All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Election Day proves busy for Chester voters; preferences reflect most of state
By the time the 2nd floor polling place doors opened at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, a line of patient Chester voters snaked down the stairs, out the front door of Town Hall and into a chilly but sunny day that continued to draw a steady stream of voters to cast their ballots. While the […]
Family center volunteers open new pantry doors, thrift shop to open Nov. 20
UPDATE: The Thrift Shop will open officially at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 20. After weeks of hard work by eager volunteers from all over the area, the Chester-Andover Family Center has finally opened the doors to customers of its food pantry and moved most of its thrift shop goods into its new site at 908 […]
Bridge building
Construction of the new Bartonsville Covered Bridge in Rockingham is moving right along, thanks to Cold River Bridges of Walpole, NH, the same company that rebuilt Chester’s two bridges along Main Street last summer. The latticework in “Town lattice truss” style bridge, named for its developer Ithiel Town, is being built from West Coast Douglas […]
Dollar General’s Act 250 hearing set, public invited to seek ‘party status’
After five months of quiet, Zaremba Group LLC – the developer of a proposed 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Main Street across from the Country Girl Diner – has filed an application for the Act 250 permit (project No. 2S0699-3) it needs to proceed with its plans. The District 2 Environmental Commission, headquartered in Springfield, […]
Chester to seek Village Center Designation
By Cynthia Prairie Leanne Tingay, coordinator of the Vermont Downtown Program, came before the Chester Select Board on Wednesday Oct. 3 to urge the board to get behind efforts within the town to achieve a state Village Center Designation. And from the enthusiasm that the board expressed following her presentation, it appears that the town […]
Chester is Prettiest Painted Place in Vermont; makes Top 60 in nationals
Chester has been named among the Top 60 finalists of the Prettiest Painted Places competition, held by the Paint Quality Institute, and the only finalist from Vermont, making it the Prettiest Painted Place in the state. Two other Vermont towns applied: Bellows Falls and Stowe. The PQI is a 23-year-old organization aimed at educating consumers, […]
Fire destroys Brooks-Lackie house, but memories remain
Photos by Bill Revill, Lew Watters and Kaitlin O’Shea. Story follows. By Cynthia Prairie An uninhabited house in the Stone Village burns down. Although few residents have ever seen the inside of it, many are moved to grief. Within minutes of posting photographs of the smoking ruins of the Brooks-Lackie House – or Kelley’s Tavern […]
Changes in store for Lisai’s Chester Market
With Photo Gallery and Story Below By Cynthia Prairie I t’s obvious. Just look at the grocery carts. Most of the full-sized, difficult-to-turn models have been replaced by shiny sub-compact, double-decker ones that save energy as customers easily maneuver them through the aisles at Lisai’s. And there has been and will be more. Change that is. […]
Sun shines on 38th Fall Festival on the Green
A persistent high fog finally broke after noon on Saturday, Sept. 22, to bring out the crowds to the Chester Rotary’s Fall Festival on the Green. It remained a beautiful weekend almost up to the end, when clouds rolled in to cast a similar chill Sunday afternoon that had dampened Saturday morning. Within the two […]
Whiting Library, biomass plant dominate Select Board meeting
By Karen Zuppinger Whiting Library chairman Bruce Parks and several members of the Library Board of Trustees voiced their concerns during the Select Board meeting of Wednesday, Sept. 19, about a memorandum of understanding that the Select Board wants the trustees to sign. The main issue stems from the most recent outside audit that called […]
SOCCER PREVIEW: For Green Mountain soccer, it’s a numbers game for varsity squads
By Greg Hart Soccer is generally not a game of numbers, certainly not the way that sports like baseball and football are driven by statistics to quantify and evaluate performance of teams and individual players. Typically the only numbers that matter in soccer are goals scored, final score and a team’s won-loss record. However at […]
An Old Home Day photo gallery
After a year’s absence, Chester Old Home Day and Fireworks 2012 kicked off Saturday afternoon Sept. 1 under bright skies and cheery faces. The event, put on with the help of the Chester American Legion Post 67, the Ladies Auxiliary and the Sons of the American Legion, featured dance music by Sound Investment, fried dough, […]
Public offers suggestions on zoning regs; 2nd hearing set
By Cynthia Prairie Concerns about enlarged minimum property size, noise limits, property uses and the enforceability of zoning language drew about 30 Chester residents out on Monday night, Aug. 20, for the first of four public hearings to be held to take comment on proposed changes to the town’s zoning regulations. The hearing was held […]
Proposed zoning changes to get public hearing Aug. 20
By Shawn Cunningham After nearly two years of work, the Chester Planning Commission has released the proposed new zoning regulations ahead of a Monday, Aug. 20 hearing when the public can ask questions and comment on major changes to the town’s land-use laws including new districts, minimum lot sizes, new setbacks, fewer conditional uses and […]
More brain drain at the Chester Development Review Board
By Cynthia Prairie For the fourth time in five months, an experienced member of the Development Review Board is gone. Bruce McEnaney resigned two weeks ago, after he took a job at the Jeld-Wen plant in Ludlow. This once again leaves two vacancies on the five-member board and only one person – Harry Goodell – […]
A healthy wellness community grows in Chester
By Jade Dunn Ten years ago, few would have thought that Chester could become a Mecca for holistic, naturopathic and alternative medicines. But with more than nine practitioners – in acupuncture, massage and acupressure as well as some of the more controversial fields such as Reiki – this town of more than 3,000 is well […]
Biomass plant switches to air-cooled; fiber optic coming on line
By Shawn Cunningham In a remarkably short meeting on Wednesday, July 18, the Chester Select Board covered a wide variety of topics in just under 90 minutes, including updates on the Springfield biomass plant and VTel’s federally funded project to replace existing telephone wires with fiber optic cable. Board members had a number of questions […]
Chester detective part of Windsor team that focuses on child sex abuse cases
ON THE COVER: From left, Det. Matt Wilson, SIU head Julie Gaudette, Victim’s Advocate Pam Weigel, SIU coordinator Katie Ouelette, Springfield Det. Allison Novasel, SAAPC liaison Cindy Morancy and Deputy State’s Attorney David Cahill. by Stephen Seitz Sex abuse is a crime that carries emotional damage that can go well beyond the physical crime. And […]
Four Chester silversmiths prove their mettle
By Kelsy Allan Originally used for trade in early Greek, Spanish and Roman empires, and later used in technology, decoration, jewelry, film and even insulation, silver has been alluring people since 3000 B.C. Made into coins, molded into various patterns and designs, formed around stone and glass, silver in all of these forms and more […]
Festival Series ends evening performances; focus remains Arts-in-Education
By Cynthia Prairie The 28-year-old Green Mountain Festival Series evening performances will no longer be held. The GMFS board of directors announced on Wednesday, July 11, that the series was ending its annual performance lineup to focus on its Arts-in-Education program. In announcing the decision in an email, the board wrote, “For many years the […]
