![\"Adrian](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3f5c2def-8e43-4216-8756-d1114b8845fa_1670946038.png\")
VERGENNES, Vt. \u2014<\/p>\nThis is Our Home: Vergennes businesses focus on community and growth<\/p>\n
A new cafe and an expanding cider company in Vergennes, Vermont, are creating spaces for connection and innovation while celebrating local community values.<\/p>\n
VERGENNES, Vt. \u2014<\/p>\n
Vergennes, Vermont\u2019s oldest city, is embracing its vibrant spirit with a new cafe and an expanding cider company that are fostering community and innovation. <\/p>\n
Shiloh Lawrence and her partner have planted roots in Vergennes at Big Heart Social, a cafe located just off Main Street. <\/p>\n
“I wanted a community space. I couldn’t really find a lot of options where people could just come and hang out and exist. And I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I could help create that. And so sort of be the change you want the world,” said Lawrence, co-founder of Big Heart Social. <\/p>\n
The cafe offers classic food and drink and serves as a “queer-forward” space where people can come together. Lawrence highlighted the importance of creating a sense of community, particularly in rural areas. <\/p>\n
“The main thing that I want this space to represent is community. And so that is cafe by day, bar by evening, a little bit of in between there. And we also have food…we’re opening a coworking space,” Lawrence said. <\/p>\n
While construction is ongoing, Lawrence said she is excited to host game nights, movie marathons, or simply provide a comfortable place to work and meet friends. <\/p>\n
Vergennes has also been a welcoming place for David Dolginow and Colin Davis, co-founders of Shacksbury Cider. <\/p>\n
“Colin Davis and I started Shacksbury back in 2013. I had been working for an orchard in Cornwall called Sunrise Orchards for a few years before that, and he and I just both really fell in love with the food and beverage businesses here in Vermont,” said Dolginow, co-founder and vice president of Shacksbury Cider. <\/p>\n
After more than a decade in business, Shacksbury Cider is expanding with a new facility along Route 7 in Middlebury. <\/p>\n
“It’s going to give us a lot more production capacity, probably ten times what our current capacity is over time,” Dolginow said. <\/p>\n
The new facility will allow for larger tanks, increased canning capacity, and opportunities to develop new products. <\/p>\n
“We just this year released a new nonalcoholic cocktail. It’s a sort of sub-brand of Barre called Mountain Tonic. We feel like that trend is just going to build and build and build. And we wanted to have a brand that really helps cater to that,” Dolginow said. <\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s a warm cup of coffee or a crisp brew, Vergennes offers local flavor, service, and comfort in its next chapter.<\/p>\n
Explore more from This Is Our Home: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is Our Home: Vergennes businesses focus on community and growth A new cafe and an expanding cider company in Vergennes, Vermont, are creating spaces for connection and innovation while celebrating local community values. VERGENNES, Vt. \u2014 Vergennes, Vermont\u2019s oldest city, is embracing its vibrant spirit with a new cafe and an expanding cider company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2856,11902,11880,3701,11881,11900,11899,11882,1198,1505,11897,2202,2806,11883,11884,11901,11885,11886,11887,11903,11888,11889,11890,11896,11898,11892,11891,11893,11895,6663,6661,6659,6662,6660,11894,6669],"class_list":["post-10930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vermont","tag-bar","tag-beverage-business","tag-big-heart-social","tag-cafe","tag-cider","tag-classic-food","tag-co-founder","tag-co-working-space","tag-coffee","tag-community","tag-david-dolginow","tag-day","tag-drinks","tag-fall-season","tag-gay-friendly","tag-innovation","tag-lgbtq","tag-middlebury","tag-new-expansion","tag-new-facility","tag-queer","tag-queer-forward","tag-shacksbury-cider","tag-shiloh-lawrence","tag-space","tag-this-is-our-home","tag-tioh","tag-vergennes","tag-vergennes-business","tag-vermont","tag-vermont-dining","tag-vermont-food","tag-vermont-grocery-stores","tag-vermont-restaurants","tag-vermonts-own","tag-wcax"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}