State of Vermont s3

State of Vermont

House of Representatives Montpelier, Vermont Concurrent House Resolution H.C.R. 171 House concurrent resolution congratulating the Jelly Bean Tree crafts cooperative on its 30th anniversary Offered by: Representatives Obuchowski of Rockingham and Partridge of Windham Whereas, Vermont’s crafts cooperatives enable the participating artisans to market their artistic products jointly, share in the mutual support and encouragement of their colleagues, and enable consumers to purchase items from a variety of local artisans at one convenient location, and Whereas, the state’s first crafts cooperative, the Jelly Bean Tree located in Saxtons River, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary of marketing the creative products of southern Vermont crafters, and Whereas, the scope of attractive artistic work available for purchase at the Jelly Bean Tree’s Main Street shop in Saxtons River ranges from glassware and knitted goods to photography and pottery, and Whereas, the desire of local craftspersons in the Saxtons River area to sell their work jointly prompted them to form the Jelly Bean Tree cooperative in 1977, and Whereas, a generous offer from the Odd Fellows organization to rent the cooperative a Main Street store at minimal cost enabled the newly created cooperative to open its doors for business, and Whereas, when the building in which the Jelly Bean Tree cooperative was placed on the real estate market, cooperative member Mary Hepburn and a friend purchased the building, and it also became the home to a new educational organization, Main Street Arts, and Whereas, over the next three decades, the Jelly Bean Tree cooperative’s evolving membership, with new members gaining admittance upon the approval of a five-person jury, has enabled it to freshen its artistic perspectives and attract new customers while retaining existing patrons, and Whereas, the cooperative’s members contributed either 35 percent of the revenue from each sale of their crafts or, alternatively, they volunteer in the store which entitles them to a slightly higher percentage of a sale’s revenue, and Whereas, although the Jelly Bean Tree’s future was recently in doubt, a resounding vote of confidence at a rejuvenating membership meeting affirmed the cooperative’s intention to proceed into its fourth decade of artistic merchandising, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives: That the General Assembly congratulates the Jelly Bean Tree crafts cooperative on its 30th anniversary, and be it further Resolved: That the secretary of state be directed to send a copy of this resolution to the Jelly Bean Tree crafts cooperative in Saxtons River.

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