Brattleboro, VT, June 4, 2026:  As Brattleboro commemorates America’s 250th birthday, 118 Elliot presents “I Lift My Light”, a month full of events including a gallery show and puppet building along with other artistic activities. The events also include a community puppet building and march at the ‘Gallery Walk,’ on July 3 celebrating people’s visions of hope for America, symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. 

As part of ‘I Lift My Light’, 118 Elliot is working with other community groups and Bread & Puppet Theater Alum Uriel Najera to lead ​free puppet-making workshops for adults and children at 118 Elliot to build a giant Statue of Liberty puppet and other puppetry performance elements that will be presented as part of the ‘Brattleboro Goes Fourth’ July 4th parade. 

Through these community workshops, participants will get a chance to learn about puppet construction and using puppetry for civic expression. All workshops are free with materials provided. To register, participants can write to 118Elliot@gmail.com or call (917) 239-8743.

The first workshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 20 from 10am to 12 pm (and possibly longer). The day will begin with building the large puppet and planning for the parade performance and other puppetry elements such as wings and lamps, all within the framework of what the Statue of Liberty means for us. The title of these events is taken from Emma Lazarus’ poem ‘The New Colossus’, inspired by the Statue and exhibited within its pedestal, whose last line reads: “I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Uriel Najera, Bread & Puppet Theater Alum

On Friday, July 3,  from 2–4 pm, Uriel will also lead a ​Kids Workshop (5-12 years), in 118​ Elliot’s back lot​. Participants will get to make wearable wings from different birds that migrate across the world. Later that day, during Brattleboro’s July Gallery Walk event, the public is invited to join Uriel and other volunteers to help complete the Statue of Liberty puppet in the ​lot behind 118 Elliot from 5pm to 7pm. The completed Lady Liberty puppet may also ‘march’ to the Harmony Parking Lot towards the end of Gallery Walk to make her public debut.

​On Saturday, July 4, The Statue and​ supporting puppets ​made the previous evening will ​participate in ​the Brattleboro Goes Fourth parade ​which will take place at 10am. The parade steps off from the corner of Flat Street, proceeds up Main Street, and concludes at the town Common​. 

Opening July 3, In addition to the puppet-building workshops,118 Elliot is also hosting a group art show, which will include artist Liza Cassidy’s “The Mending Wall” that invites visitors to sew patches of fabric onto others’ pieces with hopeful thoughts about the future of the American experiment. 

Other ‘I Lift My Light’ activities focused on the significance of the Statue in commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will occur at the gallery throughout the month of July.

Brattleboro’s special connection with Lady Liberty

Brattleboro-based architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal on commission from the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty. ​From 1882 to 1884, Hunt worked with Frederic Bartholdi, the French sculptor and designer, who designed the Statue of Liberty. Hunt’s family home was at the current site of Pliny Park in Historic Downtown Brattleboro, one reason the town logo for America 250 events includes the Statue’s image.

Young Richard Morris Hunt, in a painting by Thomas Couture

town logo for America 250 events

The puppet workshops are the culminating effort of a multi-year collaboration of the Windham World Affairs Council, Brooks Memorial Library, VIM/The Commons, with support from the Vermont Humanities Council, as well as 118 Elliot and the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance.  

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