The St. J Food Co-op is ten years old. To celebrate its first decade, the Co-op is having lots of events and special promotions. Melissa Bridges, Education and Outreach Director, says, “We have planned a month-long birthday celebration so everyone can get presents from the Co-op!”

The tenth birthday of the Co-op is something to celebrate,” says Carol Adams, Board President. “Our members really stepped up to ensure the success of the Co-op.”
Deborah Goldberg provides the historical perspective, noting that the idea actually started in 1994, and took four years to reach the opening day in 1998 with 100 members. “Everyone was dedicated to the co-op concept of having a member-owned, not-for-profit business that met the needs of the community,” she says.
The Co-op’s goals are the same today as they were at the start: to provide healthy, affordable, local food where everyone can shop. “We are a full-service grocery store,” says Bridges, “With fresh produce and dairy items, frozen foods, bulk foods, meats, chicken and fish, general grocery items, cleaning supplies, wine and beer, vitamins and supplements. What’s on our shelves is what our customers want, from everyday items to specialty foods.” 
With the increased interest in food issues and the environmental impact of transporting food, the Co-op serves a very important purpose for many people in the area. “Michael’s Pollan’s writings have alerted people to the need for organic and locally-produced food,” says Adams. “When you buy chicken or strawberries in the Co-op, we let you know what farm they came from, and usually, those farms are very nearby.” 
The Co-op board is pleased to report that the store is doing well. “We’re doing 20 times more business than we did just five years ago,” says Bridges. “But we’re really looking forward to the future of the Co-op. We are trying to keep prices affordable, which is hard these days. Becoming a member, and especially a working member, is a great way to lower the cost of your food and still be able to eat the high quality products available here.”

Break out your llamas, goats, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and more, because pets will be on parade in St. Johnsbury, Vermont on Saturday, June 18, 2011! Presented by the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce and the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, and sponsored by the Caledonian-Record, animals of all kinds from fish to horses, along with their owners, will parade through town accompanied by music, banners, kids on bikes and kids pulling carts. Don Mullally of radio station WSTJ and his wife Val will serve as Grand Marshalls, leading the parade along Main Street. The parade’s theme, “Pets Around the World” ties into the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum children's library summer reading program.
This year’s parade will feature “T’eau Joe” the camel, who is traveling from Derby to St. Johnsbury with his owners Mary and Jim Cobb for this festive event (see attached picture below). T’eau Joe is a handsome Bactrian camel with dreadlock-like hair, whose family’s lineage hails from Mongolia and Russia. Having celebrated his second birthday on May 5, 2011, T’eau Joe is now working hard to shed his winter “dreds” to ready himself for his first parade, here in St. Johnsbury.
The parade is expected to draw families all around Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. “It’s our goal that this year’s parade is among the biggest ever, rivaling the pet parades of the past,” says Tom Turek, chairman of the Pet Parade Committee. “We intend to showcase pets of all shapes and sizes and entertain parade viewers with great local music.” The parade will feature the Graham Highlander Pipe Band from St. Johnsbury Academy, as well as other local bands and musicians.
The parade will benefit the Kingdom Animal Shelter and the Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont's "Meals to Pets" program, which provides pet food to homebound seniors to assist with care for their pets. We encourage everyone attending the parade to donate a bag of dog or cat food to these great local organizations during the parade.

Entrants in the parade will compete to win prizes awarded in many categories, including: most unusual pet, pet that travelled the longest distance, cutest pet, loudest pet, best team costume (owner and pet), and more.
Children and adults will march with their pets along the 3/4-mile route, assembling at the Father Lively Center on Summer Street. The parade begins at Arnold Park on Main Street, then travels down Main Street past the St. Johnsbury House, where the parade will turn into the municipal parking lot and go through to Summer Street on its way back to the Father Lively Center.
There is no fee to participate in the parade. Registration will begin at 8:30AM on Saturday, June 18 at the Father Lively Center. Participants can pre-register for the parade at the children’s library at the Athenaeum from June 1 to June 17, 2011. On the day of the parade all participants will be given a number for judging, a commemorative bandana, a helium balloon and when the parade ends at the Father Lively Center, certificates of participation along with prizes will be presented. Following the parade there will be refreshments and a “Bouncy House” for kids to enjoy at the Summer Street park on Main Street.
“This parade has long been a tradition in this area,” according to Gloria Molinaroni, who participated in the town’s pet parade with her grandfather in 1952. “We always had so much fun showing off our pets and decorating our bicycles or wagons as part of this family-friendly event.”
There is no better time of year to get out and enjoy the warmth of the sun, hundreds of your community members and their pets. So make your plans, come enjoy the tradition, the food, the fun and the camaraderie that makes the town of St. Johnsbury’s “Pets Around the World” on parade so much fun! For more information, call 802-748-7121.

Dan and Mary Hughes are the kind of busy people who always seem to find time for another project. It seems as though some of their favorite projects involve renovating houses in St. Johnsbury. They cut their renovation teeth on their first home on Boynton Avenue. About eight years ago they took on the project of a large Queen Anne Victorian home on Main Street, pictured above. Over a period of several years, Dan and Mary pooled their talents with a number of contractors and created a home that is a showpiece in the center of St. Johnsbury’s Historic residential district.

Most people would stop there and enjoy the fruits of their labors. But Dan and Mary decided to start a new project -- renovating a house just around the corner from them into an office space for Dan’s business, Celtic Marketing. A specialty food broker, Celtic Marketing represents food products that are carried by markets across the country. They found the house on Clinton Avenue, which had become something of an eyesore over the years. It needed a lot of work to make it usable and fit in with the other homes in the neighborhood. And as Dan tells it, they also had to convince the neighbors the company didn’t have huge tractor-trailers pulling up to the office with products. The renovation work on the building took them about a year, with Dan and Mary once again participating fully in the heavy lifting.

Now the Hugheses are at it again. They purchased the house next door to their home on Main Street when it became available about a year ago, and started yet another renovation project. As with each project, the job was more than they had anticipated when they started, but the progress has been steady. A small house, they have added a master bedroom and bath along with major renovation of the existing space. From the outside, the house looks completed, but Dan says he hasn’t finished all of the interior painting yet -- his responsibility. Their plans are for a family member to live in the house when it is ready, keeping another lovely property in St. Johnsbury in the family.

Another "labor of love" for Dan is his volunteer job as head coach of the Good Shepherd Middle School boys' basketball team. He started helping out with the coaching when his son Brendan was a 7th grader. Even though Brendan is now in high school, Dan has stayed with the Good Shepherd team, coaching the perennial underdogs to an 18-2 season so far this year. "I'm attached to the kids and I really love it," says Dan.

The Hugheses have really enjoyed their work renovating houses in St. Johnsbury. As Dan says, “We love it here and were very excited when the opportunity came up to own a building for the office that is just steps away from our home. Now with the third house right next door, we’ve added another property that’s really attractive right nearby.” Are they planning a new renovation project? Dan says, “Let us get this one finished first, and then we’ll talk!” Maybe when basketball season is finished???

We sat down recently with Katrina Meigs, executive director of the new St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce, and asked her to fill us in about the changes taking place there...
Q. In January, your organization, St. J. Works, officially changed its name to the “St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.” What was the reason for the name change?
A. There are two reasons. The first is that we wanted to change our name to one that clearly defines our mission. We were already doing everything that a local chamber of commerce does. The name “St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce” clearly shows what our purpose is. Second, there was some confusion about our previous name, St. J. Works. I would routinely get phone calls from people who were trying to reach the town’s Public Works department!
Q. Are you still focused on downtown St. Johnsbury?
A. Yes. Our mission will remain the same. We still will focus on downtown St. Johnsbury revitalization. We will also include other businesses in and around St. Johnsbury that downtown revitalization will help.
Q. Who is eligible to join the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce?
A. Anyone can join the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce, from individuals or families to businesses to platinum business sponsors.
Q. Will you be offering different services now that you are a Chamber of Commerce?
A. Not for 2010. But as we go through 2010, we will be evaluating additional services that may benefit our members in upcoming years.
Q. Anything else people should know about the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce?
A. We want to be viewed as an advocate for revitalizing St. Johnsbury. In 2010 we are hoping to recruit volunteers to join us. Please call 748-7121 if you are interested in volunteering to help the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.