Scene Here
Scene Here: Frostilicus
As temperatures dip and the ice thickens on Heritage Park in East Longmeadow, ice skaters and hockey players of all ages lace up their freshly sharpened skates and brave the cold to carry on a generations-old winter tradition. Just ask Ryan Morton. He used to play...
Scene Here: A Respite from the Cold
There’s always a little bit of added electricity in the air when a Nor’easter is bearing down on New England and the snowflakes start to fly. The cold brings out a sense of camaraderie in people: us v. the snow. Sometimes the best thing to do is to find a cozy corner...
Scene Here: Holidays in Whoville
The quadrangle at the Springfield Museums, with its many sculptures of Dr. Seuss’ most famous characters, can inspire wonder in most visitors any day of the year, but there’s an extra bit of Seussian whimsy about it around the holidays. The characters — The Grinch,...
Scene Here: The Rift in Holyoke
Reports of hate crimes have spiked across the nation in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory, and dozens of people marched through Holyoke on the evening of Friday, Nov. 18, to protest the president elect’s campaign promises and policies that many...
Scene Here: Atop Long Mountain
Room to Breathe What pairs well with local beer and wine this week? My opinion: some peace and quiet. It’s not always appreciated, or sought out. But after a nightmare of an election season — full of vitriol, lies and low blows — I was feeling a serious need to go...
Scene Here: Easthamptonshire
If Frodo had been living in Easthampton’s new Mill 180 Park when Gandalf stopped by, he probably would have turned down the wizard’s all-powerful ring. Hidden inside an old mill building — with food, lawn games, coffee, beer, and wifi at your fingertips — it’s already...
Scene Here: Rent Rally
Several dozen protesters gathered this past Friday at Mason Square in Springfield, chanting What Do We Want? Affordable Housing! When Do We Want It? Now! and carrying signs down State Street — through one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods — to Court Square in...
Scene Here: The Force … Is Getting Sleepy
More than 100 people stake out a plot of land at Pulaski Park in Northampton on this crisp Wednesday night for an outdoor screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At the event kicking off this year’s Northampton Film Festival, people dress as Luke, Leia, Han, Chewy,...
Scene Here: Lesser Evils
“The mythology is hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil and things will get better. “Lesser evil” politicians have been speaking for us and they are bought and paid for by their corporate influences consisting of “predatory banks, the fossil fuel...
Scene Here: Keep Moving, construction on Pleasant Street in Northampton
From six directions, cars attempt to drive through the intersection at Conz and Pleasant streets in Northampton. It’s 88 degrees and the dirt kicked up by heavy machinery sticks to sweat, giving everyone a dirty looking tan. The Route 5 entryway to Paradise City is...
Scene Here: Slippery Slope
It’s human nature to want to see just how far an idea can be pushed. Take Slide the City for instance, the 1,000-foot slip-and-slide that transformed Appleton Street into a lazy river for the Celebrate Holyoke festival this past weekend. It’s easy to imagine...
Scene Here: Mountain Park Funk
The old familiar smell of hundreds of people’s body odors mingles with the dust kicking up under our feet and the marijuana smoke hanging low in the air to form that perfect outdoor concert aroma at Mountain Park in Holyoke Saturday.Turkuaz, each member head to toe in...
Scene Here: Rosco’s Not Feeling It
Rosco just #can’t. After a full week of being a good dog — messing outside, not messing in the house, and being generally adorable — here he is, out on a river, of all places, hanging with these kids. “I’m too old for this,” he mutters to himself, sipping on an iced...
Scene Here: Dreaming Away with Deer Tick
Down an old country road, tucked into the mountains in Becket, rests the 200-year-old Dream Away Lodge. The romantic name suits the intimate atmosphere with dim lighting and couples in every nook. It’s a lot like entering a good friend’s living room with unique,...
Scene Here: Cat 4 Prez
A crowd of several hundred people, made up largely of children, packed the lawn of the Springfield Museums Quadrangle on Tuesday morning in eager anticipation of a stump speech by the self-proclaimed “children’s candidate,” the latest to enter the presidential fray....
Scene Here: Tuesday Night Classics
The setting sun glints off a sea of chrome and glossy paint jobs — fiery reds, cool blues, and slick blacks. The sounds of classic rock ‘n’ roll echo through Stearns Square and the smell of fried food lingers. It’s Tuesday Cruise Night, an event put on by the...
Scene Here: On Tap Festival at Berkshire East
Last Call, Franklin County This past Sunday’s inaugural Franklin County On Tap festival drew over 400 intrepid fans of craft beer, cider, and mead to Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont to sample brews from a dozen local operations, including the...
SceneHere: The Jam Must Go On!
The 30th Green River Festival at Greenfield Community College was awash in music, good vibes, and rain — big time. Day two of the three-day festival, Saturday, saw some severe downpours, but a little rain wasn’t enough to dampen people’s spirits. — Kristin Palpini,...
Scene Here: Abuzz About Drones
In a cozy courtyard in downtown Springfield, nestled among red brick buildings and gray concrete parking garages, a small white quadcopter suddenly whirs to life on a makeshift launch pad in small patch of grass. At the controls is 16-year-old Briyanna Henry, who’s...
Scene Here: Vigils for Orlando
On June 12, the day of the massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, people in the Valley held vigils to mourn the tragedy and to comfort each other. In Greenfield, people sang “We Shall Overcome” on the town common. In Northampton, they held a vigil...
Retired: Northampton’s ‘Downtown’ Daniel Packs Up His Guitar
Daniel Evans, 63, has been playing his guitar on Main Street in Northampton for over 15 years, but as of Sunday, June 5, the man locals have come to know as “Downtown Daniel” has officially retired. Evans, who’s struggled with homelessness, became a part of the fabric...
Scene Here: Junior Jiu Jitsu / Warriors in Training
Through the open door of Springfield’s Virtue Brazilian Jiu Jitsu come the sounds of little bare feet rapidly thumping on gym mats. Inside, Kym Sturdivant’s watchful gaze over the tiny fighters is sober. Arms raised, the grade-school grapplers circle each other,...
Scene Here: Sunshine and Smokes
It’s 8:30 a.m. and the sun already feels warm on Main St. in Springfield’s South End. Birdsong can be heard beyond the roar of a passing bus. Across from a patchy, untended lot enclosed by a chainlink fence, children in backpacks skip along the sidewalk, weaving...
Scene Here: Gorilla Fingers in the Mist
At Extravaganja 2016 at Northampton’s Three County Fairgrounds, the crowd is as high as the marijuana-leaf balloon floating overhead. About 24,000 red eyes look on as local musicians blast out funky jams and marijuana-tinged tunes. Police officers meander in pairs...
Scene Here: Afternoon Nighthawks
A crisp smack of cold beer hits my palate; a dark, hearty rye. I’m engulfed by laughter and spirited conversation, lost in the dull roar, a wave washing over me. A sudden crash, a peaceful respite as it rolls back, redoubling its efforts at sweeping me away …...
Seeing Springsteen, again and again and again
So, yeah. I’m obsessed. I began following Bruce Springsteen as a schoolboy coming of age in mid-1970s Omaha. A few seconds after graduation, I loaded up my Mercury Bobcat (creamsicle orange paint, white vinyl top) and headed east. Crossing the Jersey state line, I...
Scene Here: Free Radical
The man is 74 years old. For half a century of tilting at the bone-grinding windmills of Darwinian capitalism, you’d think he’d be weary, wised-up, aching for retirement. But no, here he is in New Hampshire, on short sleep caught on a night flight halfway across the...
Scene Here: Songs Aloft
The creaky floorboards cry out when Tom Matherly shifts his weight. He rocks from one heel to the other in his tan boots, staring down at the frayed red rug while he twists the tuning keys on his vintage electric guitar. He’s pausing his set list to play “The Man Who...
Los Tres Reyes
DAN LITTLE PHOTO The camels may not be here at this year’s Three King’s Day celebration put on by Springfield’s Women of the Vanguard and various community partners, but the party’s so much fun that no one seems to mind. Arriving around 5:30 at Main Street’s...
Forecast: Messy
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO It’s here — the white we all wanted on Christmas. But they sent the wrong stuff. Given the Valley’s tropical Christmas — we saw people posting Christmas bikini pics on social media — it’s really a mean joke that flakes fell last Tuesday while...
Working for Workers
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO At Price Rite in Chicopee on a recent Thursday afternoon, the rally is in action. A man wearing a vest with Bernie Sanders buttons and Jobs with Justice pins approaches my car. I roll down the window at his polite but persistent behest. He hands me...
The Nest
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO Outside the Nest, a house/underground music venue on a side street off Belchertown Road in Amherst, a cloud of smokers greet me. I follow the train of people kicking off their boots and shoes at the bottom of the basement stairs where a living room...
Scene Here: Smith College Sit-In, Where is my utopia?
The Smith College Campus Center, a futuristic white building that rises over the campus like a spaceship, is full today. Where students usually walk through a mostly empty atrium, today almost every inch is packed, students and community members sprawling over floor...
Getting Lit
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO The holiday spirit arrives a bit early at Easthampton’s Keep Cottage Street Lit event at the Brass Cat. On this recent Wednesday night, the packed pub is a unified wall of happy noise as revelers clutch stemless, child-sized glasses and mill around...
Scene Here: Bird Brain
Photo by Greg Saulmon Motivated by hunger and a bit of sport, the peregrine falcon searches for a high perch from which she can keep a sharp lookout for prey. Her favorite meals are pigeons, ducks, and shorebirds, but in the lush Pioneer Valley any kind of medium-size...
Scene Here: A Potato in the Rough
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO A third of all the food that’s produced in the U.S. goes to waste, Jessica Harwood tells the 14 young gleaning helpers at Atkins Farm. Standing in a circle on a mild mid-afternoon, the children take turns offering up first names and their thoughts...
Scene Here: Franklin County Pumpkinfest
A devil dances along the lane of Avenue A in Turners Falls. She’s joined by a witch, whose laughter breaks through the crowd in the purest delight. Through the droves of people a young princess pushes her small hands into a large pile of pumpkin guts. A tiny Jedi is...
Scene Here: Laughs and Lingerie
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO The Mary Jane Jones kicks off the night of comedy and lingerie at One Bar and Grill in Northampton with several soulful love songs. Eyes closed, lead singer Mandy Pachios growls a velvet reverie. A shot girl in a form-fitting, black nightgown with a...
Scene Here: Guaranteed to fall
KEVIN GUTTING PHOTO When Cameron Clapp was 15, a night of drinking landed him on train tracks, where an oncoming freight train took his arm and both his legs. “Right now, in this moment,” Clapp tells a room full of health care professionals at Healthsouth...
Scene Here: Before Sunrise
At the end of a long day, there is no separating me from the world. Everyday needs loom large in my mind, and I’m roped, like Gulliver, to a thousand little worries. But at six a.m., when I step onto my front porch, I feel small again. Looking up at a cold, dark sky,...
Scene Here: Beam Me Up
Bulbs flash. Beats drop. Bass thuds in my ribcage. On the dance floor, bolts of light swirl together in neon colors, and the dancers are a galaxy of iconic sci-fi stars. A tall young man with long hair and a Jedi cloak whips his red double-bladed lightsaber in...
Scene Here: Fresh Meat Night with Pioneer Valley Roller Derby
I feel like it should smell in here. This is the thought I just can’t let go of as I wobble precariously along a plastic track with all the other “fresh meat.” Sweat is dampening every inch of clothing touching my skin. My rental gear feels loose — and a bit...
Scene Here: Between the Moon and Holyoke
Holyoke City Hall follows you like the moon. Night in downtown Holyoke can be a quiet affair: Sometimes you can stand next to a canal and hear little more than the black water below. One night on Race Street this summer, tree frog near a power substation spoke the...
Scene Here: Yoga and Beer
AMANDA DRANE PHOTO At 6:20 p.m. on a Thursday I arrive at Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton to do yoga and drink beer. Clad in yoga attire, we the attendees make our way up to the large, bustling farm building on Fort Hill Road. Brightly colored mats, yoga clothes, and...
Scene Here: Homecoming, crowd surfing, and the hot breath
PHOTO CREDIT: DANIELLE DESJARDINS At 9:30 p.m. on a Friday, the crowd at Hinge on Main Street in Northampton is packed like sardines, and the show doesn’t start for another half-hour or so. “Excuse me,” says a woman trying to push past those of us standing in front of...
Scene Here: The Runway
Kelly Dempsey, 31, originally hails from Monson and now she’s on the latest season of Project Runway, which premiered last Thursday. At the packed Pasquale’s Restaurant in East Longmeadow last Thursday, Dempsey’s friends, relatives, acquaintances, and some fond...
Scene Here: Let’s go tag-saling!
Old garden hoses and porcelain chickens … Oxidized metals and outfits for Wiccans … Doodads and knickknacks that spring cleaning brings … These are a few of my favorite things. I step across a cluttered driveway in Florence, eager to help kick off the beginning of tag...
Scene Here: ‘Yo, My Belly Button is a Pool’ – Midnight Ultimate at Wal-Mart
I was confident I would find no Ultimate Frisbee going on as I drove into the Wal-Mart plaza in Chicopee shortly after midnight early last Friday — I figured the pouring rain and flood warnings would deter the pick-up players that valleyultimate.org told me gather...
Scene Here: Peak Condition
Not everyone would choose to spend a Sunday morning deep in the woods of southern New Hampshire. The scattered hikers on top of Mount Monadnock at 10 a.m. arrive from all directions — the mountain has dozens of trails — in various states of outdoor preparedness. There...
Scene Here: On High Street, Holyoke
A thin man in a red basketball jersey and nylon shorts strides down Dwight Street in Holyoke, arms swinging, a smile on his face. His thick black hair is slicked back, and his ankles look like saplings sprouting from his foam slippers. He reaches the intersection with...
Scene Here: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow, Ashfield’s semicentennial beard contest
Stage lights shine down on a legion of beards. They sprout from Ashfield men young and old, tall and short. Some beards are just wiry tufts, some fluffy and soft like cumulus clouds, some as thick and full as a field of wheat primed for harvest. The beards are black,...
Scene Here: Shave and a Haircut at the Friendly Barbershop in West Springfield
The three men who staff The Friendly Barber Shop in West Springfield — James Pagan, Jeff Vample, and John Pellegrino — don’t care two bits who you are. You can be a Red Sox fan, a Yankees fan, or a Mets fan — and the three jerseys hang side-by-side at the front of the...
Scene Here: For Love or Baseball?
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, said in his poem “Locksley Hall” that in springtime a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Maybe so. I’m long past remembering almost anything about being a young man; but I do know that in this springtime, the first in my retirement...
Scene Here: Nightly Rounds at Tandem Bagel Co. in Easthampton
Melissa Haller rattles a wheeled rack across the concrete floor. It holds 15 pans with 24 raw bagels in each. The unbaked dough shines in the fluorescent light. The air in the kitchen is thick with a warm, herby smell, cut with the savory tang of onion and garlic....
Scene Here: Springfield Symphony Hall
It’s the final performance of the 2015 Springfield Symphony Orchestra season and the 71-year-old group has put together a timely show, The Rite of Spring with Spencer Myer on piano. Buses for retired living communities line the street outside. Inside Symphony Hall,...Scene Here: Beyond the Division
Hampshire College’s commencement ceremony is a social justice rally. About 350 people pack the graduation tent on the campus commons. As president Jonathan Lash begins his speech, more guests arrive. They spill out into the lawn outside the tent. Few of the students...
Scene Here: Temple of the Mind
A cool breeze floods the mountainside, rustling the leaves and pine needles in the branches high above me. But as I walk up the path, I barely hear it. My brain is making too much noise of its own. My eyes are down, watching my sneakers crunching along the dirt trail,...
Scene Here: Spectacular, Spectacular
Lively organ music floated through the air, and I followed it in from the parking lot. Why, exactly, had I opted to spend Friday night at the circus? I wasn??t sure, other than the fact that I was drawn here to the Eastern States Expo in West Springfield by faint,...
Scene Here: Over King Street and Through the Woods
Two or three lonely shopping carts litter the entrance to the Northampton-to-Leeds section of the bikepath. I’m sitting on a stone marking the entrance to the path taking notes when a 50-something man named Peter meanders my way. “Does your name start with an ‘A’?” he...E-Edition
Best Of 2024
Readers Choice 2024
