Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2024 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ · WVTX
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Explore our coverage of government and politics.

Whomp Whomp: 'Vermont Edition' Revisits Some Of The State's Biggest Failed Ideas

An artist rendition of a dome over a city.
John Anderson, Courtesy
This artist's rendering shows what life would have been like if Winooski had built the dome proposed to cover the city's downtown (complete with monorail).

They seemed so brilliant at the time. Or maybe they didn't. Vermonters have hatched quite a few wild schemes that somehow never got past the idea stage. So we listen back to Vermont Edition's failed ideas show. Six years after originally airing, these planned projects are still fun to think about.

Tom Slayton, editor emeritus of the now-defunct Vermont Life, and author and journalist Mark Bushnell joined us to look at these ideas that didn't make it off the drawing board.

We'll hear about the proposed dome over Winooski, a Revolutionary War-era road from Vermont to Montreal that ... you guessed it ... failed to get created, the Vermont silkworm industry you never, ever heard of, and so much more.

We then learn about entrepreneurs who tried to sell Vermont sticks, some who are still peddling our fall leaves ,and one historian who, by dint of will, got the biography of John William McCormack published after a number of attempts.

Broadcast on Monday, Sept. 23 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.
Matt Smith worked for Vermont Public from 2017 to 2023 as managing editor and senior producer of Vermont Edition.
Latest Stories