Chester's famous Fall Festival on the Green is the weekend of September 15 and 16. St. Luke's Church, located at 313 Main Street and adjacent to all the activities on the Village Green, has a fast, easy, and delicious way to get an early start on the first Festival day with a homemade breakfast and table seating both on the lawn and indoors in Martin Hall.

The Chester-Andover Family Center Board of Directors would like to thank and acknowledge the many businesses and volunteers who contributed their time and donations to make the Hot Dog Cook-Off Fundraiser a success. Sheldon and Francy, Stone Hearth Innkeepers deserve accolades for their work in organizing and hosting this important fundraising opportunity for the Chester Andover Family Center and local student athletic clubs.

Join the Black River Action Team on Saturday morning, September 8th as the all-volunteer organization rolls up their sleeves to clean trash from the banks and bed of the Black River. Head over to the HQ table after 8 AM (by the footbridge in the Springfield VT Shopping Plaza) to sign in, pick up work-gloves (or BYO) and trash bags. Select a place to work, and head out to collect some junk.

The Fairy House Festival is a family-friendly, imaginative, nature-based tradition in the forests of Grafton. On Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, The Nature Museum is hosting the 10th annual Fairy House Festival: and it will be bigger than ever before.

The annual Chester Fall Craft Festival will be held on September 15-16th, 10am-4pm, on the Green in Chester. Crowds converge on the Green in Chester, one of the "Most Beautiful Villages in New England" to explore the unique handmade crafts offered by over 65 vendors lining the green.

My name is Lew Watters. My wife Bonnie and I have lived, worked and raised a family in Vermont over a span of 44 years. We are now retired and blessed with six grand-children in nearby Brookfield, VT. In witnessing a steady and steep decline in the quality of life in Vermont and our country, we recently decided that we could no longer sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

The Chester Andover Family Center is sponsoring a free drawing for backpacks filled with school supplies. Stop in to the thrift shop during business hours Thursday, August 16th through Saturday, August 25th to sign up for the drawing. No purchase is necessary. We will notify the lucky winners at the end of the day, Saturday, August 25th.

From mushrooms to mussels, wood turtles to warblers, bass to bugs, and milfoil to maple trees, visitors to the first annual Black River BioBlitz were treated to a little bit of everything. Adventuring from Muckross State Park to Hoyt's Landing, BioBlitz participants of all ages explored the woods and water all day and past dark. Their goal? To capture images on their phones and cameras of as many organisms as possible in one day, uploading them to the "2018 Black River BioBlitz" project page at iNaturalist.org.

In looking at our current political leadership, many of us have been asking a fundamental question: Who do you serve? Are there any signs of human compassion or acts of true presidential leadership coming from the White House? I am particularly disappointed in our Congressman Peter Welch who has succumbed to taking PAC money from the pharmaceutical companies. He cosponsored HR 471, which streamlined how opioids are dispensed.