By Katy Savage Farm and Wilderness Camp has removed a 60-year-old dam that posed environmental risks to the surrounding area.The dam, measuring 292 feet long and 31 feet tall, was capable of impounding 500,000 cubic feet of water but had become ineffective due to rotting. Concerns over warming water, sediment release, and potential flooding of…

Town to hold two votes to acquire Woodstock Aqueduct Company By Katy Savage  After more than a year of discussion and negotiation, Woodstock has a plan to acquire the Woodstock Aqueduct Company, which has been a private utility since the late 1800s.  Town Manager Eric Duffy presented the plan on Sept. 23. He said the…

Woodstock Middle/High is the first public school in the state to field a varsity team  By Katy Savage and Polly Mikula Mountain biking has been such a popular club sport at Woodstock Union High School that this fall it became a varsity sport. And it made history as the first public school in the state…

By Katy Savage Mazie Hayden, a 23-year-old Killington Mountain School graduate from Pittsfield, has become a regular presence on mountain bike race podiums. This will be her fourth time at the Fox U.S. Open of Mountain Biking. She got third place in Dual Slalom in 2022 and fifth last year, while she got 15th in…

By Katy Savage Sarah Hamlin was 11 when she first started mountain bike racing. She competed in the U-12 category with boys because there weren’t enough girls for them to have their own team. Now, 15, Hamlin is a sophomore at Killington Mountain School and she just became a professional rider for the first time…

By Katy Savage Sitota LaRocque, 15, is only a freshman at Killington Mountain School, but this will already be her second time competing in the U.S. Open.She’ll be riding with 12 other KMS athletes, along with two coaches.  “It’s so awesome to have such a big event so local to me,” LaRocque said. Mountain Times…

By Katy Savage Joshua Poirier is in his second year as a downhill mountain bike coach at Killington Mountain School and he’s already “looking forward to many more,” he said. “The athletes I work with are all incredible people which makes my job fulfilling and fun.”  Poirier is a mountain bike racer on the side,…

By Katy Savage Dylan Conte has been mountain biking since he was about 12. A small bike park where he grew up was built and his dad dropped him off there. He’s been hooked ever since.  Mountain biking, he said, allows him to “both be competitive and be out in nature,” Conte said. “It’s something…

By Katy Savage Woodstock town and Woodstock village came to different decisions over a change to short-term rental rules in separate votes on Tuesday, July 30. The town voted in favor of overturning the new ordinance 316-284 by Australian ballot. The village voted against it 68-36 at an in-person meeting.  Now, the town and village…

It’ll be the first public school varsity team in the state Mountain biking has been such a popular club sport at Woodstock Union High School that next fall, it will be a varsity sport for the first time. The Woodstock School Board voted unanimously in January to elevate the club sport to varsity status. “They’re…

The first completed multi-day segment of the Velomont Trail,a 38-mile loop in Rochester and Pittsfield is complete By Katy Savage For Angus McCusker, a vision he had eight years ago is coming true. His plan to build a 485-mile mountain bike trail, extending from the top of the state to the bottom, broke ground in Rochester…

By Katy Savage After serving just one term, Rep. Tesha Buss, D-West Woodstock, is stepping down. Buss, 50, won’t be seeking reelection in November to spend more time with her family and focus on her daughter’s gymnastics career. Her daughter, Izabella Skuro, 10, recently won the state championship in Xcel Bronze.   “She won the…

U.S. team of five will compete in the Czech Republic May 19-24 By Katy Savage A Stockbridge resident is casting up to test his fishing skills at the 2024 World Masters Fly Fishing Championships. Matt Stedina is one of five people who made the U.S. team. He’s currently in the Czech Republic preparing for the…