AROUND TOWN
Wassail Weekend
WOODSTOCK — As Woodstock celebrates its annual Wassail Weekend, Billings Farm & Museum invites guests from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Dec. 8 through 10, to learn about Wassail and Victorian Christmas traditions at the decorated site, dip candles, and take a wagon or sleigh ride through the pastures on Friday and Sunday. Visit tinyurl.com/WassailWeekend2023 for more information.
Crafts fair
ST. JOHNSBURY CENTER — The Burklyn Arts Council annual holiday crafts fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Catamount Arts ArtPort in the Green Mountain Mall in St. Johnsbury Center. This 54th year of the fair features more than 40 artists offering crafted jewelry, woodworking, pottery, holiday-themed items, soaps, candles and more. All event profits go towards supporting grants and scholarships for the arts in the schools and communities within the Kingdom East Unified School District.
AARP grants
Six Vermont communities and organizations are receiving funds up to $4,000 each in grant funds from AARP Vermont to initiate or enhance winter placemaking demonstration projects. The projects focus on creating or reinventing public spaces to improve safety, accessibility and overall appeal on a temporary or permanent basis. This is the seventh year of AARP Vermont’s Placemaking Grant Program to help communities embrace the winter months by reinventing public spaces to encourage outdoor and indoor activities and social engagement with an emphasis on the needs of adults aged 50 and older. This year’s grant recipients are:
— Vermont River Conservancy will bring a winter placemaking project to Rotary Park in Barre City to include a community-created art project at Barre’s only public river access trail, an all-ages winter event to create and appreciate the artwork, and learn about Vermont’s rivers.
— Town of Windham’s Windham Culinary Workshop will host five winter culinary classes for seniors, followed by a community-wide shared meal.
— Canaan Naturally Connected Inc. will expand access to hands-on learning experiences for older adults via weekend classes on arts/craft, music, storytelling and educational presentations.
— Barre Senior Center will begin a winter gardening program by constructing indoor, accessible, garden tables with lights for growing indoor vegetables and a community mural to enhance the public space where the harvest meals take place weekly for seniors.
— Cathedral Square Corp. will provide weekly programming in their Garden Commons room, to include a bi-weekly coffee house with live music and a weekly adaptable dance class culminating in an in-house performance.
— Roxbury Community Crafters will offer winter programming for isolated seniors, providing weekly art/craft lessons and supplies culminating in a community-wide craft fair.
YOUTH NEWS
For parents
NORWICH — The Montshire Museum of Science will host two climate cafés for parents at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Dec. 2 at 1 Montshire Road in Norwich. Climate cafés are facilitated small-group gatherings where participants are provided with a safe space to share their thoughts and emotions around the threat posed by climate change. These two events will focus on the mental health of parents faced with raising their children in an uncertain and changing climate.
Pre-registration is required, as space is limited. Free on-site child care is available. Participating families receive free museum admission for the day. Visit mms.formstack.com/forms/climatecafes to register.
COLLEGE NEWS
Charlotte Young, of East Barre, has received a partial scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology to pursue performing arts in musical theater. She is in the Fine Art Photography Option–Photographic and Imaging Arts BFA program.
AROUND VT
Impersonating troopers
WESTMINSTER — The Vermont State Police is warning the public about scam phone calls in which the caller is purporting to be a member of the Vermont State Police.
Reports to the State Police indicate the imposter tells the recipient of the call that his or her identity has been compromised. The number that appears on Caller ID is the main line for the State Police Westminster Barracks, although the calls are not originating from this location.
These calls are not from the Vermont State Police. If anyone receives such a call, they should hang up or not call back at the number provided, and instead, telephone their local VSP barracks to confirm the authenticity of the message. A list of all VSP stations and their contact information is available at vsp.vermont.gov/stations online.
VSP reminds the public never to give out personal information or to pay money, obtain gift cards or money orders, etc., in response to unknown or suspicious callers. People also are encouraged to report suspicious calls to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office Consumer Assistance Program at 800-649-2424.
New CEO
WILLISTON — Goodwill Northern New England’s board of directors named Tripp Harrison as president and CEO of the nonprofit which serves Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Harrison was formerly president and CEO of Goodwill of South Mississippi. Harrison succeeds former president and CEO Richard J. Cantz who served Goodwill for more than 20 years in various roles. Previously, he served as a senior vice president at Goodwill of Middle Georgia and The CSRA.
VTF&W
Ranges close
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says Hammond Cove public shooting range in Hartland and West Mountain Wildlife Management Area public shooting range in Ferdinand will close Dec. 14. Alison Thomas, Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s director of outreach says both ranges will close for the winter and reopen next spring.
BUSINESS
New hires
MONTPELIER — Tarrant, Gillies & Shems announced Sarah E. Buxton and David K. Mears have joined the firm.
Buxton spent two decades in government and nonprofit sectors, including serving in Gov. Howard Dean’s office and under civil rights leader Marian Wright Edelman at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. She most recently served as state director of workforce development at the Vermont Department of Labor. She graduated cum laude and president of her Vermont Law School class in 2010. She was a three-term representative for Orange-Windsor 1 District, serving on the House Education Committee and the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules. Her focus is on general practice, particularly on education and employment law.
Mears will focus on environmental, energy, brownfields and land use law. He is the former executive director of Audubon Vermont, served as associate dean of environmental programs at Vermont Law School and held several positions in state and federal government, including commissioner of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. He has a degree in environmental engineering technology from Cornell University, and Juris Doctor and Master of Environmental Law and Policy degrees from Vermont Law School.
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