St. Johnsbury, a town of about 7,500 tucked away in the northernmost part of Vermont known as the Northeast Kingdom, is in the midst of community revitalization. Cultural and arts venues are flourishing again, as are the myriad small businesses that define the ethos of a place. This is notable because St. J, as it is known to Vermonters, is a survivor town. A little more than 10 years ago, it was still haunted by the absence of the manufacturing industry that employed thousands and the shuttering of businesses that could no longer keep open.

Survivor towns are reborn because community members are motivated to enhance their home and government leadership that operates with an eye to investment in the future — economic, social and creative. Thus, a thriving community must have affordable housing, job opportunities, a clean environment, small business support, good medical and educational facilities and, of course, an arts community that supports diversity and creative freedom.

Does St. J have it all? Of course not. But it has managed to align capabilities, opportunities and a lot of great leadership to work collaboratively to make it a good place to live and a fun place to visit. The pandemic was just four years ago and Vermont has had its share of climate change events. Just this summer, two floods a few weeks apart devastated a nearby community when the Passumpsic River raged through businesses and towns in low-lying areas. St. J was spared, but Dog Mountain, artist and canine storybook writer Stephen Huneck’s legacy property just three miles away, had its roads washed away. And the Catamount Arts Center, the beating heart of St. J, had to close its doors for a year while environmental remediation efforts resolved issues with post-industrial waste leaching into ground near one of its three buildings.