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

If you like your September crisp, today is your day. Monday is mostly sunny with a high near 68, a northwest breeze in the teens, and a cool night down around 47, so grab a layer for anything after dark. Tuesday is partly sunny and climbs to about 71, with clouds building in the afternoon and a few showers possible late at night. Wednesday is the warm one, mid to upper 70s, and any morning showers are gone by breakfast. Thursday is the day to plan around, mostly cloudy with showers likely from the afternoon into the evening and a high near 75, before Friday clears out and settles in the low 70s. Track it all week, with patio, swim, and sunset scores, at Burlington Right Now.

Monday is quieter than the rest of the week, which makes it a good night to try something small. Readers can drop into Shakespeare Out Loud in the Local History Room at Fletcher Free from 4 to 5:30, where a group reads Romeo and Juliet aloud, take a part or just listen. Burlington Parks needs hands for a phragmites pull at North Beach from 3 to 6, drop in anytime, bring work gloves and closed toe shoes. Language lovers have Spanish Chat Mondays at Three Needs from 7 to 8, all levels welcome. If you would rather throw things, pickup dodgeball runs at the Miller Center from 7 to 8:15, no team required, $5 a game. The quieter crowd can pick between the Burlington Dharma Collective's Monday Night Live at Outright Vermont from 7 to 8:30, a talk, a meditation and a group discussion, free with donations accepted, or a guided meditation class [MEETUP] with teacher Laura McPeake at the Burlington Friends Meeting House from 6:30 to 8, $10. Makers can join the Collage Collective at Expressive Arts Burlington on Flynn Ave from 6:30 to 9, and the Anime Group meets at Pathways Vermont's Morgan's Place from 6 to 8. Up in Colchester, the Historical Society hosts History of Colchester Schools at 828 Main Street from 7 to 8:30, a photo talk on the town's early schoolhouses, free, use the back porch entrance.

Tuesday is the biggest show of the week. Marcus King Band ($63-109.25) plays the Flynn Main Stage at 8, King reunited with his longtime live band for the first time since 2018 with the new album Darling Blue on the way, and tickets are down to limited availability. Before that, the VSO's Andrew Crust and Matt LaRocca host Scheherazade on the Rocks at the Venetian Soda Lounge from 7 to 8, a happy hour walk through the stories behind the orchestra's season opener, sliding scale tickets with snacks included and a cash bar, only 50 spots. Dinner has a cause, since American Flatbread's Benefit Bake for the Intervale Center runs from 4 to 10 with part of the proceeds from every flatbread going to the Intervale. On the waterfront, Montreal psych band Elephant Stone with Carinae ($18 adv) plays Foam, doors at 7:30 and show at 8, and Deadheads have Dead Is Alive with Dobbs' Dead ($15) at Einstein's at 8. Artists can walk into the Vermont Figure Drawing Collective at Karma Bird House from 6 to 8, $20 cash, live models. French speakers meet for Pause-Café Mardi at Burlington Bay from 5 to 7, and anyone can sit with Community Meditation at the Unitarian Universalist Society at 152 Pearl from 5:15 to 6, free with donations accepted. Trivia people can head to Colchester for the Forever 38 group's trivia night at Burger Bar [MEETUP] from 7 to 9. Parents with kids can hit Craftytown at the South Burlington Public Library from 3 to 4.

Wednesday, so early birds can catch the South District Mayor Meetup with Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak at Zero Gravity from 8 to 9 AM, any district welcome, or roll through Walk and Bike to Work Day at Jake's ONE Market from 7:30 to 9 AM, where Local Motion has free goodies and discounts on breakfast and coffee. And of course we have Pick-up Basketball [MEETUP] runs at Pomeroy Park at 5:30, outdoors, competitive. Winooski owns the evening with Winooski Pride at Rotary Park from 5 to 8, free, with music and food, bound to be a good time! A short walk away Michael Perry plays acoustic originals and covers at 4 Quarters from 7 to 9, free. The Fleming Museum throws its Fall Kickoff Party from 5 to 7, also free, and Vermont Humanities hosts a free afternoon discussion on Charity, Sylvia and the VSO with composer Clarice Assad at the UVM Recital Hall from 2 to 4, registration required. Downtown, passeggiata fills Church Street with the Italian evening stroll at 6 and the All-Inclusive Dyke-Tacular takes over Doma Bar on Pine Street from 5 to 10. Deaf Friendly Trivia Night at Citizen Cider runs from 6:30 to 8:30 with an ASL interpreter, and Generator's free Hobby to Business Workshop goes from 6 to 8, preregister. Comedy fans get $5 Improv Night at Vermont Comedy Club at 7, guest team Technical Difficulties, and jazz fans get free Jazz Night with Ray Vega at Hotel Vermont at 8:30. Two touring shows are worth the ticket, folk songwriter John Craigie with Humbird ($30-35) in the Higher Ground Ballroom, doors at 7 and show at 8, running low on tickets, and harpist Mikaela Davis with Johanna Samuels ($20 adv) at Foam at 7:30. Runners can join the 5K run from Zero Gravity [MEETUP] at 5:30 with a hang at the taproom after, and volunteers can spend the afternoon tending Rock Point starting at 3:30, gardening and trail work, pre-register.

Thursday, we have our own Btown Bites at Bluebird Barbecue [MEETUP] is our 21 to 35 dinner group, meeting at the restaurant on Riverside Ave at 6. Have a great waitlist, so definitely plan on doing more of these. Dog people should not miss the last Bark and Brew of the season ($20) at the Humane Society of Chittenden County from 5:30 to 7:30, two drinks included, with Foam, Weird Window and Black Flannel pouring, Le Bon Gout on food, and dogs welcome but not required. The shelter is also waiving adoption fees for every animal 6 months and older from Tuesday through the 22nd. South Burlington's Park Hop Brews lands at The Overlook at Underwood Park from 5:30 to 7:30 with Red Hot Juba, food vendors, and a free paint and sip. Music runs all night, with the free Hot Pickin' Party bluegrass trio at Foam at 7, Brooklyn indie rockers Gooseberry ($15-20) at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge with Girls Night, doors at 7, the Summer Concert Series on the patio at Folino's in Williston at 6, and Vinyl Thursdays at Hotel Vermont at 6. The Burlington Baroque Festival opens its third year at College Street Congregational Church at 7:30 with the period orchestra L'Harmonie des saisons and Boston's Blue Heron, $40 to 80, $10 for students. Film people can see 'The Passion of Joan of Arc' ($6-12) at the Film House at Main Street Landing at 7, the 1928 silent with a live improvised score from Michael Chorney's Freeway Clyde. Readers can meet author Libby Cataldi at Phoenix Books from 6:30 to 7:30 for her Italian American memoir, and thinkers can catch Dr. Marc Watkins on human agency in the age of AI at Saint Michael's McCarthy Arts Center at 7, with a Q&A after. Homebuyers get straight answers at the Seven Days House Party at Wilder Wines at 6, a free workshop with a lender, a Realtor and a lawyer taking questions, register ahead. Trivia is at Butter Bar with Don Mahogany at 7, LGBTQ+ folks have Out in the 802's happy hour at Lincoln's [MEETUP] from 5 to 7, the speakeasy off Church Street near Red Square, and Vermont Ultimate's fall rec league kicks off at Landry Park in Winooski from 7 to 9, $50 for the season or $40 for new players. Early risers can join the BTV Clean Up Crew at the top of Church Street from 7:30 to 10 AM, bring your own gloves. And Sunset Watchers Club might pop up somewhere at sunset this week, they announce the spot a day or two ahead on Instagram.

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:

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

‘Pretty electric’: Hundreds fill downtown Burlington for pride parade

Hundreds filled Church Street on Sunday for Burlington's annual Pride parade, the first one run by a new coalition after the Pride Center of Vermont stepped away from organizing the September event. Nonprofits, businesses, college groups, elected officials and candidates all marched, Saint Michael's students among them, and the Flynn carried giant floating sea creatures above the crowd, which director Jay Wahl compared to protecting a fragile reef. The Vermont Human Rights Commission was there too, reminding folks that state law still protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Switchback Brewing fully shifts non-alcoholic beer production to Vermont just in time

Switchback says its non-alcoholic beer is now brewed entirely in Burlington, making it the only in-house NA producer in Vermont, and the timing was tight. The company had been making Switchback N.A. with a Canadian partner because the dealcoholization technology was only available there, and its last contract load crossed the border just ahead of a September 29 ban on importing Canadian made NA beer. That final shipment still got hit with the new 50% tariff, which founder Bill Cherry says works out to $10,000 less the employee owned brewery can put back into the community this year.

Jury selected for Jason Eaton trial, with opening arguments due Monday

Opening statements are today in the trial of Jason Eaton, 51, charged with 3 counts of attempted second degree murder in the November 2023 shooting of Palestinian students Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad, who were visiting Burlington over Thanksgiving. Twelve jurors and 4 alternates were seated Thursday after nearly a full day of questions, much of it on whether jurors could return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, and a broken sprinkler head set off a fire alarm that emptied the courthouse for about 45 minutes right after the panel was picked. The trial is expected to run a week, prosecutors have not charged a hate crime, and Awartani remains paralyzed.

Changes at Burlington’s City Hall Park Aimed at Disrupting Bad Behavior

The city's restarted hot spot program, now led by Fletcher Free Library director Mary Danko, is bringing a mobile 360 degree security camera, ambient music programmed by Burlington City Arts, two portable toilets, blocked off parking spots on College Street and coordinated sidewalk cleanups to City Hall Park. The camera is a LiveView unit without the AI features of the Flock cameras, the music idea comes from the Wild Center in the Adirondacks and Brian Eno's airport compositions, and Danko says the point is a calmer park, not pushing people out. Police arrested 11 people there over the past month on low level drug charges, and the council takes up the Burlington Forward resolution again tonight.

Burlington merchants feel the pinch as tax revenue stalls

Burlington's meals tax revenue has been flat for six years and is down almost 6% from 2023 to 2025, while South Burlington is up 1.8% and Williston is up 15%. Economist Art Woolf and restaurant accountant Leo O'Reilly both point to lost midweek lunch and evening traffic, with O'Reilly saying a recent summer stretch with no downtown programming produced sales that looked like November. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak calls the city's event calendar a deliberate strategy to counter that, and diners will keep paying the 2.5% gross receipts tax, since the council made the temporary increase permanent to fill the budget gap.

Kismayo Kitchen Closes in BTV; Property Gets FEMA Buyout

The Somali American restaurant at 505 Riverside Avenue has closed, and the little red building is headed for demolition, most likely next year, under a FEMA hazard mitigation buyout after a geotechnical assessment found the slope behind it unstable, with the lot becoming green space. Founder Ahmed Omar died unexpectedly in 2023 at 36, his widow Anisa Mohamed reopened the restaurant three months later, and a 2026 sale to another couple was never finalized, so she still owns the business. She now lives in Minnesota, has new operators lined up, and says they are looking for a new Burlington space to keep her husband's name on a door.

Vermonters will vote on constitutional amendment enshrining labor protections in November

Proposal 3 goes to voters on November 3 alongside Proposal 4, and it would write the right to organize and bargain collectively into the state constitution, protect union shop agreements, and make it hard for a future Legislature to roll labor protections back. Only Illinois has gone as far on the right to work question, and the measure cleared both chambers twice with no senator voting against it last year, backed by AFL-CIO president Larry Moquin and Rep. Conor Casey's one man Yes on 3 campaign. Opponents at the Right for Vermont Foundation and 15 House Republicans argue it takes away a worker's choice about joining or funding a union.

Retired goats find new employment as therapy animals

Lauren Gitlin has retired the 53 goat milking herd at Villa Villekulla Farm in Barnard and is turning the place into a nonprofit sanctuary offering animal assisted therapy, after years of finding it harder to justify commercial production for animals she had bonded with. She came to Vermont from Brooklyn in 2014 for the cheese, started the dairy in Tunbridge in 2019 with three pregnant goats from Lazy Lady Farm, and now hopes to partner with a licensed mental health provider, with Moonrise Therapeutics near Woodstock as a model. The sanctuary is not open to the public yet and runs on donations, but a volunteer and a former intern both told the paper the goats already do the job.

Absent State Action, Vermont Towns Move to Block Data Centers

Morristown has become the third Vermont community to block data centers, passing a two year moratorium on any high impact use drawing more than 10 megawatts, 57,600 gallons of water a day, 10 acres of pavement or 70 decibels of noise, after Royalton's five year ban and South Burlington's August zoning change barring centers over 20,000 square feet. The towns are acting because Gov. Scott vetoed H.727, the statewide regulation bill, in May, calling Act 250 and the Public Utility Commission regulation enough and the odds of a Vermont data center slim to none. VPIRG and Democratic challenger Amanda Janoo say leaving selectboards to face tech firms alone is nonsense, and Houston based PowerTransitions has floated a data center among the possible uses for the closed Vermont Yankee site in Vernon.

What qualifies as a seasonal home in Vermont? New tax raises questions

Vermont has nearly 50,000 homes counted as seasonally vacant, 14% of the housing stock, and this year's education law raises taxes on the ones fit for year round living that are not the owner's primary residence, starting in 2030. Housing commissioner Alex Farrell says seasonal homes are actually a smaller share of the stock than they were in 1990 and the real change is that the state stopped building. Camps without winter water, sewer or insulation stay in the seasonal category and are not the target.

Venetian Soda Lounge in Burlington’s Soda Plant Is for Sale

Justin Bunnell moved to Orlando in late August for his wife's job and is selling both the Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge and the Venetian Beverages brand, with the lounge for sale by word of mouth and staying open in the meantime. The brand started in the same Soda Plant building in 1917 with his great great grandfather's ginger ale, Bunnell revived it in 2017 and opened the lounge in 2022, and he says every performer is paid, with the business putting $30,000 to $50,000 a year into its jazz, blues, folk, trivia and karaoke calendar.

Vermont Almanac, an annual compendium of Vermont life, is shutting down

After six editions, the Vermont Almanac is done, its founders announcing in a newsletter that they will not open preorders for a seventh. Dave Mance, Virginia Barlow, Amy Peberdy and Patrick White, all Northern Woodlands alumni, started it on a $15,000 family loan, sold roughly 30,000 to 40,000 books and worked with hundreds of Vermont contributors on essays, rural how tos and natural history, and Mance says it is simply hard to publish a book in the 21st century when he also has to make maple syrup. The almanac has put out a call for anyone interested in carrying it on, and back editions stay on the website.

South Burlington bans public drinking, adds police caseworker, among new public safety measures — The South Burlington City Council approved ordinances banning public alcohol use, standing on traffic islands, certain e-motos on rec paths and sidewalks, and dumping drug paraphernalia near parks and schools, and it added a Howard Center caseworker to the police department. Councilors took no action on Burlington's proposed 100 bed shelter on Williston Road, saying they support the idea but want the right size and place.

Lt. Gov. John Rodgers settles case with state cannabis regulators — Rodgers agreed to a $2,500 fine after a routine inspection found roughly 100 seedlings growing in a greenhouse on land his Glover cannabis business had not licensed with the Cannabis Control Board. He says his son, a partner in the business, failed to file the notice and that the buck stops with him, and he faces former Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in November.

New England students get tuition break enrolling at UVM in 2027 — Students from the other five New England states who enroll at UVM in 2027 in one of 31 select majors, nearly a third of the catalog, get a discount of more than 35%, which UVM says is over $18,000 a year. UVM also expanded UVM Promise to cover tuition and fees for Vermont families earning up to $125,000 and dropped its application fee.

Vermont Public's 10 favorite fall foliage drives — Vermont Public has refreshed its staff picks for foliage drives, ten routes with mileage, Google Maps links and stops, from the 59 mile Fairfax and Fairfield loop up our way to the Molly Stark Byway and the Northeast Kingdom. It opens with the etiquette reminder that some towns have had to close roads to leaf peepers, so do not block traffic for a photo.

Burton Snowboards tabs Denny Bruce, who once was a regional brand manager, to be its CEO — Burton named Denny Bruce its new CEO as the company nears its 50th anniversary. Bruce was Burton's Mid-Atlantic brand manager from 2003 to 2005 before leadership stops at Vans, Skullcandy, Traeger and Dickies, and he takes over from Donna Carpenter, who had been serving on an interim basis.

Hannaford to pay out nearly $9 million in lawsuit over unpaid overtime — Hannaford reached a nearly $9 million settlement in a class action brought by a Maine bakery manager who says salaried department managers and assistant managers across New England were denied overtime. More than a thousand current and former employees get back wages, about 450 who opted in get more, and Hannaford maintains its classifications were always compliant.

Traffic Alert: Colchester’s new diverging diamond pattern set to open — The new pattern at I-89 Exit 16 in Colchester, Vermont's first diverging diamond, is set to open overnight Wednesday into Thursday, weather permitting, as VTrans crews finish the Route 2 and Route 7 intersections nearby. The design shifts cars to the left side of the road so drivers can turn onto the interstate without crossing oncoming traffic, then shifts them back.

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 put on a show for Salute to Service Day. Vermont beat LIU 9-0 on Friday afternoon at Moulton Winder Field, tying the program record for goals in a game, with six different Catamounts scoring. Jaime Lewis had her first career hat trick and led the team with six points, Isi McMahon added a goal and a career high three assists, Addie DelOrefice had her first multi goal game, and Gloria Allen picked up her first collegiate points with a goal and an assist. Vermont put 25 shots on goal to LIU's one, and Coach Kate Pfeifer said the first responders on the sideline inspired the team on a hard day to play. The Cats are 4-1 and next visit Fairfield on Sunday at noon.

Tuesday is the night to watch. Women's soccer hosts Adelphi at 4 at Virtue Field on ESPN+, and unbeaten men's soccer, sitting at 4-0-2, visits No. 15 Hofstra at 7 in Hempstead with the match on MSG. Women's ice hockey opens the year Saturday at Gutterson with a 3 PM exhibition against Concordia.

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

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

Maple Scramble hands you sixteen tiles and one connected crossword against the clock.

That's the week. Enjoy the crisp air today, get outside Wednesday while it is warm, and keep a rain jacket handy Thursday. 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.

Missed an edition? Every Brief ever written is searchable.