The recently renovated Opera House at Enosburg Falls (123 Depot St., Enosburg Falls, 802/933-6171) hosts community theater and musical performances.

St. Albans’ big annual event is the Vermont Maple Festival (802/524-5800, www.vtmaplefestival.org, late Apr., free admission for most events and activities), which has grown from a humble celebration of the state’s vaunted syrup into a grand festival that draws thousands each year from all over Vermont and beyond. The fair includes carnival rides, a craft show, a fiddling competition, a pancake breakfast (with maple syrup of course!), and the crowning of the Maple King and Queen, who “have the responsibility and FUN of representing the Green Mountain State’s signature product during their reigning year.”

Marching bands from around the state parade in honor of Vermont’s favorite animal at the Vermont Dairy Festival (802/933-9691, www.vermontdairyfestival.com, over the first Saturday in June), held each year in the hamlet of Enosburg Falls. The highlight of the festival is the annual “cow plop” contest, in which a grass-fed beast is let loose on a grid of numbered squares.