Vermont

Here are 5 of this year’s best Christmas light displays in Vermont

Published

4 months ago

December 6, 2025

Press Room

Here are 5 of this year’s best Christmas light displays in Vermont

Rockefeller Christmas tree lights up in New York City

This year’s tree is 75-foot-tall Norway Spruce from just outside Albany, New York, with a 900 lb Swarovski star.

As December begins, Christmas lights are popping up all across Vermont to welcome the holiday season, bringing joy and brightness to the dark, cold days of winter.

Luckily, if you’re a fan of Christmas lights, you don’t have to go far to see them. Vermont has plenty of professional Christmas light displays ready to dazzle you this season, including everything from a walkthrough at a beautifully lit nature center to a museum full of decorated exhibits with a different theme in each room.

Here are five of the best Christmas light displays to check out in Vermont this holiday season.

Winter Lights at Shelburne Museum

On nights during the holiday season, Shelburne Museum turns into a winter wonderland full of colorful light displays. Each building and garden of the museum’s campus is uniquely decorated, from cascading twinkling lights at Beach Woods to the 220-foot illuminated steamboat “Ticonderoga.”

Those who do not want to walk can enjoy the magic of the lights on specific drive-around nights throughout the season. The museum will also have two gift shops, as well as a cafe with snacks and hot chocolate open until 8 p.m. each night of the light display.

Online tickets cost $15 for adults, $10 for children ages 3-17 or $30 for VIP. Tickets can be purchased in person, but are more expensive and not guaranteed. Drive-around tickets, which must be purchased online, cost $65 per vehicle.

When: 4-8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday from Nov. 21, 2025 through Jan. 4, 2026, plus every day between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. Drive-around hours offered on Nov. 24-25, Dec. 2-3, Dec. 9-10, Dec. 16-17 and Jan. 5-6. Sensory-friendly nights on Dec. 1 and Dec. 15.

Where: Shelburne Museum, 6000 Shelburne Road, Shelburne

Winter Lights in the Park

This free, family-friendly light display allows guests to walk through lit trees and tunnels in Maple Street Park while holiday music floats through the air. Winter Lights in the Park also doubles as a scavenger hunt for hidden ornaments throughout the decorated trees.

When: 5-8 p.m. daily from Nov. 27, 2025 through Jan. 1, 2026

Where: Maple Street Park, 75 Maple St., Essex Junction

A Forest of Lights

Nature lovers can experience the beautiful Vermont outdoors lit up for the holiday season at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) Nature Center in Quechee. A Forest of Lights, the nature center’s holiday light special, is an outdoor walkthrough experience with thousands of lights in exciting displays, including new attractions like the Sparkle Dome, the Dancing Lights Pavilion and Under the Black Light Sea.

When you finish walking through the illuminated forest, hot chocolate and light snacks are available for purchase to enjoy by the campfire.

Tickets cost $15 for adults or $9 for children over three.

When: 4:30-7 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday until Dec. 20, then daily until Jan. 3, 2026

Where: VINS Nature Center, 149 Natures Way, Quechee

Christmas Lights at the Joseph Smith Birthplace

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrates Christmas with an outdoor light display at the birthplace of the church’s founder, Joseph Smith. Over 200,000 colorful lights decorate the grounds of the South Royalton monument.

Visitors can walk or drive along the decorated path for free.

When: 4-9 p.m. daily from Nov. 28, 2025 through Jan. 1, 2026

Where: Joseph Smith Birthplace, 357 Lds Lane, S. Royalton

Spruce Peak Lights Festival

Held for one night only at The Village at Spruce Peak, the Spruce Peak Lights Festival illuminates the ski village and surrounding evergreen trees with thousands of holiday lights.

Other attractions at this event include ice dancing performances, photos with Santa, a complimentary photobooth and a firework show.

When: Saturday, Dec. 20 from noon to 7 p.m. Village lighting at 7 p.m.

Where: Spruce Peak Village, 559 Spruce Peak Road, Stowe

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Vermont

Vermont Sports Hall of Fame adds two members to 2026 induction class

Published

10 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Vermont Sports Hall of Fame adds two members to 2026 induction class

An international ambassador for tennis from South Burlington and a three-sport captain at Burlington High School and the University of Vermont more than 100 years ago are the final members for the 2026 Vermont Sports Hall of Fame banquet, the organization announced in a news release on Thursday, March 26.

Jake Agna, the former legendary tennis coach at South Burlington High School, is the 2026 David Hakins inductee, which honors an individual or a group or organization for exceptional promotion of sports, athletics and recreation in the state. Fenwick Watkins, a pioneer and exceptional athlete and coach who helped break color barriers in sports in the early 1900s, has been named the hall’s historic inductee.

Agna and Watkins join 10 other members previously announced this year who will officially be enshrined during a celebration banquet at the Delta Marriott Burlington Hotel on 1117 Williston Road in South Burlington on Saturday, April 25.

The dinner begins with a reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by the induction ceremony. To purchase tickets to the 2026 event, visit the VSHOF website at vermontsportshall.com. The cost is $95 per plate with part of the proceeds going to Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, the longtime designated charity for VSHOF.

Over 38 years coaching girls tennis at South Burlington, Agana compiled a 489-95 record with eight perfect seasons, 16 Division I titles and 13 runner-up trophies before stepping down prior to the 2023 season.

Agna is also founded Kids on the Ball in 2000, which is designed to teach children life lessons such as relationships and respect by learning the game of tennis. He has led 31 trips to Cuba to help expand the sport. His tennis programs reach out to over 200 kids each day in school and after school programs.

Agna’s work to help resurface 10 courts and renovation of the National Tennis Center in Cuba in 2017 was recognized by the Tennis Channel.

Watkins was a three-sport star in football, basketball, baseball at Burlington before graduating in 1905. At UVM, he is believed to be the first Black captain of a non-historical Black college or university sport and was captain for all three sports at both BHS and UVM, according to VSHOF.

After UVM, Watkins went on to become a high school and college head coach in North Dakota at Concordia College (football) and what is now known as North Dakota State (baseball and football). He died in 1943.

The previous winners for the Hakins award are: Barry Stone (2024); Thomas Dunkley (2023); Ted Ryan (2022); Cochran’s Ski Area, Mickey & Ginny Cochran (2020); Mal Boright (2019); Helmut Lenes (2017); Ernie Farrar (2015); Tom Curley (2014) and Ray Pecor (2013).

The previous historic winners include: Leo Papineau, St. Michael’s College, athlete, coach and official (2025); Clarence Demar, South Hero, distance running, (2017); Fred Harris, Brattleboro, outdoors/ski jumping, (2015); James Taylor, Windsor, outdoors, (2014); and Charles Adams, Newport, National Hockey League, (2013).

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.

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Vermont

See the Brattleboro student who won the Poetry Out Loud state finals

Published

22 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

See the Brattleboro student who won the Poetry Out Loud state finals

Beth McDermott
| Reporter assisted by AI

Eason DeMarsico-Thorne, a student at Brattleboro Union High School, won the 2026 Poetry Out Loud State Finals, held the Flynn on March 5, according to a community announcement.

DeMarsico-Thorne will represent Vermont at the national competition at the end of April in the nation’s capital. Gretchen Wertlieb of South Burlington High School was the runner-up, and Aiva Reed of Windsor High School placed third.

The state finals featured 10 students who recited poems over three rounds. The top three, with the highest cumulative scores after the first two rounds, advanced to the final round.

DeMarsico-Thorne recited “Fruit of the Flower” by Countee Cullen, “I Shall Return” by Claude Mckay and “A Southern Road” by Helene Johnson.

Wertlieb recited “To a Young Dancing Girl” by Elsa Gidlow, “Thoughts in Jail” by Katharine Rolston Fisher and “I shall forget you presently, my dear” (Sonnet IV), by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Reed recited “Why We Oppose Women Travelling in Railway Trains” by Alice Duer Miller, “Militants to Certain Other Women” by Katharine Rolston Fisher and “If I Had Known” by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson.

The other finalists were Phoebe Gresham from Mount Mansfield Union High School, Ranee Hall from Thetford Academy, Marcus Burns from St. Johnsbury Academy, Taylor Daleb from Peoples Academy, Moya Thayer from Burlington High School, Theo Novak from Champlain Valley Union High School and Patrick Tester from Lyndon Institute.

Eighteen schools across Vermont registered to bring the national Poetry Out Loud program to their classrooms for the 2025-26 school year, reaching 2,000 students with about 60 teachers participating, according to the announcement. Fifteen students were selected by their teachers as school champions and participated in the statewide semifinals, held on Feb. 12 at the Barre Opera House.

DeMarsico-Thorne received $200 and advances to the national finals, where $50,000 in awards and school stipends are distributed. The state champion’s school receives $500 for the purchase of poetry materials. Wertlieb received $100, with $200 for her school.

Poetry Out Loud is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Arts Council. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4 million students across the country have participated. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers the monetary prizes.

For more information about Vermont Poetry Out Loud, visit flynnvt.org/Education/poetry-out-loud.

This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.

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