 good afternoon everybody I want to thank everybody for your patience waiting in line and I also want to thank you for coming to the dedication of our state statute and symbol of the state house agriculture I am Chris Cole I have the distinct pleasure and honor of being appointed your BGS buildings and general services commissioner and I will be the master of ceremonies and presiding over this celebration you are going to hear from Governor Scott speaker Mitzi Johnson and Senator Becca Balin you are also going to be entertained by the Montpelier High School Honor Choir that is going to be singing our state song the words of which are on the back of your program although I know you don't need them most of you know them at heart we decided to help out those that may be new to the state you're also at the very end of this presentation going to see the Carver both sculptors Jerry Williams and Chris Miller with state curator David sheets as the master of ceremonies I have the distinct pleasure of thanking the people who are responsible for the statue you see behind me Trisha Harper who works for buildings and general services was a project manager on this project she worked very closely with David sheets who is the state curator for Vermont Joaja the director of design and construction for BGS was also involved Peter Hicks was our clerk of the works I want to give a special shout out and thank you to evergreen metals and paint you look up at that gold dome you also look at the the gilding on agriculture they're the ones responsible for that doesn't that dome look beautiful Jenny Miller sergeant of arms at the Vermont State House senator Peg Flory representative Alice Emmons who both chair the institutions committee where the funding your funding for this project was programmed Laura Trishman Jamie Dugan both of the historic preservation Jack Selenga David sheets of the state curators office Mike Kuhn and Rick Kirschner were your selection committee who selected the sculptors who carved this magnificent statue it is now my honor and distinct pleasure to introduce to you governor of the state of Vermont Phil Scott well thank you very much and thanks for your patience I appreciate everyone coming out today I want to especially thank speaker Johnson senator Ballant as well as all the other legislators past and present I've run across this morning it's great to see all of you here and all of you for coming to this historic event in a short time agriculture who's often called series will be lifted to her new home atop the most beautiful state house in the country I have to admit having work construction in my entire life I've enjoyed watching this project from the beginning to the end my office right over there has a great view of the state house so I've been able to watch the scaffolding being erected which was a project in of itself as well as the gilding of the dome the painting of the drum and the replacement of the windows throughout the summer I also got a close-up view of the work being done when I got to climb to the top meet the crew and the guilders and even apply a little bit of the gold leafing myself the craftsmanship is incredible and everyone did such a great job now we get to see the final piece put into place the raising of series to complete this beautiful restoration this will be the third version of the statue to go on top of the gold dome the first was a 14-foot pine figure carved by Brattleboro woodcarver Johan Henkel working from a model by Brattleboro sculptor Larkin Goldsmith Mead which remained in place for 80 years by 1938 the statue was severely rotted so at the age of 83 Sergeant and arms Dwight Dwinell a lifelong woodworker himself carved the head while two other woodworkers carved the body the new statue series 2 was put in place that very same year now after years of doing all they could to protect her from the elements the Department of Buildings and General Services determined that after 80 years series 2 needed to be replaced as well so a request for proposal went out to sculptors and woodworkers and wood carvers and it was important to me that Vermonters were included in this process a committee of representatives from bgs the state curator's office sergeant and arms and the historic preservation evaluated the proposals the choice was the unanimous and I was thrilled to learn that Jerry Williams and Chris Miller two Vermonters were selected Jerry has worked as a sculptor in central Vermont since 1986 when he established the Berry sculpture studios after his apprenticeship he works in bronze granite marble limestone plaster slate and clay creating sculptures from a range of public and private commissions Chris is also an accomplished sculptor who works with granite wood and marble since he began carving in 1976 his works have appeared across the Northeast they include amongst many other creations a 9-11 memorial on Staten Island a watershed table at the University of Massachusetts as well as a renowned 74-foot zipper on Main Street and Berry now for the last several months Chris and Jerry have worked extremely hard working really long hours to deliver this piece they studied old photographs and sketches of Larkin Mead's original statue working to not only create a replica but one that is clearly their own work of art Chris started with a laminated block of mahogany he worked with a mill to scan the beautiful model Jerry had created and then remove the excess down to just inches of the surface and then it was all blood sweat and tears from there all together was a four month old hand carved process and these were far more than just eight-hour days and what made it even more special was that the community got to witness it with the help of Scott McLaughlin of the Vermont Granite Museum and Berry Chris carved the statue while thousands of visitors stopped by to watch I stopped to see it as well but they even let me take a few swings with a mallet in order to put my signature on it if you look at the elbow right up there you'll know that's that's part of my creation I'm so incredibly proud that this sculpture was carved just a few miles away in my hometown of Erie where we still enjoy a vibrant artistic carving community this statue is a testament to our history and their craft I'm thankful to Chris and Jerry for their contribution to the state I'd like to take a moment once again to extend our appreciation to these homegrown Vermont artists please join me in a round of applause for Chris and Jerry this restoration is amongst the most important in the building's 160 year history I want to thank the Department of Buildings and General Services Agency of Administration the legislature and all those who worked on and supported this effort and now after a six month hiatus I'm looking forward to once again seeing series the goddess of agriculture atop this beautiful state house so thank you very much for coming today thank you Governor Scott next I'd like to introduce speaker Mitzi Johnson who is also my former dairy farm milking partner it's true Chris and I excuse me the commissioner and I first met as milkers at a farm up in South Hero and here we are now getting to share this day with the most famous of Vermont agricultural icons the fact that all of you are here today really confirms something that I've been feeling for the last six months which is we do have the most beautiful state house in the country but it's really been missing something it I've always said that the day that I walk in and and don't get goosebumps looking at our state house is the day that I need to walk away and I still get those goosebumps and it has been different the last six months there's the fact that we have our history and an anchor of our state as agriculture dominating our dome and the goddess looking over us as we do our work in the legislature is an incredibly important testament to what our values are in Vermont what is important to us and what we honor in this state and I am I'm so grateful that David sheets is the enthusiastic passionate and very accomplished curator that he is for the state of Vermont and that he takes such good care of the state house thank you thank you Mitzi we're now going to hear from the majority leader from the Senate Senator Becca Baylor good morning or perhaps it's afternoon now I'm not sure it's an honor for me to represent the Senate today when I was first invited to speak here I was a little nervous you may know that series also represents fertility and I've already got two kids and so Siri like we're on the same page here I'm good I don't need another no more children when I told my kids I was coming here today when I was coming for my son Houston said why are you going to a ceremony to honor Siri the god of the cell phone I said I said exactly kid why am I when I can't get cell service between Bellas Falls and Bravo I explained that no no series not Siri and I pointed out that across this beautiful state every morning Vermonters perform their daily ritual they're understated and often an unacknowledged homage to the goddess of agriculture they lift their hands and they pour their morning cereal series cereal how many of you have thought of that it's the connection right there think about it now forever more when you pour your morning cereal in preparation for this event this very wonderful Vermont event I thought about what are all the other references to series that we overlook so a little participation for the crowd today I'm gonna be a little excerpt from a Shakespearean play and I want you to figure out which one it's from series has a cameo this is what she says this is her speech earth's incense poison plenty barns and garners never empty vines and clustering bunches growing plants with goodly birth in Boeing spring come to you at the farthest in the end of the harvest scarcity and want shall shun you series blessing so is on you who knows it's not it's not a nice dream it's not Hamlet the tempest yes well done well done on a more serious note it says a lot that we we as Vermonters chose the goddess of agriculture a woman to represent the harvest and the seasons to crown our stunning but modest rotunda we could have had Moses the lawgiver or some other luminary from Vermont's history but series reminds us that we are bound to the land and like farming legislation is an iterative process we put the best seeds in the ground and we hope that they will bear fruit if they do we reap the harvest greatly and if they don't we must examine why and try again with either other seeds or other fertilizer or different techniques but we must ever remain curious in closing I want to tell you one of our very new legislators from Wyndham County has asked me numerous times over the last few months will series be back on top of the dome before I start my first session like so many of us we are hesitant to start our important work without this formidable goddess watching over us thank you for being here thank you senator I'm gonna find the right distance we're gonna now hear from the Montpelier High School honor choir singing our state song these green mountains here are your instructions we're gonna let them sing it first and listen then they're gonna sing it again and we're all gonna join in alright ready go ahead sheets our state curator as well as the two sculptors Jerry Williams and Chris Miller to come to the podium here's here's what's happening emotion love community this state is the state in the United States that stands the most for community freedom and unity goddess she's an allegorical figure yes but I think we can all agree that's a goddess I've come a long way in 39 years at this building I didn't used to believe in goddesses I do now big time have the great pleasure of being in touch with an incredible community of artists throughout this state so many artists are in this crowd today and the two that I've had the great privilege of getting to know even better than I did before who have created this gigantic work of art for you the people of Vermont are gonna talk to you now Jerry Williams and Chris Miller here they are Jerry said I had to go first okay I I know it's cold I got a long list of people that need to be thanked so please bear with me I'm gonna ramble a tiny bit first of all thank you Governor Scott and everyone for this incredible honor to thank first and most importantly my teammate Jerry Williams the reason the statue is beautiful is simply because Jerry designed it that way for the all the many hours it took to carve this I had the beautiful model to to reference and to measure from Jerry had the hard job he had to create this figure from thin air it's been an honor to work with you Jerry thank you when Jerry finished the model his son Sean Williams cast it into the hard model I worked from I was working from accurate casting is something that's really hard to do well and this model turned out perfect thanks Sean thanks to the selection committee and Governor Scott who decided that a couple of local sculptors should tackle this job in the initial proposal we were asked to describe our methods and how we would approach this project two things were personally very important to me first the two previous version were hand carved and I felt the best way to honor the earlier craftsmanship was to do as much as physically possible given the short time frame by hand using some of the same tools that have been used in 1858 when the first one was created the second idea since this is a once-in-a-lifetime event is to open it up to the public and allow people to witness and to touch and to understand and be part of the process the state I'm very grateful completely bought into these ideas and they work hard to facilitate them over the course of making this thousands and thousands of Ramoners came and visited the witness this come to life and that has been the best part of this project the many people next page many many people follow this progress on social media posts I was so impressed that I defined that I now have several hundred hundred Instagram followers until I realized that and that's less than average unpopular 11 year-old okay so thanks to Trisha Harper who as project manager for this overall beautiful restoration behind here found time while juggling the needs of all the people working on it to get me everything I needed thanks to Jack Angelica and David from the state curators office who kept things moving with skill and with humor when I was writing these notes I struggled with just what to say about the one and only David sheets so I called up every other state capital and talked to them and it's safe to say that we here in Vermont are fortunate to have the most determined most creative most visionary and goofiest curing in the country Jeff Randall and everyone at angle birth construction and Flint and his crew at SWW erectors and Mike the lightning guy one of the things I like about getting to work on a really large project is you get to work with architects and engineers and construction professionals who just know how to get stuff done you go in and you say like here's what I have in mind I'm gonna get this block and I'm gonna make it this big and I'm gonna make it hollow it's gonna have this channel and then we'll make a base and a post and do all this stuff and you'd make a couple of quick pencil drawings and some hand gestures no they're like immediately oh yeah we can make this happen no problem so as an example Jeff brings Flint over to manage the rigging and to see at the studio to see how we're gonna transport this over here and they're walking around looking at the statue for two minutes and Flint says okay so what if I build you an apparatus that can raise and lower the statue safely by yourself like wow this would be great and then I'll make it so you can spin this two-ton statue in any position with one hand and a week later this amazing engineering feat shows up that he built and the thing is that these guys didn't have to make this thing they did it because they were really interested in this product and they're really great guys almost done Rick Clark Jim Clark Brian Clark of Clark Builders and Callas who helped me laminate the massive block of wood here so you talk about professionals who really get it instantly so I'm like okay you guys we're gonna mill up a 2,000 board feet of raw lumber cut out these exacting patterns laminated into the shimanga statue in three weeks time and they're like okay we got it we're there been a team of professionals tirelessly photographing videoing and documenting every step of the way thanks to Jeb Wallace Broder Rick McMahon Paul Rogers Megan O'Rourke thanks to the Times-Argus Montpelier Bridge from out digger seven days from arts council public radio for keeping everybody informed not fake news much thanks to Scott McLaugh and the executive director at the board of directors the Vermont Grand Museum for their generous use of their very beautiful facility everyone here should go to the museum become a member it's a real treasure here and thanks to all you wonderful lovely honors for being part of this thank you Chris if the Jerry Jerry Jerry no not at all are you speaking for the board okay no no no my remarks are short and sweet there must be a million million and a half you out thanks for all all you for coming to this journey's end and I hope for all a new beginning for series for series and the next generation of Vermonters may it serve you well a special thanks to all who are involved in the planning development and completion of the dome project the list is too long and you all know who you are I think Chris just about covered it anywhere to be honest when this part of the project began in June I had serious doubts that it could be done in such a short time kudos to Chris Miller whose hard work long hours and skills made today possible Chris what are you going to do with all that time never mind I think I know I'll keep my remarks short and because frankly I can't wait much longer to see her up so Ingleberg our construction companies we're going to begin preparing her for the ascent and it'll be a couple of minutes and then we will all witness the goddess rise to the top of the dome great good what time you live in Brenda no they can lift her right where she is we just all have to be behind the guy so hang on is this still live it can be if you need it yeah yeah let me make a quick announcement so as the statue goes up by the way you may want to go out to the front for the full view of how she goes up to the dome so the crowd may want to start going in that direction in order to get the best perspective and stay on the walkways okay well they promise to do it that's for the protection so so the bands around her head are fixed just just see the back of her head and that one's down her back and then comes out her body there's a Leatherman to the rescue this is just an