NORTHAMPTON — An intense snowstorm Thursday effectively transformed much of the state into a snow globe — blustery conditions, empty roadways and a blanket of white draped over just about everything. But not everybody in the Valley was deterred by the intense winter weather.
Around midafternoon in downtown Northampton, roughly a dozen spectators stood, looking two or three stories above, as a fireman in a cherry picker knocked off monstrous snow drifts from the plaza building that houses Faces on Main Street. With each loud thud, as the snow fell from the roof to the sidewalk, the spectators cheered and laughed with excitement.
“Based on the hazard it posed to people walking on the sidewalk here, we brought our ladder truck down here from the fire department, and we were able to knock that snow down, mitigating that potential hazard,” said Chris Norris, Northampton deputy fire chief.
Near the campus of Smith College, students Hazel Edwards, 20, and Brynn Sibley, 21, were elated to finally have the opportunity to bust out their skis.
“We just went for an awesome ski,” Edwards said at the top of a hill overlooking Paradise Pond.
“It was really wonderful,” Sibley added.
Just after the women finished their ski excursion, the two set their equipment in the snow and body-sled all the way down the hill. Because why not?
Earlier in the afternoon, at Northampton’s Interfaith Emergency Cot Shelter, case worker Mike Trembley said that, while the shelter typically closes periodically throughout the day, it would remain open through Friday morning due to the storm.
“Today’s going to be ‘round the clock hangout,” he said as about 20 people with nowhere else to go gathered around the shelter’s television.
Thursday morning, the shopping center where Drs. Barbara and Gordon Freed run their dentist practice in Amherst, off of University Drive, was nearly empty.
Some storefronts were open, and some were closed. But customers were few and far between.
Vicki Tate, of Amherst, left her house at about 9 a.m. for her dentist appointment and to drop off a package at the post office.
From inside the dentist’s office, she said she didn’t mind that the snow that was piling up outside. “I kind of like the snow,” she said.
The Freeds were the only two employees in their dental office as the snow fell. Employees had concerns about coming in, and patients cancelled left and right. They only saw two patients.
“I think we have to go home,” Barbara Freed told her husband, looking at the snow piling up outside at around 11 a.m.
At the Amherst Laundry Club — possibly the only other shop open in the shopping center — Spencer Gauvin, an employee, was folding clothes behind the counter as CNN aired on a television in the background. It was warm inside.
“It’s slower than usual,” Gauvin said. He predicted that the owner would close before too long because the parking lot was becoming impassable. He walks to work, which takes about five or six minutes from his home.
“It’s deep but it’s powdery,” Gauvin said, explaining that he should have fewer problems walking home than driving.
Cliff Ostling, 64, of Leverett, had been doing laundry for about 35 minutes, he said. “I’m enjoying this very much,” he said peering through the window. “Now I can do some skiing.”
Meanwhile, with Easthampton mostly resembling a ghost town around noon, Mayor Karen Cadieux was clearing off her car in the municipal lot on Payson Avenue.
“Our crews really appreciate it when people stay off the road,” she said. “It makes their job a lot easier.”
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.