Castleton Community Center kitchen crew members Laurie Knauer, Gretiena Johnson, Ceil Hunt and Claire Park packaged 54 Earth Day dinners-to-go on Thursday, April 22. The entrée included chicken tarragon and vegetable rice pilaf plus veggies, chocolate cake and a Marie’s Cookie Kitchen Earth Day themed handmade cookie. In celebration of Earth Day, all 54 participants…

Community Garden workshop to help gardeners get ready for the season  Tuesday, May 4, at 5:30 p.m.—RUTLAND—Learn how to set your garden up for success this growing season at Make Your Bed: Starting Your Garden,  a beginner/intermediate gardening workshop held Tuesday, May 4, at 5:30 p.m. at the Northeast Community Gardens off Woodstock Ave. in…

Over 100 cars expected to race May 1 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m.—WEST HAVEN—Devil’s Bowl Speedway is ready to set records in 2021. The historic Vermont dirt track opens its 55th season of racing on Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m.  The new season is expected to smash modern-era records, as…

May 1-31— A successful hunter in Vermont’s May 1-31 spring turkey season must, by law, report their turkey within 48 hours to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Dept. The department says hunters can report their turkey online through its website vtfishandwildlife.com or at local big game reporting stations. “Online reporting was used successfully last year,”…

Thursday, April 29—WHITE RIVER JUNCTION—This Thursday Vermont Everyone Eats, an innovative Covid-19 response program, is celebrating 1 million restaurant meals served to Vermonters experiencing food insecurity. The program was launched in August 2020 with an allocation of $5 million of the state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund contracted by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development to…

May 3-7—VIRTUAL—The Composting Association of Vermont and the Agency of Natural Resources will be hosting the Vermont Organics Recycling Summit (VORS). This event will bring together leaders and learners from across the state to discuss creative ways to keep organics out of the trash and transform organics into valuable products. The free online summit is a great opportunity for anyone interested in how Vermont communities and organizations manage their food scraps successfully and overcome challenges.…

Youth help to keep a 50+-year-old environmental tradition alive Saturday, May 1 —With Green Up Day celebrating its 51st year, attracting new generations and keeping the activity of cleaning up litter exciting is an ongoing commitment and fun sort of challenge for Green Up Vermont coordinators.  “It is so important to attract Vermonters of all…

By Dom Cioffi I spent quite a bit of time in the water during my recent vacation to St. Martin. The Caribbean is obviously known for its pristine turquoise ocean and white sandy beaches, so I was more than happy to spend the majority of my week communing with the natural elements. Within hours of…

RUTLAND—In only their second competition of the season, the Cobra gymnasts trusted their training and delivered their routines at the Vermont state championships April 10-11 in Essex.  The 40-member team is divided into five different levels of the USA Gymnastics Xcel Program. Following strict Covid policy, each gym in Vermont was assigned a different time to…

Friday-Sunday, April 23-25—BARNARD—BarnArts Center for the Arts announces auditions for an outdoor production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Linda Treash, voice and text direction by Amy Leavitt. Auditions will be held April 23-25 at the Barnard Town Hall with rehearsals beginning shortly after. Performances will be held outdoors in Barnard at…

Friday, April 23, at 7 p.m. —VIRTUAL— Guilford poet Verandah Porche will lead a free, virtual interactive poetry workshop. This event is organized by the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) and is open to teens and adults. Since the fall, CLiF has been offering adult programs and book discussions with local authors, in addition to its…

April 23-June 4—Starting April 23, Chaffee Art Center will display its annual photo contest for amateur photographers only, of all ages. This year’s theme is “Expressions of Me.” All photos will be 8”x10” prints. No photos were staged or altered by photo editing software, but resizing and/or cropping was accepted. The Chaffee allowed up to three…

Theme “Expressions of Me” exhibit opening is by reservation Friday, April 23—RUTLAND—The Chaffee Art Center is proud to again showcase young artists from dozens of Vermont schools and homeschoolers for this annual student exhibit and takes great pleasure in creating an opportunity for these talented young people to be inspired by seeing their artwork, and…

Thursday, April 22, at 5 p.m.—ZOOM—Celebrate Earth Day with renowned activist and author Frances Moore Lappé as she presents, “Climate Crisis In Focus: Finding Hope Through Democratic Action.” Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of 20 books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, beginning with the 3-million copy “Diet for a Small Planet” (1971). In…

Friday, April 23—As the snow melts away and buds begin to burst, there are so many reasons to celebrate spring! Leading up to VINS celebration of Earth Day on April 24, we ask you to share with us your favorite sign of spring with a photo. These photos will be shared to the VINS Facebook & Instagram…