Complement, not compete

Let me first say that what has been produced at Stowe Mountain Resort is magnificent. It’s a wonderful facility that greatly enhances the area generally. The investment that has been made and continues to be made at Spruce has undoubtedly added a whole new dimension to Stowe. It is a great addition that the area is fortunate to have attracted.

However, being the owner of one of the “older” lodging properties (The Riverside Inn) that Mr. Gaines sees fit to disparage, I do feel that his comments reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons people come to Stowe (both as guests and to live) and what they are looking for while they are here.

Not everybody wishes to stay exclusively at five-star properties. They have their place, but too many can feel lonely, impersonal and sterile. So many of our guests return year after year, and we are of a sufficiently small size that the line between guest and friend becomes wonderfully blurred. Is our property older ? You bet; 1821 in parts. Are we rustic? Too true. That’s the whole point, though. It’s why people come and keep coming back to stay.

People choose us (and I am sure many of the other “older” small inns and resorts in town ) for the character of our properties and the personal experience we are able to provide. They will never be able to offer this at Stowe Mountain Resort. I have never felt that the likes of us are competing with the resort but rather that we offer a different product. Not better, not worse, just different.

When we moved to Stowe nearly 20 ago, there was a definite us-and-them attitude between the village and the mountain. Hank Lunde (who arrived at practically the same time as we did) seemed to make a concerted effort to reach out to the village to mend the rift. While the cynical saw this as primarily motivated by the wish to garner the support of the town behind the resort’s proposed development, the olive branch proffered was enthusiastically picked up.

It therefore stings that, having sought out and accepted the support of the “older” properties, one cannot help but feel that Stowe Mountain Resort now wants to set itself apart again.

I will stress again that it would be hard to argue that overall the development has not had a very positive effect on Stowe. It has, though, also had negative consequences for some businesses and also has to a degree indirectly been subsidized by the townsfolk’s taxes. Because of this, the resort’s strident opposition to paying impact fees leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

A corporate behemoth like the mountain and its parent company will always have different priorities and aims from the smaller family-owned properties and businesses in town. I genuinely believe, though, that the resort benefits more than it realizes from the unique flavor that these give the area.

People come to Stowe precisely because it is not a built-up mega-resort. Of course, we have to move and keep up with the times, but if we go too fast in that direction, not only will we lose what drew many of us to come here in the first place, but also what attracts the visitors we all rely on.

Julian Bartlett

Stowe