❄️ Winterlude 2023 ❄️

February 10th and 11th

Schmanska Park, 63 Grove Street, Burlington

Burlington’s Old East End Neighborhood Coalition is thrilled to announce the 3rd Annual Winterlude! It’s a festival with something for everyone, so let’s smash the winter doldrums and celebrate together!

Come meet your neighbors and enjoy outdoor activities, a cozy fire, tasty refreshments, local music, and fun crafts. We encourage everyone to join us for this festive and free winter celebration. And, if you bring your own drinking vessel, we’ll give you a free Old East End souvenir (while supplies last)!

Last year was epic!

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2023 Schedule of Events

Friday, February 10th
5 – 7 pm

Bundle up, bring a headlamp, and join your friends and neighbors for Winterlude After Dark. Enjoy the magic of a warmly lit barn, hand-crafted lanterns, and beautiful ice luminaries as we celebrate mid-winter. We’ll keep you cozy with free hot beverages around a crackling fire.

Saturday, February 11th
10 am – 2 pm

Take advantage of free loaner outdoor equipment for adults and kids! Pick out a pair of cross-county skis, snowshoes, or a sled to use in the park. Check out our Activity Map and ramble through the nature trails from Schmanska Park to Greenmount Cemetery, shred the best sledding hill in Burlington, enjoy local music from Sambatucada! and The Brass Balagan, craft a lantern or blanket in the toasty barn, and stroll our StoryWalk® featuring Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Afterwards, grab free refreshments and relax around the fire.

  • Outdoor Equipment Loans | 10 am – 1:30 pm
  • The Brass Balagan | 11 am – Noon
  • Lantern Crafting | 11 am – 1 pm
  • Sambatucada! | Noon – 1 pm

Want to help with planning or activities?

Sign Up to Volunteer

👀 Keep and eye on this page for all the latest information

* The Story Walk Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont and developed with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and Kellogg Hubbard Library.

Winterlude 2023 is brought to you by the Old East End Neighborhood Coalition with generous support from Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, University of Vermont Office of Student and Community Relations, and AARP Vermont.

For community safety, current local COVID-19 recommendations will be observed.

OEE History Highlights

Our very own Dave Cawley recently sat down with Preservation Burlington‘s Ron Wanamaker to share the unique history of the Old East End and hype our 3rd Annual Winterlude festival!

Learn about the boundaries of our neighborhood, the families who founded and defended the area, plus the homes, businesses, and taverns that supported this new settlement.

Here are some highlights: “Yorkers” are bad, the Green Mountain Boys are a force, and Ethan and Ira Allen kept us from being snatched up by New York.

Preservation Burlington is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the historic architecture and live-ability of Burlington, Vermont through education and advocacy.

2022 Kids Weekend

Our friends at Burlington Parks Recreation and Waterfront are bringing Kids Weekend to the Old East End! Gather the whole family together and head down to Schmanska Park this Sunday, May 15 from 11:00am – 2:00pm.

Amazing FREE activities!

  • Local music by Sambatucada!, Burlington’s own samba street band
  • Tennis with Kids on the Ball, a nationally acclaimed program based in Burlington
  • Soccer with Vermont Green FC, Burlington’s new USL League Two team
  • Art projects where you can rock your very own masterpiece in stone
  • Outdoor fun, games, and activities
  • Creemees from Palmer Lane Maple in beautiful Jericho, Vermont

But that’s not all, Kids Weekend has events on Friday and Saturday too!

Friday, May 13 from 4:00 – 7:00pm

Check out these fun events at Roosevelt Park in the Old North End!

Saturday, May 14 from 11:00am – 2:00pm

Check out these fun events at City Hall Park in Downtown Burlington!

See you at the park!

East Avenue Sidewalk Repair

Hello neighbors! We’ve noticed sidewalk conditions are deteriorating along East Ave and Colchester Ave. Local businesses, Centennial Field, and UVM Medical Center drive a ton of pedestrian traffic in the area, and the hazards are especially challenging for seniors and neighbors with disabilities. The danger only increases during icy conditions, so we’re asking Burlington’s Department of Public Works (DPW) to prioritize their repair in 2022.

Check out this meticulous, neighbor-created conditions report for all the details. We’ve also sent this letter to DPW, formalizing our request for help.

We believe neighbor comments sent to DPW supporting our request may help prioritize the repairs. Please call Chapin Spencer at DPW (802-865-5818), or email the addressees in our letter to express your support. Official plans for 2022 construction projects will be announced on April 18.

If you would like more information, please contact Cynthia Cook at ccook@adamantaccord.com

East Avenue Traffic Calming

Burlington’s Department of Public Works (DPW) is proposing a traffic calming project for East Avenue in 2022. The city is asking the public for comments and feedback, and we are also hoping to schedule a public Zoom meeting with DPW within the next 2 weeks. Information about this meeting will be shared through Front Porch Forum and the Old East End mailing list and Facebook page.

For more information, please visit:

If you would like to join the East Avenue Traffic Calming Project mailing list, or get more involved with the project, please contact Cynthia Cook at ccook@adamantaccord.com

Winterlude 2022

Burlington’s Old East End Neighborhood Coalition is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Winterlude Festival to help you chase away those winter blues! Break the isolation of winter and visit Schmanska Park in a COVID-safe way.

Enjoy outdoor activities throughout February including snowshoeing, sledding, cross-country skiing, nature walks, and a kid’s Story Walk®. We encourage everyone to join us for this fun, free winter celebration.

I know you wish you were here…

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Special Events

Friday, February 4
5 – 8 pm

Bundle up, bring a headlamp, and join your friends and neighbors for an evening at Schmanska Park in Burlington’s Old East End. Enjoy the magic of a warmly lit barn, 150 hand-crafted lanterns, and beautiful ice luminaries as we celebrate mid-winter. We’ll keep you nourished with free hot cider and baked goods, and toasty with our fire-pit warming area. Did someone say cider doughnuts? Yes, they certainly did!

Saturday and Sunday, February 5-6
10 am – 2 pm

Take advantage of free loaner equipment for adults and kids! Pick out a pair of cross-county skis, snowshoes, or a sled to use in the park. Ramble through the nature trails from Schmanska Park to Greenmount Cemetery, shred the best sledding hill in Burlington, participate in our lantern scavenger hunt, and check our StoryWalk®* featuring Change Sings by poet Amanda Gorman. Afterwards, grab a free hot cider, cider doughnut, or fresh-baked cookie and relax in the warming area. Come join the fun!

On Saturday, enjoy live local music from Sambatucada!, Brass Balagan, and Lola Houston between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm (weather permitting – we don’t want lips freezing to instruments).

Want to help with festival planning or activities?

Sign Up to Volunteer

Need a little historic inspiration? Check out this story from VT Digger about Burlington’s 1886 Carnival of Winter Sports. These Victorians, without a shred of GORE-TEX in sight, threw open their doors in search of a snowy adventure to chase their blues away! Be like the Victorians.

Photo courtesy of Special Collections, UVM Library

* The Story Walk Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont and developed with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and Kellogg Hubbard Library.

Winterlude 2022 is brought to you by the Old East End Neighborhood Coalition with generous support from Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront, University of Vermont Office of Student and Community Relations, and AARP Vermont. We will observe all current COVID-19 protocols. If necessary, weather-related backup dates for the special events will be February 11-13.

Vellum Lanterns are Back!

Everybody loved last year’s lanterns so much that we are bringing back this beloved community craft project for Winterlude 2022! Help us light up Schmanska Park!

Free supplies at the barn

If you want to make a lantern or two, pick up free supplies right now at the Schmanska Park barn on Grove Street. Look for the red craft cooler next to the front door. 

Here’s how it works

  • Grab a specially prepared vellum lantern template from the red craft cooler at the barn
  • Take it home and create a design using markers, crayons, paint, stickers, etc., leaving the vellum clear where you want the brightest light to shine through.
  • Once the design is finished, return it to the red craft cooler at the barn no later than Wednesday, February 2. We’ll turn it into a beautiful lantern! If you can’t make it back to the Schmanska barn in time, call us at 802-660-8501 to make arrangements.
  • If you want to build your own lantern, let us know and we’ll provide the dowel, light and wire. Here are the assembly instructions:
    • Overlap the side margins as indicated on the template and staple them together to form a cylinder
    • Use fishing line or floss to suspend the light from the center dowel hole
    • Insert the dowel into the holes along the top of the template, making sure the light hangs down inside the cylinder
    • Bend the wire to form a handle and insert the wire into the holes at each end of the dowel.
    • Once you’re happy with the handle, wrap the excess wire around the dowel.
    • Return your assembled lantern to the red craft cooler at the barn no later than Thursday, February 3. If you can’t make it back to the Schmanska barn in time, call us at 802-660-8501 to make arrangements.
  • Mark February 4 – 6 on your calendar as a reminder to visit Schmanska Park to enjoy the lantern exhibition and other special Winterlude events!

Tour Greenmount Cemetery

Join us on Sunday, October 24th for a memorable tour of one of Burlington’s oldest and most historically significant sites, Greenmount Cemetery. The tour begins at 10:00 am and will highlight the history of Burlington and the Old East End through the lives of the European settlers laid to rest in this burying ground.

Our friends at Preservation Burlington will entertain you with stories about the prominent men and women who established our city, state, and nation. Learn about the people behind the familiar names etched into the fabric of our community – Fletcher, Chase, Edgcumbe, Edmunds – just to name a few! Find the grave of a Buffalo Soldier and Vermont’s very first senator with presidential aspirations.

Jason Stuffle, Old East End resident and Greenmount expert, will share his knowledge of the diverse cast of characters buried in these plots, explain the symbolism found on their grave stones, and share his dedication to cleaning these stones and bringing long hidden stories to light. Make sure to ask him about the lost grave of a Civil War soldier he rediscovered on an expedition through the Schmanska Park woods!

Where | 339 Colchester Avenue, Burlington Vermont
When | Sunday, October 24, 10:00 – 11:30 am
Suggested Donation | $10

Stuck in Vermont is an award winning video series created by the Old East End’s own Eva Sollberger! Check her out on 7 Days Vermont and WCAX

Schmanska Benches

As Covid restrictions are lifting and summer weather is setting in, we hope you’re all getting back to doing the things you love. If you’re looking for a fun community project, how about helping us build and decorate 5 more bench-tables for Schmanska Park! We’re planning a relaxed and flexible summer schedule with all activities happening at the Schmanska Park Barn. Here’s our tentative plan:

Lumber Delivery
Monday, June 21, 8 – 10am

Help us move 50 2x4s from the delivery truck into the barn. Delivery is tentative, so call Dave at 802.373.4790 to confirm details.

Prep Lumber
Wednesday, June 23, 4 – 7pm

We’ll set-up a work area outside the barn, move the 2x4s outside, cut the lumber to length, sand the edges, and then store the prepped lumber in the barn.

The OEENC will provide a miter saw, electrical cords, 2 sets of sawhorses, a palm sander, and sandpaper. We could use more sawhorse sets and power sanders, so bring those with you along with your own safety gloves and eye protection.

Prime Lumber
June 24 – July 8 in the evening

We’ll set-up a work area outside the barn, move the prepped lumber outside, prime the lumber, and then store the primed lumber and tools in the barn.

The OEENC will provide paints, brushes, buckets, and clean up material, make sure to wear painting clothes and bring your own gloves.

Paint Designs
TBD for a Saturday in the second half of July, 10am – 2pm

We’ll set-up a work area outside the barn, move the primed lumber outside, paint designs on the lumber, and then store the painted lumber and tools in the barn.

The OEENC will invite kids, artists, and community groups to design benches. We will also provide paints, brushes, buckets, and clean up material, make sure to wear painting clothes and bring your own gloves.

Assemble Benches
TBD for a Saturday in late July or early August

We’ll set-up a work area outside the barn, move the painted lumber outside, assemble the benches, and distribute them throughout the park.

The OEENC will provide fasteners and power drivers. We could use more screw guns and power drivers so bring those with you along with your own safety gloves and eye protection.

You know you want to be a part of this…

Memorial Day

While the origins of this somber remembrance are contested, we can all agree that honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving this country is a worthy national holiday. Memorial Day also marks the beginning of summer and gives us an opportunity to connect with friends and family, but let’s not forget those who are no longer with us.

Join the Old East End at Greenmount Cemetery on Sunday, May 30th from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon as we honor each veteran by placing an American flag next to their grave stone.

This event is organized by Jason Stuffle and supported by Burlington City Cemeteries. Volunteers will receive a map marking the headstones of veterans from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, and a Buffalo Soldier. After flag placement, Jason will demonstrate the proper technique for cleaning headstones. Check out this amazing transformation!

Slide the bar to see the stone before and after cleaning

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields, the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Come join us to learn about local history, honor those who have passed, and enjoy the beauty of Greenmount Cemetery.