Business Notes: Sunflower Salon closing sale; tasting at Woodstock Market; Downstreet completes Speranza Inn
August 4, 2026 | By Waterbury Roundabout
Sunflower Salon on North Main Street in Waterbury. Courtesy photo
Business Notes are compiled from news releases and announcements from local businesses and organizations. Send business news items to waterburyroundabout@gmail.com.
Sunflower Salon to hold closing sale Aug. 15-16
In an email and social media posting this week, Sunflower Salon owner Kelly Richardson announced that she will be closing her Main Street business this month with a final sale of merchandise, furnishings and fixtures on Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 15-16.
Richardson has run the women’s clothing boutique and salon for more than 17 years. Located at 2 North Main St., the business temporarily closed in April after Richardson’s 20-year-old son was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash.
“With a very heavy heart, I have made the difficult decision to close my boutique and relocate my salon services to a small space in my home. Life has placed me in a position where I need to be home with my son, and while the decision has been incredibly painful, it is the right one for my family,” Richardson wrote.
Richardson said she is currently renovating space in her home to open a small hair salon there in another month or two. She said she hopes former clients will return and she will share more email and social media updates closer to when she will open.
Meanwhile, the upcoming sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 15-16. All clothing and accessory items will be priced at $15, Richardson said. The salon’s furnishings, fixtures and decor items also will be “priced to sell,” she noted.
An online fundraiser on GoFundMe circulated in the community this spring, raising over $20,000 to support Richardson as she stepped away from her business to focus on her son’s care and recovery. Richardson said the donations were well-timed and greatly appreciated.
“The tears I cried reading your messages and seeing your generosity are something I will never forget. You carried us through one of the hardest seasons of our lives, and I will be forever grateful,” she said.
Tasting event at Woodstock Farmers’ Market Aug. 8
Woodstock Farmers’ Market highlights local foods on Saturday, Aug. 8, with a special Meet the Makers tasting event at its Waterbury store on Vermont Route 100.
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the public is invited to this free event featuring tastings of a variety of local products outside the store. The tastings are part of the company’s summer theme, Locally Grown with Love.
Shoppers will have a chance to sample Vermont-made products such as maple granola bars, hard cider, and salsa, and meet the people who make the products.
“If there’s a time of year when you can exclusively ‘eat local’ in Vermont, it’s the summer season,” said Amelia Rappaport, partner at Woodstock Farmers’ Market. “Every part of your plate can come from a local grower or producer—from fresh veggies to local meat and dairy. This event is a great opportunity to celebrate the local producers who make our summer barbecues complete.”
The former Quality Inn in Barre is now the Speranza Inn, operated by Downstreet Housing & Community Development. Courtesy photo
Downstreet opens the Speranza Inn in Barre
Downstreet Housing & Community Development marked the grand opening of the Speranza Inn in Barre on July 23.
Staff, guests, donors, community and funding partners, and neighbors gathered to celebrate a new chapter for what previously was the Quality Inn that the nonprofit housing organization acquired in April 2025 and has since renovated.
Now known as the Speranza Inn (named for the Italian word for “hope”), the 41-room hotel is designed to accommodate individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Central Vermont, providing both temporary housing and access to services to help make the transition to more stable, permanent living arrangements.
Downstreet Executive Director Angie Harbin said the Speranza Inn will serve as “an essential community resource, where our dedicated staff provides people with safety, dignity, and support as they work toward stable, permanent housing.”
Downstreet received $8 million from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board for the purchase and renovations at the property; another $300,000 came from community fundraising.
The facility’s staff goal is to create a sense of community, said Kathi Partlow, Downstreet’s director of homeless services. “Through a trauma-informed lens, we connect guests with the services they need, assist with housing applications, and provide safe community space for preparing and eating meals.”
Downstreet officials explained that the inn was occupied during renovations, accommodating members of 236 households, many of whom stayed for several months before moving to permanent housing. The facility is still configured and operated as a hotel, but it now has a full kitchen and community room for residents. Individual rooms have mini-refrigerators and microwaves, Partlow said.
With renovations now complete, staff will assist current and future guests while working to expand the facility’s food pantry, emergency assistance fund, and guest transportation services, officials said.
Referrals for Speranza tenants come from the state of Vermont, Partlow said, noting that 30 of the facility’s 41 rooms are contracted with the Vermont Agency of Human Services to work with its Emergency Housing Program. For example, a number of families who previously were at the state’s family shelter at the Waterbury armory have transitioned to the Speranza on their way to more permanent housing.
At the end of July, about 30 of the rooms were occupied, and staff anticipates that the inn will be full through the winter, Partlow said.
More information is online at downstreet.org/speranza-inn