Expert: David Beckett - 2/25/2009

Question
Hello David - My husband has applied to grad school in both Burlington and
San Francisco...we now live in Taos, NM (the dry southwest w lots of sunny
days)  What is it about Burlington that would make it attractive to us (besides
lower apt prices than SF)...seems like we should really consider it, without
letting the  Winter WEATHER turn us off before serious consideration...why
Burlington???
We have a dog and would want to rent a small house w a garden...how long is
the gardening season?  We'd also like to be able to ride bikes or walk...your
comments are appreciated!
Natasha

Answer
Hello Natasha -

I hope this isn't too late to be of some use. I apologize for the delay in replying...

Burlington and SF are more similar than might be obvious at first.
Burlington has won (literally) dozens of national awards for liveability in the last 3 decades.

Here's a decent chart to give you a sense of the growing season here
http://neisa.unh.edu/Climate/BurlingtonVTGrowSeason.html
Also, the National Gardening Association is in South Burlington, and they are an excellent resource for growing season and gardening information http://www.garden.org/home

Why Burlington? That's tough simply because the answers are too many and varied, and your interests are undoubtedly different than mine -but I'll try: First, Burlington is really well located. Boston is 3.5 hours by car, and Quebec City is not much farther. Montreal's just up the road...I drive the scenic route through The Champlain Islands and it takes me well under an hour. Jet Blue offers quick and inexpensive flights to NYC, and Burlington International's other airlines make travel from Burlingon pretty convenient and varied for a city of this size, again partly just because Burlington is well located.     

Burlington is a walking city: There's a lakefront walking/bike path, and the main shopping street here in town, The Church Street Marketplace - is free of cars. There's a free shuttle bus from the lake, through the center of town, and then up to campus, so with a little planning, it's possible to do without a car and get around fairly easily. There's a centrally located food Coop the city itself helped develop, and there are supermarkets 5 minutes from town by car. Downtown Burlington, and Lake Champlain are within an easy walking distance, which makes taking advantage of waterfront festivals and activities pretty easy. It's even a reasonable walk from downtown to our lovely old historic minor league ball park!

Burlington is a mecca for the arts: The Flynn Center For The Arts, The Lane Series, The Mozart Festival, Burlington City Arts and the other dozens of arts organizations, music venues, and such make Burlington a regular stop for performers. The location also makes Burlington a natural place for artists to perform between other cities. Burlington has a Taiko Ensemble, a community based batteria- style Samba escola, a latino festival on the lake, and an enormous 25 year old, Jazz Festival which fills the parks and streets with music ...for 10 days every June.

There are a number of arts and cultural organizations which work hard, competing to fill the calendar in downtown Burlington, and the result is that between the VT City Marathon, the Criterium bike race, The Mardi Gras, the Winter Carnival, the Farmer's Market (both indoors and out), The Pumpkin Regatta, kids day, The Champlain Valley Folk Festival, The VT international film festival, the dragon boat races, various free concert series and the like - something (often several competing things) is always happening.  

If you really like Taos weather, you may not like our 6 seasons. But I love the weather here, because it's so variable. The proximity of the lake, the mountains and 5 different ski areas makes it hard to run out of things to do...

Please feel free to contact me with more questions - the more specific the better - and I'll happily do what I can!

David Beckett
Burlington, Vermont