Death Cafes

Death Cafes in the NEK are typically: 

  • 1st Tuesdays at ​Parker Pie in West Glover, 6 p.m. Upstairs in the Village Hall room. 

  • 2nd Mondays in Hardwick. 10:30 at the Civic Standard

  • 2nd Mondays in Hardwick 1:00 at Wellness 101

  • 2nd Wednesdays at Albany Library, 6 p.m. 

  • 2nd Thursdays at Greensboro Free Library, 11 a.m.

  • 2nd Sundays in Saint Johnsbury at Wandering Vine Restaurant, 10:30 a.m

  • 4th Mondays at Hardwick Senior Center, 1:30 p.m.

At a Death Cafe, people gather for tea, cake, and a chance to talk about things that are often hard to share. Specific topics, set questions or guest speakers are not chosen ahead of time. The view of the founders of the Death Cafe movement is that, “when it comes to death, people have enough to discuss already…. giving extra input or setting too much of an agenda risks being presumptuous, restrictive and/or disempowering.”

What is a Death Cafe?

According to DeathCafe.com, the only things needed to hold a Death Cafe are:

• A host and facilitator*

• A venue with refreshments booked for a certain time and date.

• People who want to talk about death, dying, grief, and finding meaning in their lives.

That's it! The Death Cafe format is flexible, lightweight and straightforward. What makes it special is the open discussion -- there is no need for bells and whistles. The Death Cafe tradition, as started in England, is to serve tea and cake. However, these particular refreshments are not a requirement! As a facilitator your presence is the most important gesture of hospitality.

*See the DeathCafe site for more details on facilitating.

Start a Death Cafe

If you would like support to start a Death Cafe in your area, please be in touch. We would love to list it on our Calendar!

We are encouraging public places across our region to consider hosting a Death Cafe and helping to publicize it. In addition to providing welcoming, accessible spaces to meet, libraries are ideal local places for accessing resources about grief, loss, death and dying. Some of our libraries are setting aside a special shelf for books and other materials of interest to Death Cafe attendees and anyone who is part of our Death Care Community.