VERMONT — Incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman faces a challenge this November from John Rodgers, a former state senator.

Both candidates are farmers — Zuckerman of meat and produce in Hinesburg, and Rodgers of hemp in Glover. They share similar concerns about Vermont’s affordability but differ in their approaches to solutions.

Rodgers, a former Democrat turned Republican, has the endorsement of Gov. Phil Scott, who is also up for re-election. Zuckerman has the backing of several climate, education and labor advocacy groups.

To help readers get to know the candidates, the Messenger asked each the same five questions.

Q: How will you bring Vermonters’ voices to the statehouse?

RODGERS: I will bring Vermonters’ voices to Montpelier in the same way that I did during the 16 years that I served as a senator and state representative. Unlike my opponent, a man of extreme wealth and considerable privilege, I will represent my constituents—all of us impacted by his out-of–control spending schemes. I can represent working Vermonters because I am one. I started with nothing, and I’ve worked six and seven days a week most of my life to get to where I am today. I am open and honest and want to make sure that Vermonters know how the policies moving through the state house will affect them. I will fight against policies that are unaffordable for working Vermonters.

ZUCKERMAN: I have a long track record of bringing a wide range of voices to the statehouse. Whether it is welcoming folks to regular coffee hours during the legislative session or welcoming smaller groups to the Lt. Gov. office to help answer any questions about the process or how to get their voice heard. I have also had community coffee’s across the state to try to bring the statehouse discussion to people in their towns. Additionally, I try to connect with as many folks as I can: at the gas station, convenience store, the farmers market, grain store and every other place I go. I welcome folks to reach out with concerns, ideas, criticisms, questions, or whatever is on their mind. As an elected public servant, I have always felt it is my duty to listen to and help people no matter their party or issue. I work to help them navigate the system.

Q: What is your message to older adults on fixed incomes worried about Vermont’s affordability?

RODGERS: As I travel around the state, everyone that I speak to is tired of crushing rents, spiraling property, taxes, and unaffordable heat and electric bills. It is affecting everyone, but is definitely affecting older adults on a fixed income much more. The policies of my opponent and the Super Majority are regressive, and many of them need to be repealed or dramatically changed. For instance, the renewable energy standard that the legislator just passed will add somewhere around $100 million a year to Vermont’s electric bills. This will affect poor and working class Vermonters and especially older Vermonters on fixed income, and most of the proceeds will go to millionaires in the energy development business. Older Vermonters on a fixed income should also get a break on their education property tax.

ZUCKERMAN: Our biggest affordability issues for seniors are housing, property taxes, social security taxes and everyday groceries. I am the only candidate to support $70,000,000 annually for 10 years to build thousands of affordable housing units (owned and rental). I am the only candidate with specific plans to reduce the burden on working class families. This includes a $30-$40 million shift by making high income people pay the same rate as those on fixed incomes. Right now, they pay less. My proposal also includes a progressive tax on second homes that could raise $58,000,000 in tax relief for everyday Vermonters. Additionally the administration has added over $500,000,000 to working Vermonters property taxes through mental health costs that in other states are covered by the general fund in the Agency of Human Services. I would work to reduce those costs in the education fund.

Q: What should be done, if anything, to help first time homebuyers enter the real estate market?

RODGERS: The first thing we need to do for first time homebuyers is address the outrageous cost of property taxes and energy. The cost of purchasing a house is only the first part of home ownership and you must be able to pay the ongoing property taxes and utility bills. I do not believe Vermont has enough resources to give outright monetary grants to first time homebuyers, but dealing with the excessive cost of owning a home is something that the legislature and state government can do. We must end the regressive energy policies of the Super Majority and build renewable energy that actually addresses climate change and is at market electricity rates. It would be great if at some point, we had enough money to give first time homebuyers (based on income and a commitment to live and work in Vermont) some type of property tax relief for a year or two. The sentiment that I’m hearing from everyone around the state Iis we’re all working too hard for two little in a state that costs too much to live in. I agree with my fellow Vermonters.

ZUCKERMAN: We know that it costs approximately $400,000 in labor, materials, and land to build a modest house in Vermont. This is out of range for many. Buying a house is similar. We have to invest state funds to create affordable housing for young couples and families or they won’t be able to afford to live here. Vermont is a desirable place to live and many can sell elsewhere for a lot more than it costs to buy here. The Vermont House passed a comprehensive affordable housing bill last year that would generate $70,000,000/year for 10 years by adding a top tax rate of 3% to incomes over $500,000/yr. The free market will not solve the affordable housing crisis. The investment must be made to keep our seniors, youth and workforce in Vermont.

Q: What qualities will you look for in selecting committee chairs?

RODGERS: Committee chairs should be knowledgeable in the subject matter of the committee. They should be open minded, fair, and willing to listen to everyone. They must be able to maintain decorum in the committee, as well as a respect for everyone who comes before the committee. Committee chairs need to have the ability to move legislation that is important for Vermonters and not waste time on frivolous policy matters.

ZUCKERMAN: The most important qualities are making sure they will run a committee in a fair and open way to allow all ideas to be presented. The committee chair should take time to allow the committee members to digest new ideas/perspectives even when those ideas may not have started out with the majority viewpoints. They must be good communicators and open to criticism. I have also always advocated to make sure a wide range of perspectives are included on every committee.

Q: Who are you voting for U.S. President?

RODGERS: Much to the chagrin of many Republicans, I have stated publicly many times that I did not like Donald Trump before he ran for office and would consider myself a “Never Trumper.” Though I’ve been advised by some to say that I will vote for Kamala Harris, as we all know that it is likely she will be called the Vermont winner shortly after 7 o’clock, I cannot tell a lie. As I’ve stated before, I am an open and honest guy. Though I do believe she is much more presidential than her opponent, I strongly disagree with some of her policy positions—like support for fracking and war in the Middle East. I wish we had a candidate that was a moderate to choose from, in both major parties. I will likely make my final decision in the voting booth on Election Day, whether to vote for Vice-President Harris or a third-party candidate. I still need to finish researching them.

ZUCKERMAN: Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is a threat to democracy and we must do everything we can to elect Kamala Harris and stop Trump. I am the only candidate in this race supporting Vice President Harris and Governor Walz.

“Hadestown” is coming home.

The musical Addison County native Anais Mitchell created and first presented in Vermont in late 2006 – followed by a reworked production that toured the state the next year – returns to the place of its birth for the first fully-staged Vermont production in 17 years. The four shows Oct. 15-17 come after Mitchell’s scruffy, imaginative folk opera was staged off-Broadway in 2016 and arrived in a big way on Broadway in 2019, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.

As the improbable run of “Hadestown” finally brings the production back to its roots with a Broadway touring production, here are five things you should know about the musical’s past, present and future.

The birth of “Hadestown”

Mitchell, then 25, and Vermont visual artist Ben t. Matchstick created the folk opera and cast in-state friends and musicians in the first productions in Barre and Vergennes in late 2006. Part-Woody Guthrie “stick it to the man” folk project, part-steampunk dreamscape, the production based on the Orpheus myth was esoteric, atmospheric and, according to a Burlington Free Press review of the Vergennes production, told its tale “with clear-eyed creative verve.”

The Free Press caught the Middlebury show when a revamped “Hadestown” toured the state in 2007.

“Another year of experience and a tighter focus made the music more powerful, the visuals more sensual and ‘Hadestown’ much more intense,” according to the Free Press review of that performance. “With no expository dialogue, only songs, it’s still difficult at times to follow the plot, but ‘Hadestown’ is now such a visual and musical wonder, it doesn’t matter. Mitchell presents a bleak world that, through all the angst and despair, is a joy to watch.”

Album on Ani DiFranco’s label

A touring singer-songwriter, Mitchell demonstrated she wasn’t done with “Hadestown.” In 2010 she released an album on which she (as with the stage productions) portrayed Eurydice, condemned to a bleak life of sweatshop-like toil in the world of Hades. The floating voice of Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as Eurydice’s musical lover, Orpheus, and the sassy brass of singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco (whose record label Righteous Babe released the recording) as Hades’ wife, Persephone, set templates for those roles that would carry over to Broadway nearly a decade later.

The toast of Broadway, Tony Awards

Mitchell ceased performing in “Hadestown” by the 2016 off-Broadway retooling (which included in its cast Vermont native and recent Tony-winner Shaina Taub), pre-Broadway tune-ups in London and Edmonton and Broadway in 2019. The Free Press saw the beefed-up Broadway show in April 2019, just before its official opening night.

“The core of ‘Hadestown’ – Mitchell’s songs – remains vividly alive,” the Free Press wrote. “It’s exciting to hear her songs in this fuller context, with the larger Broadway presentation bringing even more richness out of material Mitchell’s Vermont fans have heard for more than a decade. This more-explicitly-explained version helps reveal the brilliance not just of Mitchell’s music but of the storyline that’s always been there, lurking behind the songs that stand as vivid scenes on their own.”

That energy carried over to the Tony Awards that June. “Hadestown” won eight of Broadway’s top prizes, including Best Musical; Best Original Score for Mitchell; Best Direction of a Musical by Rachel Chavkin, who came on board for the off-Broadway show; and Best Orchestrations to Todd Sickafoose and Vermont musician Michael Chorney. Mitchell, Chorney and Vermont bass player Robinson Morse were the only artists to see “Hadestown” through from seed to fully-flourishing flower 13 years later.

The present, future of ‘Hadestown’

In a sign of a Broadway hit, the musical turned a profit by the end of 2019, months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut “Hadestown” down for 18 months. The production continues to thrive at the Walter Kerr Theatre, though almost all performers have changed from opening night.

A new cast member postponed a Vermont show to join the Broadway show. American-roots musician Allison Russell was to perform Oct. 25 at Higher Ground in South Burlington. She delayed that concert until April 30 once she was named as the next singer to portray Persephone, a role that began with Vermont vocalist Miriam Bernardo in 2006 and included DiFranco on Broadway this year. Russell joins “Hadestown” Nov. 12.

Details about the Burlington shows

Vermonters have flocked to New York to see “Hadestown” on Broadway since 2019, but those unable to get to Manhattan or who just want to see it in its state of origin can now witness the Broadway national tour at the Flynn in Burlington.

Those who haven’t bought tickets might be out of luck. Three evening performances sold out quickly. A matinee was added for Oct. 16, but that sold out in early October.

Mitchell announced Oct. 3 on social media that a portion of the proceeds from the Burlington performances will go to the Vermont Community Foundation’s Vermont Flood Response and Recovery Fund. Floods have hit Vermont hard in the past couple of years, including in Barre and Montpelier, two cities where those early creative sparks of “Hadestown” were first lit.

If you go

WHAT: Broadway national tour of “Hadestown”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15-Thursday, Oct. 17 and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16

WHERE: The Flynn, Burlington

INFORMATION: Sold out. www.flynnvt.org

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.

Poultney, a town of about 3,000 people on Vermont’s western border, is a small but vibrant community with a quaint downtown and a quintessential New England village green. In the heart of the Stone Valley, Poultney is home to some of the state’s earliest marble and granite quarries. Legend has it that its slate industry arose by accident in 1843, while a farmer was showing his land to a prospective buyer. When the buyer kicked a clump of soil, he unearthed a piece of slate, which convinced the farmer not to sell.

Poultney’s stone industry is evident in much of the historic downtown architecture, including the Journal Press Building, built in 1908 to house the town’s weekly newspaper. In fact, Poultney is the birthplace of two famous journalists: Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune; and George Jones, cofounder of the New York Times. The Journal Press Building is now home to Stone Valley Arts at Fox Hill.

Beginning in 1856, East Poultney became one of the country’s largest producers of the melodeon, a small reed organ that was a popular form of 19th-century parlor entertainment. Though the factory closed in 1869, the Poultney Historical Society has maintained the Melodeon Factory as a museum since 1954 and uses it to house several of its permanent exhibits.

Green Mountain College, a private liberal arts school at the base of the Taconic Mountains, was long a fixture in Poultney. After the 185-year-old college closed in 2019, the 155-acre campus was sold in 2020 to entrepreneur Raj Bhakta, founder of WhistlePig whiskey, who has applied for permits to build a hotel and condos.

Poultney’s Lake St. Catherine region is a year-round destination for outdoor recreation, including fishing, boating, swimming, snowshoeing, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling.

If you want to visit Poultney, Vermont, here’s a suggested itinerary.

Note: Check websites to confirm business hours for the day of your visit.

The Rail Trail Eatery

Begin your Poultney visit with a breakfast of banana caramel French toast, a freshly baked muffin, an egg sandwich or a sloppy Joe omelette with cheese. Good eats right downtown — what more could you ask for?
143 Main St., Poultney

Hit the Trails

click to enlarge

• Courtesy
• Slate Valley Trail in Poultney

The 19.8-mile Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail runs along an abandoned railway corridor between Castleton and West Rupert and includes the Poultney River Loop, a 3.5-mile flat, multiuse trail around downtown Poultney. For more than 50 miles of free, multiuse trails in the area, explore Slate Valley Trails any time of the year. There are at least eight trailheads in Poultney itself, with ample parking for hikers, cyclists, snowshoers and cross-country skiers.

Lake St. Catherine State Park

Searching for a place to hike, swim, fish, mountain bike or camp? This 117-acre state park has plenty to offer, whether for day use or overnight stays. There’s a sandy beach with a designated swim area; a boat launch with canoe, kayak and paddleboat rentals; an 18-hole disc golf course; a 61-site campground for tents and RVs; and a rustic cabin to rent. Lake St. Catherine’s cool waters provide excellent fishing opportunities — and keep an eye out for white-tailed deer and even the occasional moose, especially around sunset.
3034 Route 30, Poultney

Stone Valley Arts at Fox Hill

Founded in 2013, Stone Valley Arts offers classes, workshops, presentations and events in the visual, performing and literary arts for students of all ages and experience levels. Its store sells one-of-a-kind artwork from local artists and craftspeople — drop by on the weekend or make an appointment.
145 E. Main St., Poultney

Green’s Sugarhouse

click to enlarge

• Dreamstime
• Maple sugaring

Whether you like your maple syrup golden and delicate, amber and rich, or very dark and robust, Green’s can satisfy your sweet tooth. Guided tours are complimentary, especially during sugaring season in March and April. Or just stop by the store for maple candies, maple cream, spices, jams, preserves and more.
1846 Finel Hollow Rd., Poultney

Whaleback Vineyard

No matter whether your taste buds lean toward reds, whites, dessert or ice wines, this family-owned vineyard has a bottle or two to please everyone’s palate. Sample for yourself: Whaleback offers free tastings in a renovated 1800s barn.
202 Old Lake Rd., Poultney

Poultney Pub

Let’s face it: Poultney won’t win any awards for its hopping nightlife. Still, folks looking for rustic grub, local craft brews and live tunes can amble over to the Poultney Pub for burgers, apps, sandwiches, salads and wraps. The pub regularly hosts open mics, bluegrass nights and other musical offerings.
158 Main St., Poultney