Daybreak Monday, 6/22/26

Heads Up: No Daybreak next week. Summer’s here! Daybreak will be off all next week, as well as the following Monday, July 6. Back as usual on Tuesday, July 7. There’ll also be a stint at the end of July and in early August, but more on that then.

Mostly cloudy, rain likely this afternoon. A weakening storm system from the Ohio Valley is moving toward southern New England—so we get rain later today, but not as much as they’ll be getting farther south. It looks like it’ll be a steady, soaking rain, with highest amounts south of Route 4 in both states and a slight chance of a thunderstorm toward evening. Highs today will be in the low 70s. Rain tapers off overnight as the storm moves offshore and drier air begins to arrive, lows in the mid 50s.

Watching balloons from above. The Quechee Balloon Festival was this past weekend, and William Daugherty was there with his drone to watch Saturday evening’s balloon ascent from on high.

Post Mills fire draws response from throughout the Upper Valley. The initial call came in at 5:18 pm yesterday from a home on Route 113, near where the road jogs into downtown Post Mills. The owner, who’d been working in an attached barn where the fire started, was able to help residents and a dog from the home. Crews found the barn fully engulfed, with fire reaching into the home and threatening a neighboring home. “The barn contained numerous fuel sources and several pieces of equipment, contributing to the fire’s rapid growth and intensity," writes TVFD Chief Chad Whitcomb in a news release. A third alarm went out, pulling in crews from all neighboring VT towns and nearby NH towns including Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, and Orford.

Meanwhile, down in Sunapee Harbor… At the same time yesterday afternoon, Sunapee’s fire department was dispatched to investigate an unknown substance that appeared to have been spilled into the lake. “Lieutenant Timothy White, who happened to be in Sunapee Harbor at the time of the dispatch, arrived on scene at 5:18 PM and confirmed a large sheen covering a portion of the harbor,” the SFD reports. State and local personnel set up containment booms, and state officials collected samples to test today. Meanwhile, the SFD is asking people to stay away from the booms, so as not to spread contamination or damage containment equipment.

SPONSORED: Celebrate Dairy Month at Billings Farm & Museum’s Dairy Celebration on Saturday, June 27 from 10:00AM – 5:00PM. “Moo-ve,” make, and taste your way through a deliciously fun day on the farm. From making ricotta, butter, and ice cream to learning about regenerative agriculture, this is the perfect event for all ages. Start the day with the first-ever 5K Milk Run, a family-friendly walk or run through scenic farm trails and pastures. Check-in begins at 8:00AM, with the race starting at 9:00AM. Milk Run registration includes admission to Dairy Celebration. Sponsored by Billings Farm & Museum.

So yep, that was a tornado in Woodstock on Thursday. It was one of two that touched down in VT that day (the other was in Lincoln). The National Weather Service confirmed Friday the twister las­ted about three minutes and was roughly 550 yards wide and packing 100 MPH winds. Woodstock’s fire chief, David Green, tells the Boston Globe (no paywall) that the worst damage is on the west side of town, where hotels, res­taur­ants, and res­id­en­tial build­ings sus­tained mod­er­ate dam­age and at least one barn was flattened. The winds also uprooted trees and damaged condos at Quechee Lakes. On Threads, a storm chaser posts footage from Tiffany LaRocque from inside the Mountain Creamery as the tornado moved through.

Looking at what (and who) is behind municipal officials’ safety concerns in three Upper Valley towns. This spring, officials in Hanover and Croydon, NH and Strafford, VT have filed complaints against three different men—under different circumstances—”who have disrupted municipal operations in Upper Valley towns this spring…[and] caused municipal officials to fear for their safety,” writes Alex Ebrahimi in the VN. Ebrahimi notes the trend, and then dives into each case: Paul Whipple’s beef against Croydon officials—and in particular the town clerk—who insist he pay property taxes; Keith Billian’s email campaign—and alleged violation of an abuse prevention order—in Strafford; and David Vincelette’s “veiled threats” against Hanover officials.

SPONSORED: Grow a Row for your neighbors! As you plan your garden this year, consider joining Willing Hands' Grow a Row project. It's simple: plant a few extra vegetables and then share the bounty with neighbors facing food insecurity at harvest time! Drop off fresh veggies at any time, 24/7, in Willing Hands’ Grow a Row room at 198 Church St., Norwich VT. Sponsored by Willing Hands.

Log-rolling on Lake Fairlee. It’s an actual sport, and recently, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, Middlebury College archivist and log rolling team coach Danielle Rougeau held a clinic at Treasure Island to introduce locals to the sport. “Petite and wiry, Danielle hopped onto one of the shifting logs as if it were the easiest thing in the world and demonstrated the correct stance and foot movements,” Li writes. Among the onlookers, teenage girls who study ballet or ride unicycles “were able to master the skill quite quickly.” Li reports that the modern sport has its roots in lumberjacks’ birling contests starting in the late 19th century.

SPONSORED: Lead a Flourishing Youth Choral Program! St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hanover is seeking a part-time Youth Choir Director (10 hours/week) beginning this August. Lead our youth choir program, inspire young singers in the English cathedral tradition, and help shape the musical and spiritual lives of children and teens. Join a community where music is at the heart of our spiritual life! More information at the burgundy link. Sponsored by St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

Two groups of hypothermic hikers rescued from Mt. Lafayette. The first call to NH Fish & Game came in around 8 pm Friday, about a group needing help “in cold, wet, rainy conditions. The hikers said they had no visibility, no lights and no warm clothing.” An AMC crew found the group near the Lafayette summit; one 19-year-old was unresponsive, and another alert but suffering from hypothermia. Given their conditions, teams from Pemi Valley and Lakes Region Search & Rescue were called in. At the same time, a second group of hikers under similar conditions also called for help; they were closer to a trailhead. Around 1 am, SAR rescuers reached the first group and carried the unconscious hiker to Greenleaf Hut, where he was revived; one volunteer was “severely injured” in the rainy carry-out. Pemi Valley video and photos here.

The Monday Jigsaw: A 1910 Cattle Boat. “In 1910, signing on as a cattleman was a cheap way for a Dartmouth man to reach Europe,” writes Cam Cross on his Curioustorian blog. “You showed up at the Boston or Montreal docks in your roughest clothes, signed on as an ‘ordinary seaman,’ and for the next ten or fourteen days you fed, watered, and shoveled up after six hundred British-bound steers. The pay was nominal. The point was the passage.” In today’s (colorized) puzzle, six of the nine guys photographed on a boat are Dartmouth students. Cam delves into the history here.

Today's Wordbreak. With a word from Friday’s Daybreak.

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HEADS UP
An open rehearsal with Oak Hill Music Festival musicians. The festival opened on Saturday, with concerts coming up Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Today at 2 pm, several of its supremely talented musicians will be at the Roth Center for Jewish Life in Hanover: “You will see how a professional chamber group rehearses, have deeper understanding of the music, and have the opportunity to ask the musicians questions while enjoying a preview of our upcoming performances.”

At Sunapee’s Abbott Library, “Portraits of a Revolution.” Art historian Inez McDermott explores American portraits painted and sculpted during the years leading up to, and the decades after, the Revolution, along the way demonstrating how analysis of art works “can reveal so much about a culture.” 5 pm.

And for today...

Let’s get revved up for the week. Saturday’s opening concert for the Oak Hill Music Festival featured Eva Schaumkell and Vijay Venkatesh, the husband and wife pair who perform on a single piano as the Vieness Duo. Their concert included Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, (with music festival organizers and founders Leah Kohn and Niv Ashkenazi performing the introductory verses Odgen Nash wrote for a 1950 recording). Here are Schaumkell and Venkatesh with the blazing-fast “Mules”. Or, per Nash, In the world of mules/There are no rules.

See you tomorrow.

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