This Week in History: August 27 - September 2

10 years ago:
The Wilmington Selectboard chastised Hermitage Club developers for failing to pay money owed to Coldbrook Fire District for wastewater services, failing to follow through on an agreement with the Wilmington Fire Department, and failing to pay property taxes on time. Hermitage officials came to the board seeking permission to drill a well on town-owned glebe land on Haystack Mountain. The well would provide water for the Hermitage summit sales offices, rescue building, and two mid-mountain cabins.
15 years ago:
Laura Sibilia announced she was leaving her position as Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director to become a project manager at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, where she would implement initiatives for the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies group.
Following an executive session Wilmington Selectboard members voted to approve the lease of town-owned land on Haystack to a new company, Hermitage Inn Real Estate Holding Company. The board also agreed to sell parcels of town-owned land, taken at previous tax sales, to the same buyer. Board members were tight-lipped about developments at what had been the “Haystack Club,” a private ski area proposed by Greensprings developer Bob Foisie. The project faltered and Foisie closed down operations in 2007.
20 years ago:
A group of Whitingham and Wilmington voters were circulating a petition to end the Twin Valley Joint Contract School District. Petitioners expressed dissatisfaction with the merger between the two towns’ middle and high schools that had been in effect for less than two years. Some supporters of the petition also expressed distrust of school board members and their neighboring town.
25 years ago:
Certified hypnotherapist Tellman Knudson opened his practice at the Natural Life Center and Spa located at Mount Snow. Knudson’s specialty was sports hypnotherapy. He said hypnotherapy could improve motivation, endurance, and performance in athletes.
One of the events at the 84th Deerfield Valley Farmers’ Day Fair was the pedal tractor pull which, for the under-5 set, was nearly as exciting as the truck pull and the horse pull.
30 years ago:
Wilmington’s Citizen Advisory Group bashed the first chapter of the state’s Environmental Impact Statement on proposed bypasses around Wilmington Village. The rest of the statement was yet to be released.
At a separate meeting a week later, residents aired a laundry list of complaints about the intersection of routes 9 and 100 in the village center. Referring to traffic backups during peak hours on weekends, some residents called the intersection a “bottleneck.” Suggestions for improving the situation included widening the bridge on the western leg of the intersection, prohibiting parking near the intersection during certain hours, and adjusting the light cycle.
35 years ago:
The bus tour business in the Deerfield Valley was purported to be a multi-million-dollar industry. Local lodge owners credited the May through October tours with saving their bacon. Matterhorn owner Peter Carroll said it was his mother, Helen Carroll, who organized the first bus tour to the area 23 years earlier, in 1968. The first tour bus group was from Waterbury, CT. But Yankee Doodle Lodge owner Tony Vulcano noted that other destinations were seeking to lure the traveling senior citizens away from southern Vermont.
45 years ago:
The Deerfield Valley Farmers’ Day Fair held their first demolition derby. The derby was held on Saturday at 6 pm. Admission for the event was $2. Other new fair activities included a power saw/cross-cut saw competition and a fife and drum corps demonstration.
Congressman James Jeffords was in Wilmington to answer questions about his vote in opposition to President Reagan’s tax cut proposal.
50 years ago:
A photo spread and article featured the Cole family (Barbara, Bruce, Bridget, Dianna, Scott, Andrew, and Jennifer) getting ready to show their animals at the Deerfield Valley Farmers’ Day Fair. Dianna was showing her sheep Celia and Tiffany, Bridget was bringing her Arabian gelding Jimal, and the others were showing goats, chickens, and Robbie the Hereford steer.
55 years ago:
Ed Libby said Deerfield Valley Supply’s new 700-square-foot hardware department was just one step in his business’s evolution from grain store to building supply center.
More than 100 members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle group, from Lowell, MA, arrived to camp out at Somerset Reservoir. In contrast to their reputation, Deerfield Valley News photographer Deborah Rosen said they were “tough-looking nice guys.”