Words from Tim Halvorson

Although I was raised in Pasadena, California, my roots have always been in Vermont. My mom was born in Burlington but my grandfather had moved west during the depression to start a dry cleaning business in California. He had owned Huntley’s Laundry at St. Paul and College. That building was torn down to build a gas station, which eventually became the first Ben & Jerry's. When I see the brass emblem on the sidewalk at College & St. Paul acknowledging the first location for Ben & Jerry’s, I always think of my grandfather.

In 1979, Dad sold his dry cleaning business in Pasadena and moved the family back east to Vermont. Our first business was on Church Street (where Halvorson’s is today) called Elizabeth Candies. I worked in candy store then worked at Shepherd & Hammel that first summer 1979 and eventually went to Johnson State.

In 1981, there was a fire that swept through the upper floors of our building and at the then Abernathy’s Department Store (2 Church Street, now called Richardson Place). We were definitely out of business from December of 1981 through November 1982, but we wanted to maintain that address and location. The business was reborn as Halvorson’s in 1982 after the fire
When I graduated from Johnson State in 1983, I started working with my Dad and ultimately became partners, then bought his interest in the business 13 years ago. We reopened it as an eat in situation with tables.

By the time I arrived on Church Street, all of the planning and construction decisions had been made but I was fortunate to see Street before and after the improvements. I remember vividly Friday nights, when shoppers drove in to town and parked their cars on Church Street. Men would play cards by the parking meters while their wives shopped. During construction, I distinctly remember showing up one morning to find a 12-foot deep moat in front of my business where they laying concrete conduit. We had to cross foot bridges to get into our businesses. It was during that time that I met Jeff Davis (J.L. Davis Realty and owner of 2 Church Street). My Dad and I had been asked to be at our business between 2 and 3 a.m. for a utility hook up and we met Jeff. It was the beginning of a great friendship ever since.

One of the more interesting event evolutions in our downtown was the Discover Jazz Festival. The idea had bubbled out of the Mayor's Arts Council and in 1983, I was drafted to help out during the festival’s early formation. Our restaurant held live jazz performances and they knew I was fan. We were excited about the chance to introduce jazz to the general public and that’s a mission I hope the festival always holds on to. In the early years, we would block off the entire upper block and call it the "Bourbon Street Dance Hall." That was back during the days when when all stores on my block closed at 5 p.m. and Halvorson’s was the only licensee.

Opportunities to serve the Marketplace just seemed to fall into my lap. In the early ‘90s, Wendy Chagnon from the Marketplace staff called to ask if I’d be on the License Committee, which was then chaired by Bev Wool. In 1994, there was an opening on the Marketplace Commission and I was encouraged to apply. At my second meeting chaired by Bob Kaphan, I was elected chairman.

What I love most about the Marketplace is that it reflects the unpredictablity of life itself. I remember spending an enormous amount of energy planning a winter festival, and having piles of show brought in on a Friday night so that special snow carvers could create snow sculptures Saturday morning. And then, the next day brought 70 degree weather!

It’s been a real privilege to be involved in the development of the Marketplace. When I think of great people on my block like Hecky Pasacow (Mayfair) and Dave Pearl and Sandy Preston (F.J. Preston Jewelers) and the Abernathy's people -- if you'd told me I'd be the one that would outlast all of them, I would have laughed at you.
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