Send in the Songs

thursday 15

Consummate singer-songwriter Judy Collins inspires guests at Paramount Theatre in Rutland with selections from her prolific career spanning more than six decades. Through showstoppers, poignant ballads, and visionary interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards, the esteemed music legend reminds listeners why her work has been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Lit Lovers

Thursday 15-Sunday 18

Guests step into the world of literary legends at QuarryWorks Theater’s poignant production Dearest Friend: A Love Story Written in Letters at the Frank Suchomel Memorial Arts Center in Adamant. Actors Elizabeth Wilcox and G. Richard Ames reanimate the remarkable romance of Victorian writers Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning through real-life correspondence — including cherished poems among the missives.

Hooked on Fibers

Wednesday 14-Sunday 18

The Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild hosts hookers and onlookers at its vibrant “Hooked in the Mountains” show at Sugarbush Resort in Warren. The biennial expo began in 1996 and has evolved into a major mecca for crafters, with workshops, vendors, daily hook-ins and the “Magnificent Bugs in Rugs” traveling exhibit. (No bugs were harmed in the making of these rugs.)

Northern Exposure

Thursday 15

Vermont Historical Society gives a nod to our northern neighbors with some well-deserved gastronomic recognition at Vermont Eats: The French Canadian Experience at Green Mountain Technology & Career Center in Hyde Park. Epicureans dive into a bespoke dining experience curated by the center’s culinary students, underscoring the impact of Québécois culture on civic life in the region.

Give Peas a Chance

Thursday 15

“Vermont Edition” host Mikaela Lefrak invites folks to “Get in the Garden” at Vermont Public’s annual spring show in Colchester. Now’s your chance to be part of a live studio audience as Lefrak digs deep into all things horticultural with gardening guru Charlie Nardozzi. Attendees eat up tips about topics ranging from cultivating early bloomers to prepping for wet weather, followed by a Q&A and a jolly seed swap.

Timber Time

Saturday 17

Theresa Maggio’s historically significant documentary Bills Lumber brings the closing chapter of an antique sawmill in Wardsboro, Vt., to viewers at Next Stage Arts in Putney. Filmed in 2023, this touching tribute to the Bills family’s legacy employs heartfelt stories to paint a picture of how tradition and tenacity helped maintain the mill — through flood and fire — for 86 years.

Ciao, Bella

Saturday 17 & Sunday 18

Bella Voce Women’s Chorus marks 20 years of filling up cups with “Glorious Celebration” — featuring special guest artists Solaris Vocal Ensemble — at McCarthy Arts Center in Colchester. Audience members take in dynamic works ranging from exhilarating to ethereal, including Francis Poulenc’s sparkling midcentury gem Gloria and soul-stirring favorites from the past two decades.

Vermont is a great place to visit.

With its beautiful scenic views, the lush forests perfect for hikes and nature walks and rich history, Vermont has everything that makes New England wonderful.

And that’s why Yankee Magazine included two Vermont locales in their list of the 12 most beautiful places to visit in New England.

“More than anything, look through these photos and then find their equal wherever you may travel in New England: villages, cities, woods, waterways, orchards, farms,” Yankee Magazine said. “Be alert for even the smallest moments of beauty.”

Here are Yankee Magazine’s picks for best Vermont places to visit in New England.

Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT

If you’re looking to walk through a paradise of color and warmth, this Yankee Magazine pick might be perfect for you.

What Yankee Magazine said about Shelburne Farms: “In a region of rocky soil and notoriously changeable weather, few things say resilience like gardens whose roots go back decades. Among New England’s horticultural gems are the gardens at Shelburne Farms, sited between Lake Champlain and the property’s 19th-century mansion turned inn. Created by the former lady of the manor, Lila O. Webb, they’ve been extensively restored—much to the delight of visitors to these verdant grounds more than a century onward.”

You can visit Shelburne Farms at 1611 Harbor Rd.

Burt Henry Covered Bridge in North Bennington, VT

Do you want to take your family out to a blast from the past? Then Yankee Magazine’s other Vermont pick for a best place to visit in New England might be for you.

What Yankee Magazine said about Burt Henry Covered Bridge: “Covered bridges weren’t built to star on calendars,” writes New Hampshire author Howard Mansfield in his 2016 book, Sheds. “They weren’t built to be pretty.” Yet the same structures that once were practical solutions to 19th-century problems—including this classic Town lattice truss bridge in North Bennington—are now scenic lures for 21st-century visitors.”

You can visit the Burt Henry Covered Bridge at 475 River Rd.

Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com.

This commentary is by a group of former Vermont lawmakers. Their names are listed below the text of the commentary.

More than 50 years ago, Vermont recognized the hardship faced by homeowners whose property taxes were rising faster than their ability to pay them. Since then, state fiscal policy has moved, in fits and starts, toward a system where school taxes are based on Vermonters’ income, the best measure of their ability to pay. 

We, former Vermont legislators, urge you not to abandon a half-century of progress. Instead, we hope you will fulfill the promise of Act 60, which we helped pass in 1997, and ask Vermont homeowners with the most income to contribute their fair share to the cost of education by paying based on income. 

Vermont’s education funding system is committed both to fair taxation and local decision making, and we can strengthen both of those. Instead, H.454, the education reform bill that recently passed the Vermont House of Representatives, weakens them. 

Income-based school taxes ease pressure on homeowners with modest earnings that don’t keep pace with rising real estate prices and property taxes. For high-earning homeowners, income is a more accurate reflection of their means than a single piece of property, so taxes based on income are critical to fair school funding for all.

H.454 as passed by the Vermont House takes the state in the opposite direction. The bill would repeal the law’s current provision allowing residents to pay some or all of their school taxes based on their income, which 70% of Vermont homeowners do. Instead, H.454 recommits the state to regressive property taxes that hit low- and middle income residents the hardest.

To temper the negative impacts of the property tax for those with incomes of $115,000 or less, the plan puts in place homestead exemptions, which provide relief for some but still rely on property taxes. Lawmakers have considered homestead exemptions over the last 

50 years and repeatedly rejected them as too complicated and failing to achieve the fairness of income-based taxes.

H.454 does nothing to address the unfair tax break in the current funding system. Many of Vermont’s wealthiest homeowners pay school taxes on their property that are less than their income-based taxes would be. H.454 allows these homeowners to continue to pay property taxes instead of asking them to pay the same share of their income to support education as average Vermonters pay.

H.454 also brings back a foundation formula — state-determined and state-funded grants that can be supplemented by local school districts — which Vermont tried before the state supreme court declared it unconstitutional in 1997. The constitutional problems can be overcome, and H.454 attempts to do so. But this, too, is something the Legislature tried decades ago and found unworkable because it was overly complicated and made tax rates unpredictable from year to year.

None of the sweeping changes in H.454, the associated risks, nor the hassles to school districts are necessary. The sharp increase in taxes last year was due in large part to costs outside of school districts’ control and also to legislative missteps in the previous two years.

And while the governor likes to say the message from the election was that schools are spending too much, that’s not the case. School spending in Vermont as a percentage of the state’s economy has been a stable 5.5% to 6% for decades.

Unfair taxes anger taxpayers and alienate them from participation in decision-making about their schools — and that hurts students, teachers and communities. H.454 does not solve these problems. Rather, in reaching for elusive “efficiencies,” with promises of better education, the bill doubles down on school consolidation, which many Vermonters have rejected; that will alienate more citizens by taking budgetary decision-making out of communities’ hands.

There are immediate, affordable changes to the existing law that would make the system fairer for the Vermonters hurt last year. Instead of rushing to new and unproven — or old, proven-unworkable — financing mechanisms and an unprecedented move away from local control, the Legislature should adopt those changes.

We are proud that for 30 years Vermont has had the most equitable school financing system in the country, supporting schools that produce some of the highest test scores in the country. Not incidentally, our schools hold together many of the small rural communities that make Vermont an enviable place to live. 

H.454 risks destroying much of this. Vermont deserves better. 

Former Rep. Elaine Alfano

Former Sen. Susan Bartlett

Former Rep. Paul Cillo

Former Rep. David Deen

Former Sen. Matt Dunne 

Former Rep. John Freidin 

Former Rep. Martha Heath 

Former Sen. Cheryl Hooker 

Former Rep. Carolyn Kehler 

Former Rep. Karen Lafayette

Former Rep. Gini Milkey

Former Rep. Donny Osman 

Former Rep. Ed Paquin 

Former Rep. Ann Seibert 

Former Rep. Mary Sullivan 

Former Rep. John Tracy 

Former Rep. Michael Vinton 

Former Rep. Mark Woodward 

Former Lt. Governor David Zuckerman