Winooski’s executive director of downtown reflects on the pandemic, the city and its people

Meredith Bay-Tyack, Executive Director of Downtown Winooski. Photo courtesy of Meredith Bay-Tyack.

The city of Winooski is a small, compact, diverse city, with 1.5 square miles of apartments, neighborhoods, restaurants, and other local businesses. Even before Meredith Bay-Tyack moved to Winooski five years ago, you could find her going to the city to eat, listen to live music, and meet with friends. She loves interacting with her community, and her job as Executive Director of Downtown Winooski allows her to do that on a daily basis. The role comes with many layers and types of tasks. Bay-Tyack sat down to share the details on some of those roles. As she fielded a reporter’s questions, she paused to fix a drawer in her home so her daughter could get some markers.

What does being the Executive Director of Downtown Winooski entail?

Our role is to increase the economic and cultural vitality of our city. Being the only full-time paid employee of a non-profit means that I wear 17 different hats, sometimes an hour, sometimes a day, sometimes a week. Basically, I’m doing everything from fundraising to having advocacy work on the municipal level, state level, federal level, advocating for the economic health for our entire community, but then also specifically BIPOC businesses and small businesses. We certainly don’t do all that alone, we are a piece of a puzzle.

What does your day-to-day look like?

On any particular day, I could be working on a social media campaign, I could be working on media interviews, I could be wrapping up work on the recently ended Winooski farmers market. We do a lot of free open community events. I could even be walking down the street with a business owner talking about a business issue or an idea. I’m going from like, in the weeds, to 30,000 feet, to back into the weeds. It’s really lovely, but I get whiplash sometimes. 

Could you describe your goal?

Our tagline is we build community by supporting business. Although this sounds simple, there are so many layers that go into that. Some of our community events literally drive people to the business doors. Some of them don’t but they still build that placemaking and that feeling of community vibrancy that is necessary for a successful community.

How did COVID affect your job and how it’s executed?

Well I have two kids, so that was a huge thing. All of a sudden, I had a five-year-old and a three-year-old at home with me.

Essentially all of our work is out in the community, bringing people together physically, and also going door to door and having events for business owners. All of that shut down. Not only that, we are heavy on hospitality and service industries in Winooski. We have a lot of restaurants and bars, and a lot of places that require face to face contact. That was no longer possible.

My job shifted entirely. How could we support businesses? It was essentially getting information from different agencies and different community partners and distilling it and shooting it out to businesses. It was a lot of behind my computer screen, which is not my ideal. I like being out in the community talking to people face to face.

What led you to becoming who and what you are today?

I feel like everything led to this. It was a kismet role for me to get. I have so much passion for Winooski, and I think I had the skill set and the ability to learn on the job for the other areas I did not know. Now I know a ton about it and it’s incredible. I'm passionate about community development.

What about Winooski makes it special?

Part of it can’t be translated into words, but I think what really brings it home is coming here. There’s a feeling when you're walking down the streets of Winooski, when you’re sitting out at a restaurant, or exploring one of our small markets, whether it's a Halal market or an Asian market. We are the most dense, urban square mile in Vermont. That’s unique. We are also incredibly diverse, the other part of it is we are a very integrated community. Neighbors care about neighbors. We are unique in the way we come together for certain things. We act a bit like a small town in a city environment.

I was going to ask if you could have any job in the world, what would it be, but it sounds like I already know the answer to that question.

I am really grateful to this role and this city, and to my board members. I have learned an incredible amount of things that will stay with me throughout my career no matter what I do next. I would recommend this job if you're willing to put on 17 different hats during the day because it is very fulfilling.

Mason Abajian is a second-year student at Saint Michael's College majoring in Media Studies, Journalism & Digital Arts. His hometown is Essex Jct., Vt.