I only lived in downtown Burlington for about 6 years, but it’s one of those small cities where even if you move a little bit north or a little bit south, once you hit the intersection of North Winooski and College Street, you know you’re home.
A friend of mine once summed up the reason that he lived in Burlington like this: “It’s the only town I’ve ever seen that has two sunsets. One over the lake, and one reflected over the mountains.”
And it’s true. I’ve always been a little perplexed that people don’t converge on the pier to watch and applaud the sunset like they do in Key West. It’s definitely an applause worthy sight.
With a population of 42,417 year-round residents and just under 14,000 University of Vermont students, Burlington tops out at a relatively comfortable population of 60,000 people. Which might be part of the reason it was voted “#1 happiest small city” by a Gallup poll this year.
Another reason Burlington-ites are happy is the city’s thriving art and music scene.
People associate Phish with Burlington, but don’t forget about Grace Potter and the Nocturnals or KT Tunstall, who busked on College Street before her Grammy nomination. There is live music every night of the week in Burlington and it’s just over the hill from the UVM-neighboring city of Winooski. Just in the downtown area alone, you can head to Red Square, Radio Bean, or any number of bars, cafes, galleries, and collective spaces to hear the Queen City’s original acoustic, rock, indie, and art music scene unfold before your ears. The elder statesmen of downtown music venues – Metronome, Nectar’s, and Halverson’s – bring you original bar rock, jam, indie, DJ nights, and jazz. Just a short drive from downtown you can hear national acts and local luminaries at Higher Ground or jaunt over the hill to Winooski to the Monkey House bar to check out original music of all varieties, both local acts and touring independent musicians. Check out the state’s alt-weekly paper, Seven Days, for nightly listings.
Burlington also has a lot of music festivals: Jazz Fest; Chew-Chew Fest, (which is a food festival combined with music); and Folk Fest. If you would rather quench your thirst than listen to music, there’s the Brewers Fest on Lake Champlain where you get to sample microbrew beers from around the state.
Another great thing about Burlington is the food, which has been bolstered in the past 20 years or so by small enclaves of resettled ethnic groups from around the world. In the 15 ½ miles that compose the city proper, there is barely a street without a restaurant, or a street that’s not walking distance to one. Thai, French, Indian, Vietnamese, Jamaican, American, Mexican – the list is long and varied and all walkable in the downtown area.
A friend of mine who’s currently living in Birmingham, Alabama, came to visit me this week. When we were going over the restaurant choices for dinner, she suddenly became bright-eyed.
“God, I’ve missed this!” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“Going out to eat in a city with local restaurants. We only have chain restaurants in Birmingham.”
She’s right. There are only two chain restaurants in downtown Burlington. One is Dunkin’ Donuts and the other “chain” is 3 Tomatoes, which has locations in Vermont (and one just over the border in N.H.) There isn’t a TGI Fridays – or even a McDonald’s – in the downtown. There are mostly locally-owned and run food places that specialize in everything from take-out to New England Culinary School (NECI) students practicing their craft. (McKee’s Pub in Winooski has a pool table, karaoke night and NECI chefs.)
Not only is there an abundance of food, many of the restaurants work with the Vermont Fresh Network, a farm-to-chef program that gets the best-of-the-best in seasonal produce, cheese and grass-fed meat. So, even if you are eating in a nook-sized restaurant – you might be getting a more gastronomic experience than you expected.
But how would you know it? There aren’t any billboards to tell you where to eat, because in Vermont billboards are illegal. (In fact, one thing that makes traveling outside of the state unique is the chance to see billboards. I saw my first one when I was 12. I remember turning around in my seat to keep watching it fade in the distance, even though it was a dilapidated ad for Burger King.)
So, the savvy traveler to Burlington needs to rely on word of mouth – the locals will be happy to point you to their favorites – and websites like Hungry Vermont that break Burlington restaurants down into style of cuisine.
“The window is open”
There are plenty of bars in downtown Burlington – some on the waterfront and most on Main Street and Church Street. They range from sports bars to trendier places that specialize in upscale cocktails. But my favorite bar is The Other Place (The O.P.), a borderline hole in the wall with bathrooms covered with graffiti.
You can’t see the lake and it’s not that fabulous for people watching. In fact the main sightseeing opportunity is watching cars at the horrible intersection of Pearl Street and N. Winooski trying to make the green light. The parking isn’t great – you will probably have to walk a couple of blocks to get to The O.P. – but once you get there (especially on a summer afternoon), it’s worth the aggravation.
One of the regulars once told me the bar used to be an automotive body shop, and that makes sense because the outer wall is a large, garage-door window that stays closed through the winter. But the first sign of spring is when the window opens. It’s more magical than seeing the first fiddlehead of the season.
When I was in my twenties my favorite phone call was from a friend who lived near The Other Place. He would only announce, “The window is open,” before hanging up. He would alert our group of friends and we would meet there to celebrate spring in the late, post-work afternoon. The bartenders embraced the spring equinox too – keeping the window open until patrons were huddled under jackets and playing pool wearing mittens from the bar’s lost and found. But no one complained – it was fresh air after a long New England winter. (We would take turns splitting inexpensive pitchers of Labatt Blue, playing pool and relaxing in the fading sun – watching cars racing toward the red light with dim hope of making it through a green.)
To me, no trip to Burlington is complete without a drink and a game of pool at The O.P. But beware of their credo, “You’re responsible for your own hangover.”
(Oh, don’t worry about dressing up when you come to Burlington, we were voted the 28th worst dressed city.)
So, that’s Burlington, Vermont, in a nutshell. And if you have too much fun and need a place to crash just let my friend Steve know. Sure, he might charge a night’s rent and ask you to critique his new drum solo, but people have to do what they have to do in a creative economy.
(Photo of the farm stand by Jedd K. All others by Launie K. )
