Vermont

Leaf peepers crowd into Vermont for peak foliage season

Published

1 year ago

October 12, 2024

Leaf peepers crowd into Vermont for peak foliage season

WOODSTOCK, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s estimated that 2.5 million people visit Vermont during the fall foliage season, and this weekend is one of the busiest.

The tables, stores and sidewalks are packed in downtown Woodstock.

“It’s the weather, the people, the restaurants, being able to be outside,” Lynn McGary said.

McGary and her family are visiting Vermont from North Carolina. We chatted briefly in front of a Revolutionary War reenactment at the library.

“As we go in and out of the valley, you see beautiful colors. We are planning on going to maybe Okemo and Killington after this just to see the difference,” McGary said.

Coincidentally, I had just come from Killington. This holiday weekend is the last one the gondola is open until the skiing starts. That’s where I met South Carolina resident Jenn Ash.

“I’ve never been before. This is a trip of a lifetime,” said Ash, who is six days into an eight-day trip through Vermont and New Hampshire.

The snow on the ground near the top of the mountain was a bit of a surprise.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “It is really great to see all the people. People have been so incredibly nice. And I get a chance to see all of the destinations, too.”

But one destination that’s off limits again this year is the Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret, and also the Jenne Farm in Reading. It’s the second year in a row that roads leading to the farms have been closed because of too much fall foliage traffic.

But pretty much every back road this time of year is a destination in itself.

“I can send people in several different directions to get the same kind of beauty that they would get at either Jenne Farm or Sleepy Hollow,” said Beth Finlayson of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, who says the last three weeks have been record-breaking. “A thousand visitors a day every day at the welcome center.”

All those visitors bring big wallets. It’s estimated the state will take in roughly a half billion dollars during the six-week fall foliage season.

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Related Topics:Business colors Fall Featured foliage leaf news peepers tourism tourists vermont WCAX woodstock

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Vermont

How Jason Sperry, No. 1 Middlebury football powered way to another D-I title game

Published

4 hours ago

November 8, 2025

Press Room

How Jason Sperry, No. 1 Middlebury football powered way to another D-I title game

MIDDLEBURY ― After the Middlebury football team picked up a fresh set of downs on its opening drive, Jason Sperry had his number called.

The junior running back went for 15 yards on his first carry. He then churned out a pair of 20-plus yard scampers to set up the Tigers’ first touchdown.

And on the third play from scrimmage to start the second half, Sperry motored 74 yards for a touchdown, pushing the Tigers to a three-score advantage.

“Jason Sperry has had a coming out party this year so far,” Middlebury coach Jed Malcolm said. “To me, he’s the top back in the state. I wouldn’t pick anybody else

“And he showed it tonight.”

Sperry refused to go down, Middlebury refused to give in, and the top-seeded team in Division I delivered on a muddy terrain — ideal for Tiger football — in a 27-7 victory over No. 5 Burr and Burton in the Vermont state semifinals at Doc Collins Field on Friday, Nov. 7.

Middlebury (9-1) will play No. 2 St. Johnsbury (9-1) for a state championship at South Burlington High School on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Tigers are chasing the program’s 11th crown in their 23rd finals appearance.

“The field conditions benefited us. But that’s why we do what we do, because guess what, the weather is in November in Vermont, it’s muddy and cold and wet,” Malcolm said.

Sperry went for 192 yards on 17 carries, Logan McNulty chugged for 58 yards and a pair of scores and Tucker Wright produced a sack and a big interception on defense to thwart a potential BBA scoring drive that kept the contest just out of reach for the visitors.

For BBA (6-4), quarterback Sam Dowd threw for 109 yards on 12-for-23 passing while rushing for 126 yards on 17 carries with a score in the final seconds to avoid the shutout. Owen Cassan had 90 yards from scrimmage and Sam Gilliam caught six balls for 53 yards.

“I think the conditions hurt us a little bit to be honest with you. I’m sure it slowed them down a little bit. It’s just tough conditions to throw the ball around and I think we had to have some success to throwing the ball … to get the (win),” BBA coach Tom McCoy said. “But that’s just how it goes, that’s the deal in November.

“We didn’t finish off drives.”

Indeed. The Bulldogs, who won in overtime in the quarterfinals at Essex last weekend, failed to produce any points on their first three trips into the red zone. After Brady Lloyd and McNulty scored TDs on Middlebury’s first two possessions — the latter set up by Marshall Eddy’s 32-yard reception on a broken play — Dowd engineered a long drive that started on the BBA 8-yard line with gutsy runs and playmaking to get the Bulldogs to the Middlebury 10-yard line with about 3 minutes to play in the first half.

But on second down, Middlebury sent Ben DeBisschop on a corner blitz from the edge, and Dowd fired over the middle, where linebacker Tucker Wright snagged the interception.

“We were planning on blitzing a little bit more than we did. The blitzing, obviously, was very effective. Where they were beating us was where we were voiding the area,” Malcolm said. “We started recognizing that and disguised some blitzes and sent some guys from different spots.

“We made them work for everything they did tonight.”

Playing without two-way star, and likely their best blocker, Cooke Riney for the third straight game, the Tigers’ offensive line, led by Kameron Raymond, executed and created holes for Sperry and Co.

Sperry fought through tackles for most of the night when he did bounce it outside, but the path for those big runs began up front.

“They knew where they needed to be and they went out there and blocked,” Sperry said. “Coaches teach us, you gotta get low and stay on your feet. Again, it’s the offensive line, it’s the lead blocks, it’s everything. It’s not just me out there.”

Sperry’s 74-yard TD dash — he reversed field on third-and-5 and found a seam down the home sideline to paydirt — gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 10:25 to play in third quarter. The Bulldogs turned it over on downs in the red zone on their next two possessions, the latter with 10:04 to go in regulation.

Middlebury then uncorked a 10-play, 98-yard scoring drive capped by McNulty’s 2-yard plunge for a 27-0 advantage with 3 minutes to play.

“That’s the name of the game,” Malcolm said of the Tigers’ tried-and-true formula. “We are not going to win a shootout with anybody. We just don’t have that kind of system. We love 5-yard pickups.”

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

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Vermont

Man robbed and stabbed on Metro bus in Vermont Knolls

Published

21 hours ago

November 7, 2025

Press Room

Man robbed and stabbed on Metro bus in Vermont Knolls

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department are looking for the attacker who robbed and stabbed a man on a Metro bus in what investigators are calling a hate crime.

The incident occurred in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Los Angeles shortly after 11 p.m. on Thursday near South Figueroa and West 80th streets.

Police said the attacker said something to the victim about being Hispanic then stole his necklace and stabbed him before getting off the bus and taking off.

The victim was transported to the hospital and remains in stable condition.

No further details were immediately available.

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Vermont

Central Vermont rejects $149M bond for standalone career center – VTDigger

Published

2 days ago

November 6, 2025

Press Room

Central Vermont rejects 9M bond for standalone career center – VTDigger

A rendering of the proposed Central Vermont Career Center standalone building, based on designs from TruexCullins Architecture + Interior Design and Lavallee Brensinger. Courtesy of Central Vermont Career Center

Central Vermont residents voted overwhelmingly against a $149 million measure to build a new technical education center on Tuesday.

Across the 18 towns in Washington County that form the Central Vermont Career Center District, about 60% voted against the ballot item, while 40% voted in favor of it, according to results collected by the Barre Town Clerk’s office.

The district proposed the bond as a response to the lack of space and inadequate facilities at the career center’s current home at Spaulding High School in Barre. For the current school year, the district received 414 applications for 228 spots, according to district data.

District Superintendent Jody Emerson said last month that the career center also hoped a standalone building would allow it to offer additional programs and expand opportunities to younger grades. Two consulting firms drew up plans for a 167,000-square-foot facility at a currently vacant lot in Graniteville.

But central Vermont residents raised concerns about the cost of the bond at an informational meeting in October. According to district projections, the bond was expected to raise property taxes between $99 and $420 per year on a $300,000 home.

The district had set a target date of September 2029 to open the facility if the bond was approved, according to its website. Emerson has said if the bond failed, the district may be able to come back to voters at a later date with a different plan. But what that plan looks like depends on the future of the education redistricting proposals and school construction aid proposals being discussed in the Legislature this year.

After the results were announced, Emerson said she was grateful for the high turnout because it provided information for the district to determine what its next steps should be.

She blamed the failure of the vote on the state’s cost-of-living issues and the uncertainty around the future of redistricting, rather than opposition to technical education. “I know the voters support our kids,” she said.

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