Inside Seven Days

For the past 25 years, our local media company has covered news, arts, music, food and culture in Vermont. To celebrate the milestone, we asked Seven Days staffers, local celebs and one lucky Super Reader to "pass it on" in this video by Eva Sollberger. It features lots of familiar faces and an original song from the Seven Days house band Enemy of the People.

Seven Days promoted eating local long before the term “locavore” became a thing. We wrote about Vermont food in the very first issue of the newspaper, on September 6, 1995. Three weeks later, it was on the cover. In a story headlined “Olive Me,” James Beard Award-winning chef and food writer Jim Dodge recommended more than a dozen local markets, from Ray’s Seafood and Healthy Living to Greg’s Meat Market and Settlement Farm.

Although it sounds obvious now, his thesis was novel 25 years ago: “Tourists may know Vermont for its cheddar, maple syrup and Macs, but for those of us who live and shop here daily, the Burlington-Middlebury-Montpelier-Stowe area has become a trapezoidal treasure of special stores with special foods,” Dodge wrote. “Made-in-Vermont wholesomeness has met the ex-urbanite’s desire for diversity and the result is excellent eating.”

As the local food movement grew heftier, so did Seven Days. Our first food‑themed issue, in June 1996, was the biggest to that point: 40 pages. Among its dozen stories was our first creemee map of Vermont; another, titled “It’s a Wonderful Loaf,” naïvely asked: “Is artisanal bread here to stay?”

The twice-a-year food issues were also stuffed with restaurant news, the precursor to today’s popular Side Dishes column and Bite Club e-newsletter. In 2006, we hired our first full-time food writer, Suzanne Podhaizer. She filled five pages a week with stories about chefs, farmers, butchers and brewmasters, and also expertly assembled our then-new annual dining guide, 7 Nights.

By 2007, the quirky and boldly carnivorous Alice Levitt had begun contributing. Soon she was on staff and appearing weekly on WCAX-TV. Since then, at least two full-time food writers have juggled the busy food beat. Our current team — Melissa Pasanen, Jordan Barry and Sally Pollak — has rigorously covered the impact of the pandemic on Vermont’s restaurant industry and its local food producers.

Once again, the state’s signature culinary community and Seven Days are on a parallel path and, due to COVID-19, it’s a rocky one: Both face existential threats.

If you appreciate our reporting on Vermont’s food, drink and farms and can afford to help us financially, please become a Seven Days Super Reader.

For the past 25 years, our local media company has depended almost entirely on advertising revenue from local enterprises to support our award-winning journalism. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model.

To thrive for another 25, we need your help. Can you cover us?

Seven Days started out as a 28‑page arts paper; for the first five years, most of the bylines belonged to its culture-writing founders, Pamela Polston and Paula Routly. Soon, though, there were 80 to 120 pages to fill each week. Adding local news to the mix seemed like the next logical step.

Seven Days hired its first staff writer, Ken Picard, in 2002. He started churning out news features, including the first exposé of Mexican farm laborers toiling in secret on Vermont dairy farms, published in June 2003. The next year we launched the “Local Matters,” section, located between Peter Freyne’s “Inside Track” column and the paper’s extensive arts coverage and comprehensive event listings. For decades Kevin J. Kelley, one of Seven Days’ most prolific freelancers, reliably contributed news stories and art reviews.

When the Great Recession hit in 2008, the internet and websites like Craigslist had already begun to beat up daily newspapers. Vermont newsrooms contracted in response.

Seven Days did just the opposite. Knowing that responsible, fact-based journalism is essential to a functioning democracy, its owners decided instead to expand.

Today our news team is one of the largest in Vermont, made up of experienced local journalists — including three editors in the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame — as well as a rising generation of talented reporters, writers and multimedia storytellers. In recent years, this team has investigated Vermont’s nonprofit economy, the opioid epidemic, sexual misconduct in Vermont prisons and neglect in eldercare facilities. Another frequent topic: the state of local media.

If you appreciate Seven Days’ in-depth news coverage and can afford to help us financially, please become a Seven Days Super Reader. Your recurring donation will provide a reliable revenue stream to help fund the award-winning journalism we continue to provide during these challenging times.

For the past 25 years, our local media company has depended almost entirely on advertising revenue from local retailers and events to pay the bills. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model.

To thrive for another 25, we need your help. Can you cover us?

Seven Days has been writing about Vermont politics — with color, verve and insight — since columnist Peter Freyne joined our team in the fall of 1995. His first “Inside Track” for the paper combined a takedown of side judge and “political spin doctor” Althea Kroger with an update on South Burlington’s efforts to shut down a strip club on Williston Road.

Freyne wrote about politics in a way that made it understandable and entertaining. He asked the questions no other reporter would. Even U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, with whom Freyne had a complicated relationship, found kind words for him when he died on January 7, 2009.

But the truth is: Many of Freyne's columns would not have passed muster with our current team of news editors. Over the years Seven Days' political coverage has become increasingly rigorous and thorough. Paul Heintz's first cover story was a smart, even-handed analysis of Burlington's 2012 mayoral race among Kurt Wright, Miro Weinberger and Wanda Hines; more recently, he delivered an in-depth, remarkably suspenseful look at how Gov. Phil Scott handled the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. In the years between, he traveled all over the country covering Sanders' historic, back-to-back presidential runs.

If you appreciate Seven Days’ political coverage — from Peter Freyne to Paul Heintz — and can afford to help us financially, please become a Seven Days Super Reader. Your recurring donation will provide a reliable revenue stream to help fund the award-winning journalism we continue to provide during these challenging times.

For the past 25 years, our local media company has depended almost entirely on advertising revenue from local retailers and events to pay the bills. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model.

To thrive for another 25, we need your help. Can you cover us?

This summer, Seven Days assistant arts editor Dan Bolles was working on a cover story about Vermont banjo legend Gordon Stone in anticipation of the musician’s long-awaited anthology double album, set to be released this month. Banjo fans saw Stone as a stylistic trailblazer who ranged from bluegrass to rock and jazz to world music. Local friends and fellow musicians knew he was also a troubled soul who struggled with addiction.

Stone had been speaking with Bolles about both aspects of his life when the musician died tragically on July 10 — and the profile became an obituary. In this week’s Seven Days, Bolles pays tribute to a complex character who “understood that his musical legacy was important. But he also knew that the pain he’d caused to others was another kind of legacy.”

The connection of creativity and humanity is on display in every corner of Vermont. From day one, Seven Days has kept readers informed about local music, movies, books, theater, dance and visual art. A vital community resource, it’s also covered Vermont news, people, presidential campaigns and, most recently, a pandemic.

For the past 25 years, our local media company has depended almost entirely on advertising revenue from local enterprises to pay the bills. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model.

To thrive for another 25, we need your help.

If you appreciate our work and can afford to help us financially, please become a Seven Days Super Reader. Your recurring donation will provide a reliable revenue stream to help fund our award-winning journalism.

Can you cover us?

Burlington-based Seven Days newspaper has compiled a 24-page primary  voters’ guide; the special pull-out section is in the center of the July 22 issue that is on the streets.

The guide includes:

• easy-to-follow instructions on how to vote by mail or in person
• a side-by-side comparison of the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor
• a list of all major party candidates for statewide office, as well as candidates on the primary ballots in legislative races
• an interview with Secretary of State Jim Condos that covers pandemic-related changes to how Vermont is conducting elections
• a one-minute video demonstrating the correct way to mail in a ballot to be sure it’s counted in the August 11 primary (online only)

“This election season is unlike any we’ve ever experienced,” said Deputy Publisher Cathy Resmer. “Because of the coronavirus pandemic, voters have had fewer opportunities to get to know their candidates. And Vermonters have requested a record number of absentee ballots — more than 117,000 as of yesterday. It’s imperative that voters understand how the process works so they can be sure their votes will count.”

That’s why Seven Days created the Pandemic Primary Voters’ Guide, the paper’s first-ever election special section.

“It’s a natural extension of what we already do,” said Resmer. “Our reporters cover elections and legislative issues, and help Vermonters understand what’s happening in their communities.”

This is a critical time for news organizations to step up their efforts if they can, she added. “It’s easier than it’s ever been to create and share false and misleading information online, especially through social media. Seven Days has editors and fact checkers proofreading and verifying the information we publish — and an award-winning design team that makes it visually appealing. That’s what sets us apart.”

“Voters need access to trusted local journalism,” she said. “Our democracy depends on it.”

Pick up the guide before July 29 at locations throughout northern and central Vermont, or find it online at sevendaysvt.com/pandemic-primary.

On Monday, May 11, Gov. Phil Scott announced that retail stores may reopen with capacity limits on Monday, May 18. This news comes after Vermont merchants were mandated to close storefronts during the COVID-19 pandemic. As businesses reopen their doors to the public, they’ll have to adopt new safety precautions and evolve traditional business practices.

With everyone taking different approaches — because one size does not fit all — how can shoppers find what they need locally? Seven Days has created the Register to help answer that question.

The Register is a directory of Vermont businesses that provide shipping, delivery or curbside pickup of their products. The initial list is primarily focused on small, locally owned retailers in Burlington, with plans to expand to other regions of the state. Shoppers can browse by categories ranging from jewelry to electronics, outdoor gear to apparel.

“The goal is to provide a convenient local alternative to Amazon, to keep Vermont dollars here,” said Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. “Jeff Bezos is never going to sponsor the Discover Jazz Festival or the Vermont City Marathon. By going to the Register, and buying local online, shoppers are choosing to invest in their communities now and into the future.”

To view the guide, visit shoptheregister.com. Got an update for an existing listing? Don’t see your business on the list? Contact us at [email protected].

In response to the current ban on table service at all Vermont restaurants, Seven Days has launched a digital directory of local eateries that are offering takeout, delivery or curbside drop-off options during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Vermont restaurants may be off-limits to dine-in customers, but they are still making delicious food that people want to purchase and enjoy,” said Paula Routly, publisher and co-founder of Seven Days. “By collecting all of this information in one place, we hope to generate business for anyone who is still open during this unbelievably challenging time.”

GoodToGoVermont.com will make it easy for diners to sort by region and find restaurants still operating near them and what they are cooking up. The directory draws on the extensive database of Vermont restaurants featured in our annual dining guide, 7 Nights.

To view the growing list of restaurants, visit GoodToGoVermont.com. Restaurateurs can add themselves right there on the site. Know an eatery that should be listed? Contact us at [email protected]. 
Seven Days’ Vermont Restaurant Week, originally scheduled for April 24 to May 3, is being postponed until later in 2020. All seven of the event’s sponsors — Vermont Federal Credit Union, Vermont Creamery, Burlington Beer Company, WhistlePig, City Market, Onion River Co-op, Shacksbury Cider and the Essex, Vermont’s Culinary Resort & Spa — are supporting Good To-Go Vermont.

Writer Kate O’Neill’s 2019 series “Hooked: Stories and Solutions From Vermont’s Opioid Crisis,” published in Seven Days, received this year’s Jack Barry Communications Award from Recovery Vermont. The award presentation took place during the nonprofit advocacy organization’s annual Recovery Day event in Montpelier on February 12.

“Hooked” was rooted in tragedy: O’Neill’s sister, Madelyn Linsenmeir, struggled with opioid-use disorder for more than a decade. After her death in October 2018, O’Neill wrote a candid and compassionate obituary that was read by millions around the world. At the urging of Seven Days, she agreed to broaden her focus in a yearlong series. O’Neill used traditional journalism, narrative storytelling and her own experiences to explore Vermont’s opioid epidemic and efforts to address it.

Seven Days, Vermont’s free, independent newsweekly, won 14 first-place awards in this year’s New England Better  Newspaper Competition — including for general excellence and top honors in business, crime and courts, education, health, human interest, religion, science and sports-feature reporting. Eva Sollberger received first place in all four video categories. The paper also won seven second-place and one third-place awards — 22 total.

The contest is organized by the New England Newspaper & Press Association; winners were announced at NENPA’s annual convention last weekend in Boston.

“Seven Days is a testament to the power of a well conceived, well executed community publication.” NENPA judge

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NENPA members submitted more than 3,000 entries in five contest divisions. Seven Days — which circulates 36,000 print copies every Wednesday — competed against numerous other large New England weeklies.

Here’s what judges had to say about Seven Days’ 14 first-place awards:

• General Excellence Award: “Seven Days is a testament to the power of a well conceived, well executed community publication.”
• Business/Economic Reporting for "Who Wants to Work on a Vermont Dairy Farm?" by Chelsea Edgar: “The writer has done considerable digging — literally and figuratively — to bring a microscope to everyday life at a dairy facility.”
• Crime and Courts Reporting for "Trafficked: How the Opioid Epidemic Drives Sexual Exploitation in Vermont" by Kate O'Neill: “Absolutely riveting story about the horrific intersection between opioid addiction and sexual exploitation of women in Vermont.”
• Education Reporting for "Survival of the Smartest" by Molly Walsh: “The graphics were dynamite. The topic, while not new, was covered thoroughly. The writing made me want to keep reading.”
• Health Reporting for "Exploring the Science, and the Snake Oil, Behind Stem Cell Therapy" by Ken Picard: ”Well written and diligently reported.”
• Human Interest Feature Story for "Who Shot Mr. Cheeseface?" by Dan Bolles: “A breezy, fun, breathless whodunit, told with pace and anticipation.”
• Reporting on Religious Issues for "Bible Study on Aisle Three" by Sasha Goldstein: “Mr. Goldstein skillfully reports on the intrusive tactics of an unfamiliar church with traveling members that have arrived in Vermont.”
• Science/Technology Reporting for "Blood, Sweat and Shears" by Sara Tabin: “A first-class work, including in-depth reporting, compelling writing, and some very good explanations of how the reporting was done.”
• Sports Feature Story for "The Mighty Bucks" by Derek Brouwer: “In-depth reporting at its finest, leading to a well-crafted feature story.”
• Entertainment Video for "Burlington High School's dance Team Brings the Crowd" by Eva Sollberger: “This high-energy video really captures the spirit of the school.”
• Feature Video for "Exploring Three Swimming Holes in Lamoille County" by Eva Sollberger: “Beautifully shot and well produced.”
• News Video for "A Recovery Coach Pays it Forward" by Eva Sollberger: “An important story that’s very well told and well produced.”
• Sports Video for "Lily Stilwell Competes in Gymkhana Ice Time Trials on Malletts Bay" by Eva Sollberger: “A very polished, well-produced video that tells an inspiring story.”
• Photo Story for "In Pictures: Monday Night Hockey at Gordon H. Paquette Ice Arena" by James Buck: “Strong set of images to tell the story.”