***For best viewing experience, scroll all the way up in email and click Read Online***

Friday is the day to be outside. Expect mostly sunny skies, a high near 71 and a light north wind, with no rain at all and a mild evening that is still in the mid 60s at 7. A nor'easter passes by this weekend and we only catch its outer fringes, so Saturday turns cloudy and breezy with a high near 68, north gusts up to 25 mph and a chance of showers after 8 PM. Sunday is the cooler, damper day, with a high near 65 and a 40% chance of showers from the morning on, and rain amounts look light. Track it all week, with patio, swim, and sunset scores, at Burlington Right Now.

Friday gets going early for climbers, with the Vermont Climbing Festival opening its three day run at Farr's Field in Waterbury, clinics at 9 and a bluegrass jam and campfire story hour in the evening. It is also the last day to drop off gear for the Patagonia Gear Swap on College Street before the shopping days Saturday and Sunday. At 2 UVM President Marlene Tromp talks about higher education in 2026 at the EEE lecture series at Faith United Methodist Church in South Burlington. From 5 to 7 the BCA Center opens Barbershop: The Art of Queer Failure, where artist Ace Lehner gives haircuts first come, first served, and each person getting a cut commits to an act of queer world making before it grows out. The Alliance Française's French Social Hour runs 5:30 to 7 at the Hilton Garden Inn, and in Shelburne, Russell Lord's lecture on how Norman Rockwell used photography kicks off Rockwell Day at 5:30. Magic players can try the new set early at the prerelease at Old Town Cafe & Comics in Williston, capped at 30 players.

Friday night stacks up around 7. Cricket Blue releases its new album, Sweet Animal, with an 11 piece orchestra at the First Unitarian church at the top of Church Street, doors at 6:30 and Lily Talmers opening. Novelist Daniel Mason talks about his new book Country People at Shelburne Town Hall at 7, his only Vermont tour stop ($35 with a copy of the book). Juno winner Sophie Buddle plays Vermont Comedy Club at 7, VTIFF screens Barbara Forever, a documentary about experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer, at 7, local comedians perform the scripted sitcom Pet Store live at Off Center at 7, and the Queen City Ghostwalk leaves the Democracy Sculpture at 7 for theater ghosts, smugglers and more. At 7:30 the UVM Lane Series brings Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko with Piers Faccini to the Recital Hall, and Vermont Swings has a live band swing dance with The Mighty Flea Circus at North Star Community Hall, with a free beginner lesson at 7 and music at 7:30. Tophouse, a rock band that married old fashioned bluegrass, has doors at 7:30 at Higher Ground.

Saturday starts with us. BTown Coffee Club [MEETUP] is at Zero Gravity at 10, so come find us. Earlier birds have plenty going on. Old Spokes Home's Fall Fundo rolls out at 8 with four ride lengths from 15 to 100 kilometers, the Burlington Farmers Market runs 9 to 2 at 345 Pine Street, and the Burlington Vintage Market sets up next door at Barge Canal Market. Birders can join a free guided walk at Wheeler Nature Park at 9 during peak fall migration, and the Friendly Tabletop Gamers hold a Board Game Brunch [MEETUP] at Old Town Cafe & Comics in Williston from 9 to noon. At 10 the Patagonia Gear Swap opens for shopping through Sunday, the Vermont Anime and Gaming Expo fills Hotel Champlain until 6 with vendors, voice actor guests and a cosplay contest, and a clinic on Dorset Street in South Burlington offers donation ear acupuncture.

Midday belongs to downtown and the markets. Love Burlington's BTV Market brings artists and makers to City Hall Park from 11 to 3 for the last one of the season, and the Ethan Allen Homestead has a free Archaeology Discovery Day from 11 to 2 with a real dig and reenactors in the Allen House. The Walk to Defeat ALS steps off from Oakledge at 11:30, Shelburne Museum's Rockwell Day fills the day with artmaking, tours and figure drawing, and Lonesome Possum plays old time tunes at Shelburne Orchards from noon to 2. Bolton Valley's Oktoberfest weekend brings lederhosen and leaf peeping to the base area from noon to 4, Black Flannel's Oktoberfest takes over the Essex Experience green from 2 to 8 with the Inseldudler German Band and free admission, and beginners can meet the hives at Rock Point's honeybee workshop from 2 to 4. At 3, Joy Riders VT rolls out an all ages Roller Disco at the ONE Community Center with every dollar going to Outright Vermont, and Spiral House Collective teaches a free ear acupressure workshop at 241 N. Winooski Ave until 6. Party on the Bricks gets going on the City Hall block of Church Street at 3:30, with Jon McBride's Big Easy on at 4, and volunteers can pitch in at the UVM Hort Farm invasives workday.

Saturday night, Williston's Movie in the Park shows Hoppers at Village Community Park at 7 for free, so bring blankets and chairs. Shelburne Farms leads a full moon forest bathing walk from 7 to 9 ($35), and the Vermont Symphonic Winds play St. Mike's at 7 with Copland's Lincoln Portrait and a new piece by Essex native Holden Friesel. Higher Ground has Vermont duo Dwight + Nicole for a hometown show with doors at 7, then Donna the Buffalo at 8. Dad Guild gathers dads around a fire at Rock Point at 8, Boston's The Sheila Divine hits the Monkey House stage at 8:15, and Standing Stone in Winooski hosts Queeraoke with Lizzie Murderz.

Sunday starts early for runners. The Shelburne Farms 5K goes off at 8, capped at 200 runners, and registration closes tonight at 11:59 with only a handful of spots left. Local Motion's Day Tripper($230) leaves at 8:15 for a guided ride up the Island Line Trail and across the Bike Ferry to South Hero, with lunch at Snow Farm Vineyard, and the Chase Away 5K at Veterans Memorial Park at 9 raises money for canine cancer research. From 10 to 2, the Winooski Farmers Market hosts Youth Vendor Day, with sellers 17 and under, performers and an instrument petting zoo, and Soda Plant Sundays fills the Soda Plant on Pine Street with local artists, vintage, food and free live music. The Forever 38 group hikes Mount Philo [MEETUP] at 11.

From noon, Oktoberfest at Switchback runs until 9 with Inseldudler playing 1 to 3, the Queen City Cut-Ups play the orchard in Shelburne, Bolton's Oktoberfest weekend is back for day two, and the Walk, Hike and Wag group heads to Indian Brook [MEETUP] in Essex at noon. David Karl Roberts plays folk and Americana at Foam at 1, free. At 1:30 the Odd Fellows host their Sunday Meditation Group on North Avenue and Fletcher Free's Queer Reads book club talks about Boulder by Eva Baltasar. At 2, Nulhegan Abenaki Chief Don Stevens talks about capturing Indigenous history through 3D scanning at the Ethan Allen Homestead, and the Sunday Polo Match in Shelburne starts at 3, and you are welcome to set up tailgate style. The Odd Fellows' Crafternoons run 3 to 5, the Alliance Française plays pétanque at Calahan Park from 4 to 6, and a neighbor hosts the Harvest Moon Clothing Swap on Pearl Street from 5 to 8. Close it out with Hana Stretton and Helena Deland, a seated show at Higher Ground with doors at 7, or Suzi Barrett & Friends at Vermont Comedy Club at 7, an improv show that ends with a jam anyone can join.

Scroll down to Events Section for full list of events. Or check my events page.

We’re now seeing 20–30 people at our weekly events! Thanks to everyone helping host events with me. And thanks to those that show up to make it worth it. Be sure to stop by for our weekly Saturday Coffee meetup at Zero Gravity at 10am. It’s a great place to talk about weekend events too, along with news and life updates. So come find things to do this weekend together:

This Coming Week:

Other Upcoming Events:

Heads up, the Fall Potluck we mentioned for this Saturday has been cancelled due to weather!

I put out a redesign of the website that holds all 80+ projects I made for the city, be sure to take an afternoon and check them all out.

And of course, one of my favorites, the ALL DAY FEED.

Why support? Every week, I sort through TONS of local sources: Seven Days events, Front Porch Forum calendar, Facebook events, Hello Burlington, Meetup.com, Eventbrite, Church St Marketplace calendar, Flynn, Higher Ground, Vermont Comedy Club, and then news stations like VTDigger, Seven Days, WCAX, WPTZ, Vermont Public, Community News Service, VT Cynic, The Other Paper, Vermont Business Magazine, Williston Observer, MyChamplainValley, The Charlotte News, to keep you connected. It takes a long time to curate and write about all this local content, so if this lengthy newsletter saves you time, or has introduced you to new experiences in Burlington, then definitely consider chipping in!

About Me

Historic Burlington-Winooski Bridge Posted on Craigslist, for Free

Bridge No. 150, the 359 foot span over the Winooski River that dates to 1928, is now listed on the Vermont Craigslist free stuff page, because federal rules require VTrans to advertise historic bridges for free before tearing them down, and this one is due to be replaced starting next year. The catch is that the new owner has to move it, in pieces since it is too big to haul whole, and build new abutments and piers wherever it lands. The listing stays up for 30 days, and so far the only nibble was one message asking, "Can I move it tomorrow?"

Solar-powered backpacks are helping Vermont scientists track monarch butterflies in real time

Scientists at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies in White River Junction raise monarchs and glue tiny solar powered transmitters to them, each weighing less than a tenth of the butterfly's body weight, that report their location over Bluetooth. The first trackers went out last fall and have already shown that some eastern monarchs winter in Florida and the Caribbean instead of Mexico, and that they spend a surprising amount of time in cities and old industrial sites. You can follow Vermont's butterflies, with names like Ann, Scott and Pam, in real time on the Project Monarch app.

'Justice has been rendered': Jury finds Burlington man guilty in shooting of 3 Palestinian students

A jury in Chittenden Superior Court found Jason Eaton, 51, guilty Monday on three counts of attempted second degree murder for shooting Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad near his North Prospect Street apartment on Nov. 25, 2023, after a little less than two hours of deliberation. His lawyers never denied the shooting and argued he was legally insane, pointing to a recording in which he said he heard voices through his FM radio, while the prosecution's expert testified he was acting out after drinking and smoking marijuana under the stress of a job loss. Awartani remains paralyzed, and his mother, speaking for the families, said she believes the men were targeted because they were Palestinian, though no hate crime charge was brought. No sentencing date is set, and Eaton faces up to life without parole on each count.

More than 3,000 could strike at UVMMC if vote approved

Union members at UVM Medical Center voted Thursday on authorizing a strike, after 18 bargaining sessions and a best and final offer from the hospital Wednesday that the union says includes multiple takebacks from their original contract. Their central demand is minimum staffing levels in every department, and their contracts expired last month. The hospital says it shares the same priorities and wants agreements that live within its financial realities, and the union will know whether the authorization passed next Wednesday at midnight.

Attorney General Under Fire for Charging ICE Protesters

Attorney General Charity Clark is prosecuting 13 people arrested at a July 24 sit-in outside the Williston office park where ICE runs a surveillance center, the first charges since protests there picked up last fall, after State's Attorney Sarah George twice declined to charge demonstrators arrested there. Twelve pleaded not guilty Thursday to misdemeanor unlawful protest, Treasurer Mike Pieciak and Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale want the charges dropped, and Gov. Phil Scott said he applauds the decision. Clark says her personal feelings about ICE cannot stand in the way of the law, a coalition of activist groups has a week of action planned in Williston starting Oct. 4, and the protesters are due back in court in December.

Burlington updates community on housing strategy as city works toward 7,000 new homes by 2050

Hitting 7,000 new homes by 2050 means about 280 a year, and over the last decade Burlington has averaged 145. About 1,100 homes are now in the development pipeline, more than 250 of them expected to be affordable, and the Mulvaney-Stanak administration wants to double the affordable units required under the city's inclusionary zoning rules over the next decade, with proposed changes coming later this year.

Poll shows Gov. Phil Scott trailing Democrat Amanda Janoo

The UNH Survey Center's Green Mountain State Poll has Janoo at 49% and Scott at 43%, a real departure for a five term incumbent who has won by wide margins on the strength of Democratic support, and his approval rating has slid from 67% at the end of the pandemic to 47%. Former Lt. Gov. Molly Gray leads incumbent Republican John Rodgers 54% to 40%, and Becca Balint leads Gerald Malloy 66% to 30% for the U.S. House. Scott's campaign says the sample has too many Democrats in it, and the survey of 835 people ran Sept. 17 to 21 with a 3.3 point margin of error.

Cold September nights have Vermont's foliage heating up

Cold nights have the high elevations already bright, with moderate color across the Green Mountains and the Northeast Kingdom, and the best leaves right now on the high peaks in southern and central Vermont and up in Essex County. Lower elevations are just starting to turn, and moderate color should break out across them by Tuesday everywhere except the Champlain and Connecticut River valleys.

Burlington Orders Euthanasia for Former Prosecutor's Problem Dog

Burlington's Animal Control Committee ordered Moose put down Monday after a long record of attacks, most recently in April when he lunged at defense lawyer Betsy Hibbitts outside the St. Albans courthouse and tore her upper lip. His owner, former Franklin County deputy state's attorney Diane Wheeler, resigned after 30 years and told the panel it had no jurisdiction because she had moved out of Burlington, but the committee found she and the dog were seen in the city as recently as this month. In 2025 the committee had ordered her to hand custody to her sister and keep Moose out of the New North End, and she later claimed neighbors were seeing "Moose-like statues."

For laid off St Albans Creamery workers, health insurance benefits run out next week

Teamsters Local 597 asked the Vermont District Court on Tuesday to make Dairy Farmers of America keep paying health insurance for workers laid off when the St. Albans Creamery closed Aug. 17, while the union's claim that the closure was illegal retaliation for last year's strike waits on arbitration. DFA covered 85% of premiums and calls the filing without merit, and the two sides cannot agree on an arbitration date before early next year.

CVU takes win at first football game played on Burlington High's new field

Burlington High christened its new football field last Friday after four years of classes in the old downtown mall, and CVU spoiled the party with a 20-6 win over the SeaWolves, the combined Burlington and South Burlington team. Junior Luca D'Agostino, starting at quarterback while senior D'Marcus Riggs recovers from a separated shoulder, ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Alex Jovell added an interception and two field goals. The game stopped for at least 10 minutes while the parking lot was searched for someone shining a laser pointer onto the field, and CVU hosts undefeated St. Johnsbury Academy Saturday at 1.

Vermont Conversation: 'There was some justice.' Hisham Awartani on enduring and speaking out for Palestinian lives

Awartani, now 23 and paralyzed from the chest down, told David Goodman he is grateful for his care at UVM Medical Center and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and for the support he got in Vermont, and that the attention to his case felt dissonant next to the death and destruction in Palestine. He graduated with honors from Brown in May with a degree in archaeology and math, and plans to spend a year back in the West Bank before graduate school. He says he wants to use the voice he has been given to amplify people who have been silenced.

Baaaaad influence: Sheep on the lam wander Burlington High School grounds Some sheep escaped from the Episcopal Diocese down the street on Monday and took a field trip across the grounds of the new Burlington High School, until diocese staff rounded them up and took them home.

Construction on new South End housing slated for 2027 The first phase of SECORD, the South End redevelopment on the land between Lakeside Avenue and Sears Lane, is approved to start construction in 2027 with more than 1,000 homes, 20% of them affordable. The mayor says another 200 to 300 units could go on the city's three acre parcel off Sears Lane, sized for families and for seniors looking to downsize.

Burlington community raises $40,000 for child education center Families and the wider Burlington community raised $40,000 for the 40th anniversary of Robin's Nest Children's Center, and the nonprofit early childhood center says it goes to educator training, playground improvements and new flooring.

Winooski mosque's plan to expand into Burlington collapses, for now A Winooski mosque has run out of time to buy two Burlington buildings after months of collecting donations and negotiating with the banks and sellers.

Flights at BTV slowly returning to normal after massive northeast telecom failure Monday's FAA communications failure in Philadelphia, where the primary line went down and a construction crew then cut the backup fiber line, reached Burlington too, with an American Airlines flight to and from Philadelphia canceled Tuesday afternoon and a Charlotte flight delayed.

Shelburne wastewater project brings detours, traffic jams and a touch of self-deprecating humor Bay Road is closed for Shelburne's wastewater plant upgrade, which sends its traffic onto Harbor Road and backs it up at rush hour, and residents have answered with signs like "Shelburne strong. Shelburne slow (for now)." The road should reopen in a few weeks, and the final phase resumes in the spring.

How good of a reader are you? Think you’re keeping up with Burlington news? It's time to prove it. Every Monday and Friday, we're dropping a quick 5-question quiz covering the local news you just finished reading. You've got just 60 seconds to answer them all. No looking back allowed. Use the same unique name each time you play so everyone can track your stats in our Hall of Fame, where you'll compete for titles like Sharpshooter (highest accuracy), Speed Demon (fastest average time), and Streak Leader (most consistent player). Make your name (or cool nickname) known to Btown!

Ready to play? Click the link below, enter your name, and show us what you've got. Btown Brief Quiz

Field hockey beat Merrimack 6-0 on Tuesday at Moulton Winder Field for its third straight win, moving to 6-1. Alicia Battistelli had her first career hat trick, Consu de Castro scored twice and Addie DelOrefice added a goal and two assists, and Merrimack never managed a shot on goal against Vermont's 12. The Cats play at Dartmouth on Sunday at 1.

No. 23 men's soccer is back at Virtue Field on Saturday at 6 against No. 25 Bryant to open America East play, with both teams 5-1-2 and coming off their first loss of the season. Vermont is 8-0 all time against Bryant, including the last two America East championship matches, and Niklas Herceg is tied for the national lead with five shutouts. It streams on ESPN+.

Women's soccer closes its nonconference schedule at UConn tonight at 7, with Eleni Stowell having scored in four straight matches. Cross country splits up this weekend, with one group at the Gans Creek Classic in Missouri on Friday and another at the Equality Invitational at St. Michael's in Colchester on Saturday, men at 10 and women at 11.

Upcoming Home Games

This is the curated cut. The full calendar, 25 sources refreshed twice a day, lives at Burlington events.

General Events

Performances

Live Music/DJ

General Events

Performances

Live Music/DJ

General Events

Performances

Live Music/DJ

The full list of things to do around town, always waiting for you when you need a plan: Things To Do in Burlington

Every restaurant and bar in town, with their real hours, so you can see what's actually open right now: Open Right Now

Every happy hour, daily special and cheap-night I've gathered so far: Food & Drink Deals

And if you'd rather just have one link for all of it: the guide, the arcade, the whole lot hub.btownbrief.com

Standing on Church Street and hungry? Small Bites folds every menu in the walkable core into one filterable list.

That is the weekend. Soak up Friday while it is sunny, keep a jacket handy for a breezy Saturday, and tuck an umbrella in the bag for Sunday. If the Btown Brief makes your week a little easier, you can support it at ko-fi or on Venmo (@btownbrief), and it genuinely helps keep this thing running. Got a tip, a favorite haunt, or an event we should have on our radar? Send it our way, we are always listening.

See you later, Burlington.

If you like what I do, help support the newsletter by buying me a coffee using the link below. Or, right to our Venmo @btownbrief. Or, buy an advertising spot for your business.

Missed an edition? Every Brief ever written is searchable.