Kudos to Wolf Tree
I am always proud to say that I live just across the bridge from White River Junction, Vermont. It has restaurants that are among the Upper Valley’s best, stores owned by people in the community, a wealth of professional and community theater, and it celebrates itself and the rest of us monthly with a strolling First Friday fest.
Wolf Tree did not take home the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Bar last night. It lost to Kumiko in Chicago. Among the other finalists were Scotch Lodge of Portland, OR; The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday in Philadelphia; and Water Witch in Salt Lake City.
But consider this: There are approximately 63,000 bars (not including restaurants that serve alcohol) in the United States. And Wolf Tree, far from any urban center in a village with a population of 2,878, was among 5— count ‘em— 5 finalists.
As an enthusiastic White River Junction-adjacent, I take pride in that. Cheers!
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.