The Community You Want Is The Community You Create - Vermont Biz on Matt Harrington

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine (Originally published February 12, 2023)

Bennington County hugs the New York State line so closely that it has, in the past, sort of suffered an identity crisis: Is it part of Vermont or a suburb of Albany?

Perhaps this is no longer a question. Post-COVID, Bennington appears to be flourishing. And flourishing with it is the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce, in no small part because of its executive director, the extremely young and popular Matt Harrington.

Since he was hired to run the organization — originally called the Bennington Chamber of Commerce — in 2016, at the surprising age of 30, Harrington, now 37, has expanded it from covering one town to encompassing 17. Not all those 17 towns are the same, of course.

“Some of those are very small towns like Shaftsbury and Pownal,” Harrington said. “Some don’t even have any population, like Greensboro or Searsburg. But then you also have Dorset, Manchester, Arlington and Bennington.”

A little history might be helpful here…