By G. E. Shuman
I believe that it is certain, above all other certainties, that we do live in an exceedingly strange and changing world. Take, for example, and for instance, the very peculiar, odd, and unprecedented phenomenon presently occurring in the city of Barre, Vermont; Barre City, to be more precise and local-friendly. You see, and if you live here, you cannot HELP but see, that things are a-changin’ in downtown Barre. As a long-time resident and former downtown business owner, I can attest to this fact, irrevocably, irreversibly, irreverently, incontrovertibly, immodestly, immaterially, infinitely, and any other ‘im’, ’in‘, and ‘ir’ adverbs you may wish to consider here. Yes, for sure and for true, things are happening in Barre.
Last summer, and into last fall and early winter, construction work in the downtown area concentrated on the re-shaping, and re-configuring of several street corners and intersections in the city. Most of the work centered around Main Street corners and Summer Street intersections, if you will recall. Yes, the heavy equipment was out last year, and those efforts succeeded in shaving off lawns, slicing back sidewalks, and re-directing ditches and curbs to the (somehow) desired effect of widening Summer Street and Main Street intersections. Now, everyone who knows anyone, and even everyone who knows no one in Barre City understands that these things being done are only the first steps in the ‘Barre Big Dig’; that is, the reconstruction of the Main Street of our fair city. The street corners were widened to accommodate large vehicles, which will necessarily be re-routed down Summer and other streets when the greater work on Main Street begins. Indeed, Herculean efforts are hurriedly underway, to keep traffic flowing, businesses going, and pedestrians pedestering.
Spring has definitely sprung of late in the Granite City. My wife’s lilac bushes have gone from tiny buds to huge leaves and even small blossoms appearing, in what seems to be only days. Our maple trees have leaves which have come upon the branches at such a pace that you can almost see them growing. You actually can see how much they have grown from one day to the next. Also, finally, and not a minute too soon, flowers have arrived in Central Vermont yards!
Now, and here‘s the big question of the day, or at least, of the day you are reading this column. Have you noticed the other things that are sprouting up all over downtown? I don’t mean to site the obvious, but within the past few weeks, many huge, black, tree-trunk-like poles have appeared at those same, afore-mentioned, Main and Summer Street intersections. The big black things are of varying heights and widths, but all appear to be of the same origin and species; namely, the dreaded traffica-signalia variety, to use the official, biological term for them. Why, some of those huge, black, bean-stalk-looking things are probably twenty feet high and several feet thick at the base, already. Others are smaller, but of similar proportion to their larger cousins. Many of them would make fine masts for Capt’n Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl, if she is ever in such need. The largest one of them all has, evidently, chosen to attach itself along the horizontal plane, part way up, to two of the Main Street growths. This behemoth-sized new-growth stretches, above traffic, all the way from the Aldrich Library, right out onto the island in the middle of Main Street. That pole’s functionality might be vital for the city project, but it is anything but pretty. Last week one of my students actually asked me why they put “that big sewer pipe” across Main Street. I tried to explain that I thought it was just some new-growth happening in Barre. I’m not sure the student was convinced. I only hope that someone will, at least, put a string of Christmas lights on that thing late next fall. (That is, if other, even larger growths haven’t sprouted up by then.)
