{"id":877,"date":"2026-02-09T15:19:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vermont105press.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2026-02-09T15:19:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:19:53","slug":"when-the-license-plates-stopped-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vermont105press.com\/fr\/when-the-license-plates-stopped-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"When the License Plates Stopped Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Northern Vermont feels the silence where Canadians used to be<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The border didn\u2019t slam shut. It just went quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In northern Vermont, you notice it first in the parking lots. The ski towns, the general stores, the roadside diners that once read license plates the way old ballplayers read box scores. Quebec. Ontario. Quebec again. Then one day\u2014Vermont, Vermont, Vermont. Same trucks. Same folks. Same money circulating like a tired dollar bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For decades, Canadian tourists weren\u2019t visitors here. They were part of the rhythm. They came down Route 105 and Route 118 the way the weather comes\u2014predictable, necessary, and never questioned. Ski weekends. Summer hikes. Leaf season. Christmas shopping. Gas, groceries, rooms, meals, tips. A quiet economic treaty that didn\u2019t need signatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now they\u2019re gone, or mostly gone, and nobody needed a memo to know something was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask the motel owner who used to book solid from December through March. Ask the waitress who could tell the exchange rate by how many loonies hit the counter. Ask the shopkeeper who stocked shelves knowing half the customers would pronounce \u201cabout\u201d a little differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It isn\u2019t just tourism money that vanished. It\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Canadians stopped coming, northern Vermont didn\u2019t lose outsiders\u2014it lost its overflow. The extra cash that made slow weeks survivable. The cushion that let a business breathe. Without it, every local dollar has to work harder, longer, smarter. And dollars get tired, just like people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small towns feel losses differently than cities. In a city, a missing crowd disappears into noise. In a place like Montgomery, Richford, Enosburg, Jay\u2014it echoes. Empty rooms. Shorter hours. \u201cHelp Wanted\u201d signs that stay up because the math doesn\u2019t work anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a myth that rural places are self-contained. They aren\u2019t. They\u2019re interconnected, delicate systems held together by habit and trust. Canadian tourism wasn\u2019t a bonus\u2014it was structural. It paid for repairs, payroll, property taxes. It kept businesses open year-round instead of seasonally hanging on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And here\u2019s the part nobody likes to say out loud: when Canadians stopped coming, it reminded northern Vermont how exposed it really is. One border policy. One political chill. One shift in sentiment\u2014and the whole region feels it in its ribs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mountains are still there. The snow still falls. The rivers still run. But the chairs at the tables are empty, and everyone knows who used to sit there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northern Vermont doesn\u2019t need pity. It needs traffic\u2014real, human, cross-border traffic. It needs the old rhythm back, or a new one just as steady. Because towns like these were never built to stand alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They were built to welcome people who came, stayed awhile, spent a little money, and came back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when they stopped coming back, the silence told the story before anyone ever wrote it down.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Vermont feels the silence where Canadians used to be The border didn\u2019t slam shut. It just went quiet. In northern Vermont, you notice it first in the parking lots. 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