TOAST, a funky kinda band, to play the Vermont 50 Finish Line
TOAST, the funky band from our area will be playing at this year’s finish line!
Toast is an Upper Valley funk and soul band, performing original music and covers. They’ll be at the finish line from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, September 24.
Here’s a sample of their original tune “The Fool”
A little about the band…Jim Yeager, guitar and Vocals; Barb Smith, saxes and flute; Scott Paulson, Bass and vocals; and John Foster, drums.
Many of you may know Scott and Barb from their steel pan playing at Margaritaville!
Band Bios:
Jim lives in Hartland, VT by way of Philadelphia, PaBarbara Smith, Saxophones and Flute
Barbara Smith attended Bard College as a Liberace Scholar, where she received her Bachelor of Arts with a focus in Music Performance. While at Bard, she worked with Joan Tower, Luis Garcia-Renart, flutist Patricia Spencer, saxophonists Erika Lindsay, Harvey Kaiser and Howard Johnson, clarinetist Larry Guy, and performed as a solo flutist with the American Symphony Orchestra. In 1999 she toured the United States, Russia, and Central Europe as a saxophonist with the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra under the direction of Leon Botstein. In 2000 she served as a guest panelist at the New York City Flute Convention. Barbara performs in the area with Toast, The East Bay Jazz Ensemble, Island Time Steel Drums, and a variety of other bands, and as a solo flutist. She has also served as an adjudicator for district and state music festivals. She regularly serves as a chamber music coach for Green Mountain Youth Symphony. She is the co-founder of Vermont Independent School of the Arts in Sharon, VT where she has a teaching studio. Many of her students participate in district, state, and regional music festivals, and have pursued a collegiate career studying music.
Scott Paulson, Bass and vocals
B.A. Music from Johnson State College, Vermont. Scott has taught instrumental music programs, jazz bands, steel bands and percussion groups in area private and public schools since 1996. He has done Steel Drum workshops for such entities as The Vermont Alliance for Arts Education, The Green Mountain Suzuki Institute , plus several Vermont Public Schools and even as far away as North Carolina. He has played and recorded with a myriad of groups in various genres and on a variety of instruments, notably as leader/ front man/ steel pannist /bassist with the eclectic group SKABAZZA, which performed at the 1998 Phish festival “Lemonwheel” in Limestone, Maine. He currently plays lead pan in several of his steel bands,and has plays Bass Guitar with folk instrumentalist “Spencer Lewis as part of the Folk Rock Project.” He has played bass, drums and percussion with several bands as well as Highland Bagpipes with The Catamount Pipe Band.
John Foster, Drums
John started playing drums professionally at age 16, moving from his home in New York State to play for a band in Youngstown, Ohio. He later accepted an offer in Nashville, Tennessee, playing on the road and doing studio work. He made his living playing drums in Nashville for the next several years,and later went back to school for a degree in Wildlife Management, earning a B.S. from the University of Maine and a masters degree at Southern Illinois University, focusing on the technical side of Wildlife Ecology. John continued to play drums on the side, while working with NASA in Mississippi and the Department of Natural Resources in South Carolina. John, and his wife, Becky, moved to the Upper Valley in 2006 and he currently works at the Cold Regions Lab of the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Hanover, NH. John has enjoyed getting involved with the music community here in the Upper Valley, playing with several groups including The Wall-Stiles, Redhouse, Wild Roots, The Wildlifers, Loose Cannons and other singer/songwriters in the area.
Check the Race Weekend Schedule for more information.
Call for Volunteers at the 25th Annual Vermont 50
It’s that time of year, the 25th Vermont 50 Mountain Bike or Ultra-Run is just around the corner and we need VOLUNTEERS!
If you’ve never volunteered or you’ve volunteered at ALL 25 races, we WANT YOU! There are SO many jobs that need to be filled there’s something to fit your skill set. Please visit our Volunteer Page for more information. Or simply sign up ONLINE today.
Volunteer opportunities we’re looking for…
Days Before the Race
Packing food boxes days before the race
Trail Marking
Race Packet Stuffing
Setting up the start/finish (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
Setting up aid stations (Saturday night)
Saturday of Race Weekend
Parking and Traffic Control
Racer Packet Pick Up
Merchandise table
Kids Fun Race Check-in, Trails Guides, Finish Line
Hay Bale Treasure Hunt set up
Restock Trucks drivers and helpers
Sunday Race Day
Parking and Traffic Control
Restock Truck drivers and helpers
Racer Check-in Table
Aid Stations on course and at the finish line
Merchandise table
Finish Line Volunteers-water, food restock, trash, awards ceremony
Amateur radio operators
Cleaning up after the awards ceremony
Monday Morning Clean-up
Clean Up Monday at finish line
At Restock Barn
So many things to choose from…
Spread the word, sign up your family and friends, make a day of it.
Volunteer for the VT50 2017 Sign Up in the BIG TENT Sept 23 Noon-6 pm.
For Information about volunteering please email: [email protected]
As a small thank you, you will get a 25th Anniversary T-shirt and Sunday dinner on us!
Vermont 50-Notes From the Course
Notes from the course by Trail Guru Mike Bell
It’s often mentioned during the weeks leading up to the 50 that most of the course is open just for this one day of the year. The landowners whose properties we cross have been immensely generous for the last 25 years – and of course we cannot share our gratitude enough. But what does it mean to the team tasked with getting those 50 miles (and then some) ready by the last week of September?
Our work starts months earlier, as we go over past route maps and collect landowner permissions. By and large the course is consistent from one year to the next, but we’re always looking to improve the experience. For 2016 we tried out a new opening segment, added a mile of new single-track in the middle, lost several sections of favorite trails to landowner changes, and substantially modified the final 5 miles.
Again in 2017, we will be making adjustments. As we speak the team is finalizing the details, both subtle and significant, to make sure that all the races provide the right balance of excitement, challenge, and safety within their measured distances. And don’t forget the kids’ races – the day before the main race we set up multiple race courses on Mt. Ascutney for kids to run and bike!
As August comes to a close we will start the physical course prep. Scout crews will be rotating through the course sections looking for work to be done – removing downed trees, fixing erosion issues, cutting back brush, and any other hazard mitigation that needs to be done. When trails are only open for one day a year, there is a lot of clean-up to do! During the short, fast week that precedes race weekend, we’ll make a final pass through the entire course to put up markers and make sure nothing else came down since the scouts went through.
We hope you enjoy the 25th anniversary Vermont 50 course. While you’re out there, if you think to yourself what a great section of trail you’re on, or what challenging hill you just topped, remember that there’s a generous landowner making it possible for you to have that experience. Treat everyone you see as if that person could be that landowner (it just may be true), thank every volunteer you meet, and keep a steady rhythm. We can’t wait to see you out there!
Editors Note-THANK YOU to ALL our trail volunteers, landowners and to the members of STAB!
Vermont 50 Kids FREE Fun Race-5 weeks away
10th Annual VT 50 Kids Fun Trail Run or Ride
Spread the word and Sign up TODAY!
These FREE fun races gives the kids a chance to feel like they’re part of the Vermont 50 and are
held during Vermont 50 race check-in and packet pick up, starting Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
“Our Next Generation” ~ Saturday, September 23, 2017
Bike Ride 2:00 p.m.
Fun Run 3:30 p.m.
Ascutney Trails, Ski Tow Rd. Brownsville, VT
Sign Up Online, Avoid the Lines on Saturday
Come ready to have fun!
Please pre-register for the VT 50 Kids Fun Run or Bike Ride here
Free for children 14 and under.
Donations for Vermont Adaptive are appreciated
Kid’s Bike Ride
Helmets are required for ALL Bike Rides
Bike rides are limited to 25 riders for each ride, first come, first serve.
This race is FREE, however we will gladly accept donations for Vermont Adaptive or look for the donation jar at the Kid’s Race Table on Saturday.