Hoops with Bernie
June 27, 2025 | Photos by Gordon Miller
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., convenes local kids for a basketball event at Brookside Primary School on June 14. Photos by Gordon Miller
It was all in a busy Saturday-day’s work for Vermont’s senior U.S. Senator recently, but it’s pretty possible that the hour and a half that Sen. Bernie Sanders spent at Brookside Primary School in Waterbury was the fun highlight on his June 14 schedule.
Home from Washington, D.C., for the weekend, Sanders squeezed in a stop in Waterbury for an hour-long free-throw session with dozens of local kids in the school gym, their parents milling about, taking in the scene.
At 1:30 p.m., the Waterbury stop was Sanders’ third event of the rare sunny Saturday after visiting Morrisville for a public gathering on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail and stopping in Stowe to speak at the No Kings rally with several hundred demonstrators.
With sleeves rolled up, wearing sneakers of course and a Green Mountain Club cap, Sanders worked the room, spending most of his time talking with youngsters, balls bouncing and flying through the air at multiple baskets around the gym. Kids were organized into groups by age, ranging from 5 up to high schoolers.
In between turns at the foul line, they got to chat with the once-presidential candidate who’s one of the most famous Vermonters in the world.
Everyone went home with a basketball.
Photos by Gordon Miller. Click to enlarge and view the gallery.
