On Feb. 1, the Middlebury College Class of 2024.5 (popularly called “Febs”) headed to the Snow Bowl for their iconic graduation ceremony — going up the chairlift in their academic regalia and skiing down with their diplomas. The next day, hundreds convened at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

And those were just the start of February’s celebrations.

Scores of Town Hall Theater’s supporters and patrons attended performances marking the opening of the Doug and Debby Anderson Studio — the first room to open in THT’s $8.5 million addition. Meanwhile, officials including U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, Gov. Phil Scott and Middlebury selectboard Chair Brian Carpenter broke ground on the Stonecrop Meadows subdivision in Middlebury, launching construction on a new neighborhood of 254 new homes off Seminary Street Extension.

The Addison Central School District board endorsed, by an 8-4 margin, a minimum class-size policy of 10 students. The board acknowledged that the policy presented a hurdle for the tiny Ripton Elementary School. The move was part of an ongoing trend toward consolidation and closure of small elementary schools statewide.

Residents of Vergennes and Panton on Wednesday, Feb. 12, voted in favor of bonds and/or loans of up to $3.52 million to fund replacing almost a mile of the Vergennes/Panton Water District’s most troubled water mains, both in Vergennes and Ferrisburgh.

Executive orders by President Trump cast a shadow over millions of dollars in federal research money received by Middlebury College. Scientists at the college said the orders could result in less money for salaries and stipends for college staff and students, less spending at local businesses and poorer education in the sciences that would ripple through the community.

On President’s Day several hundred people turned out at rallies in Bristol and Middlebury to protest President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Musk’s self-created agency, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE. One observer in Middlebury reported that 120-150 people braved windchill temperatures down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit to ring Court Square with posters, songs, chants and waving, in protest of many actions of the presidential administration.

Addison County Economic Development Corporation named its new executive director: Alexander Armani-Munn, a 33-year-old Plattsburgh, N.Y., native who previously worked as a project manager at AES Northeast, an architecture and engineering firm in Plattsburgh. Armani-Munn succeeds retiring ACEDC Executive Director Fred Kenney, who spent an incredibly challenging and productive seven years facilitating the growth and sustainability of area businesses.

Middlebury College hosted a controversial talk, “What is the Right Approach on Public Policy and Transgender Medicine?” featuring speakers Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute and Brianna Wu, the executive director of Rebellion PAC. The event came as President Trump signed multiple executive orders targeting transgender people and raised concerns and criticism among members of Middlebury College and the broader Addison County community, some of whom described the talk as “anti-trans” and voiced concern that it would spread harmful misinformation. In response, students held a “Big Trans Dance Party” and organized a counter-presentation, “Trans Healthcare and Politics.” One of the panelists was Lia Smith, a trans student and athlete who, sadly, died by suicide in October.

“All You Need Is Love” was the theme for this year’s Middlebury College Winter Carnival Ice Show. Scores of skaters in the Middlebury Figure Skating Club from very young to college age took part. In other Carnival sports news, the Middlebury College ski teams placed second to Dartmouth, 898-877.5.

Two longtime Bristol residents were among this year’s Vermont Sports Hall of Fame inductees: highly accomplished former high school girls’ basketball coach Connie LaRose and world championship horseshoe pitcher Debra Brown. Three local high school senior football standouts were selected to play in the 2025 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl against their counterparts from New Hampshire. From Middlebury Union High School, lineman Angus Blackwell and receiver/defensive back/ kicker Tucker Morter made the Shrine team. From Otter Valley, running back/linebacker Isaac Whitney was named to the squad.

Jeff Brown, the most successful men’s basketball coach in Middlebury College’s history, announced he would step down at the end of the academic year. Brown recently concluded his 28th season leading the Panther program, and his 43rd overall as a college head or assistant coach. On Feb. 11, the Middlebury and Vergennes high school boys’ basketball teams faced off in a defensive battle, with both teams struggling to put points on the board against hardworking man-to-man defenses. Ultimately, the Tigers, who led most of the way, repelled a VUHS third-quarter surge to earn a 37-25 victory.

The MUHS dance squad, which had reinforcements this season from Mount Abraham Union High School, improved dramatically over the course of the winter, observers agreed. But the local dancers came up just short of claiming Vermont championships at VUHS. The Tiger team finished second in both the Hip Hop and Pom divisions, and their overall efforts fell short of matching only defending champion Mount Mansfield. The Tiger girls’ and boys’ Nordic ski teams capped another successful winter with second- and third-place finishes, respectively, in the two-day Division II state championship.