Announcing the 2025 Okemo Valley TV Producer Awards! Each year, as part of the Annual Meeting, we recognize the volunteer community producers whose work has stood out. We thank and applaud the following for their efforts. These producers exemplify the ways in which Okemo Valley TV’s services can be used in creating local programming that helps engage, inform, and entertain the local community.
Producer(s) of the Year:
Dave Pettit & Dave VanGuilder, “Average Daves Movie & TV Talk”
The “average Daves” are co-workers at the Ludlow Police Department who are also co-hosts of their very own show. With a shared love of movies, TV, & entertainment, they make use of the platform of the Okemo Valley TV to express their strongly-held opinions to anyone who will listen (and judging from the viewership online, people are, in fact, listening!). “The Average Daves” are now 30 episodes deep & going strong. The series catalogue can be accessed here.
Outstanding Achievement:
Phill Gatenby, “Vermont’s 100 Covered Bridges”.
Phill is an Englishman is Vermont who has fallen in love with covered bridges. An active member and ardent supporter of the Vermont Covered Bridges Society, last Fall he set out on a quest to document all 100 of the State’s covered bridges, starting at the Southern end and working his way North. His series is part travelogue, part educational, and part cultural heritage, but the sum of the parts is first rate entertainment. It premiered back in December, with a new episode dropping each week. Phill’s now on episode 30… Just 70 more to go! Check out the series here .
Community Impact:
Sammy Blanchette, “The Tasty Twist”
Sammy is the guy everyone in Ludlow has come to know, whether it’s through his music (next to James Brown, Sammy B may be the OTHER “hardest working man is show business”), or his work on Okemo Mountain, or, now, through his program on Okemo Valley TV. Sammy launched the “The Tasty Twist”last Summer as a cross-platform series. It is both a video series and an audio podcast. Sammy, a well-known hard-working local musician, produced & hosted 41 episodes of Season 1, featuring mostly other local musicians, giving them a platform to showcase their work and tell their stories. His guests also included some local business entrepreneurs and community leaders. Always one to look through a lens of positivity, Sammy is all about promoting his community and the people in it.“The Tasty Twist” will be back with Season 2, which will be premiering later this Summer! You can look back at Season 1 here .
Youth Programming of the Year:
Cavendish After School, “Chicken Little”
We spent many of our Thursday afternoons throughout the school year over at the Cavendish Town Elementary School and at the Cavendish Fletcher Community library, working with the kids from the after school program. Thy learned how to script, storyboard, create props, operate the camera, record sound, and ultimately use a green screen. Their “magnum opus” was their an adaptation of “Chicken Little” of their very own creation.
