Life in Sepia Credit: Courtesy of Kholood Eid

Bold and Beautiful

Friday 3-Sunday 5

JAG Productions, Vermont’s only all-Black theater group, continues its Theatre on the Hill series this week with Life in Sepia: Vermont’s Black Burlesque Revue. The Maine Attraction “femmecees,” and performers including Perle Noir and Poison Ivory take to the King Arthur Baking stage in Norwich to celebrate the history, present and future of Black vaudeville.

Peripheral Vision

Friday 3
“Like Travelers in a Night’s Lodginghouse II” by Cheryl Betz Credit: Courtesy of Cheryl Betz

Painter Cheryl Betz has won awards and been exhibited across New England for more than two decades. This month, her pandemic-born series “On the Periphery” shows at Montpelier co-op gallery the Front. Betz’s misty mixed-media landscapes display a mastery over the ever-shifting nature of perception and form. The exhibition debuts with a reception this Friday and will be on display through September 26.

Up and Away

Friday 3-Sunday 5
Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival Credit: Courtesy of Amelia Cordischi

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival once again filling the skies over Windsor County. New England’s longest-running convergence of balloonists, musicians, crafters and food vendors features three days of sky-high rides, activities and entertainment for fliers and fun lovers of all ages.

All Star

Saturday 4
Credit: Dreamstime

Brownington’s Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village holds its annual Twilight Stars Party, an evening celebration of all things stellar. Stargazers start off the night with live music by Evansville Transit Authority and food from the Runaway Tomato and the Ladies Aid Society of Brownington. At dusk, Bobby Farlice-Rubio of the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium leads everyone up the hill to check out the cosmos through telescopes.

Into the Streets

Sunday 5
Pride Parade & Festival Credit: Courtesy of Owen Leavey

Vermont Pride Week ends with a bang of glitter, leather and love on Sunday with the Pride Vermont Parade & Festival. Marchers take over Church Street when the parade kicks off, and the procession meanders to Battery Park for the loud and proud after-party. Fab the Duo headlines, Connor Cyrus and Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio host, and other showstoppers stun onstage.

European Reunion

Sunday 5
New World Festival Credit: Courtesy of Amanda Kowalski

The 29th annual New World Festival takes over Randolph’s Chandler Center for the Arts (or your at-home screen of choice) for a rollicking 10 hours of music and community. Vermont’s Celtic and French Canadian heritage is on full display with acts including Québécois rockers Le Vent du Nord, Scottish trio Cantrip, and Gaelic harpist and singer Dominique Dodge.

Ghost to Coast

Wednesday 8
Queen City Ghostwalk Credit: © Cheryl Daniels | Dreamstime

If Halloween can’t come soon enough, Queen City Ghostwalk has you covered. Burlington’s haunted tour agency kicks off the autumn season with Grateful Wednesdays: Ghosts & Legends of Lake Champlain, a waterfront adventure replete with tales of UFO spottings, local legends and Champ sightings over the centuries. The mystery history begins at Union Station, and proceeds benefit a new charity each week.

Updated, September 1, 2021: The new “femmecee” for JAG Productions’ Life in Sepia: Vermont’s Black Burlesque Revue is the Maine Attraction.

This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2021.

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Emily Hamilton was the calendar writer at Seven Days and Kids VT July 2021-August 2024. A native New Yorker, she moved to Burlington in March 2020 and, after a year indoors, threw herself wholeheartedly into Vermont's arts and music scene. She's a novelist,...