What began as an inconsequential stop to see a few Colgate friends and visit the quaint town of Hanover, New Hampshire (and check out their talked-about farmer’s market) turned into one of the more exciting stops the Locavaux Crew has had so far. We were fortunate enough to become the focus of a CBS New York intern project thanks to the always-reliant Colgate network of students and alumni-big thanks are in order to Tess Heffernan for reading about our project online and suggesting to her fellow interns to use us for their story! The seven CBS interns met us in Hanover and proceeded to film the Locavaux Crew perusing the local farmer’s market, giving a tour of the bus, and answering a few questions about the bus renovation, our mission, and ultimate expectations and hopes for the project. The CBS crew was checking out Hanover and stumbled into a local guitar shop, getting a tip from the owner to visit what he considered the ultimate local music venue in the larger New Hampshire-Vermont area—a near-two hundred and fifty-year-old New England tavern in the small town of Hartland, Vermont called Skunk Hallow Tavern. CBS told the Locavaux Crew about the guitar shop owner’s suggestion, and so the bus traveled to Hartland and arrived at the hole-in-the-wall venue (sans cell phone service) with no idea of what to expect. The crew agrees that the small, Christmas lights-lit, wood paneled bar (run out of a colonial-style home dating back to the American Revolution) was the most intimate and local scene we have filmed thus far on our journey. The Skunk, running an open mic night everyWednesday for the last fifteen years, was host to a varied collection of local musicians and singers. All were extremely talented and passionate to perform with one another, share a few laughs over Long Trail beers, and encourage anyone and everyone to come up and play a few songs or join in on a jam. The owners, attendees and musicians were all extremely friendly and accommodating to our crew, answering our questions, talking to us about our project, and giving recommendations for local music on our future route. We were lucky enough to even have a few musicians join us on the bus for (our first!) late night jam session! Thank you Skunk Hallow for inviting us into your community with open arms-we’ll never forget you!
The next morning, we made our way through Vermont and marveled at the beautiful North East landscape. The expansive fields butting up to green mountains made for some pretty stellar photo opts and eye oggling. On a chance exit taken off the highway near Stowe, Vermont, we found ourselves driving up to the house of a fraternity brother of Chase’s, taking in the most incredible views of the town of Stowe and Mount Mansfield. Thank you to Jimmy Mallon and his family for hosting us at their beautiful home! Our night off from shooting turned out to be a relaxing evening spent by the bonfire admiring the star-filled Vermont sky. We woke up refreshed and ready for the drive to camp later that evening in the Adirondacks. We should add that on our way out of Stowe that morning, we stopped by the local, award-winning brewery, The Alchemist, and tried their infamous IPA, the Heady Topper. Whoa. Do yourself a favor and get to Vermont in the near future and try out the Locavaux Crew’s new favorite beer.
Stay tuned--band photos to follow!