Vermont political leaders to vie for State House 'bagging rights'

Members of the Vermont retail community will be gathering in Montpelier on Wednesday and will be treated to a little friendly competition at their annual luncheon at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.
House Speaker Shap Smith, Senate Leader John Campbell and the Governor’ s Chief of Staff, Liz Miller, will engage in a bagging competition to see who is the best bagger. Judges for the special contest will be Todd Keyworth of Harborside Market and chair of the Vermont Grocers Association, Marc Sherman of Stowe Mercantile and president of the Vermont Retail Association and Liz Schiller of Shaw’ s, Waterbury, last year’ s Vermont champion bagger. The contest will include putting a variety of items into several bags, just like at the retail checkout and will be evaluated on weight distribution, speed and proper packing. No paper or plastic for the politicians, the contest will be done with reusable bags.
The competition promises to be fun and spirited. In a similar event last fall, Speaker Smith nudged out Lt. Governor Phil Scott and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. We will have to wait till Wednesday to see if the Speaker has what it takes to win again.
Members of the press are invited to the competition, which will take place in the Governor’ s Ballroom at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, State St, Montpelier on Wednesday, February 13 at approximately 12:45 pm.
The Vermont Grocers Association and Vermont Retail Association together represent all sectors of Vermont’ s retail community. Together they have over 1,000 members.