Chester festival returns, adding music and new exhibits

Acoustic trio Moon Hollow, with Tim Cardiello, Charlie Peckar and John Jamison, performs at the Chester Festival on the Green on Saturday. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Reconnecting. It’s been a theme of 2021, and it was certainly happening for those attending the Chester Festival on the Green on Saturday in downtown Chester, Vermont.

The annual two-day festival has made its return after last year’s cancellation due to the pandemic, and it’s got several new features this time around — live music and agricultural exhibits and games, with a hay maze nearby. A variety of food vendors have been added, too. All this brought a big crowd in the mid-morning hours and into the afternoon. 

“I just like the fact that I ran into a bunch of people I haven’t seen for a couple of years,” said Brendan D’Angelo, of Windsor, who was there with some friends Saturday afternoon. 

One of them, Faith Wood, is the bassist with The Break Maids, performing in the music line-up, today, Sept. 19. Wood lives in Chester and was enjoying the atmosphere on the festival’s first day back in 2021. 

“I just love the fact that it’s outside, just a nice walk in a great, little town,” she said. 

The festival has been going for over 40 years, forming an event hub for many crafters and artisans in the region. But this weekend, as people checked out the various vendor booths on the Green and nearby, they’ve heard festival committee member Barre Pinske on his bullhorn, gently reminding people there’s new stuff this time. Saturday brought a great turnout. 

“I believe we killed it,” he said. “It’s been awesome.” 

People check out the various vendor tents in Chester on Saturday. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Pinske said the new additions to the festival were well received. 

“If you drive here or you’re visiting, now you get to experience more things,” he said. 

Ashley Cormack, owner of the Little Art Supply Store downtown, which she just opened on Labor Day, said mid-afternoon Saturday that she’d seen double the amount of cars arriving in town, compared to when she moved here and experienced the festival in 2018. Some of that traffic came into the store as well. 

“We’ve gotten a lot more people than we normally get on a Saturday,” Cormack said. 

Outside, just across the street on the Green, Cormack’s grandmother, Betty Rounds, was doing what she’s done for decades: selling her hand-made sweaters for children and other knitted creations at her tent. She's been knitting since she was a child growing up in Chester, having picked up the skill from her grandparents and her aunt. 

"I guess it’s in the family," she said with a smile, as several customers checked out the items in her tent Saturday afternoon. The crowds were there in droves by late morning, she said. 

Here are some of the sweaters by Betty Rounds, a longtime vendor at Chester’s annual festival. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Some festival-goers enjoyed hanging out and listening to the live music, located behind the Fullerton Inn and Restaurant downtown. The stage was set far back from some bleachers and the lawn, with food and drink offered nearby. In the nearby parking lot, a tractor would occasionally arrive to give wagon rides. 

On Saturday, Royalton-based musician Ali T and her band were providing the musical entertainment in the evening until 8 p.m. She was excited to join her friends on stage, since she usually performs solo. The band includes Bobby Gagnier, Skip Truman and Ed Eastridge — a Grammy award-winning sound engineer.

“It’s a nice opportunity to join my full band for change,” Ali T said, after checking out the hay maze on Saturday. 

The 2021 Chester festival’s final day is today, Sept. 19, with vendors and exhibits going until 4 p.m., and music from noon to 6 p.m. For more information, check out the website. 

— Gareth Henderson

Kids, adults and pets alike enjoyed the new hay maze at the Chester festival. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Virtual Bookstock Festival starts Thursday

(Gareth Henderson Photo)

For the first time, Woodstock's annual literary festival will go virtual on Thursday night, kicking off a series of four author appearances this year.

Virtual Bookstock 2020 is one of many "firsts" in the world, as large events navigate life in the pandemic. Alison Hankey, the festival’s coordinator, said a small team took on the effort to "reorganize and rethink" Bookstock’s 12th year. The response to the virtual announcement has been overwhelmingly positive, Hankey said. 

"I think people really are craving cultural connection at this time, and Bookstock is kind of an anchor event for that," she said.    

The Vermont festival is still free, with registration open right up until the last minute. Audiences will be able to take part in online Q&A in real time.

The first author in the 2020 line-up is poet, jazz historian and music reviewer Reuben Jackson, of Washington, D.C., who will take the virtual stage on Thursday at 7 p.m. He will read from his newest book of poetry, "Scattered Clouds," and is well-known to Vermont as the former host of "Friday Night Jazz" on Vermont Public Radio. 

"The programming we've set up, starting with Reuben Jackson, is just highly relevant to the times we're living in," Hankey said. "Three of the authors are African American, and we felt really strongly we wanted to make sure we're amplifying Black voices."

Additionally, the program maintains the event's strong ties to the Green Mountains, as each author has a connection to Vermont. 

"Bookstock is very much a Vermont literary event, and we are trying to highlight that with this programming," Hankey said.       

After Thursday, this series continues in the coming months with cartoonist, game designer, and author Jason Lutes (Hartland, Vermont) reading from and discussing his graphic novel “Berlin”, which has been published in 15 languages; Dr. François S. Clemmons (Middlebury, Vermont), the Grammy Award-winning founder and director of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble and author of “Officer Clemmons”, his memoir titled after the role he created on the PBS television series “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood”; and New York Times reporter and author Nikita Stewart ("Troop 6000: The Girl Scout Troop That Began in a Shelter and Inspired the World"). These appearances are on Oct. 15, Nov. 19 and Dec. 17, respectively. 

Bookstock 2020's core team includes Hankey; program coordinator Pam Ahlen; communications director Meg Brazill, who works for event partner Norman Williams Public Library; and Peter Rousmaniere, Bookstock's head of donor and partner relations. 

As for 2021, Bookstock is planning two events. The traditional book sale on the Woodstock Village Green will be in late July as usual, and the author presentations will be in September. That said, Hankey noted it's unclear whether small venues will be available for those presentations.

"It's very much aspirational at this point," she said. 

Hankey said this fall's program will be a "learning opportunity" for the Bookstock group, just as many groups are having to learn about Zoom to deliver events.     

"We as a committee, as a group, are learning from this, and once we do that, we'll have a better idea of what we can do in years to come," she said. 

Hankey is a content manager for LinkedIn Learning, where she develops online courses for businesses professionals. 

"It's wonderful to bring an iconic festival into the world of technology," she said. "It's a great learning experience."    

Bookstock 2020’s sponsors and partners are Mascoma Bank, The Byrne Foundation and the Norman Williams Public Library, with additional critical support from Pauline Davenport Children’s Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, as well as Vermont Poetry Center.

— Gareth Henderson