"'Cruising' Church Street: Before the Marketplace"

- Jay Pasackow, former Marketplace business owner, Mayfair

Church Street seems to have always been part of my life. I was born and raised in Burlington, and my family owned a Church Street business from 1926-1995. It was always there.

My first remembrance of Church Street has nothing to do with the store, however. I remember the early 1960s, when it was a 2-way street with parking on both sides. The place to be on Friday or Saturday night was downtown, “cruising” Church Street, up and down and up and down. Oh, those were the days!

Later, I got serious and entered the family business, The Mayfair. The Mayfair actually had four different locations on Church Street throughout its existence, #104, #108, #85, and #25. During the 1960s and early 1970s, downtown Burlington was the major shopping center for northern Vermont and beyond. Most stores were locally-owned and operated, and you could find virtually all you wanted from clothing, to hardware, to sporting goods and food. Times were changing, however. New highways, development, and potential new shopping centers began to enter the picture. Thanks to the foresight of a small group of people, it became evident that downtown Burlington needed to move forward and change if it were to survive, rather than react at a later date, when it would be too late. This group, with the backing of many of the downtown merchants and the city government, came up with the idea of the Church Street Marketplace.

My father was on the first Church Street Marketplace Commission, charged with bringing the idea to reality. I still remember the debates about placing the large boulders on the street, as a reminder of the rural land that once flourished there. Other cities around the country looked to Burlington to see what was possible in an existing downtown. Local merchants and landowners began to take pride in the Marketplace and showed their commitment with new investments in their properties. Local residents took new pride in their downtown, and always brought out of town visitors down to see it. The Marketplace gave renewed strength to downtown and created a new meeting place.

Old friends and customers lament to me that “Downtown isn’t what it use to be.” No, it is not. There are more restaurants, more bars, and nationally owned stores. Even the kids are different. But come downtown on a Friday or Saturday evening, especially during the summer or fall, and you’ll experience a vibrant, living city.

Cruising, of course, is a bit more difficult.
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