A Look Back, Feb. 5

Published: 02-04-2025 11:01 PM |
■Acknowledging that downtown businesses need help, William Burke, newly elected president of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that once funds are put into municipal facilities, merchants will respond with their own revitalization efforts. Attractive stores are needed in downtown Northampton, Burke said, if the area is going to compete with the growing number of shopping malls.
■The Northampton Winter Festival is a week and a half away and taking credit for today’s snowstorm. It was inevitable, said Winter Festival Chairman Tom Hennessey, that there be snow, since the fourth annual festival was guaranteeing snow, and it was no hollow promise.
■Because of the Big Dig in Boston, the Pioneer Valley likely will see only half the federal highway money expected this year, forcing area officials to severely prune already scheduled projects, the region’s top planner says. “This is going to be a very, very, very tough year,” said Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.
■The 4,000-plus props, accessories and pieces of furniture used in the movie “The Cider House Rules,” most of which are antiques originally purchased in the Pioneer Valley, will go up for bids on Sunday at Pioneer Auction of Amherst. Owner and appraiser Bruce Smebakken bought the entire lot from Miramax after the company finished filming the movie in Northampton.
■The flakes stopped falling Monday evening, but wide and tall snowbanks and leftover snow on the roads made for very slow going through downtown Northampton Tuesday. “It’s basically single-file traffic in the downtown,” Department of Public Works Director Edward Huntley said.
■William Sayre of Conway Road is the newest member of the Williamsburg Select Board after winning election Monday to fill the remaining few months of former selectman Paul Dunphy’s three-year term. There was an 18 percent voter turnout, according to Town Clark Brenda Lessard.