There’s an old adage: ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’
The economic tide in Bennington County is rising, noted Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Matt Harrington. And all the boats – from Manchester to Bennington and even out to nearby towns like Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and the Williamstown, Mass., corridor – are rising.
These communities, who haven’t always been happy neighbors, are increasingly finding ways to work together for the betterment of all.
“They are synergistic,” said Harrington, seated in the Bennington Banner newsroom at 425 Main Street last week.
Manchester, he said, is a community of about 4,500 people, “a great tourism mecca,” but shifting its brand from a high-end outlet shopping destination to one known for recreation. The new focus is on mountain biking, hiking and nearby skiing, anchored by Orvis, the fly-fishing mega-store. A proposed $13.25 million recreation center is a critical piece of that evolution, Harrington said.
And while Bennington and its 15,000 residents are boasting more travel and tourism draws [bars, restaurants, museums, theater, a distillery and numerous breweries, to name a few], the town is positioned to provide the basics for the region – grocery stores, professional services like accounting and legal offices, more affordable housing for working Vermonters, and more.
“We need both of these things,” Harrington said. It’s like Vail and the hamlets, he noted.
Harrington has been well positioned to watch the changes. He is the son of Bennington’s WBTN radio host Bob Harrington, who spent more than 40 years on-air before passing away in 2010. He is the brother of Michael Harrington, Vermont’s commissioner of the Department of Labor and previous economic officer for Bennington. And Matt worked closely with his mother, Deb Mackin, at her firm New Directions Consulting – even writing a book about leadership traits with Mackin – before taking the helm of the Chamber in 2016.
Prior to that, and even for a couple of years after Harrington joined the Chamber, towns throughout the region had their own chambers and business booster organizations. Some still do. But in 2020, Harrington said his organization recognized the need to expand its reach from any single community, and launched a “Shires of Vermont” brand, with about 400 members. What helps one helps all, he said.
And the organization made it clear its job wasn’t to fill hotels and provide travel info – my traditional view of a ‘chamber of commerce’ – but instead to work closely with businesses large and small to support and grow the region’s economy. The companies will do their own marketing, but the Chamber will hold a class to teach them how; the companies will keep their own books, but the Chamber will provide the contact info on bookkeeping firms in the region. That’s how it works, he said.
While the COVID-19 crisis threw a staggering monkey-wrench into the economic security of our region (and all regions, globally), Harrington said the challenge worked some magic in bringing businesses together. As the smaller businesses were reeling from the loss of customers and staff, some of the larger companies better positioned to weather the storm stepped up and asked, “How can we help?”
The Chamber created a Pay it Forward program that Harrington said helped between 10 to 12 small businesses survive this rough time with the help of larger companies.
I ask Harrington about the publicized lack of young people coming to and staying in Vermont, and he has an optimistic view. In fact, he notes, the Chamber hosts Young Professionals meetings, which attract between 40 and 50 participants. Better still, the diversity of the group is growing.
“These are new faces, more diverse faces,” he said. “That’s been really encouraging.”
He said the Chamber is also using a Stay to Stay program to entice new residents to the area. The spiel: Come visit for a weekend and play with us; we’ll connect you with employers throughout our region. And when you move to Vermont, the Welcome Wagon will help you get settled and find your way around.
“We connect that person who moves here from Mexico City with someone who has lived here” and can answer the basic questions, like “who’s a good plumber,” Harrington said.
Where does Bennington County’s economy go down the road? Harrington likens the growth to bamboo shoots – they take seven years of careful tending before finally emerging from the soil, and then grow quickly and solidly.
“We are already seeing the bamboo shoots coming out” in the Shires, he said. And to continue to tend those economic shoots, we need to expand broadband access, ensure affordable day care is available for working parents, and improve transportation for access to jobs.
It’s beginning to pay dividends. People are discovering southwestern Vermont, not just as a place to work, but a place to celebrate.
There is so much happening throughout the county, including in places like North Bennington, Arlington and Shaftsbury, Harrington said. “The trouble you have on the weekend is you can’t make it to everything.” And that’s a good problem to have.
Helping fund the growth is the funding coming from the federal government to support communities and businesses as they recover from COVID-19 losses.
Harrington said the county needs to spend the money effectively, “but not so fast we make mistakes.”
All these factors signal an unusually bright future for the southwestern region of Vermont.
“This,” he said “is an actual moment.”
Credit: Source link
