I’ve been here 8 years now, off and on since 03. For the most part I’ve bounced from catering to dining and back to catering. Basically I started back in high school. Hobbies? I’m an arm wrestler on my off time. Yes. I held Vermont State records for a few years and then started having kids so that kind of took a back burner. So yup. I haven’t done it in a while. I think the last time I did it, I broke the lady’s arm and that was enough for me.

How did you get into that?

It eventually started with friends and then my boyfriend at the time who is now my husband was getting into it. So, it was a hobby we did together. We’d travel through New England. I think the furthest we went for a competition was Virginia. And we’ve gone all the way up to Maine and a couple in New York.

Could you describe a little bit what that entails and what the competitions look like?

Basically, it’s not so much arm strength as it is upper body. And technique. But the competitions are very serious. There’s national titles, there’s world titles. It’s very, very big. All the competitions I had went to were New England titles and we’d get a couple hundred people at each tournament.

Are there specific…?

Everything’s done by weight, so you have to step on a scale.

Men have their own classes, women have their own classes. And then there’s even classes where if you’re 16 or younger, or you’re three years old, you can arm wrestle.

My daughter did it last year at the fair here. Oh my gosh, how old is she? She’ll be 3 in August. She loves it.

How do you train to do that?

It’s not so much training as it is, you know, just learning the technique. Everyone just thinks get on the table and pull. Well, that’s how you hurt yourself. That’s how you pull tendons, muscles, everything. There’s a lot of technique and a lot of reading up on it.

How did you learn? Did you learn about it mostly through doing it with your husband?

Yup, that and we trained with a world title holder, Bill Sinks. And he’s actually still on the World Arm Wrestling League and we train with him a couple days a week.

Do you think you’ll get back into it anytime soon?

I don’t know. I still run the tournaments and field days – the Addison County Field Days – I run the tournament there and I also run a tournament up in Hyde Park, the Lamoille Field Days up there. I’m still involved, just not as much. More behind the scenes.

When I’m not doing that, I bake. I have a large family so there’s birthdays almost every other week. So, I bake a lot.

What do you like to bake?

Mostly, lately, it’s been cakes and pastries. But I’m trying to expand that horizon. Do have a favorite cake or pastry? I love making eclairs.