The Mad River Valley’s Creative Side Is Hitting All the Right Notes

For a small rural community, the Mad River Valley offers an extraordinary array of arts, music and cultural experiences.

On any given summer evening, you might find live music filling the Mad River Green, a concert at Sugarbush, contemporary dance inside a beautifully restored barn, an exhibition featuring artists from across Vermont, a film celebrating community and the environment, or neighbors gathering to share stories, make art or dance together.

This isn’t simply a busy calendar. It is a reflection of who we are.

The current MRV Community Calendar offers an impressive snapshot. Phantom Theater’s summer season at the historic Edgcomb Barn alone includes contemporary dance, magic, live music, queer country line dancing, a production of Our Town and even a Moth-inspired evening of community storytelling. Cellist, singer and composer Helen Gillet will bring her remarkable blend of jazz, funk, classical music and live looping to the barn, while the Anderson Trio transports audiences to New Orleans and the Miranda Henne and Darol Anger Quartet brings together an exceptional group of musicians.

At The Big Picture Theater & Café, the First Annual Through Ellie’s Eyes Mountain Film Festival uses film to explore adventure, community, the environment and the voices of young people—all while honoring Ellie Curtis and supporting Ellie’s Fund. The Big Picture is also offering art camps, collage workshops, films and other creative opportunities for kids and adults alike.

Visual art is woven throughout the Valley as well. Mad River Valley Arts continues to bring artists and audiences together through exhibitions such as The Silent Type, while galleries like the Bundy Modern give visitors the chance to experience thought-provoking contemporary work in a setting that is itself a work of art. Makers, painters, craftspeople and young artists also show up throughout the calendar in workshops, markets, camps and pop-up events.

Sugarbush Resort adds another dimension to the Valley’s cultural scene. Music and community gatherings take place throughout the year at Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen, with performances on the Big Deck, in the Lincoln Peak Courtyard and in the resort’s restaurants and gathering spaces. From intimate sets featuring local musicians to larger outdoor shows and family-friendly celebrations, Sugarbush uses the mountain as a stage and helps connect residents, visitors and performers. Its events calendar features live music, festivals and seasonal celebrations throughout the year, and Sugarbush also helps support community events beyond the resort, including Roundup Revival.

In fact, music can be found just about everywhere. Roundup Revival brings free live music, food, artists, kids’ activities and plenty of community spirit to the Mad River Green each Thursday evening. There is also live music at Stark’s Pub, weekly pub nights at the Mad River Barn, the Lareau Farm Inn Back Porch Music Series, Sunday Sessions and performances in gathering places throughout the Valley. These aren’t simply concerts—they are places where residents, visitors, musicians, businesses and community organizations come together.

And then there are the experiences that are wonderfully difficult to categorize: community contra dances, pub trivia hosted by our local libraries, children’s magic workshops, storytelling, line dancing, maker demonstrations and family festivals. Together, they reveal a cultural scene that is eclectic, welcoming and unmistakably MRV.

What makes all of this especially impressive is its scale. These programs are being created by local artists, nonprofit organizations, libraries, galleries, theaters, businesses, Sugarbush and other community partners. Each contributes something different, but collectively they make the Valley a far richer and more vibrant place to live and visit.

There is always more happening than any one person can keep track of—and that is a pretty wonderful problem to have.

Fortunately, finding it is easy. The Mad River Valley Community Calendar, powered through a collaboration between the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce and The Valley Reporter, brings it all together in one place. It is the Valley’s most comprehensive calendar, and community organizations are invited to submit their events free of charge.

So, the next time you find yourself wondering what there is to do, take a look at the calendar. You may discover a favorite musician, encounter an artist whose work stays with you, learn something new, or simply spend a memorable evening among friends and neighbors.

The arts are alive and well in the Mad River Valley—and they are one more remarkable facet of what makes this place so authentic, creative and uniquely ours.