R-133 Page 1 of 1
2023
No. R-133. House concurrent resolution honoring the 83 years of outstanding Paquette family agricultural entrepreneurship.
(H.C.R.107)
Offered by: Representatives Austin of Colchester, Brennan of Colchester, Chase of
Colchester, and Taylor of Colchester Offered by: Senator Mazza Whereas, in 1949, in order to expand the facility, Leonel and Helen Paquette relocated their Williston chicken farm, established in 1940, to Colchester, and Whereas, the Paquettes named their Colchester agricultural operation, which raised chickens and sold eggs, Shadow Cross Farm in recognition of the many shadow crisscrosses projected through the windowpanes onto the floor of their 160-year-old farmhouse, and Whereas, at the height of the farm’s chicken-raising era, the facility maintained 75,000
laying hens, which daily produced 68,000 to 70,000 eggs, and, because laying hens are only productive for approximately one year, baby chicks were continuously on-site,
making this farm an alluring destination for first- and second-grade school field trips, and Whereas, in 2000, after half a century of frenzied avian comings and goings, Richard Paquette, the grandson of Leonel Paquette, and Richard’s wife, Linda, acknowledged that encroaching housing construction and the closure of the neighboring dairy and vegetable farms that had accepted chicken manure from Shadow Cross Farm necessitated the sale of
their flocks, and Whereas, the Paquettes continued as a distributor of eggs produced at other farms but are now desirous of adopting a less hectic lifestyle, and they ended their role as purveyors of farm-fresh eggs on April 1, 2023, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly honors the 83 years of outstanding Paquette family agricultural entrepreneurship, and be it further Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
Richard and Linda Paquette.
VT LEG #370424 v.1