Two businesses opened in downtown Burlington as the city continues to invest in infrastructure updates and repairs. Recovering Clay Pottery Studio and The Vault Bar shared an Aug. 15 grand opening.
Downtown development
The city of Burlington allocated $10 million to replace the water and sewer lines across 16 blocks. This two-year project is expected to be completed May 2027.
Burlington's downtown manager Maggie Hogan said it’s been a challenge to balance the progress on construction and how it interferes with local businesses.
“We have to make even more of an effort to bring foot traffic in, to have events, to have excitement going on downtown,” Hogan said. “I think it’s easy to be fatigued by what’s going on, but we want to make sure that we’re also turning it into a positive thing.”
The changes to downtown, including sidewalk improvements, are designed to help support the growth the city is seeing as new stores move in, according to Hogan.
“We’re building downtown infrastructure up so that it can support growth and new businesses coming in,” Hogan said. “Some of the things that we’re doing, they’re not super glamorous, like utility work, but so important so that our infrastructure is strong and supportive of the future of Burlington.”
Recovering Clay Pottery Studio
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the classes Briggette Slivinski was teaching at the Elmira Community Center, her customers were looking for a way to finish their pottery projects.
Slivinski transformed her shed in Graham into a makeshift studio that could host about five people. The shed was doubled in size to accommodate their growing number of customers in 2022, going from 600 square feet to 1,200 square feet. Last year, they began searching for a storefront to expand even more.
Their new home in Burlington is 6,200 square feet. Although they’ve grown in size, studio assistant Jenni Gillaspie said they’ve tried to maintain the same close-knit feel they created when working in Slivinski’s shed.
“For us here at Recovering Clay, it’s not so much about ‘do we fill our spots in the studio,’ as it is that we want to build community and build a place where people can come and belong and feel welcome, because having community is literally life-saving,” Gillaspie said.
The studio offers classes for beginner and experienced potters. Entry-level classes provide a hands-on guide to throwing and shaping clay. More trained potters can rent spaces in the upstairs portion of the store, using their own wheel and storage shelf.
Gillaspie said she found this studio to be a “third space,” and she hopes she helps others feel the same way about the studio.
“I’m a stay-at-home mom, essentially, but I come here, and I work part-time, and so I get to see people,” Gillaspie said. “I get to kind of flex my creative muscle a little bit, and it’s just a joy to serve people and be able to show them love and openness.”
The first floor of the store contains 12 pottery wheels, six kilns and stations for clay molding by hand.
The Vault Bar
Co-owner of The Vault Bar Chelsea Davis said she had been thinking about owning a bar for about 10 years. When she and Darian Rader found their current space in downtown Burlington, their vision came to life in unexpected ways.
“Probably about two years ago, I started really looking for a space that could fit the vision that I had,” Davis said. “While this was not the first vision I had in mind, we really embraced this vision, and now we can’t picture it the other way, I don’t think.”
The Vault Bar, named after the building’s history as a bank, still has remnants of the past — and not just in its name. The building’s original vault is still in place, inspiring the name Davis and Rader came up with.
Davis said they were going for an eclectic sports bar vibe where patrons could sit in a moody space and enjoy watching games.
As the business develops, Rader said she anticipates a lot of change will happen organically.
“There are a lot of things that come to you as unexpected blessings and just things that kind of come your way as you go,” Rader said. “So I think we have some general things in mind that we like to accomplish, but there are also a lot of things that we just can’t wait to see what happens or what comes of it.”
Rader and Davis said they look forward to interacting with new and old local businesses and being a part of a growing community.
“It has been really cool to talk to them, to see what their goals have been and how they’ve changed over time, if they’ve already been here,” Rader said. “But then also to the new people that are coming in, just hearing them talk about the excitement and the stir of what’s coming into downtown.”