Vermont Travel Notes

There are two beer festivals in northern Vermont this weekend and it would be easy for you to attend them both if you would like.

On Saturday, September 26, Siptemberfest is taking place at Mad River Glen on Route 17 near Waitsfield VT.

Some of Vermont's best known brewers will be there: Magic Hat, Long Trail, Rock Art, Trout River, Otter Creek, Wolavers. In addition to the "big guys," the festival will present an unusual opportunity to sample local beer from Lawson's Finest Liquids plus beers that are only available on the premises at The Alchemist Pub and Brewery, Bobcat Cafe, and American Flatbread.

The Skinny Pancake will be making their crepes on site and the Mad River Glen Pub will be serving food as well.

Mad River Glen will be running their single chair lift for fall foliage viewing. It's a great way to get close to the magnificent fall colors compared to looking at them through a windshield.

Just up the road in Stowe, Oktoberfest will have will have a parade, live music and dancing, vendor and craft booths This is a family friendly event put on by the Stowe Rotary club. For children there will be games, pumpkin and face painting, and a Jumping Fun Haus.

Oktoberfest runs both Saturday and Sunday at Jackson Arena on Park Street in Stowe.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

Shelburne Farms is hosting its 31st Annual Harvest Festival and Energy Fair Saturday, September 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This is a very large event and a great place to take the kids.

There will be about 15 bands performing throughout the day, Spanish Horse demonstration, antique tractors, hands-on cow milking, llamas, wagon rides, wood furniture building demonstrations, puppet making, "bubble magic," cider pressing, face painting, grape vine wreath making, wheat braiding (where else can you learn that?), post and beam demonstration, giant pumpkins, wood bowl making, decoy carving, cheese making and sampling, rug hooking, pellet stove demonstration, solar and wind energy displays, and much, much more. You will have more things to choose than you have time.

Whenever our guests ask us for the best places to visit in Vermont, we always mention Shelburne Farms. It is an amazing facility that Vermont is fortunate to have.

Shelburne Farms is located a few miles south of Burlington VT on Harbor Road.

I highly recommend a visit there anytime.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

I just posted a few photos from the 2007 British Invasion on Flickr to give you a small sampling of what this car show is about.

As mentioned in my September 6 blog entry below, there will be hundreds of beautiful British cars from old to new. The British Invasion web site has more details. My friends from the Classic Bike Experience will be there as well to display some British Motorcycles.

The Boston Sunday Globe named this event as their number one choice for "Best 10 things to do within a day's drive of Boston." And the Vermont Chamber of Commerce has named it several years in a row as a Top Ten Event in Vermont.

The event will be held at the Stowe Events Field on Weeks Hill Road, just off Route 108.

It runs this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

On the same weekend, there's a very large street rod show at the Champlain Expo Center put on by the National Street Rod Association.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

TiconderRover, winner of the costume contest in2007, wearing a model of the Ticonderoga steamship which is on display at the museum

Dogs, dogs,dogs. Flying disc dogs, retrieving dogs, pointing dogs, sled dogs, obedience dogs, agility dogs, police dogs, working dogs, dancing dogs, and even fashion show dogs in costume - they'll all be at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne VT Sunday, September 13 starting at 10:00 am and continuing to 4:30.

Shelburne Museum Goes to the Dogs is a fund raiser for area animal welfare groups and an admission of $10 for adults and $5 for children is charged.

The PAWsitively Vogue Fashion Show and Canine Costume Competition is at 1:30.

(c) 2009 (except the photo) Jeff Connor

If you are traveling around the Killington VT area in the next few weeks, you will see some unusual hay bale sculptures alongside the roadway.

They're part of the Killington Hay Festival, an annual exhibit of clever sculptures made of both round and square hay bales.

Get your camera ready and head out to see giant 30 foot hay bale structures fashioned into whimsical characters. There are 35 of them around the Killington area. The festival's website has a map of them so you can plan your tour. The exhibits are left in place through October. They are made by artists and enthusiastic amateurs.

Cabot Creamery is sponsoring the exhibit and providing free sample of their cheese at the Killington Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center on Rte 4.

You can stop at the Killington Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center on Route 4 to pick up a Hay Festival Scavenger Hunt guide and complete the quiz on Vermont agriculture. Answers are provided at each sculpture. There will be prizes and complimentary Vermont Cabot Cheese at the Welcome Center.

Some more photos are available on the festival's Facebook page.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor (except the photographs) Grunberg Haus Inn

17th annual Burlington South End Art Hop , Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12, has works on display from 500 artists in 100 studios and business facilities around town.

There is a juried art show, an artist designed mini-golf course made of recycled materials, fashion extravaganza, and artwork for sale.

It starts Friday from 5:00 to 9:00 pm and continues Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. If you can't attend these two days, you will have other opportunities because most of the art will be on display for another month or so.

The web site has a Artists and Sites page which lists all the display locations and which artists' works are there.

There is an enormous number of intriquing events such as tortilla baking demonstrations, hat making workshop, mini golf putt-putt on the artist-created recycled materials course built on-site, family drop-in and create center, yarn spinning and glass bead making demonstration, classic car and motorcycle show, fabric art demonstration, quilting demonstrations (make and take yo-yos!), build or rebuild chairs workshop, and much more.

The web site mentions a map but I couldn't find it in a few minutes of looking. However, if you just go to Pine Street in Burlington VT, you will find many of the event locations and you can probably get more information on locations there.

This is a very popular event in Burlington and highly recommended.

(c) 2009 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn