Addison County economic report

Vermont Business Magazine, Sep 01, 1998

One factor, according to local leader Gerianne Smart of Smart Communications, was the restoration of the Opera House. Built in 1897, its large performance space and seating area occupies the upper part of the municipal building.

The town closed the facility in the 1970s, when problems with the brick facade were mistakenly attributed to the building pulling apart. Steel cables were installed in the Opera House to tie the two sides together, but the real problem, solved two decades later, was a leaking roof that let water freeze between the bricks and the structure behind.

Realizing that the Opera House's centennial was coming, a group calling itself "The Friends of the Opera House" incorporated in 1993 and started raising funds and public enthusiasm, the latter at first in short supply. But the goal of getting the space back in action by 1997 was achieved, with about $225,000 raised by May 1997. Though more work remains to be done -- Smart estimated the total cost may be $600,000 for accessibility, electrical work, seats, etc. -- there is now a regular schedule of cultural and entertainment events, as at the other turn of the century.

"I feel we haven't scratched the surface in terms of local uses," said Monkton musician Peter Sutherland, who has become the artistic director. Champlain Valley philanthropist Walter Cerf has donated $50,000 for a heating system, which may enable conferences and performances of many sorts to be held in the 350-seat facility.

"To be part of it and really experience it happening is a phenomenal thing," Smart said. That success has led to others, with the well-known phenomenon of one sprucing up leading to neighborhood-wide efforts coming into play, she said.

There are close to 100 members in the Vergennes Area Chamber of Commerce, said co-president Liz Markowski. The name reflects the growing feeling in surrounding communities that their prosperity needs to go hand in hand with that of the core business area, she said.

One problem has been a proliferation of lower-income housing in the downtown, Markowski said. This winter, a group of 20 local investors calling itself the Otter Creek Investment Group battled with the Addison County Community Action Group, which owns and maintains a large stock of affordable housing, to gain control of one rundown property.

ACCAG is a good group, Markowski said, but this property was opposite the town library and the Chittenden Bank, and enough was enough. The investors won out, and now the space will combine upstairs and back area offices with first floor retail space -- where she and Patty Paul, who is both co-president and business partner, hope to relocate their own clothing, gift and jewelry store.

The Vergennes downtown continues to benefit from strong boater traffic, Markowski said. Knowing that they can get free water and even electrical hookups, they gravitate to the base of the falls, which doubles as a historic site because a fleet that helped to win the War of 1812 was built there.

In Bristol, town administrator Robert Hall said that for the first time there is a business association, the Five Town Business Council, which brings together people from Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, Starksboro, and New Haven. They've been meeting every month for a year and a half, "a small group," he said, which is trying to publicize itself and gain more members.