The river is not quite so mad today, but what is left is a mess in the towns of Waitsfield and Moretown. Bridges are gone but the locals are finding back roads to make it around detours, hundreds of locals and tourists have turned out to help clean and the Valley is coming back to life. All Things Bright and Beautiful, Artisans’ Gallery and the Bridge Street Emporium are cleaned up and ready to go. The students from the Green Mountain School showed up to remove debris and load dumpsters, farmers came with their plows and moved dirt and volunteers washed dishes and equipment from restaurants. Dozens showed up to help American Flatbread recover from the 3 feet of water that invaded their restaurant and inn – both of which will be open for the weekend.
What does the Valley need now? Well, most events for the Vermont Festival of the Arts will resume Thursday, shops are cleaned and ready to re-open, roads are being repaired, Sugarbush activities are going and the gulf course is open, the Craft Fair and duck race will go on as scheduled, the Green Mountain Stage Race (bicycle) will run on an altered route and the residents and business people are optimistic – so we need you to come to the Valley and support the business community and where else can you see 3 covered bridges – one from 1833 – still standing after being battered by walls of water?
The Mad River pummeling the side of the Waitsfield Covered Bridge.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good for you, community spirit lives on. We live in Dover, 9 miles north of Wilmington, which was devistated. We have been doing the craft show for years and will get there on one road or another. We Vermonters are a great group, hard working and will
keep going.
Hi, I’m photo editor for Environmental Defense Fund in New York City. We’re trying to make the point that extreme weather events like the floods you’ve gone through in Vermont are part of a global pattern of climate change & Americans need to stop denying this & start doing something about it. So we’re looking for pictures. Your picture of the Mad River pushing against the covered bridge in Waitsfield is the most dramatic I’ve seen, and we’d like to use it. We need a high resolution file. We have a budget and can pay you a fee for use. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks.
PS: I left a voice mail on your answering machine about this on your answering machine.
Tim