Burlington’s Spring Move Out Project continues to evolve as it approaches a third decade redirecting furniture from landfills into homes while helping students out of their college housing.
The second day of the 26th edition of the event on Thursday followed the commencement ceremonies of the University of Vermont and Champlain College, which work with the city and local orgs to run the event.
“It’s a joyous event,” said John Mejia, with UVM’s Office of Student and Community Relations. “It’s spring. People are starting new chapters of their lives, and they’re able to do it in a positive way leaving the city better than they found it, maybe.”
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Buell Street resident Aaron Premont, 26, and a housemate, though not students, made use of the event to get rid of “some of the stuff we just don’t want.”
“We’ve just kind of brought stuff out and people are literally taking it out of my hands before I have a chance to set it down,” said Premont, referring to volunteers.
Coinciding with the near end of meteorological spring, the day was sunny, cool and breezy at 55 degrees. The new green leaves of the trees lining Buell Street were vivid against a blue noon sky.
People stood and watched while others mulled over curbside furniture. A line of SUVs, some hauling trailers of mattresses and bedding, waited to be directed by traffic flaggers. Others arrived on foot carrying items to Buell Street.
By a quarter of the way into the four-hour event, a crowd had gathered on the block extending from Hungerford Terrace east to South Union Street, where Cara Simoneau stood holding a megaphone.
Simoneau, who manages the city code enforcement’s housing division, called out to about four young people gathered on a nearby awning, saying it was not designed to support their weight.
“Students in the area have somewhere that — anything that’s in new, lightly used condition — they can drop it on off to the community,” said Simoneau. “If it’s not good condition, broken, torn … anything like that they can pay a subsidized rate to have those items removed.”
Some among a crowd gathered on Buell Street looked over furniture while others brought donations to the second day event of the 26th annual Spring Move Out Project held May 21, 2026.
A Casella garbage truck and workers were crushing those items nearby.
“We work with other organizations to try to help people out,” Simoneau said. “We reach out to domestic violence shelters, any alliances that might have a little bit more needs in the community, to kind of try and make sure that items are going to a good home whenever they can — instead of being left on the curb where they get rained on and damaged.”
Mejia, the UVM official, said the event would also help clear curbsides ahead of the Vermont City Marathon & Relay on May 24.
Cara Simoneau, left, Matthew Perry, center, both with the City of Burlington, worked along with John Mejia, right, with University of Vermont, to direct the 26th annual Spring Move Out Project held May 21, 2026.
Code enforcement officer Matthew Perry said that, based on his 25 years with the city and “at the risk of jinxing things,” the afternoon was “going very smoothly.”
New this year, Perry said, was the addition of a Green Mountain Flagging crew to directing traffic along, as well as a newly devised three-lane traffic pattern.
And both Mejia and Simoneau pointed to the people perhaps most key to it all going well: the dozens of volunteers in neon vests bearing bold black letters.
Corey Arwood is the Burlington Free Press city reporter and can be reached by email at clarwood@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: UVM move out helps clean curbs for VT City Marathon in Burlington
