Sweet Cecily knows what you want

Nancie Dunn, the proud owner of Middlebury’s beloved Sweet Cecily, opened the store 36 years ago in 1987.

Experience beauty at Rocky Dale Gardens

Rocky Dale Gardens is not your average garden center. As owner Ed Burke describes it, the Bristol business is “a specialty nursery that offers an experience, not just plants.”

BJ’s Farm Supply in Panton is much more than a hardware store

“Someone has said before, there’s not very many places that you can get your pet food, your fishing rod, your bait, your grain, your steak and beer, and walk out the door,” co-owner Mikayla DeGraaf said. 

Brandon brewhouse Red Clover Ale builds community

Pete Brooks, 35, Andrew Gates, 39, and Riker Wikoff, 33, who together founded Brandon’s Red Clover Ale Co., are about to make their 250th batch of beer. 

Recycled Reading of Vermont started with books, then grew

This month, the store, situated on the corner of Main and South streets in Bristol, is celebrating the 11th anniversary of its inception. To celebrate, founder and owner Melissa Hernandez will host a July 23 event outside her store at 1 Main St., complete … (read more)

Jake Jacobs teaches generations how to swim

A fish out of water. That’s what Jake Jacobs is to the many excited, yet confused children who run into her at the grocery store. They tug at their parents, many of whom were also taught to swim by Jacobs just decades before.

Julie Basol promotes the Little City

Take one pace into Vergennes City Hall and turn to the right. There, you’ll find Julie Basol, the marketing and development coordinator of the Vergennes Partnership, a non-profit organization that works with local Vergennes businesses to upgrade and impro … (read more)

Funeral director sees challenges and reward of running a funeral home

How does a funeral home earn the trust of a community? To answer that question, one must first comprehend the “unique business” that owning a funeral home is.

Center for ‘contemplative ecology’ focuses on food

LINCOLN — In 2005, Russell and Gillian Comstock began crafting a letter to their friends detailing what they were looking for. A piece of land with wild space and the capacity to farm. Community, quiet, beauty.They never sent the letter.Instead, 158 acres … (read more)

Mead café takes local drinks in a new direction

MIDDLEBURY — Self-described fantasy geek Alexandre Apfel first encountered the word “mead” while reading “Beowulf.” Little did he know he would wind up opening the first mead café in Middlebury in April of 2020.Golden Rule Mead, based in Apfel’s house on … (read more)

Middlebury Rotary puts ‘service above self’

MIDDLEBURY — “We have a group of men in our club who are mostly retired who are carpenters,” Weybridge resident and Middlebury Rotary Club member Nancy Foster said. “I have no idea how many handicap ramps they (have) put in for people. (Folks will) often … (read more)

Autumn Gold founder John Wallace rocks

MIDDLEBURY — Consider Autumn Gold Jewelry, the shop on Main Street founded and owned by Cornwall resident John Wallace.Autumn. Gold. Isn’t the name of the store just nice?Wallace, 57, recalls the moment he came up with it.“The story behind the name is tha … (read more)

Profiles in Community: A Lincoln bread baker finds his niche

LINCOLN — When Glen Bartolomeo moved to Lincoln eight years ago, acquired a home baking license and launched Glen’s Pride Breads as a semi-retirement project, he figured he’d bake a few loaves for a year or two and that would be it. But his neighbors had … (read more)

Profiles in Community: Passion for history leads Houpt-Varner to Rokeby

FERRISBURGH — The new director of Ferrisburgh historic site Rokeby Museum earned degrees in History and Government & Political Affairs at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, and then a PhD at Durham University in the U.K. Maybe just as importantly Li … (read more)

Profiles in Community: Donna Audet

MIDDLEBURY — Donna Audet was working at Burlington Savings Bank in Middlebury in September of 1980 when she received a call from the late Dr. Alan Ayer, who had taken her through her first pregnancy just six months earlier. Ayer this time wasn’t calling t … (read more)