W elco me N ew M em b ers - Northampton Chamber of Commerce

Welcome
New Members
Changes Salon
150 Main Street, Thornes
Market, Suite 12
Northampton, MA01062
Steve Siclari
(413) 586-2600
www.changessalon.net
Facials
Esser & Kingston,
Attorneys at Law
PO Box 548,
Greenfield, MA 01302
Oona Kingston
(413) 774-7086
www.esserkingston.com
Lawyers
Kids Rule Playhouse, Inc.
320 Riverside Drive, Suite 9
Florence, MA 01062
Migdalia Marcus
(413) 364-5987
Entertainment
Todd M. LeMieux
109 Pineywoods Avenue,
Springfield, MA 01108
Todd LeMieux
(413) 747-9321
www.toddlemieux.com
Graphic Designers
Pacific Printing, Inc.
19 Damon Road,
Northampton, MA 01060
Timothy Bannister
(413) 585-5700
www.oceanofpromotion.com
Embroidery
Pampered Pet Sitting
PO Box 18,
Goshen, MA 01032
Candy Laflam
(413) 268-3447
www.pamperedpetsit.net
Pet Supplies and Services
Robin's Webs & ...
79 North Catamount Hill
Road,
Colrain, MA 01340
Robin Brooks
(413) 624-5540
robinswebs.com
Graphic Designers
Shatz, Scwartz and Fentin,
P.C.
1441 Main Street,
Springfield, MA 01103
Carol Cioe Klyman
(413) 517-0145
www.ssfpc.com
Lawyers
Valley Lists, LLC
351 Pleasant Street, Suite D,
Northampton, MA 01060
Will Flanders
(413) 625-8485
www.valleylists.com
Internet Services
Win Tech Racing Shells
44 Cherry Street,
Northampton, MA01060
Margot Zalkind
(413) 585-9445
wintechracing.com
Sporting Goods
Ta Yu Gallery
12 Main Street,
Northampton, MA 01060
John Heck
(413) 586-7223
Antiques
Networking 101
Tips by Jeanne Yocum,Tuscarora Communications, Ltd.
This month's networking tip comes from
Networking Works! The WetFeet Insider Guide to Networking
• Be sure you’re not guilty of using this excuse to
avoid the events that will help build your business.
The “I hate crowds” excuse. You don’t need to work a
room to be good at networking. Just get to know one
person on his or her own merits, and try to find subjects that seem to bring out the best in that person.
Seeing people light up is its own reward, but it also
makes for a memorable interaction. Face-to-face interaction cements a relationship like nothing else, so you
will eventually need to conquer any deep fears you
may have that are not really about crowds per se, but
actually about interpersonal social contact with others.
News and information to strengthen the Northampton area business community!
Future For Fairgrounds
Has Promising Possibilities
The Chamber’s 3+ year effort to
redevelop Northampton’s 3-County
Fairgrounds received a major boost
this month. A long awaited study
that looked at the potential for new
events and exhibitions concluded that
there is an opportunity to expand
the fairgrounds to a year-round use
based on interest in Northampton
and an upgraded facility among
potential event producers. The
Chamber/City/Fair Committee selected
Convention, Sports and Leisure International for the study because of their
extensive background in exhibition
and fairgrounds feasibility analysis.
The Northampton Development
Corporation, the City and the Fair
Association funded the study.
Downtown
Northampton
SIDEWALK
SALES!
Thursday to Sunday
July 28, 29, 30, 31
Sponsored by:
The Valley Advocate
The 3-County Fairgrounds is one of only 2
racetracks remaining in Massachusetts.
Because racing revenues have steeply declined
at both tracks, the Fair Association predicts
that horse racing will not be held at the
Fairgrounds for much longer.
Committee Development Concept
for the Fairgrounds
Northampton’s 3-County Fairgrounds is a
premier destination in New England for
exhibitions and events that showcase the
region's agricultural and cultural heritage.
Events held through the year in facilities
for up to 1,000 exhibitors will draw
regional and national audiences to
Northampton and the area. The facility’s
character, accessibility from Interstate 91
and proximity to downtown Northampton
offers a unique choice in the region for
event producers.
Fall 2001: The Beginning of the Chamber/Fair/City Collaboration
• To find new opportunities for fairgrounds use to help pay to upgrade the facilities.
• Reduce/replace the operation’s dependence on racing revenues.
• To draw new types of travelers to the Northampton area.
• To maximize and diversify the use of an underutilized facility
• Create a catalyst for economic growth in Northampton and the region
Friday, August 12
5:00 to 8:00 PM
A walking tour of
Northampton arts.
The second Friday
of each month.
Chamber Calendar
A redeveloped fairgrounds facility
could support as many as 72 events
with a direct economic impact to
the Northampton area calculated to be
$48 million dollars. Direct spending
patterns of event attendees primarily
benefit hotels, shops and restaurants.
The 3-County Fair-grounds currently
hosts 25 events that have a direct
spending impact of $15 million.
Physical improvements required to host
these new events will include a new
80,000 square foot exhibition
center, new portable horse stalls, the
continued on page 2
June & July 2005
Development
Committee,
Pat
Goggins,
Chamber
Economic
Development
Committee,
Rick
Klein,
continued from front page
Chamber Board of Directors, Geoff
addition of 3 horse show rings for a and Linda Post, Chamber Tourism
total of 8 and rehabilitation of the Committee and Paradise City Arts
existing arena building.
Festivals, Bruce Shallcross, General
Now that the question about market Manager, 3-County Fair Association.
demand is answered, the immediate
next step is to analyze financial
operations and construction costs.
City Meadows Plan
This information will guide a master
plan for the physical improvements Incorporates Vision
and a business plan with more
for Fairgrounds
detailed operating assumptions. The
Committee hopes to identify a funding
source(s) in 2005 for this phase and
begin work in 2006. The Fair An early draft of the City’s plan for the
Association, City and Chamber put Meadows section of Northampton
together a Fairgrounds Committee in concerned the Chamber and the
the fall of 2001 to explore the oppor- Fairgrounds Committee. The plan’s
tunities for the 3-County Fairgrounds. language seemed to contradict input
The Committee members include staff given during public meetings about
and volunteers: Teri Anderson, City expansions within existing business
Economic Development Coordinator, districts and flexibility for the
Suzanne Beck, Executive Director, Fairgrounds, Northampton Airport
Greater Northampton Chamber of and Oxbow Marina. Coincidentally
Commerce, Charles Bowles, Chair, the schedule of the Planning Board’s
Chamber
Tourism
Committee, public hearings about the Meadows
Andrew Crystal, Chamber Economic plan happened just as the
Future for
Fairgrounds
Fairgrounds Feasibility Study was
being completed.
On June 23 the Planning Board adopted a Meadows Plan with new language
drafted by Teri Anderson, the City’s
Economic Development Coordinator.
The Chamber supported the new
draft, satisfied that the new language
clarified the conditions and changes
the City would support for the business districts, fairgrounds, airport and
marina.
News and information to strengthen the Northampton area business community!
Northampton Sidewalk Sales!
Thursday to Sunday, July 28 - 31
ChamberUnited Way
Golf Tournament
to be a Classic
The Chamber hosted its 4th golf
tournament on June 6 and its first
tournament in partnership with the
United Way of Hampshire County.
The new “Hampshire Golf Classic,”
sponsored by the two organizations,
brought together 120 golfers – from
the serious to the not-so-serious, for a
challenging round of 18 holes at the
Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley,
home of the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open
Golf Championship.
“As a Chamber-United Way event we
want to make the Hampshire Golf
Classic a ‘top pick’ tournament for the
people that sponsor and play in area
golf tournaments all season long,”
said tournament co-chair Tom
Sullivan. “Our first year got us off to
a great start.” said co-chair Dave
Malek, “Next year we hope to fill
two courses and make it an even
better golf experience by adding special amenities and touches that you
don’t see at every event.” Co-chair
MaryAnn Ryan added “All the golfers
said this was one of the best local
tournaments they’d played in. The
mix of people introduced United Way
and Chamber community leaders for
a great day of golf.”
Foursome Tony Bishop, Dan Bishop, Al Runshaw and Mark Noel played the winning round
at the Chamber-United Way Hampshire Golf Classic held at the Orchards Golf Club.
Sponsors of the
Hampshire Golf Classic
Arnold Palmer Sponsors
Applied Mortgage Services
Easthampton Savings Bank
Anika Sorenstam Sponsors
Florence Savings Bank
Northampton Cooperative Bank
Tubed Products
Jack Nicklaus Sponsor
Finck & Perras Insurance Agency
Golf Cart Sponsors
Goggins Real Estate
Jones-Hutchins Real Estate
Upton-Massamont Real Estate
Umbrella Sponsors
Borawski Insurance
Finck & Perras Insurance Agency
King & Cushman Insurance Agency
Webber & Grinnell Insurance Agency
Whalen Insurance Agency
June & July 2005
Membership Spotlight:
Chamber Promotes Northampton’s
The Fine Arts Center at UMass
“Art is at our Center”
“Contemporary Cool”
The Fine Arts Center at the University
of Massachusetts is celebrating their
30th year of Arts in the Pioneer
Valley. The past three decades have
brought great changes to the organization that features visual and performing arts. The Fine Arts Center consists
of 13 different programs, including
five performing arts series, four
galleries and multiple programs supporting education in the arts. The Fine
Arts Center reaches a large and diverse
audience. During the 2003 - 2004
season 45,000 people attended 83
performances, 27,000 attended 29
visual arts exhibits and 7,800 attended 110 education access activities.
The Fine Arts Center opened in 1975
amidst tension on the UMASS campus. Students feared that the new art
center would become an elitist
All Summer Long
organization. The past 30 years have
proven these fears to be unfounded.
The Fine Arts Center continues to
make the arts accessible and affordable for students and families in the
Pioneer Valley. Over the past year over
17,000 public school children have
been able to see live performances
through the Performances for Young
People and Asian Arts and Culture Dr. Willie Hill, Director of the Fine Arts
Program and Five College students are Center at UMass
able to attend world class performances for $5-$15. The FAC has recently “The arts play a role as an agent of social
upgraded their physical accessibility change and community building and help to
foster self-expression and build identity, to
so that the arts can be enjoyed by all.
encourage civic dialogue on difficult and
As the Center prepares an exciting pressing issues, and bring together diverse
calendar of events for the coming year groups in safe public spaces. The Fine Arts
Center will continue to provide those safe
of celebration, we are pleased to
public
spaces and the art to fill them, and
recognize the important space the
will help to remind us that Art is at our
Fine Arts Center occupies within
Center.” - Center Director Dr. Willie Hill
our community.
The Downtown
Community
Garden
Between the rainouts of May and a
late spring heat wave, Chamber
volunteers found a brief break in
the weather to plant a garden of
flowers down the center of Main
Street. The planters are the centerpiece of Downtown’s expanding
landscape of flowers that now
adorn nearly every Downtown storefront. Students at Smith Vocational
High School get the planters ready
in the spring and LaSalle Florists
provides the TLC and water throughout the season. Chamber members
sponsor the planters: A2Z Science
& Learning Store, Benjamin A.
Carol Melin,
Katie Olmstead,
Margot Cooley
and Christine
Skorupski
received lots of
honks and
“thank yous”
while planting
the middle of
Main Street.
Barnes, Eileen Fisher, Fitzwilly’s
Restaurant, Hampshire Property
Management Group, Haymarket
Café, Kohl Construction, Main
Street
Cleaners,
Northampton
Cooperative Bank, Silverscape Design,
Spoleto Restaurant, Trident Realty
Corpora-tion, Whalen Insurance
Agency, Zanna.
For readers of the Sunday June 12 Springfield Convention & Visitors
Boston Globe -- their Summer Travel Bureau awarded the Chamber a grant
edition – Northampton and the to underwrite the advertising costs.
Pioneer Valley got special notice. The
Chamber participated in a special
insert about the Pioneer Valley distributed to 250,000 Boston Globe readThe Chamber’s Visitor Center staff
ers. Our full-page advertisement feagives out information all day long and 7
days a week to visitors looking for things
tured our “contemporary cool” sumto do and see. We’re also popular with
mer destination, supported by
people moving into the area. Chamber
Thornes Marketplace, Webs, Eastside
members have the exclusive benefit of a
Grill and the Clarion Hotel. Similar
no-fee opportunity to display brochures
ads in the Hartford Courant Summer
and menus. Take the time to bring your
literature to us. We refer our members to
Guide and a new magazine called
an average of 150 people who drop in
Preview Connecticut introduce our
each week. Call Katie at the Chamber to
Connecticut customers to the summake arrangements, 584-1900.
mer’s coolest getaway. The Greater
Show Your Stuff
MEMBER BULLETINS
New Century Theatre is celebrating
its 15th Anniversary Season!
Chamber Members can attend NCT
Dress Rehearsal, courtesy of NCT. If
you like the show...SPREAD THE
WORD! Here is the dress rehearsal
schedule for the remainder of the season: BEE-LUTHER HATCHEE by
Thomas Gibbons DRESS: Wednesday
July 13. MORNINGS AT SEVEN by
Paul Osborn DRESS: Wednesday July
27th. To purchase tickets for any
show, call the Box Office at 587-3933.
Web development shop Creative
Mesh (creativemesh.com) has developed a user-driven restaurant review
website called FoodPundit.com. The
site allows anybody to review their
dining experience and actually tracks
a restaurant’s performance over time
with
the
user
ratings.
FoodPundit.com has data from
restaurants across New England, over
25,000 in all.
New 2005 income guidelines issued
for the Insurance Partnership
Program.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Insurance Partnership Program
announced an increase in income
guidelines that became effective
4/1/05. Currently enrolling over
13,000 Massachusetts residents, this
first of its kind program provides
funds to small employers (or the selfemployed) and their qualified lowerincome employees to help pay for
health insurance premiums. For further information on the details and
qualifications for the Insurance
Partnership, call 800-399-8285 within Massachusetts - or
visit
www.4ip.org.
Gazette Publisher Peter DeRose presents a
donation to Suzanne Smiley of the Girl Scouts
of Western Massachusetts at the Chamber’s
June 21 Meet & Eat Breakfast.
the law firm specializes in business
and estate planning, commercial and
municipal finance, elder and disability law, real estate law, civil and commercial litigation, and bankruptcy.
The new office, located at 39 Main
Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. has
Street in Northampton, joins Shatz,
expanded its law firm with the openSchwartz and Fentin’s offices in
ing of a new office in downtown
Springfield and Albany, NY.
Northampton. Founded in Springfield
in 1969 by former legal aid lawyers,