Welcome back!  We hope that you all had a fun summer.  Join us after your first day back to school for a cook out here at The Bristol Hub.  Plus, you want to be sure to check out all the new stuff here!  See you soon!

If you haven’t been out to The Bristol Hub in the past couple weeks, you’re in for a surprise! Tooth has been back, and put a lot of work into getting new murals onto the building and the ramps.

Stay tuned: Tooth will be returning soon to do two more murals outside, plus an indoor acrylic painting project.

On another note, Robin and Louis in Burlington gave us some new internet cafe stools and a steamer trunk coffee table. Thank you!

Speaking of stuff growing, the garden has been coming up nicely. We harvested a watermelon today. It was so sweet and juicy! Don’t worry if you missed out though – we’ve got plenty more of where that came from!

We also made a Potato & Zucchini Bake, with a fresh zucchini and purple bell pepper from our garden! Check out the before and after of this tasty dish.

This support from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts will go towards helping some of our skatepark and music programs.

Last Friday was our outing to the Vermont Lake Monsters game.  It was a lot of fun and the Monsters won, 10 to 1!

It turns out Akeitha is the new Lake Monsters mascot and Alex knows how to play ball!

We got some new party lights for The Bristol Hub.  And yes, they are old lights from the tops of police cars.  Thanks go out to Ray Marcotullio from Maple Ridge Auto (specializing in Volvo repair – 802.349.8304) for helping us get them in working order!

Bryn has been hard at work on the skatepark.  He’s been making improvements on the features and the layout of the place.  If you haven’t yet, be sure to come by and check it out.

He’s also been working on making the park a friendlier place by getting recycling bins out for bottles and cans.  There’s one on the skatepark and one by the door of The Hub.  Thanks to Autumn Harp for the barrels!

You can read the section about VYDC below or check out the whole publication; the section on VYDC starts on page 20 (page 32 of the pdf). Also check out the other Vermont program that was recognized–VT Housing Conservation Board AmeriCorps on page 46 (page 58 of the pdf). For such a small state, Vermont makes a big impact.

To view the full publication: Transforming Communities through Service.

Ryan headed out a couple weeks ago with his band Unrestrained for their two month tour of Europe.  Just some of the places they will be playing include Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, and Greece.  He’ll be back the second week of September.  Wish him luck!

The garden had been coming right along.  We’ve already been harvesting different types of peppers, radishes, and tomatoes.  And the cucumbers, melons, carrots, beans, kale, and lettuce is all on its way – plus more!  We also got the shed moved over a little while ago.  We’re going to paint it and get a door on it so all of our gardening tools will be close at hand.