History

Liisa and Ron sit down with Jim Holway, James Lockridge, and David Shein, passionate advocates for the preservation of the historic Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Vermont. They discuss challenges and opportunities associated with preserving this nearly century-old landmark.

More information on Preservation Burlington. 

Liisa Reimann Rivera - Originally from England, Liisa has lived in Burlington since 2006. She earned her Master's in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont and is a principal with Blue Brick Preservation. Liisa lives in a 1954 ranch house, whose historic wooden windows she thinks are of a genius design seldom seen since, in Burlington's New North End. Liisa's passions include historic industrial buildings, firehouses and little-known builder-architects of the vernacular landscape.

Ron Wanamaker - Ron has been a member of the Board since 2007 and has served as Vice President and President. A passionate preservationist, he continues to serve on the Education Committee for Preservation Burlington and is also a member of Burlington’s Design Advisory Board. A contractor since 1988, he has lived and worked in Burlington since 1998 and managed Wanamaker Restoration as well as Champlain Valley Millworks.

C-Span Producer Ashley Hill drops by Town Meeting Television to discuss the Burlington, Vermont, stop on C-Span's "Cities Tour." The Cities Tour takes C-Span's Book TV and American History TV on the road. On the first and third weekend of each month, C-Span features the literary life and history of a selected city. Working with our cable partners, our producing team takes specially outfitted Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) into each city, visiting various literary and historic sites, as we interview local historians, authors, and civic leaders. We also meet with students, teachers, elected officials, and organizations to talk about C-SPAN's mission in covering public affairs programming, and what the local connections are to national politics.

For more information visit c-span.org/citiestour

State Archaeologist Jess Robinson presents an overview of the Burlington Intervale area from the earliest documented human presence, approximately 4,000 years ago, through to the early historic Euro-American occupants of the area. A question and answer session follows.

At the Women's Economic Opportunity Conference (WEOC) 2017, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is introduced by Vermont Technical College President Patricia Moulton. The keynote speaker for this 21st annual conference is Mary Alice McKenzie, see bio below. The conference is a project of the office of U.S. Senator Leahy in conjunction this year with Change The Story VT.

Mary Alice McKenzie has held a wide variety of leadership positions in both for-profit and non-profit organizations in Vermont, most recently serving as Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington for the past decade. In that role, McKenzie has led an organization that is dedicated to supporting children and teens, providing them with the environment and inspiration to help them achieve their goals. In previous roles, Mary Alice served as President and CEO of McKenzie of Vermont from 1985 through 2000 and later served as General Counsel at the Vermont State Colleges (2001-2005). She also served with the law firm of Paul Frank & Collins, practicing employment law before joining the Boys & Girls Club in 2007. McKenzie has served on a number of for-profit and non-profit boards of directors. A Vermont native, she attended Rice Memorial High School. She graduated from St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana, and Valparaiso University School of Law in Valparaiso, Indiana. She lives in Burlington with her husband, Allan Rodgers, and their five children.