50 Years Ago
- Some 100,000 people came to see the Hampshire County Bicentennial Parade this weekend. It was the greatest spectacle in Northampton’s history — the largest and best attended parade ever. To watch the three-hour procession of some 60 floats, 30 bands and nearly 100 marching units, spectators found perches wherever they could.
- The owner of Tables, the furniture store on Main Street that closed last February, plans to reopen his business on July 1 on Pleasant Street. Store owner Gregory Strattner said he went out of business last winter because some 50 tables that he had made and sold split because of the bad lumber used.
25 Years Ago
- Strengthening a four-decade relationship, The Odyssey Bookshop has taken a major responsibility off the hands of neighboring Mount Holyoke College. The independent bookstore is now the official merchant of Mount Holyoke College textbooks, college officials announced Wednesday.
- A retirement party to honor two teachers, a librarian and a guidance counselor who collectively have served Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School for 97 years, will be held Friday. Carl Thor, a guidance counselor since 1975; Jack Hogan, math teacher since 1977; Anne Russell, a librarian since 1977; and Al Warywoski, a physical education teacher since 1978, are retiring at the end of the school year.
10 Years Ago
- Members of the local LGBT community and their allies are reeling from the targeted hate displayed Sunday morning during the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, that claimed 49 lives. Across the Valley, people are pondering the tragedy and trying to find ways to have an impact.
- Northampton’s most notorious missing vowel is getting its very own beer. The C_LVIN India Pale Ale, named after the appearance of the Calvin Theatre sign with its missing “A,” is slated to be released this week at bars across the Valley as part of Western Mass Beer Week.