Readsboro
Readsboro
A Little Town with Big Dreams
by Arlene Distler
But then came the interstate, built an hour west; and the Hoot Toot and Whistle (nick name for the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad) stopped running. Manufacturing either ceased or moved south. Over the decades things slowed down considerably. The factory that once employed many locals, the Readsboro Chair Shop, closed its doors in 1988. An end of an era, but, it turns out, the beginning of a new one.
In recent years, perhaps owing to its affordability, being off-the-beaten-track (with the internet making that no longer a drawback) and the existence of MassMOCA practically on its doorstep, Readsboro has attracted a “critical mass” of artists and artisans of all stripes.
Among the new arrivals were Bill LeQuier and Mary Angus. In 1983 LeQuier and Angus, who both work in glass, were looking for an inexpensive property in Vermont to make a home and set up a studio. A Chair Shop showroom, by that time showing only cobwebs and peeling paint, was going up on the auction block the very day they arrived in town. “We had ten minutes to look at it and make a bid,” Bill exclaimed, still incredulous that it has all worked out. They have their work in galleries across the country. And they make time to be involved in the workings of the town. Bill is a longtime volunteer firefighter and Mary is active in arts organizations.
Debora Coombs, a stained-glass artist from Great Britain, came to the Readsboro area as a result of a commission from a North Adams stained glass company. She and her husband, Richard Criddle, a sculptor and head of installations at MassMOCA, settled in the hamlet of Heartwell-ville. Not long after, Coombs devised an afterschool computer program. Eventually it turned into “Arts Meets” in which artists invite the public to their studios for hands-on sessions (Criddle came up with the name, a take on “track meets”). Participants get to watch the artists’ process and try it themselves. This has proven to be very popular.
LeQuier, Angus and Coombs are part of a small group that have formed “Readsboro Arts”, which spearheads various arts-related activities and projects in and around Readsboro.
The showpiece of Readsboro Arts is the annual Readsboro Arts Festival, held this year on September 17th. Everyone is in on the act. The Readsboro Inn, on Main Street, serves up a special luncheon. The eighth grade sells home-baked desserts to raise funds for their yearly class trip. All year people drop off discarded household items that can be used in the children’s art activity, led by Debora Coombs. Says Coombs, “The quality of the work is very high. It’s a ‘hometown’ craft fair, but without the doilies.”
Among the fine crafts and art on display and for sale will be hand-woven baskets by Suzanne Francke, hooked rugs by Linda Sherman, hand-crafted woodwork by Roy Gibson, prized hand-blown perfume bottles by Mary Angus, botanical engravings by Bobbi Angell, pastels by Lisa Mitchell, and watercolors by Jane May Jones.
One of the favorite tables at RAF is Ellie Roden’s pressed floral designs. Roden was a teacher for forty years at the elementary school that is the venue for the festival. She is fast becoming one of the preeminent pressed flower artists in New England, selling her colorful originals and prints at shows throughout the northeast.
In addition some of the best music in southern Vermont is presented as part of the festivities. This year’s line-up includes: Flootisimo, Red Heart The Ticker, The Dusty Pilgrims, Atom Planet, Through Seasons, and crowd pleaser Blueberry Buckle, a bluegrass group.Readsboro’s blossoming as an arts town follows on the heels of a more literal blossoming––that of North Hill Gardens. The Gardens are the love-child of Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd, who left their lives as designers in New York City to buy a house and land in Readsboro in the late 70s. With an international following, both for the Gardens and for the numerous books the two have penned (“A Year On North Hill” being the most well known), these exquisite gardens are not to be missed. Once open only a couple of times a year, they are now open every Friday and Saturday from 1-4 p.m.
Betty Bolognani is an extraordinary woman by any measure. She has been untiring in her efforts on behalf of the town, from school boards and head of the Historical Society to becoming Readsboro’s representative at the statehouse at 76. So it is not surprising to learn she is also at the forefront of the town’s most ambitious revitalization project to date: the buying and renovating of the Bullock Building on Main Street.
Readsboro Hometown Redevelopment has, working with Readsboro Arts, secured enough loans and grants to buy the building. There’s a long way to go, but, as Tom Veto, current chair of RHR, points out, “The banks are beginning to believe in us.” The goal is for the building to become a community center, and ultimately contain a space for the arts.
While this was never a wealthy town––there’s no lush green at its center, or white-washed clapboard mansions––there is an abiding beauty in its setting…the mountains, the river, and its independent and enterprising people. Readsboro has embraced its new identity as an arts enclave. As one native resident points out, “Nature and quiet are good for making art.”
