click to enlarge - Anne Wallace Allen ©️ Seven Days
- Wheelock House in Barre
The owners of
Fox Market and Bar, the queer-friendly beer-and-wine bar and specialty food market in East Montpelier, hope to open a second location in downtown Barre.
Liv Dunton and Doni Cain have made an offer on a 19th-century home called the Wheelock House that is squeezed between office buildings on Barre’s North Main Street. But before Dunton and Cain can start work converting the house to a café, they have to compete successfully against the
Barre Partnership, a downtown economic development and events organization that has been using the house as its headquarters for three years. The partnership now wants to buy it.
The city, which owns the 1871 building, is considering offers based not only on price but on which use will generate the most activity downtown. Mayor Jake Hemmerick said he was hoping to get the house back on the tax rolls and see some investment there. It was originally constructed to serve as a law office and was host to the Barre Senior Center for many years.
While the home's facade is just 26 feet wide, modern additions stretch deep into the block, creating 3,000 square feet of indoor space. Hemmerick said there are better uses for the structure than the Barre Partnership, which has one staff member, executive director Tracie Lewis.
“I’m hoping to see the building repurposed and to bring more life and activity back to the downtown,” Hemmerick said.
Lewis said the location suits the partnership because it's downtown.
"If businesses need me, they can stop over at my office or I can run to their place real quick," she said, adding that the home's large windows are a good place to hang posters about upcoming events.
"The building wouldn't just house us," she said. "We'd be looking to add one or two other organizations once we bring it up to code."
The city council is scheduled to hear presentations about the two competing proposals at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 11.
When they opened Fox Market in June 2021, Dunton and Cain made it clear they wanted their gathering space and bar, which has low tables, games and crafts, to be friendly and welcoming to the rural LGBTQ community around them.
“We describe ourselves as a queer-first space,” said Dunton, who is nonbinary and uses they/them/their pronouns. “While everyone is welcome here, we prioritize the safety, comfort and accessibility for the queer community.”
They plan to do the same in Barre if they can, Dunton said. The new business wouldn’t sell groceries — Dunton made it clear Fox Market doesn’t want to compete with the existing AR Market, also on North Main Street — but would have food service and, like Fox Market, couches and activities.
“We’re more interested in developing a café-restaurant where people can hang out and have meetings, not a full-on restaurant,” Dunton said.
The Wheelock House has been the subject of debate in Barre since well before it most recently went on sale for $155,000 two months ago. The city council and officials have discussed for years how to use the building, debating options such as a teen center and a visitors center.
In recent months, supporters of the Barre Partnership have written to local officials to make the case for the group's purchase of the building. The partnership organizes local events, with 70 local businesses as members.
“There has been an enormous amount of lobbying over the last month or so on behalf of the proposal by the Barre Partnership,” said Sue Higby, the executive director of
Studio Place Arts, which is located down the street from the Wheelock House. “Why? Let’s step away from old-school Barre politics and embrace an unbiased look at the various proposals for the space.”
City Councilor Thom Lauzon, Barre’s former mayor and a large property owner in town, is helping the Barre Partnership gather 25 supporters who will donate money for the purchase and renovation of Wheelock House. But, he said, he is not involved in running the organization. He added that he was sorry to see on social media how the issue of who will get the house has divided some residents.
“This is turning into a deeply emotional shit show,” Lauzon said, adding that he won’t decide how to vote until he sees the proposals.
Dunton said they had heard there was competition for the space. In a Facebook post, Dunton asked Barre-based supporters to get in touch with their city councilors. Dunton asked those who live outside the city to spread the word among their friends.
“It is a building that both Doni and I have been in adoration of for many years,” Dunton wrote. “The moment we heard it was on the market, we knew we wanted to try and be a part of its legacy.”