RICHFORD, Vermont — A message arrived overnight, naming a date and asking a simple question: would the reading room be available?

That was the sum of it, according to Colette Aubin-Roy, a staff member at the Richford Public Library, who confirmed Thursday morning that the Stanstead group organizing a proposed in-person gathering between the two border communities had settled on a Saturday in early May as their preferred date.

"I passed it along to the board chair," Aubin-Roy said. "I didn't add anything. That's not my place — I'm passing it along, not deciding anything."

The library's board of directors has not yet responded. Whether the reading room will be made available for the occasion, and whether the gathering takes shape at all, remains an open question pending that review.

The proposed gathering has been quietly taking shape over several weeks of back-and-forth between residents on both sides of what is now an international border. For many in the area, Richford and Stanstead have long functioned as a single community in practical terms, separated by a line that has grown considerably more consequential since RONA's recognition in 2036.

The board has not announced a date for its next meeting.