CHESTER, Vt. – Last August, Stuart Stocker, a volunteer with Chester Townscape, offered to build raised wooden planters for Townscape to raffle as part of the group’s fundraising activities at the Chester Fall Festival on The Green in September 2024. The raffle did well, and many people expressed interest in the sturdy, well-designed pieces.
Stocker has designed and built many things over the years in the woodworking shop he built in his garage in Chester, often working with students interested in learning the skills and the woodworkers’ tools. In January, he offered a few retired men in Chester the opportunity to work with him as volunteers to build more of the attractive “Chester Planters” for Chester Townscape, to raise funds for the Chester beautification projects the group manages every year. Soon, Stocker had a handy crew of Chester men ready to spend a few hours every week in his workshop.
Before any sawing or drilling, the wood had to be sourced, all of it here in Chester. Once felled, it was seasoned and cut into boards at a Chester lumber mill. The Chester woodworking crew – John Russell, Chuck Giurtino, and Tom Hildreth – then gathered in Stocker’s wood shop to begin their construction project. They spent many hours learning to use the power tools, observing safety precautions, and carefully assembling five planters. It was cold outdoors this past winter, but the warmth and good humor that was part of each day’s work in the shop, and the pleasure of seeing the finished planters, made their volunteer labor a pleasure. Chester Townscape is now taking orders for planters to be delivered in time for Mother’s Day, May 11.
For information about purchasing a Chester Planter, please call 978-500-5805.