Ripton Community Coffee House

A Volunteer-Run
Non-Profit
Monthly
Concert Series

Upcoming Concerts - via Musi-Cal

A Full Listing of All Our Concerts, Ever - Including Some Future Concerts (but Musi-Cal might be better for that.)

The History of the Coffeehouse

Our 2007 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Showcase

Other Fun Coffeehouse Items

Booking Guidelines
Held the first Saturday of each month throughout the year (except for August). March through December we are at the Ripton Community House, Route 125, Ripton, Vermont. For January and February we are at the Ripton Elementary School, 753 Lincoln Road, Ripton, Vermont. (Lincoln Road is directly across Route 125 from the Ripton Country Store).

The Ripton Community Coffee House now has a music MySpace page, which has frequently updated information about upcoming shows and easy links to the musicians we present. You can find that at http://www.myspace.com/riptoncommunitycoffeehouse. You don't need to be a member of MySpace to view the coffeehouse MySpace page.

The Gordon Stone Band on stage,Decembe 2007, seen through the kitchen window.

Since we started the Ripton Community Coffee House in May 1995, we have been very fortunate to have a consistent, enthusiastic, and attentive audience at each performance.

The coffeehouse is held in the historic Ripton Community House, a beautiful wood frame meeting hall with a small balcony. It seats about 125 people.

Our concerts start at 7:30 with a one-hour open mike set (generally very interesting). This is followed by an intermission during which beverages and baked goods are available. The money generated by the refreshment sales benefit a different local non-profit organization for each concert (sometimes it's the coffeehouse). The featured performer(s) then do a single set. The set lasts an hour to an hour and a quarter.

There are no advance ticket sales. Admission is $8.00, $5.00 for children and seniors. Economically disadvantaged pay what they can afford. People who are baking for the non-profit get in for free, as do the open-mike performers. Our featured performers are paid from the door receipts, as are our expenses.

Our concerts are publicized in area newspapers and radio stations. In addition, the concerts are announced by flyers and posters at area locations.

There are no alcoholic beverages or smoking allowed in the Community House.
The Ripton Community Coffee House is extremely fortunate to have our coffee donated by the Vermont Coffee Company. In addition to being passionate about roasting delicious organic coffee, the Vermont Coffee Company is also dedicated to fair trade: buying their coffee at a price that provides a living wage and covers production costs for the farmers. They are also good local citizens. Please support them.
We have received generous support from these arts organizations. The continued health and growth of arts in our communities are greatly helped by their efforts. We are very grateful for their help. If you also support the work of these important arts organizations, it would probably be a good thing to let your elected representatives know how you feel.
WMUD 89.3 has been very supportive of our efforts. They have played music from our artists on their radio station, and also kept everyone involved with the coffeehouse happily tuned into their wonderful eclectic mix of music. If you are in the Champlain Valley, give these guys a listen. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, commercial-free, community-supported radio.

The Ripton Community Coffee House is a member organization of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance (the Folk Alliance for short), an organization that brings together musicians, dancers, presenters, radio stations, record companies and others. They work year-round as advocates for the folk music and dance industry. They also host an annual conference every February -- four days of non-stop workshops, music and fun. Some serious work gets done there as well.

Our local regional chapter of the Folk Alliance is the Northeast Regional. NERFA hosts an annual gathering every November that is smaller and easier to deal with, but certainly no less productive or fun. NERFA has also been very helpful to us. We appreciate the incredible efforts the people from both organizations have made in support of folk music.

For more information about the Ripton Community Coffee House, to sign up for the open mike or to arrange to have your non-profit organization provide refreshments at a concert, contact Richard Ruane or Andrea Chesman at 802-388-9782 or via email at folks@rcch.org.

Performers interested in being the featured performer should contact Beth Duquette at bdart@gmavt.net.