How to build stronger community? I went to three events yesterday, at different scales, that put food together with commerce and music to build community.

I went to three events yesterday, all built around food and friendliness, that I thought all illustrated the small but vital gatherings that build community.

I visited the last-of-the-season winter farmers' market in Montpelier around noon, when the gym at Vermont College was filled with vendors, customers, and the sound of bluegrass music from five musicians on stage. I found it easy to spend well over an hour there, eating lunch, buying some horseradish sauce and kraut, and visiting with lots of friends. Among other things, I located another local source of chicks, learned about Montpelier area backyard chickeners I wasn't familiar with, talked to a soap maker who would be willing to teach her skill, and was promised by a vendor promised the titles and author of detailed books on European folk crafts.

The winter farmers' market went to twice monthly this year, and vendor Alan LePage said on his WGDR show this morning that they considered it a great success, topping $100,000 in sales for the season. The summer farmer's market opens in its usual place, the parking lot next to Julio’s Restaurant and Christ’s Church Parish House, off State Street.

I biked on to Hunger Mountain Co-op. which was celebrating its grand opening after the renovation, with a truckload sale, member discount, horse-drawn wagon rides, and other activities. A partially outdoor event on a cool, gray, and occasionally rainy day, the celebration wasn't as lively outdoors as I remembered the annual April event being in years past. The parking lot full of life-threatening cars couldn't have helped, either; my recollection is that a chunk of the parking lot was fenced off for pedestrians only in previous years.

Still, people stood around chatting at the truckload sale, the children's gardening tent, and at vendors' sample tables around the store. Unlike at the farmers' market, it's possible to cruise the aisles of the co-op and buy things without talking to anyone before the final cash register, and there was some of that, too. There was a little music when I arrived--a guy playing guitar and singing outside the door--and hopefully the WGDR tent for its fundraising week got its radio working again after I left.

Back at home, I ground some flour, baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and headed out to the Adamant Community Club for a potluck and a concert by East Montpelier singer-songwriter Colin McCaffrey. Seth Frisbie and Erika Mitchell have organized a series of winter concerts at the unprepossessing Community Club, with the proceeds going to spruce up the clubhouse. (It boasted both running water and heat at last night's event.) A couple dozen people gathered for a potluck and then cleared away the tables to set up chairs to listen to the music.

McCaffrey played fiddle and guitar, performing a mix of standards like Shady Grove, his own compositions, and songs by other contemporary singer-songwriters, like Gordon Lightfoot and Pete Sutherland. The acoustics in the building were great, and the audience was appreciative and attentive. Frisbie told me that all the musicians who'd played there this winter had appreciated playing for an audience that watched and listened--a bit different than the talking nightclub or restaurant crowd. McCaffrey also commented that he enjoyed playing for an audience that "gives back" to the performer.

For me, the trip to Adamant was slightly farther than to downtown Montpelier (though without a big hill in the way), but most of the people there lived closer and appreciated having a meal and concert close to home. One couple from Maple Corner hired a sitter for the evening, and the husband told his wife he was taking her to dinner and music "in town." She was surprised and delighted when they stopped after only five miles, in bucolic Adamant.

Some parts of the transition from oil dependence to community resilience are plain hard work. And sometimes, celebrating community--with music, conversations, and commerce--is just plain fun. I enjoyed the fun yesterday. And as my neighbor Willem Lange would say, I've got to get back to work.