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From left, Elsie Berrouet, Maya Berrouet-Oge and Pievy Polyte watch the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 from the lawn of Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte.
Vermont Public had a busy 2024. We spent time in the Statehouse, at farms, trekking through flood waters, under eclipsed skies and painted nights — all to bring you stories from every corner. Here are some of our favorite things we saw this year:
Sophie Stephens
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Vermont Public
Around 100 people gather at the Montpelier Statehouse on Jan. 3, the first day of the 2024 session, to rally for more flood assistance.
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public
Gov. Phil Scott gives his State of the State speech Thursday afternoon, Jan. 4, 2024.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
The Hutchins Farm is no stranger to strong winds and uprooted trees. A windstorm hit swaths of Vermont, like in Cambridge's Pleasant Valley, overnight in early January, leaving damage behind like this fallen tree, pictured on Jan. 10.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
Aurora Berger said she painted "Black Hole II" — which was featured in an Inclusive Arts Vermont exhibit at the University of Vermont's Davis Center in February — during an intense mental health crisis, as a way to share what it felt like to be in her brain.
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public
Trish O'Kane and her students spot two bald eagles in the sky outside Flynn Elementary School in Burlington on Feb. 21, 2024 — during one of their weekly meetings, where O'Kane's "Birding to Change the World" students meet with fourth and fifth graders to explore nature and look for birds.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
Floyd Van Alstyne and his wife, Marjorie, on their farm in East Barnard on Feb. 26, 2024. Van Alstyne, 104, was anticipating experiencing a "once-in-a-lifetime" solar eclipse for a second time in Vermont in April.
Elodie Reed
On March 24, 2024, Winooski held a celebration for Holi, a festival that can be traced back to ancient India. One of its distinctive trademarks is people covering each other with colorful powders. Here's what the Winooski School District gym looked like after the celebration.
Mike Dunn
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Vermont Public
Brookfield voters gather for Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
From left, state-recognized tribe representatives Rich Holschuh, Linda Sheehan, Roger Sheehan, Don Stevens and Brenda Gagne receive applause from Vermont House lawmakers after being recognized by Craftsbury Rep. Katherine Sims on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
Burgess Brown
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Vermont Public
Vermont Public's Brave Little State investigated a mystery in downtown Montpelier — why there was a tooth in a wall, and who — or what — did it belong to? Here's the tooth in question, pictured on March 12, 2024.
Marielle Blais, Dennis Marden, Maureen Waters and Beth and Bernie Carr, all of Brandon, Vermont, watch the eclipse with eclipse glasses and cups of prosecco on Monday, April 8.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
For what they say only cost $500, the Abenaki Councils of Odanak and Wôlinak bought a billboard in Times Square for one minute of every hour on Tuesday, April 16. They were in New York for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where two youth Abenaki representatives spoke during a side event titled: "Identity Fraud and Indigenous Self-Determination: Abenaki Youth Perspectives."
Jane Lindholm
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Vermont Public
Aurora borealis, or northern lights, were visible over much of the state in May. Here, the purple colors are seen over Monkton on May 10, 2024.
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public
College students across the country set up encampments in the spring in support of Palestine. University of Vermont students pitched tents, pictured here on May 6, and said they would stay until five demands made to the university were met. The UVM encampment was up for 10 days and included rallies, teach-ins and organizing within the encampment, which grew to more than 90 tents.
Abagael Giles
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Vermont Public
Doug Lapoint, with the Agency of Agriculture's tick surveillance program, drags a sheet of fabric across a trail in Pittsford on May 29, 2024, looking for ticks.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
Greg Durso is one of the key players in building the Driving Range, a newly-opened, fully adaptive-friendly mountain bike trail network. Durso tested every trail as it was being built, like in this picture from May 29.
Sophie Stephens
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Vermont Public
A trail leading deeper into the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge area, near the welcome center in Swanton, pictured on June 13, 2024.
Kyle Ambusk
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Vermont Public
Flooding seen on Route 5 through St. Johnsbury Center along the Passumpsic River at 4 p.m. Thursday, July 11, 2024 — in what was the first of two flooding events in Vermont in July.
Peter Hirschfeld
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Vermont Public
A group of residents wade through floodwaters in Lyndon on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.
Lexi Krupp
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Vermont Public
Every year, ocean birds like jaegers, northern gannets, scoters and red-throated loons fly over Lake Champlain, which serves as a migration corridor. This gull is pictured over Lake Champlain on Sept. 11, 2024.
Carly Berlin
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Vermont Public and VTDigger
James Ouimette packs up his family’s room at the Harbor Place hotel in Shelburne the morning of Sept. 19, 2024. This fall, the state of Vermont evicted hundreds of people, like Ouimette, out of motels, where they were living thanks to a state motel voucher program. The Legislature and Phil Scott passed new limits to the program during the 2024 session.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
Jericho resident Ann Squires, left, and Saxon Hill School pre-K student Gavin, age 4, help with the "great potato harvest" behind Deborah Lawson Memorial Library in Jericho on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Following the community harvest, the potatoes are donated to the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church food shelf.
Zoe McDonald
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Vermont Public
Most days, out among the more than 220-acres of fruit trees and rolling hills, you’ll find groups of workers, many of them from Jamaica, harvesting apples, like they do here on Sept. 25.
A person feeds fiber between two hands as they spin on a foot pedal-powered wheel during a beginner's spinning class in Tunbridge on Oct. 6, 2024 as a part of the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival.
Elodie Reed
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Vermont Public
Dartmouth College Crafting Circle co-president Abby Burgess, who belongs to the Mi’kmaq First Nations, from Eskasoni, Nova Scotia, puts their makeup on before the Dartmouth College annual Indigenous Arts and Fashion Show, which is put on by Indigenous students. The show was held on Oct.17 this year.
Nina Keck
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Vermont Public
Voters in Pittsford mid-morning on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
Raquel C. Zaldívar
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New England News Collaborative
People dance during the election night square dance in Townshend on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, as Sally Newton and the Turkey Mountain Window Smashers call and play music in the Townshend Town Hall.
Lexi Krupp
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Vermont Public
Crowds of health care workers and community members gathered on several occasions across the state to protest cuts to patient services. Here, a group advocates outside of the Central Vermont Medical Center on Nov. 21.
Catherine Hurley
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Vermont Public
John Bronstein of Putney took home the grand prize in the Bernie Sanders look-alike competition held in Burlington on Dec. 14. This was one of several "celebrity look-alike" competitions held across the country in the past few months (and the second held in the state).
Zoe McDonald is a digital producer in Vermont Public’s newsroom. Previously, she served as the multimedia news producer for WBHM, central Alabama’s local public radio station. Before she discovered her love for public media, she created content for brands like Insider, Southern Living and Health. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Mississippi in 2017. Zoe enjoys reading, drinking tea, trying new recipes and hiking with her dog.
Elodie is a reporter and producer for Vermont Public. She previously worked as a multimedia journalist at the Concord Monitor, the St. Albans Messenger and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, and she's freelanced for The Atlantic, the Christian Science Monitor, the Berkshire Eagle and the Bennington Banner. In 2019, she earned her MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Southern New Hampshire University.
