VERMONT Magazine Staff Report
I
n the fall of 1989, a new magazine began to make its ap-
pearance on bookstore shelves and newsstand racks in
New England. Its cover displayed a dazzling mélange of
blazing autumn colors in a rural scene depicting maple trees
ablaze with color, towering over a rural road where a fam-
ily gathered in the distance to observe the autumn splen-
dor. This was the premiere issue of VERMONT Magazine.
Brook Research Foundation, a post he held for 12 years.
David was correct in his thinking, and his idea from 1987
is still valid today, its concept expressed in the pages you
hold in your hands.
This first issue, at 104 pages, was at the time both a
bold challenge and an intriguing alternative to the
well-established (and, at that time, rather conservative and
well-entrenched Vermont Life magazine). VERMONT
Magazine was the brainchild of David Sleeper, who had
hitherto been the managing editor of Blair & Ketchum’s
Country Journal before resigning that post in 1987 to
begin the time-consuming work of creating a new
publication, together with his wife, Cronin. True, changes do happen in a magazine. Styles, formats,
designs and departments come and go as time passes by;
so do the editors, writers, photographers and others who
contribute their expertise along the way. “It was a great
time—we had so much fun” says Kate Fox of the days (be-
ginning in 2002) when she was publisher of VERMONT
Magazine, and Joe Healy was its editor-in-chief. Joe and
Kate joined VERMONT Magazine in Fall 2002, both
leaving management positions with a group of fly fishing
magazines based in Bennington after the publishing firm
was acquired by a media company in Savannah, Geor-
gia. Kate and Joe had collaborated effectively for years
on the magazines and were eager to become immersed
in the culture and lifestyle of the Green Mountain State.
In his editor’s note in the first issue of the
fledgling magazine, David observed that “What we had
was an idea: that people who care deeply about Ver-
mont would want a magazine that covered the state
as it truly is today.” In 2001, David sold the magazine
to Christopher Belnap and went on to become the
director of development at Vermont Institute of Natural
Science and later, the executive director of the Hubbard “We were on a shoestring back then, so to speak,”
comments Kate. “The magazine was located in
Middlebury, in what was basically an afford-
able housing project building. Joe was excellent in
covering Vermont in a more comprehensive style than
the magazine had before, with a broader focus on all
parts of Vermont … he and I were excited in
finding out more about the state, which we were
9 VTMAG.com 5
VTMAG.com