VT Trip - Steve's Park Diner

 Although I was visiting Vermont primarily to visit relatives, there were other happenings in the town of Middlebury and surrounding areas. The unusual rain had not stopped the summer functions and events from happening. I was lucky enough to attend a few things, and one close to my heart was the small Memorial get-together for Steve's Park Diner being torn down.

So on Saturday morning, August 4, after a nice walk from Tom's house on Weybridge Street, I arrived at the diner for one last time. I was early and sat myself next to the diner on the stone wall separating it from the Middlebury Town Hall Theater. The first person I talked to said she was the mother of one of the waitresses from the past, Jodi James. We had a nice chat and I saw an old class mate walking by. It was Kathy Smith, who did Independent Study with me Senior Year at MUHS, class of 1975. We did Oral Interpretation with fellow student Scott Sperry. It was great to see her.

Other people starting showing up, some I recognized, most I did not. The diner was put on this spot in the 1940s. In my life, it had always been on this spot, although with different owners. Steve Dow took it over in 1989 and owned it with his wife Beth until 2014. My nephew Jared and his wife Sarah worked in the kitchen and I usually made it for breakfast each Vermont visit. Did I mention Sarah is Steve and Beth's daughter.

My first memory of the diner was as a child. I was with my dad and I remember there was a typical diner counter on the right as you walked in. We sat at the counter and I ordered chocolate milk as my drink, I think I was maybe 6 years old or younger. She brought me a glass of milk and then poured this chocolate syrup from a can into the glass. It was like Magic, after a good stir I had a glass of delicious chocolate milk. We were a household of Quik powder users, so this was a memorable moment for a young boy...

Of course, I am sure dad ordered a coffee. Appropriately, they were given out coffee mugs to the attendees for the Memorial. I grabbed one to take back to Florida.

The event was organized by Doug Anderson who works at the Town Hall Theater, and are owners of the diner and the land it stands on. He was the M.C. for the small ceremony held in the ally way. The Addison Independent said there were about 100 people. They had chairs for Beth & Steve Dow and my grand niece Paislee.

After some introductions and history by Doug, Kevin Parizo was the first to talk. My understanding is that Kevin is the organist at two churches in town, including Saint Mary's, where I went to church and school as a kid. From his speech, the diner provided Kevin a lot of meals.

Most of the past wait staff were there including my cousin Courtney Provoncha. She gave a nice speech about the diner being family, and how the people have kept in touch.

Another regular at the diner was Former Governor Jim Douglas. He gave a great speech and sounded like a politician running for office, although he is now keeping busy with many things. Although born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Middlebury College, and made Vermont his home. 

The next speaker was Linda Bouffard who belonged to a group that used the diner as a meeting place. There were other ladies from that group on the left. It was mentioned that a tradition started where the MUHS football team would have breakfast at the diner the day of a game. There were other groups that used the diner for meetings. Important to s small town.

Up nest was Writer Jay Parini, a Middlebury College Professor. He has written many books including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He also does essays for some major magazines. He was a great speaker and I hope the video clip works that I have included. He did mention he had brought people to the diner including Anthony Quinn and write John Irving.

By the way, I went to the Eau Gallie library yesterday and checked out one of his books, the Last Station. It is about the last months of Leo Tolstoy and was made into a movie starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, and James McAvoy.

The last speaker was Steve Dow. I was very happy to see Steve talk and reminisce about the diner. It was also touching to see him tear up when talking about the great people who worked there, his family!

After the speeches, people hung around to talk about old times. I saw that My Megyesi was there, one of my favorite high school teachers. He was there with his wife and happily, he remembered me and we had a nice chat. I was thinking he must be in his 80s by now, but I did not ask.

I also talked with Kenny and Carolyn Perine. Hey Carolyn, you made my BLOG!

Cousin Courtney stood in front of the diner for one last time.

I saw in the paper article that the demolition was slated for Friday August 11. This time I drove down and parked on Merchants' Row. By the time I got there the roof was gone.

Walking up onto the Town Hall Theater steps, I could see that 80% of the building was gone. I might look for a job of the guy with the hose. Looks like easy work.

Not much of the building was left...

And then it was gone...

The end of an era. I was sad to see it gone and I do not even live here anymore. But it is my hometown!

But now there was a better view of the Town Hall Theater. Let's hope they do something wonderful with the property so that future generations will remember and mourn whatever when it is torn down.