WARREN, Vt. — Fresh powder covered the mountains at Sugarbush Resort on Saturday morning as Vice President JD Vance arrived for a ski weekend with his family in a line of black Secret Service vehicles.
Down the road, hundreds gathered to protest the vice president in two nearby villages, many citing his tense argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office the day before.
One resort employee, who identified herself as Lucy Welch, went so far as to use Sugarbush’s online snow report to publish a lengthy condemnation of the Trump administration and the resort’s weekend guest. The post was removed, shortly thereafter, according to a resort spokesperson. But a shorter audio version was still available on Sugarbush’s snow report hotline that afternoon.
“Good morning, skiers and riders. This is Lucy Welch on the snow phone,’’ she began. “It is 7:06 a.m. on Saturday, March 1, and today is a really tricky day, and I hope that everyone coming to the mountain . . . is using their voice and standing up for what they know our community is and should be standing for.’’
The recording does not mention Vance by name, referring only to a “special guest’’ who “does not reflect the values and the magic of this place, especially given the fact that he’ll be skiing on National Forest land, which his administration is actively trying to dismantle, among other things.’’
After summing up conditions on the mountain, Welch signed off by saying, “Ah, what a gift to be a Sugarbush snow reporter. I hope everyone has a fantastic day and power to the freakin’ people.’’
In a statement to the Globe, Sugarbush spokesperson John Bleh said the resort respects “the voice and opinion’’ of its employees but “determined that the snow report was not the appropriate medium to share that information.’’
He would not comment on whether Welch had faced disciplinary action but said she “remains a member of the snow reporting team.’’
Inside the resort, two men who held signs reading, “Vance is a traitor go ski in Russia.’’
Dan Vidali, 38, who lives in Montpelier, said Vance’s Sugarbush trip was an insult to all Vermonters. “He cannot vacation here without hearing our opposition to his policies,’’ Vidali said.
He said Vance was destroying democracy and called Friday’s confrontation with Zelensky a “catastrophe.’’
Others also showed their displeasure with the vice president and the Trump administration’s policies. A cardboard sign that read, “hillbilly go home,’’ a jab at Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,’’ was stuck to the side of a van.
At the lift line around 10:10 a.m., a crowd cheered for a protester holding a sign. Several skiers wore rainbow Pride flags as capes. Two Ukrainian flags and an American flag hung from a fourth-floor balcony of the resort.
According to Bleh, Vance’s visit did not draw heavy protests on the property.
“There have been handfuls of protesters at the resort throughout the day, but all have been peaceful and none have been disruptive,’’ Bleh said in the statement.
Meanwhile, a short distance away in the quiet ski town of Waitsfield, people lined the streets to express their displeasure with Vance.
More than 700 protesters stood on sidewalks and snowbanks along Route 100, cheering, singing, and holding signs aloft. The demonstration, staged in front of gas stations and a skiwear shop, slowed traffic as what appeared to be mostly supportive motorists honked their approval.
In the parking lot of a nearby Shaw’s supermarket, a group of activists prepared a convoy of vehicles to circle the Mad River Valley throughout the day “to tell Vance he’s not welcome here,’’ according to organizer Travis Napoli, 43, of Waitsfield.
Carl Benson stood in the parking lot beside a gray sedan adorned with plastic signs painted in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, reading, “Vance = Traitor.’’
The 64-year-old East Montpelier resident said he’d been appalled by Vance’s conduct during Friday’s White House meeting with President Trump and Zelensky. Sitting beside the two leaders in the Oval Office, Vance had castigated Zelensky for being what the vice president described as insufficiently thankful to the US for providing arms to the war-ravaged country, instigating an unprecedented, televised row with an ally.
“It’s shameful, absolutely shameful,’’ Benson said of Vance’s remarks. “The world should be standing up to support Ukraine right now — not subjecting President Zelensky to this bullying show that went on in the White House yesterday. That was insane.’’
He added, “We’re angry.’’
As Andrea Metzke walked from the parking lot to Route 100 to join the roadside protest, she said she had not taken part in public advocacy since college. Now 45 and living in Shelburne, Metzke said she had been driven to take action by what she described as the “heartbreaking’’ actions of the Trump administration — particularly Friday’s meeting in the Oval Office.
“I just had a really emotional, strong, visceral reaction to what I felt seemed almost like a political stunt or ambush yesterday,’’ she said.
Some protesters showed off particularly colorful slogans, including Vanessa Brown, 43, of Montpelier, who carried a sign featuring a crossed-out swastika, instructing Nazis, with the use of an expletive, to please leave.
“I think the GOP is accurately described as fascists and Nazis,’’ Brown said. “And fascists and Nazis are not welcome here in Vermont.’’
Some supporters of Trump and Vance drove past the Waitsfield protest blaring their horns in disapproval. Anthony Levine, 50, of Barre, was among them, riding in the backseat of a gray pickup truck bearing Trump flags early Saturday morning.
“I love JD Vance,’’ he said, predicting that Vermont’s visitor would be the next president. “This country was going in the wrong direction. If you can’t see that, you can’t fix stupid.’’
The gathering appeared largely peaceful but was marked by the occasional confrontation between supporters and opponents of the administration. When the truck in which Levine was riding drove by the protesters later Saturday morning, Jeremy Spiro-Winn walked into the roadway and stood in front of it, blocking the truck’s path.
“Show me what democracy looks like!’’ the 37-year-old Barre City man shouted into a black bullhorn as he stared down the truck, prompting crowd members to echo the call.
Another man, wearing a fluorescent safety jacket and an American flag baseball cap, followed Spiro-Winn into the roadway and shoved him out of the way.
“Obviously we’re all extremely displeased with JD Vance’s presence in town, but it’s not really about JD Vance,’’ Spiro-Winn said after the confrontation. “This is about the movement he stands for. We can rattle off all sorts of disgusting things he believes in, but he’s symbolic of everything we don’t want in this country, and that’s why we’re out here.’’
Vance had initially planned to stay at the Pitcher Inn in the village of Warren but later changed his plans. Outside the inn, about 30 people affiliated with the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation protested, half a dozen of them waving Palestinian flags. Across the street, in front of the Warren Store, a handful of Trump supporters gathered, some waving American flags.
Inside the general store, which shares an owner with the Pitcher Inn, chef and kitchen manager Alex Brink remarked on the “unusual vibe’’ at the establishment that day. He expressed disappointment that some townspeople had criticized the Pitcher Inn for agreeing to host Vance.
“I’m not a big fan of the guy, either, but I wanted him to come in and try my brisket on Friday,’’ said Brink, 47, of Waitsfield. “But he never made it.’’
On the mountain Saturday afternoon, skiers and riders enjoyed fresh, wet snow and braved occasional gusts of wind. The only signs of a vice presidential visit were dozens of apparent security officials — some in unmarked winter parkas and some wearing tan Secret Service vests — as well as the occasional protesting skier.
Desiree Hallock, 42, who lives in nearby Moretown and skis at Sugarbush several days a week, donned a white T-shirt over her winter clothing with “DEI skier’’ printed in black on the back and a vulgar joke about Vance on the front. She was accompanied by a large group of family members, each of whom wore similar outfits.
“We scrambled and got some arts and crafts together and made a project out of it last night,’’ she said.
Hallock said she was “a little puzzled’’ as to why Vance chose to visit such a liberal location, saying it was “all anyone in Vermont can talk about right now.’’ Fellow skiers, she said, had given her “a lot of high fives,’’ though a few refused to ride with her on ski lifts.
Around 3:40 pm, a motorcade of six cars drove out of the ski resort down a winding road. It passed snow-covered mountains, general stores, and a wooden barn. The motorcade drove past a handful of protesters who were standing on a dirty snow mound. The cars turned on their blinking red and blue lights as the protesters raised their signs and shouted at Vance.
