Vermont

February is a short but sweet month on the Vermont arts-and-entertainment scene

Published

1 year ago

January 30, 2025

February is a short but sweet month on the Vermont arts-and-entertainment scene

February is totally out of whack. Every other month has at least 30 days, but February apparently showed up late for the day-allocation meeting and only got a measly 28 days. Every now and then the day allocators feel bad for February and give it an extra day, but it still comes up at least a day late and a dollar short.

That just means you have to pack a lot more fun into each of those 28 days than you would in one of those longer, more drawn-out months. Fortunately, the arts scene in Vermont gives you plenty of opportunities to do just that. Here are 28 events to consider this month to really make time fly when you’re having fun.

Current exhibition at The Current

Through April 12, the solo exhibition “The Painters’ Hands” featuring the work of graffiti artist Timothy Curtis, which opened Jan. 16, continues at The Current, Stowe. Free. www.thecurrentnow.org

David Lynch films in Burlington

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, the Vermont International Film Festival pays tribute to inventive filmmaker David Lynch, who died in January at age 78, with a trio of films starting with 1997’s “Lost Highway” starring Patricia Arquette and Bill Pullman, followed at 7 p.m. by the influential 1986 movie “Blue Velvet” and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2 with what might be his masterpiece, 2001’s “Mulholland Drive,” The Screening Room, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $6-$12 per film. www.vtiff.org

Farmers Night author talk

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, author and Bradford school principal Kenneth M. Cadow, whose young adult novel “Gather” was a National Book Award finalist, delivers a talk as part of the Farmers Night series, Vermont Statehouse, Montpelier. Free. https://legislature.vermont.gov/the-state-house/events/farmers-night-concert-series

The return of Mdou Moctar

8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, West African guitar act Mdou Moctar is back with opener Janel Leppin at the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Abstract landscape art in Middlebury

5-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, the opening reception for “Landscape Complexions,” a collection of abstract paintings by Addison County artist and architect H. Keith Wagner, celebrates the exhibition that will be on display through March 15, Jackson Gallery, Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. Free. www.townhalltheater.org

‘Wake Up’ call in Waitsfield

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, The Valley Players open their world premiere fully-staged reading of Roxbury playwright Jeanne Beckwith’s Depression-era play “Wake Up, Gloucester,” which runs through Feb. 16, Valley Players Theater, Waitsfield. $14. www.valleyplayers.com

Acoustic roots music in Lincoln

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, acoustic roots musician Eli West, joined by Stephanie Coleman and Matt Flinner, performs at this month’s installment of the Burnham Presents series, Burnham Hall, Lincoln. $20-$25. www.burnhampresents.org

Made-in-Vermont hip hop

9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, now based in Brooklyn, hip-hop musician Jarv is a Windsor native who’ll perform with King Green and Damn Skippy at Nectar’s, Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.liveatnectars.com

Folk/bluegrass act in Richmond

4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, the “P.M. Sundays” series presented by Valley Stage this month features folk/bluegrass duo Bookmatch, Richmond Congregational Church. $17.50-$27.50. www.valleystage.net

Michael Marcagi is back in Vermont

8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Ohio-based singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi, who performed in Burlington last summer at Grace Potter’s Grand Point North concert series, returns to the region for a show with Ashley Kutcher in the Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Middlebury presents August Wilson play

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, The Acting Company presents a one-night-only performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” Wright Memorial Theatre, Middlebury College. $5-$25. www.middlebury.edu/arts

Stealing from Work is back at work

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13-Saturday, Feb. 15, 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15-Sunday, Feb. 16, the Burlington-based sketch-comedy revue Stealing from Work returns to the stage with its new show, “Love… Well, Actually” Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, Burlington. $17 or “pay what you can.” www.offcentervt.com

The Bad Plus adds Vermont show

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, jazzy, eclectic foursome The Bad Plus plays the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $30 in advance, $35 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Sweet jazz for Valentine’s Day

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, with Valentine’s Day falling on a Friday it provides all sorts of opportunities for romantic nights out, including this concert by jazz supergroup Artemis as part of the University of Vermont Lane Series, UVM Recital Hall, Burlington. $7.50-$38.50. www.uvm.edu/laneseries

Romance (sort of) with Yes Darling

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, they flirt, they bicker and they sing – it’s Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane of Yes Darling, who on Valentine’s Day bring their staged concert to The Double E, Essex Experience. $25-$110. www.essexresort.com

Dwight & Nicole offer ‘Big Love’

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, the soulful Burlington-based group Dwight & Nicole presents a Valentine’s Day concert titled “Big Love,” Town Hall Theater, Burlington. $15-$35. www.townhalltheater.org

Lutalo plays Radio Bean

8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, rising Vermont-based indie-rock musician Lutalo performs following Burlington rockers Dari Bay, Radio Bean, Burlington. $18 in advance, $22 day of show. www.radiobean.com

VSO does modern classical

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s program “Modernism and the World of Yesterday” begins with works by Wojciech Kilar and Felix Mendelssohn and after intermission presents Anna Clyne’s “Sound and Fury” with narration by Vermont author M.K. Anderson followed by pianist Stephen Hough performing his piano concerto “The World of Yesterday,” the Flynn, Burlington. $8.35-$62. www.vso.org

Zenbarn welcomes Session Americana

7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Boston folk amalgam Session Americana joins the South Dakota-born group Humbletown at Zenbarn, Waterbury Center. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.zenbarnvt.com

Warren Haynes hits the Flynn

8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, rock guitarist Warren Haynes, known for his work with Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers Band, arrives with his solo band for a show presented by Higher Ground at the Flynn, Burlington. $49.75-$359. www.highergroundmusic.com

Rock with Rough Francis

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, Burlington rock heroes Rough Francis headline a show that includes DJ Collin Hagood, Blossom and Violet Crimes, Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, South Burlington. $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

Higher Ground hosts ‘Love, Kelly Winterfest’

9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, the “Love, Kelly Winterfest” brings a night of hip hop with Famous Dex, YBN Nahmir, North Ave Jax, Souly Had and Kal Banx, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $30 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

‘Black Experience’ with Ta-Nehisi Coates

7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, author Ta-Nehisi Coates (“Between the World and Me”) headlines “The Black Experience ’25,” which includes music from SistaStrings and appearances by local guests DJ Melo Grant, poet Rajnii Eddins and racial-justice advocate Traci Griffith, the Flynn, Burlington. $23-$49.25. www.theflynn.org

A smoke-and-mirrors magic show?

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, billed as the “world’s dopest magic show,” “Smokus Pocus” is a weed-themed magic show coming to the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $33-$53. www.smokuspocus.com

Winter Is a Drag Ball under new management

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, the annual Winter Is a Drag Ball enters its 30th year presented by Mike Oxready (taking over for long-running hosts The House of LeMay) with the theme “ResisDANCE and RevoluSHINE” benefiting Vermont CARES, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $32 in advance, $37 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com

‘Tonight Show’ comic in Burlington

7 and 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28-Saturday, March 1, comic Mary Beth Barone, who made her late-night TV debut on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” stars in four shows at the Vermont Comedy Club, Burlington. $25. www.vermontcomedyclub.com

Getting gory with ‘Sweeney Todd’

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, Vermont Repertory Theatre opens its run (through March 7 and with warnings from the producers of a “blood zone” close to the stage) of the Stephen Sondheim musical about “Sweeney Todd,” aka “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, Burlington. $25-$40. www.vermontrep.com

Solas celebrates in central Vermont

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, the Irish-American group Solas brings Celtic sounds to the Barre Opera House. $24-$42.50. www.barreoperahouse.org

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.

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Vermont

‘The Great Bennington Battle and Vermont’: Pawlet and Rupert Historical Societies to host historian Howard Coffin

Published

47 minutes ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

‘The Great Bennington Battle and Vermont’: Pawlet and Rupert Historical Societies to host historian Howard Coffin

PAWLET — The Pawlett Historical Society and Rupert Historical Society will co-host a talk, “The Great Bennington Battle and Vermont,” with acclaimed historian Howard Coffin, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, at the Pawlet Town Hall, 122 School Street, Pawlet.

The surrender at Saratoga of a British army under John Burgoyne, now almost 250 years ago, has long been called the decisive battle of the American Revolution. But perhaps Burgoyne was doomed after the Battle of Bennington, a bloody day of fighting along the Vermont border that happened two months before Saratoga?

Coffin will discuss the history-changing Burgoyne campaign, focusing on the dramatic battle of Great Bennington—a Vermont battle as well as a New York one. He will also review heroes John Stark and Seth Warner and the Vermont Constitution, itself about to turn 250 years old.

A seventh-generation Vermonter, Howard Coffin is the author of four books on the Civil War: “Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont;” “Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War;” “Nine Months to Gettysburg; and The Battered Stars,” as well as “Guns Over the Champlain Valley,” a book on military sites along the Champlain Corridor.

This free event starts at 12 p.m. with a display of the first coinage minted in the United States, and works by noted photographers Neil Rappaport and John Pelton from our towns’ Bicentennial events in 1976. Be sure to mingle after Coffin’s presentation for an ice cream social with Stewart’s Ice Cream. This event is accessible to all, and made possible by the Vermont Humanities Speakers Bureau. For details on the event, contact Rose Smith at 802-645-0306 or roseksmith1925@gmail.com. For information on Vermont Humanities, visit vermonthumanities.org.

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Vermont

Vt. communities work to clean up after EF-1 tornadoes strike

Published

11 hours ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

Vt. communities work to clean up after EF-1 tornadoes strike

QUECHEE, Vt. (WCAX) – Crews worked across the White River Valley on Friday to restore power and clean up debris after two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Vermont, including one that swept through Quechee.

Joe Haynes stared over his yard in Woodstock, with chunks of his roof scattered across it, wondering about the next steps.

Reporter Connor Ullathorne: How long will this all take to clean up?

Joe Haynes: Oh, I have no idea.

He said he’s lucky he and his nearby neighbors are safe and are not blocked in.

“Some of the trees were down. They’ll be down for awhile but they can make their way out,” Haynes said.

Crews in Woodstock continued clearing trees and downed power lines along Route 4. That’s where Tiffany Miller was working inside the Mountain Creamery when the tornado passed right over the store. Nobody was injured, but their new walk-in storage ended up in the trees.

“It’s definitely a big setback for us. We were getting ready to have it wired up tomorrow. So I mean we definitely have a lot of elbow grease and hours to put in to get back up to where we were,” Miller said.

She said she was happy to see how many customers have checked in on them.

“It’s nice to see that no matter what, in some bad case– storms or indifferent– that we can still come together and be there for each other,” Miller said.

Farther east in Quechee, workers hacked away at trees and swept away debris along the golf course and roads.

“It’s crazy they want to see. Everybody cares about their community and all their assets and amenities, so it’s nice to see everybody come together,” Quechee Club General Manager Brian Kelley said.

Kelley said they were out early Friday, and many residents were shocked at the damage. He’s still hopeful the area can come together and support each other.

“We normally do about 200 rounds a day going into one of our peak weekends. We’ve got the balloon festival this weekend, so we have that population in town, so a little bit of disappointment but people have been great and supportive, and we’ll be back at it tomorrow,” Kelley said.

Kelley said it should be a few days until they are back to full force in Quechee.

Many others across the region told us they’re now focused on getting back to normal.

Click here for the latest forecast from the WCAX First Alert Weather Team.

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New owners of Vermont Packinghouse plan for local growth – The Vermont Journal & The Shopper

Published

21 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

New owners of Vermont Packinghouse plan for local growth – The Vermont Journal & The Shopper

Members of the Vermont Packing & Trading team stand with the owners of Vermont Family Farms. Photo provided

NORTH SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – For years, limited meat processing capacity in Vermont has forced many farmers to sell their livestock out of state. A recent ownership transition at a meat processing plant in North Springfield aims to change that by helping ensure locally raised meats can continue to be processed, packaged, and sold in Vermont.

The Vermont Packinghouse (VPH), located at 25 Fairbanks Road in North Springfield, was recently sold in two subsequent transactions to a new ownership group led by longtime food service and distribution leader Louis Helbling.

The 50,000-square-foot United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility processes and packages beef and pork from small- and medium-sized farms across New England. The sale of both the business and the building marks a new phase of growth and stability for a key regional meat processing operation that has been managed by multiple entities in recent years.

Longtime Springfield businessman Mark Curran, of Curran-Birge, purchased the former Ben & Jerry’s manufacturing plant in 2013 with the goal of easing a major bottleneck for Vermont meat producers by expanding much-needed processing capacity. Curran and his former business partner Steve Birge worked with Temple Grandin, a renowned designer of humane livestock facilities, to develop a slaughter facility that minimizes stress on the animals.

The facility was operated by Minnesota-based Lorentz Meats from 2014 to 2020, and later by Walden Local Meat Co. from 2023 to 2026. Throughout that time, Curran maintained ownership of the building, carefully stewarding an asset he believed held long-term potential for the region.

On May 29, Curran sold the property to a new ownership group led by Helbling, a veteran of food service sales, operations, and senior management. Under the newly formed Vermont Packing & Trading, Helbling is focused on expanding market opportunities for locally grown meats while creating jobs and supporting local farms. With a passion for the food industry, Helbling was drawn to Vermont’s specialty food culture and deep agricultural heritage.

“With Louis’ decades of work in the New England food industry, there is real opportunity to open more markets for local beef and pork producers outside of Vermont,” Curran said. “Another initiative will be to retain more of Vermont’s dairy culls from leaving the state and keep more value-added processing here.”

Helbling and his team will continue to work closely with Curran, Black River Produce – a distributor with deep ties to the operation – and the owners of Walden Local Meat Co. to ensure a smooth transition of both building ownership and day-to-day operations.

“We have all worked very hard over the past six months to keep VPH open and in a position to rehire a very talented and dedicated workforce as quickly as possible,” Helbling said.

With a new management team in place, the facility is entering its next phase of operations focused on future growth.

Upgrades to the USDA facility are already underway, alongside efforts to expand cold storage capacity to meet growing regional demand. “Adding to the existing footprint with additional freezer and cold storage will give us the capacity we need to grow as a business and add to the local workforce over the next five years,” Helbling said.

He added that he and his team will continue working with Curran to revitalize the landmark facility and restore it as a source of pride for families, employees, and local farms.

“All of us involved in this journey are excited to be working and relocating to the great State of Vermont,” Helbling said. “We are operating and moving quickly to bring business from all over the Northeast to Springfield.”

Vermont Packing & Trading was formed after the April 2026 sale of the Vermont Packinghouse business and is seeking new partners and producers across the Northeast.

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