Summer Business and Community Momentum

By Loralee Tester (Executive Director of the NEK Chamber of Commerce)

There is something unmistakable about June in the Northeast Kingdom. The days stretch longer. Storefront doors are propped open. Downtowns, trails, lakes, and farms begin to hum with the energy of summer, and you can feel the joy of just being.

Momentum often arrives gradually, then all at once. After the long, quiet months of winter and mud season, June is the proof. For the business community, summer is not just a season, it is an opportunity.

Across Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties, this is the time of year when the strength of our local economy becomes especially visible. Visitors come to the Northeast Kingdom for the beauty, but they often remember us because of the people: the shop owner who takes the time to recommend a favorite trail, the server who points them toward live music that evening, the innkeeper who knows which back road has the best view, the farmer who explains how the season is going, the mechanic who squeezes in a traveler with car trouble, the neighbor who makes them feel welcome.

That is the business of rural Vermont at its best. It is personal. It is connected. It is built on relationships.

At the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, we talk often about the importance of regional momentum. That phrase can sound big and abstract, but in practice, it is quite simple. Momentum is what happens when many people, businesses, organizations, and communities begin moving in a shared direction. It is what happens when we stop seeing our towns as separate islands and start recognizing that a strong Danville helps St. Johnsbury, a strong Canaan helps Island Pond, a strong Newport helps Barton, and a strong NEK helps the entire state.

Summer makes that interdependence easier to see.

A family might spend the morning biking on Kingdom Trails in East Burke, eat lunch at the Pizza Man in Lyndonville, stop at a shop in Hardwick, attend a concert at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro, and stay overnight somewhere in between. A visitor might come for a concert at Dog Mountain and discover that there are five other really cool events happening in the next two days. A seasonal resident might arrive for the lake and end up volunteering, donating, mentoring, or investing. A young person home from college might take a summer job that opens their eyes to the possibility of building a life here.

None of those moments happens in isolation. They are part of a larger regional story.

That is why summer is such an important time for our businesses and our communities to work together. The more we cross-promote one another, the stronger we all become. When a restaurant tells guests about a local performance, when a lodging property shares a downtown event calendar, when a retailer points people toward a nearby museum, brewery, farmstand, or trail network, we create a fuller experience of the Northeast Kingdom. We give people a reason to stay longer, spend more, return again, and tell others about us.

This kind of collaboration does not require a massive campaign. It begins with awareness. Know what is happening in your town. Know what is happening in the next town over. Share events. Follow local businesses and organizations online. Put up posters. Mention the farmers market. Recommend the concert. Tell people where to find dinner, a gift, a swim, a hike, a gallery, a show, or a cup of coffee. 

Small acts of connection are economic development. They are also community development.

One of the great myths about rural places is that there is "nothing to do." Anyone who lives here can rattle off a dozen counterexamples by Saturday afternoon. In the summer, the Northeast Kingdom is alive: with the Craftsbury Antiques and Uniques Festival, with Wednesdays on the Waterfront in Newport, with the Burke Mountain bike park humming from morning to dusk, with farmers markets in nearly every town. The challenge is not a lack of things to do. The challenge is making sure people know about them.

That is one of the reasons the Chamber continues to invest in regional communication and promotion, including NortheastKingdom.com. Our goal is not to replace the good work already happening in individual towns and organizations, but to help connect the dots. A region as large and diverse as the Northeast Kingdom needs shared infrastructure: a place where residents, visitors, businesses, and partners can begin to see the whole picture. If you have an event to share, a business to list, or a story worth telling, we want it on the site. Submit it, follow along, and help us make NortheastKingdom.com the front door to our region.

Because the truth is, we have an extraordinary story to tell.

We are a place of working landscapes and creative entrepreneurs. We are a place where people still know how to build, repair, grow, cook, teach, serve, guide, welcome, and solve problems. We are a place with challenges, certainly, but also with deep assets: natural beauty, local loyalty, independent businesses, strong schools, committed nonprofits, and people who care fiercely about their towns.

The question is whether we are willing to act like those assets are connected.

This summer, I hope every business owner, community leader, nonprofit director, municipal official, and resident will think about one simple question: How can I help build momentum?

Maybe it means making sure your event is listed and easy to find. Maybe it means inviting a neighboring business to collaborate. Maybe it means welcoming a new employee, seasonal worker, or young person home from college with more intention. Maybe it means attending an event in a town you do not usually visit. Maybe it means joining the Chamber, volunteering, sponsoring something, mentoring someone, or simply choosing to spend your dollars locally whenever you can.

Momentum is not created by one organization, one grant, one event, or one person. It is created when many people decide that the future of this region is worth their attention.

And in June, that future feels especially possible: the lakes are sparkling, the trails are open,  the music is starting, the farmstands are filling. The doors are open. The Northeast Kingdom is ready for summer.

Now it is up to all of us to make the most of it.

— Loralee Tester is Executive Director of the Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, serving Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties.