Upper Valley Connections

ISSUE NO. 16 - JULY 9, 2026

Happening Tonight

Guster plays the Lake Morey Summer Concert Series tonight -- free, gates at 6, following Shaggy by exactly one week. (Full disclosure: I was a freshman at Tufts when Guster -- then still going by Gus -- were seniors, so I'm pretty excited about this one.) King Arthur kicks off a five-week run of Community Pizza Nights in Norwich -- bring your own toppings, $10 a pizza, live music in the courtyard, Thursdays through August 6.

This weekend the Junction Dance Festival opens in Thetford and Norwich, the Nighthawks play two home games, and Opera North continues its outdoor run at Blow-Me-Down Farm. Later in the week: a square dance workshop at the Hop, comedy night at Sawtooth, and Larkin Poe at Lake Morey.

Farmers' Markets

All eight markets are running this week -- Lebanon, Hartland, Norwich, Mt Tom, Canaan, the Monday Mini Market at Honey Field Farm, West Hartford Library, and Market on the Green in Woodstock.

This Week in the Upper Valley

Where Everyone's Invited to Dance

The Junction Dance Festival opens this weekend, and it's the kind of event that's hard to summarize in a sentence -- ten days, four towns, and a lineup that ranges from a community dinner to a professional showcase at the Briggs Opera House. What ties it together is a simple idea: everyone's invited, regardless of age or experience.

It starts small and warm. Friday night's kickoff at New Suns Community Center in Thetford is a free community dinner followed by a dance-film screening and an ecstatic dance party. Saturday moves the festival onto the Norwich Green, where Avant Vermont Dance performs SEASONS: Summer, an outdoor, family-friendly piece, followed immediately by an all-ages Families Dancing workshop.

Sunday's programming leans further into that spirit with four free workshops -- improvisational dance, reggaeton, contact improvisation, and breaking -- open to movers of every level. Sixteen free workshops run across the festival's ten days in total, no reason not to get out and dance.

The centerpiece arrives the following Saturday, July 18, when the Main Showcase takes the stage at the Briggs Opera House, with performances at 2 and 7pm. The lineup pulls dance artists from across Vermont and New England: Garet&Co, rhythm tap artist Michael Dascomb, UVM professor and choreographer Paul Besaw, Chloe A. Schafer, Ann Bosse, and Caitlin Morgan among them. A free community meal runs between the two performances.

The festival closes Sunday, July 19 with Ruth Childs performing delicate people in Lyman Point Park, presented by donation. The Main Showcase lands July 18 at the Briggs Opera House.

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