Divided
Divided: Scenes from Inauguration 2021
JANUARY 19, 2021
A Photo and Interview Series by Barry Goldstein
In America, the inauguration of a Commander In Chief is traditionally a time of celebration. Politicians, special guests, and everyday Americans converge on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol building to mark the swearing in of the next President of the United States. Full of pomp and circumstance, inaugurations are an important democratic ritual and a symbol of the peaceful transfer of power.
Hired Hand Signs: On the Road from Turners Falls
Hired Hand Signs: On the Road from Turners Falls
February 2, 2023
So many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to Western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann found not only her passion for creating hand painted signs here but says she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Her company, Hired Hand Signs, is bringing back the personalized touch of hand-made signs and gold leaf lettering to businesses across the Pioneer Valley. And you may also recog
So many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to Western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann found not only her passion for creating hand painted signs here but says s
So many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to Western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann found not only her passion for creating hand painted signs here but says she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Her company, Hired Hand Signs, is bringing back the personalized touch of hand-made signs and gold leaf lettering to businesses across the Pioneer Valley. And you may also recog
So many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to Western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann found not only her passion for creating hand painted signs here but says she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
Her company, Hired Hand Signs, is bringing back the personalized touch of hand-made signs and gold leaf lettering to businesses across the Pioneer Valley. And you may also recognize her work creating one of the area’s biggest tourist attractions at Mike’s Maze in Sunderland.
Connecting Point’s Ross Lippman brings us to her studio on 3rd Avenue to see how her hand-crafted signs are created.
This segment originally aired on March 31, 2022.
Read the transcript:
Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: Many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann not only found her passion for creating hand-painted signs here but says she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
Her company, Hired Hand Signs, is bringing back the personalized touch of handmade signs and gold leaf lettering to businesses across the Pioneer Valley. And you may also recognize her work in creating one of the area's biggest tourist attractions at Mike's Maze in Sunderland.
Connecting Point's Ross Lippmann brings us to her studio on Third Avenue to see how her handcrafted signs are made.
Jess Marsh Wissemann, Hired Hand Signs: My name is Jess Marsh Weissmann. I'm a sign painter based in Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
People definitely pause when I say I'm a sign painter. Alternatively, I sometimes say I'm an artist who paints signs, and for a lot of people, that makes more sense. Because as a trade, sign painting has mostly died at this point. It's mostly faded away.
My interest in learning about gold leaf signage, basically, it is the pinnacle of the sign painting world. Like it's the -- it's the practice that I think all sign painters kind of, you know, work toward perfecting because it is really difficult.
Right here in town, we have the Five Eyed Fox restaurant, I gilded their windows. Loot on Avenue A, I did their logo in gold leaf and painted their raccoon character on the door.
I feel really lucky that I found this interest and decided to pursue it, because Western Massachusetts is really the perfect area to be a sign painter, I think. There's sort of an aversion to things that are mass produced. People are really interested in making things here. There's a lot of artists here, and so this is the perfect place to make artist made signs.
My family farm is Warner Farm in Sunderland and we are mostly known as the home of Mike's Maze. And I happened to inherit the job of designing Mike's Maze for our family farm.
And so in 2015, I made my first corn maze. And we posted the picture of it one evening and the next day we woke up and found out it was on the front page of Reddit and it had gone viral and I got kind of hooked on it! You know, it was really exciting that so many people responded to my artwork that was carved into a cornfield.
For the 2020 election, that fall, it was pretty obvious to me that we needed to do something about the election, about voting. We focused on voting and voting rights and the history of voting.
It's been...the real creative spark for me. I think it's what ultimately led me to pursuing art as my full-time work.
Mural painting and sign painting are very similar. There are a lot of similar techniques that you need to know how to do. I just am so interested in having a blank slate and figuring out how to bring life to it with art. And so, murals or signs, either -- either or, they're both really fun for me to work on.
So many of the artists living and working in Turners Falls have deep ties to Western Massachusetts. Although she was born in Michigan, Jess Marsh Wissemann found not only her passion for creating hand painted signs here but says she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Her company, Hired Hand Signs, is bringing back the personalized touch of hand-made signs and gold leaf lettering to businesses across the Pioneer Valley. And you may also recog
Loot Found+Made (Digital Exclusive): On the Road in Turners Falls
Loot Found+Made (Digital Exclusive): On the Road in Turners Falls
February 2, 2023
Since 2011, Loot Found+Made in the Village of Turners Falls has specialized in old industrial artifacts and locally handmade goods for artists, craftspeople, interior decorators and anyone who loves cool old stuff! Executive Producer Tony Dunne takes us inside to find out what brought owners Erin MacLean and John McNamara to Avenue A, and how they make everything old new again. Read the full transcript:Suzanne LoManto, Turners Falls Resident: I
Since 2011, Loot Found+Made in the Village of Turners Falls has specialized in old industrial artifacts and locally handmade goods for artists, craftspeople, interior decorators and anyone who loves cool old stuff! Executive Prod
Since 2011, Loot Found+Made in the Village of Turners Falls has specialized in old industrial artifacts and locally handmade goods for artists, craftspeople, interior decorators and anyone who loves cool old stuff! Executive Producer Tony Dunne takes us inside to find out what brought owners Erin MacLean and John McNamara to Avenue A, and how they make everything old new again. Read the full transcript:Suzanne LoManto, Turners Falls Resident: I
Since 2011, Loot Found+Made in the Village of Turners Falls has specialized in old industrial artifacts and locally handmade goods for artists, craftspeople, interior decorators and anyone who loves cool old stuff!
Executive Producer Tony Dunne takes us inside to find out what brought owners Erin MacLean and John McNamara to Avenue A, and how they make everything old new again.
Read the full transcript:
Suzanne LoManto, Turners Falls Resident: I like coming to Loot. It's a really unique and fresh store and it is kind of showing people that Turners Falls can be a place where you can start a unique business.
John McNamara, Loot Found + Made: We were looking for a place to relocate together to start a life together, Erin and I. So, we came to Turners falls.
Erin MacLean, Loot Found + Made: It was sort of a love at first sight kind of thing. We drove through the town and, for me, I was just struck by the natural beauty of the town.
John McNamara: And we thought this would be a great place to live. And then we sort of caught on to thinking that maybe this would be a cool place to open up a business.
Originally, I was involved in television, but for almost my entire life, ever since I was a kid, I used to pal around with my mom to flea markets and tag sales.
Erin MacLean: My background was in art, so I studied art in school. So, I'm always sort of coming from a design background.
So, that's sort of what I brought to the table with the store.
John McNamara: We live upstairs above the shop.
Erin MacLean: It took us a long time to renovate. This was a dog grooming business, so we kind of took it all apart, exposed the brick, redid the floors. We did a lot of it ourselves.
John McNamara: So, it's been a nonstop project since we moved to Turners Falls.
When I go looking for items, what I look for is industrial artifacts that can be repurposed to make into other things. But then I'm also looking for things for artists and creative people.
Suzanne LoManto: Loot has a real energy about it. People who come here also can sense the creativity here.
Erin MacLean: I work with some of the artists, so we have some gifts here as well. We have earrings that are made out of repurposed chaps, so old leather. Earrings that are made from vintage tin.
So, I acquire some of those things, letterpress cards.
John McNamara: And you'll find a lot of stuff in the shop that is cool. But the question is, what do you do with it? And we rely on our customers to figure out what to do with it.
And we get a lot of feedback and a lot of interesting ideas that come from our customers creating things with the stuff that we find.
Suzanne LoManto: When I come in, my imagination is really sparked. I look at things and I say, "Well, what can I do with that?"
And so I'm always coming up with projects, and it's a very imaginative place to be. It's really fun.
Bridget Chaffee: I have a very creative daughter as well, so she just goes to town here and gets all the little trinkets and put something together at home. So, it's a very creative kind of outlet for us, for our family.
Chris Menegoni, Tuners Falls Resident: It's just very unique. You know, it's not like going into a shop where everything is boxed up with the price tag and a bar code.
Erin MacLean: They like knowing that it's local, that it's not, you know, from China, that it's something that was made by an artist down the street or, you know, within New England.
John McNamara: Some of this stuff has a great history and people...people enjoy having these things in their home because it really -- they have a connection with it because of our industrial heritage that we have in this town and this country.
Chris Menegoni: The spoon castings, I think are cool. I think this stuff kind of like the byproducts or the things that you don't see. You see the product because of this.
Suzanne LoManto: The coolest thing I've ever found here, I found it was a it was a keychain with my name on it spelled correctly. And it was from the 70s and it was from like the Jersey Shore or something like that, where I'm from.
So, I thought that was really cool.
Effie Paxton, Turners Falls Resident: The coolest thing I've ever gotten here was the little red tags. Because sometimes they come in ten packs and I'm five, and five plus five is ten.
John McNamara: One of the neatest things that we found was an old bird target that probably came from Coney Island.
Erin MacLean: The thing I loved were these cement deer, like lawn ornament deer. But those are gone. They're sold.
That's sometimes the tough part is selling the things that you love, but you feel like they're going to a good home. So, you -- you let them go.
John McNamara: It means a lot to me to be able to find these things and shine them up a little bit, have other people appreciate them or make something new out of something that was used for completely something else.
Erin MacLean: And people really respond to it. People care about that. They like knowing the story of it and the history of it.
So yeah, you feel like you're bringing life to something and that's a good feeling.
Since 2011, Loot Found+Made in the Village of Turners Falls has specialized in old industrial artifacts and locally handmade goods for artists, craftspeople, interior decorators and anyone who loves cool old stuff! Executive Producer Tony Dunne takes us inside to find out what brought owners Erin MacLean and John McNamara to Avenue A, and how they make everything old new again. Read the full transcript:Suzanne LoManto, Turners Falls Resident: I
Shady Glen Diner: On the Road from Turners Falls
Shady Glen Diner: On the Road from Turners Falls
February 2, 2023
When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen diner in 2012, it was certainly a "local boy makes good" type story.But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to climb, as the restaurant had gone through three different owners in the last ten years before he bought it.One decade later, and this once proud diner that appeared to be on its last legs has once again become, like the s
When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen diner in 2012, it was certainly a "local boy makes good" type story.But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to c
When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen diner in 2012, it was certainly a "local boy makes good" type story.But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to climb, as the restaurant had gone through three different owners in the last ten years before he bought it.One decade later, and this once proud diner that appeared to be on its last legs has once again become, like the s
When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen diner in 2012, it was certainly a "local boy makes good" type story.
But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to climb, as the restaurant had gone through three different owners in the last ten years before he bought it.
One decade later, and this once proud diner that appeared to be on its last legs has once again become, like the song says, "a place where everyone knows your name."
Connecting Point's Brian Sullivan dropped by the Shady Glen for a hot cup of joe and a side of some local flavor.
This segment originally aired on March 31, 2022.
Read the full transcription:
Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen Diner in 2012, it was certainly a local boy, makes good type of story.
But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to climb, as the restaurant had gone through three different owners in the last ten years before he bought it.
One decade later, and this once proud diner that appeared to be on its last legs has once again become, like the song says, "a place where everyone knows your name."
Connecting Point's Brian Sullivan dropped by the Shady Glen for a hot cup of joe and a side of some local flavor.
Brian Sullivan, Connecting Point: Is there ever a time that a cup of coffee is more than just a cup of coffee? Well, to ask most coffee drinkers, they'll say that every cup is special.
But there are those times when it's just a little more special. Maybe it's the first one of the day or during breakfast with a loved one. Maybe it's during a get together with friends as they try to solve the world's problems, share a few laughs, and do it all before the sun is all the way up.
Albert Cummings, Turners Falls Resident: The four of us are good friends. We met coming in here and it just started...every morning, we'll be here at 8:00 in the morning for our coffee.
Brian Sullivan: The here in question is a place known as the Shady Glen Diner in Turners Falls. Folks crossing the Turners Falls Gill Bridge can find it almost immediately on the left, at the corner of First Street and Avenue A.
In these times where decorum often supersedes content, what stands out most about the Shady Glen is its simplicity. That in the larger-than-life presence of owner Chuck Garbiel behind the counter. Not only does he look like a pro wrestler, he's got the pictures on the wall showing he's not one to be trifled with.
But the customers who know him aren't exactly shaking in their boots.
Annette Krejmas, Tuners Falls Resident: I think he's a hoot. He's a nice guy. And I think he cares, you know, about other people.
He's a selectman up in Gill now, so that shows that he's involved.
Brian Sullivan: While making sure the food gets to the customers hot and fast from the griddle may be priority number one around here, giving customers at the Shady Glen the feeling that they're in a special club whenever they're here is a close second.
Chuck Garbiel: I've got regulars that have been coming since day one. And -- and whatever topic you want to pick: religion, politics, health, whatever. We've agreed, disagreed, totally disagreed, totally agreed.
But it's just -- you're right. People come in certain times, certain time of the day. They know whoever else is going to be here at that time, so they know it's going to be like a fun time or a hot topic or whatever.
And so, they just -- the regulars just come. It's like clockwork. I know what time of day it is by who's showing up.
Brian Sullivan: Garbiel may be a fixture here now, but it almost didn't come to pass.
Before purchasing the diner in 2012, his sights were set on buying the local pizza place where he'd worked for several years. When that deal fell through, the Shady Glen became available.
The year 2022 makes it ten straight years where hardly a day has gone by that Chuck wasn't behind the counter. And that's a fact that actually has a little bit of irony to it.
Chuck Garbiel: I think I was the only kid in high school that didn't work here, so I guess to make up for lost time, I just bought it.
Brian Sullivan: The uniqueness of the Shady Glen extends beyond just the dining experience. It also applies to its appearance. The images of rectangular, shiny metal structures with rounded corners and neon signs often come to mind when people think of what an American diner should look like.
This diner, not so much. In the past when we looked at some local diners, the year that it was made, usually determined what model it was. It could have been anything from a Fedaro to a Coleman Princess to a Worcester. But the Shady Glen Diner here on Avenue A in Turners Falls was none of those things.
This building actually used to be a Tastee Freez from the 1950s. No matter what this building was, what it is now is a place where locals can show up with a few bucks, get a hot breakfast, and have some fun conversation.
Chuck Garbiel: Like, "Oh, it's on them today."
Jay Blier, Turners Falls Resident: It's like Norm on Cheers. Everybody knows your name. You want to -- you want to come in, just even if it's for a few minutes.
If I'm going out on a road call or something like that, I'll stop in and have a quick breakfast because he makes it like that and a cup of coffee and on the road.
Sean Crowell, Tuners Falls Resident: A lot of people come together and get talk about what's going on and just enjoy yourself for the time.
From local sporting events to local -- other theater plays and all that stuff, one it keeps the community vibe so alive.
Annette Krejmas: It's like a second home in a way, you know? I come in here and relax, talk to people when I want to. They talk to me, read a book, eat my -- eat good food.
You know, it's just like being at home!
Brian Sullivan: Is it possible that Garbiel envisioned this kind of response when he bought the place in 2012? Maybe.
But after a run of success by the original owner that lasted over 40 years, the Glen went through three different owners in the ten-year span prior to Garbiel's purchase, so expectations may have been a bit tempered.
Chuck Garbiel: When I took over, it was like the big, like, "Oh, the local boy buys the place" and stuff.
And -- and people actually started coming back and coming in. And I always just said, you know, like, "Hey, just come give us a try. And if you still don't like it, no hard feelings."
And you know, then they got to see the staff and meet the people and -- and watch us cook and, you know, and some some didn't come back, but most of them did.
And they have a good time. And they enjoyed the food and the -- the, as I call it, the entertainment while we're here, because we're right out in front cooking for you and then talking.
And so, you know, it's nice you can have a conversation with the customer and -- and cook at the same time.
When Turners Falls resident Chuck Garbiel purchased the Shady Glen diner in 2012, it was certainly a "local boy makes good" type story.But recreating the success this eatery had enjoyed for over 40 years would be a steep hill to climb, as the restaurant had gone through three different owners in the last ten years before he bought it.One decade later, and this once proud diner that appeared to be on its last legs has once again become, like the s
NOVA Motorcycles Revamps Vintage Rides (Digital Exclusive)
NOVA Motorcycles Revamps Vintage Rides (Digital Exclusive)
February 2, 2023
The first American-made motorcycle was produced by a Waltham, MA factory in 1898. Since then, motorcycles have become a part of Americana, embodying for some the freedom that can only be found on the open road. In Turners Falls, that spirit is still alive at NOVA Motorcycles. NOVA brings out the best of old motorcycles by restoring them into new rides. Connecting Point’s Ross Lippman takes us to their shop to see how they take a vintage ride and
The first American-made motorcycle was produced by a Waltham, MA factory in 1898. Since then, motorcycles have become a part of Americana, embodying for some the freedom that can only be found on the open road. In Turners Falls, t
The first American-made motorcycle was produced by a Waltham, MA factory in 1898. Since then, motorcycles have become a part of Americana, embodying for some the freedom that can only be found on the open road. In Turners Falls, that spirit is still alive at NOVA Motorcycles. NOVA brings out the best of old motorcycles by restoring them into new rides. Connecting Point’s Ross Lippman takes us to their shop to see how they take a vintage ride and
The first American-made motorcycle was produced by a Waltham, MA factory in 1898. Since then, motorcycles have become a part of Americana, embodying for some the freedom that can only be found on the open road.
In Turners Falls, that spirit is still alive at NOVA Motorcycles. NOVA brings out the best of old motorcycles by restoring them into new rides. Connecting Point’s Ross Lippman takes us to their shop to see how they take a vintage ride and give it a modern spin.
This story originally aired on September 12, 2019.
Read the full transcript:
Sayre Anthony, NOVA Motorcycles: I think motorcycling is an activity that puts you very much in the moment. You know, you have to be very, very present to do it right. Whether you're working on it or riding it,you, you can't take anything for granted.
Peter Chilton, NOVA Motorcycles: Well, I grew up on two wheels, you know, my whole childhood was about bicycles. So, I think there's a big portion of my psyche that's associated like the freedom of just going anywhere we wanted to, even as a kid, with transportation on two wheels.
Sayre Anthony: If you're in a large SUV, you have a super barrier between you and the world when you're driving around. You don't really see other people as real, you know, coequal beings in the world, so to speak.
On a motorcycle, you do. It's been motorcycles for a long time for me, in varying states. One thing that's really great about Pete and I are, we have separate skill sets. He does so many things that I can't do, and I do things that he can't do.
Peter Chilton: I was like, "Hey, we should start a motorcycle company and I'll design them and you can like, repair them."
And he was like, "OK!" So that's how that's how NOVA started.
Sayre Anthony: From end of April, beginning of May, until end of September, we're doing pretty much repairs, which I considered, for the most part, shorter term stuff.
And the other seasons winter, fall-winter, and early spring, we're doing more deeper restorations. That's when we try to do our motor work, and that's when we do most of our custom work.
Peter Chilton: My designs are always based on simplicity, making the most complicated parts of the motorcycle as simple as possible. That's -- that's what I'm always trying to do.
If all the bikes we built were actually mine, I would be really excited. I think none of them are perfect. There's still things I'm like, "OK, on the next one, we'll do it this way." Or, you know.
But I think they're all nice. I just love them.
Sayre Anthony: It's a bit hectic in repair season, in a good way, like -- not like not unlike a restaurant. Where people are coming in and the phone's ringing emails are happening, a lot of just on-the-fly in the moment. Questions and answers and got to get this done. Got to get it back out the door.
We all do this because we love the work, and when you can work like that, it's really the best. You know, that's that's our ideal.
Peter Chilton: I dream about foot pegs and headlight mounts and things like that.
Yeah, I tend to drive a lot. I drive, you know, I commute an hour each way ,and no radio on, just like my brain's always processing. Like, What's the next thing? What's the next step?
The other thing that we wanted to get into is motorcycle tours. We live in a great area of the Pioneer Valley. Western Mass, southern Vermont has some of the best roads in New England. And people that have ridden out here with us know that, and we would like to sort of share that a little bit more.
Sayre Anthony: I have worked desk jobs and not been happy. So no, I can't. It's yeah, it's pretty good. So it's we're --- yeah. Um. No, I can't.
It's hard, it's hard to spend your life doing something that you don't care about. I -- the chances, the moments I've had doing that, I don't think that's something I want to do, you know?
And so no, I'm very glad to be where I am.
The first American-made motorcycle was produced by a Waltham, MA factory in 1898. Since then, motorcycles have become a part of Americana, embodying for some the freedom that can only be found on the open road. In Turners Falls, that spirit is still alive at NOVA Motorcycles. NOVA brings out the best of old motorcycles by restoring them into new rides. Connecting Point’s Ross Lippman takes us to their shop to see how they take a vintage ride and
RiverCulture Director Suzanne LoManto: On the Road from Turners Falls
RiverCulture Director Suzanne LoManto: On the Road from Turners Falls
February 2, 2023
The Village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture and unique businesses. Helping to shepherd this change has been RiverCulture, a partnership of leaders from the arts and business communities which is committed to promoting and strengthening cultural life in the village. Zydalis Bauer spoke with Suzanne LoManto, the Direct
The Village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture and unique businesses. Helping to shepherd this change
The Village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture and unique businesses. Helping to shepherd this change has been RiverCulture, a partnership of leaders from the arts and business communities which is committed to promoting and strengthening cultural life in the village. Zydalis Bauer spoke with Suzanne LoManto, the Direct
The Village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture and unique businesses. Helping to shepherd this change has been RiverCulture, a partnership of leaders from the arts and business communities which is committed to promoting and strengthening cultural life in the village.
Zydalis Bauer spoke with Suzanne LoManto, the Director of RiverCulture to find out more about the past, present and future of creativity and culture in Turners.
This segment originally aired on March 31, 2022.
Read the full transcript:
Zydalis Bauer, Connecting Point: The village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture, and unique businesses.
Helping to shepherd this change has been RiverCulture, a partnership of leaders from the arts and business communities, which is committed to promoting and strengthening cultural life in the village.
I spoke with Suzanne LoManto, the director of RiverCulture, to find out more about the past, present, and future of creativity and culture in Turners. Suzanne, RiverCulture started in 2006. Tell me a little bit about why that was important to have this organization and what do you guys do?
Suzanne LoManto, RiverCulture: So, RiverCulture was founded in 2006 with a grant from the Mass Cultural Council, it was called an Adams Grant. And the Mass Cultural Council set up the grant because they were looking for communities like Turners Falls where the creative economy could take foothold. And then that program was sunsetted in 2017.
And at that point, the town of Montague voted to put RiverCulture as a permanent part of town hall. I run the RiverCulture program and my job is to work on the creative economy.
But the mission of RiverCulture is, specifically, to enhance quality of life for people that live here; to foster the creative economy; and to create an environment that attracts new businesses, creative entrepreneurs, visitors, and residents to the town of Montague.
Zydalis Bauer: So, Turners Falls is one of the five villages that makes up the town of Montague.
How do you partner with the other villages and their cultural institutions and organizations?
Suzanne LoManto: The town of Montague isn't a big place. Turners Falls is very small, but Montague is a town of 8,000 people, so we have to work together. We are a resourceful group of people. Town is -- the town of Montague is resourceful.
I think one of the things that RiverCulture does very well is just the fact that there is this position, there is a central person -- me. If you have questions, if you need partners, if you need resources, people in town know that I'm the person to go and speak with, maybe in order to get an event off the ground or perhaps to get some more information.
And so, again, it's -- it's we're resourceful and we have to be and so we do work together.
Zydalis Bauer: When I visit a new town or village or city, one of my favorite things to do is check out the food scene.
So, tell me a little bit about what the village of Turners Falls has to offer.
Suzanne LoManto: The restaurant scene is very good. I think not only the restaurant scene, but the brewery scene.
We have a number of microbrews in town, as well. I think what's really interesting is because we're in Franklin County, we're so close to all these farms. So, most of the stuff is super local, super fresh, and generally organic.
And it's a great place to come and do -- to get a meal, to go down to Unity Park, to do some shopping, of course, to go to the Discovery Center, which is a fantastic museum right over the bridge here on the other side of Route Two.
Zydalis Bauer: You mentioned the unique businesses that are in Turners Falls, and it is really a fun dining and shopping experience.
What makes this place the ideal location to start a business, and what can visitors expect when they come?
Suzanne LoManto: I think what's unique about the business community in Turners Falls is the number of businesses that identify with the upcycling movement and prioritize things that are handmade, locally-sourced, or ethically-sourced.
And that's why we have shops like Loot and that's why we have shops like Buckingham Rabbits Vintage and Breakdown Records and FAB Fashion. They're stores that prioritize things that are handmade and things that are unique. Turners Falls is strictly a one of a kind shopping experience. Everything here is unique in and of itself.
Zydalis Bauer: Now, throughout the year, RiverCulture is putting on different programing and events.
Tell me what you've done in the past and what you hope to do in the future.
Suzanne LoManto: I think maybe one of the highlights of the year is the Pocumtuck Homelands Festival. So that happens the first weekend in August, every year. We're in our eighth year. That is produced by the Nolumbeka Project and I am a proud co-sponsor of that event.
And right now, we're in the middle of kind of planning our 2022 season. We call it our Summer Park series. So those are things that are happening in the cultural district. So, down at Peskeompskut Park, which is on the other end across from the Carnegie Library, and of course at wonderful Unity Park, which is on the water. So we're going to have music, live music, obviously, and theater, and events for kids, and that happens from June to August.
And all of that information will be on the RiverCulture website.
Zydalis Bauer: So, what is something here in the village that is really under the radar that many people might not know about?
Suzanne LoManto: Hm! That's interesting. We have a lot that's under the radar, but I think one thing that's under the radar is our little fashion boutique on Second Street.
So, we have a fashion boutique called FAB, and that's run by a man named Richie Richardson, who splits his time between here and New York City. And he is a designer, and he brings his designing friends up from New York and around the Caribbean.
And his business model is that he makes clothes for you. So, he has clothes there, of course. And they're lovely. They're just gorgeous. But if there's something that you like, he will measure you and have it made. And that is something I don't know if it exists anywhere else in the valley.
Zydalis Bauer: What is your favorite part about your position and the town of Montague and the village of Turners Falls?
Suzanne LoManto: My favorite thing about Turners Falls is that...how hard it is that we work. We work really hard.
There's a wonderful sculpture down the street called Rock, Paper, Scissors. And if you look at the plaque on the side of the seating area, it says that it's the little -- the little village that could. And that really is us, we don't give up. We don't give up. We just keep meeting and talking and thinking about the next step.
The last two years have been hard on everybody, that's for sure. But we are going to come out this spring and we're going to do it.
The Village of Turners Falls in the town of Montague has gone through a renaissance over the past several years, transforming from a town of industry to a hub of art, culture and unique businesses. Helping to shepherd this change has been RiverCulture, a partnership of leaders from the arts and business communities which is committed to promoting and strengthening cultural life in the village. Zydalis Bauer spoke with Suzanne LoManto, the Direct
