Residents of the Northeast Kingdom have endured three major floods over the last two summers, and the community is throwing a party this weekend to celebrate survivors and the volunteers who are helping them recover.

In hard-hit communities such as Lyndon and St. Johnsbury, the recovery work isn’t close to finished. But Meghan Wayland, with Northeast Kingdom Organizing, said it’s time to honor the thousands of hours of volunteer labor that has gone into mucking and gutting damaged homes.

They said the gathering on Sunday is also a way to strengthen the local bonds that will be needed for future recovery work.

“It’s saying, ‘Hey, look in this room. You all did this.’ These are the people whose houses were destroyed. These are the people who were in the basements up to their elbows in muck,” Wayland told Vermont Public. “Now you know each other. You’ll continue to know each other. We’re going to be in this again and again and again.”

Volunteers in the Kingdom have cleared muck from basements and living rooms and removed water-damaged building materials from about 250 homes from this summer’s floods alone. According to officials with the Kingdom United Resilience and Recovery Effort, more than 100 households are still awaiting critical repairs to damage from the floods of 2023 and 2024.

Wayland said the bulk of the recovery work happened in the one-month period after the floods, when volunteer labor was at its peak. They said Sunday’s event, at the Lyndon Outing Club, will also serve as a recruitment effort of sorts for the work that’s still ahead.

“We want to thank them, and we also want them to know that it’s not over,” Wayland said. “We’ve got all of these rebuild projects that need to happen both this winter and then in years to come so that we can make people whole in our neighborhoods.”

The event starts at 3 p.m. and will have home-cooked food, live music and free hard cider. There’s also a “work party” that starts at 11 a.m. that day where volunteers will meet at 762 College Road in Lyndonville to help rebuild flood-damaged homes.

Megan Matthers, also with Northeast Kingdom Organizing, said the party will provide a needed break for residents whose lives have been upended by disaster.

“Spiritually or socially, a lot of these people haven’t really had a chance to talk or decompress outside of interactions with flood volunteers,” Matthers said. “It’s just a time to let the mood lighten up and little bit … for folks who are willing and ready to just have a little bit of reflection, while still feeling the weight of this.”

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.

The Granville man accused of killing his father, stepmother and stepbrother is likely to remain in jail until trial.

Brian Crossman Jr., 22, is charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of 46-year-old Brian Crossman Sr.; 41-year-old Erica (Pawlusiak) Crossman; and his 13-year-old stepbrother Colin Taft. The murders took place early on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 15 at the family home on Vermont Route 133 in Pawlet, which is just over the border from Granville.

Crossman was due in court on Wednesday, Oct. 30 for a “weight of the evidence hearing.” However, our media partners at The Post-Star report that Crossman’s attorney has waived the hearing.

Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan told the paper that the waiver means that Crossman will remain in jail. Sullivan said Crossman’s defense attorney, Daniel Maguire, reserves the right to reschedule the hearing and seek to be released on bail at a later date.

The court scheduled a status conference for Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. to set the schedule for discovery process to prepare for trial.

The Burlington-born jam-rock group Phish raised more than $4 million last weekend at a trio of concerts to benefit the Vermont-based addiction-recovery organization founded by the band’s guitarist, Trey Anastasio.

The Oct. 25-27 concerts at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York raised money to kick off a $10 million fundraising campaign for the Divided Sky Residential Recovery Program in Ludlow. The money will help pay for capital improvements, property acquisition, staffing increases and a scholarship fund. Anastasio, who has been frank about his own experience with addiction, opened Divided Sky last year with co-founder Melanie Gulde.

“It’s hard to put into words how grateful we are to Phish and their fans for this generosity,” Gulde, who serves as Divided Sky’s program director, said in a news release announcing the fundraising result. “But this isn’t about words – it’s about action. And because of these concerts, we will be able to help many more people take charge of their lives and to recover from addictions.”

Money was raised at the concerts through ticket and merchandise sales and a pay-per-view livestream. According to the news release, 100% of net proceeds will support the Divided Sky Foundation.

The Divided Sky Residential Recovery Program focuses on helping people build life tools to maintain sobriety while staying active and involved in the outdoors and pursuing their personal passions, according to the news release. Nearly a dozen alumni who have completed the 30-day program were at the Albany concerts. More than 300 tickets were given to people who work in recovery or a related mental-health field.

This is the second straight year that the band that started at the University of Vermont in 1983 has raised money to benefit the state where Phish began. Last year, Phish played two benefit concerts at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York that raised more than $3.5 million for flood-recovery efforts in Vermont and upstate New York, according to the news release.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.