Main Sections

Friends And Neighbors Come Together To Celebrate Ferrisburgh Day

photo by Cookie Steponaitis Realizing that they are all a part of Ferrisburgh history, the townspeople assembled today posed for a photo after the ribbon cutting ceremony on the new Town Road & Maintenance Building.

photo by Cookie Steponaitis

photo by Cookie Steponaitis

photo by Cookie Steponaitis

Tuesday September 15, 2015

By Cookie Steponaitis

 Photos by Cookie Step. Realizing that they are all a part of Ferrisburgh history, the townspeople assembled today posed for a photo after the ribbon cutting ceremony on the new Town Road & Maintenance Building.                                 
There were a lot of handshakes, back slaps, hugs and huddles of conversation present on Saturday, September 12th at Ferrisburgh Day.
Life seemed to slow its hurried pace and one could almost see time turn back. Children played games on the lawn and had their faces painted. Adults paused to judge which pie was the best and talk about crops, the harvest, their families and issues pertinent to the town and daily life. Booths welcomed people to see, learn and sample, but most importantly people chatted and spent time with each other. Old timers strolled and told stories while visitin' with folks they had not seen in a while. While events were scheduled and people welcome to attend certain displays or exhibits, people were not in any hurry to go anywhere and enjoyed summer at its best.
Ferrisburgh was granted to Benning Wentworth, a prominent New York Quaker in 1762 and covers roughly 61 square miles or 39,000 acres of land today and is Vermont’s ninth largest town. The town has a population today of 2772 residents and a second population of people who come in for summer residence. The town is still linked to its agrarian roots with twenty-eight operating dairy farms. Ferrisburgh boasts more shoreline frontage on Lake Champlain than any other town at twenty one miles. Ferrisburgh has strong ties to Vermont and the nation’s Revolutionary and Civil War history and “Chuck full of history,” as one of the local historians present that day commented. The town celebrated not only the lifestyle but the stories of those present who shared life over time.
While many people normally see Ferrisburgh as a quiet town Saturday’s Ferrisburgh Day was anything but and not only were a couple hundred of the residents present, but people from all over stopped in to get a slice of pie, see  the new building being dedicated or to talk to people and savor a summer afternoon in Vermont. Watching grandparents walking with their grandchildren, seeing the local Fire Department explaining equipment to curious youth, witnessing local officials talking to neighbors and hearing the laughter of people engaged in being neighborly and just visitin' as the old timers recollect it, was a celebration of small town life in Addison County. The world may move at a faster pace today but here in the Champlain Valley people still know how to slow it down, spend some quality time together and appreciate the beautiful blend of past and present that is the hallmark of life in a small town.      

Printer Friendly

Top

Advertisements

Search our Archives