Springfield City Council approved a $1.04 billion FY27 budget last Wednesday on a 10-to-3 vote, balanced without an override or new recurring revenue. Saturday, the Quaboag Relay and Craft Fair takes over the Belchertown Town Common from 10am to 10pm. Easthampton voters decide a $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override on June 9. Mortgage rates held at 6.53%. Holyoke named a street for Ronnie Collamore.
Or read this week's issue first →One letter, every Tuesday. No clickbait, no twelve-tab newsletter sprawl. Just what's worth your weekend.
Holyoke's Kmart Plaza on Northampton Street is coming down after the City Council signed off on the developer's plan. True Jackie plays the Drake on Friday at 8pm, a Jackie Wilson tribute worth the trip to Amherst. Kids can shape polymer clay at the Agawam Public Library on Wednesday at 6pm. Downtown Sounds, the Northampton record shop, hits fifty and throws a party at the Iron Horse on Monday. Mortgage rates ticked up to 6.51%.
Bunnies, Wet Tuna, and Sunburned Hand of the Man share a bill at The Drake on Friday night, which is the kind of three-act psych lineup Amherst doesn't get often. Wednesday at 6, The Lost Gem comes to South Hadley Public Library for the kids. Westfield cut the ribbon on the new pavilion and arboretum at Chauncey Allen Park. South Hadley Town Meeting moved through most of its warrant on May 13, including a $1.2M departmental appropriation. The 30-year fixed sits at 6.36%, flat on the week.
Lilacs are coming in along the bike path and the river is finally warm enough to look at without flinching. This week: Bill Callahan plays the Iron Horse Friday, the Mass Kids Lit Fest sets up at the South Hadley library Saturday, and Bombyx breaks ground on the Little Dig in Florence. Mortgage rates held flat. Northampton has a new superintendent. We drove to Hyde Park for a sandwich.
The river is up, the dogwoods are open, and the patios are back. This week: a quiet new wine bar in Easthampton, a $14k cut on Maple Street worth paying attention to, and three weekends' worth of music starting Friday.
The Valley Weekly is five sections, read end-to-end in about four minutes. We have edited it down so you don't have to.
Welcome to issue zero. The Valley Weekly began as the email I wanted to read on Tuesday mornings, and could not find anywhere. Something that respected my time. Something that knew the difference between a good Thai place and a great one. Something that did not try to sell me a course.
So I made it. Each Tuesday, we pull together what's actually worth knowing in the Valley this week: the events we'd go to ourselves, the restaurants we'd send a friend to, the houses on the market that have a story. Some weeks the letter will be 800 words. Some weeks it will be 1,200. Always a handful of sections. Always Tuesday.
If you're reading this, you found us early. Thank you. Stay a while.