Roxbury children from grades 3 through 6 sport their Green Up Day tee-shirts while wearing cow masks that are from the Green Up book which they all have read. Photo courtesy Tina Young It started out as a cloudy Saturday morning. The West Hills were quiet, except for chatter of songbirds, happy to be back home. The Oxbow, which opened officially today with no fanfare, was dotted with green bags that rested with an occasional old tire or computer screen. The road was vacant except for a hunter in camouflage who turned and looked suspiciously as a flock of turkeys snickered from behind Bill Ray's trees. It was Green Up Day, and the town would once again display its community spirit with a twist.

As the morning passed, the sun peaked out and decided it was time to make a showing. Daffodils gleamed from Roxbury's First Park as the brook slipped by, on its way to bigger and better things. The paved road was silent, and then it happened. Anyone listening closely would have heard it first: hooves on the blacktop, eight of them.

Then they would have seen it, a sight perhaps unique in all of Vermont: an Amish buggy being pulled by longtime Roxbury citizens Luna and Apollo.

Gene and Jane Sevi were behind the sister and brother team at the reins and Jane Valentine, along with town Magistrate of Muck Claire Chomentowski, were enjoying the springtime ride.

This vehicle had the best gas mileage in town that Saturday, with its by-product contributing to local gardens instead of the dreaded global warming.

Farther down at the firehouse, an unassuming trailer had appeared overnight in the parking lot. Above the building's single window in fancy writing were the words "Tim's Snack Shack."

Smells of hamburgers and hot dogs wafted from the place, where Selectman Tim Martin, Ralph Potwin and Kevin Pecor were cooking for anyone with an appetite.

A few people had already gathered and took their free lunch, courtesy of the Town, along with salads made by town Grand Juror of Junk Claire Chomentowski and Jane Sevi, to the pavilion, where Walter French had helped setup tables.

The snack shack was a recycled work of art, a joy to behold for all penny pinchers and treehuggers. The frame came from on old camp trailer Tim bought at an auction and, in his words, other "pieces here and there" like reused lights and a free window claimed from the side of a road. It took four or five years to build and this was its grand inauguration in Roxbury.

One seasonal resident from New Jersey commented that it needed to be christened with a bottle of wine, but none of the natives wanted to waste the wine or break the bottle.

"Now that's conservation," someone remarked, though no one was sure whether he was talking about the recycled snack shack or the issue with the wine.

The Community Hall/Senior Center attracted part of the crowd with its various events and offerings, all oriented toward recycling, reuse and conservation as a lifestyle.

Inside was a used book sale put on as a fundraiser and a book recycle opportunity for the Roxbury Free Library and manned by directors Danielle Pipher, Chris Dorer, Jane Pincus and Shelly Brown.

Books were a great bargain at $1.00 for hardbacks and .50 for children’s' titles.

Sharing the same space was a bake sale fundraiser to benefit the Senior Center Restoration Fund for the historic building, with Gloria Gerdes, Joan Leary and Brenda Ray selling homemade treats.

Finally, the recently formed Roxbury Energy Committee also made use of the same space and asked passersby to fill out a survey on their energy usage and goals for conservation. The Committee, always looking for ways to conserve energy, reduced their own output by having the library directors hand out the self-explanatory surveys as people paid for their books.

Frazier's Greenhouse, a local favorite for annuals and perennials, took the opportunity to open on Saturday, offering their varied selection of beautiful flowers and shrubs and helping to literally green up everyone's property. The greenhouse is open everyday until early fall.

The Roxbury Congregational Church took advantage of the favorable weather and continued with its ongoing beautification project.

Don Wilson, dedicated church member and worker extraordinaire, was seen scraping the huge building in preparation for a new paint job. To continue with various restoration and energy efficiency projects, the Church will be having a spaghetti dinner fundraiser on Saturday, May 22.

Selectmen Sean Neun and Dave McShane, First Constable Clarence Baker and Quinten Baker helped pick up the familiar green bags throughout town. The day was summed up as a great success by Green Up Day Chairwoman and Collector of Delinquent Trash Claire Chomentowski who stated, " I think it 's evolving into an event whose success can no longer be measured by the number of green bags deposited by the roadsides.

That's because I think the tide of illegal dumping has actually subsided somewhat in recent years, so the number of bags used is down.

But town participation in all of our activities was phenomenal, and a contagious spirit of love and cooperation prevailed. "

She commented that she had received two anonymous donations totaling $225, which went to the purchase of Green Up Day shirts for all Roxbury Village School students in grades three through six.

She also emphasized the fact that the Selectboard had provided funding for the lunch. In previous years, this tireless and ubiquitous Bird Lady of Roxbury has canvassed local businesses seeking donations for the day.

Mrs. Chomentowski also noted that “Needing less time to retrieve trash means more time left to explore energy efficiency issues, with the goal of becoming a greener town.”