LONDONDERRY, Vt. – On Tuesday morning, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m., Vermont’s Division for Historic Preservation will help recognize the creation of the first Burton boards by teaming up with Burton Snowboards and The Londonderry Arts and Historical Society to dedicate a Vermont Roadside Historic Site Marker at Williams Park, 2242 Main Street in Londonderry. Donna Carpenter, owner and chair of Burton Snowboards; Vermont’s Kelly Clark, five-time Olympian and winningest snowboard athlete; and many snowboard enthusiasts and officials, will be on hand to mark Jake’s contribution to snowboarding and the town of Londonderry.
In 1977, the late Jake Burton Carpenter opened his first workshop on Main Street in Londonderry, Vt. A small team of local residents helped him fabricate his first snowboards, and from these humble beginnings as a backyard hobby grew one of the world’s most popular winter sports.
Jake Burton Carpenter is no longer with us, as he passed in 2019. Nor is Jake’s original Burton factory, as some years ago the building was lost in a fire. However, many people who have played important roles in the history of Burton Snowboards still remain in Londonderry. To name a few: Jake’s first employees, Mimi and Mark Wright (Mimi also won a challenge to create Burton’s distinctive “snow-capped mountain” logo.); Lyle Blaisdell, who played a major role in the development of half-pipes; Hobie Chittenden, known in the early days as the “half-pipe acrobat”; Ross Powers, winner of a bronze medal at the Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan, and a gold medal at Salt Lake’s Winter Olympics in 2002; and Hubert Schriebl, who has spent decades as one of the ski industry’s most prolific photographers.
Following the dedication of the new Vermont historic marker, a reception will be held nearby at The Londonderry Arts and Historical Society, 2461 Middletown Road in Londonderry. Here, people will be able to revisit Burton’s early days at a special exhibit, “First Tracks,” with memorabilia and photos from the late 1970s that highlight “pioneers” of the sport and capture the progression of Burton boards from their earliest days.
Londonderry, Vt., is not known for much – except being a pleasant, small village in the middle of southern Vermont’s active ski areas. However, now and forever more, Londonderry will have a “stake in the ground” memorializing the fact that it owns a unique history as the place where the first Burton Boards were created – an innovation which seeded the development of a new industry and international sports movement.