Vermont to Celebrate LGBT Community in Northern New England’s Premier PRIDE Festival

The PRIDE Vermont Committee announced its plans for the state’s annual Pride Vermont celebration, scheduled for September 7-14, 2014 at in Burlington, Vt.  This year’s theme is “Generations of PRIDE,” which explores the history of PRIDE through the decades and also the diversity in ages of Vermont’s LGBT community.

The week-long celebration, Northern New England’s premier PRIDE, kicks off with a high heel race and will culminate with a parade on Church Street followed by the festival at Battery Park.

On Sunday, September 7th at 2:00 pm, the Annual High Heel Race on Church Street will provide a colorful and competitive start to the festivities.  The event is open to all who are brave enough to don high heels.  Dressing in drag is highly encouraged, but not required.  Extra shoes will be available to accommodate spectators wanting to sign up on site.

Beginning on Friday, September 12th through Sunday, September 14th, diners and shoppers will enjoy discounted prices during Out On Church Street.  Special medallions on bead necklaces will be available for $10 each, and will provide special discounts at participating shops, restaurants and department stores at the popular Church Street Marketplace.

Festivities on Saturday, September 13th continue with the annual Women’s Tea Dance in downtown Burlington in the afternoon, followed by the Hot Pink Dance Party at 8:30 pm at the Higher Ground in South Burlington.  This 18+ multimedia event features two of Vermont’s best DJs playing the hottest club music.

The PRIDE Vermont Parade will start at 12:45 pm on Sunday, September 14th, beginning at the bottom of Church Street and winding all the way to the Festival site at Battery Park. With students, families, and early foliage tourists in town, another record-breaking turnout is expected to view the colorful parade of floats, performers, and marchers of all kinds. The festival itself will take place 1:00-5:00 pm. and will include music and entertainment in the Battery Park bandshell, vendors, family, youth and activity tents, and community resources.

Produced by the Vermont Gay Tourism Association (VGTA), the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo will take place during the PRIDE Vermont festival at Battery Park on Sunday, September 14th, 12:00-5:00 pm. “This is a festival within a festival,” said Willie Docto, President of the VGTA.  Northern Decadence will showcase LGBT-friendly businesses from across Vermont and include food and wine samples, a silent auction, and the popular Decadent Cupcake Competition. “Vermont’s is the tastiest PRIDE festival in the country,” Docto added. Tickets are $5 for adults; children 12 and under are free. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.northerndecadence.com.

Other highlights of the family-friendly PRIDE Vermont festival include:

Gender Fun Lawn Games and Activity Tent:  Play lawn “gaymes,” make craft projects, and get information on gender diversity, rights, and resources.

Live Entertainment hosted by drag artist Major Face featuring local and regional performers.

Dancing on the Lawn with music by local DJs.

Randy Violette, Chair of the PRIDE Vermont Committee said, “With our Generations of PRIDE theme, we celebrate the coming of age of the LGBT community in Vermont and the equality we’ve achieved in the most beautiful state in the country.  I invite everyone to celebrate with us.”

Individuals, groups, and businesses are invited to participate in any of the PRIDE Vermont events.  For more information on being a vendor, sponsor, or parade participant email [email protected] or go to www.pridevermont.com.

PRIDE Vermont is the statewide PRIDE festival for Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally community. Equality-minded Vermonters gather to celebrate our state for its safe, healthy, empowering community that embraces all of life’s colors. We take Pride in Vermont’s progress towards equality and want Vermonters to know that being queer in Vermont is something worth celebrating.

Nestled in the Green Mountains, the Adirondack style Moose Meadow Lodge in Waterbury, Vermont invites you to enjoy a Vermont lodge experience.

A log cabin like no other, the Moose Meadow Lodge is close to Vermont's most popular attractions, including Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory, and the ski resorts of Stowe, Sugarbush, Bolton, and Mad River Glen.

Experience luxury log home living or enjoy the newly constructed treehouse for a truly unique trip.  Read more about the treehouse here.

For more information or to make reservations, visit: www.moosemeadowlodge.com

The Vermont Gay Tourism Association (VGTA) is sponsoring a bus trip for an unforgettable evening with the legendary Cher during her “Dressed To Kill” concert tour on Friday, April 25th at the Bell Centre in Montreal. 

The VGTA is offering a package that includes stress-free transportation in a luxury coach, tickets, gourmet refreshments provided by VGTA members, a Cher trivia contest and more.  Three convenient pick-up points include Berlin, Waterbury and South Burlington.  Everyone is welcome.  Price is $225 per person and may be purchased by calling Notch Above Tours at 802-881-0661. Information is available online at www.northerndecadence.com/cher2014.html.  Proceeds will benefit the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo and the Pride Vermont Festival scheduled on September 14th in Burlington.

The Vermont Gay Tourism Association is a nonprofit membership organization of more than 80 gay-friendly businesses.  It was incorporated in 2003 with the mission of promoting the state of Vermont to LGBT travelers, weddings and conventions. Information on the VGTA and a travel directory are available at www.vermontgaytourism.com.

Vermont to Celebrate LGBT Community in Northern New England’s Premier Pride Festival

The Pride Vermont Committee announced its plans today for the state’s annual week-long Pride celebration, scheduled for September 8-15-2013. The festivities are held in September to better include Vermont’s large student population and foliage tourists.  It will include the annual Church Street High Heel Race, the Pride Parade through downtown Burlington, the Pride Festival at Battery Park, and the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo in Burlington’s Battery Park.

“This year’s Pride Vermont promises to be more vibrant than ever before, with an incredible array of events and activities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and allied people and families to enjoy,” said Clarie Giroux-Williams, the Pride Vermont Chair. “We look forward to celebrating Pride with people from all across the great state of Vermont, northern New England, upstate New York, and Canada.

The Church Street High Heel Race will literally kick off Pride Week on Sunday, September 8th, 2 pm on Church Street next to
Burlington’s City Hall.  The legendary House of LeMay drag troupe will again host this exciting event that includes races in various heel sizes, a cupcake-carrying race, a purse-throwing contest, and a spectators race.   Everyone and anyone is invited to participate. Prizes and trophies will be awarded.

Festivities continue on Saturday, September 14 with a Women’s Tea Dance at Red Square on Church Street in Burlington from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, plus the annual Pride Dance at Higher Ground in South Burlington later that night.

On Sunday, September 15th the Pride Parade will start at 12:30 PM, beginning at the bottom of Church Street and winding all the way to the Pride Festival site at Battery Park. With students, families, and foliage tourists in town, a record-breaking turnout is expected to view the colorful parade of floats, performers, and marchers of all kinds. The festival itself will continue until
4:00PM and will include music and entertainment in the Battery Park band shell, vendors, family, youth and activity tents, an
interfaith prayer service and community resources.   The Pride performances will be co-hosted by two of Vermont’s most entertaining drag performers - Spice Celestial and Major Face.  More information can be found at pridevermont.com.

Produced by the Vermont Gay Tourism Association (VGTA), the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo will take place during the Pride Vermont festival at Battery Park on Sunday, September 15, 12:00-5:00 pm. Northern Decadence will showcase LGBT-friendly businesses from across Vermont and include food and wine samples, a silent auction and the popular Decadent Cupcake Competition. Tickets are $5 for adults; children 12 and under are free. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.northerndecadence.com.

“Pride never tasted so good,” said Willie Docto, VGTA President. “Everyone knows that Vermont offers the best things in life: world-class gourmet food, dining, scenery, shopping, attractions, and entertainment.  The Food & Travel Expo brings together LGBT-friendly businesses with consumers unlike any other food or travel show in Vermont.”

Pride Vermont is the statewide pride festival for Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally
community. Equality-minded Vermonters gather to celebrate our state for its safe, healthy, empowering community that embraces all of life’s colors. We take Pride in Vermont’s progress towards equality and want Vermonters to know that being queer in Vermont is something worth celebrating. This year’s festivities consist of a week of activities culminating in the Vermont Parade, Festival, and
Northern Decadence Food Expo on September 15th.

The new Topnotch arrived June 28th – the kind of all-new hotel experience that only a multi-million dollar renovation can create.

The Resort:
An intimate and friendly year-round resort, Topnotch offers a wide array of indoor and outdoor pursuits on a 120-acre estate at the foot of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak. Renowned as one of the country’s top rated tennis academies, this four diamond property is equally celebrated for its full-service, award winning Spa and fitness center.  Topnotch is situated in the heart of the Green Mountains in Stowe, Vermont.

The offer:
Complete with an all-new offer that’s impossible to resist: Book before August 29th (for stays before August 31), and we’ll give you $100 resort credit and four great reasons to use it!  From spa perks to foodie freebies… tennis time to timeless explorations, it’s a
grand introduction to an iconic New England resort that’s never been grander.  And, because we know how much you’re going to love it, we’re also including the opportunity to return a second time this year, at a remarkable one-time savings of 30%. Wow – what are you waiting for?

Ta-Da, Topnotch! Package includes:

A Room to Retreat To – Your choice of fully-renovated rooms or suites. Or spacious resort homes.
$100 Resort Credit – Explore your options, and our fabulous new resort – with $100 to jump-start your expedition +
four great incentives to use it:

• Spa-licious Choices – Get a 25 minute service to use
  with our compliments (and at your convenience) with any 50 minute service you
  book, or upgrade your service from 50 minutes to 80 minutes for free.
• A Bite and Some Beer – sample any appetizer from the
  fun menu at our new restaurant, The Roost, and we’ll dial up a flight of our
  select craft beers.
• Biking Bargain – Rent an adult bike the Nordic Barn,
  and receive a same-time kids’ bike rental for free.
• Tennis time – Upgrade a 60 minute less to a 90 minute
  for free, or add one hour of free court time with ball machine following a paid
  lesson.

All this and an invitation to return again this summer/fall at a 30% savings if you rebook within 14 days of
check-out. (Based on Availability. Valid only on new reservations. May not be combined with any other offer.)

RATES STARTING AT $250/NIGHT
* $100 Resort Credit to be used in the restaurants, spa or tennis center.

If you would like to read the Connextions Magazine review of our stay at Topnotch resort, click here.

Passport to Summer Tennis Weekend at Stratton

May 31 - Jun 2, 2013
Set in southern Vermont, the Passport to Summer LGBT Tennis Weekend highlights the best of southern Vermont with a choice of tennis or golf school plus a full menu of activities including hiking, yoga and farm-to-table cooking that features the bounty that is Vermont.   Meals and social activities bring the groups together to share their adventures over good food, drink and lively entertainment.

 More details at Stratton.com/passport.

Also offering the Saturday night family style farm-to-table dinner with wine followed by Edge magazine DJ Scotty Thomson on deck at the exclusive Stratton Mountain Club. All for only $100, including tax, gratuity and wine.

Enter to Win a "Meet The Brewers" Weekend at Killington 
Enter for a chance to win a weekend at Killington, for a "meet the brewers" exclusive guided tour of the Long Trail Brewery and
its new pilot brewing operation with a gift certificates for lunch at the brewery and dinner as well as a day of Golf at the Green Mtn National course in Killington. Plus, winner will receive 3 nights at the Killington Grand, gift cards, and a $75 Cabot Gift Box stocked full of the World's Best Cheddar from the farm families who own Cabot!

Enjoy Vermont's Great Events
 
Through May 12:
Killington Arts Guild New Gallery Show “A Searching Mind: The Many Transitions of Paedra”. More information
 
May 31 - June 2:
LGBT Summer Weekend At Stratton Mountain. More information
 
June 16 - Fathers Day: Duxbury B&B Tour More information
 
July 12-13: Waterbury Arts Fest More information
 
August 9-11: Women's Yoga Retreat hosted by Singletrack Mindfulness More information
 
September 15: Pride Vermont and Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo More information

Click here for more Events.

Vermont’s Newest Tree House B&B Sets Grand Opening June 16th

The award-winning Moose Meadow Lodge – an Adirondack style luxury log home B&B on 86 acres in Duxbury, Vermont – will host a grand opening celebration of their new Tree House.

The event will take place on Fathers Day, Sunday, June 16, 2013, 12:00 –4:00 pm as part of the Duxbury B&B Tour.   The Tour is one of the events in 2013 celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Town of Duxbury, Vermont.   Proceeds will benefit the Duxbury Historical Society – a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the town of Duxbury – located between the foodie mecca of Waterbury and the world-class ski areas of the Mad River Valley. 

The Moose Meadow Tree House will be the newest addition to the international trend of tree house hotels and to a growing number of luxury accommodations known as “glamping” or glamorous camping.  “It’s camping without roughing it,” says co-owner Greg Trulson.  The 2-story Tree House comes equipped with an electric fireplace and high-speed WiFi Internet.  Although there is no plumbing, guests may use bathroom facilities in the main lodge and will have access to a local fitness center for shower and exercise facilities.  “We asked guests what was more important -plumbing or WiFi – and they said ‘WiFi.’ Trulson added.”

Supported by two mature pine trees and overlooking the pond at Moose Meadow, the 450-square-foot Tree House features a wrap-around deck, a living room, a second-story bedroom with balcony, 24 windows, custom-made antler light fixtures, trees and branches from the property and other locally-sourced materials.

The Tree House was designed by its owners, Greg Trulson and Willie Docto, along with lead contractor Eyrich Stauffer of Stauffer Woodworking in Montpelier, Vermont.The platform of the Tree House was built by students of Yestermorrow – a design/build school in Waitsfield, Vermont – as part of their tree house building curriculum.  The house was built by a team of skilled craftspeople of Stauffer Woodworking.Interior lighting fixtures made of moose antlers and deer antlers were handcrafted by Ken Kenia of Mad River Antlers in Warren, Vermont.

Tickets for the Duxbury B&B Tour are $10 and include tours and refreshments at three other inns.

More information about Moose Meadow Lodge can be found at www.moosemeadowlodge.com. Information and tickets for the Duxbury B&B Tour can be found at www.duxbury250.com.

Held on September 22, 2012 in Battery Park in Burlington, the Vermont Pride Parade and Festival, along with the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo, was a wonderful success and even the rain held out! 

The NOH8 Campaign was in attendance at Vermont's pride event.  The photographic silent protest created by Hollywood-based celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley, was in response to
the passage of Proposition 8.  Subjects are photographed wearing white, with a
temporary “NOH8” tattoo on their cheeks and duct tape over their mouths.  The
duct tape symbolizes the way Prop 8 and other anti-LGBT initiatives around the
world silence the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons.

Check out www.pridevt.com for next year's line-up of fabulous events.
Click here to see the calendar listing of all pride events in America.

Vermont to Celebrate LGBT Community in Northern New England’s Premier Pride Festival

The Pride Vermont Committee announced its plans today for the state’s annual Pride Vermont celebration, scheduled for September 21-22, 2012. The festivities, which will be held in September for the first time in order to better include Vermont’s large student population and foliage tourists, will include a cruise on Lake Champlain on Friday, September 21, a parade through downtown Burlington, and a pride festival, NOH8 Campaign photoshoot, and the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo in Burlington’s Battery Park on the 22nd. 

“This year’s Pride Vermont promises to be more vibrant than ever before, with an incredible array of events and activities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and allied people and families to enjoy,” said Madelyn Baer, the Pride Vermont 2012 Director. “We look forward to celebrating Pride with people from all across the great state of Vermont, northern New England, upstate New York, and Canada, and we are honored to host the NOH8 Campaign this year, adding our faces to those from across the country standing up for equality.”

The annual Pride Cruise has been a highlight of Vermont’s Pride season since 1993. It is sponsored by Vermont Gay Social Alternatives (VGSA), Vermont’s premier LGBT social organization, and will be an evening filled with dancing and merrymaking featuring hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and entertainment by the House of LeMay and DJ Veena. It will be held on the Lake Champlain Ferry, which departs at 8:00 on Friday, September 21 from the King Street Docks in Burlington. Tickets can be purchased online at www.vgsa.com.  

“Whether you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or a proud ally, this year’s Pride Cruise is an event not to be missed,” said VGSA Director Michael Knaapen. “Join us on the lake – it’s the perfect way to start Pride right!” 

The Pride Parade will start at noon on September 22, beginning at the bottom of Church Street and winding all the way to the Pride Festival site at Battery Park. With students, families, and foliage tourists in town, a record-breaking turnout is expected to view the colorful parade of floats, performers, and marchers of all kinds. The festival itself will last from 1:00-4:00 pm. and include music and entertainment in the Battery Park bandshell, vendors, family, youth and activity tents, and community resources. 

Produced by the Vermont Gay Tourism Association (VGTA), the Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo will take place during the Pride Vermont festival at Battery Park on Saturday, September 22, 12:00-5:00 pm. Northern Decadence will showcase LGBT-friendly businesses from across Vermont and include food and wine samples, a silent auction, cooking demonstrations, and the popular Decadent Cupcake Competition. Tickets are $5 for adults; children 12 and under are free. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.northerndecadence.com. 

“Everyone knows that Vermont offers the best things in life: world-class gourmet food, dining, scenery, shopping, attractions, and entertainment,” said Willie Docto, VGTA President. “The Northern Decadence Food & Travel Expo is a great way to connect equality-minded Vermonters and visitors with LGBT-friendly businesses. Supporting equality has never been easier, or tastier!” 

The NOH8 Campaign, which will hold an open photoshoot on September 22 from 1-4pm as part of Pride Vermont, is a photographic silent protest created as a response to the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which stripped same-sex couples of equal marriage rights. Hollywood-based celebrity photographer Adam Bouska photographs subjects wearing white, with a temporary “NOH8” tattoo on their cheeks and duct tape over their mouths. The duct tape symbolizes the way LGBT people around the world are silenced by anti-gay initiatives like Prop 8.  Over 20,000 people, including celebrities like Kathy Griffin, Cindy and Meghan McCain, the Kardashian sisters, Jane Lynch, and Lance Bass have posed for the campaign; NOH8’s open photoshoots routinely attract hundreds of people to events across the country. Pride Vermont is teaming up with Truth Wins Out – a national, Burlington-based nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism and the “ex-gay” myth – to bring the NOH8 Campaign to Vermont for the first time. More information can be found at www.pridevt.com. 

“Participation in the wildly popular NOH8 Campaign will offer Vermonters the opportunity to fight hate in a uniquely special way,” said John Becker, TWO’s Director of Communications & Development. “Truth Wins Out and Pride Vermont want to encourage equality-minded people all across the region to attend the 2012 Pride Vermont Festival and get photographed for this great  campaign.” 

Pride Vermont is the statewide pride festival for Vermont’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally community. Equality-minded Vermonters gather to celebrate our state for its safe, healthy, empowering community that embraces all of life’s colors. We take Pride in Vermont’s progress towards equality and want Vermonters to know that being queer in Vermont is something worth celebrating. This year’s festivities consist of a week of activities culminating in the Annual VGSA Pride Cruise on September 21 and the Pride Vermont Parade, Festival, and Northern Decadence Food Expo on September 22.