Congratulations to Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, Vt., which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend at a challenging time for the bookstore. In a message to friends of Bear Pond, the bookseller wrote: "Fifty years ago today Bear Pond Books opened its doors at 100 Main Street in downtown Montpelier. While we had planned to celebrate this momentous birthday this Saturday, life and weather had other plans. In the past 50 years we have weathered the flood of '92, the growth of Amaz*n, the birth of the e-reader, the recession of 2008, Covid shut-downs and now the flood of July 2023. We have moved, adapted, grown, and re-invented countless times and we will again, thanks to our hard-working staff and loyal, generous and well-read customers!
"We can not thank you enough for all the support we have received in the past three weeks. When we were feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, your kind words, volunteer time, notes, donations and cookies have helped motivate us to rebuild and re-open better than ever! We literally could not do it without you. We will forever be grateful for the kindness you have shown us.
"Status Update: The exciting news of the week is--our new floors are going in and they look great! This will enable us to move forward with the rest of the rebuild. New bookcases are arriving next week and then we'll really get going. We wish we could tell you when we'll be opening again but that remains tbd. We'll keep you posted!"