The Big Event: Upper Valley Young Professionals Ring In Holidays

By Aimee Caruso - Dec 28, 2016

Jason Kendall, of Etna, an accountant at Gallagher, Flynn & Co, chats with Jack Kaunders, a lawyer living in Thetford, at the Upper Valley Young Professionals holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Catherine Patch, of Lebanon, signs in at the Upper Valley Young Professionals holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. Patch is a middle school teacher in Hanover. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Upper Valley Young Professionals board chair Markell Ripps, left, welcomes Hannah Preston and Sukriti Raut to the group's holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. Both Preston and Raut live in Lebanon and work as analysts for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Upper Valley Young Professionals who gathered at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15 for the group's holiday party and canned food drive included Ian Kipperman, of Enfield, an accountant for Gallagher, Flynn & Co. in Hanover; Evan Leary, of Enfield, a financial planner with Family Financial Strategies in Lebanon; Catherine Patch, of Lebanon, a middle school teacher in Hanover; Alessandra LaFianda, of White River Junction, a speech and language pathologist in Enfield and Plainfield; and Nicole LaBombard, of Lebanon, who works at Partners for Community Wellness at DHMC. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Miss Vermont USA Madison Cota, of Bellows Falls, Vt., poses for a picture at the Upper Valley Young Professionals holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15 with her mother, Jennifer, center, who works at King Arthur Flour, and Angela Nelson, right, who lives in Croydon and is an accountant at AM Peisch in Lebanon. Cota is a social media manager at LaSalle College. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Markell Ripps, left, board chair of the Upper Valley Young Professionals, speaks with Noah Detzer about a podcast project about young professionals at the group's holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Noah Detzer, left, of White River Junction, an English teacher at Hartford High School; Devin Wilkie, of West Lebanon, a publisher at Steerforth Press in Hanover; and Doug McKenna, of West Lebanon, a middle school teacher in Claremont, mingle at the Upper Valley Young Professionals holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Madison Cota, Miss Vermont USA, picks a raffle winner for tickets to Northern Stage at the Upper Valley Young Professionals holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

Matt Young, right, of White River Junction, a graphic designer and cartoonist and a co-founder of the Upper Valley Young Professionals, speaks with Jack Kaunders and Andrea Denhardt at the group's holiday party and canned food drive at the Norwich Inn on Dec. 15. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy photograph, photosbynanci@comcast.net)

A wind chill advisory, freezing temperatures and the general busy-ness of the season didn’t affect attendance at the Upper Valley Young Professionals’ holiday party, held Dec. 15 at the Norwich Inn. “We had a huge turnout,” which was “very awesome and inspiring,” said board member Andrea Denhart. The 50 or so partygoers included 2017 Miss Vermont USA Madison Cota, founding members of the young professionals group, and plenty of new faces.

Some had just moved to the area, and the mixer was their introduction to the Upper Valley, “so that was really special,” said Denhart, who takes the lead on organizing the group’s community service events, which they aim to hold every quarter.

The party featured a food drive that garnered four or five boxes of items for the Upper Valley Haven, said Denhart. It also brought a lot of great conversations and a chance to learn about different professions in the Upper Valley, she said. “There are so many wonderful companies in the community, so it was really neat getting to know some of their employees.”

The group will kick off 2017 with a membership meeting on Jan. 11, from 6-8 p.m., at the Kilton Library. They’ll reflect on 2016 and chat about what local young people are interested in doing during in the next 12 months. Everyone is welcome. “The more the merrier,” Denhart said.

— Aimee Caruso