GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Boy, the forecast's been fickle. For a while it looked like we might actually get some snow. But nooooo.... Today's mostly in the hands of a warm front that's made its way here from the Ohio Valley, bringing a chance of rain and snow. High today in the high 30s or low 40s, and whatever comes down will be light. That's just a prelude for tonight, when that winter storm arrives from the Plains — it now seems mostly as rain around here (though the Adirondacks, now...). Temps hanging steady overnight.In addition to rain and/or snow, the Weather Service says the storm could bring high winds. Highest to our west, but still some gusts around here, according to this map.You know those "Beware of falling rock" signs you drive blithely past on the highway? A rockslide brought down several large boulders on I-89 northbound late yesterday afternoon, just south of the Sharon exit. Jennifer Falvey happened by shortly afterward and got this pic. No one was hurt, but one car was damaged and here's betting more than a few people were scared out of their wits. State highway crews will be back at the site today to remove boulders on the side of the roadway. Thanks, Jennifer!Croydon residents seem split on police decision. You remember now-former chief Richard Lee heading home in his underwear last week after the SB voted to close the town police department? About 50 residents gathered last night to hear the SB and state police discuss the transition in coverage. A decent number, writes the VN's Patrick O'Grady, took issue with that decision. But SB chair Russell Edwards said Lee "worked against" the town's elected officials, and O'Grady writes his comments were "met with about the same amount of applause."The face of Hanover Main Street is changing. A little bit, anyway. Artful blogger Susan Apel has some background on FatFace, the British clothier opening up in part of the old Canoe Club. "As a person who once had a thinner face that has grown rounder, I thought it a risky name for any business that wants to attract customers," she writes, but it turns out the company's named after a ski run in the French Alps. Meanwhile, a few dozen feet to the south, work is underway on the corner space in the old Dartmouth Bookstore building, where My Brigadeiro chocolates is finally going street-level. Budget increase, three contested selectboard races on tap in Thetford. The town's proposing pay raises and expanded roles for several town employees, and a bigger public works budget. In addition, two open SB seats and the one held by interim chair Nick Clark are being contested. (VN)Piecemeal Pies working on a second shop... in Stowe. Justin Barrett, the WRJ pie shop's architect-turned-restaurateur founder, was in Stowe last fall selling his wares on the green during the British Invasion car show when he looked up and saw a "For Rent" sign on the old IC Scoops ice cream shop. Now he's prepping to open a 25-seat eat-in restaurant and takeout business later this spring, open for brunch, lunch, and dinner every day but Tuesday. "I don’t recommend you do this." That was a halvah-maker in Montreal, warning Strafford's Victoria Wallins about the pitfalls of making the Middle Eastern tahini-and-sugar-syrup treat. It took her two years of experimenting, but she persisted, and the result is Halvah Heaven, which you'll find at local farmer's markets, co-ops, and the Woodstock Farmers Market. The VN's Sarah Earle has a profile."The flavor, the consistency, the mouth-feel of the milk, is just unlike anything else you can get out there." That's Earl Ransom, who runs Strafford Organic Creamery and Rockbottom Farm with his wife, Amy Huyffer, on the Guernseys that power their success. Ransom was born on the farm, and is one of three black dairy farmers in VT, VPR's John Dillon reports. He looks at the creamery's survival in a tough era for dairies, and at Ransom's experience — “Nobody expects to see a black guy milking cows or driving a tractor” — in this most traditional of VT occupations.And still speaking of Strafford... Chronicle, the newsmagazine on WCVB5 in Boston, has an eye-candy look at the Strafford Town House and what it takes to maintain the iconic building. Rocky Fuller, who chairs the Town House Committee, takes the camera on a tour around the building — and up to the top of the spire, 100 feet up, for a breathtaking look out over town. Hit "Show Transcript" if you just want to read about it, but it's worth a few minutes for the video.Not your usual bank visitor in Randolph. On Monday, a small band of deer was charging through town when one of them jumped through the window of the Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. No one was in the office; the deer eventually left through a back window, but was obviously injured, since it left blood behind. WCAX has the story and video."NOBODY WANTS TO EAT YOUR POOP." That's a sign in the office of Andy Chevrefils, Vermont's public health inspection manager, who's in charge of the team that inspects the state's 3,854 retail food establishments. Now that the state health department has a new portal that lets you look at inspection results for every restaurant in Vermont, Seven Days' Hannah Normandeau takes a deep look at the inspection program. She includes some of the violations that earned places low scores. Maybe don't read that part during breakfast.Looks like Vermont will have a new minimum wage. Democrats in the House yesterday mustered the 100 votes they needed to override Gov. Phil Scott's veto of legislation passed earlier this year. Six of the eight Democrats who'd voted against it gave their party leadership the victory it badly wanted after failing to override Scott's veto of a family-leave bill. Since the Senate voted last week to override, the bill now becomes law. The state's minimum wage will rise from $10.96 per hour to $11.75 in 2021, and to $12.55 in 2022.Woodstock is the 2nd most-charming small town in America. So says a website called Big Seven Travel, which is up with a list of the top 50 places under 50K population (I guess that seems small if you live in a big city) that it thinks fit the bill. Also there: Sugar Hill, NH (4); Meredith, NH (7); Stowe (13); Bennington (28); and Montpelier (49). Plus, of course, the usual suspects like Mancos, CO; Wallace, ID; and Leiper's Fork, TN.Oh, the wages of schadenfreude... There's now a little italicized squib at the bottom of that NYT "gallon of liquids" graphic that was in yesterday's Daybreak. "An earlier version of this column gave an incorrect price for a gallon of maple syrup from Vermont Country Store. It is $119.80, not $239.60." Crush my dreams, why don't you? (Thanks for the tip, JB!)
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SO, ABOUT TONIGHT...
Celeste Jennings' "choreopoem" about the daily lives and struggles of black women from the 1840s to today combines music, dance, and spoken word, all performed by a multi-generational cast. It had its origins in her sophomore year at Dartmouth, when a couple of theater experiences "inspired me to put my spoken-word poetry together and create something,” she told the
Rutland Herald
. “And I just did it for fun — and I became overnight passionate about it.” 7:30 pm tonight, official opening night on Saturday, runs through March 15.
The Lyme-based band rocks the Lyme Center Academy Building starting at 6, followed by an open jam. Bring a snack to share.
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