Vermont Fresh Network April Networking Event in Barre

Pearl Street Pizza is a staple of Barre's main street and a central community hub. A Vermont Fresh Network Gold Barn Member, Pearl Street Pizza partners extensively with other businesses in their community, including local farms and agricultural producers. While the wood-fired pizza restaurant and wine bar is typically closed on Mondays, VFN partnered with the co-owners Chris Ruiz, Stefano Coppola, and Wilson Ballantyne to host a regional networking event, to bring our central Vermont food and farm community members together in the Barre area.

More than 30 farmers, chefs, service providers, specialty food/beverage producers, and distributors gathered with Vermont Fresh Network to build connections, explore ideas for collaboration, and celebrate our vibrant local food system together.

Although the majority of attendees were based in Barre and the surrounding area, others came from as far as Essex, Cambridge, and Peacham.

Connections were made over slices of Pearl Street's wood-fired pizza crafted by Chef Stefano Coppola, incorporating the following ingredients from VFN members:

• Sweet Italian sausage and ham steak from Fairmont Market Farm, East Montpelier
• Sunflower microgreens and pea shoots from Grateful Greens, Brattleboro
• Ground beef from Graze and Gaze farm, Barre
• Spicy Italian sausage and maple spices from Heirloom Pork Shop, East Hardwick
• Blue cheese from Green Mountain Blue Cheese, Highgate Center

A huge thank you to all the food and farm businesses who attended our meetup, including:

• Artesano / KIS Kombucha
• Boyden Farm
• Brookfield Bees
• Community National Bank
• Cow Creek Creative Ventures
• Fairmont Market Farm
• Farrell Distributing
• Graze and Gaze Farm
• Green Mountain Blue Cheese
• Montpelier Vineyards
• New England Cooks
• Pearl Street Pizza
• Roma's Butcher Shop
• Silloway Maple
• Sugarman of Vermont
• The Pitcher Inn
• Upstate Elevator Supply Co.
• Vermont Agency of Agriculture
• Vermont Fresh Network
• Vermont Specialty Food Association

This event, and our other programs and events throughout the year, are made possible by our Affiliate Partners: Community National Bank, Vermont First/Sodexo, Foley Services, and Farrell Distributing.

This year, VFN is collaborating directly with members to host informal networking events at their locations to celebrate what they do, bring folks to their part of the state, and just have a good time together. We have additional networking events in the works at a variety of member locations around Vermont later this year - keep an eye out for updates!