Soon, some residents you know will become celebrities, and local haunts you love will become recognizable to those from different areas of the world, all because the Upper Valley will soon grace the silver screen. JAM (Junction Arts & Media) is making its first feature-length film, Valley Transit, about an intergenerational relationship that occurs on a bus.

The nonprofit community-building organization has served Norwich, Hartford, Hartland, Hanover, and Lebanon for the last five years. JAM helps residents work their way into roles in the film industry and supports those with big ideas, but even still, their newest project is one of their most community-focused to date. A grassroots-funded film featuring local businesses and organizations, Valley Transit will be an opportunity for new filmmakers to learn about the world of filmmaking on set.

This ambitious goal first came about last year in the fall when JAM decided to “[raise] the quality bar of media production in [the] area,” says Executive Director Samantha Davidson Green. As the director and writer of Valley Transit, Green’s goal was to tell a “quintessential Upper Valley [story] about what it’s like to come of age…and what it’s like to age here.”

Lead actor Alicia Sanyal (playing “Lizzie”) and Allison Fay Brown (playing “Chloe”).

Green noted that the story’s inspiration came from the “unusual mixing of generations” JAM has as a community resource, as it provides programs for both younger and older demographics. Over the next month, Green developed the project into a full-fledged script, which was further workshopped during the White River Indie Films Festival with a community table read and staff feedback.

Many signs showed this was the right time for the film to be made. First, last fall, film producer Wei Dai had recently moved from Los Angeles to the area. Though Dai was looking to apply for another job on JAM’s board for media coverage, by spring, he was brought on by Green to produce the project. Additionally, JAM found cinematographer Quinn Thomashow, who grew up in Stratford and came back from LA to help. Then, JAM also received a grant from the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant Program on June 1, allowing the team to film Valley Transit on high-quality Panavision film, which Green believes “will give everyone a higher quality learning experience and results in the film.”

From the beginning, the entire project has had the Upper Valley community in mind. When JAM hosted the community table read, the organization invited Upper Valley residents interested in reading parts to attend. In addition, JAM also encouraged those attending to complete paper surveys for feedback. Also, JAM held a brief discussion to take comments and have conversations, because although the film is a comedy, Green said it “does tackle, in a gentle way, some of the culture divides around political points of view” and expresses that “the spirit of the story is very much about bringing people together” across those rifts.

Richard Noble (playing “George”) and Alicia Sanyal (playing “Lizzie”).

Many different types of locations are featured within Valley Transit to show the burgeoning diversity of the Upper Valley. The shooting plan included the Lebanon Salt Hill Pub, Shyrl’s Diner, Dan and Whit’s, the Lebanon Opera House, the Norwich Fair, Hanover Food Co-op, Lyman Bridge, the American Legion in Windsor, and of course, the Advanced Transit Bus System, the catalyst for the entire film. Local musicians will also contribute to the film’s soundtrack, including Norwich resident Hans Williams and Hanover resident Sir Babygirl. Some will even be on camera, like folk/bluegrass musicians Jakob Breitbach, Jes Raymond, and Allison Faye Brown.

Valley Transit Green explained, provides a “real resume item and a real IMDb credit if any of these folks end up wanting to continue to do this work.” She says that the 15 high school and college interns working on this project have real responsibilities, including directing, casting, and filming. Because of higher stakes, participants will be held accountable to “reach for the highest quality bar we can achieve.”

Fundraising efforts also came from the community, including residents, the nonprofit Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, and corporations like Mascoma Bank. The project has raised $267,311 to date, 89% of its $299,858 goal. Green said the organization has raised enough to “cover all of [their] commitments for production,” and they are working on raising the last bit to cover post-production. Many businesses and residents have also offered their locations or residencies, and Northern Stage and North Country Community Theater (NCCT) are sharing a selection of costumes.

Dai explained that Valley Transit’s plan is in flux, depending on how production progresses. The current schedule (at press time for this publication) was to film over a month, beginning on July 18 and ending on August 16. Post-production would take another five or six months, which Dai said is a “conservative” estimate. After that, JAM will submit Valley Transit to film festivals. Dai noted that a lot of these festivals have requirements on the premiere status of the film, meaning you can’t screen it publicly until they host the festival. Dai said it will be in local theaters about a year and a half from now.

Crew, interns, and cast at the HCC Block Party: Liam Kelly-Thompson (2nd Assistant Director and Norwich
resident), Brooklyn Gramling (SFFI intern), Adelaide Jones (SFFI intern), Noah Schutzius (playing “Woody”), and Reeve Green (playing “Drew”).

Green and Dai explained how important the film is to highlight the Upper Valley’s unique community and culture as a lens for seeing the world at large. Dai said that though he’s not originally from the area, he hopes the project will help people see that they should support the local businesses and meet more people.

Green hopes Valley Transit will resonate for local audiences, and allowing them to see the Upper Valley differently while also feeling a sense of pride and appreciation. Additionally, she hopes that the film will “convey something about the heart of our community out into the world for outside audiences who’ve never been here and may or may not [know] about the Upper Valley.”

For those who want to help support this exciting community project, Green said Valley Transit is still open to accepting donations. To make a donation, visit givebutter.com/jam-summer-feature-film-intensive-2026-ooh4fo.

You can live in a town for ten years, but sometimes you need to break routine to notice it in a whole new way. Resident David Watts realized this when he challenged himself to bike every maintained public road — not including major highways or Class IV roads (roads not maintained by the town or state) — in Norwich. What Watts dubs the “Tour de Norwich” took about a month and a half. In nine rides, he biked 149 miles and climbed 15,407 vertical feet.

Bike riding has been a part of Watts’ life for a long time. He bought his first road bike when he was 26 and has been biking for over 25 years. However, recently, he was looking for a change. Selling his road bike for an easier ride in rougher terrain, he created a challenge to “go all in” with his new gravel bike. His goal? To have fun exploring Norwich in a fresh way that not many do.

An unusual sight of a skeleton riding a rooster on Tigertown Road.

To undertake this challenge, Watts needed to map it out. He purchased the last available Norwich road map from Dan and Whit’s and highlighted routes. The tactile method, he says, was simpler than using Google Maps, while also making it easier to share his journeys with his family. Each ride was tracked on his smart watch through a fitness app and later logged into a notebook.

Watts started his “Tour de Norwich” on April 9 this year with a local ride in the Pompanoosuc section of town near Union Village Road, and he ended the challenge on May 30 on Kerwin Hill Road. Watts confirmed this hit his pre-established deadline of finishing before beginning work on his new HR consultancy business, WattsUp Human Resource Solutions.

Watts’ family was generally supportive during the challenge. Though Watts said his daughter in college thought “it was nuts,” his seven-year-old son loved it. Every day, Watts said, his son would ask where Watts rode and where he was going to go tomorrow. Watts said his wife was “really happy for me because I’ve been in the corporate world for 25 years and for the first time ever, I’ve been able to take a break and just do something fun for a period of time.”

Watts completed the challenge alone. Although his wife also bikes, as a schoolteacher she couldn’t accompany Watts on his day trips. Typically, before one of his adventures, Watts would drop his son at school, then park at Huntley Meadows before beginning to ride. Watts refers to the place as his “staging area for exploration,” and he chose it for its central location to downtown Norwich.

Throughout the challenge, Watts noticed several things about Norwich. One was that the town is hillier than he expected. If a road has a hill in its name, it’s “definitely a hill,” Watts stated. He found some roads like Bradley Hill and Kerwin Hill had particularly challenging parts and were “pretty intense.”

Additionally, he expected Norwich to look a little different. He rode out to Beaver Meadow and West Norwich, which he described as having “more whimsy,” but when comparing these areas to the rest of the town, he found Norwich “fairly uniform in the way we express ourselves through our property.”

A photo from the top of often-overlooked Overlook Drive, towards Mt Ascutney.

Another aspect Watts discovered about Norwich was that there are two small parts of town you can’t access easily — there’s only a quarter-mile section of maintained public roads on both Joshua Road and Podunk Road, with only a few houses on each. Here, because the rest of the stretch of road is Class IV, Watts had to access these roads through Hartford, where he would park and ride a small section before returning home.

For each road, Watts explained, he drove up Route 14 from Hartford village and parked at a turnaround space at the town line between Hartford and Norwich. He accessed Podunk Road via Tigertown Road and Joshua Road through Jericho Street. After he finished Joshua Road, he recounted, “a couple of landscapers saw me park, bike for five minutes, and then drive away. They must have thought I was a little crazy.” Though Watts admits that some could have found this part of the challenge silly, he was determined to “make sure he was doing the whole thing.”

Though Watts said he doesn’t “have anything profound to say” about the experience, he is glad he undertook it. The challenge allowed him to see the town differently, ride some difficult roads, and enjoy biking in a whole new way. Additionally, the rides were a source of fun, allowing him to get out of his head before the next challenge — hitting the ground running with his new job.

It takes a town to make a clock chime. This is especially true when it comes to the repair of the Norwich Congregational Church, first reported on in Demo Sofronas’ My newsletter “about Norwich” Substack in his article “The clock was ticking and now the Bell is ringing once again also.” Over seven months, through a set of small-town connections, including a police officer, an award-winning clockmaker, a church caretaker, and a clock winding team, the bells in Norwich ring once more.

Kimo Griggs and Ron Nollet, a tool and die maker and clockmaker.

It started with a bit of curiosity from Norwich resident Kimo Griggs. Though he’s “not a clock repair person,” he’s always been “handy” and over the years has fixed several “machine tools, mechanisms, and wind-up toys.” He also has an interest in clocks, owning several that he’s brought to a clockmaker to have repaired. Because of these aspects, Griggs has always wondered about the clock at Norwich Congregational Church. One day last year, he brought it up to Priscilla Vincent during his crossing guard duties. By late August of 2025, Vincent connected him with Dan Goulet, the church caretaker, self-described as a “helper.”
When Goulet first introduced Griggs to the clocktower, Goulet remarked on Griggs’ fascination. “Most people don’t know what they’re looking at,” he said. “But he was like a kid on Christmas morning.”

Scoping it all out to find the problem.

Griggs’ passion became a volunteer job in September 2025, when he joined the church’s team of winders to help wind the clock. Though it’s an eight-day clock and should only have to be wound once every eight days, the church was moved from Norwich Green to Church Street in 1852, which doesn’t have wells dug around it. This means that the counterweights that operate the clock can no longer descend their full distance. They stop every three to four days, which requires the clock to be wound twice a week. Griggs does the mid-week winding, while another winder, Chipper Ashley, performs the task earlier in the week. Goulet fills in when needed.
Goulet expressed that the task is “quite a chore.” When he was younger, Goulet explained, he “used to be able to wind it with one hand…,” but now it requires two hands and his “shoulder gives out halfway through.” Thus, he and Ashley were happy to have help. Ashley said he’s been winding the clock since the mid-’80s. He agreed with Goulet that the task has gotten harder as he’s aged, and he was glad Griggs stepped in.

The gears that make it tick.

Over time, Griggs noticed the bell no longer rang. When he called his regular clock repair contact, though, he wasn’t interested. Griggs explained that working on tower clocks like the one at Norwich Congregational Church is niche work, and Ashley elaborated that, although they’ve had people come in the past to make regular repairs, it’s difficult to find consistent help.
As Griggs went weekly to wind the clock, he kept looking at the clock mechanisms, which he thought looked relatively simple. Because of the clock’s nature, the mechanical parts are wholly visible, and by November Grigg had deduced that the bell issue was an alignment problem and could be a simple fix. He brought up the repair proposal to Ashley.
First, the decision was made by the congregation, and then Ashley brought the request to the church council and the Ministry of Building and Finance during the annual meeting in January 2026. “And they were fine with it,” he said. By February 11, he let Griggs know he could proceed.

imo Griggs and Ron Nollet in front of the Norwich Congregational Church.

Back in January, while still waiting for the church’s decision, Griggs was again performing his crossing guard duties. He spoke to Norwich police officer Mike Rebentisch, who himself has a fascination with old clocks. Coincidentally, his stepfather, Ron Nollet, is an award-winning clockmaker.
When Griggs explained his theory of why the clock wouldn’t chime, Nollet visited on March 11 and agreed with Griggs’ assessment. Griggs explained that “all it needed was two washers, really.” He described the process as simple as breathing; he “took some things off, applied a little oil here and there, put the washers on, and Bob’s your uncle, the bell’s back in action.”
Griggs fixed it on March 13, and the bells rang at noon on that day. Though Ashley said the church considered making the clock electrical but “never got around to it,” Griggs said it’s good the church kept the original clock mechanisms, so he could easily fix it.
Preservations like this have helped make the clock a piece of history. In “The Paul Revere Bell Rings again and again but How?…”, another post on Sofronas’ Substack, he recounts that the Norwich Congregational Church bell is a Paul Revere bell, meaning it was formed in the Boston North End bell foundry of Paul Revere. Norwich’s specific bell, Sofronas wrote, is “the earliest in Vermont and the only one cast during Revere’s lifetime.” He further explained that it was “presented to the church in 1817 by Thomas Emerson” and is “one of six Revere bells remaining in Vermont.”
Sometimes, this history makes the church a destination spot. Ashley said every so often the church gets a call from someone out of town interested in the clock. “There’s a group of people out there that are clock aficionados, and they are aware where these clocks are located.”
Goulet also tells a tale of Minnesota visitors, with whom he brought up the clocktower, “and they were just gaga.” Three days later, the church received a note from them, along with King Arthur baked goods, explaining it was the highlight of their trip.
Despite Ashley’s experience that “you have to be physically able to climb through the trapdoor,” he said the view from the clock tower is worth it, especially in the fall. “October is great when the foliage is out, and you stand up in the clocktower…you got a 360-degree view of the hills…it’s pretty neat.”
What’s even neater is that after a few hundred years, the clock continues to tick and chime thanks to the help of several members of the community. Through chance encounters and willing volunteers, the Norwich Congregational Church’s unique clock continues to move forward, and more importantly, still rings.

Creating a space to aid mental health doesn’t happen overnight. It takes an active community of willing people to make it happen. The Montshire Museum of Science illustrates this with its Healing Forest experience, an initiative in the making since the COVID pandemic.

Executive Director, Lara Litchfield-Kimber

Throughout the past few years, the museum has shifted its view of the 110-acre property, committing to a space that “invite[s] meditation and mindfulness practice, sensory exploration, quiet reflection, and play.” Last fall, the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), an international coalition for the field, recognized Montshire with the Leading Edge Award, further exemplifying the museum’s leadership in providing what matters to local communities.
Lara Litchfield-Kimber, the Montshire Museum of Science’s executive director, expressed that the initiative to “reimagine” the forest arose through the museum’s interactions with the local community. Through various focus groups, surveys, and one-on-one interactions with donors, teachers, members, and non-members, three key themes kept coming up: a “concern and interest in climate science,” resources and pathways for STEM careers, and mental health. At first, the last one was a surprise for the museum, but on further reflection, it made sense. For many, the COVID pandemic highlighted the importance of mental health, and the museum leaned into the way it could help — through nature.

Timber Tumble

However, Montshire first had to address the health of the forest before the people could be helped in return. Litchfield-Kimber said its “a truly symbiotic relationship.” A management plan was created with the aid of local Vermont forester Ethan Tapper by organizing a prioritized list to help cultivate the forest effectively. Some key items on the list included measuring carbon sequestration — the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide — and combating invasive species. The museum exercised its role throughout the process by providing an opportunity for local schools to educate and help heal the forest.
The next step for the museum was to understand how its forest could cultivate better mental health. Montshire had already built the Play Grove — what the museum’s website refers to as a “wooded nature playscape” allowing visitors to “swing, climb, build, and play” — in the forest during COVID. Later, other exhibits were formed. There’s the Timber Tumble, which focuses on sound bathing through the sounds of rolling wooden balls in the forest. Then, there’s the Wind Phone, which allows for quiet reflection in a phone booth overlooking a lagoon, where one can participate in a “symbolic one-way conversation with deceased loved ones.” There are now plans underway to construct a forest labyrinth, which will be a “walking meditative installation,” as well as a Reflexology trail. These exhibits are in unexpected places in the Healing Forest to encourage discovery. Litchfield-Kimber said the goal is that “whatever stress you might be having, it just reconnects you to nature” in a way you didn’t know you needed.

The Timber Tumble exhibition provides an opportunity for kids to play.

Another major aspect of “reimagining” the Healing Forest was to create better accessibility. Working with the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, the River Loop and Meadow Loop are now completely wheelchair accessible. Litchfield-Kimber said the Montshire has “a lot of visitors who have mobility restrictions,” whether it be a walker or a stroller. This new development allows all visitors access, even to the Connecticut River, which the property abuts.
The project has already had a substantial impact. There are many examples, such as a recent testimonial from a mother who visited the Montshire with her child after experiencing devastating life-altering events from Hurricane Helene. “This is the first experience where me and my kids felt we could be normal,” she wrote. Dartmouth College has also recognized the benefits by partnering with the museum to offer a mental health “prescription” program where students can take a prescribed break in the Healing Forest.

Local students measure trees to calculate carbon sequestration.

Litchfield-Kimber said the recognition by ASTC and the Leading Edge Award was “a big deal for us.” She said the museum was recognized for “leaning in to healing the forest for its own sake and … addressing mental health … and leaning in to making partners to help advance the community of mental health.” Going further, she said this project is “the first time it’s happened in the science museum field.”
Though it may be difficult to make mental health a priority in this fast-paced life, the Montshire Museum of Science is trying to make it easier. Whether you’re stressed or want to explore, the Healing Forest is there waiting for you.

Sitting in his favorite chair – the same one he uses for songwriting — in his backyard in New Orleans, independent singer-songwriter Hans Williams seems at ease as he reflects on the past year. Recently, on October 18th, he put on a show with his band in Hanover, NH, and afterward, he introduced his bandmates to his Norwich community by pressing cider with his neighbors. It’s here that Williams expresses something poignant — the first of many things — when he says that the Upper Valley is “a unique, special community…you can tell someone that, but it takes growing up there…to get a sense of that.”

Hans Wiilliams at a recent Bragg Hill Cider
pressing.c

Though the Norwich transplant now lives in New Orleans, this community mindset plays a significant role in Williams’ life. The musician shares a split-up multi-family house with a few other local musicians, including his producer, long-time collaborator, and once-Norwich resident Phin Choukas. This space has become an artist’s domain, brimming with creative energy as each works on their projects. Together, these musicians have created a small, tight-knit community, like the one Williams grew up with in Norwich. Together, they share wins and losses as they work toward success in a difficult industry.

Thankfully, Williams is in a good place. He lives comfortably off his earnings from streaming, partially due to his continued independence from music labels. He expresses that he is both grateful for the opportunity and lucky, knowing full well that some of his other colleagues must work all year to earn a meager salary on the road. However, this opportunity has allowed Williams to focus wholeheartedly on his art. Though Williams has a laid-back manner of speaking, when it comes to his craft, the musician expresses somber, spiritual, and ambitious reflections about his work: “There’s this gap between what I like to listen to and what I’m capable of making, and I really want to make something that’s going to last as far as my taste.” In other words, he wants to pen songs he never tires of playing.

Hans at Austin City Limits Festival: Austin, TX, Oct 12, 2025.

To do this, Williams revisits his favorite seat outside regularly. Often beginning with a chord progression or a series of notes, he jams on it and works out a melody line. As he nails that down, Williams sings words and phrases that come to his mind. Then, later, he digs deeper to see if these improvisational lyrics are a signal from his subconscious of something more affecting. Often, they become signals to process complex emotions, especially when it comes to traumatic events.

Hans playing at a Tuck’s Rock Dojo show ca: 2014

Lately, ’70s British folk music (Nick Drake, John Martyn, Fairport Convention, Pentangle) has become an inspiration for him in this regard. Although Williams expresses that extensive inspiration comes from his parents’ taste in music (Al Green, Steely Dan, Tracy Chapman), he has had British folk musician John Martyn’s 1973 release Solid Air in his solid rotation. Inspired by Martyn’s visit to a colleague, folk legend Nick Drake, the record became an accidental tribute to him when Drake would commit suicide via depressants a year later. Similarly, Williams processed and coped with the tragedy of being a first responder to his roommate’s suicide with his 2020 hit, “Body On My Shoulders.” Understandably, the event still lurks in Williams’ mind, and as time goes on, he finds himself returning to it in new ways. He says the event is still top of mind and may make its way into more of his work.

Not all Williams’ work is this dark. Earlier this year, he released the soul-funk adjacent “Hold My Love,” a tune about love, apologies, and making up. However, both this song and “Body On My Shoulder” establish a common theme in Williams’ work: his ability to speak to the human spirit. Williams is the first to say he does not know exactly what made him so successful on streaming, as Spotify’s algorithm works its magic outside his knowledge. However, it is clear Williams is tapping into something that resonates with listeners. Last year, when he toured his 2024 release More Than One Way Home, he was able to meet his audience, and through conversations, he saw firsthand how listeners had taken to heart the songs he had written. Sometimes, they were in ways he had not originally intended, but still, it seemed Williams spoke directly to their soul. It illustrates another example of the singer-songwriter’s focus on community, woven into both his work and his approach to his surrounding listenership.

When asked how growing up in Norwich influenced him, Williams expressed that Norwich’s community was vital in shaping who he is. He said that when it comes to Norwich, you become attuned to this way of thinking by living there. “You don’t really choose who your friends are. You kind of have to make nice with everyone.” One of his bandmates commented on it when they were recently pressing cider in Norwich, “I get why you love community so much, because you have such a strong one here.”

Williams’ Norwich upbringing, which stressed the importance of community, along with his serious approach to his craft and relatability, all most likely play a factor in his success. It’s clear the musician’s roots are carved deep in his work. Whatever project we see next from the successful singer-songwriter, it would not be unlikely to expect a little bit of Norwich to be present. Whether that element ends up front and personal or buried beneath the surface, listeners will have to wait and see.

Neighbors on Bragg Hill pressing cider

Many people reach a point in their lives when it becomes difficult to meet new people. Thankfully, Upper Valley Ultimate has been remedying this problem for decades by providing a third space to play Ultimate Frisbee. At Sachem Field in West Lebanon, over thirty people meet at 6 pm on a Monday to throw the disc in a friendly pick-up game.

Norwich resident, Eli Weber (holding disc), has been playing Ultimate Frisbee for over 26 years.

Sonia Howlett, a Norwich resident and one of the group’s organizers, had a lot of positives to express about the group. Though she played in college, she was looking to meet new friends after COVID, and this group seemed like a good way to do so. Since then, she’s entered a leadership role with three others, setting up communication through emails and a Discord server, coordinating all sorts of logistics.

Norwich resident Sonia Howlett

Attendees range from 16 years old to those in their 70s, though most are more centered around the middle of that age range. Howlett says that one of the great things about the sport is that it’s “nice to make a space that holds a range of ages.” Though there are several residents from Norwich and the surrounding Upper Valley area, some players drive over an hour to play, such as some from St. Johnsbury. Part of the reason for this is simple. Although other areas in the region have pickup games,  this is one of the most well-attended groups, so there are always enough people to play. However, for Howlett and many others, the draw of Ultimate Frisbee is that “the sport pulls good people” and it’s nice to have a “third space that meets once a week.” To clarify, in social theory, a “third space” refers to a place, separate from home (first space) and work (second space), where people gather to socialize, relax, and build community. It’s a neutral ground for informal interactions, fostering a sense of belonging and connection (AI search summary).

Beyond pick-up games, the Upper Valley Ultimate group hosts an additional league night during the summer. Teams are internally constructed within the group with co-ed teams of equal gender-mixing. One of the coordinators’ hardest jobs is making sure teams are balanced effectively for fair play. The latest summer league that just wrapped up its season had four teams. Team names are typically constructed based on a theme, and this year’s was medieval professions: the Bladesmiths, the Shepherds, the Town Criers, and the Jesters.

Another Norwich resident and a former “Shepherd” team member, Eli Weber, has been playing Ultimate Frisbee for over 26 years. He expressed that one of the best parts about it for him is that it’s a “lifelong sport” and more “interesting and fun to play” than other activities. From the way the disc curves and floats to the strategy involved, he imparts that there’s an artistry to its play. He also stressed that Ultimate Frisbee is “a real athletic sport.” Not only do players wear cleats, but Weber says, “You’re running as fast as you can, jumping as high as you can. Being athletic and practiced is key.”

Norwich resident Rodney Jacobson

Despite it being helpful to be athletically inclined if you are participating in league play, Howlett expressed that Upper Valley Ultimate is for everyone, especially those who wouldn’t describe themselves this way. Beyond the community aspects, Howlett describes the sport as enjoyable because you “don’t have to run and do something complicated at the same time.” Another unique aspect of the sport is “the spirit of the game,” something that has, over time, been written directly into the rulebook. The gist is that players are encouraged to respect each other on the field, and games have no referees. Instead, when a foul is called, both players talk out the call and have to agree on its legitimacy, making it completely self-regulated. Howlett expresses that this aspect adds to the inclusivity and community aspect of the sport.

In the last four years, the group found another way to be more inclusive by creating and running a separate women and nonbinary players’ night. The intention was for it to be a space for new players that was less intimidating for those who may struggle in an athletic space. Originally, the group held practices and drills to increase the skills of these players, but this made it difficult for those who couldn’t make it every week. Eventually, coordinators shifted it to a separate pick-up night.

Though Sachem Field is perfect during the summer, fall makes the area less viable due to several school teams needing it for games. This is when the Upper Valley Ultimate group moves down to one night per week. Though still able to utilize the field for a time in the fall, when the weather turns, they meet inside and whittle down their games to a four-on-four format.

Full summer league photo from this year

One of the greatest challenges the group has is spreading the word about the group. Though there are several returning members, a great deal of the members are transient, including students and medical residents. Flyers have been utilized in the past, but most come to know about the group through word-of-mouth or the over 400-follower Upper Valley Ultimate Facebook page. The group is always looking for more players, whether experienced or new to the sport. Those interested can simply show up to a pickup game held on Monday or Wednesday at Sachem Field or reach out to the Facebook group for more information.

If you’re someone who’s looking for a way to get outside and meet new people, the Upper Valley Ultimate group is here for you. Whether you’re athletically inclined or not, the group stresses they’ve always been more about fostering a sense of community than anything else. Though many argue about the vanishing “third space” in our current world, when you look around Sachem Field, you can see Ultimate Frisbee is helping keep it alive where those from all walks of life gather to play a friendly, casual game together.