The Valley Weekly has released its first ever long weekend Guide. The Guide highlights everything I could find going on around the Valley, with daily events and their opening and closing hours. It's interactive, so Star events you would like to attend, save it, and upload it direct to your calendar to stay busy this Labor Day Weekend. Polls are open today. South Hadley voters head to the polls today to vote on another Proposition 2½ override, this one for $3.5M, and Franklin County holds its state representative primary the same day, with Greenfield City Council President Lora Wondolowski facing Corinne Coryat for the vacant seat. Mortgage rates edged up, with the 30-year fixed at 6.66% and the 15-year at 5.98%, both above where they stood a year ago. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole speech to argue against forward guidance, and said inflation is running too high. The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded nearly $700,000 for tree canopy expansion in gateway cities, Springfield among them.
Or read this week's issue first →One letter, every Tuesday. No clickbait, no twelve-tab newsletter sprawl. Just what's worth your weekend.
The SOAAR 5k and Recovery Rally marks its tenth year at the Playing Fields in Belchertown on Saturday, August 29, with a run-walk and community gathering from 10am to 2pm. The Latino Arts Festival opens Friday at 5pm at Springfield Museums, free and open to all ages, and Salsa in the Park follows Saturday evening at 95 Montague Road in Amherst from 6 to 9:30pm. The Eric Carle Museum in Amherst hosts a joint storytime Saturday at 11am with Caldecott Honor winners Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal. Mortgage rates eased slightly, with the 30-year fixed at 6.65%, still 7 basis points above last year. The Hangar Pub and Brewery in West Springfield opened a new arcade game room, Cutchins Programs acquires the Fields Center in Northampton with a ribbon cutting Thursday, and Easthampton's new municipal electricity aggregation program launches in October.
School starts for many in the Pioneer Valley next week, so enjoy the last full week of summer! Tractor Supply's Animal Days at Springfield stores on August 14 sends a cut of your purchase to local shelters. Hot Head Burritos opened its second Massachusetts location. Springfield cut the ribbon on 122 new homes. West Springfield picked up a $500,000 grant for Bear Hole Reservoir upgrades, and Shelburne's selectboard signed a conservation restriction along Taylor Road. This weekend runs from a nighthawk migration watch at Arcadia on Friday evening to Holyoke's 5th Greek Festival on Saturday and the UMass men's soccer opener against UConn at Rudd Field on Sunday. The 30-year fixed ticked down to 6.67%, still a full 9 basis points above where it stood a year ago. Today marks 156 years since Edward Alden paid $9,000 for the Chicopee hillside that became Aldenville.
A partial solar eclipse crosses New England on Wednesday, August 12, and the Springfield Museums run a free safe-viewing setup starting at 1pm. That same afternoon, Chicopee Public Library hosts Ice Cream with the Mayor from 1:30 to 4pm, and Brett Outchucunis brings yo-yo tricks and DJ sets to the Clapp Memorial Library lawn in Belchertown at 6pm. Saturday, Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke throws a regency-era Bridgerton Ball with a live Springfield Symphony string quartet, while the Drake in Amherst runs an indie sleaze dance party starting at 8pm. On the civic side, Holyoke confirmed its first chief administrative financial officer, Deerfield heads toward a fall Special Town Meeting on ADU bylaw changes, and the 30-year fixed nudged up to 6.69%. August 14 marks 87 years since workers sealed the Swift River diversion tunnel and the Quabbin began to fill.
Miguel A. Rivera was sworn in as Springfield's first Latino Fire Commissioner on July 24, with a public ceremony at Symphony Hall on Monday August 3. Big Y Family Markets celebrated its 90th anniversary Thursday in Chicopee, nine decades after the D'Amour family opened their first store in Springfield in 1936. The Eric Carle Museum in Amherst waives admission Wednesday August 5 courtesy of the Highland Street Foundation, the same day Joys of Nature brings live animals to Clapp Memorial Library in Belchertown at 11am and Professor Knows A. Lot performs at the Springfield Museums. Tafari plays a free three-hour reggae set Thursday at The Landing outside MassMutual Center. Mortgage rates ticked up, with the 30-year fixed hitting 6.66% for the week of July 30, offering no relief to Valley buyers who have been waiting for a summer dip.
Fiestas Patronales returns to Heritage Park in Holyoke this Friday through Sunday for its fifth year, expected to draw over 40,000 to one of only two Puerto Rican Cultural Districts in the country, with live music, food, and a lot of fun. Easthampton received a $500,000 MassTrails grant for repairs to the Manhan Rail Trail, covering cracked pavement and root damage. The Belchertown Community Yard Sale runs Friday through Sunday with 90 household sales and 12 vendors at Town Fields, and Herrell's Ice Cream holds its Amherst grand opening ribbon cutting Friday at 6pm. The O'Connor Animal Center in Springfield reopened after a July shutdown and is waiving adoption fees on cats over a year old starting Thursday. Mortgage rates ticked up this week, with the 30-year fixed at 6.58% and the 10-year Treasury jumping 11 basis points to 4.71%, offering no summer relief for waiting buyers.
After an initial failed vote, South Hadley is hoping a lower, $3.5 million tax override, will pass on the Sept. 1 primary ballot after a 3-2 Selectboard vote. Exhibit A Brewing and GrandTen Distilling opened a joint taproom in the historic Williamsburg tavern. Blandford landed $1,092,000 in federal funds for water and fire-protection upgrades, and Bliss Park Playground in Longmeadow holds its grand opening Tuesday. The 30-year fixed held flat at 6.55% for a second straight week, with Fed Governor Lisa Cook signaling on July 15 that inflation risks now outweigh employment risks. Paws 4 Blue drew dozens to a rainy Saturday fundraiser in Springfield, and this weekend the Northampton Sidewalk Sales and the Hampden County 4-H Fair are both running. Good week to get out.
South Hadley's School Committee voted to push for a second override ballot in September, the is Selectboard still deciding whether to call a special election. Amherst Fire Station reopened this week after a weeks-long closure, and Greenfield Public Schools dropped plans for a district wide literacy audit, citing early reading data. Two Weeks Notice Brewing Co. in West Springfield pours its final pints this weekend. Rachel's Table cut the ribbon on its Glean Machine truck, built to run a committed pickup schedule across Hampden County. The weekend runs from Angelica Olstad's free exhibition in Holyoke Friday to a Championship Final watch party at MassMutual Center Sunday at 3pm.
Easthampton's Proposition 2½ override survived a July 2 recount and is now settled at the ballot. Springfield's Italian Feast fills the South End from Friday July 10 through Sunday July 12, with the Downtown Summer Concert Series on Boltwood Ave in Amherst running Friday from 5 to 8pm. The 30-year fixed sits at 6.43%, down a hair from last week. And the Foundation for TJO Animals cleared its Reese Fund goals with over $11,000 and nearly 900 pounds of pet food.
Happy birthday, America! A heat wave kicks off the 250 year celebrations across the Valley with temperatures in the lower hundreds. Check on the elderly. Walk the dogs early. Drink a lot of water and check out our list of local Splash Pads to cool down. 250th Celebrations start Friday and run all weekend throughout Western Mass; one of the biggest is Star Spangled Springfield. Chicopee's Rumbleseat got the green light for a 3am closing through July, the first Western Mass bar in the new state pilot. Cooley Dickinson closed a successful Emergency Department fundraising campaign. Easthampton's dog park has its $135,000 in hand, construction this fall.
Fireworks season kicks off Friday at Holyoke Community College, the first of many Pioneer Valley displays between June 26 and July 5. The final weekend of FIFA World Cup group play wraps this weekend with outdoor watch parties three nights at Easthampton's Millside Park and three more at The Student Prince in Springfield. Ohana School of Performing Arts in Chicopee marked ten years with an anniversary showcase. Wake the Dead Donuts is featured. Northampton schools approved a bell-to-bell cell phone ban for next year.
Mid-June, many Western Mass schools let out for summer this week, and Sunday brings the longest day of the year, as the summer solstice arrives at 4:24am. Friday at 3pm the US returns to action in the World Cup against Australia, with watch parties across Western Mass. Friday afternoon the 17th Annual Juneteenth Jubilee anchors 43 North Prospect Street in Amherst. Easthampton voters approved a $6.9M Proposition 2½ override on June 9 by 239 votes; opponents have requested a hand recount but no formal petition has been filed.
PVTA is adding a Southwick route, finally closing one of the longest-standing gaps in the regional bus map between the Valley and points southwest. Longmeadow marks the country's 250th on the Town Green this Saturday. The Springfield farmers' market returns to The Landing at the MassMutual Center on Friday, and Westfield's skate park rebuild has a July 1 start date with Platform Group on the contract.
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.
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.
Updated continuously
Public records
Every Proposition 2½ override and underride vote in Western Mass, sourced from the Mass DOR DLS report. Refreshed weekly with results, vote margins, and dollar amounts.
Local directory
Every farmers market across the Pioneer Valley and the 60-minute radius the letter covers, organized by day of the week. Addresses, hours, and seasons.
Summer directory
Every free splash pad across the Valley, verified for the 2026 season. Holyoke, South Hadley, Northampton, Easthampton. Hours, ages, parking.
Civic resource
Every food pantry and upcoming food drive across the Valley. Verified hours, addresses, and how to donate. Updated nightly from local feeds and the Food Bank of Western Mass.
Newsletter
Every issue of The Valley Weekly, going back to issue one. Search by keyword or filter by month.
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. Every Tuesday, we pull together what is worth knowing in the Valley this week: the events we would go to ourselves, the restaurants we would send a friend to, the houses on the market that have a story. Some weeks the letter is 800 words. Some weeks it is 1,200. Always a handful of sections. Always Tuesday.
If this is your first Tuesday with us, welcome. If you have been here a while, thanks for sticking around.