Northampton St. Patrick’s Association’s 2025 festivities

NORTHAMPTON — Two community events are coming up in Northampton to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

“An Irish Awakening” is taking place from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Northampton Country Club, 135 Main St., Leeds. The event features live music by the Celtic band Boston Blackthorne, a trivia contest, raffles, and food including Irish soup, fish and chips, corned beef sliders. Children eat free. There will be a cash bar. Tickets for adults are $15 each and may be purchased at the door.

Then on Saturday, March 8, the Marshal and Brennan Awards Banquet will be held at the Northampton Elks Lodge 997, 17 Spring St., in Florence. Among the honorees will be the 2025 Northampton contingent Parade Marshal Brian J. O’Connor; Linda Bushey, winner of the James Brennan award. Doors open at 4:30, with dinner at 6 and the awards portion at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from Chris Powers at 413-320-9012, or at the Ahearn Funeral Home, 783 Bridge Road in Northampton.

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast is sold out.

The Northampton Record Fair returns

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Record Fair returns on Sunday, March 2, at Union Station, 125 Pleasant St., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Local and regional record dealers from around the Northeast are bringing out thousands of vinyl records and CDs for salem with sixty-seven tables with at least 70,000 vinyl records and CDs spread over four rooms.

Early admission from 9-11 a.m. is $8 for the diehard’s looking to snatch the rare finds. Early admission comes with a raffle ticket to potentially be one of the winners of gift certificates to local record stores and three $50 shopping sprees for the fair. The raffle will be called at 11 a.m.

Admission is $3 general admission from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All ages, everyone’s invited. DJs will be spinning vinyl all day at the fair. The Facebook event ishas more than 1,100 responses: https://www.facebook.com/events/1812713906133328.

Forbes to host ‘Freedom Dreaming’

NORTHAMPTON — Forbes Library will host “Freedom Dreaming: Resistance, Resilience, and Repair in the Age of Trump,” on Thursday, Feb. 12, at noon in the community room.

Join Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene, a scholar, author, and chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission to discuss the history of slavery and Jim Crow in Northampton based on his work with the Documenting Black Lives in the Valley Project, the contemporary reparations movement, and the recent discovery of how slavery and slave-derived finance capital funded key institutions in Northampton.

A box lunch will be served. Please register to attend at https://forbeslibrary.libcal.com/event/14106301 or by calling 413-587-1011.

Holyoke installs business banners

HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke has installed its new city banners, an initiative designed to decorate and promote the community while showcasing civic pride of local businesses and organizations.

The banners are located throughout Holyoke, including along Northampton Street, at Holyoke Community College, and the Holyoke Mall. Each banner highlights the logo of a sponsoring business or organization.

The artwork for the banners was guided by the Holyoke Tourism Advisory Committee, a volunteer board comprised of businesses to promote visitation to Holyoke through the Explore Holyoke brand.

There are three banner locations still available. To reserve a spot, visit the City Banner Sign-Up Page on the city’s website.