schafer

Ian Campbell and his band perform at his album release show for "Rooted" in Memorial Hall.

By Chris Mays

Vermont Country Magazine Friends of Historic Memorial Hall is back in action, reshaping the townowned venue into a community arts hub.

"Our job is to become the cultural home for the valley," said Ian Campbell, board chairman. The nonprofit, long the steward of Memorial Hall, has mostly supported the Deerfield Valley Players by providing a venue and handling licensing. Other programming has been limited in recent years, but that is changing. Campbell became involved after Gretchen Havreluk, the town’s economic development consultant, asked for ideas to reactivate the Hall. He dis-

cussed possibilities with the Friends of Memorial Hall board and was invited to join and serve as chair.

Bringing experience in board, nonprofit and business management, Campbell told the board he could not promise sweeping changes but pledged, "we're going to start doing things." That commitment led the group to redefine itself as the town’s performing arts organization. A new approach pairs Memorial Hall programming with performances at other venues around the valley. By building relationships with different venues, organizers can match performers to spaces that suit the expected audience. This season’s calendar includes Deerfield Valley Players presenting "1776:

26 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

The Musical" from July 24 to Aug. 1; Rooted on Aug. 26; a fundraising gala for Friends of Memorial Hall on Oct. 10; and the Holiday Concert on Dec. 10.

Campbell said additional performances may be added, and the group is actively building an email list and social media following to share updates.

A priority for Campbell is engaging young people in the arts. Having seen gaps in arts education while living in San Diego and Denver, he has made youth programming a continuing focus.

One new offering, “Once Upon A Time at the Hall,” will present live storytelling for children. "It doesn't have to be a big production because kids don't necessarily need

that," Campbell said. "They want to hear stories in fun, funny ways, by people on stage. So dropping that into the Hall and bringing in kids all around the valley once a month has such a potential to engage kids in ways that they wouldn't otherwise."

Campbell has personal ties to the venue: he released his album “Rooted” at the Hall last year. The Rooted event will feature his band and other acts. Inspired by the HORDE Festival model, he hopes Rooted can grow into a multi-day, multi-venue festival across the valley, though that remains a longer-term dream. The Holiday Concert returns to the Hall after an absence.

"It probably went away during COVID and never ended up coming back," Campbell said. The program will start with an early, classic holiday set — "very Sinatra, Bing Crosby, that kind of stuff, old school holiday program," Campbell said — with carols sung on stage before an outdoor tree lighting and s'mores, followed by a holiday rock concert to benefit the Deerfield Valley Food Pantry. He hopes to arrange transportation for seniors to attend. "It's an ambitious night but I believe we can do it, as long as we can get the partnerships together," he said.

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Members of Deerfield Valley Players perform at the 2026 Season Preview in Memorial Hall.

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When a real estate listing on Zillow led Chatel to the old brick mill store in Bennington, "I came here on a Friday, and it was my first time in Bennington. I fell in love with the building, and by Monday we were in agreement.” Reimagining a mill store

The building, originally constructed in 1865, once served as a company store for mill workers who lived and labored nearby. Housing upstairs, commerce downstairs, and a classic New England mill configuration. Choosing the name “Mill Store 1865” came organically out of a desire to both honor that history and to signal a new chapter.

Vance Chatel

Originally, the first floor had been used as a bookstore. Builtin shelving lined the walls and a large counter dominating the center. In the first major overhaul of the space, Chatel tore them out, “I painted everything, I put in all new lighting, major electrical upgrades, major plumbing upgrades. Every window in the building is new.”

“This entire wall is what I’m calling the gallery wall,” Chatel said, waving at the long expanse of white space once lined with old shelving. “On this side of the space will be a gift shop and vintage home goods. Over there is more like a vintage home boutique, and here is mostly gifts. I’d call it ‘gifts for the creative home.’” Gifts for the creative home

Mill Store 1865 blends an art gallery, a vintage home boutique, and a creative gift shop in a historic former mill store, with a mission to inspire community and connection. The Mill Store’s retail side is deliberately playful and hands-on. Shelves and tables are packed with art books, paint-by-number kits inspired by master painters, children’s craft sets, origami kits, paper airplane books, Pantone-color journals, tarot decks, and crochet and knitting kits. “The gifts I’m choosing are about inspiration,” Chatel said, grinning and pulling down a granny-square crochet card deck that is expected to be a bestseller. “When I was a kid, my mom always bought us arts and crafts. I want people to come in and be inspired to make things.”

For Chatel, organizing and hosting workshops and small group gatherings will be central to that vision. Chatel envisions writing groups, art-making sessions, sewing classes, journaling circles, and spoken-word or “Moth”-style

storytelling nights, many of them informal, low-cost, or free.

“I want to do writing groups – maybe one night every two weeks – a free drop-in writing thing,” Chatel said. “People working with prompts, maybe sharing, maybe not. It’s just a way for people to get together.” “I get why people say it, but I find it really exciting. I find really interesting people here,” Chatel laughed, adding that his intention is to truly embrace the essence of the area and create collaborations.

Chatel sees Mill Store 1865 as a bridge between Benmont’s working-class corridor, the nearby community markets, businesses like Magnifico Home, and the historic district of Old Bennington up the hill. “Magnifico Home is right down the street, and I feel like she and I are going to set up a little district of creativity and artistic excitement,” Chatel added. "I’m all in.” Four painters to launch the gallery

The gallery, opening with the work of four regional painters – Kate McPhee of North Adams, Massachusetts; Bruce Chateau of Otis, Massachusetts; Danny Rodriguez of Arlington, Vermont; and Michael Purcell of Providence, Rhode Island – will be showcasing about 100 paintings through the end of the summer.

“I’m going to change the show every two months,” added Chatel, and it is easy to see the enthusiasm that he has for the arts. In October, The Mill Store will host something a little different – an exhibition of vintage Halloween costumes from a private collection of roughly 200 fragile pieces, some nearly 80 years old. Chatel has already begun conversations about collaborations with Southern Vermont businesses and he hopes to coordinate with a number of small galleries and workshops in the area to avoid duplication and strengthen the region’s arts ecosystem. Additionally, he feels ready, "Tourists are going to come here and love it, and locals will have a place that’s really theirs.” “This is my retirement,” Chatel added. “I don’t have a traditional retirement, so this is it. I’ve invested every penny I have into this place, and I want to spend the rest of my life doing this – cultivating creative growth for myself and others – right here in Mill Store 1865.”

Vintage glassware, clothing, and home goods round out the mix, with plans to expand into consignment and local heritage items. Cultivating creative growth — and community — in a departure from downtown

If the building is the body of Mill Store 1865, its mission is the heart. After caring for his mother through the end of her life, Chatel found himself repeating a personal mantra, “Cultivating creative growth for myself and others." “That’s what this space is really about,” Chatel said. “I want

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Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

“The gifts I’m choosing are about inspiration."

people to come in here and be inspired. The gifts, the workshops, the art – it’s all to inspire creativity.”

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

JAYS — Bennington Artisan Market Finds New Rhythm Under Local Stewardship

A South Street art supply shop evolves into a creative hub for makers, framing, and Vermont-made work

Susan Kachmar

Ahmad Yassir, Vermont Country Magazine

There is a particular kind of quiet that lives inside an art supply store, the soft friction of paper, the stacked geometry of frames, the smell of wood, pigment, and possibility. At JAYS — Bennington Artisan Market on 115 South Street in downtown Bennington, that quiet has shifted. It hasn’t disappeared. It has widened.

Since purchasing the 50-plus-year-old business on March 17, 2026, Jasen Frederickson has been reshaping the former Jay’s Art Shop into something both familiar and newly alive: a working studio-adjacent retail space where artists don’t just come to buy materials, but to linger, talk, sell and share what they are building.

Originally founded by Jay and Joan Zwynenburg, the shop long served as a dependable stop for art supplies and framing in the region. Frederickson says the intention now is not to reinvent that foundation, but to deepen it, aligning the store more closely with Bennington’s artistic identity, tourism culture, and long-standing maker community. “Art supplies are a great service to local makers and artists,” he noted, pointing to a renewed focus on the essentials: watercolors, acrylics, oils, brushes, paper, and tools for mark-making in nearly every medium. Greeting cards, puzzles, and Vermont branded souvenirs, and local and regional artisan goods now share space with those materials, reinforcing a broader sense of Vermontiana, objects that feel rooted in place.

Framing, once a defining service of the shop and partially diminished during the transition away from the Zwynenburg era, has also returned with new energy. Frederickson introduced an automated pricing system that standardizes framing quotes and, notably, has reduced costs by roughly 10–20 percent even as material expenses rise. At the counter, change is already visible in who is doing the work.

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Kristen Useted, long known to regulars as the welcoming presence behind the register, now leads the framing department. An artist herself, she stepped into the role after Frederickson recognized both her technical intuition and her ability to translate conversation into design. What was once a transactional service is now a guided process, shaped by dialogue between maker and framer. That shift, from transaction to exchange, defines the new character of JAYS. Artists now bring work not only for framing or supplies, but for conversation. Some leave with materials. Others leave with commissions, connections, or the possibility of showing work in-store. The shop has begun hosting artist receptions, further blurring the line between retail space and creative gathering point. “It used to feel like people came in, completed a purchase, and left,” Frederickson said. “Now it feels like people stay.”

The store itself has become more intentionally scaled, with a reduced footprint that prioritizes quality over quantity. The goal is less about volume and more about curation, materials chosen with care, Vermont-made products integrated into the shelves, and an atmosphere that supports both working artists and visiting travelers looking for something made locally.

At the same time, Frederickson is continuing to expand the framing side with new materials, including samples sourced from Italy, signaling a balance between local focus and global craft standards.

What emerges is a business that functions like a studio in motion, part supply house, part gallery, part gathering place. Painters, photographers, printmakers, fabric artists, glassworkers, and even doll makers now appear in its orbit, contributing to a growing sense that JAYS is not just selling art tools, but participating in the making of art itself. In a town long shaped by creative industry, JAYS — Bennington Artisan Market is becoming something more than a shop on South Street. It is, increasingly, a place where art begins before the first brushstroke is ever made.

Vermont Film & Folklore Festival Finds a New Home in Bennington

Vermont Country Magazine The Vermont Film & Folklore Festival was built around that idea, that storytelling remains one of the most powerful ways people connect with one another. This fall, the festival enters an exciting new chapter as it brings its celebration of film, folklore and the joy of storytelling to Bennington.

The Vermont Film & Folklore Festival will move to Bennington for its 2026 edition, taking place Nov. 5-8 at Bennington Theater. Founded in 2024 by Tim Rhys and Karol Martestko-Fenster, the festival has quickly established itself as a destination for independent filmmakers and audiences, bringing international cinema to Southern Vermont while celebrating the power of story on screen. After two successful years in Manchester,

the festival will now operate under the stewardship of Bennington Theater, which will oversee production, operations, fundraising and long-term planning.

"This is an exciting and natural evolution," said Kaiya Kirk, executive director of Bennington Theater. "The Festival already reflects so much of what Bennington Theater stands for, storytelling, connection and artistic curiosity. By bringing it under our umbrella, we are positioning it for thoughtful growth while honoring the vision that Tim established. The Festival in 2026 will be our strongest yet." Rhys will remain actively involved in an advisory role, helping guide the festival's artistic direction while supporting sponsorship and partnership development. "From the beginning, this festival was built to grow beyond its Manchester roots,"

said Rhys. "Partnering with Bennington Theater ensures the Festival has the organizational infrastructure, community reach and resources it needs to thrive for years to come." The move places the festival inside Bennington Theater's intimate 135-seat black box venue, offering audiences a close connection to filmmakers, screenings and discussions throughout the four-day event. Organizers describe the event as a celebration of creativity, culture and independent voices from around the world. Film submissions for the 2026 festival are now open, with additional programming announcements expected in the coming months.

To explore the full schedule, purchase tickets and follow festival announcements, visit BenningtonTheater.org

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Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

By Ahmad Yassir,

Southern Vermont Arts & Culture Scene

Photos by Danny Zaffarano.

Public Art, All Year Long ArtsFest Celebrates Creativity Along Downtown Bennington's Riverwalk

By Ahmad Yassir, Vermont Country Magazine.

In many communities, experiencing art requires registering for a class, attending a workshop, or purchasing admission to a museum or gallery. In Bennington, art is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. You can find it in storefront windows, community spaces, public installations, and along the paths people walk every day. That growing commitment to making art accessible is the inspiration behind ArtsFest, Downtown Bennington's newest annual event. Presented by the Better Bennington Corporation, ArtsFest will take place on Saturday, July 25, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Downtown Bennington Riverwalk, located behind the Bank of Bennington at 155 North St.

The event was created to celebrate the artists, organizations, and creative institutions that make Bennington one of Vermont's most vibrant arts communities. Unlike many festivals, ArtsFest does not include vendors. Instead, the afternoon is dedicated entirely to participation, creativity, and connection through performances, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and opportunities to engage directly with local arts organizations. The festival also highlights the Better Bennington Corporation's growing investment in public art and downtown beautification through meaningful partnerships and community-driven projects. One example is the Barn Quilt Project, which has brought more than 20 colorful quilt-inspired panels to buildings throughout downtown. The works, painted on either 2-by2-foot or 4-by-4-foot panels, showcase traditional folk-art patterns while adding visual interest and local character to the streetscape. Another major initiative has been the revitalization of the Downtown Bennington Riverwalk. Since 2021, the Better Bennington

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Corporation has worked with community partners to reimagine the space as a more vibrant public destination. That effort led to a partnership with the North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show (NBOSS), establishing the Riverwalk as the exhibition's third primary site alongside North Bennington and the Bennington Museum. What began with four inaugural sculptures has steadily expanded to eight works and now features 14 sculptures throughout the Riverwalk corridor.

The biggest development for 2026 is that all 14 sculptures will remain on view year-round, from June 2026 through June 2027. The change transforms Downtown Bennington into a destination for public art in every season and ensures that residents and visitors can experience sculpture long after the traditional exhibition season ends. ArtsFest serves as the annual celebration of that partnership and the broader creative ecosystem that supports it.

This year's event will feature participation from many of the region's leading arts organizations and creative businesses. Visitors can explore youth theater opportunities through activities presented by Bennington Theater, participate in a pop-up workshop from Stacey Sherman Art Studio, and watch outdoor knitting and spinning demonstrations by King's Knit Wit. Additional participants include Bennington Museum, the Robert Frost Stone House Museum, The Left Bank Gallery, Vermont Arts Exchange, and other organizations offering information, activities, and opportunities to connect with their programming.

Together, they represent a shared belief that access to the arts is essential to a thriving community.

For one afternoon each summer, ArtsFest brings that vision into the open, inviting residents and visitors alike to discover, create, and celebrate the artistic spirit that continues to shape Downtown Bennington.

Summer Events

Garlic Town USA in Bennington, Vermont, held every Labor Day weekend. Photo by Lorianna Weathers, courtesy of the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce. VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 33

More Than Garlic: Inside Bennington's Beloved Labor Day Festival

By Anne Archer, Vermont Country correspondent

Garlic Town, USA in downtown Bennington is a Southern Vermont festival deep-rooted in tradition. For over 30 years, farmers have come together during Labor Day weekend to honor garlic, a vegetable found in countless dishes created by chefs who would seriously consider retiring if the sticking rose were to disappear.

Fortunately, there’s no need to worry because garlic isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Garlic Town, USA – an event that has become a staple to the region.

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“This is the Labor Day weekend event you don’t want to miss,” said Mikaela Lewis, event designer and manager at the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

In September, the festival will host some 7,500 visitors who will call on 130 vendors, listen to four Vermont bands, taste food from 25 food trucks, and partake in several family-friendly demonstrations – all while enjoying a cocktail or mocktail from Pearl’s at Village Garage. GARLIC VENDORS AND MORE

Garlic Town, USA vendors offer an endless variety of garlic in all forms – bulbs in bulk, in braids, in swags, in bouquets, and creatively added to spices and condiments – filling the festival grounds in downtown Bennington with the vegetable’s delightfully savory, earthy scent.

Photos by Lorianna Weathers,

courtesy of Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Many garlic vendors, like the Hardy Family Farm selling Marjean Certified Organic Garlic and Quill Hill Farm selling five varieties of fresh garlic and garlic seed, have been participating in This is year 11 for us,” said Laura Ramos of Quill Hill Farm. “Everyone comes in so passionate and excited about all things garlic with so many the festivities for years. longtime customers coming by to say hi.”

Quill Hill Farm gets creative with garlic, turning it into garlic scape pickles, garlic scape pesto, garlic powder blends including maple garlic powder, garlic herb, and chipotle garlic, and eye-catching black garlic.

While garlic is the theme of the event, artisan vendors are dotted throughout, selling handmade jewelry, décor, pottery, T-shirts, and candy. But it’s not all about shopping.

A demonstration tent teaches family-friendly activities like preparing charcuterie boards, making garlic salad dressings, and garlic trivia. Free samples of homemade garlic ice cream will also be on hand while supplies last. BANDS

The festival rocks with live music from Vermont-based musicians playing throughout the day.

Familiar favorites include singer-songwriter Julie Shea performing a mix of Americana, folk, and classic rock songs and Buck2Fifty entertaining the crowd with their smooth, Southern-flavored jazz sound. New this year are Castleton-based family band Bird Mountain String Band playing upbeat folky bluegrass and The Velvet Wave, Bennington’s own five-piece 1960s surf-rock band with a jamming guitar sound. 34 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

achieve "Near Zero Waste" status and setting its sights on becoming a fully Zero Waste event by 2027.

“Every piece of trash is brought to a hand sorting station with volunteers sorting between waste, recycling, or compostable food waste,” said Lewis, adding last year’s festival saved 4,000 pounds of waste from the landfill. Starting from a small gathering in Wilmington, Garlic Town, USA has transformed into a forward-thing festival that brings farmers, music, food, and fun together.

“We’re a 30-year-old festival and we’re not going anywhere anytime soon,” Lewis said. “This is still a really important tradition that happens each year.” FOOD TRUCKS

With 25 different food trucks, all preparing at least one garlic-themed dish, no one will go hungry.

Garlic Town, USA is on Saturday, September 5 at 113 Depot Street in Bennington from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To purchase tickets or for more information about parking, band schedule, vendors, and “Near Zero Waste,” please visit Garlic Town, USA.

Culinary options include dishes from Mediterranean, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and fair food favorites like fried dough, sausages, crab cakes, and freshly squeezed lemonade.

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Pearl’s at the Garage will be serving food, cocktails, and mocktails from their establishment, conveniently located by the band stage. They will also have a satellite bar near the vendors. NEAR ZERO WASTE

While Garlic Town, USA is rooted in tradition, organizers continue to find new ways to improve the festival experience. In recent years, the event has taken its composting and recycling efforts to the next level through partnerships with organizations such as the Solid Waste Alliance Communities Compost Committee, helping

President Calvin Coolidge STATE HISTORIC SITE

3780 Route 100A, Plymouth Notch (802) 672-1195

Adults: $12 Children (6-14): $4 Children (under 6): Free Family Pass (up to 6 people): $30

2026 Hours

Late May to Mid-October Tuesday-Sunday (closed Mondays) 10am-5pm To learn more, visit: historicsites.vermont.gov/ calvin-coolidge VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 35

180 Years of Family Fun:

The Vermont State Fair

By Danny Zaffarano, Vermont Country correspondent.

Summer Events

Even if the State Fair isn’t part of your annual plans there is something magical about the thought. It’s a recollection of carefree days, bright lights, fast rides, and every type of fried food you could imagine, and maybe a few you haven’t yet. And while you may not be able to buy much with a nickel, and attractions have come and gone, the Vermont State Fair still offers that nostalgia that only a state fair can.

5th Annual

Pickle Day Townshend Common, Townshend, VT

A Full Day of

FOOD, MUSIC, GAMES & PICKLES!

August 8th, Noon to 6:00pm Hosted by FinAllie Ferments

Free, family-friendly event, packed with flavor, fun and friendly competition the whole family will love! * Food & Craft Vendors * The Pickle Olympics * Bounce House

* Live Music & DJ Entertainment * Live Mural Painting * The Best Pickle in Town Contest

For more information or contest registration, visit www.finallieferments.com and click the Pickle Day tab

36 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Many Ways In, But They All Lead to Fun

The first thought when you get to the Rutland and see the Fair grounds is “Where do I park?” For this you have a few options. There are a couple of places on Park Street that will allow you to park for a fee, but the fair has ample parking within the grounds as well with entrances on Main Street and Dana Ave. An underground tunnel connects you from the car park to the fairgrounds.

What To Do First?

The Vermont State Fair offers various rides, carnival games, and shows. There are no bad options when it comes to deciding what to do first. From knocking over milk bottles to ringing a duck, test your skill and luck and maybe you will win the big prize.

Rides of all types are here for riders of all ages. From the Ferris Wheel to the Carousel. Some rides may be more intense than others.

And Beyond the Fun and Games?

There are a number of exhibits around the fairgrounds to educate and entertain.

Throughout the day demonstrations and live shows can be found throughout the fairgrounds.

At its heart The Vermont State Fair is an Agricultural Fair, so of course there will be animals as well as farm equipment and 4H exhibits.

And of course, what would a fair be without food? From grilled to fried to frozen you can eat your way from one end of the fair to another. Plan Your Trip Now

August 18th-22nd Rutland, Vermont. Come down and experience the magic of the Vermont State Fair. Plan your trip and view the full programming schedule at www.vermontstatefair.org

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Summer Events

16 JULY

Townshend, Vermont Celebrates the 5th Annual Pickle Day A fun day of food, music, games & pickles-August 8th, Noon to 6 pm

Summer Events

Get ready to pucker up, Vermont! FinAllie Ferments LLC is thrilled to announce the return of one of the Green Mountain State’s more beloved community celebrations: Pickle Day, now in its fifth delicious year. Mark your calendars for August 8th from Noon to 6:00 PM in the heart of Townshend, Vermont for a day packed with flavor, fun and friendly competition the whole family will love. .Since its humble beginnings five years ago, Pickle Day has grown into a cherished annual tradition that brings together neighbors, foodies, artisans, and pickle enthusiasts from across the region. This year’s event promises to be the biggest and best yet, with a jam-packed lineup of activities, entertainment, and -of course- plenty of pickles.

Food & Craft Vendors

Stoll through a curated marketplace featuring an array of local food vendors serving up delicious bites and refreshment alongside talented craft vendors showcasing handmade goods. Whether you’re hunting for your next favorite snack or a one-ofa-kind keepsake, Pickle Day’s vendor village has something for everyone.

The Pickle Olympics

Prepare the compete in the legendary Pickle Olympics- Pickle Day’s very own series of pickle themed year games! Test your skills, your speed, and your love of the brine in events designed to bring out your inner athlete (and inner pickle). Suitable for all ages and skill levels, the Pickle Olympics are pure, unadulterated fun.

Bounce House

The little ones won’t be left out! A bounce house will be on site to keep the kids entertained and energized throughout the afternoon.

Live Music & DJ Entertainment

Dance the afternoon away to the sounds of live brass band performances and a DJ spinning tracks to keep the energy high from noon until close. Whether you’re a two-stepper or a seat-dancer, the music 38 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

at Pickle Day will keep you moving all day long.

Love Mural Painting

Watch art come to life right before you eyes! Pickle Day will feature a love mural painting performance, where a local artist will create an original, one-of-a-kind mural throughout the day. Stop by at any point during the event to watch the work evolve, chat with the artist, and witness the magic of creation in real time. The completed mural will serve as a lasting tribute to Townshend’s community spirit and the joy of Pickle Day.

The Best Pickle in Town Contest

Think your pickles are the best in Windham County? Prove it! Enter your home-crafted pickles into out celebrated judging competition for the chance to claim the ultimate honor: the coveted Best Pickle in Town Trophy. Whether you favor a classic dill, spicy brine, or a surprising signature recipe, the judges want to taste your best work. Previous champions have come from all corners of the community-this year, it could be you.

How to participate

Vendors and pickle contest entrants can register online at www. finallieferments.com. Simply click the Pickle Day tab and follow the instructions. Spots are limited, so early registration is encouraged. Don’t miss your chance to be part of Townshend’s sweetest- and more brined- day of the year!

About Pickle Day

Pickle Day is an annual community celebration hosted by FinAllie Ferments LLC in Townshend, Vermont. Founded 5 years ago as a

180th

Vermont State Fair

August 18-22 Rutland, Vermont

For more information, vendor inquiries, or contest registration, visit www.finallieferments.com and click the Pickle Day tab.

Join us at the Vermont State Fair for amusement rides, Rosaire's Racing Pigs, magic shows, concerts, and more! The first Vermont State Fair took place in 1846, making it one of the oldest state fairs in the United States.

TICKETS AND MORE DETAILS: SCAN THE CODE OR VISIT VERMONTSTATEFAIR.ORG

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 39

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small local gathering, the event has grown into a regional favorite that draws visitors from throughout southern Vermont and beyond. Pickle Day is open to the public and free to attend, with vendor and contest registration available online. FinAllie Ferments LLC is committed to celebrating fermentation culture, supporting local artisans, and bringing the Townshend community together in the most delicious way possible.

Summer Events

Why Whitingham's Old Home Week Is Worth the Trip

By Xander Belogour

Vermont Country correspondent

WHITINGHAM — Every decade since 1906, Whitingham has honored its Old Home Week, a celebration dedicated to the community's history, culture, and the bonds that make up Whitingham.

This year's celebration—July 24 through 26— is special, coinciding with America's 250th

birthday. Honoring the occasion, organizers said this year's Old Home Week will certainly go off with a bang, promising a special show for visitors and locals alike. Old Home Week Chairwoman Amy Myers-Delaney said she began planning the event three years ago, drawing on her professional experience in corporate event planning. She said that after town officials put out a request for help, she volunteered

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to help plan. It takes a village, and she is grateful to all the other volunteers who are making the event come to life!

Myers-Delaney, a Jacksonville resident, said she used community input to make sure that the favorites returned this year to celebrate the country's milestone. "We are celebrating the 250th birthday of America through different activities. Usually,

"We are celebrating the 250th birthday of America through different activities. Usually, we do a large fireworks show, but this year's show is going to be bigger and better." Amy Myers-Delaney we do a large fireworks show, but this year's show is going to be bigger and better," she said. "The children's parade is coming back, along with the grand parade, all day entertainment including a dance with a live band."

The home base of the event is Twin Valley Middle High School with events happening around town including places like Town Hill. New this year to the festival is a food truck rally, as well as entertainment going from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, the 24th and Saturday, the 26th. The celebration will also see a plethora of kids' activities: a giant inflatable obstacle course, face painting and old-timey games for children.

"We're trying to beautify the town, and we have a town art project happening at Town Hill that everybody can join," said Myers-Delaney. "We're creating a tree out of all these hand prints, so visitors can leave their mark as part of this community mural."

The committee is planning for 1,000 or so attendees, a number calculated based on attendance in 2016, the last time Whitingham celebrated Old Home Week. "Although it’s a celebration of Whitingham," Myers-Delaney said, we welcome anybody who just wants to come have fun and celebrate with us." Indeed, Old Home Week's 120-year-old tradition has its roots in the many different villages and small towns around the area. Old Home Week is a homecoming event to celebrate everybody's unique history; a joyous excuse for everybody to come home

Numerous committees and oversight boards have finalized the full schedule for the three-day event, available online at https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/ P7mAgKkRV6t8v. Events, ranging from the firework show, live music, parades, food, and recreation, can be found below:

Friday, July 24 — Old Home Week begins with registration, art and history displays, local food vendors, family-friendly games and activities, and community attractions including a scavenger hunt and art project. The day will feature a children's parade, kids' entertainment, old-fashioned field games, dance and hula hoop activities, and special gatherings for community members. Evening festivities include live music followed by fireworks. Saturday, July 25 — Saturday's events include the community parade, food vendors, games and activities, a car show, historical and educational exhibits, and ongoing community attractions. Live entertainment will be featured throughout the day, along with a barbecue, bingo, storytelling and family activities. The celebration continues into the evening with live music and dancing.

Sunday, July 26 — The final day begins with a community pancake breakfast and continues with art and history displays, a scavenger hunt and community art activities. Outdoor recreation opportunities include a fun run/walk and a mountain bike ride, followed by a community church service. Old Home Week concludes with a volunteer appreciation gathering and closing ceremonies.

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 41

Summer Events

Placing community at the core of the event, organizers of Whitingham's Old Home Week have also planned an interactive community art project.

and celebrate with friends, family, and visitors alike.

Grow a row with Yellow Barn Products from the ocean to set your plants in motion A new voice for waste reduction and composting

42 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

'Grow a row' with Yellow Barn Farm Homesteader

Photos by Danielle M. Crosier

The Mullein gardens at Yellow Barn Farm. The Gardens at Yellow Barn Farm are nestled into fields that line the bank of Battenkill River in Arlington.

By Danielle M. Crosier, Vermont Country Magazine ARLINGTON — Running along the waters of the Battenkill River, with its sprawling woodlands and fields, the non-profit Gardens at Yellow Barn Farm is located in the quaint little town of Arlington – situated neatly between Manchester's Northshire region and Bennington's Southshire region of Bennington County. The obvious and weathered yellow barn sits next to the dirt

drive entrance, signs and tools and equipment and bags propped against its solid bulking frame – the traditional barn door open, showing more of the same located within the interior. Specializing in the growth of organic produce, and utilizing sustainable and regenerative practices with a true, direct-to-the-consumer, community focus – this is an honest and unvarnished Vermont farm in every sense of the term. This is a place where mixed crop produce is grown by commu-

VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 43

nity members for community members, and is not for sale to the general public. From Yellow Barn Farm's small set of produce beds, vegetables and fresh produce become available for the multitudes – at the local food pantry, in kids’ summer lunches, to seniors, for meals programs, and for a free produce stand by the Federated Church – quietly filling gaps where family budgets fall short.

Many of the plantings are highly intentional. For example, lettuce beds are planted in what are called "cut and come again" varieties, rather than in heads. In this way, more families are able to benefit from a bountiful harvest that will spread throughout the season. Succession plantings are also intentional, with staggered seedings that allow harvests to come in steady waves throughout the season, rather than all at once. This is also achieved intentionally by selecting plant varieties that allow multiple plentiful harvests.

Homesteader

An example of this can be found in determinate and indeterminate tomato plantings, with determinate varieties that grow to a height of about 4 feet and then stop and indeterminate varieties that grow to a height of between 6 and 10 feet in Vermont's short growth season. Determinate varieties fruit within a brief 2-3 week period, making them excellent when plentiful harvesting is needed. However, after fruiting, the plant dies off and no longer fruits. Indeterminate varieties, also known as "vining varieties," continue to supply fruit steadily throughout the season. Other intentional plantings come in the way of "companion plantings" – and these are all about synergy and dynamics.

Contributing community member and master gardener at Yellow Barn Farm, Julie Hutchinson-Smith, can equate companion planting with growing a healthy and prosperous community network, "By planting a few specific plants together, you sort of build a 'village' in which all of the plants thrive by supporting each other in some way – whether it be pest prevention, a nutrient booster, increased flavors and yield, etc. It’s a synergistic relationship." Using tomatoes again as an example, Hutchinson Smith identifies basil, alliums, carrots, lettuce, and marigolds as excellent companions for the summer fave. Basil is "easy to grow, repels aphids, and tastes amazing with tomatoes." Alliums and other plants like leeks, onions, garlic, and chives repel aphids and spider mites, and enhance tomato flavor. Carrots and lettuce thrive with tomatoes, benefiting from their shade. And, Hutchinson-Smith adds, "Marigolds are the star in that they attract all kinds of beneficial insects and repel nematodes (which are microscopic parasitic eel-like worms that can damage your crops). Plus, marigolds look pretty, while giving your garden some pop."

on-thyme and minty flavor and pungent scent, creeping thyme is edible, acts as great ground cover, grows well in Vermont, and functions as both an important pollinator and a natural pest deterrent. Its volatile oil, thymol, released from the leaves when stepped upon, repels mosquitos and other biting insects. Heal-all, native to Vermont, is also low-growing and perennial – and it has numerous benefits to both pollinators and humans alike. Mullein and dandelions and other naturalized and native perennial growth is rampant at the farm, as well.

In the early spring, the fields at Yellow Barn Farm wake up from their long winter nap – the perennials faithfully coming alive. The annuals are planted in the weeks following the last frost, and together they fill the beds with the season's bounty. And, buzzing about as though to make sure that they are also contributing, the pollinators are out in abundance. As of late May, Hutchinson-Smith explains, Yellow Barn Farm was still in the "cover crop phase" of the planting season – and, with the planting of organic produce and herbs from seed, there is a process that will produce the best yield. She explains what came before the annual vegetable plantings, when rows of oats and peas or rows of buckwheat blanketed the ground with soft rows of green carpet. Those plantings were called cover crops, and their life cycle was ended to nourish the soil for the annuals. "When they die, they give off a certain kind of nutrient that the soil doesn't already have in it. In this circumstance – nitrogen, which is really good for tomatoes." Clearly, the cover crops are plants grown not to eat, but to protect and feed the soil, like a living mulch that prevents erosion, builds fertility, and supports healthier harvests. Their importance, Hutchinson-Smith notes, are not to be underestimated.

Similarly to "living mulch" or "green compost" – and instead of leaving beds bare – gardeners sow cover crops to shield the soil, add organic matter, improve soil structure, increase soil moisture, attract earthworms, feed soil microbes, suppress weed growth, support beneficial insects, and reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers. When the cover crop is cut down and left on the surface or lightly turned under, it breaks down into organic matter – essentially creating compost in place.

Deep rooted cover crops such as tillage radish and certain mustards pull nutrients from the deeper layers of the soil and reduce

Synergistic intentional plantings of additional consideration include the three sisters of corn, pole beans, and squash, where the beans fix the nitrogen in the soil to feed the corn, and the squash provides living mulch to retain soil moisture and reduce weeds. Yet another method includes the use of plants with deep taproots that will mine nutrients from deep in the soil, making them available to other plants when their leaves are used as mulch or compost.

Other growth at Yellow Barn Farm is less intentional, but equally beneficial.

Whether by design or naturalized from plantings decades or even a century or more ago, creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) and heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) cover patches of the land. Their tiny purple flowers dot the landscape. With its lem44 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Gardens at Yellow Barn Farm

Julie Hutchinson-Smith works at the apiary at Yellow Barn Farm.

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iment to Yellow Barn Farm, and came recommended by the Bennington County Conservation District. The front of the largest garden plot was sowed with rows of cover crop, while the back was not. Gardening, in this way, is always an experimental process. "For next year, we'll be in good shape to know what to do," explains Hutchinson-Smith.

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Yet another beneficial practice for early gardening is the sustainable planting and cultivation of pollinator-friendly plants. At Yellow Barn Farm, the lowest plot is home to a pollinator garden; the highest plot is home to an apiary. In between are the vegetable plots. However, having an apiary on site is not necessary for most people. "The bees will find your garden," said Hutchinson-Smith, laughing.

The intentional pollinator garden, as well as the distribution of mixed flowering plants throughout the fields, are directly tied to food production. Around the vegetable beds, the garDanielle M. Crosier, Vermont Country den doubles as an informal pollinator haven. The mullein rises out of old compost patches, herbs are left to bloom, and bees Flowering ground cover pollinators gardens at the – both wild and managed – move through the space, tying the Yellow Barn Farm in Arlington. garden’s food mission to the health of local pollinators. leaching. Legumes like clover, vetch, peas, and beans host rhizoIn a community garden that focuses on donating produce, bium bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen. Winter rye, planted pollinators aren't just a nice addition – they are a vital part in late summer or early fall, survives the winter and explodes in of the food system. Many of the staples that are produced, spring growth – and winter rye is excellent for erosion control and including tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, and more, biomass. depend on bees and other insects to set fruit. When pollinator numbers dip, yield follows. Therefore, ensuring an abundant "The peas and oats come together in a bag. The buckwheat is by mix of nectar-rich and pollen-rich flowers around vegetable itself in a different bag," Hutchinson-Smith adds. "For commercial beds is essential to increasing production. gardening, oats and peas go together just like peanut butter and jelly – in the agricultural world. So, that's why they're in the same At Yellow Barn Farm, dandelions serve as one of the earlibag, and they feed off of each other.” est nectar and pollen sources in the area, emerging in early spring; chives serve in late spring, their little purple pomThe cover-cropping that was done this past spring is a new exper-

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poms "acting as bee magnets;" bee balm and lemon balm serve well in the mid to late summer, attracting butterflies to the mix; and goldenrod serves from late summer through fall, providing critical late-season nectar and pollen when there is little else available. Additionally, once a pollinator garden is established, it requires little care or upkeep. In a season when every extra pound of tomatoes or squash can mean more meals on a neighbor’s table, supporting pollinators becomes another quiet way of fighting hunger and increasing community abundance. In addition to planting, tending, harvesting, and distribution; seed swaps; educational mini-workshops; and presentations, Yellow Barn Farm donates up to 1,000 lbs. of produce to local non-profit efforts each growing season. All of that abundance supports local families and community members in need.

Every message that emerges from the work at Yellow Barn Farm teaches one valuable lesson – to contribute more than you consume. For Hutchinson-Smith, this comes in the form of a simple suggestion to all gardeners, "Grow a row for others."

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“Food insecurity exists even in the least expected places," she explains. "People who are hungry rarely stand up and say, 'I’m hungry' or 'My family doesn’t have enough.' If you have a vegetable or herb garden – or you are starting one – please consider growing a row to donate to your local food pantry, low income agencies, Danielle M. Crosier, Vermont Country or even just your neighbors. They may just welcome a little extra Gardens at the Yellow Barn Farm in Arlington. goodness for their family." "For me, the joy that comes from helping another human – espe- with the universe: As long as I have the skill and the soil – I’m going cially with my own homegrown produce – makes my soul smile." to help feed other people." Hutchinson-Smith adds, "And, we can’t fix everything, but we Follow the mission of Yellow Barn Farm on Facebook at https:// can grow food. ‘Grow a row’ is my way of signing a quiet contract www.facebook.com/gardensatyellowbarnfarm/.

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Travis in 2023 with the scale showing 2749 lbs.

Products from the Ocean, to set your plants in motion Ocean Crest Seafoods Inc., Neptune's Harvest Fertilizer's parent company, in Gloucester, MA, inadvertently ended up in the organic fertilizer business. A wholesale fish and seafood company established in 1965, Ocean Crest had a need to dispose of the fish remains created after processing, called gurry. Gurry makes up 60 to 70% of the fish after it is filleted. Initially, a plant in Gloucester was taking the remains and turning it into pet food, but in the early 1980s, this company went out of business, leaving all the fish processors in Gloucester high and dry. “We were all paying fishermen to bring it back out to sea and dump it,” recalls Ann Molloy, director of sales and marketing. “This was expensive, wasteful and bad for the environment.” So, Ocean Crest got together with researchers from the University of Massachusetts' marine station and developed the process of turning the gurry into fertilizer, which allows the company to utilize 100% of the fish. 48 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

Ann Molloy

The products that this collaboration came up with are beneficial to the environment in more than one way. First, the products are organic. “To make our products, we use what nature has given us from the mineral-rich North Atlantic Ocean, which is nature’s perfect source for the nutrients plants and soil need,” says Ann. Secondly, the company uses every part of each fish and shellfish, so there is no waste that is being dumped back into the ocean or sent to landfills; instead, the “waste” is used to help grow stronger, healthier plants. “We are constantly growing and innovating,” shares Ann. “The process we use did not exist before we developed it. We are currently looking into new and exciting products made from other seafood by-products.”

“The whole world used to be under water. They found Fish fossils on the top of Mount Everest. Ever since then it has been demineralizing. By adding products from the ocean back to the soil, it replenishes it and brings it back to life,” says Ann. Some of the benefits of the Fish Fertilizer include making very nutrient dense food, sequestering carbon in the soil, increasing yield and quality. It raises the brix which makes the plants less susceptible to insect damage and disease, and makes things taste better.

Neptune’s Harvest has a cult like following of giant pumpkin growers, and the North American record of 2749 lbs., was grown in MN using Neptune’s Harvest. They also have a huge amount of vegetable, flower, cannabis and hemp growers, who use their products with great success.

The company is always looking for other organic products to complement their line, which includes the Hydrolyzed Fish Fertilizer, Fish-Seaweed Blend, Seaweed Plant Food, Crab & Lobster Shell, Kelp Meal, Tomato & Veg, Rose & Flowering, Humate, Lawn Starter and Turf Formula.

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The trend toward Organic products has never been stronger. “We feel very strongly about sustainable development. Everything we do is toward that goal. We need to love our Mother Earth.” Ann says the overarching goal of Neptune's Harvest is to produce organic fertilizers that work better than chemicals so more people are using organics and protecting our land and groundwater. “We sell to big farms, small home growers and everyone in between,” she explains. The more growers we can convert to organic, the better off our planet and all of us will be. A final fun fact about Neptune's Harvest is that it is a family-run business. Out of 45 employees, 16 are family.

For more information on Neptune's Harvest Organic Fertilizer, go to neptunesharvest.com or call (800) 259-4769. VERMONTCOUNTRY.COM | @VTCOMAGAZINE | 49

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Neptune’s Harvest Fish Fertilizer differs from Fish Emulsion in many ways. First off, it does not stink like Fish Emulsion. This is because the Fish comes off the boats fresh, is filleted, ground, and stabilized the same day. Also, it is not cooked. It is cold processed, so the heat sensitive nutrients are intact. Unlike Emulsions, it is made with several species of fish caught well offshore, in clean, cold waters.

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A New Voice for Waste Reduction and Composting in Bennington County

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Weston theater – photo captions not available; credits only

Pitroff working at Second Chance Composting in Adams, Mass. By Scott Grimm-Lyon For John Pitroff waste reduction isn't just a profession—it's a passion.

The Bennington County Solid Waste Alliance (BCSWA) recently welcomed Pitroff as its new Education & Outreach Coordinator. Serving residents across Bennington County's thirteen member towns, Pitroff will lead outreach efforts focused on waste reduction, recycling, composting, and proper material disposal.

Pitroff brings a unique blend of technical expertise, educational experience, and community engagement to the role. He is the Founder and CEO of Second Chance Composting in Adams, Massachusetts, and serves as the Town of Adams Alternate Commissioner to the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District. His work has earned recognition including the 2023 MassRecycle Individual Award and being named Berkshire Trendsetter's 2024 "Visionary of the Year." A graduate of the Vermont Compost Operator Certification Program, Pitroff also holds composting certifications from

50 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

universities, MassDEP, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Since 2022, he has delivered more than 100 workshops, presentations, and community programs throughout Berkshire County focused on waste reduction and composting. Now, he's bringing that experience across the state line.

Pitroff 's composting expertise makes him uniquely qualified to support one of Vermont's most important waste reduction initiatives: keeping food scraps out of landfills. Under Vermont's Universal Recycling Law, food scraps have been banned from disposal in landfills since 2020.

Food scraps make up a significant portion of household trash. When buried in landfills, they generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Composting, by contrast, transforms those same materials into nutrient-rich compost that improves soil health and supports local agriculture and gardening. “Instead of wasting food scraps in a landfill, where they create pollution, we can be part of a beautiful natural cycle that has existed since the beginning of time,” Pitroff said. “Composting returns valuable nutrients to the soil, creating compost

that can be used locally to grow more food, flowers, and trees. By turning waste into a resource, we benefit our communities, our environment, and future generations.”

“One thing that surprised me was how many plastic film products can be recycled,” Pitroff remarked. “Wood pellet bags, bubble wrap, and other clean plastic films can usually be taken to the same supermarket drop-off locations that accept plastic shopping bags.”

Beyond helping residents start backyard composting systems, Pitroff will assist businesses and institutions in understanding food scrap collection options and connecting them with existing haulers and composting services. John will also be working closely with Bennington’s Zero Waste committee, a group of local volunteers who have worked to make sure food scraps are being collected and composted from Bennington events including Garlic Town, the Food Truck Festival and Mayfest.

As summer gets underway, residents can expect to see Pitroff at farmers markets, community festivals, school events, and outreach programs throughout Bennington County.

Pitroff staff's a booth at the Manchester Energy Fair. While composting is his specialty, Pitroff is also becoming familiar with Vermont's broader recycling and stewardship programs, including battery recycling, electronics collection, paint recycling, household hazardous waste disposal, and plastic film recycling.

A complete list of disposal resources and information about BCSWA programs can be found at BeningtonCountyWaste.org.

For residents with questions about recycling, composting, hazardous waste disposal, or other waste reduction programs, Pitroff is ready to help—and eager to get started

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“Vermont has become a national leader in composting, and its residents deserve credit for making food scrap diversion a priority,” Pitroff said. “I am excited to help continue that success by promoting a clean food scrap stream that produces high-quality compost. Contamination from items like produce stickers, wax-coated materials, and certain products labeled ‘biodegradable’ remains a challenge, but composting is simpler than most people realize. By encouraging good habits, we can build on Vermont's success and create even greater success in the future.”

The Bennington County Solid Waste Alliance was established in 2015 by the towns of Arlington, Bennington, Dorset, Glastenbury, Manchester, Pownal, Rupert, Sandgate, Searsburg, Shaftsbury, Stamford, Sunderland, and Woodford to help communities reduce waste and comply with Vermont's recycling laws.

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Listening First REALTOR® of the Year Justine Curry's commitment to community By Ahmad Yassir

Vermont Country Magazine.

homebuyers, families relocating to the area, retirees looking to downsize or experienced investors, Curry believes every client deserves to feel heard, understood and supported. "It's important to meet people where they are," she said. "Everyone's situation is different." That philosophy may stem from her earlier career in healthcare, where she spent eight years working with Alzheimer's patients before transitioning into real estate. The focus on compassion and understanding continues to shape her approach today. Her connection to Southern Vermont runs equally deep. Originally from the Berkshires, Curry moved to Bennington more than two decades ago. What began as an opportunity to explore a new community soon became something much more meaningful. "The community embraced me," she said. Her involvement started through volunteer work and downtown committees with the Better Bennington Corporation. Over the years, that commitment to community has expanded to include projects such as the Bennington Skatepark Committee, which helped bring a new 16,500-square-foot skatepark to downtown. Along the way, she discovered something she now regularly shares with newcomers: getting involved is one of the best ways to build connections. "Not everything is going to fall into

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When Justine Curry talks about Southern Vermont, she doesn't sound like someone making a sales pitch. She sounds like someone talking about home. That authenticity has become one of her greatest strengths as a REALTOR®, helping clients navigate not only the process of buying and selling property, but also the experience of becoming part of a community. It's a quality that recently earned Curry one of the profession's highest regional honors: the 2026 South Central Vermont Board of REALTORS® REALTOR® of the Year Award. For Curry, the recognition is especially meaningful because it comes from her peers. Nominated by fellow REALTORS® and selected through a vote involving past recipients, the award reflects years of leadership, service and dedication to both the industry and the communities she serves. "I've always believed in jumping into things that are a little scary," Curry said of her decision to become involved with industry leadership. "That's where growth happens." A licensed REALTOR® since 2013 and now a top producer with Maple Leaf Real Estate, Curry has spent more than a decade building a reputation for professionalism, communication and genuine care for her clients. Her leadership experience includes serving as president of the South Central Vermont Board of REALTORS® in 2024, where she helped members navigate industry changes while strengthening communication and collaboration throughout the organization. Those qualities have earned recognition beyond the real estate industry; in 2025, Curry received the Emerging Leader Award from the Southern Vermont Young Professionals for her professional accomplishments and commitment to the community. Yet ask Curry what contributes most to her success, and her answer has little to do with awards. Listening comes first. Whether working with first-time

your lap," Curry said. "You have to put yourself out there." That mindset has led her far beyond real estate. She serves on the Bennington Skatepark Committee, is active with Shires Young Professionals and Bennington Theater, and frequently participates in community, and events by the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce. As a musician, she also found a welcoming creative community. Curry and her husband perform original music together in their band, Immune Friction, and she credits local audiences for their enthusiastic support of the arts. Those experiences have given her an insider's perspective that proves invaluable when helping people relocate to the region. "It's easy for me to tell people how wonderful this area is because it comes from the heart," Curry said. She often speaks with prospective residents about Southern Vermont's vibrant arts scene, rich history, natural beauty and quality of life. From local businesses and cultural attractions to outdoor recreation and easy access to larger cities and airports, Curry believes the region offers an appealing balance of opportunity and community. For her, the REALTOR® of the Year award ultimately reflects something larger than individual achievement. She credits the people around her, colleagues, clients, volunteers, and community members, who continue to invest in Southern Vermont's future. "We all want to see people and businesses grow," she said. It's a simple philosophy, but one that has helped make Curry not only an award-winning REALTOR®, but also a trusted ambassador for the place she proudly calls home. This article is sponsored by Maple Leaf Real Estate. Through its ongoing commitment to the community, Maple Leaf supports the Harvest House Soup Kitchen, the Bennington County Homeless Shelter, and Second Chance Animal Center. The company also provides sponsorships for local youth sports programs, festivals, community events, and other initiatives that help strengthen the region.

Vermont Country Homes 54 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

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56 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

This historic creamery beautifully preserves the charm and craftsmanship of its1860s origins, featuring soaring vaulted ceilings, exposed handhewn beams, and rich wood floors that radiate warmth and character throughout. A welcoming wraparound porch, adorned with hanging baskets and alive with birdsong, invites you to slow down and stay awhile. Inside, the open-concept living, dining, and kitchen areas create an ideal setting for entertaining and everyday living. A formal dining room and cozy family room provide flexible spaces to suit your lifestyle, whether hosting gatherings, working from home,or simply relaxing. Designed with comfort and practicality in mind, the home provides convenient first-floor living with a finished attic on the second floor waiting for your creative touch.The basement offers a workshop ideal for hobbyists, craftsmen, or anyone who loves to tinker. Set in the heart of the charming village of Westminster, this special property is surrounded by historic homes, a classic New England main street, a local library, post office, and beloved eateries. Convenient access to Interstate 91 and local shopping within minutes. This is more than a home — it’s an opportunity to own a piece of living history, rich with craftsmanship and personality.

1644 Upper Dummerston Rd, Brattleboro 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths 1,499 sq. ft. 3.6 +/- acres MLS #5090888 $385,000

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Found It! Live all on one level and tuck the guests in upstairs! The kitchen is modern with lots of counter top for the bakers and cookie makers, The laundry lives next to the kitchen and there is a second bath for visitors and guests. The sweet spot is the huge living room with a wood stove insert in the lovely fireplace. Minisplits are already up and running for help with both heating and cooling and a bank of solar helps with energy cost for years to come! There is a sweet level easy access side yard, with gardens and layers of woodland for privacy and hiking. Plenty of room to build a garage but there are some nice storage sheds already waiting for the mower and other accouterments. Minutes to town, near the West River and lots of hiking trails. Private, affordable, cute as a button!

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$675,000 2079 Ames Hill Road, Marlboro, VT 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2670+ sq. ft. • MLS # 5091535

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Experience the perfect blend of contemporary design and natural warmth in this stunning 2-story hybrid post & beam set on 5+ landscaped acres. Thoughtfully designed with soaring ceilings, exposed beams and lots of glass, this light filled retreat brings the outdoors in while offering comfort and style in every season. Inside rich hardwood floors flow throughout the open concept living spaces, anchored by a lovely fireplace and complemented by radiant heat for year-round comfort. The chef ’s kitchen features a beautiful cherry island with sink, soapstone counters and a commercial range with stainless steel hood. Offering 3 bedrooms, 3 baths along with a versatile loft ideal for a home office or studio. Skylights fill the interior with natural light, while screened porches and decks create inviting spaces to relax, enjoy the surrounding landscape. The incredible 2002 addition encompasses and seamlessly elevates the original home. The property backs up to conserved land owned by the Ames Hill-Marlboro Community Center, an entity that has conserved much of the land surrounding South Pond. Take time to enjoy all that Marlboro offers while being accessible to the artsy town of Brattleboro or 4-season recreation options in the resort areas.

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60 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

• Upgrades include a granite countertops in the kitchen and baths, an efficient River Rock fireplace with a heatilator insert, and radiant heat throughout the first floor, basement, and attached garage • Oversized 22x20 attached 2 car garage • Large mahogany rear deck and an alarm system

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5A Sportscenter Village Way, Unit A-11, Dover, VT $445,000

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Contact Us Today for Water, Better Pressure, and Pure Water Call Ken White • (802) 738-8400 or Email kwhite.vaw@gmail.com 64 | VERMONT COUNTRY MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2026

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