We are the oldest continuously operating food Co-op in the US. During the Depression, a local pastor gathered a group of neighbors to discuss starting a food co-operative to buy groceries and create a market for local produce. In August of 1935, 11 families each contributed $5 to provide working capital, and the Adamant Cooperative was incorporated. The Co-op rented space from Minnie Horr, who operated both the store and the post office out of her house, and purchased the building in 1940 for $600.
We’ve made many improvements to the building, starting with a ramp for handicapped access in the 90’s. Around 2000, artist Janet MacLeod moved her studio into two of the rooms above the Co-op. In the summer of 2006, we added a covered, screened porch overlooking the waterfall at the Adamant Music School. The porch provides a pleasant meeting space for community members and visitors alike, as well as a scenic spot for picnics, free from insects. We rang in 2009 with (limited) indoor plumbing and a credit card machine. Next we equipped and certified the upstairs kitchen for food preparation. This is where we make pot pies, mac and cheese, and empanadas to sell in the store. For all of these improvements, we owe a great debt to friends and neighbors who donated precious time, money and skills, as well as to Paul Bruhn and Preservation Trust of Vermont.
In 2015 we turned 80, and celebrated by publishing “The Adamant Co-op Cookbook.” The cookbook combines recipes, vignettes of life in a small Vermont village, and original artwork by resident artist Janet MacLeod.
VPR’s Tom Slayton called it “an uncommonly attractive book…as much about the essence of Vermont as it is about food.” And yes, we have copies for sale.
When the coronavirus struck in March, 2020, and Vermont locked down, our tiny store with sloping floorboards and lace curtains closed to in-store shopping.
For the next 14 months, indomitable masked staff and volunteers filled phone orders for pickup on the side porch. That meant no more neighborly conversations in front of the beer cooler, no more lingering over coffee and scones beside the woodstove. We missed seeing each other greatly. But the new mode of service was fast, friendly, and most importantly, safe.
2020 was also the year we weatherized the building. We plugged air leaks, blew in insulation, and replaced a rattling old cooler with a bright, energy-efficient model. Gone are the icy drafts and the huge electric bills.
The Co-op reopened for in-store shopping on May 5, 2021. It was still too early, virus-wise, to throw a party, so we turned the annual Blackfly Festival into a Blackfly Driveby/Walkabout. Residents of our favorite hamlet turned their homes, porches and lawns into larger-than-life, Mardi-Gras-inspired house-floats for visitors to view "on the fly.” Think 8 foot larvae, giant windsocks, human-size blackflies. In July, our popular Friday Night Cookouts started up again.
The Adamant Co-op has been through a lot in 85 years, and who knows what the future will bring? Certainly more great food and more great friends.
We’d like to count you among those friends! Subscribe to our newsletter. Come to one of our ultra-fun events. Stop in soon for coffee and a fresh scone.
