A Look Back, April 25

50 Years Ago

■For Paul Walker, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, yesterday was a “memorable day.” Walker traveled to Washington, D.C., to present plaques to Congressman Silvio O. Conte, expressing appreciation to three Skylab astronauts for their “help” in bringing snow for the city’s winter festival in February.

■Dennis McKenna has been awarded the 1973 Tom Gaffney Memorial Award as the “boy of the year” in the Hampshire Regional YMCA youth program.

25 Years Ago

■Tougher penalties await students caught using tobacco at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, under a revised tobacco policy unanimously approved by trustees. Students who are caught smoking or chewing tobacco will be required to serve one day of in-school suspension and perform one period of community service devoted to picking up discarded cigarette butts on school property.

■Students in Grades 4, 8, and 10 are sharpening their pencils and their wits as they return from April vacation with the first installment of the state’s standardized tests set for this week. The tests will be offered for the second year this spring.

10 Years Ago

■A Springfield resident with an extensive background in economic development and historic preservation is the new executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. Donald Courtemanche, who resigned as executive director of the Springfield Business Improvement District in January, was named Wednesday to lead the 500-member chamber and starts immediately.

■In 1974, UMass Extension vegetable specialist John Howell visited area farmers to talk them into coming to Gothic Street on Saturday mornings to sell their produce directly to customers at a little thing he was trying to start called a farmers’ market. The market begins its 40th season on Saturday.