Ride The Ridges is an annual supported biking day, and fundraiser for Cabot Mentoring. Great biking, great scenery, great local food, and all for a great cause! With less than a month to go we have have some good news, and some more good news. The first good news is that both of our long courses (100K and 60K) are sold out, which means we are going to make the biggest contribution to  Cabot Mentoring we've ever made! The other good news is that there is plenty of space for you to register for our 30 K route which offers the challenge of some decent climbs and some stunning views of Cabot, with plenty of time to enjoy socializing and local lunch on the Common. For more information, visit Ride the Ridges. You can also go directly to the BikeReg site  to register.

Three communities along the Cross Vermont Trail receive major grants to promote and improve access to trails and outdoor recreation.

Town of Cabot: Building connections between the Village of Cabot, the Town's four-season trail network, the Cross Vermont Trail and the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.

Town of Groton: "Gateway Project", upgrading the Cross Vermont Trail that connects from the Village to Groton State Forest and to Pine Mountain wildlife area. Also securing new public greenspace along the Wells River, building new parking lot near the Village and improving signage town wide along the trail.

​Mekiah Smith and two college friends hung out on the Cabot Common in Smith's hometown on a recent single-digit Saturday. If it seemed too cold to be chitchatting outside, it probably was. But Smith and her friends had an advantage. The students at Craftsbury's Sterling College were moving while they talked, skating in arcs and circles on a DIY rink that, every winter, transforms a corner of the common into a slick space for recreation and camaraderie.
Smith, 18, grew up skating on the common rink, she said, so it felt natural to bring her friends there on a visit home. For 10 years, she's joined family and friends on the crew that constructs it. The rink is across the road from the United Church of Cabot and Cabot School, which serves about 165 pre-K to 12th-grade students.
"I love having a skating rink in the middle of Cabot," Smith said. "It's always a great place for people to come together."

Two vacancies, 5 candidates, 6 questions: in lieu of an in-person candidate forum for voters to speak directly with candidates for the two vacant positions on the Selectboard, The Cabot Chronicle and Cabot Community Association (CCA) posed these six questions to each of the candidates for election. 

1.  What do you think is the most important issue facing the Selectboard? 
Skip Bothfeld:  The biggest issue facing the Select Board is looking forward for the future growth of Cabot. Pursuing funding, partnerships, and helping ensure this is a quality place to live, work and feel connected. 
R. D. Eno:  Just when our local economy was revitalizing itself with new business, the pandemic struck. Our biggest challenge will be helping to restore economic momentum. I will devote myself to that objective, and I will do my best to reawaken volunteer enthusiasm as part of my effort.
Ruth Goodrich:  Planning for the future infrastructure of the town – putting $$ aside and seeking grants available.
Amy Hornblas:  The most important issue facing the Selectboard now is figuring out how to protect citizens from infringements on our ability to live here.  We live in rural Vermont because we love nature, and enjoy living in harmony with it and each other.  According to the town survey conducted for the Town Plan over a decade ago, a leading concern was our ability to continue living here.  Too many nonsensical policies and rules can interfere with our ability to do for ourselves.   In 2014 the town of Cabot was about to implement a new set of zoning rules which would have made it more difficult for people to live here, by restricting our ability to share our land with our extended families, have a home-based business, or grow our own food.  That’s when I spearheaded a ballot question which returned zoning decisions to the voters.  The ballot initiative passed with over 400 votes in favor, and only 50 against.  Through the process, I met many of my neighbors and had great conversations.  I’ve continued to participate in town activities, such as budgeting and planning meetings, and have promoted more transparency by recording meetings and making them available so people can be informed of decisions that are being made and their impacts.
Lisa Olson: I believe that one of the most important issues facing the Selectboard and the Town of Cabot is the lack of affordable housing. We need to be able to attract more families with children to our town. The more children that we enroll in our school, the less expensive our per pupil costs become and this directly affects our tax rate. I want young families including our own grown children to be able to afford to buy a house and raise their own families in Cabot.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to know about The Den at Harry’s Hardware is how it is Cabot’s first bar in recent memory. The bar’s construction took place near the end of 2019 when Johanna Thibault and the previous owner wanted to create a place for the community to gather. Following the lifting of COVID-19 safety guidelines, The Den at Harry’s Hardware now acts as a thriving venue for the local Cabot community to gather, listen to live music, and connect in a family-friendly environment. 

This past year, COVID-19 has greatly increased a need and desire for a resilient community and local sources of healthy food. The Greater Cabot Working Lands Network (GCWLN) and the CCA Economic Development Workgroup* have joined forces on two projects that will expand economic opportunities for working lands-based enterprises, such as farms and food processors. CabotVermontGrown.org is a new online directory of Cabot area food and farm businesses that will be previewing soon. And the natural extension of the directory is a full-fledged Cabot Food Hub to aid in the distribution of locally produced food products, including fruit, vegetables, maple, honey, herbs, nursery stock, meat, and more.