BELCHERTOWN — When Town Manager Steve Williams goes on the road to advertise Belchertown as a viable, business-friendly community, business owners admit to him that they never considered the town as a potential home for their company.

“In the past, we’ve earned a reputation of being a difficult place to come to, and we’re working very hard to correct that,” Williams told a crowd at Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce’s After 5 networking event last week. “We really want people to look at Belchertown as welcoming. We want to be proud to be a town that’s open for business.”

However, Jacob Robinson, the chamber’s executive director who lives in Belchertown, sees the town’s potential as a great place to do business. Robinson initiated a partnership with Belchertown to support its economic development while simultaneously growing the Chamber’s business network.

“We launched a new initiative with the town this year called Building Up Belchertown to bring in new businesses to the Chamber, as well as host events in town to create opportunities for small businesses in the area to get together and connect with the broader Amherst area,” Robinson said.

To kick off the partnership, the Chamber hosted its “After 5” event at Belchertown’s newest restaurant, Tables on the Green, at the Cold Spring Country Club. Nearly 70 business people, town officials and state politicians attended the networking event on March 12 to snack on finger foods, witness a ribbon cutting and meet the newest members of Amherst area business community.

“We have a business community, and it’s hard to get them together for any kind of reason, and I think that working with the Chamber is a great reason,” Select Board member Jen Turner said. “The ability for the town to be able to subsidize its memberships, to get folks more engaged is going to really do wonders, because it’s this cross promotional aspect of it, right? Like, it’ll highlight the businesses that we do have in town, and it will help the Chamber. ”

Building Up Belchertown will waive membership fees for the first 10 Belchertown businesses to join the Chamber. The incentive, Robinson hopes, will bring new and relocating companies to the town.

“More members means more connections, which means a more connected community here in the Amherst area,” Robinson said. “We all need to work together to have a vibrant, bright future, and our local business community is a really important part of that.”

First to join Chamber

After the success of Palmer brunch spot Tables on the Farm, Tara Weagle decided to open a second restaurant, Tables on the Green, that serves dinner in addition to breakfast and lunch in Belchertown. She worked in town at Christina’s for years, where she made connections with many residents. Now she’s returning to her roots for a new venture.

“I managed to forge many relationships with a lot of Belchertown folk, and I consider many of them family, and that’s how my business runs,” Weagle said.

Tables on the Green recently had a successful soft opening, Weagle said, with many residents stopping by for breakfast.

“It’s baby steps. I want to do everything the right way,” she said. “I don’t want to overload my kitchen. I don’t want to frustrate my new employees that are still learning the job and have them be totally bombarded with a huge amount of business. It creates a bad feel in the kitchen.”

Table on the Green replaces the Leena’s Place, closed permanently months after owner Jessica Morehouse admitted to serving alcohol to her underage employees at an Alcohol Beverage Control Commission hearing last October. A handful of Leena’s Place employees returned to work for Weagle, who expressed appreciation for the veteran servers’ knowledge of the bar and the regular clientele.

“I’ve always said to myself as a young kid that I want to work up here when I get old enough, so it’s a dream come true coming up here under actual management,” Lily Hopkins said. “I mean seeing Dave (Wright, country club general manager) come upstairs, all the maintenance guys, the clientele that come in, we have a great connection with them, and it’s just been great so far.”

Residents in Belchertown fully back Weagle, she said, even offering their assistance as she settled into the new space. It was these residents who followed her to Palmer and became loyal customers, and now they are excited to have a local favorite closer to home.

“There are so many people in Belchertown that support every aspect of what I’m doing,” she said. “They’re right by my side all the time, and they support me every way possible. And they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m retired, I’m going to come help you.’ It’s just a nice deal.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.