Vermont Travel Notes

This Sunday there will be a rare opportunity to see some of the best private gardens in the Burlington area. Eight gardens will be open to the public starting at 10:00 am and ending at 3:00 pm.

The 11th annual Flynn Garden Tour is a fund raiser for the Flynn Theater, a Burlington landmark which hosts many types of performances. Ticket and raffle sales enable local schoolchildren to attend and participate in the Flynn's educational matinee theater programs.

Tickets are limited. The price is $35 in advance and $37 on the day of the tour. Contact FlynnTix Regional Box Office at 153 Main Street, Burlington, Vermont, 802-863-5966, on line at www.flynntix.org, and at Gardener's Supply Company, Lang Farm Nursery, Horsford Gardens & Nursery, and the Shelburne Supermarket. For more information, contact Gina Haddock at 802-652-4533 or rhaddock@flynncenter.org, or visit www.flynncenter.org/gardentour.html.

According to the web site, this year's tour includes:
"* The three-family Willey Farm compound
* The chance to see what landscape nursery owners/interior designers do with their own house and gardens
* A sensory therapy garden designed by a couple whose personal story a professional landscape skills combine to make it a sophisticated and poignant place
* An urban neighborhood landscape redefined
* Tea (included in the ticket price and catered by the New England Culinary students and Chef John Barton) served from 3 to 4 pm at Lang Farm Nursery

"In addition, fairy houses, a temple, ponds, waterfall, collector's specimens, a cottage garden, vegetable plots, and many examples of the use of stone in the home landscape make the Flynn Garden Tour an idea-gathering event for new and veteran gardeners."

On the day of the tour (Sunday, July 8th) tickets will be on sale from 10 am to noon at Lang Farm Nursery, 51 Upper Main Street, Essex Junction, 1 1/2 miles east of 5 corners on Rte.15.

(c) 2007 Jeff Connor

The Basin Bluegrass Festival will be held July 13 - 15 in Brandon VT , on Route 7 about 17 miles north of Rutland.

Sixteen bands will each play three times during the festival.

In addition, there will be workshops on playing bass, banjo, rhythm guitar, mandolin, as well as singing harmony and song writing.

The festival is held at the end of Basin Road, off McConnell road.

The organizers emphasize that this is a family festival. Anyone misbehaving, appearing loud, intoxicated, or possessing illegal drugs will be removed. There will be security on site. There will be cover for rain, medical services, water to fill tanks, hot showers, and dump station. Tent campers are welcome. Lawn chairs are welcome but high back chairs are prohibited. Pets are welcome but must be kept on a leash and not allowed in the concert area.

There will be a Martin Guitar Raffle courtesy of Dave Nichols Custom Pearl Inlay and the Martin Guitar Company.

(c) 2007 Jeff Connor

I went to Circus Smirkus in Waitsfield last night and had a wonderful experience for the third year I have attended one of these great shows.

You will marvel to see these young people (ages 10 - 18) in person and appreciate all the skill, enthusiasm, and athleticism they have. The video below will give you a taste of what it's like:



These folks are not only skilled, they work extra hard. As evidence, they have an ambitious schedule of 70 shows this season which ends in August:

JULY 1
Greensboro, VT
The Circus Barn
1 Circus Road
2 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Sunday

JULY 3 & 4
Waitsfield, VT
Bundy Center for the Arts
4 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Tuesday & Wednesday
Presented by The Bundy Center for the Arts

JULY 6, 7 & 8
Essex, VT
Champlain Valley Expo
6 shows:
12 & 7 pm - Friday
2 & 7 pm - Saturday
1 & 6 pm- Sunday
Presented by Champlain Valley Expo & The Circus Barn, Inc.

JULY 10 & 11
Saratoga Springs, NY
Saratgoa Race Course
4 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Tuesday & Wednesday
Presented by The Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs

JULY 13 & 14
Wilbraham, MA
Fountain Park
Tinkham Road
4 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Friday & Saturday
Presented by Wilbraham Hampden Academic Trust, Inc.

JULY 16 & 17
Brattleboro, VT
VT Agric. Business
Education Center
4 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Monday & Tuesday
Presented by KidsPLAYce

JULY 19, 20, 21 & 22
Wellesley/Dover, MA
Elm Bank Horticultural Center
8 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Thursday & Saturday
12 & 7pm - Friday
11 am & 4 pm - Sunday
Presented by The Circus Barn, Inc.

JULY 23, 24 & 25
Sandwich, MA
Heritage Museums & Gardens
5 shows:
7 pm - Monday
2 & 7 pm - Tuesday & Wednesday
Presented by The Circus Barn, Inc.

JULY 27, 28 & 29
Martha's Vineyard, MA
Waban Park in Oak Bluffs
6 shows:
12 & 5 pm - Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Presented by the Edgartown School

JULY 31 & AUGUST 1
Revere, MA
Beachmont School
15 Everard Road
4 shows:
1 & 7 pm - Tuesday & Wednesday
Presented by the Revere Department of Recreation

AUGUST 3 & 4
Wilton, NH
High Mowing School
4 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Friday & Saturday
Presented by The High Mowing School

AUGUST 6 & 7
Kennebunkport, ME
Rocking Horse Stables
Arundel Road
4 shows:
1& 6 pm - Monday & Tuesday
Presented by Kennebunkport Consolidated School

AUGUST 9 & 10
Freeport, ME
Merriconeag Waldorf School
4 shows:
1 & 6 pm - Thursday & Friday
Presented by Merriconeag Waldorf School

AUGUST 12 & 13
North Conway, NH
Cranmore Resort Ski Area
4 shows:
1 & 6 pm - Sunday & Monday
Presented by Mount Washington Valley Children’s Museum

AUGUST 15, 16 &17
Montpelier, VT
Montpelier High School
5 shows:
2 & 7 pm - Wednesday & Friday
11 am - Thursday
Presented by The Circus Barn, Inc.

AUGUST 18 & 19
Greensboro, VT
The Circus Barn
1 Circus Road
3 shows:
7 pm - Saturday
2 & 7 pm - Sunday

Other Circus Smirkus videos are available here.

And, for something a little different in summer camps, ranging from 2-day to 2-week residential sessions for ages 6 to 18, beginner to advanced, read the Circus Smirkus Camp page on their web site.

(c) 2007 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

The sixth Annual Killington Wine Festival will be held July 12 to 15, 2007. Enjoy wine tasting on top of one of Vermont's highest peaks, as well as at a few of Vermont's most prestigious inns. There will be four days of tastings, dinners, dancing, seminars. Reservations are required for some events and recommended for others (click the web link above for details). For tickets, call 800-337-1928.

(c) 2007 Jeff Connor

Stoweflake Resort in Stowe Vermont will hold their 21st Annual Balloon Festival this weekend. Some 25 balloons are expected to attend.

Flights are Friday, July 6 at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, July 7 at 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 8 at 6:30 a.m. There is free admission at 6:30 a.m. for event volunteers. The rest of the day, public admission for non-Stoweflake guests is $8. Stoweflake guests and any children 12 and under are admitted free. Tethered rides on the hot-air balloons are $10 per person.

In addition to the balloon launches and tethers, the festival includes children's activities, mini-facials at the Resort's deluxe spa, chair massages, food, drinks and live evening entertainment.

Spectators are invited to take tethered rides or volunteer to be a ground crew person.

(c) 2007 Jeff Connor

By Pamela Mandell, Publicity, RRA
pmandell@svcable.net, 802.348.9902

The 15th Rock River Artists' Open Studio Tour will be held on Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22 from 10 AM-6 PM.

The tour begins at the Old Schoolhouse in South Newfane, VT where an exhibit of work by 24 artists gives tourgoers an overview of what’s on offer, including painting, photography, collage, printmaking, pottery, furniture, sculpture, metal work and bookbinding.

Maps are provided and then visitors go on to the studios of their choice throughout the villages of South Newfane, Williamsville and Newfane (easily found a couple miles off VT Route 30, ten miles northwest of Brattleboro).


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A little more information on the Newfane area I wanted to add to Pamela's article above:


Newfane town green, photo copyright Linkvermont.com

[Brattleboro is in the southeastern part of the state. Newfane is widely known as a classic looking New England village that you should put on your must-see list for southern VT touring.

Here is how Link Vermont website describes it:

"Newfane, South Newfane, Williamsville (Pop. 1,555): Newfane is one pretty place! This is not just our opinion, its village green and the inns bordering it are somewhat legendary . . . The columned courthouse, church, town hall and inns are the real-thing-equivalent of the tiny make-believe ones some of us decorate our homes with during the Christmas season."