We’ve been here so long, we have post office box number 2.” John and Agnes O’Brien, Quechee residents of over 50 years, share this tidbit while reminiscing on the Quechee village of years past. The O’Brien’s holding post box 2 is truly a marker of how long they’ve been here. How the O’Briens talk about Quechee is a marker of how much they love it.

John O’Brien and his wife Agnes first came to Vermont in the 1960s after being invited by leaf-peeper friends. The two liked it so much, they returned the following year, and the year after that. Before settling on Quechee, they tried out different towns from the Northwest to the Southeast. When they first heard about Quechee from a friend, John said “I’m not interested.” But they found themselves down in Woodstock and noticed the Quechee sign. Their interest piqued, they checked out the area – which at the time was only the old bit of the base lodge (the original pro shop). John took one look at the golf course and said: “Where do I sign up?”

But the story of the O’Briens in Quechee starts long before their arrival here. John had a friend in college, Joe, who was crazy for a girl, Judy O’Neill, who needed a ride to Oyster Harbors for the summer; Joe wanted John to come along as Judy was bringing a friend named Agnes Sullivan. John laughed and said “I’m a poor boy from Charlestown; there’s no way I could get through the gate at Oyster Harbor!” but he went along just the same. He got on well with Agnes. They dated on and off, but lost touch when they two went to separate colleges. Four years later, John got a call from his buddy Joe. Judy had tragically been killed in an automobile accident, and Joe was hoping John would be able to pick up Agnes when she returned to Boston for the funeral. “I drove over to Copley Square,” John remembers, “We went down to the Back Bay train station. The train pulled in, the conductor placed the steps, and this woman stepped down, just stunning. She looked at me. I looked at her. And a year and a half later we were married.”

John and Agnes continued to stay in the Boston area after their marriage in 1962, John working for the IRS and Agnes as a special education teacher. It was during this time that John started a law practice of his own and the two found their way to a summer place in Quechee.

In the early 1970s, Quechee was still being built; there weren’t yet a lot of rentals, so the O’Brien family would stay at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction. “I do remember the good old days staying at the Coolidge,” John recalls, “We had a golf pro here, Jim Hudson. Saturday night he’d have a cookout, right in front of the 10th tee (then the first tee).” John remembers 30 to 40 people attending and the four Quechee Corporation salesmen who lived at the Parker House (where the corporation was originally headquartered) doing a barbershop quartet for entertainment. After the BBQ, there was Western music and dance at the Coolidge. “For a boy from Charlestown, this was something!”

After a few years staying at the Coolidge, in 1974 the O’Briens bought a house on Main Street. “That was the original stagecoach stop,” John shares. “We basically raised our kids in that home.” The O’Brien kids include Judi, Timothy, Susan, David, and Joan. Both David and Joan were born while up here in Quechee, Agnes recalls.

Agnes and John both remember those early years in their Quechee second home fondly. One memory that stands out to them both is the Ski Hill Sleigh. “Back then they had a sleigh that was kept down on Marshland Farm. The gentlemen would drive it up Main Street and stop: ‘O’Brien kids get on here!’ They’d all be ready and have their skis, jump in the back of the sleigh, and it would take them right up to the ski hill. We didn’t even have to get out of bed!”

Unlike the kids, John stayed away from the ski hill. “I was happy to sit at the bottom of the hill and watch them come down.” Agnes was a little more adventurous, skiing for awhile but stopping after she felt it was too risky. “I think it was the day Susan’s ski came down without Susan!” Agnes remembers.

Agnes, John and their children all recall how much the kids loved being up here. In addition to skiing, the little pond now on the golf course was their swimming hole. “When we started going to Quechee, we went swimming at the pond at the first hole Lakeland,” eldest O’Brien daughter Judi says, “People are always surprised when they hear we used to swim at the Quechee pond!”

The O’Brien kids spent every summer in Quechee and many Thanksgivings alongside other Quechee families. “We were always busy with things to do as QLLA was starting to grow,” Judi says.

Agnes recalls how the family enjoyed the Balloon Festival from their backyard: “We could sit right there and walk right down. We just sat in our chairs and watched what was going on.” In the quiet community, the kids were able to walk up to the club: “It was a great place,” Agnes muses.

Their kids feel the same way. Two or three of her children were sitting around the table one winter and Agnes remembers her daughter saying, “’Aren’t we lucky?’”

The friendships made in that early Quechee community have endured. Two of Judi’s best friends today are people she met in Quechee, and the O’Brien kids still return with their families for the Fourth of July, often running into old friends and their kids enjoying Quechee.

The tight community made the O’Briens’ years in Quechee special. “Everybody knew everybody,” John says. He recalls a friend (and scratch golfer) Bill Purcell purchased the house that had belonged to the farmer who originally sold the land to the Quechee Lakes Corporation. The farmer had moved out – “He couldn’t take the flatlanders, too much noise” – and QLC had redone the home, but six months after Bill purchased it, he still hadn’t moved in. When John asked him why, Bill replied, “’John, you know the farmer in the winter used to bring the cows and the pigs into the kitchen and dining room, and I’m still trying to get rid of the smell!’”

John was also instrumental in shaping Quechee Club as we know it today. As president of the QLLA board, John was key in a number of events that took place, including the vote for QLLA to accept the deed of Lake Pinneo and the Lakeland Golf Course from the QLC, which he considers one of his proudest moments. “I put it on the agenda and it had a vote of 5-5.” John had to break the tie: “I looked out the window and said to myself ‘I’m not giving away $1,000,000.” He broke the vote. “So every time I go up to the starter’s shack, I always say, ‘I want to play on my golf course,’” John says with a laugh.

John was elected president of the QLLA board after some of the folks with whom he played golf suggested he’d be a good candidate. It was in 1978, about six months after John’s election, that QLLA began their fight with the QLC, from whom they ultimately separated. “We had a class action lawsuit,” John says. There were some contentious meetings as QLLA landowners, the QLLA board, and the QLC hashed things out. Ultimately, negotiations came to a standstill, and John, alongside Don Gannon, and Jim Lightburn, steered the Class Action lawsuit representing the landowners. In 1979, the QLC was sold to a new owner, and the lawsuit was settled. John was instrumental in helping the landowners succeed in the lawsuit, and he is most proud of the capitol improvement fund, established by the corporation and funded through a portion of real estate sales proceeds. With the fund, QLLA was able to build a number of amenities including a wading pool and cabana, facilities including a storm shelter on the course, and a tennis deck pavilion and pro shop.

John remembers his QLLA work with Don and Jim fondly: “Their work effort was immense and unreimbursed. They were a joy to work with; there was never a dull moment or a cross word.”

“It was a hell of a lot of fun,” John says, “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Nowadays, while still working in his law practice with his son Tuesday through

Thursday down in Natick, John and Agnes have a more leisurely life up here in Quechee. While so many of the folks they were close with when they came here are gone, “We’re still puffing along,” Agnes says. The pair continue to golf. “Now we make up our own rules,” Agnes laughs, “You get to be 84, you make your own rules. You don’t like that shot? Well, do it again!”

Their children frequently visit, often joining them for golf: “They grew up on this golf course,” John says, “They all play.” Their grandkids come up as well, enjoying Quechee Kids Camp in the summers and skiing in the winters.

While John and Agnes spend time visiting the West Coast of Ireland – John holds Irish citizenship since his grandfather was born in Cork – and Sarasota, FL and have a home in Needham, MA, Quechee still is top in John and Agnes’ hearts. “We’ve pretty much covered all the counties in Vermont,” John says, “but I like to stay right here.”

“We’ve had time,” Agnes says of what Quechee means to her family, “That’s what I’ve loved.”

“We just enjoyed everything that happened. We’ve led a happy life.” Today John still looks forward to the drive up to Quechee: “I know I’m going to have a wonderful time.”

Ballet dancer. Lawyer. Writer. Three professions with wildly different levels of certainty, not often found in the same person, but Leigh Abramson, a Quechee writer whose first novel “A Likely Story” is coming out with Simon & Schuster this March, has already been all three.

Growing up the daughter of two creatives – an artist and children’s book writer – in downtown New York City, Abramson was always interested in writing.

However, her first major creative passion was dance; Abramson was a serious ballerina studying at the American Ballet School. But, at age 15, missing school and other typical teenage activities for dance while attending the Professional Children’s School, Abramson decided to make a change. “I started to feel like I was really giving up on a lot of experiences I might regret. I felt it wasn’t necessarily a sacrifice that I wanted to make.” While Abramson loved dance, she felt she knew she wasn’t going to “be the star of the New York City ballet.” Abramson mused, “It felt like giving up a lot for a lot of uncertainty.”

So Abramson hung up her toe shoes and started down a new path. She wanted to do something totally different from her parents. “Sort of ironically,” she said, “My act of rebellion was to go to law school and become a lawyer.” Law, Ambranson felt, is often a very regimented field where practitioners are on a conveyor belt moving from law school to summer associate and so forth. “There’s not a lot of creativity. You just get on this sort of track,” Abramson said. Unlike dance, “Law is something with a lot of certainty.”

Immediately after college, Abramson began working at a law firm and quickly found it wasn’t for her. The one part she did enjoy was writing legal opinions, enough so that she felt maybe this was something she wanted to actually pursue. She began freelance writing in her spare time, using her law background as an “in,” penning articles on law and lawyers.

About ten years ago, Abramson submitted an article to the column in the New York Times called “Townies.” Pulling from her roots, her piece explored how it felt growing up in downtown New York. The story was accepted. “I got incredibly lucky,” Abramson said, “In retrospect now I know that’s really not typically how it works.” But this gave her the confidence that she could make this a serious career.

Around this time, massive life changes were in store: Abramson fully stopped practicing law, had a baby, and made writing her full-time profession.

Flash forward to 2019. Abramson had already begun work on her novel, coming up with characters and bouncing ideas off her agent. She knew there was a reveal she wanted to build toward in her plot but was still fleshing out the story. In coffee shops in New York, she wrote drafts. Many, many drafts: “I started doing different versions and it got to the point, I don’t even want to know how many versions I’ve done,” Abramson laughed.

Then – a plot twist with which we are all familiar – the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic pulled the air brake and slowed everything to a stop. For five or six months, Abramson was barely able to work on her book. The thought that no one might ever read this book, ever-present for first-time authors, became even more acute. “I’m never working again, “Abramson recalled thinking, “I’m never selling this book.” No one knew what was going to happen with the publishing industry as no one was, at the time, buying books.

After a stay with relatives for several weeks on Long Island, Abramson and her family found Quechee. Abramson’s husband, a Dartmouth graduate, had a friend from Hanover suggest the village.

Now we Quechee residents know this was an excellent move, but Abramson had only ever been to Vermont once. The family rented a house sight unseen, enrolled the kids in school, and drove up. “The night before I remember thinking, what am I doing? I don’t know if this is a good idea. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made, so I’m very grateful.”

Quechee not only ended up being a great move for her family, but a great move for her book. Abramson had written most of her book when she arrived in Vermont, but being here sparked a revelation. Much of her plot revolves around a manuscript that is referenced frequently by characters, “and I realized if I were the reader, I would want to know what was in it.” So she interspersed scenes of the manuscript within the story. Abramson credits Quechee with helping create the different voice for the manuscript pieces: “The snippets I wrote in Vermont were written in a very different scene. Instead of a busy coffee stop, I was alone in my kitchen in this very quiet place.” The change of scene helped Abramson bring a new perspective: “I credit Quechee with the space and quiet to do that.”

Abramson was in Quechee, in the summer of 2021, when she found out her book was going to be published. She was alone in the house with her son when she found out she had an offer from a publisher. “To my son, who was six at the time, I said, ‘Mommy’s going to sell her book!’ and he said, ‘Is it about baseball?’ I said no, and he was like, well, whatever who cares,” she laughed. “I felt, ‘Ok well, it’s good to stay humble!’”

Now, on the cusp of being a published author, Abramson is, excited to finally have readers for her story. “The thing that is hard is the uncertainty when you’re writing, especially as a first-time author. You feel like, is anyone ever going to read this? Is this just my weird hobby no one is ever going to care about?” First-time authors devote so much of themselves, their time, and energy into something they don’t know will ever see the light of day.

This is a feeling Abramson channeled into her characters, especially her protagonist, also a female writer in her 30s living in New York and furiously struggling for that first published novel, all while living in the shadow of her very famous author father. “I’ve always been interested in the interplay between ambition and creativity within a family,” Abramson said, “and in stories about only children (because I’m an only child) and that triangular dynamic with parents.” When fomenting this idea for the book, Abramson had two children and was wondering how creativity works as a parent: “You can’t be a slave to your creative aspirations anymore.”

As is clear from comparing her own story to the plot of her book, Abramson likes to begin writing by pulling from her own experiences: “I like to be grounded in a place and be able to add those details that will ring true. Then,” she adds, “I usually go very far afield from own experiences.”

While both of Abramson’s parents are successful in their creative fields, neither of the parental figures in “A Likely Story” resemble them. However, an only child like her protagonist, she did spend a lot of time amongst successful artistic people – some even with narcissistic tendencies, a theme she plays with in her story – so it is a world with which she is familiar.

Abramson also finds her training in ballet and law also play into her writing. While dance is a different form of creative expression, Abramson finds she’s “tapping into the same emotional pockets in yourself trying to connect with what is the essence of this emotion or expression.” “That feels similar to writing,” Abramson said, “like you’re cutting away the unimportant parts trying to really distill down to a theme or an emotion.”

In terms of law, Abramson learned how to be clear, organized, and make your point in a way that other people will understand and can easily follow. While undoubtedly different from creative writing, “It is important to realize that someone else is on the other side of what you’re doing and you want them to be able to easily digest, understand, follow where you’re going and not get lost.”

Months away from her book’s release date, Abramson is feeling a range of emotions: “Writing can feel so private, and then all of a sudden, it’s not. Other people are reacting to it and it’s sort of not yours anymore.” The shift from solitary writing to marketing is abrupt: “You go from being alone at your computer in this bubble and no one really knows what you’re doing,” Abramson said, “to then having to be in touch with lots of different people, selling your book and selling your story. It’s not something that I’m used to, and it’s two very different skills.”

Nonetheless, she is looking forward to having conversations with readers and is excited for readers to grapple with the characters. She hopes the book sparks conversations and becomes a story readers will think about after turning the last page.

What’s next for Abramson? Well, continuing her stay in Quechee, for one. The family bought a home on Hillside Road and is up here as often as they can be, especially during summers and ski season. “Quechee has been just such a supportive community. We’ve met so many wonderful friends. We really love being here and we’ve all felt very uplifted. Having that community has really made us genuinely happier people. It has affected all aspects of our life, really.”

Even with her first book not yet out, Abramson is already starting on another. Part of it will be set in Vermont, she thinks, and it may involve New Yorkers moving to Vermont. The similarities to her story will end there, though, and “then,” she says, “as they do in books, things go awry.” No longer a first-time author, diving into another book and another story, Abramson is getting comfortable with uncertainty.

Matt Pickell, food program associate at the Upper Valley Haven, succinctly sums up the work that the Haven does in five straightforward words: “Good deeds happen here daily.”

Completing its 40th year in service, the Haven has long been providing shelter and education to those experiencing homelessness and food and other assistance to those in need. “The work here is very tangible,” Pickell says, “People come here, they need groceries and they leave with groceries.”

The Haven began its work in 1980, founded officially in 1982 by a group of five Upper Valley citizens in an old farm building on Hartford Avenue, formerly Taft Avenue. “At the very beginning it was all volunteers,” says Michael Redmond, in the fourth year of his tenure as executive director of the Haven, “There were no paid staff and there was a host family for the shelter at the site of present-day Hixon House, the Haven’s adult shelter.” From these beginnings, the Haven has grown to a powerhouse of good in the Upper Valley, serving over 10,000 individuals in the past year alone who needed food, shelter, or a helping hand.

Ron Paprocki of Quechee, a six-year member of the Haven board says the Haven’s reputation as a force for good is what first drew him to the organization. Putting down roots in Quechee in 2002, he and his wife’s friend Roger Shepard introduced them to the Haven: “Roger is such a great supporter of the Haven. He said, ‘If you’re moving here, you absolutely need to get to know this organization.’” He recalls being immediately impressed by what the Haven does for so many people. An instant supporter, Paprocki was nominated as a board member in 2017 when Shepard reached his term limit. “I’m proud of working at the Haven. There is no place better or nothing more satisfying than working with the Haven because of their mission. We’re all devoted, dedicated, and convinced of the mission of the Haven,” Paprocki says. 

Renee Weeks, longtime director of clinical services at the Haven now working as the director of complex care & field services at the Vermont Agency of Human Services, speaks of the Haven’s work as something special: “There’s a phrase around here that we use in-house and we call it Haven magic.” She tells stories of serendipitous instances such as when a family will be moving to permanent housing out of the shelter and will be in need of a mattress. Half an hour later a donor will call wishing to donate a mattress. It’s not just these sorts of instances that make the Haven special though, Weeks says, it’s also the staff: “We refer to our staff as the magicians of the Haven, because not only is it these moments of ‘Wow, I can’t believe that happened right when we needed it,’ but the staff are doing that work every day.”

“The staff is terrific, very dedicated, very hardworking, imaginative,” Paprocki says. The Haven staff aims to bring a personal touch to each interaction with the Haven’s guests: “We work with folks to personalize the situation to whatever the person might need, whether that’s assistance loading the groceries into the car or access to a can opener. We really try to not say no. If we have the ability to do it, we will,” Pickell says. This open door policy, Redmond says, is central to the Haven philosophy of work: “People can come to us for any time, for any reason, from any place, no matter who they are, and ask for help.”

This philosophy is apparent on a visit to the Haven’s welcoming location on Hartford Avenue. While they’ve had to adjust in many ways in the past couple of years to keep their residents and community safe, the Haven team are there still with smiles on their faces, packaging and filling curbside pickup orders, stacking the pantry, and so much more. Guests say that the friendliness and passion of the staff make a difference. Roseanne Rice and Bobbiejo Chambers make the trek from Springfield to Hartford because they know the folks at the Haven will always be generous. “The Haven is a very good place to come,” says Rice when picking up a delivery of groceries, “There is always a friendly face.”

Many of these friendly faces at the Haven are volunteers. The Haven utilizes the skills and generosity of hundreds of volunteers a month, and many of these volunteers have been coming back for years.

The community is also a huge part of what keeps the Haven rolling day-to-day. Laura Gillespie, director of development and communications at the Haven, sees that on a personal level in her work of raising much-needed funds: “People are so frequently and generously thinking of ways to support our work.” Gillespie shares the story of two little kids coming in with their family to donate $17.46 from their lemonade stand. “It’s a joy to do this work,” Gillespie says, “You don’t have to explain to people why they should give and give generously. They get it.”

Quechee, Paprocki is certain to mention, has been a big part of the community support for the Haven over the years. He notes the variety of donations that regularly come from Quechee and QLLA, such as the Quechee Elves. The Quechee Elves, led by “head elf” Lisa Lacasse, supply gifts for the families in residence at the Haven and donate to the food pantry. “For over 12 years, the Quechee Elves, made up of members from the Quechee Lakes Community have helped fund children’s holiday baskets throughout the Upper Valley, and one of our key partners is The Upper Valley Haven,” Lacasse says, “We are proud to sponsor such an amazing non-profit in our backyard.”

“The Quechee community has been extremely generous,” Paprocki says, “and I know the Haven is very grateful for that. We continue to need that help and look forward to it continuing in the future.”

In the 2021 holiday season, community support came to the Haven in a big way, as it has for the previous nine years. Each December, the Haven runs its “19 Days of the Valley” campaign, in which businesses around the community donate a portion of their sales to the Haven. The funds raised by the local businesses are now also matched by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, and in 2021, the 19 Days raised more the $500,000 for the Haven. “I am just so buoyed by this community effort on our behalf,” Gillespie says. The Haven will begin its tenth “19 Days” campaign on Thanksgiving Day.

These funds will be crucial to the Haven’s work. Paprocki shares that an increasing number of folks are utilizing the Haven’s food shelf: “The need is persistent and ever increasing. The Haven services are going to be as important as ever.”

As part of the board team overseeing the search for the new director and strategic planning, Paprocki has seen the Haven grow and change to meet the challenges of our time. ”What hasn’t changed,” he says, “is the focus on our mission. That is the constant that keeps us all devoted to the Haven.”

 “We haven’t stood still,” Redmond says with a smile, “We’re trying to meet the needs of the community and be imaginative, creative, brave – all of those things. That’s the employee magic.”

Overall, the message from the Haven is pride in their work and how much they appreciate the support they receive. “I’m proud of our group, proud of our volunteers, and proud of our community. Working at the Haven completely changed my life and changed the life of a lot of people here. I am very proud to tell people I work here. There are a lot of success stories.” Pickell says. “It’s the best job I ever had,” Redmond says, “There’s just this feeling of everyone pulling together for things that we believe in and that we are all meant to be here at this moment in our life.”

The issues that the Haven addresses are truly pressing issues here in our community and in the state of Vermont. “When I came here,” Weeks says, “seeing how prevalent homelessness was in our small state was really alarming to me, and seeing how many people in our state are living right at the edge of affordability.” The Haven works to de-stigmatize the idea of people reaching out for help when they need it, as there is no telling when or why someone might need help. Weeks remarks on how quickly or easily it is for any of us to become homeless in unexpected and difficult circumstances and encourages people to reach out when they need it. Pickell recalls the words of a shelter guest: “I wish I would’ve asked for help sooner.”

The Haven is celebrating its 40th Anniversary by sharing 40 stories of people, events, ideas, and services fundamental to its mission that can be found on its website at www.uppervalleyhaven.org. The Haven is open Mon-Thu: 9:00am-4:30pm and Fri: 9:00am-3:00pm. The Haven relies overwhelmingly upon support from the community to carry out its mission. Support comes in myriad ways, including financial donations, volunteer time, and donations of food and clothing. Over 70% of the Haven’s revenues come directly from individuals who make donations by check, credit card, or gifts of stock.

The Ottauquechee River is the connector that has flowed throughout VINS’ (Vermont Institute of Natural Science) 50 years of educating Vermonters on the environment, from its beginnings in Woodstock in 1972 to its current day campus in Quechee in 2022. “It just seems very fitting,” Mary Graham, VINS assistant executive director, says, “We’re here on the Ottauquechee River now when we were founded in 1972 to clean up the river, so there’s that wonderful connection from the beginning until now, over the last 50 years.”

The origin of the VINS lies in a case to clean up the Ottauquechee River. In the early ’70s, Dr. David Laughlin, one of the four co-founders of VINS alongside Sally Laughlin, Rick Farrar, and June McKnight, spearheaded a study of the river. “The river is the key to understanding VINS and how VINS got started,” Dr. Laughlin says. Dr. Laughlin’s dental practice in Woodstock was right on the river: “I noticed certain evenings the river would turn blue or yellow or red,” he says, and he figured out it was from the mills dumping their dyes in at the end of the day, “And of course, there was no life on the river – nothing could live in here.” He recalls that while seeing plays at the Little Theater, the audience couldn’t bear to stand outside during intermission due to the stench coming from the river.

Soon a dental patient of Dr. Laughlin on the regional planning commission asked Laughlin to head up a committee to study the river. Laughlin quickly teamed up with his friend Rick Farrar, a science teacher at a local Woodstock school. The two, alongside some of Farrar’s students, conducted the study and found the river was severely polluted by waste and runoff. This study led to an extremely difficult legal battle with local towns to clean up the river, and, in a jury trial set-up, Laughlin and his cohorts were victorious.

From this grew the beginnings of VINS as an environmental education and research organization. “We were all having dinner at my house,” Laughlin said of himself and his co-founders, “And we said there’s got to be a better way to do this. We started talking about having an organization to teach children, to get children excited about the environment. And so the whole philosophy of VINS has been that.”

VINS started its educational journey with Summer Discovery camps and its Environment Learning for the Future (ELF) program, which trained volunteers to teach environmental topics to children. The first workshop was led by Sally Laughlin, and, in 1976, the program received the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Service to Children and Youth.

“The four of us who founded VINS, all really were necessary to have it happen. It would have been impossible without the four strengths we had. All four of us were committed environmentalists before that term was even acceptable or known,” Laughlin says.

Farrar was an innovative educator and a “bird guy.” “Another piece that Rick brought to VINS was the bird-banding. He was   an ornithologist with a license to bird band,” Laughlin says. 

The clean-up of the river was well underway and sewage treatment plants were installed in several local towns, so, while still testing water quality and working with the state water resources department, the VINS co-founders decided to pivot the main focus of the organization to birds, specifically raptors, as a way to connect their students and visitors with nature. People had been regularly bringing the group injured birds, and they decided to build a raptor center for rehabilitation. With assistance from a world-renowned Canadian raptor rehabber, Kay McKeever, Laughlin and his cohorts built the very first raptor center ever open to the public: “We realized the value of having people excited about seeing raptors. It’s pretty amazing when you see these birds.”

This raptor center and wild bird rehabilitation hospital were completed in 1987 at Bragdon Nature Preserve, land donated by co-founder June McKnight. VINS permanent resident Great Grey Owl pair celebrated the occasion by raising three young, and integral VINS volunteer Jennifer Lingelbach helped write the VINS children’s education book Hands-on-Nature.

The early 90s saw VINS as the first Vermont organization accepted into the National Network of the Alliance for Environmental Education and, for VINS 20th Anniversary, Governor Dean proclaimed July 30th, 1992 as VINS Day. VINS welcomed scores of visitors, bringing in nearly 25,000 people a year to its Raptor Center. “We were really surprised at how much people wanted to see it,” Laughlin recalls.

With this success, VINS began to outgrow its Woodstock space and started a search for a new location, finding a gravel pit just above Dewey Pond in Quechee to be just the spot. After an exhaustive statewide search, Laughlin recalls suddenly thinking of the unused land while driving by on Route 4 to Hanover with his wife, Janet.

In a stroke of luck, the owners of the land agreed to sell to VINS. Laughlin was instrumental in making the move and worked tirelessly alongside Senator Jim Jeffords to secure the necessary funding and support. In 2003, the groundbreaking was led by Senator Jeffords and on June 12th, 2004 to a crowd of 1,200, the Raptor Exhibits opened with 22 birds of prey and a design award from the American Institute of Architects for the renowned architect Peter Bohlin to boot!

Laughlin recalls the event as “one of the best days of my life.” He fondly remembers overhearing a little boy excitedly telling his mother and father “‘I thought this was going to be boring, but it wasn’t!’” Laughlin was standing next to one of the major donors at the time and recalls that she asked him: “Did you set that up?” with a laugh.

“It was an extraordinary effort. The move here gave them a chance to reimagine what VINS could be,” Charlie Rattigan, current executive director of VINS, says. Rattigan honors the work of the co-founders and previous executive directors, who, he says, “kept VINS going and kept it growing,” even during difficult times, expanding school programming and in 2013 opening an overnight summer camp at the Old Pepper Place in Washington, Vermont.

A long-time nature lover, Rattigan came to VINS in 2014 after working as a Natural History television producer and documentarian and Nature App creator. Rattigan found his way to VINS when a former trustee – knowing Rattigan was a “bird guy” – recommended he stop by and check it out.

Rattigan, alongside Graham, has been instrumental in making VINS as we know it today. “We’ve been extremely lucky to have Charlie and Mary here,” Laughlin says, “They’re superb at what they do.”

“We have transformed VINS over the last eight years,” Rattigan says. He is certain to note the integral part the VINS staff have played in this transformation, “It’s been very much a cooperative effort.”

The support of VINS from patrons, members, and donors, Rattigan says, has been fantastic; the generous contributions and gifts VINS has received and the grants they’ve been able to secure have allowed them to pursue new exhibits and spaces, such as their Birds Are Dinosaurs exhibit, created primarily by in-house staff in their newly winterized Neil Pavilion and their adventure playscape for kids, which features “climbing, crawling, balancing – all of those important things with a nature bent outside in the environment.”

Rattigan and Graham have strengthened and stayed true to VINS’ original mission of children’s education. VINS has continued its school programming, reaching over 25 different schools in the area and about 3,500 students a year. Graham mentions a charming 43-year old turtle named Turt who “goes on the road” with VINS. They’ve also expanded into early childhood education programs, and summertime brings even more students to VINS with day camps that are bursting at full capacity with children from all over the area and a mile-long waitlist.

VINS also continues to host educational efforts for all ages on-site focused on the natural history of bird species. The programs tackle “the challenges that these animals face in the wild, the habitats that they need, challenges presented by climate change and how that’s affecting them,” Rattigan says.

The well-known owl and raptor residents are often part of this programming. A special favorite of many visitors is “LaGuardia,” a snowy owl who made her way to Vermont from the eponymous airport. All VINS resident birds can no longer be released back into the wild and include local rescues such as red-tailed hawks, screech owls, peregrine falcons, and a particularly ornery bald eagle. “VINS provides an opportunity for people to experience the outdoors and some wondrous things represented by these extraordinarily beautiful birds you rarely get to see up close. It’s amazing when you can get eye to eye with a bald eagle,” Rattigan says.

Reaching both young people and adults is vital to VINS and the health of our environment, Rattigan says. VINS also works with teachers, offering a program for teacher education. The director of VINS school programs has recently been asked to be a national spokesperson and instructor for NGSX, a teacher professional development program.

The brand new songbird aviary opened by VINS in July 2022, Rattigan says, also presents an opportunity for VINS to talk about environmental crises, such as those facing songbirds. This walkthrough aviary houses previously injured songbirds hardy to the state of Vermont and at the moment, patrons may spy familiar faces such as robins and cardinals and more unusual feathered friends such as bohemian and cedar waxwings.

Here in Quechee, VINS continues to expand on its roots of bird rehabilitation. They’ve recently created the Bird Mews, a heated space for birds who would normally migrate to stay during the winter; expanded and renovated the rehab center; and added a waterfowl rehabilitation enclosure they affectionately refer to as the ducky pool. Currently housing between 80 and 100 birds, VINS saw a large spike in intakes during Covid, with about 1,100 birds coming in last year. “It’s important for people to know they can rely on us,” Graham says. She recalls how warm she feels knowing they can help when answering a call from a child saying they have a sick bird and they want to bring it to VINS to help it get better. “People will do almost anything to save an animal. It’s amazing.”

Of course, no discussion of VINS is complete without mention of the canopy walk. The canopy walk is a piece of which both Rattigan and Graham are particularly proud. The genesis of the idea was found on a trip to Costa Rica; Rattigan brought the idea to the board to create one here on the VINS campus. The ADA-compliant structure opened in October 2019 and now features favorites such as the climbable spider web and the chance for visitors to spot tree-top dwellers such as Scarlet Tanagers. The canopy walk also offers a spectacular view of the Ottauquechee River  – where VINS still tests the water quality – which is now a healthy home to many species thanks to the work of the four co-founders of VINS 50 years ago.

In 2021, VINS welcomed nearly 70,000 visitors, a record for the organization. Laughlin, Rattigan, Graham, and the team at VINS hope that they will continue to keep growing over the next 50 years. “Environmental issues are becoming much more complex and people need good, valid information,” Rattigan says, “We want to be in a position where we can present good science and we can introduce the environment, nature, and the outdoors to young people, and to kids.”

And this, Laughlin says, is the key to VINS’ success: “It’s just the most important thing. We have reached literally hundreds of thousands of kids over 50 years. That is the key.”

“I loved coming here for 33 years,” says Marty Banak, founder and former owner and operator of Wilderness Trails and the Vermont Fly Fishing School at the Quechee Inn at Marshland Farms. “This was my spot.”

Wilderness Trails was an all-season outdoor hub that rented outdoor equipment such as canoes, kayaks, and bikes, gave cross-country skiing lessons, and housed the Vermont Fly Fishing School where Banak taught fly-fishing to eager fishermen and women, young and old, visiting or staying year-round in Vermont.

Banak first started the Wilderness Trails business in 1981 at 28 years old alongside his childhood friend Larry Boymer. The business began with cross-country skiing. Boymer’s wife was working at the Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm, and the then-owners, Michael and Barbara Yaroschuk, loved the idea. They gave them the little red building out back, a woodstove, and a snowmobile and a 33-year-long legacy began.

It was the second summer that Banak stayed in Vermont and incorporated summer activities into Wilderness Trails such as biking, canoing, and, of course, fly-fishing. Larry Boymer had left the budding business after his family began to grow, though Banak and he remain very good friends. Banak recalls that his venture into guided fishing began by accident. He would take the Inn’s canoe out on Dewey Pond to catch bass. The pond, according to Banak, used to be the best bass lake around (before the milfoil weed invaded) with people coming to fish from 50 miles away. He recalls coming back into the Inn with his catch and guests would say: ‘That’s cool! Can I go?’ and Banak said, Yeah I’ll show you! Come on!’ “And I started just showing people where to catch fish.”

Banak fell in love with fishing at an early age. “I have always loved fishing since I was a little boy,” he said. He attributes this love to the ‘fishing gene’ as no one else in his family fished.

As interest in fly-fishing increased, the Vermont Fly Fishing School was born. Banak purchased sets of waders, enough Old Town canoes to become an Old Town dealer, and started tying flies at the Inn. That was a selling point, according to Banak, “They’d see you up there and wanna do it.” He remembers teaching students to cast against the red barn at the Inn, and utilizing a little textbook to help students pick up the fundamentals. He remembers sending out young kids with an interest in fishing with a pole over to the landing at Dewey Pond. “I’d spread coffee grounds from the inn – worms love coffee grounds – so we’d dig back there and teach the kids. I’d give them a little bucket and they’d fill it with little fish.”

Banak recalls the ones who would be bitten by the bug: “When you taught fly fishing, you’d know pretty quick the ones that reminded you of you, the ones that loved it. Those are the ones who would come back.” He recalls one of his students fell so much in love with the sport, he became a guide in Montana, making a career out of fly-fishing for years. “He went out west just to fly-fish,” Banak says.

Most of Banak’s guiding was on stream. He recalls taking now-dear friends and Quechee residents, the Sallahs, out on fishing trips. With Bruce Sallah and his three boys, Banak fondly remembers emptying out many-a-tipped-over canoe. Banak still fishes with Sallah when he visits the area.

Another fellow that Banak guided over many years loved fishing for more than just the sport. Dr. Dan Mintz, Banak said, “would come and say ‘Take me fly-fishing.’ But through those years when we’d fish, he would say, ‘Just let me sit on a rock, just listen to the sound of the water, and look at the color of the stones through the ripple water.’ He didn’t care if he caught a fish or not. He was the most delightful person to fish with because of his appreciation of that. He would just love that.”

Part of fly-fishing is knowing the fish. Banak talked about getting close to the fish, getting quiet, and knowing what the fish is looking for. “You catch the most fish close,” he said, “You learn the fish and understand how he’s thinking and the food he wants and how it moves in the water.” Banak discussed the difference between mayflies and caddisflies, and how knowing they move differently in the water affects how a fisherman should use the bait. “Behavior is critical. The behavior is what convinces the fish it’s food.” Banak gets into the fish’s mind, “What has he been seeing lately by this time of year? What’s been active and how does it move? How do I make that little shape and size and make it behave right?”

Banak says fish are found “where food and safety meet” and compares the fish to little kids: “They’re a little like kids at the ice cream stand,” recalling fishing on the Ottauquechee behind the White Cottage. “When the food comes in, the fish will be like, ‘Me first! Me first!”

Knowing the fish inside and out also helps Banak know the best spots in Quechee for fly-fishing. Understanding the habits of fish, such as trout seeking out cool spots in the river in warm weather, a process called ‘thermal refuge,’ helped Banak know where to bring guests. In the summer, due to this thermal refuge, Banak says, “The Ottaquechee, basically from about the Lincoln Covered Bridge down, is the best.”

“The Ottaquechee was my favorite river, Banak says. He says that, in his opinion, faster flowing waters, the smaller width of the river, and the better insect life create an ideal place for fishing – and catching bigger fish – than, say, the White or Connecticut rivers. “The Ottaquechee is so little that they’ll stay in one little pool and get all caught,” Banak says.

When Banak mentions catching fish, he’s quick to point out that his style of fishing is catch-and-release. “We were almost always catch and release,” especially when it came to endangered native fish populations such as the Brook Trout – or Brookies – who have to compete against the hatchery-released Rainbow Trout. “If someone would catch a Brook Trout, I’d say, ‘Please let’s not hurt that, that’s a survivor. His genes are so valuable, let’s be real careful and let him go. That’s the genes you want to stay. You don’t want to take that.”

While the river is a central feature for fishing in Quechee, Lake Pinneo, according to local fisherman and QLLA resident, Michael Sowa (whose father Paul was a good friend of Banak’s for years and helped him work on his trail) is also a great spot for beginners. Echoing Banak’s mantra of catch-and-release, he says Pinneo – in a spot away from the swimmers and golfers – is “great for getting a feel for casting and catching a fish – you can catch on every cast and it’s more fun to learn while catching!” Pinneo has a healthy population of bluegills, sunnies, and perch that make for fun targets for beginning fly-fisherman. Sowa recalls a story of catching a sunnie that was immediately eaten by a perch while still on his line, only to then be chased by the well-known largemouth bass that hangs around the Pinneo dock. Sowa also points out spots on the Ottauquechee near the Taftsville bridge and in the Gorge to be good for fly fishing. “Fish are beautiful creatures and trout are so smart! It would be nice to see more folks fly-fishing in Quechee again.”

Of his time running Wilderness Trails and the Vermont Fly Fishing School Banak says, “I learned a lot here, had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends, and some are still friends. The fun of it is that you meet people and you end up now fishing with their grandchildren.” Banak mentions taking an old customer, Frank Tomasulo, fly-fishing this past year again at the request of his children, who said Tomasulo fondly remembered – and often talked about – fly-fishing with Banak. He has plans to fish again soon as well with another old customer: “He still likes coming to Quechee and gets a room at the Inn here, and off we go just like we used to 20 years ago.” He muses on what fishing means to him now, “We don’t care so much anymore. As a young person, you want to catch it real bad and then you kind of grow out of that to where it’s just the enjoyment, the understanding, and the trying to pass it onto others that’s more important.”

Banak retired and sold Wilderness Trails several years ago to a fellow named Pete Meijer who kept the place running a few more years until the pandemic made it too difficult to sustain. Now, Banak says, the Woodstock Inn has their own fly-fishing school. Banak also used to serve the Woodstock Inn through Wilderness Trails, bringing bike groups and fishing groups from the Inn, sometimes taking a bike tour all the way to Wilderness Trails and back with a stop for lemonade and cookies.

Shay Berry, fly-fishing guide at the Woodstock Inn, pays homage to Banak. “Marty Banak set the standard for guiding on the Ottauquechee and White Rivers,” Berry says, “He continues to lead efforts to keep the waters and banks clean through his work with our local chapter of Trout Unlimited. He is a fly-fishing treasure in our area!” Berry echoes Banak’s sentiments of fly-fishing as more than a sport: “It’s about the experience. We all want to catch fish, but once you get knee deep in the water, you become connected with nature and find yourself a million miles away from the clutter of our daily lives.”

As Berry notes, Banak is an active member of the Trout Unlimited chapter that is dedicated to cleaning up our rivers: “I still feel I have to pay back the river. All these rivers helped me make a living, and I have to pay that back,” Banak says.

Nowadays Banak is still as busy as ever, running a small farm with his wife, Carol Stedman, on Quechee-Hartland Road. “Now it’s not Wilderness Trails any more, it’s Clay Hill Corners,” Banak says. Banak is content with this next venture in his life: “I had a wonderful life and I still do, and you can quote me on that!”

Jim Cardenali, ski instructor at the Quechee Ski School says, “Passion is key. You really have to have passion,” Passion, and his mentors that have become lifelong friends are the keys that have guided him on his path as a ski instructor and coach – with many fascinating stops along the way. 

Cardenali, a native of Webster, MA currently living in Norwich with son Luca (daughter Sophie lives in Burlington), is regularly on his skis; he works as a private instructor, helps with the Hanover High Race Team, coaches the Coast Guard ski team, and runs race camps at number of locations throughout the year from Stratton to France. Cardenali attributes the beginning of his ski career to his passion for music.

While studying trumpet in high school, his teacher, and first mentor, was passionate about music and brought him along on gigs that encouraged Cardenali’s love for music.

This love turned into a desire to teach instruments and direct a band after completing his degree at Berklee College of Music and The Boston Conservatory. Cardenali landed in Schenectady, NY, where, behind the school, sat a little ski hill named Maple Ski Ridge, similar, Cardenali says to the Quechee Ski Hill. Cardenali had never skied before but, a freestyle skating national contender in his youth, rented some skis and gave it a go on his own. After just a few runs, a woman approached him and, knowing he taught in the schools, asked him if he wanted to teach skiing. Cardenali protested that he didn’t know how, but the woman, the director of skiing at Maple Ridge Hill, said she would teach him.

Cardenali received his full certification in two years and soon found his way to Stowe. “I fell in love with Stowe immediately,” Cardenali said, “Stowe was the mecca for me.” He was able to make the connection to the folks working there, including Stowe’s original director Sepp Ruschp, and was hired as an instructor. Skiing alongside a group of Austrians, Cardenali says he learned even more as a skier, “They taught me what [skiing] really means, you know?” This is where, Cardenali says, it really began for him: “The mountain teaches you how to ski. You learn to ski by doing.” 

Cardenali’s love for teaching skiing was nurtured by the environment at Stowe: “Everybody there was passionate about skiing. The whole town, the whole community, the “liftees’’ or ski lift operators, were all one unit. That was such a neat feeling. It was passion.” 

Cardenali continued to grow in his career as he became a PSIA examiner and assistant director in charge of training at Stowe. This led to his working with Olympic gold and silver medalists Steve and Phil Mahre at their training centers, as a consultant for Nordica and Rossignol, and a Level 300 certified coach and education director for USSA. Through all these roles, Cardenali kept growing. “I’m a sponge; I just love learning,” he says. Through his work at Rossignol, Cardenali found his way to clinics in Europe, spending time skiing in Italy and France – where Cardenali still returns each summer – and meeting incredible race coaches, such as good friend Valerio Girardi, who continues to inspire him. 

Cardenali was teaching his own race camps when another mentor appeared on the scene. In what turned out to be a fateful broadcast, Cardenali caught language professor John Rassias doing a segment for his summer language programs on 60 Minutes. Rassias’ teaching methodology snagged Cardenali’s attention right away; he recalls Rassias saying, “What you have to do when you’re teaching is break the crust off people. We just build these crust levels that we hide inside of, and you just gotta blow them off.” Cardenali wanted to meet Rassias and reached out for him to lead a seminar for the instructors at Stowe. Rassias agreed and it was the beginning of a life-long friendship.

Through his time with Rassias, the teaching style Cardenali still uses today in instructor training and private lessons at Quechee solidified. Cardenali echoes the lessons he learned from his mentor Rassias, “Never put a desk between you [and your student] and “really know who’s standing in front of you.”  He and friend Peter Ruschp put together an outline of their teaching methodology based on Rassias’ work that is the backbone of Cardenali’s teaching style. 

 Cardenali also emphasizes that learning should be fun, incorporating “humor and large doses of positive reinforcement, and to never embarrass your learner.” Of utmost importance to him is having fun. “It’s about the chairlift rides,” he laughs. Here at Quechee, Cardenali says, “This group has fun. You can get what you want from students and still have fun at the same time. For an edge lesson,” he uses as an example, “You can have students skate and chase each other.” 

 Within this fun, is the crucial need for expertise. “You need to know the priority of skill development,” Cardenali says. He emphasizes the importance of knowing your subject matter so you can tailor it to your students’ needs. “There’s many, many, many ways to get people to be successful and that’s what you’re shooting for,” he says. “That’s what I still do, and I’ve learned it from all these people I’ve met [along the way], like Rassias.”

 Cardenali began instructing here at the Quechee Ski Hill after moving to Norwich and coming here with his daughter Sophie, then 6. They returned regularly, finding Quechee: “A good little hill for kids and a great little hill to learn on.” On top of that, he enjoyed the atmosphere: “People were courteous. It reminded me of Stowe [when I worked there.] It was just a good feeling, so we came back a bunch of times.” 

Ken Kramberg, then owner of the Quechee Ski School, had heard of Cardenali’s instructing abilities. “I had a reputation – a good one!” Cardenali laughs. So, Kramberg reached out to him to lead clinics with his instructors. Cardenali began to pick up private lessons, both with new faces and with friends he’d been working with since his days at Stowe, and he became a full-fledged member of the Quechee Ski School. 

 Referring to working with Ken, and now Paul Sadowski who bought the ski school in 2021 after working there for many years as an instructor, Cardenali says, “They’re really great teachers. They really care about the kids.” Cardenali remarks on the families that return to ski with their kids here every year, and the environment that fosters this positive relationship, “Everyone appreciates one another. It’s what happened at Stowe [also]. We all work together.” 

Cardenali reiterates that his joy and success in instructing comes back to passion. “I love coaching and teaching, and people respond to that,” he says. “You can help people do what they choose to do and break through their fears. I’m nothing special, but it’s what I love to do.”

For Cardenali, it always comes back to the people who have mentored him along the way. “I think my mother put a guardian angel on my shoulder,” he says with a smile. “It’s all related to the people that I’ve met and had as mentors to me.”

This is at the heart of why Cardenali loves teaching and what has helped him succeed, “You connect with people. You make the world smaller.” The Quechee Ski School, according to Cardenali, values personal connections as much as he does. He says, “The school is really caring. And that, to me, is the most important, and that’s why I’m still here.”

When two local companies partner to better our community, magical things can happen. JAG Productions, based in White River Junction is partnering with King Arthur Baking Company in Norwich. While a theater company and baking company seem an unlikely pair, together they are co-producing a beautiful series of performances, “Theatre on the Hill.”

“Theatre on the Hill” takes place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings between August 13 and September 12 on the grassy hill behind King Arthur Baking Company. Proceeded with food and drinks provided by Upper Valley favorites such as Munchie Rollz, Griddle and Groovy, and Wolf Tree, “Theatre on the Hill” is an outdoor theater series featuring an array of performances including workshop productions, concert musicals and staged readings. 

Jarvis Green, the producing Artistic Director of JAG spoke of his desire to give audiences “a hybrid of all the many ways in which we are thinking about producing theater.” 

JAG and King Arthur Baking Company first came together through JAG’s ambassador partnership program in which organizations or businesses interested in promoting marginalized voices and adopting anti-racist policies can find creative ways to partner with JAG and support their work. This particular program came about after about a year of building a relationship between the two companies and through Green’s desire to create in-person programming for the community before heading back into the theater in the fall. Luckily for all of us, this manifested in an outdoor theater experience not to be missed. 

So, what can we expect to see at this event? A little bit of everything. Starting off the series will be a workshop production of a play that was first featured as a staged reading at JAGFest 4.0. JAGFest is a yearly new works festival that invites up-and-coming Black playwrights from all over the country to stage their new pieces here in the Upper Valley. The play a curious thing; or superheroes k’aint fly by Jeremy O’Brian, a “90-minute queer romance exploring the universal question of parenthood in a world laden with danger,” was the hit of the 2019 festival. 

For the following two weekends, Green himself is directing a concert version of Next to Normal (Yorkey & Kitt), a Pulitzer-Prize and Tony-Award-winning musical that explores mental health and a family dealing with crises. “You’re going to get that sensation of artists connecting to a score and singing beautifully… but you’re also going to be rooted in truth and in reality.” Green speaks of the stigma surrounding mental health and how presenting these stories in a fashion that evokes empathy, such as musical theater, can help normalize dialogues around difficult subjects. “As someone who has family members and friends that have struggled with mental health, I think that’s the crux or foundation or root of why I wanted to do this piece.” 

Next up, Life in Sepia: Vermont’s Black Burlesque Revue, will take the stage. This piece builds a narrative around the history of Black burlesque in America through a variety of performers including our own local Golden Mystique. The revue will be “femmeceed” by duo Kia Warren and Liza Colby who will weave the story of American Black burlesque through eight performers, each taking on a decade in this historical burlesque journey. 

Closing the series will be a staged reading of For the Love of Jazz by playwright Raven Cassell, another JAGFest alumni. First performed as a radio play during JAG’s 2020 COVID-restricted festival, this “jazzical” follows the story of a young woman navigating life and love during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. Green lauds Cassell’s work, “She’s written this really beautiful contemporary play that’s also rooted in classic American theater.”

With this partnership in mind, where do the intersection of baking and the performing arts lie? “Baking, it’s a collective experience,” said Green. “Baking allows for conversation and storytelling. When I grew up, I was always in the kitchen with my mom and my grandmother. I remember so vividly the stories they used to tell as they would bake. Baking just allows for folks to connect in a way that removes boundaries because of this shared experience. I hope that during the “Theatre on the Hill” series, people will shop at King Arthur and then while they’re making that meal, have an experience about the work and what they saw and have conversations with their families about some of the themes we engaged with them on during the series.”

Green is incredibly enthusiastic about this work and speaks of theater as he speaks of baking, focusing on its ability to connect people. “I want to lead with storytelling because that’s where we connect as human beings,” said Green. “How do we tap into your heart because that helps us be the change that we want to see? And I think that’s the power of theater.”

Also evident is his deep love of Vermont and of our community. “I love Vermont. I love the beauty of Vermont. I feel like [the Upper Valley] is a community full of vibrant, community-driven folks.” Green is looking forward to this series continuing JAG’s relationship with the community and bringing new faces into the mix who will want to become a part of making this theater happen and join in helping ensure this work becomes a part of our community for years to come. 

Green is also hoping that this is the first of much community-based collaboration. King Arthur Baking Company is not the only local group that has helped bring this project to life.

This is truly a community project that has involved collaboration from a number of well-known local businesses such as Northern Stage, the Center for Cartoon Studies, and an army of local volunteers. 

“I think this series is going to speak to the power of partnerships,” said Green. “We don’t have to live in isolation about how we’re supporting each other’s work. It doesn’t just have to be JAG doing this. It takes all of us. I think it will be kind of an entry point for people to lean in and say ‘yes, I like what you’re doing, how can I support?’ I feel like there can be some really cool partnerships and I hope that a big institution like King Arthur gives people more permission to lean in. I want to diversify what partnership looks like.” 

Overall, Green hopes that this series is “a reminder that you can have the beauty of gathering again and enjoying glorious theater that’s rooted in reminding us of what happened and where we need to go. This is an opportunity for hearts to mend and to come together.” 

What’s next from JAG? Green is optimistic to see an outdoor summer series return in the future, and this fall and winter, readers can catch more of JAG at Juke Joint, JAG’s annual fundraising dinner-theater cabaret in November and at JAGFest 6.0 in February 2022. 

In the meantime, pull up a picnic blanket, cushion, or any of the provided seating and come take in one or more of the wonderful performances this August and September at JAG and King Arthur Baking Company’s “Theatre on the Hill.” See you there!

Tickets are $25 and are available online at www.jagproductionsvt.com/theatre-on-a-hill. Local food and beverage will be offered beginning at 6:30pm and performances will begin at 8pm.