Burlington Free Press
‘ISOLATED’
Severe storms, heat waves and wildfires can shut down the social life of a community, flooding out festivals, canceling community events and keeping people indoors. They’re also evidence of how climate change isn’t just changing the environments we...
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Cup of care & ambition
In 1973, Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” to soften the blow of leaving her business partner Porter Wagoner after years of producing hit country duets together. Parton was ready to pursue a solo career. So she played the song for Wagoner to...
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AUTUMN DRAW
If you’re looking for a spot to take in peak fall foliage in Vermont, Yankee Magazine doesn’t recommend traveling far. Yankee Magazine fall foliage experts Kim Knox Beckius and foliage expert Jim Salge named the best places in each New England state...
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Tickets, parking guide for Champlain Valley Fair
Thousands are all but certain to flock to the Champlain Valley Fair next week in Essex Junction. Vermont’s largest annual event, now entering its 104th year, starts Friday, Aug. 28, and ends Sunday, Sept. 6. The fair boasts live music, rides, classic...
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Colleges confront decline in reading
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students’ reading habits, or rather nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than an unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age. Reading – not just...
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Trump gets win in mail ballot dispute
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said lower courts moved too soon when they partly paused President Donald Trump’s executive order cracking down on mail-in ballots before the midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. The court on Aug. 24...
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Activist focuses on lives hurt by oil, gas industry
Jane Fonda is upfront at the start of the new documentary “Gaslit,” which focuses on pollution caused by the oil and gas industry in Texas and Louisiana. “My celebrity,” the activist and twotime Academy Award-winning actor says in the film she...
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‘Chef Pops’ keeps on creating
MILTON — Months after closing his restaurant, Humble Revelry, Andrew Gonyon feels still like he’s lost part of his identity. The man’s nickname is “Chef Pops.” The work he did in his three-decade career, especially pouring so much of himself into his...
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Mirabelles moves into former Kitchen Table spots
SOUTH BURLINGTON — The Kitchen Table restaurant in Richmond and its café-market counterpart in South Burlington have closed. Now, the renowned Mirabelles Bakery will set up new, expanded offerings in both spots. Mirabelles owner Jacob Kent said the...
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Iran vows ‘devastating’ response to recent threat
DUBAI – Iran said on Aug. 21 that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington prepared for...
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U.S. debt crosses $40 trillion threshold
WASHINGTON – Total U.S. debt has topped $40 trillion for the first time, the Treasury Department said Aug. 19, drawing fresh warnings that a fiscal crisis is brewing as ballooning costs for social safety-net programs and interest payments far outstrip...
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Trump plan could hit science funding
Most Americans don’t read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the Uniform Guidance, shape how cancer research is funded, graduate students are trained, clinical trials are sustained, universities stock their...
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Mass hearings held in immigration courts
Lines have stretched out the front door of courthouses. Overflow seating has been set up in hallways. And there have been classroom-style exchanges, with judges asking people to raise their hands in response to generic questions about their...
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Blue Paddle Bistro ends 21-year run
A popular, long-running restaurant has announced its permanent closure in the heart of the Lake Champlain islands’ busy summer season. The Blue Paddle Bistro has served diners visiting South Hero for more than two decades. Mandy Hotchkiss, who ran the...
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Hundreds ride for Shiloh Skalka after fatal e-bike crash
Hundreds of cyclists brought traffic to a halt Wednesday as they rode Burlington’s South End in honor of Shiloh Skalka — the 16-year-old Burlington High School student fatally struck while riding her e-bike July 16. Local Motion, a biker- and...
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U.S. tells Iran it will step up pressure
LONDON – Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Aug. 14 after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely. A senior Iranian source said...
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‘As the sheriff, I wasn’t pleased’
Dan Gamelin comfortably won the Democratic race for Chittenden County sheriff over Kevin Bloom on Tuesday, according to unofficial tallies from the state. But the incumbent — who, with currently no opponents for November, will likely win another term...
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Al-Qaida, Islamic State group adopting AI
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. h It...
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Pick your own peaches at these five orchards
August in New England is finally here, ushering in humid weather, summer’s final beach days and a new fruit season: peaches. Peach season typically lasts from late July or early August through early September, meaning if you want to get your hands on...
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Nonstop gross-out humor
WILLISTON — The most successful film franchise set (but, alas, not filmed) in Vermont is back in action, as tasteless and outrageous as ever. “Super Troopers 3” brings the filthyminded, prank-playing “Vermont Highway Patrol” — a most thinly veiled...
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Two Democrats aim for chance to unseat Gov. Scott
Gov. Phil Scott remains America’s favorite governor, but his support in the Green Mountain State is waning as he enters the final weeks of his sixth gubernatorial primary race. Scott’s approval rating was sitting at 48% as of July 21, the lowest since...
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New kitchen, new vision
Just like guests at The Harborvale, chef Doug Paine arrived after a journey. His took him through the restaurant industry, and the menu he’s made for the Burlington hotel reflects that. “It’s a bit of a retrospective of all the food I’ve cooked over...
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Reports: U.S. missile supply badly depleted
The war on Iran has severely depleted key U.S. missile stockpiles and left the nation and its allies in a vulnerable position for potentially years to come, several experts and reports say. U.S. missile stockpiles were low before President Donald...
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Gunshot detection tech ignites controversy
When gunshots ring out on America’s streets, bystanders face an instant, high-stakes dilemma. h Do I call the cops? Were those even gunshots? Maybe it was just fireworks. h Every moment of hesitation risks a delay in medical treatment or gives a...
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GOP-led House, Senate openly at odds
WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans are headed into the home stretch of a crucial midterm election year bitterly divided over their competing legislative priorities. Between the Senate and House of Representatives, there are vastly different...
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George
other tools that we know disproportionately impact people of color and poor people,” she said. “It’s only when you are advocating for something that goes against the sort of status quo of prosecutors that people – people like the commissioner – at...
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Petition says Mamdani should skip 9/11 event
Some relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks are urging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony, arguing that his presence would detract from what they say should remain a solemn day...
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Driver charged in crash
Local artist Douglas Knapp now faces charges from the crash that killed a 16year-old e-bike rider in Burlington midJuly. The teen, Shiloh Skalka, died after being struck by a minivan driven by Knapp on July 16, according to the Burlington Police...
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END-OF-SUMMER CONCERT GUIDE
This harsh reality is best not to think about, but August represents the last full month of summer. Didn’t we just get here? Wasn’t it only a couple of weeks ago that we emerged from our frozen hovels and squinted in the sun as spring’s first rays of...
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Attack sparks fears wars could merge
WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States insisted that leadersinKyivarenotplaying“agameofchess” with their recent drone strike on an Iranian ship and have no interest in leveraging theirconflictwithRussiaintoawider, global war in the...
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SUMMER FUN
What’s not to love about August? The weather is warm and the Vermont arts and entertainment scene is hot. Yes, there are plenty of outdoor shows this month, but most of the 31 events that follow stick to inside spaces. (We’ve written about those...
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U.S., Saudi Arabia attack Iran-linked fighters in Iraq
Saudi Arabia joined the United States in attacking fighters aligned with Iran, the country’s Ministry of Defense announced July 29. Saudi Arabia struck Iran-linked militias based in Iraq, it said. The strikes came in response to attacks from the...
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Residents excited to use completed park
South Burlington resident Tonyel Colby spends most of her day walking her dog Thor, a 2-year-old male ShihPoo with boundless energy, through City Center Park. Sometimes the two even swing by the park at 1 a.m. when Thor’s feeling particularly...
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Kids get first dibs at revamped playground
Squealing children stormed the refurbished Pomeroy Park playground, whirling around a new carousel and clambering over a net-covered climbing dome. That was the scene Tuesday as kids got first dibs on the upgraded park in Burlington’s Old North End....
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Awaiting a new home
WINOOSKI — Tony Bove and William Gonzalez can’t find a place to live. Priced out of New York City, the two Staten Island transplants have spent the last several months renting a room at Motel 6 in Colchester while looking for places in the Burlington...
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WHERE TIMES SLOW DOWN
Betsy Simpson and Jessie Castelline gazed at a pile of tiles scattered like rubble, listening to Katie Salmon demonstrate the finer points of the board game mahjongg. h Sitting at a porch table at Basin Harbor’s Main Lodge, the three relatives...
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U.S. strikes shipping point on Red Sea
DUBAI – U.S. missiles struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as its Caspian coast, on July 24 after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second major shipping...
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NATO steps up security in Arctic
EVENES, Norway – During a frozen morning in Arctic Norway, a group of British and Norwegian soldiers padded softly through a snow-blanketed birch forest. They were on a simulated NATO reconnaissance mission, among some 30,000 troops who took part in a...
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All Night Boogie Band keeps growing
The COVID-19 pandemic was isolating for just about everyone — except, maybe, the future members of the All Night Boogie Band. The group’s vocalist, Jessica Leone, lived in a house in Burlington with eight other people. During the pandemic her...
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Burl’s Downtown Kitchenette brings Southern flair
Downtown Burlington staple El Cortijo Taqueria shut down in June. Practically overnight – at least in the often time-consuming world of restaurant conversions – its replacement opened three days later. It was a “72-hour renovation, with ‘renovation’...
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Burnham becomes U.K. prime minister
LONDON − Same to-do list. Similar politics. But an upgrade of sorts: quicker on his feet, more fluent in public and more attuned to a country impatient for visible progress on immigration and the cost of living. That’s how many British officials and...
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Quartz countertops driving health crisis
If you walk into a Costco, Home Depot or Lowe’s and order a countertop for your kitchen renovation, the store will likely contract with a local fabrication shop, instructing them to make one from a material called engineered stone. Often marketed as...
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TREASURE HUNTS
Adventuregoers equipped with pickaxes and sifting pans wade through the Lamoille River and delve into Barre’s rock quarries on a quest for some of Vermont’s oldest and shiniest treasures. h These treasure hunters, aptly called rockhounders, are part of...
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Trump revisits election security claims in speech
President Donald Trump in a July 16 prime- time address sought to further sow distrust in U. S. elections, claiming broad vulnerabilities with voting systems and potential for interference from other nations. Trump specifically pointed to China,...
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Social media shaping kids’ career dreams
A second grader in Norway drew a YouTube logo when my colleagues and I asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. When we asked why, the child explained that YouTubers are famous and make lots of money. When we asked second graders in Wisconsin...
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Non-alcoholic beer market grows
It was a long night when Bill Cherry and fellow veteran employees at Switchback Brewing first ran their new nonalcoholic brewing system this spring. The effort to create Switchback’s first made-in-house NA beer kept the four at the Burlington brewery...
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‘Super soldier’ bugs are ravaging Vermont crops
An “evolutionary super soldier” from the insect world is ravaging Vermont’s potatoes, eggplants and tomatoes, shrugging off cold snaps and pesticides alike. That’s how University of Vermont ecologist Vic Izzo describes the Colorado potato beetle, a...
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Senator Kennedy, 74, becomes viral sensation
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana looked closely into his phone’s selfie camera, then flipped the view around to reveal a lush oasis: his backyard. “This is another one of those silly videos my staff told me I needed to make,” the 74-year-old junior...
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Heat waves turn homes dangerous for all ages
Most people know that heat waves can be dangerous. What they may not realize is that the heat indoors can be much worse than outdoors. When the power goes out and air conditioning stops, a house starts to function like a greenhouse. Heat enters...
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Trump picks hold near perfect record in primaries
With five months left until the 2026 elections, President Donald Trump holds a near perfect record when it comes to endorsing winning Republican primary candidates. In only a few cases has his preferred candidate lost this year, demonstrating that...
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Ceasefire falls apart as Iran buries slain leader
The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to have fallen apart over continued strife over the Strait of Hormuz as Iranians buried their supreme leader, killed by U.S.-Israel forces at the outset of the war. There were no new...
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Iran says it struck U.S. military targets
Iran struck U.S. military infrastructure targets in other countries in the region, state media reported July 9, the latest in a fresh back-and-forth as President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire between the nations “over.” Attacks were reported...
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Program gives struggling artists $1,000 a month
Though artificial intelligence is making it easier than ever to produce images, music and text, the technology is also making it harder for the people who have traditionally produced this work to earn a living. A photographer who once was commissioned...
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Families in Lebanon return to bombed homes
TYRE, Lebanon – On a beachfront in the coastal city of Tyre, war has finally abated just enough for children to play in the waves and families to gather under parasols as life slowly returns to southern Lebanon. But away from the shore, people coming...
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Johnson reflects on balance of power
WASHINGTON – It’s a challenging time to be the nation’s No. 3 leader, even with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s political party in command. Sometimes it’s a challenging time because of that, with President Donald Trump testing and pushing the boundaries...
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Museums fight to retain unsavory history
A few minutes’ walk from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the nation’s founding ideals were debated and declared, another part of the American story has become a flash point. At the President’s House, an early residence used by Presidents...
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Safety improvements sought for Williston Road
SOUTH BURLINGTON — Tens of thousands of cars cruise Williston Road each day, making it one of Vermont’s busiest streets — and one of its most dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. People on foot or riding bikes have only a cracked, dirt-coated...
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VT reenactors tell hidden side of American Revolution
The war for independence was messier than many Americans think, says Skyler Bailey. “It all gets divvied up into good guys and bad guys,” Bailey, a Revolutionary War reenactor, told the Burlington Free Press. “But the more you look at it, the more you...
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Champlain Parkway finally opens
If you look up what happened in the U.S. in 1965, the answers point to Space Race milestones, the escalating Vietnam War and major civil rights victories. What the search results forget is that it was also the year Vermont set out to build a...
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Weird Al, Jack White among July concerts
The country turns 250 years old this month. That, to put it mildly, is a big deal. Numerous activities will take place to celebrate that rare occasion, many of which we at the Burlington Free Press have written about elsewhere. A couple of the 31...
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July’s outdoor music picks include Weird Al, Jack White
The outdoor concert season in Vermont started in early June, but the alfresco musical offerings really began unfolding later in the month after summer’s official start. July is overflowing with live music outdoors. In in southern and northern Vermont...
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BEHIND THE BAR
Upper Pass Beer began in 2015 in a location apropos its name: a 12-acre former sheep farm set on the side of a mountain off a single-lane dirt road in Tunbridge. Bucolic, yes. Accessible, no. The brewery was upper, to be sure, but potential customers...
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Leaders grapple with summer concerns
Asthelatelunchcrowdateinthe75-degree sun, dozens of people milled about Burlington’s City Hall Park, alone or in groups under trees and on benches. Those folks in the park chatted and sifted through items in wheelbarrows or tarpcovered piles. One...
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Trump sees wins on immigration and guns
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump victories in two immigration cases June 25. In the divide between gun rights and gun violence, the justices struck down another state law, this one in Hawaii, aimed at curbing guns in public...
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‘Beyond belief’
Carried atop shoulders, bolting out ahead or urged on between breaths of a jogging parent, kids and adults alike ran a race Sunday where the course itself — a long-awaited road project — was the draw. Hundreds of runners that morning hit the fresh...
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Two tornadoes hit state in rare weather event
Two short-lived tornadoes hit Vermont last Thursday afternoon, one in Lincoln and the other in Woodstock. No injuries or fatalities were reported, but the twisters damaged some property — including scalping tiles off the roof of a hotel — and snapped...
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Contest
Kujawa’s poem, “Sugarhouse Steel,” captures the vibrance of Vermont’s landscape, taking readers across hills, valleys and forests to convey the spectacle of changing seasons, according to the announcement. “One of the most exciting parts of this...
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Vermont towns ready to celebrate America 250
Vermont will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with festivities and fireworks. Towns across the state will host marching parades, concert performances and history demonstrations as part of the patriotic weekend...
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CDC cuts leave its employees pessimistic, burnt out
Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, the workforce at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has weathered uncertainty and change. Mass firings, communication freezes, political interference in the CDC’s scientific...
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CLASS OF 2026
Roughly 210 graduating seniors sit among family and friends as well as educators in the new gymnasium at the Burlington High School commencement in Burlington on June 16.
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After its closure, college finds new life
PLAINFIELD — Leo Kurland grew up in Los Angeles, the nation’s secondlargest city. He studied theater at Northwestern University in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city. Right now he’s in rural Plainfield, population a shade over 1,200, where’s...
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Burlington watch parties fuel World Cup hype
Attendees cracked can seals and settled into lawn chairs while kids punted giant inflatable soccer balls through the air. On a 17-by-10-foot project screen looming overhead, announcers analyzed the two teams set to duel that night. That was the scene...
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‘It’s a lovefest’
The fries slathered in turkey gravy made mouths water and appetites sated. Those were famous, but the music that filled the Main Street space? That was legendary. “I think the bands made Nectar’s,” said Nectar Rorris, the venue’s namesake and original...
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