Welcome

The Lamoille Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) is a private not-for-profit corporation sponsored by Lamoille County businesses and municipalities. Our mission is to strengthen the county's economy through the creation of new jobs and the retention of current jobs and to build a business environment capable of hosting capital investment.

To fulfill our mission, the LEDC works with local communities and businesses to promote industrial expansion and encourage the development of new employment opportunities.

Lamoille County's assets include a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a firm sense of community, and many physical amenities. 70 million people, including those in the major metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, and Montreal, live within a 500-mile radius of the county.

Lamoille County offers easy road access to markets via Interstate 89. Air options include Morrisville's municipal airport, located at the center of the county, Burlington International Airport, just 45 minutes away, and Montreal's Mirabel and Trudeau (formerly Dorval) International Airports, 90-120 minutes away by road. The Port of Montreal is the most direct land-sea route between the vast markets of the Northeast and those of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Many Lamoille County towns offer wireless Internet access, as well as DSL and cable. While not all reaches of the county have that technology, Governor Jim Douglas chose Elmore as the location for his recent announcement of an initiative to bring broadband to all corners of the state within the next three years. Verizon and Unicel are the main telecommunications service providers and cellular phone service coverage continues to spread across the region, while Blackberry users have access to T-Mobile service via Unicel's towers.

Lamoille County is served by numerous providers of electricity, from the trans-regional Central Vermont Public Service and Vermont Electric Co-op to Johnson Electric, Hyde Park Electric, Morrisville Water and Light, and Stowe Electric. Propane, fuel and heating oil, and diesel are available from a number of providers.

Lamoille County is served by a number of newspapers. The News & Citizen (Morrisville) and Stowe Reporter are both weekly subscription newspapers. The Transcript, published by the same company as The News & Citizen, is a free weekly sent throughout the county. The Mountain Gazette, published twice a month in Underhill, Vermont, covers Cambridge and Jeffersonville. In addition, Jeffersonville is the home of Backcountry Magazine, which covers backcountry skiing nation-wide.

The LEDC's partners include the region's community development organizations: Johnson Works, the Stowe Area Association, the Lamoille Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Smugglers' Notch Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Morrisville Alliance for Culture and Commerce.

Lamoille County's health care needs are met by a number of providers. Copley Hospital, located in Morrisville, is a Critical Access Hospital, with affiliate practices in a number of clinical specialties, including orthopedics, cardiology, and obstetrics and gynecology. Other clinical specialties are available because Copley Hospital is an outreach site for Fletcher Allen Health Care, the state's only academic and research hospital. In addition, health centers and dental practices can be found throughout the county. Orthodonture and oral surgery practices are located in Stowe.

Lamoille County's commitment to education is evident in the renovation and reconstruction projects recently undertaken at many schools in the region. Bishop John A. Marshall School is a private, Catholic school serving students in grades preK-8. The local public schools offer a preschool-high school education. People's Academy, Stowe High School, and Lamoille Union Middle and High School, the region's secondary schools, vary in size, but each offers a quality education. They share access to the Green Mountain Technology and Career Center, which offers a wide variety of technical education opportunities, many of which include internships with local businesses and industries. Mount Mansfield Winter Academy (co-educational) and the North American Hockey Academy (girls only), both located in Stowe, offer specific programs to high-school-aged student-athletes.

Post-secondary education opportunities in the county include Johnson State College, the Morrisville campus of Community College of Vermont, Sterling College, and the Center for Northern Studies. Other opportunities are available in adjacent Chittenden County, the home of the University of Vermont, St. Michael's College, Champlain College, Burlington College, and the Burlington campus of the Community College of Vermont.

Lamoille County has attracted a lively arts community. The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson provides visual artists, writers, and poets with retreat space. Johnson State College's Dibden Center hosts art exhibits and performances of all sorts. River Arts in Morrisville and the Cambridge Arts Council offer the region a variety of arts experiences, from concerts to classes to book discussion groups and performances. Stowe Theater Guild and the Lamoille County Players perform regularly in their respective venues. In addition, art galleries abound in the county's villages, especially Jeffersonville and Stowe.

No matter what the season, Lamoille County offers abundant recreational opportunities. Stowe Mountain Resort is in the middle of massive expansion to offer more condominiums, restaurants, and an anticipated five-star hotel, as well as a brand new 18-hole private golf course. Smugglers' Notch, Vermont, America's Family Resort consistently ranks as the #1 family resort in the Northeast.

We aren't called the "Ski Capital of the East" for nothing. Both Mount Mansfield's Stowe Mountain Resort, and Smugglers' Notch Resort in Jeffersonville are major skiing and snowboarding havens, offering the absolute best in skiing and riding.

Other favorite Lamoille County winter activities include ice fishing on our own Lake Eden, Lake Elmore, Belvidere Pond, and Green River Reservoir. Lamoille County is home to a major intersection in the VAST (Vermont Association of Snow Travelers) trail network that serves the snowmobiling population. Lamoille County is also the birthplace of the Primitive Biathlon and hosts an annual dog-sled race.

Spring and summer are great times to boat, fish, and swim in or on our many rivers, ponds, and lakes. Numerous campgrounds and state parks, and a stretch of the Vermont's Long Trail offer various opportunities to be active in the outdoors. The county's many miles of back roads, as well as main roads with wide shoulders, the Lamoille Valley region offer prime bicycling. Two years ago Timberline Events decided to begin its second distance cycling event, the Green Mountain Relay, in Lamoille County in order to take advantage of our covered bridges and scenic back roads.

In the autumn, the changing foliage puts on a gorgeous display of color that attracts thousands of people on bus tours. This stream of "leaf peepers" makes the fall season very successful for many area businesses.

For more information about Lamoille County and the LEDC, contact info@lamoilleeconomy.org.