Join Us For The VPR Listener Picnic!

Join us for VPR’s Listener Picnic on Saturday, September 29 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center (VABEC) in Brattleboro!

The picnic is the annual get-together of Vermont Public Radio fans and staff. We love getting to meet you in person and thanking you for your support!

This year’s picnic will be a Vermont foodie’s delight.  Our special guest will be Lynne Rossetto Kasper of The Splendid Table and we’ll be tasting some of the best Vermont has to offer throughout the day. Highlights include:

• Vermont Edition host Jane Lindholm will interview Ms. Kasper and lead the group in a few rounds of The Splendid Table’s game “Stump The Cook,” in which listeners are invited to share five ingredients they have currently in the refrigerator and Kasper, on the spot, invents a dish that can be prepared with those ingredients.
• More than 20 Vermont food producers will be on hand, giving out samples and selling their products.
• Bring a copy of your favorite healthy recipe for Hunger Free Vermont and get a VPR reusable shopping bag to tote home your loot!
• There will be live music under the tent provided by All the Traditions host Robert Resnik with his band The Tin Pan Valentinos, as well as Jamie Kent and The Options.
• Meet your favorite VPR hosts!

Our other guests include UVM Extension, Hunger Free Vermont, and if you don’t already have an “I Am Vermont Strong” plate for your car, you’ll be able to get one there.

Admission is free and the picnic goes on, rain or shine (we have a big tent!). Food will be available for purchase on site. Parking will be available at the Brattleboro Union High School, and a free shuttle will transport guests to the site. Only handicap parking will be available on the picnic grounds.

VABEC is a 100-acre farm which is now home to UVM Extension, Vermont Technical College Nursing Program, and Union Institute and University, among others. The farm is the property of the Famolare family and VPR is grateful to them for their hospitality.

The VPR Listener Picnic is generously sponsored by Monster.com.

We hope to see you there!

The VPR Picnic: Save the Date... and Volunteer!

This year’s VPR Listener Picnic is going to be Saturday, September 29 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center (known locally as “the Famolare place”) in Brattleboro. Our special guest is Lynne Rossetto Kasper of The Splendid Table who’ll be playing Stump the Cook with us. There will be lots of Vermont foods, live music and of course, your favorite VPR hosts! Picnic goes on rain or shine. Check back soon for more details!

Also, volunteers are needed to help with the picnic. Lunch will be provided, and you’ll get to take home a VPR mug as a souvenir. Please contact Ty Robertson to sign up by emailing trobertson@vpr.net

A Little Change Goes A Long Way

VPR member Susan Beard is a big believer in change; loose change, that is.

When Sue arrived at this year's Commentators Brunch, she presented the VPR staff with a gift: a cake tin full of pennies, nickels, and quarters, adding up to $26.31.

In her work at a car dealership in Rutland and while she runs errands on weekends, Sue is always on the lookout for any orphaned change that needs a home.

When asked what her strategy is, she noted that the best place to look is under parking meters, especially in the early spring.

"If people drop money in the snow, they won't bother to go after it," she explained. "In my view, it's public money, so I thought it should go to public radio."

Thanks Sue! That change is now being put to good use and your generosity is truly appreciated.

The Met And Mimosas

We love the opera on VPR Classical. And with the Met’s radio and HD broadcast season in full swing, VPR is doing something else we love: having a party.

Join me for food, drink, and conversation with VPR and other Met in HD ticket holders on Sunday, January 22nd at 11 a.m. at the Top of the Hop, before the HD broadcast of the Met’s exciting new production, “The Enchanted Island.”

What a broadcast it will be, too! Combine two Shakespearean plays with the operatic music of several Baroque composers and the flawless technical and artistic prowess of the Met, and you have a recipe for a very “enchanting” afternoon! It will be a truly unique experience and I hope to see you there! Click here for more information.

- Joe Goetz, VPR Classical Host

Love For Love

Who loves Darlene Love more than My Place Host Joel Najman? Probably no one. His devotion to her as a performer goes back all the way to the beginning. And his cover story for this week's Seven Days is testament to that love of Love. You can read the whole article here.

And if you have your tickets for her concert "Love for the Holidays" on December 14th at the Flynn Center be sure to get there early for Joel's pre-concert talk at 6 p.m. in the Hoehl Studio Lab on the 3rd floor.

Vermont Public Radio is a proud media sponsor for this event. Don't have tickets yet? Da Do Ron Ron over to flynntix.org to get them now!

Announcing The Moth in Vermont Lineup

Just a little over a week until The Moth Mainstage makes its debut in Vermont! We can't wait to see The Moth’s signature true stories told live without notes to Burlington’s Flynn Center on October 22. You can get your tickets online here!

The theme of the night will be "Building A Bridge: Stories from Both Sides.” Our lineup features Vermonter and Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me regular Tom Bodett, Vermont author Jamaica Kincaid, Moth regulars Brian Finkelstein and Boris Timanovsky, and filmmaker Ellie Lee. Check out a story by Boris below!

Our host will be comedian Rudy Rush, who has appeared with Dave Chapelle and Martin Lawrence, and on The Late Show with David Letterman and Def Comedy Jam.

Plus, The Moth Radio Hour returns to VPR with five new episodes this Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

VPR and PH International want to thank our generous sponsors for this event (at left). See you at the Flynn on the 22nd!

The Moth Is Coming To Vermont!

I was hooked the first time I ever heard The Moth. I was running early in the morning on Burlington's Bike Path, listening to Adam Gopnik’s story about communicating with his son and the meaning of “LOL.” I "LOLed" so hard I was glad there was no one else around to see it.

Next, I listened to Anthony Griffith’s story about working as a comedian while his daughter was undergoing treatment for cancer. I had to stop dead in my tracks because I was sobbing too hard to breathe.

The Moth Radio Hour has also been a hit with VPR listeners, which is why we are so excited to be bringing The Moth’s signature true stories told live without notes to Burlington’s Flynn Center on October 22!

The show will feature Moth regulars as well as local voices on the theme "Building A Bridge: Stories from Both Sides.” Proceeds will benefit VPR and PH International.

Tickets are going fast, so don’t miss your chance to see the first-ever Moth show in Vermont! You can get your tickets online here.

Pictures From VPR's Listener Picnic

What a gorgeous day for VPR's Listener Picnic! We had a great crowd of human and canine VPR fans come out to Dog Mountain in Saint Johnsbury on Saturday! We enjoyed hearing from NPR’s Linda Wertheimer, great music and food, while the dogs enjoyed Frisbee, swimming, and any cheese that dropped off the snack table.

Here are just a few photos of all the fun!

Save The Date For VPR's Listener Picnic!

This year’s VPR Listener Picnic is going to be all about best friends! VPR is your best friend in the car, your dog is your best friend on a hike. Bring two of your best friends together on Saturday, September 17th starting at 11 a.m. at Stephen Huneck’s Dog Mountain in Saint Johnsbury.

We’ll enjoy music by Patti Casey and Bob Amos, The Bohemian Blues Quartet (featuring VPR's IT guru Asa Sourdiffe!), Brett Hughes and the Honky Tonk Tuesdays Band, AND one of NPR’s founding mothers, Linda Wertheimer, will be on hand to help us celebrate the 40th anniversary of NPR.


The picnic goes on rain or shine - we’ll have food for sale or you can bring your own, and the Stephen Huneck Gallery will be open with special offers for VPR listeners.

All well-behaved dogs are cordially invited (don’t forget your pooper scooper!). In honor of the event, we’ve shared some pictures of our own canine best friends. Check out the slideshow below for the dogs of VPR!



Finally, a note about Dog Mountain: Stephen Huneck was a great friend to VPR and in the wake of his passing in 2010, the future of Dog Mountain is uncertain. Help preserve this very special part of Vermont’s artistic culture by spreading the word about the picnic so we can have the best turnout ever! We hope to see you there!

Listener Picnic Photos

What a day! About 900 people came to the Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock last Saturday for the VPR Listener Picnic! The weather was perfect, the farm was beautiful, the music was fantastic, David Folkenflik was fascinating....and then there's YOU! It is always such a joy to meet and speak with VPR listeners - you make what we do possible! Thanks for making the day a success. Check out a slideshow of photos from the picnic below.



A special thanks again to Monster.com for making the picnic possible, and to the Billings Farm and Museum for being such wonderful hosts!

Join Us At The VPR Listener Picnic, Saturday Sept 11!

This year's Listener Picnic will be back at Billings Farm and Museum on Saturday, September 11, rain or shine, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The museum will be open free to the public and the Teago Fire Department will be throwing their benefit cook out on the premises.

Our special guest will be NPR reporter David Folkenflik. VPR Morning Edition host, Mitch Wertlieb, will interview David about the inside story on covering the media for NPR in New York.

We'll also enjoy live music by Dave Keller Band, Twist of the Wrist, featuring All the Traditions Host Robert Resnik, and Maple Jam, sweet a cappella jazz.

A big thanks to Monster.com for sponsoring this year's picnic. For directions visit the Billings Farm website. See you on the 11th!

Love That Dirty Water....

VPR is 3-0! We had a blast last Saturday as Mitch Wertlieb, Ric Cengeri, and I traveled to Boston for VPR's 3rd trip to Fenway park with a great group of VPR listeners. We took a tour of the storied ballpark, feasted on hot dogs, and watched the Sox take on the Detroit Tigers.

I'm usually a very optimistic Sox fan (unlike Mitch - see his recap of last year's game here), but when we were down 4-0 early in the game and kept leaving men on base, I got a little discouraged. Oddly enough, Mitch was the one who kept saying "Be patient, they can do it."

They managed to come back to make it 4-2 by the bottom of the 9th inning. Tigers pitcher Phil Coke loaded the bases by intentionally walking Kevin Youkilis with one out, bringing David "Big Papi" Ortiz to the plate. Papi hit a double that looked (and sounded) something like this (the hit is around 2:15):



Since everyone was jumping up and down and I'm not all that tall, I didn't even realize they'd won it until I heard the unmistakable opening riff of "Dirty Water" - "buhmp buhmp buhmp, buhmp bah-dump." It was the first walk-off win I've ever seen at Fenway! My favorite part by far was watching Mitch jump up and down screaming and clapping, as if he were 10 years old all over again.

What a day! Great company, great weather, and topped off by a great come-from-behind walk off win. It doesn't get much better than that! VPR is now 3-0 with our trips to Fenway. Hmm...maybe they should have VPR listeners at every game! Check out our photos from the day below.

Win Tickets To The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

VPR is giving away tickets to some of the hottest acts coming to this year's Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, including Allen Toussaint, Sonny Rollins, Sharon Jones, and Arturo Sandoval!

Learn more and enter to win here. The entry deadline is Wednesday, June 2 at noon!

Don't forget to check the VPR Jazz Fest Blog for more about the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival - video, photos, reflections, and more!

(Photo courtesy of www.discoverjazz.com.)

A Dark & Stormy Night

A troupe of young actors from the Flynnarts summer camp program spent the day at VPR recently creating two radio plays. Under the direction of the Flynn's Joan Robinson, the young campers created sound effects and acted out their parts in the VPR Performance Studio. It looked and sounded just like the radio theatre of the '30s and '40s. The rain came down, thunder boomed and mice skittered across the floor as a mini drama the children wrote themselves unfolded.

They also performed an episode of the radio theatre classic, "Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy".

VPR's Senior Audio Engineer Sam Sanders recorded and mixed the finished product.

Learn more about the Flynn Center's camps and classes.

Learn more about "Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy".

The Long Haul

VPR commentators are a pretty eclectic group. So it’s no surprise that, when asked to write on a common topic, the come up with some fascinating ideas.

That’s what we did this spring. For our annual Commentators Brunch at Sugarbush Resort, we asked about two dozen of our regular commentators for an essay on the theme of “The Long Haul.”

What’d we get? How about a history lesson on the days when flocks of turkeys were driven to market from Vermont to Boston. Talk about a Long Haul. It’s a very entertaining piece.

But we also got the poignant, including a foot soldier’s thoughts on the infantry in which he serves. It’s a role, it is said, that goes back to the time of the Greeks.

And, of course, there was the personal. One commentator reflected on his immigrant family’s history, with a little piece of advice for how to appreciate the Long Haul.

The essays are delightful and thought-provoking. We’ll air a sampling of them in the next week during Morning Edition. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Jane Lindholm interviews Robert Siegel and Dina Temple-Raston

We were thrilled to welcome NPR's All Things Considered Host Robert Siegel and National Security Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston to Vermont last weekend to celebrate VPR's successful Creating a Sound Future endowment campaign. Visit our website for audio of Jane Lindholm's interview with Robert and Dina.

Meet NPR's Robert Siegel May 16

We're thrilled to welcome NPR’s Robert Siegel to Vermont on May 16, and you're invited to join us for brunch with the long-time host of All Things Considered at 11 a.m. at The Essex in Essex. He’ll be joined by NPR Counterterrorism Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston. Tickets are $60 and benefit VPR. Seating is limited, so please call us at 1-800-639-2192 if you’d like to have brunch with Robert Siegel.

Robert got started in radio news when he was a college freshman in 1964 and has reported from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Israel. He’s one of the best-known voices on NPR. Check out Robert’s full bio at NPR.org.

Dina Temple-Raston is the counterterrorism correspondent for NPR. She was a long-time foreign correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia, joining NPR in March 2007 after a sabbatical in which she completed two books, learned Arabic, and received a Master's Degree from Columbia. You’ll find Dina’s bio online here.

Doing our Best Ira Glass Impressions

It was wonderful to meet so many of you last night at the This American Life - Live! broadcast at South Burlington's Palace 9 theater. The show was excellent and we had a blast in the lobby trying on Ira Glass glasses. Check out our slideshow from the event below.




The show was sold out, so if you weren't able to make it, tickets are on sale now for an encore showing May 7. The program will air on VPR at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 2.

We're Walking for Wayne

For the fourth consecutive year, VPR staff members have banded together as the Wayne’s World team to take part in the MS Walk.

This year’s event takes place at 9 a.m., Saturday, April 25 at Burlington High School. The team is named for a former VPR colleague who was diagnosed several years ago with multiple sclerosis. And, the team includes VPR friend Carol More, who serves as an inspiration to us all. Having been diagnosed with MS eight years ago, Carol walks with us and raises funds for this worthwhile cause.

In what has become a wonderful musical tradition, Robert Resnik, host of All the Traditions on VPR, walks along with the team, serenading us with delightful songs played on his concertina.

Last year, gifts to Wayne’s World helped fund two ramps, three wheelchairs and one fully accessible van for the more than 4,000 Vermonters living with MS. The Wayne’s World team invites you to join the MS Walk or make a pledge of support. Thank you so much for making a difference in our community.

- Ric Cengeri, Production Associate

Jamming at Champlain College

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the VPR table at the Vermont 3.0 Creative-Tech Career Jam last Saturday. It was a blast to meet so many enthusiastic listeners and talk with you about career opportunities at VPR. This is an exciting event that we'll continue to attend.

Until the next Jam, check out this video postcard by Seven Days on the Jam, and perspectives on Vermont becoming a creative-tech hotbed.