The Weekly Record – Jan 5, 2026
My Story: Marianna Holzer tells of contra dancing; another call to speak up or send a letter to voice your opinions about the FY2027 budgets; our archiving efforts and upcoming events.
The new year
Here’s The Record’s New Year’s resolution: To make this a community news organization again in the truest sense. We are looking for writers, photographers and digital media whizzes to cover events, issues and meetings and to tell stories about the people and organizations that make Hinesburg unique. We need people to help sell ads and to raise donations and win grants. We need artists and organizers; any cartoonists out there? We need help spreading the word on social media, to provide us news tips to and to help organize town events. We need your opinions – letters; written or audio commentary; essays.
Specifically, we are looking for people – young and old – to:
Cover town government meetings and to go beyond the meetings to tackle some of the broader issues we are facing;
Interview residents for the ‘My Story’ feature;
Cover the Champlain Valley School District;
Write stories about HCS and CVU, particularly CVU sports. (Aren’t there any teen sports buffs out there who want to cover their school’s teams?);
Take photos. We’d love photographs for The Weekly Record such as the one today by Charlie Brunetto. (All of you have cameras, right? Send us some of your best!)
If you have any interest in helping The Record grow and serve the community better, please reach out to us. We are just an email away.
Giving thanks, part 2
We want to thank all of you who donated to The Record over the past few months to support our effort to bring you new, timely information on this platform. As we are a nonprofit, we look for donations all year.
And now the news …
Well, actually there wasn’t much happening last week as we all enjoyed a breather.
Time to speak up, speak out.
As we said last week, January is the time to have your voice heard by the Hinesburg selectboard and the Champlain Valley School District. Both hold great sway on your tax bill and they do want to hear from you. Your voice matters.
We’ve done some comprehensive coverage of the budget process so far: Budget27 is a link to all our stories on the town and school budgets (town: plus 10 percent over this year; schools: plus 5 percent). How do you feel about the budget proposals? You can speak directly to the selectboard on Jan. 7 and Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall (and via Zoom). You can speak to the CVSD on Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. in the CVU library (and via Zoom; click here for more info on meeting).
Your ultimate say will be on March 3, but why wait? Why not tell our town leaders how you feel? If you’d rather write something, send us a letter and we’ll publish it.
Our thanks to this week’s sponsors –Lantman’s and Hart & Mead Energy. If you support them, you support us.
My Story: When contra dancing was everything
Longtime Hinesburg resident Marianna Holzer tells the story of how contra dancing was such an important part of her life for many years. An audio story with a pdf of the transcript for those who like to follow along. Full story.
In case you missed it …
From the archives …
Record News Editor Cathy Ryan has been hard at work archiving the past issues of The Record and they are fascinating. She would love some help – she’s looking for anyone who might have a scanner capable of processing an 11 x 14 page. While we have 20 years of digital copies (that we are slowly getting up on this site), the older ones are all print copies. Full story.
Stories in the works …
The new wastewater treatment plant is operational
There were no marching bands or ribbon cuttings for the opening of the largest public works project in Hinesburg’s history last month as testing was completed and it is now fully operational. A look back at the long history of the project that will protect the Lake Champlain watershed for decades to come. Story coming Wednesday.
Community stories
The seventh and eighth graders at Hinesburg Community School worked hard this fall creating Community Stories of Hinesburg citizens. Pairs of students went out and interviewed community members, took their pictures and wrote stories about each. A host of teachers guided the students. They are on display at HCS and in several weeks, we’ll publish these stories. Don’t miss them!
Upcoming
Monday
Senior meet-up – storytelling, gabbing, connecting; 1 p.m., Carpenter-Carse Library.
Tuesday
CVSD Finance Committee meeting, 6 p.m., district offices, Shelburne and Zoom.
Wednesday
Selectboard public hearings on capital budget and alternative water for residents near old dump; 6 p.m., Town Hall and on Zoom (click link at time of meeting) or watch on https://mediafactory.org/hinesburg.
Thursday
Affordable Housing Committee, 7 p.m., Town Hall and Zoom (click link at time of meeting).
Town Forest Committee, 7 p.m., remote, Google Meet (click link at time of meeting).
Friday
Flex & Flow Yoga, 8:30 a.m., Sweet Yoga, Mechanicsville Road.
Saturday
Saturday Family Play Time, 10 a.m., Community Room, Carpenter-Carse Library.
Full Calendar of events
