Free Admission

Annie Houston & Hardwick Town House Present

Back by popular demand, Black Fly Story Hour is an open-mic storytelling event where storytellers have five minutes to tell a tale on a theme and storylisteners get a whole evening of listening in.

How it works: Storytellers craft a five-minute story based on the night’s specific theme, and sign up when they arrive at the event. 12 names will be drawn at random, and those 12 individuals will share their tales with the audience. Stories can be real or made up – it’s entirely up to the teller.

Free Event

Founded in 1966, the CCP is a group of world-class musicians who perform both masterworks and lesser known chamber music gems every summer. Concerts feature ever-changing ensemble configurations. The programs offer an engaging musical journey, balancing tradition and innovation with scale and scope. The music ranges from the classical, romantic, 20^th century and contemporary periods. Jim Lowe, music critic for the Times Argus wrote, “The Craftsbury Chamber Players are responsible for some of the best and most interesting chamber music in Vermont.”

An all-ages COSTUME DANCE PARTY

Live music, food, costumes, and ambiance.

An all-ages COSTUME DANCE PARTY featuring Birdhouse Band

Start your Halloween week off right with an evening of live music, tasty refreshments, fabulous costumes, and dancing with your friends and neighbors. The Birdhouse Band, made up of local musical sensations Andrew Koehler, Mavis MacNeil, Roy MacNeil, Harrison Martin-O’Brien, and Annie Rowell, joined by Perry Heller, will rock the dancefloor, and the Town House will be decked out in spooky decorations. Hazen Union’s National Honor Society students will serve tasty refreshments. This is an all-ages event, with proceeds going directly to the building, which is currently undergoing a fantastic renovation to its fire escapes and stage accessibility. So don your most frightful costume, put on your dancing shoes, and get a whole crew to come out for an evening of Fall revelry.

Free Lecture

Presented by Hardwick Historical Society

Hardwick Historical Society will host author Thomas C. Hubka for a lecture and discussion of his book How the Working-Class Home Became Modern, 1900-1940 (University of Minnesota Press, December 2020).

After the talk, there will be a Q & A session and book signing. Books will be available for purchase on-site. 

In How the Working-Class Home Became Modern, 1900–1940, Hubka analyzes a period when millions of average Americans saw accelerated improvement in their housing and domestic conditions. These improvements were intertwined with the acquisition of entirely new mechanical conveniences, new types of rooms and patterns of domestic life, and such innovations—from public utilities and kitchen appliances to remodeled and multi-unit housing—are at the center of the story Hubka tells. It is a narrative, amply illustrated and finely detailed, that traces changes in household hygiene, sociability, and privacy practices that launched large portions of the working classes into the middle class—and that, in Hubka’s telling, reconfigures and enriches the standard account of the domestic transformation of the American home.

Rebecca Ann Locicero, a psychic medium, is coming back to Hardwick, VERMONT!

Rebecca is featured in the Netflix Series Surviving Death and is a Certified Medium through the Forever Family Foundation. “Messages from Heaven” is her trademark presentation involving direct, divine and accurate “readings” for the people from their loved ones who have died. Rebecca Anne has an exclusive and unique way to present validating messages. She is bold, brassy, honest, loud, outgoing, accurate, hysterically funny and full of joy!  

Tickets: Adult $25, Student $10, Child (12 and under) free

Founded in 1966, the CCP is a group of world-class musicians who perform both masterworks and lesser known chamber music gems every summer. Concerts feature ever-changing ensemble configurations. The programs offer an engaging musical journey, balancing tradition and innovation with scale and scope. The music ranges from the classical, romantic, 20^th century and contemporary periods. Jim Lowe, music critic for the Times Argus wrote, “The Craftsbury Chamber Players are responsible for some of the best and most interesting chamber music in Vermont.”

Tickets available beginning in May at https://www.vtcda.org/springconference2024.html

Presented by Vermont Community Development Association

Celebrate the power of municipalities in shaping vibrant communities and driving economic development at the Vermont Community Development Association Annual Spring Conference. This event will highlight the pivotal role municipalities play in fostering vibrancy and resilience across Vermont. Join us in Hardwick to:

• Hear firsthand accounts of impactful municipally-led projects driving positive change in towns across the state.
• Share practical tools and strategies to empower municipalities in their development efforts.
• Learn effective techniques for rallying support and engagement from municipal leaders.
• Showcase stories of collaboration and unity, where communities and municipalities join forces to achieve shared goals.

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with fellow community champions, gain valuable insights, and contribute to the collective work of building a brighter future for Vermont. 

Free Event

Presented by Galaxy Bookshop

Come one, come all to the Hardwick Town House for an evening with the legendary Rob Mermin, founder of Circus Smirkus. Rob is publishing a memoir of his life as a circus performer – Circle of Sawdust, which details the precarious life of a creative artist, the ups and downs of taking risks, and the idealistic struggle to hold onto a dream. 

Free Event

Thomas C. Hubka , author of Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn, will speak at the Annual Meeting of the Hardwick Historical Society.

Hubka is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Architecture at the School of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Through forty years of teaching, he has attempted to link our understanding of architecture to its historical and cultural contexts.

Big House, Little House… received the Abbot Lowell Cummings Award from the Vernacular Architecture Forum. It has been in continuous publication for 40 years and has become a scholarly and popular standard for New England architecture history and cultural studies. This engaging talk will highlight the four essential components of the stately and beautiful nineteenth-century connected farm buildings that serve as a living expression of a rural culture and that offer insights into the people who made them and their agricultural way of life.

The author will have books for signing and purchase at $30 each.

The HHS will host a reception at the Depot at the end of the program.

Presented by The Civic Theater Project

“Change Your Life” was a homespun game show played by locals beginning back in 1846 and lasting until 1979. But, like many town traditions, it abruptly ended, leaving a hole in the heart of Hardwick. 

The Civic Theater Project, creators of “The Garage of Doom” and “Developed to Death”, are dusting off the sequins, updating the games, and bringing this interactive spectacle back to life! The evening features a local cast of Hardwick’s finest plus a live band, sweet and savory refreshments, real prizes and big winners.

Rebecca Ann Locicero, a psychic medium, is coming back to Hardwick, VERMONT!

Rebecca is featured in the Netflix Series Surviving Death and is a Certified Medium through the Forever Family Foundation. “Messages from Heaven” is her trademark presentation involving direct, divine and accurate “readings” for the people from their loved ones who have died. Rebecca Anne has an exclusive and unique way to present validating messages. She is bold, brassy, honest, loud, outgoing, accurate, hysterically funny and full of joy!