- Hi, I'm.

- Eric Ford from aid here.

Seth Grant's film -Harry's Won.

- Vermont Community.

- And the flood of 2023 - introduces us to Harry's.

- Hardware -in the center of Cabot, -Vermont.

- The store and bar serves.

- As a third place to gather at the heart of the town.

- And this is the story.

- About the community - coming together to rebuild.

- After the flood.

- You can watch Harry's and.

- Other great Made Here films - streaming on our website.

- And through the PBS app.

- Enjoy the film.

- And thanks for watching.

- We were just trying -to create a space.

- For ourselves.

We just thought -it'd be cool.

And it turned into a lot more than we ever imagined.

- The community.

- Really bought into it -being this awesome place, -and they've really made it - their home.

- And their community.

It's worked accidentally.

For why am I here?

Why are we here?

- Well, everybody ask me.

- That question.

- I'm not really sure.

- If you'd asked me.

- Ten years ago - what I would be doing.

- Right now, this is not -what I would say.

-We settled in Vermont, -and prior to that, - I was a military spouse as.

- A lawyer, as is my husband.

And we just were always - moving from.

- One thing to the next.

- And being able.

- To really settle - into a community.

- Was difficult.

- So I moved to cabin -and we got attached.

- Really quickly and we care.

It was it was nice to care.

- And one of the things.

- That was missing from.

- Cabot for us.

- Was a third place.

I had this crazy idea and called my husband up - at work and said, I have.

- This really wild idea.

- I've been talking.

- To Bobby at the store and what if we put a bar in it?

- What if we went to them.

- And said, would you partner with us -and would you be interested -in this idea?

-And they said, sure, -let's talk.

We talked for multiple times - for multiple hours.

- Over the course of -several months, -and then we bought it.

- I wanted the hardware store.

- To stay here, - but the hardware store.

- Couldn't handle - being in the space by itself.

- And survive in a bar honestly would fail -tomorrow.

- It just can't.

-You know, beer.

- Might have a nice margin, - but still only costs.

- Seven bucks.

- That's not going to pay.

- Your rent.

As we were growing, -the store - just slowly started.

- Evolving and changing.

- We right away.

- Started having music, - which we never even dreamed.

- Of doing, -and it just kind of, again, -organically happened.

-Now we book out 6 to 7 -months without even trying.

- Names.

- Chuck Talbot -I am pretty much a lifelong - resident of Cabot, so.

- I grew up here on this farm.

I was the cow milking kid.

- My brother.

- Was the mechanical kid, - and it used to be painfully.

- Dull.

I mean, really?

Seriously, 7:00 at night?

Nothing.

It was desolate.

You know, -if there was a good breeze, -you could - just like -seeing the dust.

- Coming down the street.

- You know, you'd run into.

- Somebody at the post office - or grabbing a cup of coffee.

- At the general store.

- And this would be a quarter.

- Of eight in the morning, - and everybody's.

- Rushing off to work, - so you don't have time.

- To sit around and talk.

It's like, what, what what a better way to sit - and, like, -talk to somebody.

- And really get to know him - a little better.

- Than over a beer.

- So the by the.

- Way, a beer board is where you can come in and you can pay for a beer -for your friend - or the contractor.

- That worked on your house or whatever.

And we put it up there.

- And then when they come.

- In, they see that they have their name on a board.

I have had one customer - having a pay.

- It forward moment, -and he put like $100 -down on the table and said, - I just want to give this.

- To the store.

- I want you to give.

- These various people.

- People do stuff like that.

- All the time.

People from the other towns - or the other states.

- That come here -all over New England, -people come here - for the first time.

- They walk in here.

- And they're like, what is this place?

And what exactly what is?

Tell me, what is this place?

- Because it's morphing all.

- The time.

It's changing and the it's it's special.

I.

Feel.

- Yeah.

-I think this community was.

- Hungry for a third space.

- It gave folks something.

- To glom onto.

Right.

And to be a part of.

And it felt very - is it feels like home.

- To a lot of folks.

I think.

- This floor couldn't.

- Get any more imperfect.

Like, this is insane big.

It dips, it flows.

There's soft points.

- There's holes on the floor.

- Where they used to pull the -the rope up.

-So like, -they're different sizes - based on the rope.

- That you would need.

And they would just.

Pull it up -and cut off the parts -that they would need.

- I'm gonna say.

- I'm very protective of the the rough edges in here.

-I think that's I, -I feel really strongly - that that's.

- Why this place feels homey.

And I didn't even realize as a cabinet when I bought it.

- I was like, I have to open.

- This thing over here.

It was like, whoa, -there's all this random -stuff back here.

-We had, like, keys that, -I don't know, -probably from the 50s, -like just stacked in there.

- So we took all this.

- Stuff down, but we did.

We just took it down.

- So like, you can still see.

- Where the hinges were.

One of the things that I -love about it is.

I think that it makes people -feel really comfortable -when they come in here, -because it feels -like your house, -which is imperfect.

- You can come in here.

- With your boots and sit down at the bar -and not be afraid.

To mess up the floor.

And I've really learned - being.

- In the center of the village - feels a lot like.

- Being the heart of the town.

So whether we want to -or not, - we kind of know a little bit.

- About everything - that's going on.

- Just by being here.

- My girls are like.

- Like the mayor of Cabot.

You know, transitioning into.

Covid -and then after the flood - happened, made.

- It was very interesting how many people - couldn't remember.

- What it was like without us - until they couldn't.

- Have it here.

- And it was really.

- It really hit the town hard.

It started raining and on the 4th of July, - when there were warnings.

- Of the flood happening, - I honestly did not think.

- It was going to happen.

- I just -it was inconceivable to me.

- To think that.

- Cabot.

- Was going to flood again.

There were flood warnings, - and this community.

- Experienced a flood in 2011.

The town replaced culverts.

- And I, I believe.

- We all got very complacent.

I know I was complacent, - I thought we were going.

- To be fine.

I think a lot of people -thought we were going to -be fine and then we weren't.

I believe it was July.

July 10th was the flood, but the night before.

-I live in Lower Cabot, -which is further down from the main village.

-I live right by the river, -which was the problem child for this whole flood.

- I could hear, the water.

- Overflowing the banks - from where I lived.

- And matter of fact, -it was the dam there that was blown out - because of all the water.

- That we had.

And I knew at that point that we were going to have - a lot of problems.

- The next day.

It was pretty horrific.

- The last flood was a repeat.

- Of Hurricane Irene, only it was worse.

- We were standing.

- Water at my house - and we were filthy.

- And it was pouring.

-Talk to my kids was like, -let's go.

Let's go dance in the rain.

- We used to do this.

- All the time.

- We were little.

- Let's go dance in the rain.

- I'm running around.

- With the dogs there.

- The the the lawn is pooling.

- Everywhere.

I'm just having fun.

My husband filming me.

And I looked at him and I -said, God, is it thunder?

Is it thunder?

You know too?

-And he's like, -I don't think so.

I think that's the river.

- Like the river's making.

- That noise.

It's crazy.

- What were the dogs.

- Down to the river.

- Realize that the sound.

- That we were hearing - was boulders.

- Being thrown down the river.

Then my husband said, -I'm gonna go on the bridge, -take a look at the river - and maybe run across.

- And just check on town.

-I said, -okay, brought the dogs, walked up through the yard.

Suddenly my oldest comes - running out of the house.

- And says, - dad says, grab his truck.

- And get in town now.

Well, okay.

By the time I got into town, -I couldn't get to him.

- The flood had already.

- Started coming across, - so he looked at me.

- And he was like, what's up?

- I parked the car.

- Parts of truck - across the street.

- And ran across.

- My husband came over here.

- And the creek is - there were flooded.

- And so there was water - starting.

- To shoot across the road.

-And then we had a bunch of, -mulch - and we just started carrying.

- And just throwing it at the door -so that the water couldn't -get into the door.

And we created a barrier, you know, up to the window - all the way to here.

- And just blocked it - so that hopefully.

- The floodwaters wouldn't -get into the inside.

And then it just got crazy.

- We couldn't.

- I couldn't stand up anymore - because it was getting.

- Too strong.

- All of this dirt.

- Just disappeared.

- You can see where the.

- Concrete kind of broke away - and where we're standing.

- Was not here.

So I was up here -looking down - and I said, I got.

- I can't stand here anymore.

-Where do we go?

And he said, -we need to go up.

- And I said, how do we go up?

- And he goes, we climb.

- So I just walked along here.

- Until we could get to - the stairs and climbed up.

- And stood at the top of the balcony and just went, wow.

- It it just came down.

- For hours.

- I've never seen a rain.

- Like that.

- And then I saw.

- Joanna had posted a video on Facebook - from the second story.

- Of the hardware store.

- Water.

- Rushing across the street -and hitting the gas pump, -and the wave was - almost.

- As tall as the gas pumps.

- And at.

- That point I was like, Holy, - they're in the second story.

- Of the hardware store.

Probably not by choice.

What we'd seen years - earlier, the water.

- Pouring over the big culvert in the village.

- It was deep.

- Water and moving fast.

And then it was just it -just pouring into the other -side of the town hall.

- There was nowhere to go.

- Unless you were ankle deep.

One floating.

-And meanwhile, -I'm texting Rory and Joanna - up in the second story.

- Of the hardware store.

And it took a few hours.

And before somebody - dared to drive a tractor.

- Where the water - had been flowing -to rescue them.

- With the bucket - of the tractor, right.

- As it started to get dark, it started to rain -really hard - and we had another.

- Gush of water.

- And we don't know.

- If a pond gave way or what, - but the fire department.

- Started going.

We got to get you out.

-This is getting really, -really terrifying.

- They were really worried.

- About the oil.

- They were worried about the.

- Structure of the building.

- And so one of the farmers.

- Drove up to the door.

We were down here.

- My husband's like, -we got to get into.

- Like rescue mode.

- So we were grabbing.

- Stuff off the shelves.

-We could flashlights, -everything, just trying just whatever we might need.

And the tractor -comes around.

- I said he knows we can't get.

- Out the front door, right?

-And he goes, no, -this is our way out.

- So we ran back up the stairs.

- And got on the porch - and climbed into the bucket.

- Of the tractor, - and he backed us up.

- And dropped soft - across the street.

- My husband went to help -the fire department and I went home.

- The next morning, that's.

- When we saw all the damage.

-And mainly in the, -the business district - right here where this.

- This store sits right now.

- And further.

- North of town in route 215.

-And then, naturally, -all the back roads, - it looked like.

- I came into a war zone.

There was just a disaster.

- There was water and mud.

- Still in the main street.

- The culvert was still.

- Somewhat plugged.

We're all the way over.

- All the trees came in.

- And caused some of the problems -in town.

The main roads -into the town, - just about every single road.

- In town was damaged.

I can't believe -the luck of us - just showing up right.

- When we did.

It turned so quick - that had we been there.

- Five minutes earlier, - we wouldn't.

-Have seen a thing.

- And had we been -five minutes later, - we wouldn't have been able.

- To save a thing.

- And if water had gotten.

- Into this first floor, -I don't know, -we wouldn't be sitting here.

- Woke up in the morning and.

- Came here with my husband, and we checked everything -out and was like, okay, -we can just start digging some mud out.

And he came up -from downstairs - and said, you've got to come.

- Take a look at this.

-I was like, -the mud is really bad.

-And he's like, -just come downstairs - and the whole back of the.

- Building had like fallen, - like the floor.

- Had fallen into the river.

-Like, well, -we didn't expect to have.

-Not an hour later, -we suddenly had 35 - to 40 volunteers.

- On our doorstep.

Just how can we help?

And people were coming in -with four wheelers, -tractors, excavators.

But it was kind of a calm, -quiet amidst the chaos.

- 17 pieces of equipment.

- Running around the village, - every tractor.

- That could get there - and every excavator.

- That could get there.

People had they didn't.

Nobody expected to get paid, - but they.

- These people just showed up - and started.

- Rebuilding the first morning - with no expectation other.

- Than we've got work to do.

I had some - some of.

- The elderly folks in town - that weren't able.

- To really do any lifting -or climbing or whatever, -and they had what can we do?

- What can we do?

-And we were just.

- Setting things out and they just said, well, -we're just going to start -making it look pretty.

- And I just looked at them.

- And was like, look pretty.

-And she goes, well, -you're not closing, are you?

So you got to make it look.

And I was like, oh, I guess we're not closing.

-And then, you know, -it looked like a war zone.

-But she said, -people need things.

- We gotta sell stuff.

- Let's just do it.

- When I woke up the morning.

- After the flood, - I didn't have any idea what.

- I was going to come into.

- And I was numb, completely.

- And totally numb - when everybody.

- Started showing up, it made me realize that we had a lot of reasons to -rally.

And I had so much - gratitude toward everybody.

- That was here.

- It was just it made me.

- Realize how important - this place isn't.

- Just for me, but how much - how important this place.

- Is to the community.

-It was like a magnet, -you know, capital.

Be okay -if the store is there.

- It's always been here.

- Under different ownership, - but we'll be okay.

- If it's here.

- And so they they just.

- Gravitated to the store - here.

-There was this.

- Kind of community need - to just hang out.

- And talk with each other.

It's like it was something -that really was needed -at that point.

It became a place again.

- Third place.

- For everybody can come talk - about how the flood.

- Impacted them to cry.

-There was a lot of tears, -a lot of laughs, a lot of all those things were coming - out of people.

- Around in a safe space.

-And then I said, well, -I guess I'm going to be here - no matter what, because.

- The town won't let us leave.

I don't think I have - any real expectations.

- More than - I just want this to continue.

- Being what it is.

- I don't want to ever.

- Get too big.

- I want to stay true to.

- My rough edges around here.

- I want the charm to stay.

- As it is.

I want the community to - to feel like it's.

- Their community place.

I don't want it to - get swallowed up.

- By tourists, for example.

- I want the tourists.

- To add to it, but I don't want the locals - to ever feel like.

- This isn't their home.

- So as long as we keep.

- Continuing that, I'll be pretty happy.

- This is -going to be a new normal.

- That we're going to have to - constantly be coming back.

- To dealing with that trauma, - feeling that you get.

- When it rains outside.

-Wondering when the next, -next flood is coming.

We have a business - that's in the center.

- Of a village with such -a strong community, - and I think that.

- These communities exist where you don't expect them - to exist.

- When you have these crises, you all need to come - together and work together.

- Like we did here.

- Flooding and climate.

- Events are really becoming the new normal, and it's going to keep - hitting these communities.

- Over and over again.

- And we just need.

- To come together - and continue to unite.

- With these communities, work together to think about - how to prevent them.

- In the future.

But also remember that -we have each other when they appear.

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- Stories made here.

-For more, -visit Vermont public.org.