Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

Join us for a fun and interactive six-week Spanish Conversation Class at the Simpson Library in East Craftsbury! Designed for beginners to early intermediate learners (but open to all levels), these sessions will introduce practical vocabulary through engaging activities like tortilla making, craft projects, and map-making. Native Spanish speakers are encouraged to join and share their experiences. Participation in activities is optional—come to learn, practice, and have fun!

This class is for all ages, and you can come to one or all six of them. Please email jwsimpsonmemorial@gmail.com to register, and note in your email what dates you plan to attend.

For beginners and experienced knitters alike, you can learn how to knit, fine tune your skills, or finish that unfinished project with certified knitting instructor, Lise Roussell. Pre-registration is encouraged, please fill out this form to register. 

Join us for a fun and interactive six-week Spanish Conversation Class at the Simpson Library in East Craftsbury! Designed for beginners to early intermediate learners (but open to all levels), these sessions will introduce practical vocabulary through engaging activities like tortilla making, craft projects, and map-making. Native Spanish speakers are encouraged to join and share their experiences. Participation in activities is optional—come to learn, practice, and have fun!

This class is for all ages, and you can come to one or all six of them. Please email jwsimpsonmemorial@gmail.com to register, and note in your email what dates you plan to attend.

What do you do when your big feelings overwhelm you? Do you shut down? Do you yell? Do you take a deep breath, work through your feelings, and move on? As adults, we don't always know what to do with our big emotions, so why do we expect young children to know what to do with their big feelings? During this session, we will learn skills for self-regulation and develop tools to help guide the children's big feelings in our care.

Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

This month, the Travel Adventure book group discusses Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa Sevigny.

“In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off down the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious expedition leader and three amateur boatmen. With its churning rapids, sheer cliffs, and boat-shattering boulders, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. But for Clover and Jotter, it held a tantalizing appeal: no one had surveyed the Grand Canyon’s plants, and they were determined to be the first.

Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny traces their forty-three-day journey, during which they ran rapids, chased a runaway boat, and turned their harshest critic into an ally. Their story is a spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to make an unprecedented botanical survey of a little-known corner of the American West at a time when human influences had begun to change it forever.”

Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

The Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals present….A Comedy of Errors at the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church.

The Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals are the oldest student-run theater group on the Dartmouth College campus. Dedicated to producing at least one Shakespeare play a term, which is always free to the public, our goal is to spread our love for the Bard within our community for newcomers and superfans of Shakespeare alike. Our 90s sitcom-inspired production of The Comedy of Errors follows two sets of identical twins—Antipholus and Dromio—who were separated at birth and unknowingly reunite in the city of Ephesus. Following the show is a workshop in which we'll do some theatre exercises and work on acting out a Shakespearean scene together! 

Please email jwsimpsonmemorial@gmail.com if you’d like to participate in the workshop, thank you!

Natalie is conducting her Storykeepers program that shows how to do historical research based on family stories. Units will include where our names come from, genealogy and family trees; photography and learning what old photographs tell us, and how to do detective work by looking at fashion, hairstyles, etc.; primary/secondary sources; artifacts; census records; and other online research such as findagrave.com, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov (newspaper archives), and ancestry sites.

THIS WEEK: Online research

This class is free and is for adults and children 10 and up. You can sign up to attend one, two or all three of the sessions! To register, please email jwsimpsonmemorial@gmail.com

This is the third in a series of three workshops with Carrie Becker of Transforming Early Childhood Education. Free, childcare provided, registration required here. At the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church.

How often do you find yourself in the push and pull of power struggles with your young child? Our children are in a constant search for power. Did you know that for young children, independence is power? The more young children do for themselves, the less they seek power in ways that feel undesirable to the adults around them. During this session, we will discuss strategies for supporting young children as they build their independence skills. 

This month’s book is Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce, description below. Copies available at the Simpson Library.

From the back of the book:

It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist--the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty in her tight-fitting pink suit and pom-pom sandals seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.

Here is what Barbara Kingsolver said about this book on a recent instagram post:

“If you’re wishing you could be in a faraway land right now, but would accept the alternative route to New Caledonia via a deliciously improbably plot, wonderful characters, sparkling sentences, and too many belly laughs to count: have I got a novel for you.

Trust me. You will love this escape. Bon voyage.”

Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

Celebrate National Haiku Writing Month- aka NaHaiWriMo- at the third annual East Craftsbury Haiku Slam! This is an informal event, where participants are invited to share Haikus of their own making or others’. Hosted by Craftsbury’s own Lalee Bond. All ages welcome. The Haiku Slam will be followed by pizza and games.

Natalie will be conducting her Storykeepers program that shows how to do historical research based on family stories. Units will include where our names come from, genealogy and family trees; photography and learning what old photographs tell us, and how to do detective work by looking at fashion, hairstyles, etc.; primary/secondary sources; artifacts; census records; and other online research such as findagrave.com, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov (newspaper archives), and ancestry sites.

THIS WEEK: Names/Genealogy/Family Trees; and Photography
Next week, 3/1: Primary Sources/Artifacts; Census

This class is free and is for adults and children 10 and up. You can sign up to attend one, two or all three of the sessions! To register, please email jwsimpsonmemorial@gmail.com

For beginners and experienced knitters alike, you can learn how to knit, fine tune your skills, or finish that unfinished project with certified knitting instructor, Lise Roussell. Pre-registration is encouraged, please fill out this form to register. 

Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

For beginners and experienced knitters alike, you can learn how to knit, fine tune your skills, or finish that unfinished project with certified knitting instructor, Lise Roussell. Pre-registration is encouraged, please fill out this form to register. 

Whether you are sketching or knitting, folding paper or sewing, darning or making pom poms, all creative projects are welcome here!

For beginners and experienced knitters alike, you can learn how to knit, fine tune your skills, or finish that unfinished project with certified knitting instructor, Lise Roussell. Pre-registration is encouraged, please fill out this form to register. 

Old-time music, also known as Appalachain stringband music, is traditionally played on the fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass. Tunes are learned by ear and are ideal for community participation. The music is the sort that one would naturally hear at a square dance or a contra dance.

Acoustic musicians of all ages and abilities are encouraged to attend. The session is free and open to the public. Listeners are encouraged to attend as well.

The East Craftsbury old-time jam session is supported by Cabot Arts’s Music Mentoring Program whose mission is to revive community fiddling and to encourage participatiton in traditional music. The session will occur every 1st and 3rd Wednesday from 6 - 8pm.

This is the second in a series of three workshops with Carrie Becker at Transforming Early Childhood Education. Free, childcare provided, registration required here.

As adults caring for young children, we often feel challenged by the behaviors our young children exhibit. When we understand how to decipher our children's message, we are less overwhelmed and more confident in our parenting practices. During this session, we will build an understanding of early brain development, antecedents (things that prompt a behavior), and scaffolding (providing support/guidance). 

Whether you are sketching or knitting, folding paper or sewing, darning or making pom poms, all creative projects are welcome here!

This is the first of three workshops with Carrie Becker of Transforming Early Childhood Education. Free, childcare provided, preregistration required here. At the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church.

What do you do when your big feelings overwhelm you? Do you shut down? Do you yell? Do you take a deep breath, work through your feelings, and move on? As adults, we don't always know what to do with our big emotions, so why do we expect young children to know what to do with their big feelings? During this session, we will learn skills for self-regulation and develop tools to help guide the children's big feelings in our care.