Braucht family leads effort for new playground at Cavendish Town Office

By Lorien Strange
©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Between the removal of Greven Field’s beloved baseball backstop and debates about the town’s recreation director position, fun and games have been a serious matter in this year’s Cavendish Select Board meetings.

But things took a lighter tone on Monday night.

Earlier this year, Cavendish 6th grader Olivia Braucht participated in a civics competition challenging her to get involved in her local government. She responded by presenting ideas to the Cavendish Streetscapes Committee about improving the playground behind the Cavendish Town Office.

She won third place in the competition, but the plans have not stopped there. The Braucht family is leading a fundraising effort to renovate the playground not just for kids but for adults, too. If they are able to raise enough money, the hope is to install exercise equipment, making the playground into a multigenerational recreation space.

They started talking to the Select Board about their ideas at last month’s meeting. On Monday, they came seeking approval to deposit money to be raised into the town’s existing playground fund.

There was a bit of confusion over the wording of their request. Initially, they’d asked for the use of the town’s 501(c)(3) status for fundraising — which the town, as a government entity, does not have.

The intent of their request was to set up a process so that the Town of Cavendish would be directly collecting the funds rather than the Braucht family. “We don’t want anyone to feel like anyone in particular has ownership of the playground — it’s public property, part of the town,” said Cheryl Braucht, Olivia’s mother.

Resident Margo Caulfield added that if the town would be paying for the maintenance of the playground and recreation space, the town should be handling the money directly.

With some back and forth between the audience and the Select Board, they eventually concluded the Brauchtes were seeking to be able to deposit donations directly into the town’s playground fund. “We want this process to be as transparent and public-facing as possible,” Eddy Braucht added.  He then shared a slideshow with AI-generated mock-ups for potential playground designs, emphasizing that any final designs and plans would have to be approved by the Select Board.

The board eventually made two motions about plans for the playground.

With the approval from the town treasurer, the first motion will allow funds to be deposited into the playground fund to  develop and maintain the new space. The second motion provided for the fundraising process to be managed by the town treasurer with oversight from Town Manager Richard Chambers.

Anyone interested in being involved in the effort can reach out to cavendishtownpark@gmail.com.

Greven Field activities

Margo Caulfield of the Cavendish Historical Society sought permission to use Greven Field for an event. That may sound a bit strange, given that the floodplain has been largely unusable since the floods of 2023 other than for clean-up events.

But this would actually highlight Greven Field’s role as a floodplain. Featuring walk-throughs, a medicinal plant talk, and flood management information, the event will kick off Stormwater Awareness Week — a collaboration between the Historical Society, Black River Valley Resources group, Dartmouth College, and the Black River Action Team.

The Select Board approved the use of the field for Sunday, Sept. 20.

“But there’s a Part B to my request,” Caulfield added. For the last year, students from Dartmouth have assisted in keeping Cavendish culverts clear of debris. But the coursework that brought them to Cavendish is no longer being offered.

To raise awareness for continuing efforts to clean the culverts, Caulfield asked the Select Board to designate the last Saturday in September as Culvert Care Day. They obliged, so Cavendish’s first Culvert Care Day will be Saturday, Sept. 26.

Closed roads, reappraisals and dogs

Mill Street is closed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day this week  for Green Mountain Railroad to work on its trestle. It’s a step toward more thorough repairs, Town Manager Chambers says, but a little worrying in the meantime.

Green Mountain Railroad will be shoring up the abutments flanking the road, adding about 7 inches to either side. That will make the space underneath the track skinnier —and more likely the wings of the town plows will hit it going through.

“I told them that I’d filed a complaint with VTRANS,” Chambers said adding that despite this the project was going through. “I told them we’re going to end up tearing it and hitting it. They said, ‘Well, when you do, call us and we’ll put it back.’ ”

Mill Street will remain open to emergency vehicles throughout construction.

Cavendish Gulf Road will also be closed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, for a VTRANS preliminary study.

Last week, Cavendish began reappraising property values for the 2027 Grand List. Chambers said that the town will send out postcards letting people know when appraisers might be in their area.

If an appraiser visits a property while the owners are away, they’ll leave a note on the door. After a property is assessed, homeowners will get a link and a code unique to their property so they can see an update on their assessment. The update won’t be available until at least two weeks after the initial assessment. More information and FAQs are on the town website.

During public comment, Animal Control Officer Claudine LeFevre said she was working on dog issues in Proctorsville, particularly that there had been an increase in complaints about pit bulls and unlicensed pit bulls. She said that when she was younger she was attacked by a pit bull.  She said she’s been going door-to-door and discovered “a lack of understanding of citizens’ responsibility to get dog licenses — to protect the dogs, first and foremost, and also the community.”

“I want to make sure that they’re protected,” LeFevre told the Telegraph, “because it’s not about punishing people, it’s about making sure they’re taking care of the animals.”

The Select Board also appointed Proctorsville Fire Chief Robert C. Glidden as Cavendish’s Fire Warden. He nominated Chris Marks as Deputy Warden.

The Cavendish Select Board’s regular meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month, at the Town Office, 37 High St.