Welcome to The Plymouth Press Online

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday weekend with its many activities. I did want to clarify a bear situation that occurred in Plymouth recently. I don’t know all of the details, but someone was bitten on the hand. Rumors have been flying about the whereabouts of the bear. Some folks are assuming it was shot and others believe it was trapped and removed from the area. I spoke with Fish and Wildlife Warden Tim Carey who covers our area and apparently neither of those scenarios is true, although it is known that a sow with three cubs was likely involved.

Bears are quite prevalent in our area and he suggested that we look at their website to learn how to safely share our space with them. Their hunger coupled with their amazing sense of smell leads them to be attracted to any easy source of food – the easier, the better. Unsecured outdoor garbage containers, BBQ grills and bird feeders provide incentive to come in close proximity to people. Bears quickly learn and remember where they can obtain food and as many of us have observed, they are not afraid of people. We are not doing them any favors by feeding them. The saying, a fed bear is a dead bear should help us to adjust our behavior and desire to observe these beautiful creatures up close. We are actually putting them in danger, especially when there is abundant healthy food available for them in the wild.

On Saturday, October 26th there will be a Trunk-or-Treat in the Plymouth Municipal Office parking lot. We will have a pumpkin carving contest, coloring contest as well as a costume contest with prizes for the kids.

The Town Offices and Fire Department will be teaming up with Bethany Birches to make this a spooktacular event for the kids. Pumpkins and coloring sheets will be available at the Town Office prior to the event.

Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming weeks. If you would like to be a part of the Trunk-or-Treat or enter your kids into either contest please reach out to the Town Clerk at clerk@plymouthvt.org or call 802-500-1815. We’d love to hear from you.

The Select Board meeting that was scheduled for Monday, September 9th has been cancelled. The next Select Board meeting will be held on Monday, September 16, 2024 at 6:00 pm.

Plymouth Town Offices will be closed on Monday, September 2, 2024 in Observance of Labor Day; however, the Treasurer will be in the office between 8:00 AM and 2:00 AM to accept tax payments.

8/25/24

An absolutely awe-inspiring weekend weather-wise. Cool nights for sleeping, plus the humidity seems to have departed. I would love to have these conditions last at least through the month of October! Friends were visiting from NC and were so disappointed that no bears made an appearance at my house while they were here. Only a flock of turkeys showed up for their viewing pleasure.

I attended the Yoh theatre presentation at WUHS on Sunday evening.  It was a preview of upcoming performances for this school year.  It was high energy and featured many talented actors with lots of delightful music.

Since our weather often makes a mockery of the forecast, let’s not panic yet about this coming weekend.  Rain or shine Shakespeare Alive will happen at noon on Saturday, 8/31 at the Union Christian Church. Hopefully the outdoor Plymouth Folk and Blues Festival at the Notch also will happen on 8/31 and 9/1 from 2 to 5 p.m. 

Let’s remember that although area schools are opening this coming week, there is still time to enjoy the beach. Camp Plymouth State Park will be open through 9/29. I feel remiss that I never included the picture of the new accessibility mat and special sand chair that Tiffany sent to me. It wonderfully allows wheelchairs and walkers to navigate to the water’s edge.

At last week’s select board meeting Rick said that we are in the black with the near completion of phase one of the Town Building upgrade.  Application for a grant is in the works that might help to fund items that were previously removed from the project. Check the minutes on the town website for information about the upcoming tax sale and other town news.

Sadly, it appears that Katherine and Rodrick Pingree will be moving, but you will still have a chance to visit with them and perhaps pick up a bargain at their tag sale, 8/31 thru 9/2.  Condolence to the Hayes family on the recent passing of Shirley.

8/18/24

Friday and Saturday were delightful, then rain greeted us on Sunday. I was glad for a couple of breaks during the day to accomplish a few outdoor tasks. The bears seem to feel free to make themselves at home all around my house these days. I opened the blinds in my bedroom the other morning & there was a large bear outside. I knocked on the glass and it was quite comical to see this huge creature actual jump in fright! Although I apparently surprised him, he didn’t amble away until I banged more vigorously. The hour of day seems to make no difference now, they are on the prowl for fortuitous food any time of the day or night.

The Book Group gathered at our charming little Tyson Library on Wed, 8/14 to talk about Blackcake and we enjoyed a lively discussion of this intricate and interesting story. We also considered books for the next three months, which proved a bit difficult with all of the compelling suggestions that were proposed. Eventually we settled upon: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri for our 9/18 meeting, Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray for 10/16, and What the Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris for 11/20. Anyone who wants to join our discussions is most welcome!

When it becomes too cold to meet at Tyson Library, Tom at the Echo Lake Inn has agreed to let us meet in the comfortable living room there. BTW, the “local’s menu” as he calls it is available for the next several weeks Tues – Thurs, with delicious and reasonably priced specials. Be sure to make a reservation, however – 802-228-8602.

There will be a Select Board meeting on Monday, 8/19 at 6 PM. The full agenda is on the website, but included for discussion are: Farm & Wilderness – Forest Legacy Easement Support, the Listers, and Budget Review FY2024

I hope that people were able to attend some of the happenings at the historic site this weekend. I was busy with the Friends of Fletcher Memorial Library book sale on Friday and Saturday where I saw many local folks. Please be aware that we are able to use this terrific library. Thanks to all of those who donated the wonderful books, those who helped with the sale, and those who snatched up these great bargains.

You should already have on your calendar the noon “Shakespeare Alive” performance at the Union Christian church on 8/31, but don’t forget the Plymouth Folk and Blues Festival at the Historic Site on Saturday, 8/31 and Sunday 9/1 from 2 to 5p.m. Thanks to the hard work and organzation of Jay Ottaway and the sponsorship of many local businesses, this will be the 17^th year of this annual event. Enjoy the ambiance as well as the music on the lawn in this beautiful setting. It is free, but donations are always appreciated, plus bring a non-perishable items for the Vermont Food Bank.

Town of Plymouth, Vermont

Select Board – Regular Meeting

Monday, August 19, 2024 @ 6:00 PM

Municipal Building Meeting Room

Agenda

Topic: Plymouth Select Board Meeting

Time: August 19, 2024 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

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1. Call to Order:

• Consideration of Any Changes, Additions or Removals to Agenda:

• Approve Meeting Minutes:

a.   July 15, 2024 Regular Meeting

b.   July 29, 2024 Special Meeting

c.   August 5, 2024 Special Meeting

• Citizen Comments:

• Farm & Wilderness – Forest Legacy Easement Support:

• Listers Department:

• Budget Review FY2024:

• Other Business:

• Sign Warrants and Review Mail:

1. Next Select Board Meeting Date:

a.   September 9, 2024 Regular Meeting

1. Possible Executive Session:

1. Adjourn:

8/12/24

What a lovely weekend! I hope that everyone was able to get outdoors to enjoy it. The next book club selection is Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. The meeting is Wed, 8/14 at 6:30 pm in person at Tyson Library. Another reminder about the huge book sale at Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow this Saturday.

Get ready for the events coming up at the Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site this week.

Thursday, 8/15, at 11:00 AM Naturalization Ceremony, In partnership, The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the District Court of Vermont will host a naturalization. New citizens to the United States will take an Oath of Allegiance before a federal judge, receive a certificate of naturalization, and immediately have the opportunity to register to vote and obtain a passport. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Friday, 8/16, at 07:00 pm Silent Film Night (free) Come enjoy Harold Lloyd’s 1925 silent comedy film, The Freshman at Wilder Barn. Some chairs will be available, but consider bringing a lawn chair. This event will be held rain or shine.

Saturday, 8/17, 2024 at 02:00 pm Vagabonds Reenactment. Enjoy amateur actors who will reenact the meeting in August 1924 when Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone visited President Coolidge in Plymouth Notch. Quotes recorded by 1920s journalists who witnessed and documented the occasion will be used in this presentation.

Saturday 8/31 at noon. Shakespeare Alive! A Bard-Based Variety Show returns to bring their amazingly entertaining production with all-new scenes, skits, soliloquies and songs using Shakespeare’s beautiful Elizabethan verse. Come enjoy wonderful music along with hilarious parody and prose.

This year marks 100 years of Vermont State Parks, and 50 years of Vermont Humanities. We’ve joined together in celebration of our joint anniversaries all summer with Words in the Woods, a free in-person poetry series in State Parks across Vermont, with poets like Verandah Porche, Allison Prine, Elizabeth Powell, and Ellen “LN” Bethea.

The best part of it all? You! Thank you for making these days in the parks so wonderful, from M. Philo and Kill Kare, to Molly Stark and Knight Point. Our State Parks are so much better when we share them together.

We hope you will join us for the final Words in the Woods of the season this Saturday, August 10 at 11 a.m. at Coolidge State Park in Plymouth with poet Major Jackson!

This poem, originally published by the Academy of American Poets on 2021, shows the emotion that Jackson’s writing conveys in the form of glaciers, pines, waterfalls, and stars.

Let Me Begin Again

Let me begin again as a quiet thought
in the shape of a shell slowly examined
by a brown child on a beach at dawn
straining to see their future. Let me begin
this time knowing the drumming in my dreams
is me inheriting the earth, is morning
lighting up the rivers. Let me burn
my vanities: old music in the pines, sifters
of scotch, a day moon like a signature
of night. This time, let me circle
the island of my fears only once then
live like a raging waterfall and grow
a magnificent mustache. Let me not ever be
the birdcage or the serrated blade or
the empty season. Dear Glacier, Dear Sea
of Stars, Dear Leopards disintegrating
at the outer limits of our greed; soon we will
encounter you only in motivational tweets.
Reader, I should have married you sooner.
This time, let me not sleep like the prophet who
believes he’s seen infinity. Let me run
at break-neck speeds toward sceneries
of doubt. I have no more dress rehearsals
to attend. Look closer: I am licking my lips.

Major Jackson is the author of six books of poetry, including Leaving Saturn (2002), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. He has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress.

Register for Words in the Woods

Park entrance is complimentary for Words in the Woods attendees, thanks to our partners at Vermont State Parks who celebrate their 100th anniversary this year.

Words in the Woods is a free in-person poetry series created in partnership with Vermont State Parks and supported by the Vermont Arts Council, the WaterWheel Foundation, and a generous Northeast Kingdom donor in honor of poet Judy Chalmer.

Just Two Weeks until Crossroads opens at the St. Albans Museum!

St. Albans Museum and Vermont Humanities, in partnership with New Hampshire Humanities, are excited to welcome you to the opening reception of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America on Saturday, August 24 at the St. Albans Museum.

Join us for a FREE special screening of the documentary Land of Promise accompanied by a panel discussion and Question & Answer session with local scholars after the reception.

RSVP to the Exhibit Opening

The exhibit, which will visit six communities in our two states through August 2025, explores the challenges and opportunities in rural settings across the United States throughout the past century.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America has been made possible in Vermont and New Hampshire by the Vermont Humanities and New Hampshire Humanities.

Crossroads: Change in Rural America is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

Photos: Courtesy of Beowulf Sheehan, and Library of Congress.
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The Plymouth Schoolhouse licensed childcare has openings for children ages two and up starting the first week of September. The program is located in the former Plymouth Elementary School, 35 School drive.

Contact Lauren Skaskiw-Harootunian at 802 417 6895 or email plymouthschoolhouse@gmail.com to arrange a visit to the program.

Subsidy happily accepted.