With warmer temperatures comes the joy of jumping in the river, and the annual "Adopt-A-Swimminghole" campaign with the Black River Action Team. Thanks to the ongoing generosity of local businesses, regular weekly sampling will be conducted on several popular swimming and recreation areas. Volunteers with the B.R.A.T. are trained to collect water samples every Wednesday morning between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which will be tested for E. coli bacteria at Endyne Labs in Hanover, NH.

Join us for the Chester Plant Sale, where you can find generous pots of a variety of healthy, proven perennials, shrubs, select annuals, and vegetables. The sale will be held on Friday, May 26 and Saturday, May 27 from 9 AM to 3 PM, and on Sunday, May 28 from noon to 3 PM. The venue is the side lawn of St. Luke's Church, located at 313 Main Street, Chester, VT. The event's later timing allows for larger and more attractive plants that are all organized by kind and growing needs. Our plants are top-notch, competitively priced, and ready to be planted immediately without any extra hardening! To make it easy for you, each plant comes with helpful labels and flower photos. Plus, our knowledgeable gardeners will be on hand to offer advice on plants and garden design.

After nearly 50 years of artful living in their 1844 stone house in the Stone Village Historic District on North Street, Route 103, Lew and Bonnie Watters are moving. They are holding a Cleaning Out Yard Sale on Memorial Weekend, beginning Saturday, May 27, through Monday, May 29, from 10 AM until 5 PM.

Creating original pen and ink architectural renderings, house portraits, and limited edition prints requires continuous effort and passion. One effective way of closing such a career is by keeping your work exhibited. Longtime Chester resident Lew Watters is doing exactly this, exhibiting his classic Stone Village artist proof edition print in an exquisite floating mount frame. This specially created signed edition was hand letterpress printed by the artist for the Spring Member Exhibit at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester.

The Chester Andover Family Center is soliciting contractors to bid on a renovation/expansion project at our building located at 908 VT RT 103 in Chester. The project is to replace a storage area with an enclosed storage shed, approximately 12 x 27 feet, adjacent to the rear of our building. Detailed specs are available in our bidding package.

It's time to pull out your poetry notebook for Series II of the Stone Village Poetry Experience in Chester. The Poetry Slams and Workshops will be led by Tuck Wunderle and surprise guest collaborators. Poetry Slams and Workshops will take place in January, February and March at the First Universalist Parish in Chester's Stone Village. All are invited to take part. Whether you come to share your poetry or to listen, we guarantee you will have fun and be inspired.

The First Universalist Parish of Chester, located in Chester's Historic Stone Village, welcomes all to our community soup fundraiser on Saturday, January 14th. We will be serving in house or take out between 12 noon and 6:00 PM. The menu includes soup or chili, salad, crusty bread, nuts, beverage and dessert.

The First Universalist Parish of Chester and the Stone Village Art Guild will hold a holiday craft fair, fine art show and bake sale on Saturday, December 10, 2022 from 10-4. This holiday shopping event will feature fabric baskets, jewelry, ornaments, mittens, holiday floral arrangements, and more.

For many years the people of the parish celebrated the Yuletide holidays on the Sunday before Christmas, with a traditional candlelight service of Lessons and Carols. "Lessons" is another word for the ancient Christmas Story, which will be related this year by members of the parish. The offering from this service is donated in its entirety to the Chester Andover Family Center. We invite the community to this beautiful service.

Celebrate the holiday season joyfully by visiting St. Luke's Christmas Market: Culinary Classics and Crafts To Go. The event will take place in Willard Hall at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 313 Main Street (Route 11 W) in Chester, VT, on December 3, from 10 AM to 1 PM. This event is open to the public and will feature a special pickup time of 9:30-10 AM for those who order items in advance.