Middletown Springs

By Susannah Kerest

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Front Porch Forum hosts online newsletters in every town in Vermont. Neighbors, nonprofits, businesses, and government officials can post messages, share news, get advice, make recommendations, announce events, sell items, and much more. It's all about helping neighbors to connect and build community.

This fall, Front Porch Forum is featuring Vermonters who excel at building community and offer tips for how to you can get started in your own town. Read it here in The Bridge Weekly.

For one week each year, Mary and a team of volunteers transform Middletown Springs into a campus, and community members become both faculty and students. Classes are taught by resident volunteers with knowledge in a subject and held at various locations around town, including the town office, library, and even people's homes. Past courses have included Concepts and Techniques in Timber Framing, Beginner Knitting, Bookbinding, College Applications 101, and more.

"I wanted it to really be a way that connects people that don't normally get to cross paths, or don't normally intersect with each other," Mary said. "I feel like community is the fabric of what makes Vermont special."

It takes a good bit of planning to create a town university. And Middletown Springs U benefited from following in the footsteps of the town of Bethel, where volunteers set an example with their annual month-long "Bethel University."

Mary offers tips from what Middletown Springs volunteers have learned along the way. Read them here: https://frontporchforum.com/join-project/middletown-springs-university