By Rob Williams
The Big Picture Theater and Cafe in downtown Waitsfield is quietly turning 10 years old this summer.
It is hard to estimate just how much richer our Mad River Valley has become since our neighbor Claudia Becker decided to turn the Eclipse Theater into a bustling multi-use independent multimedia food and arts space. Thankfully, she did, and all of us who have ever stopped by the “Big Pic” (as we affectionately call it) for a drink, a bite, a film, live music or a meeting with friends are the beneficiaries of her vision and hard work.
Here are just five ways, by way of saying thanks:
1. The POND: My children grew up playing on the Big Picture playground and running around the duck pond, occasionally throwing stones into the water and observing the many birds that nest around the pond’s edges. Every week, I witness desperate parents, young lovers or gaggles of kids standing, sitting and lounging on the grass alongside the water’s edge. And those coveted white lawn chairs - few finer places to sit downtown in the warm months and enjoy a cuppa and a conversation.
2. The FILMS: Where else can you see the very latest action flick from the Hollywood propaganda machine, side by side with old classics, cutting-edge documentaries and live World Cup soccer or NFL football streaming in the cafe? And folks around the world can’t believe we can watch a movie in an independent theater in our little Valley with a beer in one hand and a burger in the other. Unheard of in most corporate commercial movie chains. Oh, and the Mountaintop human rights film festival every January? Boom!
3. The MUSIC: The Phineas Gage Project has been “phortunate” enough to call the Big Pic Valley Night our Wednesday night HQ for years now, as have so many other local and out-of-town bands. From quiet intimate summer evenings of gigging outside under the marquee as the sun sets over the western hills, to rock fests featuring visitors from away or our own Big Basin Band, Chicky S, Ragged Company, the Grift, Peace in the Valley (yah, HUHS!) Grace Potter and other hometown musical heroes and heroines - what a treat for all of us to be able to soak up the sonic vibes at the Big Pic on any given week.
4. The FOOD and the PEEPS: Sourcing locally, cooking globally and always with our hard-working friends and neighbors running the joint. Whether it’s the huevos or the burrito for breakfast, the hot turkey sammie for lunch or the Big Pic burger for dinner - the food has gotten better and better and what a wonderful experience to sit and visit with folks who keep the place humming along - you know who you are! Lastly, I got six words for you: Hot chocolate. Whipped cream. Yeah, baby.
5. The MEETING SPACE: I’ve lost track of the number of meetings I’ve sat in on over the past 10 years at the Big Pic. Hundreds, at least, from intimate conversations over cups of coffee or a beer to a theater jam packed with friends and neighbors discussing myriad issues of import to all of us here in The Valley.
So - thanks, Big Picture, for enriching our Valley community in so many ways these last 10 years. Investing independently and locally is not always the fastest way to make a buck, but we are all enriched in so many other ways, as a commons and a community - and for that, I am grateful.
Here’s to the next 10 years of getting the Big Picture!
Rob Williams lives in Waitsfield.
