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| Welcome To Brandon, Vermont
Unhurried, Unspoiled, Unforgettable |
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Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce is your one-stop source |
A New Start for Brandon Written and Photographed by Caleb Kenna reprinted with permission from Caleb Kenna, www.calebkenna.com As seen in Vermont Life magazine, Autumn 2004 |
| To walk through Brandon on a perfect fall day is to see a Vermont town on the rise. Every parking space is taken, and the farmers’ market is in full swing amid maple trees that blaze orange under an azure sky. Handsomely renovated storefronts line Center Street. Two new parks grace the banks of the Neshobe River. There is a palpable sense of excitement and pride breathing new life into the town. Since 2000, Brandon (population 3,972) has undergone a facelift. Townspeople raised funds to rebuild the steeple on the Brandon Baptist Church. The Brandon-based McKernon Group Inc., a design-build company, built three new buildings on Center Street, one of which will soon house a new restaurant. Nationally known folk artist Warren Kimble opened a new gallery in 2003. An art project involving fancifully painted fiberglass pigs raised $150,000 for arts education. And residents are renovating the dignified town hall. Enthusiasm and community spirit fill the air. It wasn’t always this way. For most of the last century, Brandon’s start didn’t shine. "Brandon was at one time a very busy and productive town with the Howe Scale works, iron production, marble quarries, wood manufacturing, and farming," says Arthur Pfenning, a retired Brandon electrician. "Brandon is where, in 1834, the electric motor was invented and finally patented by Thomas Davenport. I believe that it all started in a downward trend when Howe Scale moved to Rutland in 1877. Brandon spiraled downward to become a bedroom community. This wasn’t seen as a god place to invest." No more. What turned Brandon around? It appears to have been a classic Vermont combination of local pride, citizen involvement and a sense of humor. Even though it had become run-down, Brandon’s downtown was regarded as one of the most attractive in Vermont. All 243 buildings in the core village are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The village itself was a resource and Brandon people knew it. Another resource was the cluster of artists in town and one charismatic individual — Warren Kimble, the folk artist who led the way with the witty show of painted fiberglass pigs last summer that he dubbed the "Really, Really Pig Show." The summer-long porcine festival pulled people into town for the auctioning of the artwork and other events. One of the town’s first and most important projects was the decision to replace the steeple of the Brandon Baptist Church, which had blown off in the hurricane of 1950. Elizabeth Karnes Keefe led the fundraising effort. "We started with a downtown revitalization group and we decided that the steeple was a relatively small, achievable and very visible goal," says Karnes Keefe. Building on earlier efforts, the steeple project brought together many non-Baptists to help rebuilt a town landmark. Today the new steeple is the first thing motorists see as they enter town from the north on Route 7. It is not the only attraction. On a classic October day, residents and visitors alike soak up the atmosphere at the farmers’ market. Neil Martinez and his wife, Trudi Beaman-Martinez, are visiting from New Jersey. Trudi’s ancestors came from Poultney. "We love Brandon," she says. We want to move here. It feels like home." The couple are buying maple syrup from Thelma Miner, a Brandon woman known as much for her friend dough as for her delicious maple products. Local musicians perform on the bandstand, vendors sell produce and children play on the grass. Everyone in town remembers with a smile the painted pig event of summer 2003. It was a combination of artistic panache and wacky humor that seemed to galvanize the town. In December 2002, forty life-size fiberglass pigs arrived in Brandon thanks to the generous support of friends, family, and businesses, who donated more than $20,000. Over the winter, artists, schoolchildren and talented residents transformed the creatures into works of art. The Pigs of Brandon were unveiled on Memorial Day 2003, with artists and residents parading through the town. During the summer, the pigs were displayed on lawns and at businesses. Some were auctioned off on eBay, the rest were auctioned off in town that October. More than $150,000 was raised to benefit arts programs at eight local schools as well as the Brandon Artists’ Guild and other local arts projects including scholarships. This year a similar project features artist-made birdhouses. The Brandon Artists’ Guild, located in a former variety store, started in 1999 when a group of local artists created a space where the public could share in their creations. With support from the First Brandon National Bank and the Chamber of Commerce, the Guild has become a focus of artistic expression. Warren Kimble, who has lived in Brandon since 1970, is one of the town’s biggest supporters. Although he was a leader in the renaissance, he’s quick to credit local spirit for the turnaround. "We’re the last vestige of a small town with a huge sense of community," he says in his new gallery overlooking Neshobe Falls. In 2001 Kimble and his wife, Lorraine, teamed up with Virginia Russell-Kimmel to buy the Green Block, a run-down building next to the Neshobe Falls. The Green Block was razed, and the Brandon Green Park, designed by Nancy Leary, was completed in 2002 and given to the town. Eight hundred bricks inscribed with the names of people and businesses in Brandon form a circular walkway in the park, which draws in visitors to admire a view of the town and the falls. "This has been a domino effect," says Kimble. "All this (renovation and building) was done with private money. It helps everybody. It doesn’t just help the stores; it helps the plumbers, carpenters and electricians." He says that one of the things that works for Brandon is its relatively compact downtown. "What we have created is a viable downtown for us and for tourism. What helped us do that is the pigs. The pigs stopped the tourists from driving right through Brandon on Route 7. It makes us feel very good about ourselves. We are not going to change as a town. We’re the same group of people, with a facelift." The pigs are just one aspect of Brandon’s rising spirit. Its infrastructure is being rebuilt and restored as well. An important player is Jack McKernon of the McKernon Group. Why did he assume the task of dismantling and rebuilding three downtown buildings? "I originally took on this project because the challenge reflected the ideals of our company," he said, "to revitalize, preserve and support Vermont’s small towns. And every single one is unique. Every town should be preserved in a way that pays honor to the past and deals with today’s practical realities." Jim and Nancy Leary, a lawyer and architectural designer respectively, also are playing a big role in Brandon’s renewal. In 2002, the Learys bought and renovated the Conant Block, an 1840s Federal Style commercial building in the heart of Brandon. The first floor had mostly empty storefronts, the second floor had not been used since the 1950s. The building now houses an antiques store, a psychologist’s office, a holistic health store and bookshop, yoga classes and a parent-child center. In addition to her work on the Conant Block, Nancy Leary designed Warren Kimble’s folk art gallery, the new Briggs Carriage Bookstore, the Browns’ of Brandon Gift Shop facade, the Brandon Artists’ Guild gallery and the Brandon Green Park. "It’s an exciting time in Brandon to see all these historic buildings being preserved," she says. The newly renovated Briggs Carriage Bookstore and Ball and Chain Café draw young and old alike to browse the stacks, have a cup of coffee or enjoy a concert or reading, helping create a stronger sense of community. Brandon was long known as the home of the Brandon Training School, an institution for the developmentally disabled. In addition to being an important employer, the school gave a sense of dignity to an often neglected population. Its closing in 1993 left the large campus north of town vacant. Today it has been reborn as the Brandon Park Village, housing the McKernon Group, the Children’s Growth Company, a child-care facility; Neshobe Family Medicine and rental apartments for families and seniors. The Brandon Town Hall is the next big renovation project. With its stately white pillars, the 1861 landmark graces the downtown with a formal elegance. "The town hall is at the center of Brandon, and we’re going to make it the center of the town’s life too," says Kellie Patten, who heads the Friends of the Brandon Town Hall. "The Town Hall was constructed to serve as the political, social, recreational and cultural focal point for the community — a purpose it is about to serve again." The Friends have raised more than $200,000 through grants from Walter Cerf and the Walter Cerf Foundation administered by the Vermont Community Foundation, the Freeman Foundation through the Preservation Trust of Vermont, the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce, Brandon’s Trustees of Public Funds, donations from individuals and businesses, and fundraising activities. OMYA, the Swiss company that owns the former Vermont Marble Company, donated marble for new steps fro the landmark edifice. The newly formed Brandon Players is planning to put on theatrical events in the space. "It’s gratifying that so much activity is going on downtown," says former Town Manager Michael Balch. "Warren [Kimble] and Ginny [Virginia Russell-Kimmel] and Jack [McKernon] have made great contributions." Russell-Kimmel has lived in Brandon since the 1960s and has been active in the town’s renewal. "Brandon is on a roll," she says. "This is a town coming alive. It’s real." Bette Moffett, a woman with great enthusiasm for and devotion to Brandon, has lived here since 1968. She is deeply involved in many aspects of the community, from volunteering at the Neshobe Elementary School and serving on the school board to starting the local thrift shop and holding open poetry readings for the community. "My feeling about Brandon is that there was always an energy that has been building every decade," she says. "It’s a real love thing." Photojournalist Caleb Kenna’s family moved to Brandon in 1970 when he was seven months old. Visit Caleb's website at www.calebkenna.com. |
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