Editor’s note
For this July-August edition of Vermont Country magazine, we really wanted to sell the sizzle that is the Green Mountain State in the summertime.
To help you chill out a little, photojournalists Isabel Wissner and Kristopher Radder point out six swimming holes in Bennington and Windham counties where you can cool your jets.
Wissner also takes you to the new Bennington Community Market, due to open later this year with a mission to feed and add some uplift to the region.
Our Bob Audette ambles his way into the workshops of three artisans on a Southern Vermont craft tour, introducing us to a Dorset furniture maker with 50 years of doing the work, a creator of handmade dolls and a master luthier who crafts and repairs guitars, violins and other instruments.
Lex Merrell revisits the 19th-century disappearance of one Russell Colvin, who was declared dead while the Boorn brothers of Manchester were named as his killers.
Photojournalists Michael Albans and Kristopher Radder show you a window in time of a pair of drive-in movie theaters that serve our rural residents and visitors. There are only about 300 of these theaters left in the U.S.
In times sweet and sour, journalists take the risks, so you don’t have to. Vermont Country’s Gena Mangiaratti did this for us here in the Green Mountains, embedding briefly (but bravely) into three special candy-making shops to explore regionally produced confections.
Remember when Phish played in Townshend in 1989? Me neither! But writer Bill LeConey found some people who do recall the reportedly epic show, and he talked with them for this lookback article. LeConey also introduces us to Phish frontman Trey Anastasio’s effort to open an addiction treatment center in Ludlow.
And filmish megamind Dan Tebo is back with a simmering, red-hot summery list of super sexy films that are so steamy, several MPAA censors went blind while screening them. Read only if you don’t mind extreme temps.
Back on Earth, outdoorsy guy Jim Therrien speaks with a handful of hikers who make good use of the region’s Long and Appalachian trails. Local tip: Keep your eyes peeled for a first TrailFest to occur in Bennington on July 30.
And be sure to check out “Of greens, tees and speed,” in which downhill mountain biker Chris Mays and golfer Tom Bedell share their personal experiences on day trips to Stratton Mountain Resort. Each tackles separate but equal courses, one with clubs and the other with knobby wheels. Imagine being paid to golf or bike. Sounds like a good deal to me.
How to survive the heat of July and August in Vermont? From experience, I say embrace it. Revel in it. Swelter and sweat in it. Why? Because soon, friends, the snow will fly, and summer will be a distant speck at some impossible distance, and we’ll all be wishing for something sunny to warm us to our bones.
— Noah Hoffenberg, Vermont Country executive editor
