Vermonter.com

If you’ve driven along Rte 7. through Shelburne Village during fall foliage season, you’ve probably seen the (in)famous “Leaf People”. They were a sporadically placed group of colorful scarecrows strategically placed close the the roadside by business people in Shelburne. During the day, the leaf people with their beads, hats and clothing from what appeared to be a thrift shop, welcomed people to town with a stationary wave and a smile. The problem is (according to local news reports) that they were within the highway right of way and therefore illegal. I’ve always said that most criminals are dummies but in this case, its entirely true. However, the leaf people weren’t a malicious lot and were probably a lot safer than some of the human “dummies” walking or biking along the roadside in a careless manner.
I can see where CCTA bus drivers would occasionally be fooled into thinking that the leaf people were flagging them down for a ride. With the leafy folks so close to the road, often times, they looked like real people.
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More bad news from IBM in Essex Jct. as (at least) 100 people lose their jobs. Rumors are that more layoffs are on the way but only Big Blue knows for sure. Election Day this year will mark a much more personal experience for some than the Presidential election. The local talk is that IBM’s days in Vermont are numbered but discussion with some who work at IBM say they are busier than ever. In any case, the layoffs might be a bellwether of things to come, which doesn’t look promising for any Vermonter. As anyone in Vermont knows, good paying manufacturing jobs are on their way out and low paying service jobs don’t pay the mortgage.

As a former UPS driver of 10 years, I was astounded to see what level of pay UPS is offering for seasonal workers. These are the drivers helpers and folks who load/unload trucks. The pay is $9.50 per hour which is the same as what it was when I started working for UPS back in 1987. Back then, that was considered VERY good pay. These days, it’s more of a joke. Also, I believe that once hired, you must join the Teamsters Union, which means a deduction for dues from your meager earnings. Temporary, seasonal drivers might do a little better at $10.50 per hour. So much for the good old days and good old pay.

The best part of Election Day is when it’s over. No more of those tiresome ads on TV and even more annoying signs plastered just about everywhere. The Shelburne Road intersection was particularly bad this year with a massive amount of illegally placed signs, distractingly plastered everywhere. Why didn’t the State of Vermont Highway Dept. confiscate all those signs? They did take the Shelburne “Leaf People” hostage along with some real estate signs, etc. in the village but better hunting would have been in front of the plazas on Shelburne Road. On the day before and during the election, there were human signs adding to the distraction and eye pollution. I was at a meeting and one person mentioned that he got distracted for a moment and veered dangerously towards the crowd of waving, smiling “sign people”. He said they really scrambled when they thought they were going to get hit.
It would be really funny to see the State of Vermont kidnap “sign people” instead of “leaf people”. Would they still be smiling and waving as they were piled ito the back of a dump truck?

Congratulations to Jim Douglas and thank God he was re-elected. I’ve met the other two candidates and they seem to be nice people but in times like this, Vermont really needs someone a bit conservative to keep an eye on spending and important issues such as jobs and the economy. There are those who have been slamming Jim Douglas for some time about the loss of jobs in Vermont, many of which have gone overseas. If I remember correctly, wasn’t it Bill Clinton who signed that wonderful Free Trade Agreement that allowed our jobs to leave the country? I don’t think Jim could have stopped him but maybe Monica Lewinsky could have.

Congratulations to Scott Wheeler, of Orleans County too for keeping his seat in the Vermont House. We need native born Vermonters with good common sense working for the State of Vermont.

I love fall foliage season in Vermont. It’s that short but wonderful time of year where you can drive around and just take in the scenery. If you can afford the gas. You just never know what you’ll find. Also because it’s an election year, political candidate signs are more prevalent than weeds.

Driving through the town of Monkton the other day, I happened to view these two signs placed next to each other. The name combination was vaguely familiar…”Douglas” and “Heffernan”. With that in mind, one may jokingly conclude that a fictional and portly package delivery driver from NY is up for election in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Legend has it that, many years ago, the entire Hayden family of Albany, VT, perished as victims of a curse. In 1910, a horse-drawn hearse carried the final remains of William Henry Hayden, last in the male line of his family, along the South Albany Road, to the village cemetery. Curtains were drawn across the mansion’s windows in tribute, even though the extravagantly furnished house had remained without a tenant for nearly twenty years. Some would remember Mercie Dale’s curse upon the family that the Hayden family name would die and pass into oblivion. What would happen now to the vacant, dark mansion with its wide fields and impressive barns? Was there a hidden family fortune and if so, where had it been hidden away? Those answers and other secrets may lie within the final resting place of Henry Hayden.
Ghostly lights in the formerly abandoned property, overturned gravestones in the Albany cemetery, phantom violins playing in the moonlight.
Actually, Dwight Dow, one of the Hayden family’s descendants set me straight with the facts for a school project back in the late 70’s.
Words from Dwight himself: “Ghosts? Hell no!!! Just some drunk passin’ by in the middle of the night making up things. They had a ballroom floor, on springs, for dancing but they weren’t no ghosts or none of that. Who’s the damn fool that told you that anyway?”

Ray Bradbury’s Halloween tale spawned the ominous saying. “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. With the United States economy in a precarious situation and uncertain times ahead, that saying somehow seems eerily appropriate. On the Vermont local news reports, we’ve heard several times that the economic downturn hasn’t affected us yet. Maybe the Vermont news teams need to dig a little deeper because there is proof to the opposite.
After speaking with a number of people including a few innkeepers in northern Vermont, it seems that business is indeed on a severe decline. It is foliage season in Vermont, yet some inns and bed & breakfasts have little to no guests during a season that is nearly always sold out during a normal year.
I don’t have much faith in the presidential candidates either. I don’t believe that either one has the leadership qualities to dig us out of this quagmire.
Obama has a lot of aspirations and promises a lot but we’ve heard all that before. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
John McCain isn’t any better of a choice and doesn’t seem to have any answers. Neither does Sarah “deflector shield” Palin, who changes the subject whenever she’s asked even the simplest question and somehow spins it back to the subject of “hockey moms in Alaska”.
Yet during one of the most ominous and critical crises in America’s history, the two candidates are more concerned with pointing out each other’s weaknesses.
Leadership is lacking, the economy is tanking and the rich and corrupt are enjoying their golden parachutes. Meanwhile, the lights are going out within some country inns of Vermont because they can’t make a go of it. Small businesses get no bail out. I guess their parachutes aren’t golden enough.

It’s getting close to fall foliage season in Vermont. With all the rain we had this summer, I have to wonder how that will affect the fall colors this year. As most of us already know, backyard gardens didn’t do all that well. With the county fairs in progress and a couple of them already come and gone, the mornings are becoming much cooler. It won’t be long before the leaves start turning and fall foliage abounds throughout northern Vermont. Fall foliage season starts first in the hills of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. It’s also a great time of year for craft shows and harvest festivals.

With gas prices declining a bit, visitors to Vermont should have a more affordable view of the fall colors. Shelburne Museum has already reverted back to earlier closing times on Thursday nights. During the summer, the museum would stay open until around 7:30pm on Thursday evenings. Yes, the nip of autumn is already in the air and it won’t be long before we find out if Vermont fall foliage season 2008 is boom or bust. Keep your fingers crossed!

With a soggy summer coming to a somewhat brighter conclusion, the colors of autumn are just around the corner. Two things that signal the upcoming Vermont foliage season are country fairs and corn fields with 7-ft cornstalks almost ready for harvest.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from someone suggesting that I write an article about the declining amount of fun to be had at the Vermont county fairs. In his words, “none of the fairs have been worth a tinker’s damn ever since the hoot shows went away”. He may be right. I was in my teens when the last of the girly shows took place at the Orleans County Fair. I was always too young to get in and from what I heard later on, that’s one experience I’m probably better off for missing out on. I did notice that since those infamous “hoot shows” disappeared, the amount of fun things to do at the fairs have also declined.

The “freak shows” are no longer part of the fairs and probably fell victim to the politically correct, “holier than thou” folks who successfully ended the era of the girly shows. Ironic, how these days you can find much more hardcore perversion, indecency and deviant lifestyles every day, just about anywhere in America. Who knows? Maybe all the sensationalism at the fair just became obsolete because it couldn’t keep up with the dose of what we get everyday on TV and in real life, for free. We get Jerry Springer on TV every day so I guess no “freak show” at a Vermont county fair could compete with that.

A recent letter in the Barton Chronicle brings up a question about the lack of amusement rides such as a ferris wheel and other young adult/adult rides at the Orleans County Fair (aka Barton Fair), which was recently held. The writer has a point. It does seem a bit unusual to have a fair or carnival without the typical ferris wheel. Is this a sign that the Vermont fairs we all grew up with are on a slow decline towards becoming obsolete? Maybe so. In this economy where costs are skyrocketing and wages are flat or declining, it’s tough for any business or event to stay afloat.

The Champlain Valley Fair is coming up soon and is Vermont’s biggest fair. Over the years, people gripe that this fair is also “not what it used to be” compared to days gone by. I have noticed that some of the displays that used to take place have dwindled down a bit during the past 10 years but for the most part, the rides, games and of course the food all remain about the same. No “freak shows” anymore though and definitely no “girly show” tents.

I hope this article satisfies the fellow who requested it! Please feel free to add your own comments and thoughts.

Newport, VT is located on scenic Lake Memphremagog and is the only “city” in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. It is a sleepy town with a bit slower way of life and more authentic Vermont feel than it’s neighbors in Chittenden County. In it’s glory days, Newport City was a bustling railroad town with many large hotels along the waterfront and a paddle wheel excursion boat called the Lady of the Lake.

These days, Newport, VT is home to an imaginary lake monster and a real but infamous local celebrity nicknamed ‘Bigfoot’ who won a contest on the Howard Stern radio show. The Newport City Motel recently added a gorgeous new building with conference rooms to accommodate guests. And yes, the legendary ‘Bigfoot’ also slept there, though that’s probably not a claim to fame for the motel.