In the mid 1990s, I was working in Northampton as an editor, gigging with my band (Salamander Crossing, back then) on the weekends and playing old-time music in Pulaski Park on my lunch hours. My friend Paul Newlin often stole away from his Northampton office to jam-and one day we hatched an idea to start a homespun, unplugged little concert series in the tiny hamlet of West Whately, where Paul lives. We held it in the town's minuscule wooden chapel and kept it cheap to counter the rising costs of entertainment in the Valley. Tickets were sliding scale, with a cap of $15 if you brought the whole family, and we offered free watermelon at intermission. We weren't positive the Valley had room for yet one more music venue (especially in such an "out-of-the-way" location), but now, 10 years later, Watermelon Wednesdays in West Whately is still going strong, with eight concerts a year, including some fabulous national acts. I moved away shortly after the launch, so the series' success lies squarely with Paul's dedication-but also with the amazing cadre of local Valley musicians who were (and are) more than eager to play just this kind of show, and the Valley audiences who knew from the start how special it is.
