SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Tuesday, August 4
Blue Jay Way in Fairlee. The VT-based rock & roll cover band has been slinging tunes since it formed at Castleton State in 1974—with at least a couple of its original members still in the mix. 6:30 pm on the common, or in town hall if it rains.
At the Norwich Bookstore, Julie Carrick Dalton with The Forest Becomes Her. It’s the journalist and author’s third novel, about three women in Concord, MA who get pulled into one another’s orbit by the sole oak left standing after a centuries-old forest gets clear-cut for a development of eco-friendly homes. 7 pm.
Wednesday, August 5
The Ferns Family Band at the Enfield Shaker Museum. Pop, folk, blues, soul, and country from singer Mara Ferren, her multi-instrumentalist brother Quinlan, and their father Justin on guitar. 7 pm outside the Stone Machine Shop, food at 6.
At the Howe Library, “Searching for the Oldest Animal Fossils.” Dartmouth Earth Sciences prof Justin Strauss talks about the earliest evidence for animals in the fossil record and shows his research “in the remote mountains of northwestern Canada, where the search for these fossils also happens to be in the some of the last vestiges of wilderness on our planet.” 6:30 pm in the Mayer Room and online.
“No. 4, A Settlement on the Edge” at the Center at Eastman. Tracy Castleberry, heritage and program director at The Fort at No. 4 in Charlestown, has spent years researching the people, events, and daily lives of settlers in the colonial outpost along the Connecticut, and will talk about it all. 6:30 pm in the Draper Room.
Sarah Dickenson Snyder and Laura Foley at the Norwich Bookstore. The two poets read from their latest collections: Snyder’s To Eve and Foley’s Sister in a Different Movie. 7 pm.
Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville opens at the New London Barn Playhouse. “Set on a breezy Caribbean beach, it follows free-spirited bartender Tully and career-driven Rachel as they navigate love, choices, and unexpected adventure,” the Barn writes. And adds that it’s “basically a Jimmy Buffett concert that learned to tap-dance. Beach-bum bliss with a few salty words thrown in for flavor. Frequent alcohol references.” 7:30 pm Wednesday, runs through Sunday, Aug. 16.
Thursday, August 6
Coffee in the Canopy at VINS. “Greet the day high among the treetops on the Forest Canopy Walk at this free, adults-only cultivation series,” they write. “Before our opening hours, sip coffee and savor fresh pastries as the morning sun lights up the Ottauquechee River and the forest foliage.” It fills up, so reserve early. 8:30-10 am.
MINC and the BarnArts Summer Youth Theater campers at Feast & Field in Barnard. MINC is a seven-piece soul/pop group of students who first came together at the Vermont Governors Institute for the Arts. Fronted by vocalist Satori Rossi, they do soul, funk, and pop. Gates and food at 5:30, music starts up at 6.
Natasha Bedingfield at the Lake Morey Resort. The Grammy-nominated pop star is probably best known for "Unwritten" and "Pocketful of Sunshine”—and 22 years after her debut album Unwritten was released in Britain, it’s been climbing the global charts again, after the title song appeared in 2023’s Anyone but You and then went viral. Gates and food at 6 pm, music at 8.
Friday, August 7
The Bradford VT Fair starts up. Schedule wasn’t out as this was written, but it runs through Aug. 9 with all the usual fair trappings and more.
Nexus Music & Arts Festival starts up in Lebanon. The Lebanon Opera House’s three-day gathering was a pandemic effort that’s now an institution. Three stages, no charge, and a full range of music and performances. Friday’s performers include Lily Golden, Joy Clark, and Sirsy. 4 pm to 11:30 pm, with the nighttime given over to a silent disco DJed by DJ Sean of Livemixkings and DJ gEndEReNdeR. It starts up at 9:30 pm and though headsets are free, you’ll definitely need to reserve them ahead of time
All Night Boogie Band at Music by the River in Woodstock. This week, Pentangle brings in the VT/NYC blues, rock and soul-inspired band—usually a quintet, but sometimes an octet if they add a horn section—which formed during the pandemic and has just kept going, pulling in a Seven Daysies win for Best Blues Group. 6 pm in East End Park.
BarnArts’ Summer Youth Theater presents The SpongeBob Musical. The culmination of a 3-week camp, the full-scale production will be held at Barnard Town Hall with original staging, costuming, choreography, a live band, and 31 young performers. Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm.
Saturday, August 8
Nexus Day 2. A busker stage on the Leb Mall from noon to 3, acts start up at 2 pm with Mr. Aaron (“the Pied Piper of preschoolers”), UVMC’s summer band showcase, Jerry Grimo and the East Bay Jazz Ensemble, Gabriel Q’s Butterflies in Colburn Park at 7:30, Quebec’s Mélisande at 8 pm, and more.
Artist talk with Phil Godenschwager at the Chandler gallery in Randolph. The longtime artist’s retrospective exhibition opened July 25. Featured works include “a dramatic six-sided glass gazebo; a whimsical presidential–themed putting green; three-dimensional sculptures; intricate ink drawings… and photographs documenting several of Godenschwager’s landmark large-scale public sculptures.” He’ll be talking about “Serendipity—The Life of an Artist.” 4 pm.
Court Street Arts presents The Clement Brothers on the lawn at Wentworth Brown. George (guitar) and Charles (upright bass) started out with the Lonely Heartstring Band and then went their separate ways. Now they’re back together, with drummer Mike Harmon. 5 pm at Wentworth Brown House, 1269 Dartmouth College Highway in Haverhill Corner.
Contra dance at the E. Thetford Pavilion. With Liz Nelson calling and Hat Trick (Bill Shepard, Emerson Gale, Tory Brillhart) with the music. Beginner session at 7:10 pm, dance starts at 7:30.
The Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival starts up at the Chandler, in Randolph. Michael Roth (violin), Arturo Delmoni (viola), Peter Sanders (cello), and Diana Fanning (piano) present a program featuring Brahms, Gliere, and Źeleński. 7:30 pm.
Kanin Wren’s Taylor Swift Experience at the Claremont Opera House. As they write, “Kanin Wren fronts the most dynamic live Taylor Swift Experience for fans of all ages. Playing all of the greatest hits from ‘You Belong With Me’ to ‘Midnights’, Kanin Wren’s Taylor Swift Experience is packing dance floors and creating timeless once in a lifetime memories.” Plus costume changes. 7:30 pm.
Sunday, August 9
Fairy Festival at The John Hay Estate at The Fells in Newbury, NH. Crafts, readings of fairy tales, face painting, a tea party in the Pavilion, and building fairy habitats in the Fairy Village. Children are invited to dress in their finest Fairy or Gnome attire. The Cruisin’ Cow ice cream truck will be on hand. 11 am to 2 pm.
Nexus Day 3. Busker stage at noon, family silent disco at 3 pm, at 4:15 pm do not miss Smirkus alums David Graham and Tobin Renwick and their Red Trouser Show, at 5:15 it’s Kotoko Brass, Oshima Brothers at 6:45, and Tuck’s Rock Dojo closes the festival out at 8 pm.
At Corinth’s Meadow Meeting House, “Long-Lived Locals: Share their life and work stories.” Five presenters who are “historians and storytellers by natural bent.” Charlie and Rod White talk about dairy farming in Corinth; Mike Batten details the history of the nearby woods, Steve Tillotson talks about the Bowen Hunter Bobbin Mill, and Joyce McKeeman gives an overview of early 19th century Corinth, when the town’s population was double what it is now. 3 pm.
Henry Danaher gives an organ recital at the Enfield Shaker Museum’s Mary Keane Chapel. The Dartmouth College organist and music director at the Church of Christ on campus is a “champion” of the Enfield chapel’s Casavant organ, which is being restored. Danaher will “share a program of solo organ pieces, and collaboration with colleagues.” 4 pm, reception to follow.
Blind Squirrel at Loch Lyme Lodge’s Sunday Summer Soirée. The contradance string band plays an eclectic mix of Celtic, New England, and Quebecois music. 5:30 to 7 pm, reservations required.
Enjoy the week!
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