ValleyBike Share is the All-Electric Assist Bike Share program of the Pioneer Valley that includes the cities and towns of Amherst, Easthampton, Holyoke, Northampton, South Hadley, Springfield, and the UMass Amherst Campus.
In a continued effort to help support our restaurants, the Springfield Business Improvement District has teamed up with Bright Nights and MGM Springfield to try to add some extra holiday cheer. For a limited time only, the Springfield Regional Visitor Center will be selling gift cards to participating downtown restaurants. For every purchase, customers will receive a FREE pass to Bright Night’s. The Springfield Regional Visitor Center is located at 1319 Main Street in Downtown Springfield, MA. Open Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 4pm, Saturday 12pm – 4pm. Customers can also call the Visitor Center, 413-781-1591, to purchase the gift cards and ...
Local organizations are urging the public to rally in support of Springfield restaurants by purchasing meals over the next 10 days. The citywide promotion, named Springfield’s Restaurant Rally, starts Friday and continues through Dec. 13. It’s intended to help the businesses as they cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield is being transformed into the spirit of Christmas for a family-friendly show this holiday season. The Winter Wonder Drive-Thru offers “a unique lighting experience, special effects and a 3-D hologram show.”
Judy Matt says the Spirit of Springfield (SOS) exists for one reason — to entertain residents across the region and create some memories. It hasn’t been able to do any of that to this point in 2020, obviously, and Matt, the long-time executive director of the nonprofit agency, has been frustrated and disappointed by this reality. Annual events such as the pancake breakfast (long heralded as the world’s largest), the Fourth of July fireworks, and the Big Balloon Parade have been wiped off the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there remains uncertainty about whether any of those ...
When the Big E recently announced the sale of 100 ‘golden tickets’ — lifetime passes for the holder and a guest, plus parking and other perks — for $1,000 each, it was an exciting promotion for fans of the annual fair and a way to keep the event top of mind during a year when it was called off because of the pandemic.
While most of the business world slowed gradually in March, or even ground to an eventual halt, the story was more dire for the events industry. It just … stopped. “When the whole country shut down, we were impacted immediately. We were one of the first business sectors to really feel the effects,” said Andrew Jensen, president of Jx2 Productions, noting that among the state’s first orders was barring large — and eventually even modestly sized — gatherings.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced today that the MassMutual Center, in conjunction with American International College and the University of Massachusetts, has been selected to host a 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Regional, marking the first time the event has been held at the MassMutual Center. “We are extremely excited to be hosting the NCAA Division I Men’s Regional Ice Hockey Championships in 2024,” said Sean Dolan, General Manager of the MassMutual Center. “We are looking forward to partnering with both the University of Massachusetts and American International College as we welcome hockey fans ...
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, expenses for many businesses across Massachusetts are going up, but incomes have declined for most industries, some by fifty percent or more in many cases. In Western Massachusetts, tourism, restaurants and entertainment venues have seen the largest declines with many businesses looking at furloughs, layoffs and in some cases closures.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s decision to move its 2020 enshrinement out of 2020 and out of Springfield costs the city. Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her job now is to help the hall recover as soon as possible.
The Hall of Fame announced Friday that the 2020 Enshrinement Ceremony festivities have been rescheduled to May 13-15, 2021, due to the continuing impact of COVID-19. The organization had been hopeful to find a viable date this October if the pandemic showed signs of subsiding, according to a statement.
The Springfield Museums will present “Heroes in Healthcare: Celebrating Springfield’s Medical Community” at the Wood Museum of Springfield History from Aug. 3 through Jan. 24, 2021. As a complementary exhibit to Hall of Heroes, located on the first floor of the Wood Museum of Springfield History, “Heroes in Healthcare” pinpoints the deep appreciation we all feel for those who put themselves in harm’s way in order to help others.
The Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau will step up its advertising — in states were folks can legally visit Massachusetts without first quarantining, and here at home — with $250,000 in funding announced Monday by state Sen. Eric P. Lesser. The money comes from the $1.1 billion supplemental budget signed into law last week by Gov. Charlie Baker.
As he talked with BusinessWest about the cancellation of this year’s Big E and how the Eastern States Exposition (ESE) will respond to that huge loss of revenue, Gene Cassidy stopped and pointed to a picture at the opposite end of the company’s large conference room. “That’s J. Loring Brooks, son of Joshua L. Brooks, founder of the Eastern States Exposition,” said Cassidy, president and CEO of ESE. “He was the Big E’s chief development officer. When the Eastern States had rainy fairs or fairs where, for one reason or another, we didn’t make any ...
Kay Simpson says the top priority before reopening Springfield Museums was making sure both visitors and staff would be safe. “Kissing Through a Curtain” is an exhibit of 10 contemporary artists, dealing with communicating and translating across borders, how people interact, and the meaning behind words. It was hung at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in March, a few days before the museum closed due to COVID-19 — and there it has hung, dormant, ever since.
Springfield Museums are set to reopen to visitors today, July 13, with the first two hours each Monday, 10 a.m. to noon, set aside for seniors (60 and older) only, and the general public from noon to 5 p.m. The museums are open to everyone Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In a modernization push, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year updated its exhibits with interactive touchscreen-activated kiosks as part of a $23 million top-to-bottom renovation. But that was before the coronavirus pandemic made touching shared surfaces and going around without a mask troublesome.
Due to the current regulations regarding community health and limitations on public gatherings brought on by COVID-19, the Northampton Jazz Festival has made the decision to postpone its 2020 festival scheduled for the first weekend in October. The Northampton Jazz Festival is a celebration of jazz music held yearly in downtown Northampton, collaborating with local businesses and performers to provide the community with musical performances. From jazz strolls to intimate venues with Grammy Award-winning performers, this weekend has become a staple of the community. Next year’s event will be held on Oct. 1-2, 2021.
The Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival regularly fills Court Square with thousands of revelers, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizers this summer to turn to community television and the web as a venue. A day of music performances will be shown on Focus Community TV and streamed on springfieldjazzfest.com on Aug. 15. Organizers Blues to Green will broadcast highlight performances from the past six years from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with Springfield community leaders serving as hosts.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will reopen Wednesday following a six-month closure due to renovations and the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re very excited to reveal our museum renovations to the basketball community and understand these are unprecedented times for public health. Above all, the health and safety of our guests and employees are of the utmost importance,” said John Doleva, president and CEO of the Hall of Fame.
Magic Wings is a year-round operation, Kathy Fiore said — even when its doors are shut. “This is different from a clothing store,” said Fiore, who co-owns the butterfly conservatory in Deerfield with her brother. “When we closed our doors, we still needed to have staff here, because we have to take care of whatever is happening. Butterflies are laying eggs every day. Caterpillars are hatching out every day. We need to feed and care for the lizards, tortoises, birds, fish … all sorts of animals have to be taken care of.” And that means expenses that don’t disappear when no ...
For the safety of fairgoers, staff, vendors, entertainers, exhibitors, sponsors, suppliers, and the broader community, the leadership of the Eastern States Exposition have canceled the 2020 Big E. “Please know that this decision was not made lightly,” a statement noted. “The Big E fair is so much more than just a fair; it is tradition, it is celebration, it is the showcase of everything we are so proud of in New England. This is why our hearts are heavy as we bring you this news.” The fair has been put on hold before, during both World War I and World ...
While still planning to host a 2020 fair, The Big E is ‘highly likely’ to close its Arena, a large outdoor theater venue with paid concerts, this year out of coronavirus concerns. And Eugene Cassidy, president and CEO of the Eastern States Exposition said Thursday he’s already decided to close the dormitories where young people bunk overnight while exhibiting at the fair. The Big E also cancelled the daily 5 p.m. community parade and is also going to have fewer vendors to open space for social distancing, Cassidy said. The Mardi Gras Parade, held later in the evening ...
As he talked with BusinessWest about his industry and his family’s hotel group, Kishore Parmar kept glancing back and forth between the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Hadley and the parking lot outside. He did so with a look that blended something approaching disbelief — still, after roughly three months of the same view — with resignation. “This lobby is essentially empty, and this is not how it is,” he explained. “If this were a normal day in June, you’d see families, you’d see business people in and out, there would be staff going up and down the ...