Despite summer temperatures that reached 90 degrees, a crowd of dairy industry members, engineers and builders, local and state dignitaries, media and local residents gathered July 17 in Brattleboro, Vt., for the grand opening celebration for the Grafton Village Cheese Company's newest production plant and retail store.

Grafton Village Cheese, headquartered in Grafton, Vt., handcrafts artisanal aged cheddar cheese that is recognized for its quality and taste on a worldwide scale. The company is part of the Windham Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Grafton, Vt., whose mission is to preserve the vitality of Vermont's rural communities. Grafton cheddar is made from synthetic-hormone-free, predominantly Jersey milk from Vermont family farms. The new production facility in Brattleboro has doubled the production of Grafton Village Cheese, which has its original plant and retail store in Grafton. The company will now produce approximately three million pounds of its aged cheddar.

The Brattleboro facility began making cheese in late April. The retail store has been in a soft opening period since early June.

Speakers included Vermont Governor Jim Douglas; John Bramley, Windham Foundation president and CEO; Adam Mueller, Grafton Village Cheese president; Roger Allbee, Vermont secretary of agriculture; Barbara Sondag, Brattleboro town manager; and Stephan Morse, former Windham Foundation president and CEO.

Gov. Douglas praised the expansion as a benefit for Vermont and the state's growing cheese industry. "The Windham Foundation is all about the tradition and culture of Vermont, and that is what is represented at Grafton Village Cheese."

The new Brattleboro retail shop is a 2,500-square-foot classic barn-like structure encompassing a full-service artisanal cheese shop. It offers more than 70 types of cheeses, wine, Vermont microbrews, fresh bread, maple products and other gourmet food items and accompaniments.

As does its Grafton retail shop, the Brattleboro store features a large cheese-making viewing window, offering visitors an authentic Vermont cheddar experience.

The Grafton Village Cheese Co. was founded in 1892 as the Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company, which converted surplus milk from local dairy farmers into cheese. Years later, a fire destroyed the original factory. When the Windham Foundation restored the company in the mid-1960s, a new era for the town was born. Today, quality and taste continue to serve as the hallmark of Grafton cheddar.