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Town by Town: Swanton

Vermont Edition managing producer Jon Ehrens gives an introduction in front of listeners and guests before a live broadcast at the Swanton Public Library.
Catherine Hurley
Vermont Edition managing producer Jon Ehrens gives an introduction in front of listeners and guests before a live broadcast at the Swanton Public Library.

Each month, Vermont Edition takes a deep dive into one Vermont town or city and learns what makes it special. At the end of the hour, a guest helps us randomly select our next location by spinning our big colorful wheel.

For the latest in our Town by Town series, we head to Swanton, in Franklin County, for a live broadcast from the Swanton Public Library. Swanton is known for the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, its ancient history of human settlement, its close proximity to the Canadian border, its historic railroad station and much more.

Our guests this hour include: Swanton Public Library director Abigael Gaudette; Nicole Draper, a selectboard member of Swanton Town and program director of Swanton Recreation; Suzie Kelleher, village trustee for Swanton Village; Darci Benoit, owner of Bees on Broadway and co-president of the Chamber of Commerce; and Ken Sturm, refuge manager of the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.

Broadcast live on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Have questions, comments, or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.

Mikaela Lefrak is the host and senior producer of Vermont Edition. Her stories have aired nationally on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Marketplace, The World and Here and Now. A seasoned local reporter, Mikaela has won two regional Edward R. Murrow awards and a Public Media Journalists Association award for her work.
Andrea Laurion joined Vermont Public as a news producer for Vermont Edition in December 2022. She is a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., and a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. Before getting into audio, Andrea worked as an obituary writer, a lunch lady, a wedding photographer assistant, a children’s birthday party hostess, a haunted house actor, and an admin assistant many times over.
Jon has spent his entire adult life working in broadcast journalism. He began his career in Baltimore at WYPR, and has since been a producer for WHYY, Vox, The Majority Report with Sam Seder, and The Talkhouse. Jon is a lifelong recording artist whose projects include Repelican, The Art Department, and Dungeonesse. He lives with his wife in Panton, Vermont.