 All right, good morning, everyone. I think we are ready to get started. It's great that so many of you are able to join us for this milestone this morning. We are excited to welcome you here today to celebrate 40 years of the Church View Marketplace. I want to thank the many visionary leaders who worked so hard to create the marketplace 40 years ago and the dedicated city staff who maintain this landmark space for the community and most importantly, the public, the merchants, the vendors, the shoppers, and visitors who make the marketplace such a vibrant and special place. We are really fortunate 40 years after the founding to have so many of those who were involved in creating this special place with us today. First and foremost, Senator Leahy, who has played such a critical role in the marketplace's history from the very beginning and who we'll hear from in a moment. And what the senator accomplished, he did in partnership with his late chief of staff, Paul Brune, who they together, they secured a grant to fund the construction, initial construction of the marketplace. And they worked closely with community leaders, including Pat Robbins and Bill Truex, who are here with us this morning, and the mayors during that period. First, Mayor Gordon Parkett, and then just as in the year that the marketplace opened, then Mayor Sanders. And the tertiary marketplace was closed to traffic and opened to visitors in September of 1981. Today, indisputably, the marketplace is the heart of Burlington's downtown. It's here that we welcome over a million and a half neighbors and visitors every year to Burlington and to Vermont. With all of the vision and enthusiasm that first supported the creation of the marketplace, what these leaders could not have known 40 years ago is what an essential role the marketplace would serve throughout the decades and including during the darkest days of the pandemic that we've just lived through. With the leadership of Carl on Izrawi, who is currently our tertiary marketplace director and is also serving a larger citywide role supporting businesses during the pandemic and during the recovery, and with the creativity and quick work of many merchants, restaurant owners, the city was quickly able to open outdoor dining and retail options in the opening months of the pandemic, ensuring not only that would this critical downtown commerce continue, but that our community could have safe outdoor spaces to gather and enjoy life even during this challenging time. The tertiary marketplace will continue to play an essential role in the recovery we now face as a space for our local businesses, artists, and restaurants to fuel the local and regional economy and foster community in the weeks, months, and years to come. And I must say it has been very encouraging this summer to stop in with all as many retailers as I could and hear from so many of them how Church Street and downtown Burlington are bouncing back and that people are experiencing economic levels, economic activity comparable to pre-pandemic times. We will do certainly a city with Carl's leadership and major support and focus from the mayor's office will continue to everything we can to support that recovery and that energy in the months ahead as we continue to move through this unprecedented period. With that, I am honored to pass the microphone to Senator Patrick Lee, whose love and support for Burlington has brought so much community and economic development opportunity to our city and to the tertiary marketplace. Senator, thank you for what you've done to make this a special place. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, it's good to be with you to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Church Street marketplace. Every time I walk up here of myself and I walk up the street, we're constantly saying, remember that time, that and the memories we have here, even back when I was a young lawyer, I think that I've been walking from my office around the corner down the street, running to an opposing lawyer. We'd stand and chat for a few minutes and usually work out the differences in our case. But thousands of people could tell stories like that. This is the crown jewel of downtown Burlington. It's a true treasure for the entire state. I have worked to secure millions of dollars in federal investments for our entire state and for Church Street. But there are a lot of other people that are more deserving of the honor. I see Bill Truex and Pat Robbins over here. Both of the ties on it. I mean, this is a, I know all the work that they've done in business leaders like Tim Halverson and others. So we're celebrating the 40th anniversary. It doesn't seem possible. I remember when we were doing ceremonies opening it. But what it does, the memories that come back, Church Street special for my family. Marcell and I bought our wedding rings up at the end of the street. The Preston jewelry, our children were fitted for shoes by John Adams first at Abernethy's. They did animal boots and shoes in the upper block. I don't know how many times a rest or so had lunch with the hot dog lady and I sure love other people did. And right here in the old fire station, that's where I had my first Senate office. Some had talked at that time of tearing it down because it could make some extra parking spaces. I said, you got to be out of your mind. This is a historic spot. And so I said, I can get a six year lease at the highest funding. And so we did and saved it. Now, look at the people we've worked with. Cory Paquette, Pearl Wineburger, Marketplace Commission, leaders like Molly Lambert, Ron Redmond, Becky Cassidy. And I want to mention one person who's not here. It's Paul Brune. Paul had such a sense of what historic preservation was. I wish he'd been around when they tore down the beautiful post office just a few, just a block or so from where I grew up in Montpere. But he was the one who said, we can save that. Put your office there. And he pushed on this. And then he said, why don't we get highway funds for it? I said, Paul, you're going to close off traffic. There's going to be a shopping mall. How do you get highway funds? He said, well, you're on the Appropriations Committee. What do you think? Secretary came up with a chat. So he came up and chatted. And he said, are you out of your mind? I said, yeah, but we still want to do it. And the deputy secretary came to the ribbon cutting. He said, you know, it's a pretty good use of highway funds. But he's gone from car traffic to pedestrian activity. And I do remember Paul saying and Phil and Patrick. You probably remember saying, I told you so. But it's only because we had visionaries like Bill and Paul. I'm Bill and Pat. We'd make it work. You can get money. For me, that's one of the easier parts. But the people have to make sure it works. And this, I've shown pictures of Church Street to others in the Senate over and over again saying, here's a success. So I don't mean to go on and tell you what you already know. But isn't this a special place? I remember walking here with children and grandchildren up and down the street buying Batman comic books and things like that. So before I get too far down the memory road, Carol, let me turn it over to you. And thank you for what you're doing. Thank you, Senator. Good morning. I won't take up too much of people's times after our headline speaker. I want to quickly thank a lot of people who make this work every day. Most importantly, my maintenance staff. And I see two out there, Jim and Hugh. Thank you. And Bruce, who can't be here today. They're out here seven days a week making this look the way it looks. So I really appreciate everything you guys do. Naturally, Bill and Pat for creating this legacy and the senator as well for making it all happen. And my predecessors in this role, in addition, I feel very privileged to be able to steward this gem of not only Burlington, but the city for as long as the mayor allows me to. And I just want to say, when we had the pandemic, everyone looked to the marketplace, not only to see how our economy was doing and whether people were coming out, but also when we were in lockdown, it was a place to take a walk. And then when political discourse exploded, this was the place to have your voice heard. This is the gathering place where everything from commercial activity to family gatherings to political discourse can take place. And I just want to thank everyone who made that happen. Thank you. One last thing. I want to thank AO Glass for working with me and my team to create some memorabilia for our 40th anniversary. Our founders and the senator and the mayor, please come and take that. And it represents, as you see, it's etched on the outside with all the people that enjoy this space, this public space that we all recognize and cherish. So thank you again. So in a moment, Pat and Bill, why don't you come on up and get this? And while you're doing that, I do just want to say a couple more words about Pat and Bill. I feel personally extraordinarily fortunate as mayor. And I think the community is very fortunate to have had these two individuals that have been such a stabilizing and visionary force, really a through line through the last 40 years. What a remarkable thing that individuals that led this transformation 40 years ago are continue to be as engaged in the civic life of this community as Bill and Pat are. To just a couple of examples that I've been so appreciative of, and I just want to call out in this moment. Bill led the public investment action plan process that took place early in my administration that has led to a trans, maybe not quite church tree transformation, but a comparable transformation of the Northern Waterfront. And it wouldn't have happened without the public engagement process that Bill led and oversaw. And Pat has continued to be a great friend to the city in roles that range everything from being a key advisor during the very challenging times shorting through the Burlington telecom situation to today helping us get our pension policies right and serving on the Burlington, the BERS board. So Bill and Pat, this is a moment of deserved recognition. And I just want to say how grateful I am for both of you. This is a testament that one should make notes before one comes to speak. I want to let people know that our sponsors were Truex Cullins and Palmer Lowe Real Estate. Ernie could not join us today. And also to keep an eye out on social media, we have festivities for all age groups to celebrate our 40th anniversary starting next week. Thank you. So with that, I think if there were questions, at least let's start with, if there are questions about the marketplace and the 40th anniversary for the Senator Carr, I'm happy to take some questions if there are some. Just can't resist it. It just can't resist it. Many times people ask me, so they did the scenes all over the United States and none of them worked. How do you account for the fact that Burlington is so successful? So I always like to tell this anecdote. 1977, Bill and I and two other professional friends went on a long trip all the way around the country. We went out in Seattle, Washington, all the way down to West Coast visiting these street projects, most of which we thought were dismal, that they were dead, nobody was there, the stores were empty and we said, what are we getting ourselves into? We ended up the week down in Los Angeles because we were in Los Angeles to drive fly home. So let's go to Disneyland. So we went out to Disneyland in the afternoon with our two friends and we're walking around and I was sitting on one of the character's laps on a bench and people were popping out of manholes and the place was absolutely immaculate and people were jamming the streets and we got on this ride called Space Mountain, four of us at five o'clock going, click, click, click, click, click up the hill and I turned to Bill and I said, Bill, this is it. Disneyland is it and that's a true story. We came back here and invented the idea of having a separate space with a separate tax base and separate oversight run by a group of people just responsible for this within the city and I think that one decision, more than anything else is what created the future of this thing so, thanks. It was Goofy. Goofy, Goofy was on my, I was on Goofy's lap. Thank you for that, Pao. It is such an unusual governance structure that the marketplace has. There are not many business improvement districts that are structured in the way this one is and I think it should get real credit for the vigilance and the work that's required over time to keep this such a great place and on the 40th anniversary it's a time where we're thinking about should that be expanded? Should there be, should this incredibly successful marketplace effort encompass more of the downtown and that'll be something that we talk more about in the time to come. So with that, are there any questions for any of us about the marketplace and this milestone? So I believe that downtowns are going to continue to be critical and an important part of our community life for decades to come. I know there are people who doubt that and think with the internet and other forces where we're not gonna need places like Church Street anymore. I think just the opposite is true. I think as authentic places that have a variety of experiences like the Church Street offers today are just becoming, because of all those forces are becoming more important as a place for us to gather and to really have community life. And so I am very optimistic that there'll be another event like this in 40 years where we will still be talking about the centrality and the importance of this place. It is very encouraging me as I think some evidence of a bright future that we, despite this terrible pandemic that has been an existential threat to the marketplace, we continue to have so many active businesses on the marketplace that we did not see the closures that so many other cities saw and experienced during the pandemic and even where we have had closures we've seen signs of renewal and new parties coming in. So I think Church Street's here to say I think it's gonna be more important than ever. And as I was just alluding to I actually think the future involves some expansion of what we actively manage and ensure is a great public space to include City Hall Park and perhaps other parts of the downtown as we go forward from here. So throughout the history of Church Street is marked by incremental expansion. I think it's one of the unstated reasons it was such a success is that Pat and Bill and others involved at the time experimented and had weekend closures and really worked to make sure that they got the details right before further expansions and incrementally this marketplace has grown over time. I'm very optimistic and one of the reasons that I'm so excited about having Cara in this role is I think we need to continue that kind of incremental experimentation and expansion and make the marketplace even more robust than the years ahead. If I could add just something to what the mayor said you know that travel around other parts of the country I realized more and more that the Vermont is unique and everybody probably feels their own states are but ours is and it's the sense of community that makes it that way. Church Street can bring that community. It's like Marcel and I are going through the grocery store in Vermont or coming out of church on Sunday and people are, hi Pat, hi Marcel, how are you doing? It, you realize this is a small community and we all benefit from that because you learn from each other and you gain from each other and what we're seeing here is a place where that can be done. Thank you. By the way, the three of us in ten feet are from the idiot. Listen, if Pat says we're going to be that that's worse for me. There we go. He's actually much older than I am. He's actually older than I am. He was, we were classmates at St. Michael's. Let me tell you some stories about Pat Robinson. We haven't got time. We haven't got time. We still have time. All right, thank you everybody for coming. It's great to see you all here and onward Church Street Marketplace. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.