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Written by Todd Paton
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Wednesday, 02 November 2011 12:35 |
SNOWTOBER
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 Our Visitor Center season officially ended yesterday, October 31st. Although we have some group tours scheduled to visit us during the first few weeks of November, we are “officially” closed until May 15, 2012.
Sunday, October 30th was a very quiet day here. Although our central section of Vermont had gotten only 2” or so of wet, heavy snow, dumped by a rare October weather event now referred to in the media as “Snowtober”, visitors were few and far between on the last Sunday of our 2011 season. Those visitors who did come, we somewhat surprised we were open and that they could get to us, for most of them had heard about the freakish, heavy October snowfall.
Three couples that I visited with on Sunday were from areas that had received far more snow than Graniteville. The first couple lives in a small New Hampshire community just south of Keene. They had been traveling in Canada and were making their way back home when they stopped in to see us at Rock of ages on Sunday. They told me that their neighbors, who were watching their home, had called to say that the community had received 21” of the heavy, wet stuff, knocking down power lines and leaving the local populace without electricity, an outage expected to last up to a week while emergency repairs were being made across New Hampshire. So when the second couple told me they were from Connecticut and that their family had called to tell them as they vacationed in Vermont that their hometown had been hit by 14” of snow, the amount seemed less impressive since I’d just heard about the 21” dumping.
But then, a third couple came into the store. The gentleman was a stonemason, so he was particularly interested in learning about the operation here at Rock of Ages. In fact, as we chatted, I learned that he frequently buys steps, pavers and other granite landscaping items from our parent company, Swenson Granite. Now Swenson is headquartered in New Hampshire, but operates outlet stores in four of the New England states, so I asked this couple where they lived.
“We are from Jaffrey, NH”, the gentleman replied. “The Nor’ easter just dumped 31” of snow there.” “Wow”, I thought, “that’s a lot of snow, especially when it is this wet and heavy.”
We continued a very pleasant conversation, they saw the video, asked some questions, bought some souvenir sweatshirts in the shop and bid me farewell. They were headed home—if they could “get there from here” after the humungous dumping of snow received just to the south and east of us here in central Vermont.
I bid them “drive safely” as they left the shop. That night Jaffrey was in the news, having received the most measured snowfall during this freakish “Snowtober” of 2011.
October went out in a blaze of white, ushering in a kinder, milder November (so far!). The days between now and Christmas will disappear faster than civility during an election campaign, so I hope you’ll take advantage of our 15% off sale when shopping for your holiday gifts.
Just visit us online (or phone in your order: 802-476-3119):
http://www.rockofages.com/en/gift-shop-a-tourism/gift-shop
When you are checking out electronically, just enter the coupon code HOLIDAY2011E to grab your 15% savings. But hurry; our holiday sale ends 12/1511.
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Written by Todd Paton
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Friday, 28 October 2011 15:50 |
ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD GOES HIGH TECH
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Today, October 28, 2011, our beloved Statue of Liberty, the tangible icon of the American Dream, turns 125. And now she’s going high tech. Visitors have been barred from climbing the stairs that lead up her arm to her famous torch of Liberty since 1916. So in celebration of this Grand Dame’s 125th, webcams have been placed in her torch and will go live today, offering a panoramic view. The footage will be streamed by Earthcam:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/statueofliberty/?cam=liberty_crown
Please join all of us here at Rock of ages in wishing Lady Liberty a very happy 125th birthday. May she continue to exemplify the American Ideal for many, many years to come!
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Written by Amanda Chaloux
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Thursday, 20 October 2011 14:47 |
A HEARTY THANKS TO ALL OF OUR PATRONS
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The 2011 season was a challenging one here at the Rock of Ages Visitors Center. Heavy spring rains brought flooding to the Barre-Montpelier area. Although high on the hill and unaffected directly by flood waters, coverage of the flooding in Barre kept folks away on Memorial Day weekend.
The weather changed and we enjoyed a lovely summer and brisk traffic. Then came Irene, devastating much of our beloved Green Mountain State. While we were not subjected to the horrific flood losses that many of our dear friends and neighbors suffered, we, like most tourist-related businesses in Vermont, witnessed a substantial downturn in foot traffic in the month following Irene’s unwelcomed visit as national coverage led many to believe that Vermont, in its entirety, had been swept away by roaring waters.
The Department of Tourism & Marketing and the State Chamber of Commerce soon went into action, getting out the word that much of Vermont was still “Open for Business.” And YOU headed the call, providing Vermont with a great October, giving much-needed fuel to the Vermont economic engine, which had nearly sputtered to a complete stop.
I want to thank all of you who traveled to Vermont in general, and to Rock of Ages in particular, this travel season. Thanks for supporting this fine state by spending much-needed tourism dollars. We owe you a great debt of gratitude. Thank you for your loyalty, your kindness and your friendship.
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Written by Todd Paton
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Wednesday, 12 October 2011 09:20 |
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THERE’S FRUGAL AND THERE’S FRUGAL
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Are you frugal? Many folks today are forced to be by the state of the economy. In fact, in contrast to the conspicuous consumption of just a few short years ago, frugality is the new chic.
But New Englanders have been making due with less for years. We were frugal before frugal was even cool. So here at the quarry gift shop we sell the equivalent of a granite “doughnut hole”, called a core.
A “core” is simply the inside of a hole. Please let me explain. When the drilling is done in the quarry, the stone is pulverized by the bit. But when a hole is drilled in a manufactured product, such as a memorial or machine base, the cutting is done with a hollow bit and the center section of granite remains—a core. Well, we don’t want these valuable cores to go to waste, so we sell them for a few cents or a few dollars, depending upon their size, as a souvenir here at the attraction.
A gentleman was in the shop and sidled up next to me the other day. He had been looking at the cores. Although we have a sign explaining what a core is, I thought perhaps he’d not noticed it and was about to ask me what a core was, when comments of an entirely unanticipated nature caught me by surprise. He said to me: “We are from Fort Worth, Texas.” (His wife was just a few steps away.) “When we butcher a hog, we use everything but the squeal, but I think you folks have got us beat,” he said as a sly smile crept across his face. We both laughed and began a very pleasant conversation about their trip.
With a heightened awareness of frugality, I’ve kept my eyes open in the shop these past few days to see if any other visitors exhibited the same penchant for “squeezing the nickel” that we New Englanders do. I’ll cite just two instances:
I was bagging for Anita, one of the many wonderful people I share my days with here at the Visitors Center. An elderly woman who was visiting on a coach approached the counter and handed her one postcard. (We sell postcards in the shop for the whopping sum of thirty-five cents each.) The customer opened her granny-sized purse and began to fish for her change purse when she noticed a stack of postcards we keep close to the register. Anita quickly and cheerily chirped, “Oh do help yourself to one of those cards too. They are free.”
“Oh, thank you” the woman replied and promptly snapped her change purse shut, snatched back the thirty-five cent card, and headed for the rack to return it, all the while clutching her free postcard as she headed out the front door with a look of deep contentment on her face.
I was the cashier when I made my second observation of frugality in action. A coach group had eaten lunch at the Wayside, a local restaurant that has been written up in Yankee Magazine and is noted for its home cooking. Well it just so happens that we (the Rock of Ages Visitors Center) advertise on the placemats there. In the ad is a coupon for 5% off any in-stock (non-custom) Visitors Center purchases. Naturally, knowing that they were coming to Rock of Ages after lunch, each of the coach members ripped the coupon of the placement. And we were being presented with these coupons as the ladies made their purchases.
Meanwhile, I am behind the counter as this sweet elderly woman approaches me—one postcard in hand. She places it on the counter and I scan the card. “That will be thirty-seven cents, please” I say as I smile down at her. (There’s a sales tax in Vermont.) Have you already guessed what happened next? Right! She reaches into her big granny purse and says to me, “Oh, wait, I have a coupon”. Yup, she saved that 5% off that postcard. I am in hopes she just might take that windfall and donate it to the government so we can pay down the national debt!
To be fair, she probably lives on a fixed income and needs to save every penny she can. But I had a good chuckle as soon as she had stepped back onto her coach. Frugal or cheap? You decide.
I’m in hopes you’ll look at the world of bargain hunting and penny skimping with a fresh eye and do us the great pleasure of posting on our Facebook site some of the funniest ways you observe others (or yourself) save a penny or two in this sluggish economy.
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Written by Todd Paton
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Wednesday, 05 October 2011 08:24 |
FALL INTO THE ARTS
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Fall is in full swing now. Vermont, which has more maple trees than any other New England State, is awash in color. Pleasing hues of yellow, orange and red have replaced the vibrant greens of summer.
Despite a few days of rain, we have, overall, enjoyed a warm and pleasant autumn to date.
The pace at the Visitors Center this time of year is brisk as thousands of people visit Vermont on coaches and by car. Life is a whirl and the days have slipped right by me. September evaporated like the dew before the sun. I find myself staring at the oncoming Columbus Day weekend, traditionally a very hectic weekend here at the Visitors Center.
 If you travel to Vermont over the Columbus Day weekend, and we hope that you do, be sure to check out the Foliage Arts Festival in Stowe. The festival features arts, crafts, photography, sculpture and Vermont specialty foods created by 200 juried artists and artisans. And when visiting the festival, don’t forget to check out the Vermont Beer, Cheese & Sausage tent to sample delectable creations made right here in Vermont. For more information about Stowe’s Foliage Arts Festival, please visit:
http://www.gostowe.com/all-events-by-week
http://www.craftproducers.com/festival-details.php?id=31
The Rock of Ages Visitors Center is open every day until October 31st. Our factory is available to view Monday through Friday. The Monday of Columbus Day is not a holiday for our artisans and quarriers, so please stop in to visit and see the workers in our factory and the quarriers cutting stone in Smith Quarry.
Despite the prediction that the color might not be good this year because we had a rainy spring, providing damp undersurfaces on the leaves and causing a certain leaf fungus to thrive, the color has actually been quite good this year. There are sections that are not as good as others, but overall, the color has been good. We’d love to have you share your Vermont foliage photos with us. Please post them to our Facebook page with a brief notation of the location where the photo was taken.
Here’s wishing you and your families a relaxing and enjoyable Columbus Day weekend in Vermont or wherever you may find yourselves.
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