The ice rink in the center of the Norwich Green is up and running for another season of winter fun. The creation and upkeep of the rink has been a tradition of the community since at least the ’70s, though skating on the green has likely been a common winter activity for much longer. What started out as a single volunteer standing out on the green with a hose has transformed into a community effort that takes dozens of volunteers each season. Thanks to the tireless efforts of these volunteers, Norwich residents get to enjoy gathering at the rink to skate and socialize during these cold winter months. They call it a “special spot.”

“I used to plow it with my truck and was sometimes helped by one of Leonard Cook’s men,” says Norwich resident Milton Frye, who helped with the rink back when it started in the ’70s. “Volunteers helped me at night to flood the rink with fire hoses that we stored in the basement of the 1898 building.”

THEN: Skating on the town green in Norwich, circa 1940s. Photo by Collamer Abbott NOW: Skating Party in Norwich.

In the early years of the rink, there were no boards around its edges, “but there was always enough snow so that snow banks held the water,” Frye adds. “It seems like there was always a lot of snow. For a while the shape of the rink was an ‘L’ so that both hockey and free skating could take place at the same time.” Members of the community offered their help and talents (as they still do today): “At some time in the ’90s, Jeff Marshal took over the responsibilities of maintaining the rink. He even brought his own snow blower down to school,” Frye remembers. “Peter Anderson welded hockey nets,” and “Ceci Tseng, a teacher, had skates for everyone in kindergarten so that they had an early start on the ice. There were always skates for children to use.”

Norwich residents gather around the fi re pit at the annual
skating party.

“There were never any restrictions about skating because of temperature,” Frye adds. “-10° was never too cold.”

Brie Swenson, recreation director in Norwich, has been working with volunteers to support the creation of the rink over the past few years. Each year, Swenson coordinates with the “head hoser,” an affectionate nickname for the volunteer that leads the project, to get the rink operational before the holiday break, weather permitting. Swenson worked with this year’s head hoser, Buck Child, as well as a team of local volunteers, the Department of Public Works, and the Norwich Fire Department to get the rink set up just before the break began.

“It was magical. Christmas morning, the rink was completely full,” Swenson recalls. But how did the magic get made? Swenson, Child, and several devoted volunteers started by placing the boards which form the foundation of the rink. In previous years, the Department of Public Works has stored the large plastic tarp used to cover the rink, but the recreation department has recently constructed a shed on the green where the tarp will be stored going forward. Once the tarp is laid and secured, the Norwich Fire Department hooks up a hose to fill the man-made rink with 20,000 gallons of water. The creation of the rink is a true community event. Local children often gather to help and watch the rink be filled.

The Norwich Fire Department fills the rink with a fire hose.

However, the effort doesn’t stop there. Once the rink is frozen, it is open to the community for use by the Marion Cross Elementary School, the recreation department, and the local community at large. As Swenson describes, “Every weekend that the rink is up, it’s full.” To ensure that the rink doesn’t deteriorate, a team of volunteers, coordinated by the head hoser, work to clear the rink after winter storms and hose the rink nightly. This maintenance helps keep it smooth and skateable for the community. Kristin Brown Close was the head hoser from 2016 until 2019. She started working on the rink when her children began playing hockey.

“It is such an amazing team of volunteers,” she says. In a typical year, there are between nine and 12 hosers who are each assigned days that they are responsible for shoveling, scraping, and hosing the rink. Temperatures need to be below freezing for the ice to freeze smoothly. The hose itself is attached to a faucet, which sprays a thin layer of water onto the ice, making each hoser a “human zamboni” of sorts. In the event of a snowstorm, all hosers, as well as community volunteers, will come out to clear the rink.

Volunteers set up boards to form the edges of the rink.

“People would just drop everything and come to clear the ice,” Close describes. The longevity of the rink is dependent on the weather, but it is usually operational from December through March. Volunteers break it down in April, once it is thawed. While the rink is up, it functions as a community space where Norwich residents can be together outside. In the long winter months, it’s important to have a place where people can gather and warm themselves with recreation and pleasant company. For eight years running, the recreation department has held a skating party. Hot chocolate is served around fire pits, and of course, everyone enjoys skating on the rink. “It’s a really fun gathering, every year,” Close says.

This year, the party was on Friday, January 24th, and the rink was alive with laughter and excitement. Norwich Farm Creamery provided the hot chocolate, and parents gathered around the fire pits while their children skated. The rink was bursting with a rainbow of multi-colored snowsuits. The recreation department provided skates to those who didn’t have their own. Norwich residents found warmth in gathering as a community.

Ultimately, the community-building fun that the rink provides would not be possible without the work of the hosers. As Close put it, “the most important thing was the spirit of the volunteers, and how fun it was to work together.” Current head hoser Buck Child got involved with the rink because he recognized its importance to the community. “The whole town, all ages and abilities, can come out to the rink and enjoy it,” he says.

Kristin Brown Close hoses the rink.

Several community organizations support the rink as well. The Norwich Women’s Club and The Lions Club of Norwich helped fund the purchase of the liner and the maintenance equipment. Community members donate shovels. The recreation department has recently had solar overhead lights and blue underlighting installed for nighttime skating. The rink itself now glows Norwich blue.

The rink is a free and open-to-all recreational space, something that is hard to find in the winter. “It’s a space where people can gather, all winter long,” Child says. “You can be a toddler or a senior citizen. Everyone gets out there.”

Child worries for the future of the rink in the face of warming winters, with cold nights and warm days making upkeep of the rink increasingly difficult. However, the importance of the rink and the dedication of the team of volunteers ensures that this tradition will continue as long as it can. “It’s a great thing for the town, the community, and the school,” he says.

Child also has exciting plans for the rink in the coming years. He’d like to organize broomball and hockey tournaments on the ice, as well as coordinating with the recreation department and the Hopkins Center for the Arts to have figure skaters perform at the rink. First and foremost though, he’d like to get some benches around the rink for skaters to sit on while lacing up their skates.

Norwich schoolchildren help to move benches to the rink.

With the support of the community, hosers work diligently to maintain the rink throughout the winter. They are united in a sense of purpose. “When everyone else is inside next to the fire with a cup of hot chocolate, they’re out there with a hose full of cold water, splashing it down on the ice,” Child explains.

While it is cold and laborious, the job is never thankless. “When you drive by and you see all these kids and adults having so much fun, it’s all worth it,” Kristin Close says. The rink is a labor of love that keeps the community connected even when the cold tries to drive everyone apart. As the side-by-side photos on the previous page depict, each winter for many years and more to come, a Norman Rockwell painting comes to life in the center of Norwich.

A  great community is made up of great people. We’ve profiled a lot of great people in the Norwich Times over the years, each one remarkable in their own right, and it’s a great honor when I get the chance to interview and tackle the process of trying to put words to a Norwichian’s life and commitment to this special town in such a small way. It’s equally daunting that, being an “outsider” as it stands, I’m writing about someone that everyone already knows, and I’ve only just begun to get to know.

This signed picture frame was gifted to Demo Sofronas at a
community potluck in December to commemorate his service as
a crossing guard in Norwich. Photo by Kata Sasvari.

You may know him as a former postmaster or crossing guard, or 30 year Lions Club and 30+ years American Legion member, or a veteran of 26 years of service in the U.S. Army National Guard, or by one of the many other hats he’s worn in life so far…

Demo Sofronas, who arrived in Norwich in 1993 to be the town’s postmaster, quickly melded with his surroundings and felt right at home.

“That’s how I got involved with the community,” he says. “Every postmaster is given an assignment to go out and meet the community and interact with them to improve postal operations.”

Through his job, Demo was encouraged to get involved with local organizations, which has stuck with him even after he moved on from the Norwich Post Office after 9 years, and after his retirement from the postal service in 2007. “I’ve served on many committees and boards,” but listing them wouldn’t be telling the real story about what’s important to him about Norwich, he says.

An article from the winter/spring issue of the Norwich Times in 2019, after being named Norwich’s “Citizen of the Year”, details Demo’s rich history of his many involvements in Norwich over the years, but there’s one thing that keeps Demo the busiest these days.

Demo receiving an award as a 30+ years American Legion member

Now, in his “semi-retirement phase,” as he calls it, Demo has turned his focus to his well-loved community newsletter, About Norwich, which has gained much traction and support since its inception in the winter of 2019.

While working part-time for CATV (now JAM (Junction Arts & Media) in White River Junction), Demo was primarily responsible for filming coverage of selectboard meetings in Norwich. “Seeing people come together in a political setting,” he says, “you see a lot of different things, you learn a lot. I felt inspired.”

Fourteen years of filming selectboard meetings in Norwich “inspired me to want to see if I can bring the community together,” Demo says. After branching out to film other local events in town like pumpkin carving in front of the Town Hall at Halloween, Homecoming parades, and the Norwich Fair, “that inspired me even more,” Demo adds, “because I saw another sign of community; I saw people coming together.”

About Norwich captures the spirit of the Norwich community in a neat little package, with stories spanning everywhere from town-wide updates, school news, and event coverage, to heartfelt tales of some of Norwich’s best – heroes, helpers, and the good stuff that makes Norwich the amazing place that it is.

“It’s a mix between events that are happening and then every now and again, a ‘Day in the Life’ of someone,” Demo explains. The About Norwich mission statement sums up Demo’s goals well: “My stories are about people and events in Norwich, and sometimes out and about in the Upper Valley. The stories are meant to inspire and bring the community together. I will do my best to write positive stories and offer you some informational topics, also.”

Topics range from short stories to longer pieces and photo essays, depending on what strikes Demo in the moment. “I kind of wing it,” he says. “If I’m walking down the street and I see something and I take a picture of it and I say ‘that would make a good story’, I do that.”

Demo the crossing guard.

The story of About Norwich began around 2017, when Demo was writing for Daily UV (a local roundup of community news) and working alongside Rob Gurwit (now the publisher of Daybreak Upper Valley). “Rob served as a mentor to me, which prompted me to start my own blog when Daily UV shut down,” rolling with the name he had coined, “About Norwich”, and keeping his inspirational momentum going.

“I started to get a following,” Demo recounts. “I just kept at it…It’s done well.” Over the past five years, About Norwich has grown to have over 900 subscribers, which is close to 52% of postal addresses in Norwich.

In 2023, Demo’s most read story on About Norwich was “This little squirrel just might kneed the dough”, a short and sweet photo essay depicting a local squirrel that had gotten ahold of someone’s baguette and embarked on a steady ascent up a tree with its prized possession. Many of Demo’s best stories transpire this way – coming from neighbors in Norwich who submit photos and anecdotes, which Demo takes and turns into a fun and compelling story to share with the greater community, inducing lots of smiles from readers along the way.

“I’m not a writer,” Demo admits,” but people have told me [I] have the ability to look at a photo and come up with a caption that is totally relative yet kind of corny; I guess that’s my style.”

Demo cutting a cake made by the Norwich Rec kids’ culinary
camp at a community potluck in December.
Photo by Kata Sasvar.

Last year, Demo published a total of 91 stories, his most read this time being “The USS Constitution – a 14-month project – and a photo essay step by step”, a story about a ship model built by Lebanon’s Arthur Sauvigne. Other top contenders included stories about the Norwich Kids Bridge, the Norwich Christmas Pageant, Valentines for Veterans, and a couple stories with photos of puppies so enticing, I can see why they got over one thousand clicks.

Demo’s involvement in the community of Norwich has fed his soul, and About Norwich is his way to keep the train going, continuing to have a foothold in his town and bring joy to his neighbors.

“It’s hard to scale down,” he admits, referring to the various positions he’s had to cut back on in his retirement and to focus on his newsletter. “I’ve enjoyed it immensely,” and “I never could have done any of this without the support of my wife and family,” he adds.

In December, Demo retired from his post as a crossing guard for families and students at Marion Cross Elementary School (MCS). “Being a crossing guard just [increased] my community involvement,” he says, so much so that he’s created some lifetime memories for kids in Norwich. “I [saw] parents and kids coming to school every day, and these are the same people that I’ve seen out and about in the community through these different organizations that I’ve served.”

“It makes me smile every time my daughter crosses the road,” says Becky Munsterer Sabky. “To this day,” when Polly, a first grader at MCS, crosses the road, “she says ‘listen to Demo when crossing the road’, because he taught [her] to cross the road safely.”

Another MCS student dressed up as Demo in his crossing guard uniform (bright vest and red stop sign) for Halloween one year. The Norwich Recreation Department’s holiday community potluck honored Demo, and the kids’ culinary camp created a special cake for him.

Demo in a dunk tank during an outdoor activity day that the Marion Cross School was holding for their students.

Rest assured, Demo doesn’t plan to stop writing and sharing the best tid-bits of Norwich life anytime soon. Two months into another year of About Norwich, with nine or ten stories hot off the press, he’s already on track to beat his record from last year – not that that’s the goal, of course. You can catch up with Demo around town as he’s out and about finding stories, and you can look forward to Demo’s contributions in future issues of the Norwich Times.

“I don’t know how you’re going to put this all together,” Demo told me during our interview (the age old question for any writer, I’d imagine). “But I can tell you what my favorite movie is.” I assured Demo I’d find some way of weeding through the density of his many ties to Norwich (a mighty task that was becoming clearer with every second of our conversation), while we traded our reviews of The Notebook across a table at the Norwich Inn, talked about our tactics for beating writer’s block, and discussed favorite music – Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones coming to the top of the list for Demo. “This is going to date me,” he realized, then shrugged it off, “but tell the world, I don’t care!”

You can subscribe to Demo’s newsletter, “About Norwich”, and read past articles on Substack at aboutnorwich.substack.com.

A grand total of zero people asked me to write this column, so here we go…in no particular order, 15 things I love about Norwich. (Why 15? Our ZIP code of course.)

I remember when the trails of Parcel 5 were relatively unknown. Now users find biking, hiking, walking, running, dog exercising, and snowshoeing. The part that always impresses and keeps me coming back is that no matter the number of cars in the lot, once you’re in the woods, you’re all alone.

Anyone seeking to understand our town’s magic should go to the Farmers Market. On Saturday mornings, it’s a great way to celebrate community, nature, hard work, tradition, music, and delicious local food. Of course, I make it a point to stop at the farm stand on Saturdays…and every other day of the week, too. It’s like two diamond rings for the price of one.

The two-mile loop that includes Beaver Meadow, Moore Lane, Turnpike, and Main (“the Block”) is one of our unheralded treasures. It’s a manageable distance for runners of all skill levels. It gives us a chance to appreciate the different neighborhoods throughout our town (a dip down Huntley or around Hazen is a good call). Without fail, a walk around the Block will get you more smiles, waves, honks, and headlight flashes from your fellow Norwichians than any other route I know.

When the populace congregates around the bandstand, good things are happening. Concerts, Turkey Trots, picnics, celebrations…the vibe is always good.

While helping us see the world through the eyes of a child, the Montshire Museum also surprises when it hosts grown-ups. I’ve been to weddings, pizza parties, and galas in the space, and sipping an IPA amongst the turtles, bubbles, and microscopes feels like you’re getting away with something.

There are many wonderful roads in our hamlet, but Bragg Hill is near the top of my list. Walk, run, or drive, you can feel your blood pressure come down as you soak in the views, tree-lined driveways, and meadows bursting with birdsong and other wildlife.

If action is more what you seek, the wall-to-wall costumed glory that is Carpenter Street on Halloween must be one of the top five spots to trick or treat in the nation. Safe, friendly community at its best.

Find me a better baguette, croissant, or free samples within ten miles of King Arthur and I’ll get you a box of their scone mix.

Watching our children conquer the different challenges of the Norwich Fair is one of parenthood’s great joys. Starting with the flying bees and giant slide, we watch as they graduate to the Sizzler and the Zipper, building memories along the way that will always be from “home.”

What have I done at Huntley Meadow? Won. Lost. Celebrated. Ate. Laughed. Connected. Played. Run. Biked. Skied. Sledded. Coached. Learned. Communed!

What do you get when you mix good lighting with good people, tremendous smarts with down-to-earth-ness, laughter with guidance, omnivorousness with expertise, variety with specialties? The Norwich Bookstore of course.

Our youngest will complete sixth grade at the Marion Cross School in a few months. I will feel sad that I will never have children at the school again. Even as faculty and staff changed over the decades, the school never stopped creating an environment of kindness, trust, learning, and excellence. It’s a jewel of the educational landscape in Vermont and beyond. Next gen, please take care of it.

Naturally, many aspects of our town are worthless without the human element. We cry, laugh, celebrate, mourn, debate, play, work, and live together in remarkable harmony. Against a backdrop of uncertainty beyond our borders, remembering the inherent love and acceptance that we have right here at home can be a soothing balm for our souls.

Oh, one last thing. I’m told we have a pretty good general store. Even if it closes earlier than it did in the past.

In traffic engineering, a rumble strip keeps us from going out of our lane or off the side of the road while we inadvertently catch a few winks. Newer cars have ‘virtual’ rumble strips, beeping loudly at our various driving mishaps like crossing a double yellow line or getting too close to another car. But unlike roadway rumble strips, Erica Heilman, producer of the Vermont-based podcast Rumble Strip, relishes getting up close and personal with the people she interviews. In a talk sponsored by VT Humanities that Erica gave at the Norwich Public Library last fall to a standing-room-only crowd, she shared her insights about the journey we humans are on together as we navigate life’s ups and downs, sometimes with guardrails on our emotions, but more often without. A fitting analogy, as it turns out, to the many alternative names for a rumble strip, and come to think of it, the ebb and flow of small town life – “sleepy bumps”, “wake up calls”, “growlers”, and “waker-uppers”.

Recognized as one of the top podcasts in the country by the New York Times and The New Yorker, and winner of a prestigious Peabody Award for “excellence in quality storytelling,” Erica has found a way for Rumble Strip stories to resonate with both listeners and reviewers. Erica explained her ultimate goal to the Norwich Public Library audience: “I want to make shows that remind us of this really natural capacity that we have to fall in love with each other and to join with something that’s bigger than ourselves,” she says. “I think if we bring this attention, openness, curiosity, and levity to our interactions with people, our communities will be stronger.” This sentiment was echoed by a Norwich resident who responded to a survey about the event. “Erica is my favorite podcaster and she is an inspiration to be curious and thoughtful about interacting with others in town. She is also an inspiration to become more involved in town.” And ‘becoming more involved in town’, whether in governance work, community events, supporting schools, or even just buying local first, all have a place in helping a community thrive.

Erica Heilman recording an interview for her podcast,
Rumble-Strip, after Vermont’s flooding last summer.

In a follow-up interview after the event, Erica calls out the concept of Town Meeting day in Vermont, with its broad cross section of residents coming together to make decisions. “Town meeting is one of the last places where you gather together with people who are not like you. There are people you like and people you don’t like,” she says. “I am amazed every year at the civility of those meetings. There’s a kind of mutual respect that happens.” Town Meeting in Norwich is generally a civil affair, according to Selectboard member Mary Layton. “We vote by Australian ballot and have an information meeting the night before the Town Meeting. People come because it’s a town ritual, kind of marking the year like making maple syrup or planting your seeds,” she says. Mary observes that Norwich has a lot of voter participation, and that people pay attention to Town government. The Selectboard is discussing how to reshape the information meeting to include pie or maybe lunch so people can just talk among themselves about a particular issue. “People feel comfortable talking with the Selectboard members at community gatherings,” Mary says. “If they have something to say, they say it. Most of them say it respectfully, sometimes not.”

In listening to some of the more than 200 episodes of the Rumble Strip podcast, love and levity emerge as common themes, but heartache and tragedy have their place as well, often centered around the idea of building community. Erica continues, “Now that I’m old, I realize that the quality of my interactions with other people is a huge part of the quality of my life.” Erica’s warm and compassionate interviewing style clearly puts the people she speaks with at ease. But she is also a refreshingly bold questioner, tackling difficult topics like suicide, drug addiction, and other impactful life experiences that threaten to shatter us to the core, alongside uplifting topics like gardening, whale songs, little league, and puppies.

In playing back one episode, Erica spoke with a victim of last summer’s floods who lost her home in Plainfield, VT, and invites the woman to tell her story of being rescued. The recording was a vivid description of the rocks and water banging against the door, watching the water rise in the house, and the heart-wrenching moment when she had to choose between her own life and going back for her cat. Yet when the woman shared a personal viewpoint on the housing crisis in Vermont, one listener took exception to it, despite the tragedy of the woman’s circumstances. Erica points to this exchange as an example of people experiencing each other as ideologies and not as people, which is one of the more challenging aspects of humanity she’s working to shine a light on in her podcast.

Another survey respondent from White River Junction reflected on Erica’s talk: “We want to be heard, but do we want to hear? Maybe hearing and being heard are closer than we think. I was inspired to continue to hope to find a sense of authenticity and community, two concepts that join together in tandem with how people connect.” Erica laments there is a lot of life that doesn’t happen in-person anymore, especially with the decline in small general stores, local schools becoming regionalized, and fewer community gathering events. “There are fewer and fewer excuses to get together with people who are unlike ourselves – school plays, pie suppers,” she says. “We need places to run into each other to grow social capital and familiarity with each other and have a good time in town.”

Norwich Library director, Lucinda Walker, notes that Norwich has many important annual events that provide an access point for meeting people. “Norwich has a robust recreation department and a historical society that collaborates with the school on programs,” she says. The annual Lions Club Fair and Christmas pageant attract diverse crowds as well, and Norwich residents view activities for people to gather as a high priority. Lucinda sees the library serving as a “third space” – not work, not school, but a place where people of all ages can access information and see other people. Lucinda says that it’s taken a long time for people to return following the pandemic, but now they are back in droves, and the library remains a place where people can connect with their community.

The first episode of Erica’s independent podcast aired in 2013, before the word ‘podcast’ was mainstream. “Colin McCaffrey Talks Shop” was an engaging piece featuring the prolific Vermont-born singer/songwriter. In her introduction, Erica explains that on the show, she’ll be talking with “central Vermonters who are artists, road commissioners, waitresses, parole officers, teachers, and parolees,”  and that it will “feature what I hope is some good conversation, as well as what I hope will be some good conversational experiments.”

As the show has evolved over more than a decade, so has Erica’s understanding and appreciation for what it brings to her world and the world at large. “At a certain point, this show became something that marks time for me,” she says. “It’s the way that I understand and make sense of things, and make sense of this place where I live.”

As to the production aspects of the show, Erica speaks to the unique nature of an audio recording versus a written piece. “Audio is content but also dynamic and sound. What you can capture in audio is silence and tone. You don’t have to describe it because you can hear it,” she says. Erica goes into each episode entirely without a plan, preferring to allow the recording to dictate the final outcome. “Every single time I make a show, I don’t know what I’m doing or what it’s going to become. That’s another benefit of being independent and downwardly mobile. I just wanted to get going and get started. It has become what it is over the years, but each story dictates its format.” For a show with virtually no rules, there is one thing Erica is committed to in producing the podcast: “If I had a rule, it would be that I’d never want to put out a show where we were looking at someone rather than climbing in with them.”

Author Jeff Sharlet, of Norwich, attended Erica’s talk and knows her personally. “She’s a podcaster’s podcaster, a documentary artist’s documentary artist – someone to whom other practitioners tune in to hear how it’s done, how it could be done. And the great thing is, lots of everyday people do tune in as well,” he says. “I think listening to Rumble Strip makes us all practitioners. When we listen, we linger with other people in their lives. Listening makes us think like a documentary artist; it makes us listen to our own lives, too, and the other people with whom we share them, for better and worse.”

To decide on topics for the show, Erica looks to her own questions about life and living as well as getting ideas from listeners and friends. “Sometimes, I have a selfish and burning question about my age or dying, and then I’ll figure out how I will answer it or who I should talk to,” she says. “When you have a show that is a container that you can put anything in, it gives you a sense of freedom to explore.” Topics that come up frequently include death, love, hunting, farming, and lately questions of class and cultural blindness in Vermont. “I think we’re getting better at talking about race and gender, but not socioeconomic and cultural diversity. That’s a blind spot in both the media and in people’s minds,” Erica says. Lucinda appreciates the unfiltered view of Vermont life in Erica’s podcasts. “The thing I love about Erica and Rumble Strip is that she is giving us access to an authentic view of Vermont – the people who are populating our state and their experiences of living here, which counteracts the image of life here being bucolic all the time. We suffer like people do in other places,” she says.

“We have a lot of people coming to Vermont now, and that’s great, but it’s happening at a time that the nature of the towns are changing,” Erica says. “There are a lot of people doing good work in Vermont and there are cultural traditions here that are fading because of the changes in the way that we work and live.”

Erica likes to talk with people who are passionate about something rather than those who think they are certain about what’s right or wrong. “I don’t trust people who think they have a fix on the truth. I’m more interested in first person experience and what someone might be confused about,” she says. Erica has interviewed experts on childhood, a biologist who researches whale language (definitely worth listening to), and musicians, felons, taxidermists, teachers, and poets. “What surprises me after doing this for a while is how easy it is to fall in love with strangers. We are good at that, that’s our nature. It’s an important skill that we have as humans. It’s the best job in the world to be reminded of that daily. You don’t have to like everybody, but loving people is what we’re good at.”

Erica hopes Rumble Strip encourages listeners to fall in love with strangers and to find themselves in the lives of people who are unlike themselves. “It’s really important to show how extraordinary our tiny, ordinary lives really are,” she says. In the meantime, we’ll all just keep trying to stay on the road.

To explore the Rumble Strip podcast, visit rumblestripvermont.com.

Each February just before Valentine’s Day, a group of women  get together in the wine cellar at the Norwich Inn with a mission: to craft as many valentines cards as they can for Veterans at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction.

Around 15 years ago, Norwich resident Becky Munsterer Sabky read a newspaper column about Veterans hospitals welcoming valentines from strangers for Valentine’s Day – a holiday that is sometimes cautiously celebrated, especially by those who have experienced loss or other traumas throughout their life.

Becky reached out to the VA Medical Center in White River Junction to inquire about getting involved. At first, “It was just a couple friends and me getting together,” she says. Now, the group has grown to involve lots of local women (20 participated this year); as they grew, they dubbed themselves first “The Ladies of the Upper Valley”, and then as the group evolved to be mostly women from Norwich, they became “The Ladies of Norwich”, and they sign their homemade valentines as such. “It became a social and community event that took off,” Becky adds. “It’s an invitation to friends and family to get together, craft valentines, and then deliver them to the VA hospital.”

Norwich residents and honorary “Ladies of Norwich”,
Laura Brown and Helena Gardner, show their
Valentines creations before they get delivered to the
VA medical center in White River Junction.

When the Ladies of Norwich first started making and delivering valentines to Veterans, they were able to visit the hospital and deliver the cards door-to-door. Post-Covid, some rules have changed, and now their valentines cards are delivered to the hospital and placed on patients’ lunch trays as a nice surprise. The number one rule that the Ladies of Norwich and other area Valentines-for-Veterans card-makers have to abide by is “no glitter!”. For anyone who has crafted with glitter before, you probably understand why.

But that doesn’t limit The Ladies of Norwich. From stickers and markers to crayons and cutouts, their valentines make a statement in pretty pinks, purples, and reds. For Becky and her friends, it’s as fun as it is charitable, to get together and mingle while crafting, sharing appetizers and wine. “We feel like kindergarteners again,” Becky remarks.

This year, the Ladies of Norwich made 80 valentines cards to distribute to patients at the VA Medical Center. Becky sees it as a small contribution in the grand scheme of things, but, “You do something so little, and yet it really inspires people to think about how they can think of others on Valentine’s Day,” she says. “It was hard to deliver cards to people who were inpatients at the hospital, but I felt like they were so inspirational, and it was such a little thing that seemed to brighten their day.”

The Ladies of Norwich plan to get together again soon to craft cards for Veterans for Memorial Day. In the meantime, the VA is always welcoming volunteers to interact with Veterans in a variety of ways.

During National Salute to Veteran Patients Week (Valentine’s week: February 9-15), “The community is encouraged to send in valentines for the patients,” says Karen Campbell, VHA-CM, Chief of Center for Development and Civic Engagement at the White River Junction VA Medical Center. For local information regarding this activity or opportunities to engage with Veterans, you can contact the medical center at:

White River Junction VA HCS
215 North Main Street
White River Junction, VT  05009
802-295-9363 x5392