MIDDLEBURY — Thirty years ago, the Carpenter family wasn’t sure if their business, Champlain Valley Equipment, would survive. World and national events, and a major recession, were creating tough times for CVE and many other businesses. “At the time, we were having Desert Storm and the economy hit the skids; it became really tough,” recalled Brian Carpenter, the third and most recent generation of his family to guide the Middlebury-based enterprise. “By 1992, my father (Russell C. Carpenter) was trying to f … (read more)
