Dear Friends,

Late July greetings from your friends at Rockingham for Progress and the Miss Bellows Falls Diner project! We find ourselves at the cusp of the moment we have long been working toward: securing all the necessary permits and paperwork to begin the actual restoration of Worcester Lunch Car #771.

Because grant monies are involved, the process is labyrinthine. The volunteer Rockingham for Progress board has been meeting regularly with our partners at Preservation Trust of Vermont, and Project Manager Andrew Dey has been diligent about shepherding our project (big enough to attract regulatory scrutiny but small enough not to be a top priority) through the bureaucratic thickets.

As we last reported, we have received the official blessing from the National Parks Service for our plans, and initial sign-off from the State of Vermont Historic Preservation Office. Now we await only the final Environmental Review thumbs up related to the HUD Community Supported Enterprise funding we have accessed; an approval we should be receiving within the next three weeks.

In August, we are scheduled to appear before the Town of Rockingham Design Review Board for their approval for our construction and restoration plans. Once that permitting process has been completed, we will finally be able to proceed with moving the diner offsite for restoration. At that time - sometime in late Autumn, we believe - the site itself will be made ready for the new construction.

We are postponing the next Diner Dinner (currently scheduled for August 15) to November 7th because, as stated at the top of this note, we are at the cusp of the final approvals for which we have been waiting for most of this year. Until we receive them, we are in a holding pattern. Summer is a busy season for everyone; let’s hold fire until we are able to give you a meaningful update on our next - giant - step.

We are very, very close. Thank you for your patience and ongoing support.

PS: Tickets for the August 15 dinner will be honored November 7. Series tickets (two dinners remaining) are unchanged - good for Nov. 7 and the subsequent dinner.

This newsletter provides updates about the Miss Bellows Falls Diner project, as helmed by Rockingham For Progress, a volunteer non-profit organization in Bellows Falls, VT. EIN 81-1204719