Let me start this site with a post about Town Meeting, a long standing  tradition.  Vermont still looks like a Norman Rockwell painting on Town Meeting day. School gyms and meeting houses come alive each year on the second Tuesday of March with residents voting on town matters. How much should we spend on our school? Should the town road crew buy a new truck? The beauty of Town Meeting is that these matters are discussed by the whole town and put to a voice or hand vote. Do you think the old truck is fine, then stand up and tell the crowd. If you disagree with the first person who spoke up, you get to tell them. Sometimes Town Meeting is short and everyone is agreeable, sometimes folks are long winded. But now matter how contentious things may get, the meeting stops for the noon meal sponsored by the Fire Department Auxiliary. In fact, I have seen matters settled just because folks want to move on to lunch! Most of our visitors are still on the ski slopes at this time of year but Town Meeting is one of  Vermont’s special secrets.

A new and regular feature of My Secret Vermont is ready.  I will be featuring a podcast every other week.  This week’s podcast gives a lot more information about the Green Mountain Film Festival.  Click the podcast link on the top right hand corner of this page to hear festival director Donald Ray in this podcast.  Enjoy!

Want to hear more from the Vermont band that plays our theme music?  Check out the Mad Mountain Scramblers site to get more info and see where you can here them live!

Balsam Acres Christmas Trees  This week I visited my favorite Christmas Tree Farm, Balsam Acres in Worcester.  My family gets its Christmas tree from Tom Lang’s farm each year.  In fact, this year we tagged our tree in October to make sure it would be ready for us this weekend.  Listen to my podcast and hear how Tom started his farm and takes care of his trees.  You will also learn how to take care of your own real Vermont Christmas tree.