Suzanne Eikenberry:
Montpelier Alive’s Executive Director from 2006 - 2010
This interview documents Suzanne Eikenberry’s experience as Montpelier Alive’s executive director from 2006 - 2010, along with her inspiration for getting involved with the community and various accomplishments during her time with Montpelier Alive.
Why were you drawn to Montpelier Alive/what inspired you to work for the organization?
I love walkable communities. The idea of promoting one of the few walkable communities in Vermont as a place to live, work and play was really appealing to me. I love that other communities are now working to create downtowns that can be walkable as well.
What was your role with MA and when?
I was the Executive Director from 2006-2010. This was the first time Montpelier Alive had a full time staff person. I left that position when my son was born, but I continued to be involved as the bookkeeper and for a few years, as the July 3rd coordinator.
What were some significant achievements/notable milestones during your time with MA?
I think three of the biggest achievements during my time there were the SculptCycle public art project, the creation of the weekly e-news letter, and the renaming of Montpelier Downtown Community Association to Montpelier Alive. We really wanted people to engage with the downtown, and also with Montpelier Alive as volunteers and supporters. The renaming and branding of the organization helped to raise our profile. I am also proud that during that time we worked to strengthen the merchant group through coordinated sales, ad campaigns, and information sharing on topics like flooding, shoplifting, inventory management, etc. My favorite campaign we did back then was a series of ads in black and white featuring the downtown merchants
with their businesses so that people could get to know them as people and see the stores as part of their community. It was a great way to promote “shop local.”
There are also two environmental projects I am proud of from my time with Montpelier Alive. We wrote grants to start street recycling downtown and to switch all of the winter lights to LEDs. The metal green and black cans that are downtown stem from that period. Prior to then (about 2008), there was no recycling on the street downtown--only trash. The holiday lights were old school incandescent. Not only did they use a lot of electricity, but each time a bulb broke, the entire string went out, requiring a lot of maintenance. Since then the holiday lights have been replaced a few times.
Why do you believe the community needs an organization like Montpelier Alive?
I think last year's flood showed the value of the organization in a really visible way. The fact that we already had a way to organize, collect donations, and networks to facilitate communication helped lift Montpelier up during that terrible time. Katie deserves a ton of
credit for her fast and effective action. But the truth is that the community building Montpelier Alive does year round helps people value putting community first. And the pay-off is huge in vibrancy. When I travel, I sometimes hit upon older communities that have the same good bones in terms of buildings and spatial layout that Montpelier does, but they don't have the vibrancy that comes with local businesses and people walking around downtown. Those towns have been hollowed out as retail moved to big box stores outside of town, then to online shopping. What Montpelier has is special and worth protecting. It only happens when people value it. When they walk around downtown and support the local businesses…when they know their neighbors and stop to have casual conversations regularly.