It’s easy to get overwhelmed by national and international news and easy to get overwhelmed by state and local issues, whether it’s the work underway to bring a third school budget to voters or the legislative insanity of even considering some bill where school boards would get to adopt/impose a budget if voters don’t approve one after three votes.
Let’s focus on some good news this week.
The Vermont Health Department reports the first decrease in opioid overdose deaths since 2019. That is amazing news after overdose deaths increased year over year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opioid overdoses dropped from 244 in 2022 to 231 in 2023, a 5% reduction. That is still a lot of Vermonters to lose their lives but at least the numbers are trending downward.
Here's more good news – our community rocked Green Up Day last weekend and our Valley is spic and span from the north to the south. It’s amazing what happens when people collaborate for the shared good of all.
Green Up Day is one of the best things about living in Vermont. How festive to see green bags dotting the roadsides and people cleaning up ditches, riverbanks, and fields. Word on the street is that stewardMRV is working and that people are keeping it clean year-round as opposed to only the first weekend in May.
And as if that wasn’t enough to make for an outstanding weekend, Emily von Trapp of Von Trapp Flowers struck again, carpeting the steps of the Joslin Memorial Library with crates of colorful tulips for the second year in a row. This year she adorned the front and side steps of the library with tulip arrangements that have folks stopping for pics, getting up close and taking time to smell the roses tulips.
And there is more – Emily took her iconic mini-pickup truck around to multiple locations in Waitsfield, Canteen Creemee, Three Mountain Café and the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce’s visitor center where the Green Valley Rally was underway and handed out free bouquets of tulips. What did we do to deserve this? What could be more awesome than that?
