Paying Respects to Seven Days’ Editorial ‘Flavor Graveyard’

In its 30 years, Seven Days has tried a lot of different things. We’ve run more weekly columns than we can recall, on everything from politics to TV to sex. We’ve launched special publications aimed at college kids, Canadian tourists and foodies. We gave out frontline-hero awards to “Pandemic All-Stars.” Cofounder Pamela Polston once “interviewed” a zebra mussel.

Many of those gambits worked out great. A few, not so much. (Remember our Burlington-focused smartphone app, Burlapp? Of course you don’t.)

Even the best ideas have a shelf life and eventually run their course. So as Seven Days enters its fourth decade, here’s a look back at some memorable columns, publications and gimmicks that are no longer with us. And because sometimes the best ideas are also the ones you steal, we’ve included epitaphs inspired by another Vermont institution: the Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard.

‘Dykes to Watch Out For’

1997-2008, 2017

Bolton cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s landmark comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” appeared in hundreds of publications worldwide and predated Seven Days by many years. But we still like to think of it as our own. The Fun Home author retired the strip in 2008. But in March 2017, she revived “Dykes” for one week to take on President Donald Trump in his first term. She published the strip in Seven Days, and it promptly crashed our website.

‘Hackie’

2000-2020

For 20 years, Seven Days‘ roving cabbie-philosopher Jernigan Pontiac traveled the highways and byways of Vermont, ferrying fares near and far. Whether to or from mundane locations such as the airport and remote Green Mountains locales, he dispatched wisdom and wit in equal measure in his “Hackie” column and chronicled a true cross-section of Vermont.

What’s Good

2008-2019

Seven Days‘ annual guide to Burlington evolved over the years from a crash course on the Queen City produced by and for college kids to a general primer for BTV newcomers of any demographic. We like to think it was useful for townies, too, with dozens of in-the-know recs for dining, recreation and shopping. And coupons. So many coupons.

We stopped publishing What’s Good when the pandemic hit because, well, nothing was good anymore. If the city’s downtown construction is ever finished, maybe we’ll bring it back.

‘Fair Game’

2008-2021

There was only one Peter Freyne — which was probably a blessing for his editors. But when Seven Days‘ fiery political columnist retired his indispensable “Inside Track” in 2008, someone had to pick up the pen and hold Vermont politicos to account. Over the next decade-plus, a procession of noble scribes — Shay Totten, Andy Bromage, Paul Heintz, John Walters, Dave Gram and Mark Johnson — spoke truth to power in the “Fair Game” column.

7 Nights

2004-2019

You know what’s really hard? Compiling every restaurant in Vermont into a comprehensive and readable guide that’s informative, up to date and entertaining. You know what’s even harder? Doing it again the next year. And yet for 16 years, Seven Days food writers produced the annual 7 Nights dining guide. Starting in 2010, its print date coincided with Vermont Restaurant Week, a statewide foodie fest they also helped organize. Talk about working up an appetite.

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’

2010-2022

In journalism, most good stories start with a question, and that question usually boils down to: WTF? In 2010, Seven Days launched a biweekly column called “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” or “WTF,” to satisfy the curiosity of our writers and readers by answering head-scratchers that maybe didn’t demand Spotlight-level investigative rigor. For example: “How Is Midget Wrestling Still a Thing?,” “Who Chooses That Annoying Music on Ice Cream Trucks?” and “Why Can’t Vermonters Get Four-Way Stops Right?” (We’re still wondering about that last one, actually…)

Lists of Seven

1995-??

If there’s one editorial gimmick Seven Days has relied on more than any other, it’s packaging things in groups of seven. (Like, for example, this list.) What can we say? It’s our favorite number. Over the years, such septets have included bands to watch, books to read, local comedians to check out, profiles of third-shift workers and even ways to find Seven Days. To be honest, we’ve probably overdone it. So, outside of our weekly “Magnificent 7” events roundup, in recent years we’ve tried to be more judicious about employing the tactic — like, say, for major anniversaries. We’ll never totally abandon our affinity for septuples, but we have tried to scale it back.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Bygone Bylines | Paying our respects to Seven Days columns, publications and gimmicks past”

This article appears in 30th Birthday Issue.

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