2019 – Summer News!
Summer is here! In every season Vermont has so much to offer its visitors! Below are a few ideas for the next few months.
Local Farmer’s Markets throughout Summer and into Fall
Wed. – Woodstock – on the Green – 3-6pm – fresh veggies, local crafts, music and kids activities
Fri. – Hartland – in the field by the library on Rt. 5 across from Mike’s Mobil – 4-7pm – fresh veggies, local farm raised meat, crafts, music and sometimes hot food
Sat. – Norwich, VT – on Rt. 5 S., about a half mile from Exit 13 off 1-91 – 9-1pm also convenient to King Arthur Flour which is worth a visit!
Sat. – Windsor, VT – on Main Street in Windsor – 11-2
Sat. – Woodstock, VT – Mount Tom Market in parking lot on Rt. 12 heading towards Pomfret – 9:30-12:30
Wagon Ride Wednesdays – Billings Farm Museum – 11-3pm (July 3-August)
Summer Family Fun in Windsor, VT
Artisans Park on Rt. 5 in Windsor is the home for a lot of great businesses: Harpoon Brewery & restaurant, Silo Distillery, Farmstead Cheese, Path of Life Sculpture Garden and River & Trail Outfitters.
Starting June 21 Farmstead Cheese will have their Fun Family Fridays with outdoor movies and other activities. Check details under events on their Facebook page.
The Harpoon Brewery Pizza Oven is Open for the summer season! Come, stop by and enjoy a pizza on Friday evenings and all day Sat. and Sun. Don’t forget a maple creamee for dessert at next door Farmstead Cheese!
Silo Distillery often offers seating outside to listen to live music and enjoy a cocktail using their own distilled spirits. Check their Facebook page.
Hartland Summer Concert Series –Sundays 5pm at the Hartland Rec Center.All concerts are free of charge and open to the public!
July 14 Moxley Union;July 21st Still Hill;July 28th Trifolium;August 4th Jim Yeager;August 11th Carlos Ocasio
In Woodstock – Music by the River on Friday evenings 5:30pm – 7:00pm on the Back lawn of the North Chapel at 7 Church St.. (Rain location: Woodstock Town Hall Theatre) – free (donations welcome); No BYOB as food and beverages are available for purchase provided by the Worthy Kitchen. Check out the performances scheduled at www.pentanglearts.org/events
OTHER NEARBY ACTIVITIES:
Sculpture fest – This is a wonderful opportunity to take a walk around 2 adjacent farms that have lovely views and numerous unique sculptures positioned throughout the properties. There is no charge. Put on your walking shoes, take your pet – and enjoy the generosity of these landowners. www.sculpturefest.org for directions. It’s open year round – check the weather to decide your footwear however!
July 2 – Hartland, VT – Stroll through Eshua Bog to view the lady slippers, 10-11:30am
July 3 – Brownsville, VT – 6pm-9pm – music, Cheryl the Clown, food for sale – burgers and fried chicken as well as a Harpoon Beer Tent; fireworks will be at the Ascutney Outdoors Center in Brownsville
July 3 – Plymouth Notch, VT – President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, 9:00pm patriotic songs; dusk Fireworks
July 4 – Woodstock, VT – Billings Farm Museum – Old Vermont 4th
July 4 – Woodstock, VT – Woodstock Union High School (WUHS) – 6pm – children’s activities, food, music 6-9:15 followed by fireworks at dusk
July 4 – Hartland, VT – Old Home Days & Parade -parade at 10 am followed by concerts and other fun events
July 4 – Brownsville, VT – 9am – 3pm vendors will be set up; 11-2pm Pig Roast in the Town Hall; Harpoon beer tent and the parade is at 1pm
July 5 – Woodstock, VT – Old Time Band Concert and Ice Cream Social, Woodstock History Center, 7pm
July 5 – Pomfret, VT – Suicide Six Ski Area, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, followed by fireworks; for details and ticket info call 457-3981, pentanglearts.org
July 13 – Woodstock, VT – Farm House/Manor Tour – Billings Farm and Museum , 2pm
July 13 – Woodstock, VT – St James Fair – 10-3pm, great bargains, food, music, near the Green
July 14 – South Woodstock, VT – Kedron Valley Pond, Screening of Moonstruck under the Stars, Opens at 8pm, film at 8:30pm, Moonlight Magic Tickets $20 online;$25 day of event; Children free. Includes popcorn, candy, moonlight magic cocktail and outdoor screening of Moonstuck. Benefits Pentangle Arts
July 20 – Woodstock area – One day 100 mile ride and run – drive carefully horses and runners on the roads for 24 hours
July 26 – Windsor, VT – White Wine Tasting, free, Windsor Wine and Spirits on Main St. 4-6pm
July 26-28 – Woodstock, VT – Bookstock – check out the activities at www.bookstockvt.org
July 27 – Sept. 15 – Woodstock, VT – 33rd Annual Quilt Exhibition. Billings Farm Museum
July 27 – Woodstock, VT – Farm to Ballet – 6:30pm Billings Farm Musuem. This is a fabulous outside presentation by talented ballerinas with wonderful costumes bringing the farm to life. Get your tickets in advance, plan your picnic, bring your chairs or blankets and enjoy!
July 27-28 – Windsor, VT – Harpoon Brewery BBQ Festival – Unbelievable number of BBQ (and other foods) to try along with Harpoon Beer of course. See their website for details. www.Harpoonbrewery.com
July 28 – Woodstock, VT – National Ice Cream Day – Billings Farm Museum
Aug. 3 – South Woodstock, VT – Parade, 3pm
Aug. 10 – Woodstock, VT – Farm House/Manor Tour – Billings Farm and Museum , 2pm
Aug. 11 – Woodstock, VT – Taste of Woodstock, 10-4pm, downtown, food, crafts, children activities, live music, beer and wine
Aug. 30 – Sept 1 – 3 day VT 100 mile horse ride – throughout the Woodstock area and adjoining towns. Drive Carefully!
Aug. 31 – Sept. 1 – Plymouth, VT – Plymouth Folk & Blues Festival
Sept. 13-14 – Woodstock, VT – Light Garden on the Green, dusk to 9:30pm
Dec. 14-15 – Woodstock, VT – Well-known Wassail Weekend!
Near the bottom of the post are some ideas of places to visit and restaurants nearby!
Biking and Hiking – recently new is the Ascutney Outdoors organization. They have worked to make Ascutney Mountain in Brownsville, VT a place for all to enjoy various activities.In addition to all the Winter activities held there the trails are great for biking and hiking. Check out their website for events planned and future improvements. www.ascutneyoutdoors.org/new-events/ They now have equipment to rent at the Outdoors Center.
Mountain Biking has now replaced skiing at Suicide Six in Pomfret, VT Check out their schedule of hours at suicide6.com or 457-6661
Below are places of interest – dining – touristy – entertainment:
Some fairly new restaurants in the area! Check them out but remember in the Winter and Spring call to check days and hours of opening since they vary as they try to fit in some time off:
New in downtown Woodstock are these restaurants:
Mangalitsa restaurant (for dinner) and Soulfully Good Cafe (for breakfast and lunch). Heart Rock (formerly Spooners) Open only Wed. Fixed Prix menu.
The Hartland Diner in Jessup’s Plaza at Hartland 3 Corners – open 7 days a week for lunch and breakfast (served all day!). Another nearby spot for breakfast and lunch is the South Woodstock Country Store.
The owners of the former Stella’s restaurant have opened a restaurant in Windsor at the railroad station (Windsor Station Restaurant and Barroom)serving dinner with lots of music events as well!
Opened in Quechee Jake’s Market with food items, deli, Vermont products and clothing. It has almost everything you could need …the list is endless! A new spot in Quechee is The Skinny Pancake – a Vermont creperie.
Another popular restaurant in Woodstock – The Worthy Kitchen where the Eastender used to be (on the East end of Rt. 4)! Very casual atmosphere, limited menu but the specials change and the food is great (highly recommend the steak!). Draft Beer choices are endless and there is also a token wine selection. The bartenders/wait staff are great fun too!
New in Woodstock is the The Daily Catch on Central St. known for their seafood entrees and recognized by people who have visited the same restaurant in Boston. Another fairly new restaurant on the West end of Woodstock on Rt. 4 is the 506 Bistro in the fancy On the River Inn. Open now in Woodstock next to the Tourist Center (behind The Mountain Creamery) is Sweet & Salty – a “weigh it out yourself” soft-serve ice cream bar that also offers a few lunch choices. With the summer daylight they are open quite late in the evenings. In Quechee, The Public House, near the putt-putt golf, offering food and craft beers and they have also just opened the Public House Diner in Quechee. Several new restaurants in White River Junction including Piecemeal Pies serving English savory pies ; nearby is the Tuckerbox with Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine; a block past the Coolidge Hotel is a fantastic taco restaurant (Trail Break) with a large beer selection – look carefully – it’s a bit hidden but worth the effort and also for lunch and dinner with a big VT beer selection is a new Cambodian restaurant -Phnom Penh Sandwich Station.
If you are returning to the area from previous visits please note there are lots of restaurants in the area you may wish to try: in Woodstock: Melaza Bistro, The Prince and the Pauper, Anchor Wat and Mon Vert Cafe. Of course, many of my “old” favorites are still there: Keeper’s (Reading), The Black Rock Restaurant (Springfield), The Weathersfield Inn (Weathersfield, VT), Long Trail Brewery (Bridgewater) for lunch, Harpoon Brewery (Windsor), Simon Pearce restaurant and The Parker House Inn(Quechee) and many more!! The Kedron Valley Inn is only 3 mi. from the cabin and has recently gone thru major renovation – They have now opened their Ransom Tavern (457-1473 to make reservations and check on hours). Harpoon Brewery (at Artisan’s Place in Windsor) is open for lunch and some evenings for dinner – check first as their schedule changes.
Another food “establishment” which has garnered a big following is the “elevated food truck” called Chef Brad’s Crazy Side. The food truck has relocated from Hartland to Rt. 4 near the Fat Hat on the way to Quechee. They now have an actual building which is open after October when they close up the food truck. It will reopen inside in Nov. for lunch 11:30-2:30. Brad is a fantastic chef, thus the big following. You can follow the restaurant specials on his Facebook site. People rave over his fish in a basket. I personally like his hamburgers or lamb-burgers and sweet potato fries. When the temperatures are cool I always try one of his homemade soups.
Harpoon Brewery – Windsor – don’t forget live music on Thurs. evenings. And visit Farmstead Cheese (Sustainable Farmer) next door! They offer lots of local products. During the summer they have oven fired pizzas for sale to eat on the picnic tables outside. Also in the same complex there is the Silo making Vermont’s own Vodka/Gin/Whiskey/Moonshine. Often the Silo and Farmstead Cheese team up with some local musical talent and hold a special events at the Silo-usually on Sundays, serving cocktails and food bites. These places are located in Artisan’s Park in Windsor off Rt. 5 – home to many other interesting places such as Simon Pearce outlet store and Great River Outfitters who feature a lot of Water Activities – check out their calendar as well as an adjacent hiking area called Path of Life Garden http://greatriveroutfitters.com. Sometimes in the winter dog sledding is there – check with www.braeburnsiberians.com
Brown’s Tavern is also open for dinner at the Ascutney Resort in nearby Brownsville, along with their Maple Kitchen restaurant which features Prime Rib on Thursday nights.
If you stop at Mike’s Mobil just off Rt. 91 on Rt. 12/5 you’ll find some hot foods to choose from as well as deli sandwiches made to order, to keep you from needing to cook that first meal at the cabin! Large selection of beer,wine, and coffee. It’s also the closest place to get diesel and wi-fi.
Montshire Museum in Norwich, VT gets top marks for it’s displays for young and old including the outside grounds www.montshire.org
I recommend a visit to Sugarbush Farm (www.sugarbushfarm.com) where they have a wonderful educational display and video on sugaring, an animal petting area and a wonderful cheese and maple syrup tasting room with of course a gift shop full of goodies to take home or buy for gifts.
The Windsor Station Restaurant(Windsor, VT) has live music every Tuesday and Friday. Harpoon Brewery (Rt. 5 Windsor) has live music every Thursday and first Saturday. Browns Tavern (Ascutney Resort, VT) has Live music every Sunday. Skunk Hollow Tavern (Hartland 4 Corners) has live music every Wednesday and Friday. For details of who is playing check the links below.
For Windsor area entertainment information:
Windsor Station: http://windsorstationvt.com/live-music
Harpoon: http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/breweries/windsor
Brown’s Tavern: http://brownstavern.webs.com/apps/calendar
Skunk Hollow: http://www.skunkhollowtavern.com/Entertainment.aspx
For info on what’s happening at the Woodstock Town Theatre then check out: www.PentangleArts.org
For more cultural activities in the nearby area check out these sites:
http://www.woodstockvt.com/woodstockvt/events
The nearby Billings Farm Museum has an activity going on most of the weekends.
www.hop.dartmouth.edu Hanover, NH
www.TupeloHall.com White River Junction, VT
www.ClaremontOperaHouse.com Claremont, NH
www.OperaNorth.org Lebanon, NH
www.NorthernStage.org White River Junction, VT
www.ArtistreeVT.org Woodstock, VT
