Rural Vermont Celebrates 30 Years: Anniversary Finale on Sunday, November 22nd at Bethel Town Hall

All year long, Rural Vermont has been celebrating thirty years of amplifying the voices of farmers and advocating for a fair food system. On Sunday, November 22nd, Rural Vermont hosts their 30th Anniversary Celebration Finale at the Bethel Town Hall with “Farmers Tell Their Stories” and special musical guests Patti Casey, Colin McCaffrey, and Pete Sutherland. Admission is $10 and tickets purchased in advance come with special, reserved seating for the show.   

Doors open at 6:30pm with a cash bar provided by the Black Krim Tavern of Randolph. The program itself will begin at 7pm and feature four of Rural Vermont's past and present farmer leaders sharing stories about "what's eating them and what's feeding them". These personal accounts will revist a chapter in Rural Vermont's rich and gutsy history and emphasize the values that have defined the organization.

Storytellers include Jenny Nelson of Home Acres Farm in E. Ryegate, former legislator and long-time agricultural adviser to Bernie Sanders; Judy Clark of Applecheek Farm in Hyde Park; Lindsay Harris of Mountain Home Farm in Tunbridge; and Lisa McCrory and Carl Russell of Earthwise Farm & Forest in Bethel.

In addition to the storyteller line-up, lyrical artist Frey Ellis, of Peace of Earth Farm in Albany, will perform his original poem "Cultivating Resistance" which chronicles Rural Vermont’s 30 year history and draws on the memories and reflections of Rural Vermont’s past and present leaders. And a video featuring a montage of some of the most heartening, sobering, and exciting moments in Rural Vermont’s history, set to Jonathan Falby’s original song “Can’t Quit When You’ve Got Good People Behind You”, will be premiered.

The stories, poem, and video will be woven together with music by special guests Patti Casey, Colin McCaffrey, and Pete Sutherland. Patti, Pete & Colin are Vermont's beloved trio of natives who make their own brand of acoustic music, sophisticated and homegrown all at once, out of an amazing stash of instruments stringed and otherwise, mixed with heavenly vocal harmonies. All three are nationally recognized songwriters and performers, having toured and recorded for decades, and they bring a wry, easy charm to the stage. Each has contributed substantially to Vermont's beautiful musical landscape and together they make up the backbone of folk music in Vermont today.

For more information about the event, and to RSVP and buy tickets, visit www.ruralvermont.org.

Since 1985, Rural Vermont has been amplifying the voices of farmers and advocating for a fair food system. Through education, organizing, and advocacy, we work to create scale-appropriate, commonsense public policy that helps rather than hurts our family farms and preserves Vermont’s cultural heritage of neighbors feeding neighbors. Share this vision? Stay informed and get active by signing up for Rural Vermont’s mailing list. Better yet, build our people power and join Rural Vermont today!