Features

Skier completes rare cross-country milestone

WHITINGHAM- Back in February, a well-known local artist and outdoor enthusiast accomplished a milestone few others have. Ann Coleman became just the 112th person to cross-country ski the entire length of Vermont along the Catamount Trail.
By accomplishing that feat, she joined a select...

A group of CCC enrollees at the Wilmington camp enjoying a day off from work by snowshoeing. The camp was located on Route 9 east of Wilmington near Larson Road and not far from the present Molly Stark State Park. The camp was established on July 5,1935 and closed September 29, 1937. Photo courtesy Richard Hamilton

A group of CCC enrollees at the Wilmington camp enjoying a day off from work by snowshoeing. The camp was located on Route 9 east of Wilmington near Larson Road and not far from the present Molly Stark State Park. The camp was established on July 5,1935 and closed September 29, 1937. Photo courtesy Richard Hamilton

Civilian Conservation Camps in Vermont; help document local history

VERMONT- Marty Podskoch is a retired teacher and the author of three CCC books on Adirondack, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Civilian Conservation Corps camps
He is presently gathering information on the CCC camps in Vermont and Massachusetts for future books. Podskoch is keenly interested...

Observers needed for statewide survey

VERMONT - The Vermont Center for Ecostudies is hoping Vermonters will pitch in over the coming months and years to help build data about butterflies in the state. Volunteers are particularly needed in parts of the valley and its surrounding towns, including Readsboro, Searsburg, Whitingham,...

Become a business mentor with local program

SOUTHERN VERMONT- Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation is partnering with SCORE NH-VT to help leverage its strong national business assistance program to assist Windham County entrepreneurs. SCORE works through a program of volunteers who are trained to work one-on-one with entrepreneurs...

Age-friendly health care

TOWNSHEND– Grace Cottage Hospital has joined a nationwide initiative to improve health care specifically for older adults.
The Age-Friendly Health Systems Initiative is helping hospitals and other care settings implement a set of evidence-based interventions specifically designed to...

Kelly Kahler next to a map of the cross-country trails he created and maintained at Timber Creek. The map was made by the late Skip Morrow, who was a good friend of Kahler’s. Lauren Harkawik

End of an era: Valley’s last X/C center to close

Kelly Kahler retiring from the cross-country ski business
DOVER - Kelly Kahler is in the process of hanging up his cross-country skis. He’s closing up shop at Timber Creek, where he’s run a cross-country ski program and has maintained cross-country ski rentals and trails...

Full circle through sharing the gifts of art

WILMINGTON - Gen Abate knew even as a kid that she loved spreading the joy that art gives her. Throughout her childhood, she helped her siblings get in touch with that joy by creating her own art school at home.
“I would take my younger siblings and sit them in front of me in a row,” she...

Halifax chief steps down after more than five decades

HALIFAX - “There’s no retiring from the fire department for Wayne Courser,” says the longtime Halifax Fire Chief’s wife, Joan, as they sat at their kitchen table.
Courser, born and raised in Halifax, is stepping down after 65 years of service in the department and 52 years as chief, but...

Laura Stevenson

Local author named Book of the Year finalist

Vermont- Rootstock Publishing recently announced three books, and two by Vermont authors, from their 2022 publication year have been named finalists in the 25th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
“All Men Glad and Wise,” a mystery by Laura C. Stevenson, of Wilmington, placed...

Winter brings fun, friendship on the slopes

Women’s ski group celebrates 20 years of camaraderie and time on the slopes
DOVER - Ski pro Donnamarie Colasurdo has trouble believing 20 years have passed since she started a women’s ski group at Mount Snow, then called “Chix on Stix,” now called “Winter Stix.” The group...