With Vermont’s youth deer hunting weekend coming this Saturday and Sunday, young hunters are encouraged to help Vermont Fish and Wildlife biologists by reporting their deer at one of 23 biological reporting stations. Addison County reporting stations include Buxton’s Country Store at in Orwell and Rack ’N’ Reel near the intersection of Route 7 and 17 in New Haven. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department will have personnel at 23 reporting stations around the state between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. (unless the store closes earlier) through youth weekend. Along with having their deer examined and aged by a biologist, successful youth hunters visiting a biological reporting station will receive a 2019 Vermont Hunter Cooperator Patch.
Girl Scout Troop No. 30657 is engaged in a food drive and will gladly accept your redeemable bottles at the Monkton Recycling Center from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Nov. 9. Money from the bottles will be earmarked for Middlebury’s Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects food shelf, which serves all of Addison County. Folks are also encouraged to bring food donations with their bottles. Items particularly needed for the food shelf include oven-style stuffing, canned or jarred gravy, evaporated milk, cranberry sauce, canned green beans and corn, butter, mac and cheese, boxed cereals, and canned and dried pastas.
Congratulations to Middlebury’s Royal Oak Coffee, recently judged by a “Food & Wine” magazine scribe as one of the “best coffee shops in America.” David Landsel, author of the Nov. 1 piece, said this about Royal Oak: “This closely partnered cafe in a proper New England college town has become one of its finest showcases.” Landsel named almost 100 coffee houses nationwide in his article. Congratulations to Royal Oak, co-owned by Matthew and Alessandra Delia-Lobo at 30 Seymour St.  
The town of Middlebury on Saturday, Nov. 9, will host a downtown-themed storytelling event and reception, followed by a planning workshop, at the Congregational Church of Middlebury’s Unity Hall. The program will kick off at 4:30 p.m. when a group of talented local storytellers will recount their memories of downtown Middlebury. Light refreshments will be served. Then, at 5:30, p.m., Middlebury’s master planning team will lead a workshop to collect ideas for the future of downtown and hear feedback about plans that are in development.