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Middlebury Downtown Welcomes The Reopening Of Vermont Folklife Center

photo by Ed Barna The Otter Creek Bakery in Middlebury owned by Ben and Sarah Wood designed this unique gingerbread house which was on display during Open House at The Vermont Folklife Center.

Tuesday November 20, 2007

By Ed Barna

   On Friday, Nov. 9, the evening before the reconstituted Vermont Folklife Center opened to the public, there was an official opening attended by board members, associates, supporters, and officials.

    Among the dignitaries was Gov. James Douglas, described by the VFLC's executive director Brent Björkman as “a friend of folklore.” The Governor's Heritage Award, given each spring to someone accomplished in some traditional art or craft, honors people who have not always been recognized for what they have done, he said.

    “What a great family this is,” Björkman said, looking around at group. In Vermont, he said, “we have a rich mosaic of heritage.”

    The attendees already had explored the new center's three levels, which include facilities for doing interviews or recording performances, a storage area with movable shelves for audio recordings and other collections, and plenty of display space. Upstairs, a phenomenal number of duck decoys watched from upper shelves as people passed by with hors d'oeuvres and glass of wine, and nifty folk art items seemed to wait around every corner.

    Francois Clemmons, founder of the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble and now a mentor and instructor and colorful symbol of diversity at Middlebury College, let loose his fabulous tenor voice for a rendition of “He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Everyone within hearing distance could feel the power of ethnic tradition as if it were an electric current, and the old spiritual seemed an apt symbol of the center's goal of opening windows on Vermont diverse traditions, as Björkman has put it.

   Finally, the moment came for the ribbon-cutting that would signal the facility's official opening. A wide red ribbon had been strung across a doorway for the occasion, and a gigantic set of shears allowed the Governor, the chairman of the board, and others to hold on at the same time and cut it.

    Or rather, cut at it. The ribbon kept sliding between the “blades” of the ceremonial scissors, much to the amusement of those present. A tradition seemed to be in peril.

    But finally, two people stretched the ribbon tight from the ends, and with two members of the press and others taking pictures, the implement did its full duty. The Vermont Folklife Center is open, and if you come in and listen to some of those interviews with the old-timers, or watch videos of them, you may be tempted to take a workshop on oral history interviewing.

    And with the set of electronic tools at the center now, many of those records will soon be available online. Go to www.vermontfolklifecenter.org and you will find instructions for accessing audio recordings-at least from the Mad River Valley collection-and looking at transcripts.

    Vermont has always honored its former generations. Look at how many of the village cemeteries are on hilltops with fine views, as if those who had passed on were up there watching, the way they are in Thornton Wilder's play “Our Town.”

   Now, at the Folklife Center, you can hear their voices. You might be surprised at how many wise and pertinent things they have to say.

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