Vermont artists play the card market
Katharine Montstream was stranded. It was winter and very cold. She had three children and four bags of groceries, and the only key to her car was locked inside it. Fortunately, she was in the parking lot of City Market, and she soon found someone to give the family a ride home. Upon arriving at her house, Montstream wanted to give the Good Samaritan a token of appreciation, so she ran inside, grabbed 20 cards, and handed them to the driver.
Optimism and obsession are on display at a support group for Vermont inventors
By day, David Albright maintains the rest areas on I-89 for the state of Vermont. But when the reserved 59-year-old welder goes home to Jeffersonville, he retreats to a 28-by-28-foot workshop to practice his true vocation.
Albright is an inventor. Last month, he received his first patent, for a wood splitter attachment - in patent-speak, "multiple wood splitting wedges on a rotating member.
For one young Vermont entrepreneur, the future of housing is in piece work
A stone's throw from Hinesburg Road in South Burlington, there's a short, crushed-gravel path running through the weeds that just barely resembles a driveway. As of yet, there are no water lines or power poles running to this residential lot; neither is there a septic tank, a foundation, nor even a hole in the ground to indicate where the structure will be.
At a meeting of morticians, it's all out on the table
Arranging for death is a serious undertaking. There are not enough episodes of "Six Feet Under" to prepare you for the business of selecting a casket, hiring a hearse and composing an obituary. But behind the sad faces and velvet curtains are regular working stiffs -- just like your plumber and insurance salesman. Morticians have office parties, professional associations and annual conventions with keynote speakers.
Eco-conscious crafters hope to give Rutland a hand
The artisans showing their furniture and home accessories at a new gallery in downtown Rutland aren't just looking to make money and promote their crafts. They also have a political, economic and environmental agenda. Center Street Artisans was launched with support from the Washington-based Wilderness Society. It aims to lure shoppers to the central Vermont city by offering one-of-a-kind items with earth-friendly pedigrees.
Fuse Marketing helps clients keep their youthful figures
(3.5.03)
Jenner Richard skateboards on company time. Greg Waters buys Playboy magazine with the company card. Julie Jatlow talks to some of the world's most famous action-sports athletes and gets paid for it.
Youth culture rules at Fuse Integrated Sports Marketing, a 35-employee Burlington marketing services firm, which also has offices in San Fran-cisco.
Local eBay traders unload everything from cars to collectibles
(08.17.05)
This is how Global Garage Sale, an eBay drop-off store in Winooski, made its biggest sale: In May, a woman from Upstate New York phoned to say she wanted to sell an 1875 baseball trophy she had recently inherited. A man in New York offered her $5000 for it, but she had heard that the guys at Global Garage Sale could fetch top dollar for collectibles on the online auction site.
Why some Vermont businesses are sellng the store - to the employees
(6.4.03)
King Arthur Flour in Norwich has been owned by five generations of the same family since its founding in 1790. But it won't be much longer. Frank E. Sands II, the current chairman of the board, says he plans to make the $35 million company entirely worker-owned within the next few years. He's already sold 70 percent of King Arthur's stock to the firm's employees.
Peter Miller's Silver Print Press looks beyond the page
(12.15.04)
When Peter Miller finished writing Vermont People nearly 15 years ago, he shopped the book around to a number of publishers and everyone single one of them turned him down. So the feisty Waterbury photographer decided to self-publish -- and Silver Print Press was born. Now in its 10th printing, Vermont People has sold 20,000 copies and continues to move off bookshelves.
