Music, Wrestling, and Umass Football
By Neal Quesnel ·
Time to retire your white clothes until spring as Autumn begins to roll in. The Five College New Music Festival opens Friday at Bezanson Recital Hall for three free days of contemporary music, and Ghanaian highlife legend Gyedu-Blay Ambolley plays the Drake Saturday at 8pm. AEW Collision tapes live at the MassMutual Center in Springfield Saturday at 7:30pm. Umass football returns to McGuirk Stadium riding high after a historic upset of Rutgers. On the kids' front, the Amelia Park Children's Museum in Westfield opens its new outdoor play area Saturday with free admission all day, and Storrs Library in Longmeadow starts its Stuffed Animal Hospital drop-off Tuesday the 15th. Key Food took over the former Super Fresh in Holyoke, kept all 15 employees, and cut prices 10 to 15 percent. Mortgage rates held flat at 6.71% for a second week while the 10-year Treasury nudged up to 4.77%, and Fed Governor Waller signaled a likely hold at the September 15-16 meeting. Good week for the Valley.
Cutchins Superhero Run, Walk and Fall Fair, October 4
Cutchins
The Cutchins Superhero Run celebrates its 10th year on October 4 in Northampton. Wear your superhero costume and run, walk, or cheer your kids through the fun run. The fun continues during and after the race at the Fall Fair.\r\n\r\nThe Superhero Run supports the children and families of Cutchins whose critical work provides therapeutic services to some of the most vulnerable children throughout the Pioneer Valley and the Commonwealth.
Register to Run →This Weekend
§ 01- № 01
Music for Healing | Exhibition
Fri Sep 11 · 2:30pm · Paper City Clothing Company, HolyokeAngelica Olstad's Music for Healing gathers visual, sound, and performance work from the interdisciplinary artist, built around Transmission (2025), a video piece in which she performs her original score at the piano. Admission is free.
- № 02
Jazz Arts Night Out · Matt Dwonszyk
Fri Sep 11 · 5pm · Hess Stage, Forbes Library, NorthamptonBassist, composer, and bandleader Matt Dwonszyk plays the Hess Stage as part of the Northampton Jazz Festival's Jazz Arts Night Out. He's Connecticut-born and New York-based, and this is a free set on the library's outdoor stage.
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Five College New Music Festival
Fri Sep 11 to Sun Sep 13 · Bezanson Recital Hall, UMass AmherstThe Five College New Music Festival returns for its ninth year with three days of contemporary music at Bezanson Recital Hall. All performances are free; opening night starts Friday at 7:30pm.
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UMass Men's Soccer vs UNH
Sat Sep 12 · 12pm · Rudd Field, AmherstUMass hosts New Hampshire at Rudd Field for a Saturday noon non-conference match. Watch the soccer match then head over to...
- № 05
UMass Football vs Sacred Heart
This weekend · AmherstComing off a huge upset over Rutgers, UMass football hosts Sacred Heart. Former Central Golden Eagle legends Pop Watson and Joseph Griffin Jr lead the Minutemen as they look to start the season 2-0.
- № 06
AEW Presents Collision
Sat Sep 12 · 7:30pm · MassMutual Center, SpringfieldAll Elite Wrestling brings Collision to the MassMutual Center for a live taping of the Saturday-night broadcast.
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Gyedu-Blay Ambolley & His Sekondi Band, with Kotoko Brass
Sat Sep 12 · 8pm · The Drake, AmherstGhanaian highlife legend Gyedu-Blay Ambolley plays with his Sekondi Band, with Kotoko Brass opening. Ambolley has been at it since the early 1970s, when he mixed highlife with funk and spoken vocals into a sound he called simigwa, and he's been cited as one of the earliest voices in rap. Expect horns, a deep groove, and a dance floor that fills up fast.
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Don't Tell Comedy
Fri Sep 11 · 8pm · The Drake, AmherstThe touring showcase keeps its lineup secret until showtime, mixing well-known names with emerging comedians on a slate you don't see until you're in the room. Like a box of chocolates, but funnier.
Kids Corner
§ 02- № 01
First Child in the Woods at Arcadia
Fri Sep 11 · 10am · Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, EasthamptonAges · Ages 0 to 5Cost · $10-12 per personFirst Child in the Woods at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary is a naturalist-led walk for caregivers and kids ages 0 to 5, kept slow and short for the youngest hikers. Meets at the Easthampton sanctuary at 10am; dress for the weather.
- № 02
Amelia Park Children's Museum Opening Celebration
Sat Sep 12 · 9am-4pm · Amelia Park Children's Museum, WestfieldAges · All agesCost · FreeThe Amelia Park Children's Museum Opening Celebration in Westfield offers free admission all Saturday and unveils the new outdoor play area at 29 S Broad Street. Doors are open 9am to 4pm.
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Yoga for Kids at the Carle
Sat Sep 12 · 10:15am · Eric Carle Museum, AmherstAges · Ages 3 to 6Cost · Cost not postedYoga for Kids at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst runs Saturday morning at 10:15, with movement and games drawn from picture books for ages 3 to 6. Short session designed for short attention spans.
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DinoMap Table at Chicopee Library
Sat Sep 12 · 2pm · Chicopee Public Library, ChicopeeAges · All agesCost · FreeThe DinoMap Table at Chicopee Public Library brings the creators of the DinoMap podcast into the Children's Room to talk Connecticut River Valley geology and where to hunt local fossils. Drop-in, Saturday at 2pm.
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Grandparents' Day at Grandmother's Garden
Sun Sep 13 · 1-4pm · Chauncy Allen Park Pavilion, WestfieldAges · All agesCost · Cost not postedGrandparents' Day at Grandmother's Garden gathers families at the Chauncy Allen Park Pavilion on Smith Avenue in Westfield from 1 to 4pm on Sunday, with music, art, and light refreshments. Built for grandparents and grandkids together.
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Stuffed Animal Hospital drop-off at Storrs
Tue Sep 15 · 9am · Storrs Library, LongmeadowAges · All agesCost · FreeThe Storrs Library Stuffed Animal Hospital drop-off opens Tuesday, September 15 at 9am in the Discovery Room in Longmeadow. Kids check in their favorite stuffed animal for an overnight stay at the library's hospital.
Real Estate Pulse
§ 03This Week’s Rates
Freddie Mac PMMS · September 3, 2026
| Instrument | This Wk | Last Wk | Yr Ago |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-yr fixed | 6.71% | 6.71% | 6.50% |
| 15-yr fixed | 6.04% | 6.04% | 5.60% |
| 10-yr Treasury | 4.77% | 4.75% | 4.05% |
Both mortgage rates held flat for a second week while the 10-year Treasury drifted up two basis points to 4.77%, now a full 72 bp above where it sat a year ago. The 30-year is 21 bp higher year-over-year and the 30-to-15 gap stays wide at 67 bp, so a Valley buyer stretching to qualify at the 30-year number should price out the 15-year before ruling it out.
“If this continues in the data due over the next two weeks, I would be inclined to support holding the target for the federal funds rate at its current setting.”
Waller is usually read as one of the more dovish voices on the committee, so a lean toward holding (and an explicit warning that a weak August print could push him toward a hike) took the September-cut trade off the table for most desks. Bond traders spent the afternoon repricing the front end toward a pause at the September 15-16 meeting.
Around Town
§ 04- · Opening
Amherst-Pelham Regional High School cuts the ribbon on its rebuilt $4 million track and field complex September 4. The reconstruction wraps a multi-year project that had athletes running on borrowed surfaces.
- · Opening
Wistariahurst Museum opens Charles Abel's Pictorally Speaking on September 7 at 238 Cabot Street in Holyoke. Abel shot modern Holyoke through a 125-year-old lens, and the exhibit pairs his photos with the antique cameras from the museum's archive.
- · Town
Holyoke City Council takes up an investigation of Flock cameras and GLOVE devices on September 3, reviewing the technology's history and how it's being used in the city. The license-plate readers have spread across Massachusetts municipalities over the past two years.
- · Notice
The Department of Early Education and Care reopens applications for income-eligible childcare financial assistance on September 4. It's the first time the state has accepted new applications for the program since April 2024.
- · Anniversary
Art Always in Northampton marks 25 years as a community arts studio. Founder Lindsay Fogg-Willits started it as classes and a creative hangout space alongside her other arts education work, and it grew from there.
Local Wins
§ 05Belchertown has been awarded with a $1M grant for the Tadgell School.
The old Tadgell School has sat empty for years. The $1 million from the state will help turn it into a community resilience hub: meeting rooms, small business suites, health and counseling offices, and an emergency shelter with showers for when the power goes out. The full build is priced around $24 million.
Valley Fact
Shays' Rebellion
On September 5, 1786, protesters shut down the county court in Worcester as part of Shays' Rebellion, and the local militia, sympathetic to the protesters, refused to turn out against them. Three days earlier, Governor Bowdoin had issued a proclamation denouncing the courthouse actions but stopped short of sending troops. Daniel Shays, the Pelham farmer and Continental Army veteran the rebellion is named for, had already joined the earlier action in Northampton. Within a year the uprising had helped push the states toward Philadelphia and a stronger Constitution.
That’s the week. Say Hi to a stranger. Talk on Tuesday.
– Neal