Holiday Issue Around the Chamber 2022

Vermont’s Own Gifts & Goods would like to wish you, our neighbors and community, a joyful holiday season full of peace, love, and prosperity.

The holidays are a time for gathering and breaking bread with friends, families, neighbors, and loved ones to celebrate, give, and share with each other.

As we take the time to celebrate, we invite you to visit us and discover the perfect Vermont made gift for your loved ones. With over 150 different Vermont brands, you’ll be sure to find a gift or two! (That we’ll be happy to ship for you!)

Thank YOU, our local community, for being the foundation of our success. Your support provides jobs for our team and has a ripple effect on Vermonters across the state. For this, we cannot thank you enough.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season,

Abbey & the Vermont’s Own Team

What's New at the Chamber

What's New at the Chamber

National Bank of Middlebury 2022 Business of the Year

What's New at the Chamber

United Way of Addison County 2022 Community Achievement Award

What's New at the Chamber

Buster Brush Citizen of the Year

Lisa Phelps Parlour

What's New at the Chamber

Young Professional of the Year

Adam Rainville Maple Landmark

What's New at the Chamber

2022 Hall of Fame Inductee Sue Hoxie Maple Run Marketing

What's New at the Chamber

2022 Hall of Fame Inductee Sarah Cowan National Bank of Middlebury

New Member Closeup

This month Around the Chamber sat down with Dave Silberman, co-owner of newly opened FLORA Cannabis in Middlebury

Dave, tell us a little about the journey to where you have arrived today with FLORA.

Well for me, the journey has been going on for a long time. I've been working on cannabis legalization and drug policy since 2015. I came at it from a criminal justice reform angle. As an attorney, I was trying to help the legislature develop a system for cannabis that would be by and for Vermonters and would start to right the wrongs of the War on Drugs. My partner Mike (Michael Sims) has also been working in the cannabis industry for some time and came to me about representation with an idea he had to open a store downtown and that turned into a partnership which has turned out well.

We wanted to bring a store downtown that everyone in the community would feel welcome in. A store that even the more conservative folks would have difficulty finding issue with. We pride ourselves on being Vermont's most compliant cannabis store and are focused on being a warm, welcoming, educational space where people who are new to cannabis or returning to it after a long time can find great product. In addition, we really wanted to focus on downtown (Middlebury) to be part of Middlebury's comeback from the pandemic and the big dig. We are in the middle of a generational turnover downtown and struggling to bring local consumers to the downtown district. We want to help with that revitalization

New Member Closeup

How was your branding developed and how will you market the store moving forward?

Its hard to market cannabis in Vermont and we are working hard with the control board to be sure we are in compliance. For instance, they require 15 days notice to review any advertisement before it is placed. Branding is an important part of our story. Mike developed the brand, branding is one of Mike's core strengths. We worked with a Middlebury based artist, Grace Futral, to create the art for our packaging. We want folks to associate the FLORA brand with premium cannabis and will only use the highest quality cannabis. At FLORA, we want customers who open one of our packages to see, smell and have a quality experience. Of course, all of the cannabis products we sell have to be made by a Vermont licensed grower and manufacturer. We scout the state for the best product and have product from Weybridge, Bristol, Brandon, Starksboro and soon Middlebury.

Tell us a little about your customer base?

About a third of our customer base is over the age of 55 and I found that surprising. I think that demo can really benefit from the pain relief and sleep benefits of our products. Last week about 45% of our guests were return customers from Addison County. We also have guests from other parts of Vermont and NY.

New Member Closeup

We now have on-line ordering so people are finding us from all over to pre order. If I could advertise like a normal business, I am sure we would drive even more customer activity, but we are fine with the business we have.

Any thought or plans to expand down the road?

Well the law does not allow us to have more than one store in the state. We would like to expand into a social consumption area when/if the law allows. This would be like a bar, for grownups. Also, right now, the manufacturing area of the business is really slow to get going. So all of the retail businesses like ours are having supply issues. This could be an area we may want to expand into down the road. We do manufacturer our own pre-roll and do this on site. These are sold as singles, six packs and in different sizes.

Anything else you would like to tell our readers Dave?

Well since this has a business focus I would like to say that we are really thankful that we have received such a warm welcome from the business community including the Chamber, ACEDC, BMP and members of the broader community. We appreciate that the business community is including us as full fledged, bonified regular members of your community. We want to be responsible members of the business community. We have a staff of nine and are trying to do all the right things and give back to the the community like all the other businesses downtown. In return, we hope the community will be here for us as well

Chamber Events

Meet the Board

Every month "Around the Chamber" will introduce our readers to a member of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

In this issue, we introduce you to ACCOC Board Member Karen Duguay, Executive Director of the Better Middlebury Partnership

How long have you lived and/or worked in Addison County?

I grew up in Addison County, moved away for college and the start of my career and then returned with my husband to raise our family here. We’ve been back in Addison County now for the last 15 years.

Tell us about your career?

I am the Executive Director of the Better Middlebury Partnership, which is a community-building organization in Middlebury. Our focus is on creating community connections, facilitating volunteerism, supporting businesses and helping our community be as vibrant as possible through events, programs and partnerships. We host many of the large events in Middlebury, including Very Merry Middlebury and Midd Night Strolls, the Midd Summer Market series, the Downtown Block Party, Spooktacular and most recently the Middlebury Car Show and Fall Festival in partnership with ACCOC.

How long have you volunteered with the Chamber’s Board?

The BMP and the Chamber have representation on each other’s boards and I’m pleased to have been able to fill this role on behalf of the BMP for the last five years or so.

In 2022, what do you see as the most challenging issue(s) facing business in Addison County?

I think the top three issues that we hear about most frequently are housing, staffing and access to childcare. Those three things are certainly intertwined with each other and are impacting many of our local businesses.

The Chamber of Commerce’s role in supporting business and non-profits in Addison County is always evolving. In your view, what should be the Chamber’s strategic direction coming out of the pandemic?

I’d love to see the Chamber think creatively about using our county’s assets to bring visitors to the area. I’m also looking forward to continuing to partner with the Chamber and other regional entities as we move away from working in silos and move further toward collaboration and shared vision and leadership in the county.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I’m happy to be a part of the ACCOC and looking forward to continuing to positively impact our community with this work!

Karen Duguay

Focus on Non-Profits

Homeward Bound, Addison County’s Humane Society

Changing the landscape of animal welfare in our community

Our Mission is to be a community-centered shelter that supports the human-animal bond through compassionate care, adoption, education, and advocacy.

While we were getting PetCORE off the ground the COVID-19 pandemic also changed how we accomplished our job of sheltering and re homing animals in need. We, too, found ourselves needing greater access to spay/neuter services in order to ensure that 100% of the animals being adopted out were spayed or neutered in a timely fashion.

Taking Stock: Our most recent strategic plan was in large part driven by the feedback we received from our community: adopters, supporters, volunteers, animal lovers. Loud and clear we heard the message that pet owners in our community wanted and needed help providing for the pets they already had and wanted access to affordable spay/neuter for pets.

In response, we developed PetCORE. Through this program, pet owners receive parasite preventatives, supplemental food, and affordable pet wellness care. Eligibility for the program requires proof of Addison County residency and proof of income equal to or less than 200% of federal poverty levels.

In response, we imagined turning an unused space in the shelter into our own in-house surgical suite. We shared this vision with philanthropists Roberta and Philip Puschel, champions of the Homeward Bound mission, and they agreed to fund the construction project in memory of their cat, Tango, a little stray turned beloved house cat.

A Room with New Purpose: In January 2021 the renovation began. Over the course of the first half of the year the space which formerly housed an animal crematory, was gutted, renovated and outfitted with state of the art surgical equipment. For months the shelter doubled as a job site while carpenters, electricians and plumbers plied their trades.

Focus on Non-Profits

The surgical suite was up and running the first week of July. First, we focused on spaying/neutering shelter cats and kittens-the greatest area of need. This saved stress on the animals and gave time back to staff as they were no longer charged with transporting the animals or coordinating their transportation to a veterinarian with a volunteer.

Next, we added in cats from our Trap-NeuterReturn (TNR) program. Having an in-house option for spay/neuter of feral and loosely owned cats increased our capacity to do TNR in and around Addison County. Before long, we were ready to expand so we added animal welfare organizations from outside the area as paying clients. These partnerships signified the first revenue stream for the surgical suite. By the end of 2021, we were altering our shelter dogs and scheduling the pets of PetCORE clients for low cost spay/neuter surgeries.

Expanded Access and Affordability: As word of our ability to provide spay/neuter filtered into the community we saw a dramatic increase in the number of public calls and emails asking for help finding affordable spay/neuter. These pet owners were solidly above the PetCORE income threshold but still found themselves challenged by an expense that is the ethically right thing to do, but is neither required by law nor harmful to the pet if left undone.

With a skilled team in the surgery suite and time available to increase our reach and impact in the community, we launched a new program called PetFIX this past September. PetFIX is an affordable spay/neuter initiative available to Addison County and Brandon residents.

Focus on Non-Profits

We believe that providing an affordable way for pet owners to take care of a fundamental responsibility to their pets will not only support a healthy community through a more stable humananimal bond, but also enable households throughout the region more flexibility in their disposable income.

A Community Resource: Even as our support programs for owned pets has grown in the past few years we continue to steadily work toward curbing pet overpopulation through our feral cat control program, Trap-Neuter-Return, and our Spay-theMom program. This program is designed for people whose dogs or cats have had a "whoops" litter! In exchange for surrendering all the kittens/puppies to Homeward Bound so we can place them (sterilized and vaccinated) into loving homes, we spay and vaccinate the mother and return her to her family at no cost.

We will strive to meet the continually changing needs of our community’s pet owners in the years to come but will also never lose sight of our core purpose. We are Addison County’s Humane Society and we will always be here to provide a safe haven for homeless animals who need a second chance.

Behind the Scenes with Lisa Mitchell

Each month, "Behind the Scenes" features an interview with a leader in our community designed to provide readers a glimpse into his/her interests and passions inside and outside of the workplace

This month, "Behind the Scenes" sat down with Lisa Mitchell, Executive Director at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Chatham, New Jersey – a lovely town that is a quick train ride to New York City. My love for the arts was born on trips to see live theater, music, and museums. The cast of city characters would find their way into stories I wrote too.

Where did you go to college?

I graduated from Harvard, where I double majored in Creative Writing and Art History. I also spent a lot of time reading plays and classics and attending classes at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge.

I would get lost for hours in the rare books’ library, where I could request the original sketch books of Gustav Klimt, Schiele, and others. I was, and still am, a super nerd.

First ever job?

I was a waitress at Friendly’s in New Providence, N.J. in high school. I am clumsy, and was known for epic spills, including dropping a huge platter of sundaes, which I slipped and fell into, causing tables of high schoolers to erupt with laughter. The job made me eternally grateful and appreciative of all customer service workers.

Greatest inspiration growing up?

My great grandfather was my inspiration growing up. Ethelbert Ely Furlong, or “Bert,” was an accomplished landscape architect and garden consultant to the Museum of Modern Art. Legend has it, he also created landscape camouflage for the Battle of Normandy. He was self-taught, brilliantly creative, and a spectacular human being, who did not suffer fools. The creative, kind, and authentic way he lived his life has always been an inspiration for me.

Favorite vacation spot?

My favorite vacations ever were Australia with my family prior to the pandemic and a bike trip in Sicily last year with girlfriends. My parents lived full-time on Martha’s Vineyard for many years, and that is also a very special place to me.

Lisa Mitchell

Behind the Scenes with

Lisa Mitchell

Who do you most admire?

As a general quality, I would say I admire people who not only have vision, but get things done. I’m fascinated by stories of entrepreneurs and how they overcome obstacles to realize a dream. At the local level, I’m deeply appreciative of all the people who volunteer their time to make the community a better place. At Town Hall Theater alone, we rely on more than 30 active volunteers to offer performances. They are invaluable.

Favorite TV Show/Movie?

Chef. I love the story line, food focus, acting, and quest for the perfect Cuban sandwich! This film hits a lot of my buttons. I’m the daughter of a Cuban immigrant and have fond memories of the art deco district in Miami. I also was a fine dining chef early in my career before working with Gourmet and Bon Appetit Magazines, producing events that involved wrangling celebrity chefs and writing about food.

Favorite type of music?

I’m all over the map musically. I like music with fun beats like funk, hip hop, old-school rap, but also appreciate classic rock n’ roll, alternative, folk, soul, and have a growing appreciation for jazz. This summer, I had a ball creating a world music series at Lincoln Peak Vineyard for Town Hall Theater. It was a joy to bring international sounds to our community.

Typical work week?

At THT, there isn’t a typical work week. In 2022 alone, we presented 179 events and classes. We also completed our second, annual outdoor season with offerings across Addison County. I work full time during the week overseeing business operations, collaborating with our dozen resident companies, developing new programming, writing grants and fundraising, and leading a team of talented professionals, without whom none of our offerings would be possible. I often work nights and weekends at live events too. We are a small team, and everyone stretches beyond their job descriptions to help each other. It’s a go-go-go kind of operation, with incredible teamwork needed to realize every event.

Greatest risk taken in your career?

The job at THT! I had a solid job consulting, writing, and event producing before joining Town Hall Theater. I’ve been in this community for 17 years, but most of my work was remote and travel oriented. I had worked with founder and artistic director Doug Anderson in earlier years on a range of arts collaborations. When the executive director position came available, it seemed important that I invest my time and energy more deeply in this community. Strangely enough, my mix of skills is a better fit than I ever imagined. And the team can’t be beat.

Behind the Scenes with Lisa Mitchell

Biggest career challenge?

I started the job of Executive Director at Town Hall Theater just three weeks before the pandemic hit. Soon after, we announced the closure of the theater. Like many others, we thought we’d be dark for a few weeks at maximum. We were shuttered for 15 months. The majority of our staff were laid off. I was often alone in the building, working to stay solvent, while creating events to continue connecting with audiences. It was an incredibly stressful time, but our community rallied to keep us here.

Our board and Artistic Director Doug Anderson stood with me every step of the way. With all of that said, in the depths of the pandemic, we grew important partnerships with local organizations and businesses. Many of these new opportunities continue in earnest today. For example, THT remains committed to outdoor collaborations, and any partnership that energizes our downtown. We were also fortunate to win a grant that funds a fourcamera live streaming video system. Soon, we’ll be able to offer a wide array of programming from classes to performances for people near and far to enjoy from the comfort of their couch.

The arts, and venues like ours, have a challenging business model to contend with. Ticket sales alone do not nearly cover our operating expenses. We are heavily reliant on donors and volunteers to subsidize our existence. The pandemic shook everything up and has impressed upon us the need to fully reevaluate the way we do business, and how we meet the needs of our community. I am excited to continue to work with our team and board to push the envelope of possibilities. Together, we will take the crucial next steps to ensure THT’s long-term sustainability and deepen our community commitment.

What's the one thing you would change about your industry/mission?

November Mixer Sponsored by

CHAMBER Addison County of Commerce

After Hours

NETWORKING MIXERS