This Week’s News
Brandon SB revises budget for 3rd vote: spending down 0.5% but tax revenue up 2.5%
In a special meeting on Monday evening, the Brandon Selectboard unanimously approved a revised FY2025 budget that reduces spending overall by 0.5% (less than 1%) while increasing the amount to be raised by taxes by 2.5%, both figures in comparison to the current year’s levels.
Canyon the duckie arrested for assault against July 4th competitor
No one thought it could happen here in Brandon: a crime of such depravity that it defies comprehension. A young, virile specimen of a duckie was viciously attacked in order to eliminate him as competition in the July 4th Duckie Race in Brandon, leaving the once-strapping bird wondering if he’ll ever paddle again.
Relations to the Otherwise: an interview with VT’s newest Poet Laureate, Bianca Stone of Brandon
The Olympian god Apollo has a deep resumé, including the god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the sun and light, and even poetry—not among the highlights, however, are Braggart and Spurned Lover.
Brandon Artists Guild marks 25 years with a nod to its roots: painted pigs
Renowned artist and Brandon resident Warren Kimble made a huge splash in the 1990s putting his distinctive twist on 19th-century folk-art styles, creating a whimsical world of white New England houses and wildly proportioned farm animals. One of those animals turned out to have more significance in his life, and to Brandon as a whole, than he probably anticipated: the pig.
Photos of the Week
Sports
Otter Valley puts up a fight, but loses in Championship game to powerhouse Woodstock
The Otter Valley football team made an unanticipated trip to the Vermont Division 3 championship game but lost 65–14 to a fast and dominating Woodstock team that featured 13 seniors.
OV football stuns BFA Fairfax; will play division championship
Last Saturday, in a show of outstanding football, the Otter Valley Otters defeated the BFA Fairfax Bullets in a show of stellar offense and gutsy defense. On a raw day with occasional sleet, a crowd of 300 showed up in Fairfax to witness the semifinal game which looked to be a sure thing for the Bullets, who were undefeated at 10-0 versus the Otters at 5-4.
OV Football wins big in playoffs, moves to state semis
Isaac Whitney had a huge game, gaining 180 yards and scoring 4 touchdowns to lead the Otter Valley football team to a 46–14 playoff win over rival Mill River Saturday night under the new lights at Markowski Field.
Local group proposes multi-town community rec center
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, a bunch of middle-aged friends in Pittsford want to play some pick-up basketball. Or some older folks want to continue their daily exercise walks when the snow is knee deep outside in winter. Or some kids want to play volleyball but the school gyms are all closed. Where can they go?
‘Game Seekers’: local hunters use online platforms to reach an audience
Fall in Vermont means foliage, cider, pumpkins, and, for a good number of our neighbors, hunting. Every year, people across the state pick up their bows and rifles and head out into the woods, hoping to bag a big-antlered buck or a fat, feathered turkey.
