by Susan Samsonow
Located at the intersections of Routes 4 and 7, Rutland's central VT valley location makes it an easy and scenic drive to any part of the state. The Rutland region includes over 930 square miles with Mount Killington being the highest peak. Chartered and settled in 1761, incorporated in 1892, Rutland's ethnic background includes French Canadian, Italian, Irish, Polish, Welsh and Scandinavian traditions.
Downtown Rutland has a variety of shops, restaurants, professional businesses (including the county offices) and commercial services, in addition to being the site of Vermont's largest Farmer's Market. Night life has been revitalized with several local bars and restaurants featuring live entertainment during the week as well as on weekends. Numerous downtown area businesses have extended shopping hours on Friday evenings.
Rutland Historical walking tours, provided by the Rutland Area Cultural Alliance, offers daily guided tours of historic downtown Rutland from July to mid-October. The hour and a half tour focuses on the history and architecture of the downtown areas.
Local shopping malls provide a variety of options for shopping, dining and lodging, including factory outlet stores, craft shops and VT specialty products. Diamond Run Mall, located on Route 7 South, opened in 1995 and is VT's second largest shopping center offering over 55 stores. The Rutland Mall, the area's first enclosed mall off the mountain offers a variety of shops and movie theaters. The downtown shopping center, located where the Rutland Railroad used to be until the 1950's, features a Price Chopper supermarket, T.J. Maxx national clothing store, a Wal-Mart and a 9 screen movie theater. Many of the storefronts have been recently redone.
Summer events in the downtown area include the Rutland Region Ethnic Festival, Sidewalk Sale Days, Killington Stage Race (United States Cycling Federation sanctioned), folk music concerts and lunchtime concerts.
Rutland has an extensive inner city park system used for sporting activities, playgrounds for children, concerts, art shows and relaxation. Many area events, organizations and residents use the city parks. The Rutland Parks and Recreation Department began an Adopt-a-Park project to renovate and rehabilitate the Rutland City parks and school playgrounds by working with area businesses, organizations and service clubs who are interested in adopting a park. Work has already been accomplished with the upgrading of playground equipment.
The 1990 census reported Rutland City's population at approximately 18,200. In 1996, the Rutland area had a total employment growth of about 1,000 jobs, mostly in the service and manufacturing sector. Some of the areas major employers include General Electric, Killington, Rutland Regional Medical Center, State of Vermont, Carris Reels, Central VT Public Service Corp., Metromail Corporation, Price Chopper grocery, Rutland Area Community Services and Vermont State Colleges.
Educational needs are met through public, private and parochial schools. In 1992 an expanded Rutland High School was built next to the Stafford Technical Center, a public center for 11-12 grade students from 10 regional high schools which also provides evening adult education programs. The College of Saint Joseph, located in Rutland, is a private, Catholic liberal arts college with day and evening classes. There is also a variety of additional educational programs located in the surrounding areas.
The Rutland Free Library located on Court Street, is one of the state's largest and one of the regions numerous public libraries. Founded in 1886, the library has over 90,000 volumes, a collection of Vermont history references and an area used for lectures, concerts and presentations. Childrens activities include story hours, shows and films. The Southeast Regional Library with over 60,000 volumes is also located in Rutland.
Rutland Regional Medical Center, a 188 bed facility, offers a full service emergency department, comprehensive medical and surgical services, specialized care and out-patient services.
Traveling is convenient using the Marble Valley Regional Transit, locally called "The Bus", which has a system offering free shuttle within the downtown and a nominal fee service to the shopping malls and the Killlington area with afternoon and evening schedules. There is also a run from the Amtrack's downtown rail station to the mountain areas making it an easy trip for visitors to travel up and down the mountain to shop and dine. Daily Amtrak service is also available to New York on the new Ethan Allen Express service with future service being considered to Burlington and Bennington.
Above: Seven story 1930's building was rehabbed in 1992 as part of a major downtown revitalization project.
Diamond Run Mall (left photo) and The Plaza (right photo) are some of Rutland's numerous shopping facilities.
Colgan Air service offers daily flights from the Rutland State Airport, just 5 miles south of the city, to Boston and NY in addition to offering connections to most major cities. Major renovations have been done to the terminal building, parking areas and runway to complete the services.
The Howe Center, where a former rail yard scale company was once located, now contains businesses, classrooms for the Community College of VT, (the second largest college in the state) and a conference center used for meetings, banquets and weddings. Industrial parks can also be found near the airport.
There are many local events and places of interest to be found in the city and surrounding areas. The Norman Rockwell Museum, established in 1976, displays over 2,000 pieces of work including famous (and almost unknown) magazines covers, advertisements, book illustrations, posters and memorabilia. The Chaffee Center for the Visual Arts features a century-old Victorian building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is filled with contemporary and traditional arts and crafts by over 200 Vermont artists. The Center hosts the annual "Art in the Park" Festival, featuring handcrafts and fine art plus demonstrations and classes for adults and children. They also organize the annual "Garden in the Park Exposition" which has exhibits, crafts, entertainment, food and antiques plus contests, lectures and demonstrations all celebrating gardening.
Summer activities at the nearby Killington and Pico Resort areas include the alpine slides and tube bumper cars, concerts, arcade games, golf courses and mini-golf, mountain biking, hiking trails, horseback riding, tennis clinics and chairlift rides up the mountains for spectacular views. And of course the winter activities are downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, sleigh rides, snowmobiling and snowshoeing. Public ice skating and lessons are also offered at the Skating Rink and the Arena in Rutland.
Above: The Norman Rockwell Museum
The Vermont Chamber Ballet Company presents spring and winter performances at nearby Castleton. Classics previously presented include The Nutcracker Suite and Swan Lake. Northstar Theater Arts, Rutland's professional theater company, performs July to August with mainstage evening performances, plus morning shows for children. Crossroads Arts Council, now in its 27th year, presents music, dance and theater concerts from fall to spring featuring international performers. The Rutland Area Vehicle Enthusiasts Club holds an annual, two day, antique and modern car show and flea market each July that is a very popular local event. Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce organizes annual events such as the Green Mountain International Rodeo, held at the State Fairgrounds and the Green Mountain International Airshow at the Rutland Airport. The Vermont State Fair held from late August to early September offers agriculture exhibits, a giant midway, harness racing and nightly entertainment including top name acts.
Rutland Market Christmas Fair, held each December, is sponsored by the Rutland County Farmers Market and features homemade products by local farmers and crafters. Their unique items include bread baked in brick ovens, homemade jams, jellies, honey, candles, spaghetti sauce, herbal dips, vinegars, fudge, sweaters, clothes and teddy bears. Woodcrafts, dried flowers, ceramics, silversmiths, painting, stained glass and jewelry making can also be found. First Night Rutland is the county's largest New Years Eve celebration with over 30 musical, dancing and singing acts along with fireworks and more.
Future planning ideas for the city include a downtown transit center with bus terminals and over 600 parking spaces, plus converting exhisting buildings into a regional arts complex.
LEFT: Entrance to the Vermont State Fairground located in Rutland
RIGHT: In spite of the green grass, this ski slope near the Killington Lodge was still open for diehard spring skiers in May of this year