The Ripton Community Coffee House held its final concert on May 18, 2024. It was a lovely sold-out, send-off concert to end a twenty-nine year concert series, with many standing ovations.
The night before, Beth Duquette, Karen Douse, and Richard Ruane wallpapered the walls with the posters from all twenty-nine years
At the end of the show people took their favorite posters with them. If there is one you would like, email rcchfolks@gmail.com and let us know which one it is. If we have it (some files were lost) we’ll email you a pdf of it. Of course, we used artist’s tape to put these things up on the walls so we didn’t damage them or leave any residue.
Our usual outdoor signs were set up in the morning. The near one was created by the fabulous graphic designer Win Colwell. The far one was painted by Sallie Mack (former co-director) in the first year of our concert series. It shows its age now but was used for all those years.
In the afternoon Rick Shappy and Richard Ruane set up the chairs and the sound system, followed by the kitchen crew, Andrea Chesman, Karen Douse and Carol Price getting the coffee, teas and baked goods set up. The baked goods are courtesy of a large contingency of volunteer bakers.
After everything was set, both the crew and the performers all got to eat, thanks to Andrea Chesman’s cooking. She also made dinners for all our performers. That’s Carol Price and Karen Douse in the kitchen.
As always, our dedicated videographer, Shawnsy Billops got his camera set up to record our concerts for viewing later on Northeast Addison Television (NEAT-TV) of Bristol, Vermont.
Carol Price made sure the baked goods were good enough for our patrons.
Christiana Blomfield was set for checking in the audience and selling our performers’ merchandise.
The audience arrived and started to fill up the Community House.
After a few songs by Beth Duquette and Richard Ruane, Green Heron took the stage for their great first set. The backdrop behind them was designed by Win Colwell and painted on cloth by him and Joanna Colwell (our long-time MC) and Beth Duquette (our long-time co-director, booking person, and brilliant photographer).
During the intermission people congregated by the kitchen window and got treats. In the foreground is Andrew Marks (one of the open mike performers from our very first coffee house), Bonnie DeGray (long-time baker and coffee house helper), and Mark Mulqueen (our long-time soundman and former board member).
And another wonderful set of music from Green Heron.
To end the night’s concert, Rick Klein, Sallie Mack and Richard Ruane (the performers from our very first concert) joined Green Heron (the performers from our very last concert) along with Beth Duquette (who performed at our second concert) on stage. They sang Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” with the audience joining in. It was a lovely ending.
The audience helped put away the chairs and the next day Richard Ruane came back to pack up all that was left. The very last things to go were the signs.
All photography by Beth Duquette except the two Coffee House signs outside and in the car by Richard Ruane, and the photo of everyone on stage singing at the end by Eric Warren.
We have never had any paid staff, everything was done by volunteers. Every single one of them helped make this music series possible, and our thanks go to them all. Also, thanks to our wonderful performers through the years, including those open mikers who took their chances on stage. And, of course, to the people who came to listen and supported our performers, our nonprofits holding the bake sales, and this music series.
