Closing leads to reopening

CALAIS The Calais community was having a double celebration this holiday season, after the successful shareholder buyout of the Maple Corner Store.

From here on, it will be known as Maple Corner Community Store, thanks to the support of hundreds of individual donations to raise the $450,000 needed to keep the store open.

After just five months of fundraising, the closing of the buyout was Dec. 17, and there was a party to celebrate it at the Maple Corner Community Center on Saturday.

In between the closing and the party, shareholders, supporters and newly hired staff were busy stripping out some of the fixtures, repainting and resetting the layout of the interior.

Anne Marie Shea, who has worked at the store for 10 years, is the new general manager, and Caity Kaye and Jamie Moorby will be assistant managers, all responsible for the day-to-day operation of the store, which is open seven days a week.

The store reopened Friday and included a performance in The Whammy Bar music venue to celebrate the successful shareholder buyout.

The closing of the store covered the $375,000 asking price, plus inventory, closing costs and attorney fees.

The community drive followed an unsuccessful two-year effort to sell the store by owners Artie and Nancy Toulis, who bought it in 2007.

Since then, it has remained a popular pit stop and social center for locals. It is where local children board the school bus, people make a quick stop for coffee and a breakfast sandwich or lunch, and a place to find groceries and a selection of wines. Also it offers a range of home-cooking-style foods, including freshly made pizza and sandwiches and pub grub for the bar.

The Whammy Bar opened in October 2012 as a small, intimate pub and live-music venue in the back of the store.

The store generates income as well from a rural post office on site, and there is a second-floor, two-bedroom apartment with loft space and a large deck overlooking a waterfall and stream.

Artie Toulis penned a heartfelt thank you letter to the community on Front Porch Forum this week.

Our time at the store was amazing!!! Getting to know everyone and being at the center of many community events sustained and uplifted us, Toulis wrote. We were here for births, deaths, good times, bad times and everything in between.

Toulis, an accomplished guitarist and serious music lover, said he and his wife were most proud of The Whammy, which had nurtured the careers of many musicians, including their daughter, Halle.

The bonds we formed with all the amazingly talented musicians will certainly continue, Toulis said.

Toulis said he and his wife would remain in the area and continue to provide sound and lighting technical support services for local music and theater productions, and urged the community to support the store in the future.

What the Maple Corner Community Store group just accomplished was nothing short of miraculous! Toulis added. Their efforts ensured the stores long-term survival, and those of you that bought shares are now part of a great effort that is bigger that the store itself.

BARRE A Barre businessman is again spearheading an effort that will open the Barre Municipal Auditorium for a few hours on five successive Saturdays so that children of all ages can play basketball in one of the Vermonts most storied gymnasiums.

While hell look for sponsors to help share in the cost, Burnie Allen, of Allen Lumber, has locked down the Aud from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and all four Saturdays (Jan. 4, 11, 18 and 25) next month.

Those interested in using the auditorium gym on any (or all) of those Saturdays should remember to use the rear entrance, bring sneakers and some friends for some free fun.

Smorestice celebration 2.0

MIDDLESEX A second attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest smore will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Camp Meade in Middlesex.

The second annual Camp Meade Winter Smorestice Celebration hopes to break the Guinness World Record of 267 pounds for the worlds largest smore. Last years attempt was too late to qualify, but organizers hope to make the record book this year.

The event will include music, dancers and bonfires, and the turtle oven created for the Great Vermont Bread Festival and Red Hen Bakings 30th anniversary earlier this year will be fired up to make pizza and soups. Foam Brewers are creating a specially labeled Smorestice beer.

The cracker portion of the smore will be baked on site by the bakers at Red Hen. The organic marshmallows will be provided by Monarch and Milkweed in Burlington, while Rabble Rousers chocolatiers will provide the essential chocolate for the Middlesex world record smore, which will be approximately 4 feet by 8 feet.

The fire-centric focus of the event goes beyond the giant bonfire. There will be warming barrels of fires for hanging around and a large urn of fire for a similar, more communal, experience.

The Middlesex Volunteer Fire Department will be on hand to hose things down, if needed, and on hand to speak to anyone interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter.

BURLINGTON The 11th annual Vermont Brain Bee (VBB) is looking for student and teacher participants in a statewide neuroscience contest.

Designed to encourage and inspire high school students to get interested and involved in the study of neuroscience, the written, practical and oral contest will include a Brain Bee boot camp Jan. 25, and then the VBB competition itself on Feb. 15, both at the University of Vermont.

The guest speaker at the main event will be UVM chairman of pharmacology Mark Nelson, and his talk will be on the Blood Network in the Brain.

Throughout the school year, students from the UVM and Saint Michaels College collaborate with high schools all over Vermont to teach them some of the foundations of neuroscience. Teachers interested in joining the collaboration are also encouraged to sign up for the contest.

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Talk of the Town | Local News - Barre Montpelier Times Argus