VIASIL Kickoff

ANNOUNCING “VERMONT IS A STATE...”

A competition sponsored by The Main Street Museum, White River Junction in commemoration of Calvin Coolidge’s immortal speech, “Vermont is a State I Love,” (VIASIL) which he delivered in Bennington on September 21, 1928, and which is printed at the end of this flyer.

Kickoff: JULY 4, 2008, in WHITE RIVER JUNCTION!

This competition is open to everyone. We welcome essays, photographs, videos, songs, musical compositions, performances, dance, comedy routines, puppets, sculpture, collages, speeches, poems, entries in the museum guest book, anonymous voicemails, and all other creative gestures and statements. Tell the world about Vermont! Tell us how you really feel!

NOTE TO MEDIA AND PHOTOGRAPHERS: Photo opportunities can be arranged throughout the day on July 4, in conjunction with the Museum’s annual JULY 4 OPEN HOUSE AND INNER-TUBE FLOTILLA. Subjects can include the Museum and its collections of Americana and Vermontiana, and a vague sort of reenactment of Coolidge’s speech in which a member of the Museum, dressed in business attire and a straw hat, will recite the speech while standing on or near a vintage railroad car at the New England Transportation Museum in White River Junction. CALL OR E-MAIL FOR DETAILS OR TO SET UP A SHOOT.

Deadline for Submissions: September 21, 2008 (The 80th anniversary of Calvin Coolidge’s famous speech)

• submissions will be accepted up to the deadline and also after the deadline

Suitable Topics: All views and perspectives on Vermont are welcome – the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, the positive, the negative, the serious, the not-so-serious...

Format for Submissions: All categories listed above, and all other categories as well.

How to Submit: Text-only submissions should be limited to a maximum length of 300 words, the approximate length of Coolidge’s entire statement. Extra credit will be awarded for submissions of under 150 words, the approximate length of the most well-known portion of the speech. Submissions of exactly 138 words, the exact length of the most well-known portion of the speech, will be rewarded with a souvenir from Plymouth Notch, Vermont, birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. Text-only submissions can be e-mailed to info@mainstreetmuseum.org. All other submissions, including photographic, audio and video formats, should be snail-mailed to the Museum at the above address, or dropped off in person, Thursday thru Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Or call ahead to arrange a drop-off at an alternate time.

NOTE: Entries cannot be returned, but we will keep them at the Museum as long as we can, for eventual pick-up. Prizes: The top worthy entries will be rewarded with tiny samples of silt from the Great Flood of 1927, which were retrieved from the foundations of the Main Street Museum, which sits on the banks of the White River. All entries will receive a certificate of appreciation.

Schedule: Entries will be appreciated upon their arrival at the Museum. Top entrants will be notified throughout the coming months, and all entries will be recognized and celebrated at the Museum on September 21, 2008, during the Museum’s observance of the Autumnal Equinox.

______________________ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: "Vermont Is A State I Love" (VIASIL)

The great flood of 1927 was a landmark event in Vermont’s history. Dozens of Vermonters, including the state’s lieutenant governor, were killed. Roads, bridges, and homes were destroyed. Communities were devastated. The following year, President Calvin Coolidge, a native of Plymouth, Vermont, toured the state to see its rebuilding efforts. In Bennington, he delivered the following remarks.

"My Fellow Vermonters: For two days we have been traveling through this state. We have been up the East side, across and down the West side. We have seen Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Windsor, White River Junction and Bethel. We have looked toward Montpelier. We have visited Burlington and Middlebury. Returning we have seen Rutland. I have had an opportunity of visiting again the scenes of my childhood. I want to express to you, and through the press to the other cities of Vermont, my sincere appreciation for the general hospitality bestowed upon me and my associates on the occasion of this journey. It is gratifying to note the splendid recovery from the great catastrophe which overtook the state nearly a year ago. Transportation has been restored. The railroads are in a better condition than before. The highways are open to traffic for those who wish to travel by automobile. Vermont is a state I love. I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield, and Equinox, without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride, here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our eternal hills. I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the Union, and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.