Fifty years ago, Warren residents buried a time capsule filled with the stuff of everyday life in 1976. This weekend, the town will do it again, giving future Warren residents a chance to discover what life was like in 2026.
The new capsule will be buried Saturday, Sept. 12, in Warren Village at 3:30 p.m. at the corner of the town’s Blair Barn near the town pavilion. It is scheduled to be opened in 2076.
The project is being organized by the Warren Historical Society, which unearthed the town’s previous time capsule in May after five decades underground. The 1976 capsule included an eclectic collection of artifacts, including a garter belt, a joint, an empty package of birth control pills and a hot water bottle shaped like actress Jayne Mansfield.
KEPT SECRET
“So obviously we are doing it again,” said Shannon Dunfey Konvicka, a Warren Historical Society member who is managing the project. “A new capsule goes into the ground Saturday in Warren Village, to be opened in 2076. Come to the pavilion. That is where everything starts.”
The contents of the new capsule are being kept secret. Contributors were asked to seal their items in waterproof bags before turning them in, meaning even the organizers do not know everything that will be buried.
“People keep asking what is inside and I have to disappoint them,” Dunfey Konvicka said. “We asked everyone to seal their contribution in a waterproof bag. Things arrived triple-bagged, taped, and in one case essentially laminated. I couldn't tell you what was in there if I tried, which is the fun part.”
Some items, however, were visible before being sealed away, offering a glimpse of what residents in 2076 may find curious about life today.
TWO JOINTS
Among them is a jar containing 300 pennies, a timely artifact given that production of the penny has ended. The capsule also includes the latest Mad River Valley phone book, a COVID-19 test, an ambulance fundraising calendar, a fingerboard and Warren Skate Park sticker from Splinters Boardshop, which opened in 2016.
There are also two joints from Valley Meade, reflecting the change in Vermont law and culture since the original capsule was buried. In 1976, marijuana was illegal; today, Valley Meade is a licensed cannabis farm.
And then there is a Twinkie.
The organizers had asked contributors not to include food, but made an exception for the snack. The Twinkies were specially ordered from Mehuron's, which does not normally stock them.
Children have also contributed to the project. Brian Wray of Inklings Children's Books, Waitsfield, held writing workshops throughout the summer, inviting children to write letters to the children who will eventually open the capsule.
Many of the children wrote about their communities and their hopes that the Mad River Valley will remain a place where people are kind and look out for one another.
Dunfey Konvicka will continue that effort in Beth Young's kindergarten class at Warren Elementary School. Her son, Radek, is among the students in the class.
For the kindergarteners, 50 years is difficult to comprehend. The children who write the letters now will be in their mid-50s when the capsule is opened.
The project has also prompted adults to think about the distance between the present and the future.
“Almost every adult I talked to opened with ‘well, I won't be alive then,’” Dunfey Konvicka said. “Correct, and that is the point. You are writing to a stranger standing exactly where you are standing, wondering who we were and whether we were any good.”
WE WERE HERE
She said the capsule represents more than a collection of objects.
“This is a whole town quietly trying to prove it was here,” she said.
Dunfey Konvicka said she hopes to be at the 2076 opening, when she will be in her early 90s.
“I intend to be at the 2076 dig,” she said. “I want to stand there with a motley crew of the rest of us, everybody on hoverboards, and watch a Warren kid pull that jar out and ask what pennies are.”
Saturday's events begin with a cemetery walk at 10 a.m., followed by the time capsule burial at 3:30 p.m. A community picnic will follow, with the Vermont Jazz Ensemble performing at the pavilion at 5 p.m.
The event is open to the community, including people who did not contribute an item to the capsule.
ACT OF HOPE
“Standing and watching the capsule go into the ground is an act of hope in itself,” Dunfey Konvicka said. “You were here, and you believe someone will be on the other side with their own dreams. Bring your kids.”
The project has been organized entirely by volunteers. Dunfey Konvicka thanked those who contributed items, hosted collection bins, answered questions and helped with the project following the excavation of the original capsule in May.
