Vermont
Burlington restaurants among Vermont semifinalists for 2025 for James Beard Awards
Five Vermont restaurants and bars were announced Wednesday morning as semifinalists for the James Beard Awards, the industry’s most prominent American honors. The nominees include a much-lauded Burlington restaurant in the biggest category of all, Outstanding Restaurateur.
The 20 semifinalists in each category will be whittled down April 2 to a group of finalists. The awards will be given out June 16.
Vermont typically has numerous semifinalists each year, and in 2022 had an overall winner, the Thai restaurant Saap in Randolph, whose co-owner, Nisachon “Rung” Morgan, won Best Chef: Northeast in a ceremony in Chicago.
This year’s semifinalists from Vermont – four restaurants and a bar – are:
Honey Road/The Grey Jay, Burlington
These two Burlington restaurants – Honey Road is a dinner spot while The Grey Jay is open for breakfast and lunch – are nominated in the James Beard Awards’ lead category, Outstanding Restaurateur, for owners Cara Tobin and Allison Gibson. If the James Beard Awards are the Academy Awards of the restaurant industry, Outstanding Restaurateur is akin to Best Picture, the top prize of the night.
Honey Road is a regular nominee for the James Beard Awards, with Tobin having been a semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast four times and reaching the finals in that category last year. Honey Road was also nominated for a nationwide prize, Best New Restaurant, in 2018.
The Grey Jay opened in late 2022. Amanda Wildermuth, who works there and at Honey Road, was nominated in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category in 2023.
May Day, Burlington
This Old North End restaurant that opened (naturally) in May of 2022 is one of two Vermont nominees for Best Chef: Northeast, which covers the six New England states. Avery Buck is the May Day chef nominated in that category.
May Day emphasizes local, fresh ingredients. The current menu listed online features large plates such as a May Day beef patty melt, cauliflower steak, steak frites and a chicken Caesar schnitzel.
Canteen Creemee Co., Waitsfield
That Vermont-specific term “creemee,” connoting an especially rich variety of soft-serve ice cream, will get some high-profile national attention thanks to the nomination of this popular Mad River Valley destination. Canteen Creemee’s Charlie Menard joins Buck of May Day as a nominee in the Best Chef: Northeast category.
Canteen Creemee is a big summer draw for its titular dessert, with adventurous flavors including Pumpkin Escobar and Apple Crusher. The modest-looking business in a Waitsfield shopping center is also regarded by many as producing some of the best fried chicken in Vermont.
Wolf Tree, White River Junction
Wolf Tree is a 24-seat cocktail bar in the Connecticut River valley community of White River Junction that’s nominated in the nationwide category of Outstanding Bar.
Cocktails listed on the bar’s website include Friday I’m In Love (“The Cure for what ails you”), a bubbly blend of vodka, citrus, strawberry and mint; You’re Doing Great (“Come for the tequila, stay for the affirmation”), which mixes tequila, ginger, passionfruit, Campari and lime; and I Wanna Be Your Lover (“Softly floral, gently herbaceous, with a hint of stone fruit. 100% sexy”), a concoction of gin, Lillet Blanc, genepy, apricot, grapefruit oil and orange bitters.
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.
Vermont
Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits
A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.
A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.
Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.
“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.
The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.
“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.
In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.
“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.
The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.
The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.
“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”
Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.
“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.
The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.
Vermont
Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her
BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.
Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.
“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.
Birthday gift unlike any other
For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.
The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.
“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”
After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.
“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.
“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”
‘Library for plants’
White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.
“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.
Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.
“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”
The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.
“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.
White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.
No plans to stop
White says she has no plans to stop.
“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.
And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.
“He just got good wishes!”
Read the full story.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Vermont
Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker
A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.
A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.
The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.
Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.
After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.
Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.
U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.
“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”
The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.
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