“A long, long history of being welcoming to all”: Reflections on the Halifax Cafe

 Reposted with permission from the Halifax News (Nov 2024)

by Jack Burnett, Peterborough, NH

Passing by the old family farm

Around 12:15 on Thursday, September 19, my wife Diane and I happened to be passing through Halifax, Vermont, on our way back from New York to New Hampshire, after having visited Niles Cemetery to honor our family’s generational presence there and passing past my grandparents’ old farm on Hubbard Hill yet again.

I have been in the Halifax Community Center building many, many times, over many, many decades, so I have seen it in all of its many, many glorious stages. We saw the sign: “Halifax Cafe,” plus its hours, which at that point we were just barely within.

Diane said, “Stop?” I didn’t, as I said to myself, “Yeah, but I’ve been there a gazillion times, and we don’t want to bother them.”

But we went on down the road, to the turn-off to where my late aunt Bernice and uncle Carlton Barnett used to live, and I said to myself, “You know, this is wrong—we need to turn around and go back to see what this is all about (well, plus get Diane some coffee).”

(Side note, even to oldsters like me: Remember to pay attention to what your spouse says.)

Never pass up an opportunity for small-town coffee

We parked and went in through the back door, which I have done countless times. Immediately, everyone who could (4 people) simultaneously, literally, jumped up to welcome us. “Hello! Welcome! Make yourself at home! We have coffee! We have treats! Whatever you need! Donations accepted, but whatever! Thanks for coming!”

So, we sat in this Halifax oasis, super grateful for a little respite in our trek, comfortable in what really, really felt like home.

The thing is, no one knew that we were from one of Halifax’s oldest families, Archie and Mary Burnett being my grandparents; Clayton Burnett, my father, on the WWII plaque outside; Bernice and Carlton Barnett, my aunt and uncle; and so on. We could have been from Mars.

Halifax’s history of welcoming

Anyway, the point of this letter is only to respectfully remind folks that Halifax—and Haligonians—have a long, long history of being welcoming to all, period. Just to give one example, my Grandpa Archie once worked the lift lines at Mt. Snow, where there was no small amount of grumbling because of these long-haired hippies who were daring to take up line space.

He would go down the line and say to the duded-up “true” skiers, “Listen, I’m going to move these youngsters ahead, just to get them out of the way”—the end effect sort of being that folks from Halifax don’t judge, and in fact, historically, welcome and enable. And if you have long hair in the ’60s, that doesn’t mean you are bad or wrong.

I totally understand that nobody in Halifax needs an outsider like me from Peterborough, N.H., to point this out. But it was very comforting—although not surprising—to me and Diane to experience that this great tradition continues to endure at the Halifax Cafe, as it no doubt exists throughout the fiber of the entire community.

(I can also report that the coffee was judged to be the best this side of Albany-Bennington-Wilmington.)

Another community treasure: The Halifax News

In addition, if I may, please allow me to comment on the Halifax News as a newsletter. I recently retired as the Managing Editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, America’s oldest continually published annual. I have seen newsletters; I have done newsletters; I continue to judge newsletters—and let me please suggest to Halifax News readers that you may not know how lucky you are to have Laurel and Joan and whomever working for you and Halifax itself.

Sure, Halifax News seems simple and sort of homey, and sort of personal, and sort of informational, and sort of public service/public works, and sort of town news, and sort of calendar-y, and sort of simply put together.

But please allow me to suggest that measured against all such newsletters in the U.S. and Canada that I have seen, it is at least an 8 out 10. “But we’re not slick.” Who cares? You inform your readers and make them happy.

So, please, readers of this, if you wish, give Laurel and Joan and everyone else involved in the newsletter and Cafe big hugs and continue to vote for or otherwise help in funding Halifax News. It is that great, certainly on a local scale but also in comparison to the thousands of others of the same ilk that likewise do such a great job in supporting their communities continent-wide, including Canada.

(Editor’s note: Check out our blog about Southern Vermont town newsletters to find your town’s community news outlet.)

Best wishes from an old Halifax family

Finally, please accept best holiday wishes from all of us in the Burnett family, scattered across the globe, to all of you in Halifax, old and new, and especially new.

We are no longer there physically, but then again, we are, forever. You are in a very special place, but you don’t need me to point that out, to be sure.

Thank you to all in Halifax for keepin’ on, keepin’ on, and to the amazing Halifax Cafe. Your forebears are smiling.

And, Malcolm, I will be by for some more sugar next spring.