The Mountain Times

Irene Good for Mushroom Farmers

New Orleans-style bluesman Ray Bonneville offers his musical storytelling talents at the Brick Box in the Paramount Theatre, downtown Rutland on Thursday, September 29, at 8:00 p.m. Call 775-0903 for tickets.

Hear a world of folk music at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at 1:30 p.m. Friday, September 30. Pat and Ray Harwick play on the Celtic harp and hammered dulcimer in a Harp n' Hammers concert and story telling session at the Godnick Adult Center, 1 Deer St., Rutland. Call 446-20241 or 492-2300 for details. October programs center on the theme of Great Adventures in Reading, with looks at American Gothic novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald and the jazz age, Jane Austen, and writers of Vermont.

Rutland Free Library hosts a free Disaster Legal Assistance Clinic from 9:00 a.m. to noon Saturday, October 1. The Rutland County Bar Association has organized the clinic to offer guidance and resource info to those who received damage or loss from tropical storm Irene.

Have a visit with local artists and crafters during the very first Foliage Open Studio Weekend 2011 Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2. Look for yellow signs marking art producers who welcome visitors during this Vermont Crafts Council promotion. Pick up your map to participant locations at the Chaffee Art Center; call 228-3380 to find out more.

Enjoy the night beauties of Pine Hill Park at high speed during the Lunar Quarry Mountain Bike Race Saturday, October 1, and Sunday, October 2. The race begins at 5:00 p.m. Saturday and continues through the night to 5:00 a.m. Call 282-5659 for details.

Other Saturday activities include a 10:00 a.m. benefit motorcycle ride with the Wallingford Memorial Rotary Club. Call Tatha Lewis, 773-5191, for info. Drop in an open house at Dr. Sharrie Hanley's neurofeedback office, 224 Stratton Rd., to see demos of biofeedback techniques and view the hyperbaric chamber, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Call 236-7378 for specifics. Or attend a free folk mountain gospel concert by Don and Donna Mohl at 11:00 a.m. in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 158 Stratton Rd. Call 775-8968 for specifics.

Another Saturday choice is an open house at the College of St. Joseph, 71 Clement Rd., beginning with registration at 12:30 p.m. Explore the college culture and attend a reception with the college president. Phone 776-5205 for details. Or attend an artist talk and discussion with book artist Carolyn Shattuck about her Wardrobe Chronicles installation at the Chaffee Art Center, 16 S. Main St., at 3:00 p.m. Call 773-0356 to find out more.

Rutland Free Library celebrates its 125th birthday on Sunday, October 2, with a 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. party, featuring cake, jazz, a timeline, and more. Call 773-1860 with questions. Also on Sunday, the Vermont Dining Train pulls out of Rutland on its way into New York State. Eat your four-course dinner to the clickety-clack of wheels on iron rails. Call (800) 292-7245 to make your reservation.

American Legion Post 31, 33 Washington St., hosts a slide lecture on Vermont's immigrant communities with a focus on family celebrations, foodways, religious culture, and traditional arts by Greg Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife Center at 1:00 p.m. on October 4. A lot of his talk must look at French Canadians' contribution, since nearly one-third of all Vermonters have ancestry from beyond our northern border. Call 775-1642 with your questions.

Let's revitalize the Rutland ArtHop, a walk primarily around the downtown on the second Friday of each month from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Meet with Mary Mitiguy at the Chaffee Art Center at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 5. Similar art walks in Burlington and Bellows Falls attract locals and visitors; ours needs your support to get going again. Call 775-0356 to lend your help.

Visit with local author Debby DuBay about her new book Rutland, Vermont - Heart of the Green Mountains, at Art & Antiques on Center, 17 Center St., from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 5.

Do you have a costume in mind for the Chaffee Art Center's second annual Art of Masquerade, planned for Sunday, October 23, at the Rutland Holiday Inn? This year's program honors the Rutland Garden Club with the Chaffee's Community Arts Award, in appreciation of the work the club performs at the Chaffee and a variety of other locations throughout the community. The evening also honors Terri Jordan as volunteer of the year. Moneys raised at the dinner and auction add to funds for operating the Chaffee. Call 775-0356 to make your reservation.

No more waiting for an available staff person to check out your books at the Rutland Free Library, as it installs new technology. The automated system includes new security gates and RFID tags for all materials. Automated technology will speed up the process and also give you more privacy, while freeing up staffers for other tasks. (You can still take your selections to a staffer, though.) A grant from the US Department of Agriculture provided 35 percent of the system's $96,000 cost; Friends of the Library and private donations yielded the rest.

Good Dog Cookies continues to grow, owner Cris Phelps-Brown says. She's now branched into making Chicken Jerky for Dogs plus Ganja Kitty, a line of catnip toys. A large portion of her earnings go to support local pet-oriented charities.

You don't need to wait to flush if you use the city water supply, mayor Chris Louras said recently; the main line between reservoir and Mendon Brook is now re-connected. However, the city still has no backup supply, so any contamination to Mendon Brook could quickly put the system back on water restrictions.

No medical pot sales in the city for now, Rutland City's Public Safety Committee decided recently. State law prohibits marijuana dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools and day care establishments, a restriction that leaves very few sites within the city that are zoned commercial. The Rutland Police Commission and representatives of the police department have taken a stand against establishing that kind of facility in the community, saying the slight degree of need was outweighed by high probability of the pot being diverted to the street.

Our sympathies go to the family and friends of West Rutlander Master Sgt. Shawn Stocker of the Vermont Air National Guard, who died of a heart attack while working with a road repair group at Cavendish.

An engineering firm recently reported on three different ways the intersection of Evelyn and Wales streets could be re-structured. The city's Community and  Economic Development Committee is now considering which of the three options will be most effective.

Vermont mushroom foragers have found the moisture of tropical storm Irene to be a blessing, resulting unprecedented harvests.

A new restaurant is scheduled to be ready for Christmas shoppers on South Main St., in front of the old Hannaford supermarket. The 91-seat, 4,000-square-foot Panera Bakery Café is expected to be finished in early December, employing 30 full- and part-time employees in two shifts.

Tagged: rutland report, rutland, Ray Bonneville, Disaster Legal Assistance Clinic, Bike Race, ArtHop