BURKE AREA EVENTS

Farmers' Markets, the Strawberry Festival, VT Children's Theater performances, The Annual Burke Fall Festival, WinterBike.... events of all sorts happen in and around Burke. Moonlit snowshoe treks, live music performances, seasonal parades, craft fairs, Open Studios weekend, snowmobile drag races...it's all here! To keep up to date on local happenings and special deals, sign up for the monthly Burke enewsletter.

From October - March, enjoy ice skating at Chester Arena - check their website for Public Skate times and other events.

The Catamount Arts Center in St. Johnsbury also features a range of events every week including independent film showings, classic films, theater, opera performances, live music as well as classes and workshops for all ages. Check out their Events Calendar to see what's going on.

For event listings in other Northeast Kingdom towns, visit www.nekchamber.com.

2050: Vermonters Take a Swipe at the Future Book Launch at the Athenaeum

November 15, 2025 | 5:00 PM

Join us in the Art Gallery at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum for the celebratory book launch of 2050: Vermonters Take a Swipe at the Future, essays collected by Bill Mares, edited by Jane Smith, illustrated by Don Hooper, and published by Rootstock Publishing. This collection of humorous, serious, and dystopian essays and stories features contributions from thirty-seven Vermonters. Reading from their essays at the Athenaeum will be Mark Breen, Jane Kitchel, Scudder Parker, Eric Duncan, Brett Stanciu, Ben Doyle. Green Mountain Books will be selling copies and essay authors will be signing. A reception with refreshments will follow the reading. The event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

What will Vermont be like in 25 years? Vermonters – from teachers to maple syrup producers, meteorologists to former legislators —take a half-serious, half-humorous approach to imagining life in Vermont in twenty-five years. Some are gloriously optimistic; some are disturbingly dark. What shines through is the writers’ love for Vermont. The state is full of idealistic people with great ideas, and one of the best features of our little state is that aspirations can often become reality. Read closely as even the funny submissions put forth some serious predictions – and solutions – to the challenges Vermont is facing. 2050: Vermonters Take a Swipe at the Future is the final literary project of Bill Mares, who died in 2024.

“As this marvelous book makes clear…that sense of underlying community will bring us through.”

—Bill McKibben, author and climate activist

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Samantha A. Alger, Emily Bernard, Al Boright, Mark Breen, Kevin Chu, Steve Conant, Ben Doyle, Eric Duncan, Tom Evslin, Val Gardner, Allen Gilbert, Midhat Hadzik, Joseph F. Hagan Jr., Adam Hall, Mairead Harris, Allison Hooper, Stephen Kiernan, Jen Kimmich, Jane Kitchell, Jim Lengel, Astrid Longstreth, Neale F. Lunderville, Emma Marvin, Christy Mitchell, Melinda Moulton, Scudder Parker, Jordan Posner, Fred Schmidt, Bill Schubart, Angela Shambaugh, Brian Shupe, Gus Speth, Toussaint St. Negritude, Brett Ann Stanciu, Bob Stannard, Leath Tonino, and Jim Welch.

Location: St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 1171 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT

Website: https://www.stjathenaeum.org