With the worst of the pandemic here in the Valley hopefully behind us, more freedoms were authorized this week. In Amherst, swimmers took the plunge at War Memorial Pool and in the pool at Mill River Recreation Area, which both opened on Saturday. The new splash pad at Groff Park is expected to open in July, and the spray park at Look Park in Northampton opened on June 22. The Easthampton pool and spray park in Nonotuck Park are closed for the season.
Following in the footsteps of Northampton’s outdoor dining plan, Amherst positioned 30 concrete barriers last week on both North and South Pleasant streets to protect diners from traffic. Last Friday, a crew arranged tents and tables as Robert Mora, the building commissioner, directed their placement. A Solomon Foundation grant for $10,000 will be used for umbrellas and trees, according to Amherst BID Executive Director Gabrielle Gould, who was helping with the setup.
“It’s going to take some time for people to realize the restaurants are open,” she said. Although the rain impacted the first weekend of outdoor dining, she said the restaurants are “definitely seeing the shift” as people return to normalcy. Fourteen restaurants are open, with three more slated to open this week. But she also thinks older diners and others at risk might be concerned if they see unmasked people on the sidewalks where distancing isn’t possible. “The masks are going to be imperative,” she said.
In Northampton, seven artists painted outdoor dining barriers along Main Street and Strong Avenue during the Northampton Public Arts Festival, which ran June 23-July 1. Ramiro Davaro-Comas was painting on Strong. “We need new things to continue to inspire people,” he said. “Public art is one of those things that brightens the day and brings people together.” Now living in the Albany area, he lived in Northampton, graduated from UMass Amherst and painted the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mural on the side of the former Northampton National Bank building on Main Street last year. Steve Sanderson, the arts events producer for the city, said that at one point last weekend, he saw an endless line of people in their cars yelling “thank you” and “it’s beautiful” to artists working. “Art makes people feel better,” he said.
Amherst is in the process of lining up 30 artists to paint their barriers on July 7, according to Gould.
Summer baseball is set to begin with the first game scheduled for next week with players assembled from western Massachusetts American Legion teams. American Legion canceled its season for the first time since 1927 due to the pandemic and has been replaced by a league called Western Mass, with 19-and-under and 16-and-under divisions. Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax leagues will also begin their seasons next week. Though the season is starting later than usual, all will play about 15 games.
Noah Brink, a 2019 graduate of Northampton High School who is playing catcher for the Northampton Arcanums in the Western Mass 19-and-under league, was practicing with the team at Arcanum Field on Tuesday.
“It’s probably going to be my last baseball season,” he said. “When it (American Legion baseball) was canceled, I was disappointed. It’s a different atmosphere. It’s more relaxed, but just as intense,” he said of the summer season compared to high school games. “We made a good run into the post-season last year, and we’re looking to finish the job.”