Much like it was in the old days, the 1897 City Hall and Vergennes Opera House is the center of Vergennes' business and cultural life. Beautifully restored and acoustically superb, the Opera House presents a year-round schedule of jazz, opera, folk, classical and theater performances, as well as a monthly Friday Night Flicks movie series. City Park, graced by stately shade trees, hosts Monday evening summer band concerts; outdoor markets; and community festivals, such as French Heritage Days in mid-July and Vergennes Day in late August.
Traditional businesses mix with the new in the three-block downtown, and include a surprising number of great restaurants. Main Street's exceptional architecture and eye-catching window displays entice people to stop and explore. Vergennes strives to be a friendly, welcoming place, with outgoing shop keepers and colorful sidewalk flower gardens that burst forth in summer. It is a very walkable community, too. A detour down side streets takes one past houses that speak of the city's 19th century prosperity with stately Federal homes, Greek Revival cottages, and Mansard-roofed and bracketed dwellings. The nearby Otter Creek Falls and Basin Park invites pedestrians with parks, paths, and walkways where you’ll likely meet someone who has arrived by boat from Lake Champlain, and is headed to town for a meal or to replenish supplies. The elegant and inviting Main Street brings you by the stately library and commercial blocks built more than 150 years ago with local stone. Revitalization has attracted lively, new, locally owned shops and destination restaurants to become neighbors of deep-rooted Vergennes businesses. For more information: www.vergennes.org or www.addisoncounty.com, 1-800-See-Vermont. |