CONSTRUCTION OF THE
WORLD'S LARGEST PALETTE

      The Vermont Maple Festival includes a world record event this year. The 40th annual festival begins Friday April 28 in St. Albans, Vermont, with about 50,000 visitors.
      Palettes of Vermont will be the largest statewide arts exhibit ever and Franklin County shoot for its fifth World Record by manufacturing and decorating the largest artist's palette on Earth.
      We have light at the end of the tunnel. The 12'x16' AAC dance floor is now complete.
     Tomorrow, we'll cut out the oval shape to make it look more or less like an artist's palette. For Paul Bunyan.
      The palette team at Sticks & Stuff laid out the maple plywood face of the giant palette on the floor of the shop and tacked it down Monday morning. They glued and screwed the splines to the maple to hold everything together temporarily, then added a pair of vertical stiffeners. The structural foam was bonded to the maple and removed (all) the screws. The team glued the top plywood layer Monday afternoon and clamped it all down for the night.
      "We used more adhesive than plywood, I think." AAC Chair Dick Harper said.
      At any rate, we now have that lovely maple dance floor tying up the mill shop floor at Sticks and Stuff.
      Channel 15 taped some of the construction steps today. The St. Albans Messenger will take photos of the cutting to shape. It will be painted on one side and varnished on the other on Wednesday and Thursday.
      The giant palette will appear at every major outdoor event, starting with the Vermont Maple Festival and continuing through the 2006 Dairy Festival, Bay Day, and Franklin County Field Days. The artists' palettes will be exhibited by the All Arts Council, S.A.F.F., and other organizations at many events throughout the county.
      The World's Largest Palette record effort is sponsored by the Peoples Trust Company, R. J. Fournier, Sticks and Stuff, and Union Bank. It is a project of the All Arts Council and St Albans for the Future.

Download the construction brochure here.

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More Palette Photos:

Lee rips the foam core to size	Careful Measurements
The first sheets of maple plywood on the second side.	Gerry begins cutting the curve.
Gerry continues cutting the curve.	The palette takes shape at Sticks & Stuff.
Day three and four: Paint and varnish applied in the paint shop.	One-third of the giant palette on the new Fournier trailer at the Mill Shop.
Friday in Taylor Park	The artists lay out the community design on the top  one-third of the palette.
Community members add their art to the top third  of the giant palette on Friday afternoon.	Friday's third of the giant palette on display.
Community painting Saturday in Taylor Park:
Painting the final touches.	Natalie paints while we assemble the three pieces  on the ground.
Dick and Mike making snow angels over the shadow of  the Taylor Park Fountain. The varnished maple will be painted for Open Studio weekend.
Jeremy paints the final details.	Unusual view of the Taylor Park fountain  through the thumb hole.
Sunday at the biggest parade in Vermont:
Lining up for the parade	Wowing the crowd on Main Street in St Albans, 2006 Vermont Maple Festival.

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Dick Harper, Chair
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Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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