A $1B Budget - Quaboag Relay on the Common
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. Here's the week.
This Weekend
§ 01- № 01
Quaboag Relay and Craft Fair on the Common
Sat Jun 6 · 10am to 10pm · Town Common, BelchertownThe Quaboag Valley Relay For Life takes over the Belchertown Town Common on Saturday alongside its fifth annual craft and vendor fair. Twelve hours of laps, makers' booths, and food in the middle of town.
- № 02
Run for RMC at Stanley Park
Sun Jun 7 · 8:30am · Stanley Park, WestfieldRun for RMC, a 5K trail run and 1-mile accessible walk hosted by the Tactical Tone Memorial Foundation, raises awareness for renal medullary carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. Check-in starts at 8:30am at Stanley Park in Westfield.
- № 03
Quabbin Art Association sale and fundraiser
Sun Jun 7 · 10am to 4pm · Saint Francis Parish Center, BelchertownThe Quabbin Art Association holds its annual art sale and fundraiser at the Saint Francis Parish Center in Belchertown, with work from member artists across the region. Six hours, one room, walls full.
Kids Corner
§ 02- № 01
Little Kid Dance Party at the Chicopee Library
Wed Jun 3 · 10:30am · Bazan Community Room, Chicopee Public LibraryAges · Ages 0 to 5Cost · FreeThe Little Kid Dance Party at the Chicopee Public Library is 45 minutes of singing and moving with a caregiver, no signup required. Easy mid-morning energy burn for the under-five set, indoors and free.
- № 02
Word Play with The Center Dance Studio at the Carle
Fri Jun 5 · 11am · Eric Carle Museum, AmherstAges · Families, ages 3 and upCost · Included with admissionWord Play at the Eric Carle Museum pairs creative movement from The Center Dance Studio with picture books, so the kids are following a teacher who knows how to keep them moving instead of standing in a circle waiting. A good rainy-Friday option if you want something with a little more shape than open play.
- № 03
Bike Maintenance with Speed and Sprocket
Sat Jun 6 · 10am · Emily Williston Memorial Library lawn, EasthamptonAges · 6 and up (with a parent)Cost · FreeBike Maintenance with Speed and Sprocket sets up on the lawn of the Emily Williston Memorial Library in Easthampton, with Sean from the Cottage Street shop walking through tire pressure, chain care, and brake basics. Bring the kid's bike, leave with something they can do themselves next time the chain slips. Space is limited; register ahead.
- № 04
EL Summer Fest at Brown Farm
Sat Jun 6 · 11am · Brown Farm, 64 Hampden Road, East LongmeadowAges · All agesCost · FreeEL Summer Fest takes over Brown Farm in East Longmeadow, run by EL Recreation with East Village Tavern and the Rotary Club. The kind of all-day town festival where you wander between food, music, and kid activities for a couple of hours and call it a Saturday.
- № 05
Special Storytime with R.W. Alley
Sat Jun 6 · 2pm · Eric Carle Museum, AmherstAges · Ages 3 to 8Cost · Included with admissionSpecial Storytime at the Carle hosts author and illustrator R.W. Alley reading the newest title in his Breezy Valley at Work series, Construction Crews Build Big. If your kid is in the truck-and-crane phase, this is the read-aloud built for them.
- № 06
Sandlot Baseball at Amherst Middle School
Sun Jun 7 · 4-6pm · Amherst Middle School field, 170 Chestnut St, AmherstAges · All ages, all skill levelsCost · FreeSandlot Baseball at the Amherst Middle School field is a weekly Sunday pickup game, open to anyone who shows up with a glove. Low-stakes, mixed-age, the kind of thing where a seven-year-old and a grown-up end up on the same team and nobody keeps score too carefully.
- № 07
Mr. Vinny the Bubble Guy at Storrs
Mon Jun 8 · 5pm · Front lawn, Storrs Library, LongmeadowAges · All agesCost · FreeMr. Vinny the Bubble Guy headlines the Storrs Library Summer Reading kickoff on the Longmeadow front lawn, with giant homemade wands, music, and an ice cream sandwich on the way out. Boomer from the Springfield Thunderbirds is also scheduled to make the rounds.
Real Estate Pulse
§ 03From an agent
Inventory's about as tight as it's been all spring, we're down to roughly 600 homes across the Valley, but demand hasn't let up, so anything priced right in a town people want is still pulling multiple offers.
The 30-year held at 6.53% for a second week, and it is a third of a point cheaper than this time last June. Buyers who shelved a search last summer over the rate will find the monthly payment math meaningfully easier now.
Monthly payment · 20% down
| $300k home | $1,522/mo | −$51/mo vs last May |
| $500k home | $2,536/mo | −$85/mo vs last May |
| $750k home | $3,804/mo | −$128/mo vs last May |
* Estimated principal & interest only. Excludes property tax and homeowner's insurance.
The 15-year also sat still at 5.87%. For Valley owners considering a refinance to shorten the term, the gap to the 30-year is wide enough (about two-thirds of a point) to be worth a real conversation with a lender.
Monthly payment · 20% down
| $300k home | $2,008/mo | −$16/mo vs last May |
| $500k home | $3,347/mo | −$26/mo vs last May |
| $750k home | $5,021/mo | −$39/mo vs last May |
* Estimated principal & interest only. Excludes property tax and homeowner's insurance.
The 10-year Treasury eased five basis points to 4.45%. Mortgage rates take their cues from this number, so a small move down here is the kind of thing that nudges the 30-year lower in the next week or two if it holds.
“I see elevated risks to both sides of our mandate, and from a risk-management perspective, I currently believe that the right course of action is to hold rates steady.”
Cook paired the hold-steady line with a clear statement that the risks still tilt toward higher inflation, citing the 3.8 percent April PCE print and AI-related capex pressure on chips, power, and construction wages. The mortgage desk read this as a voting governor closing the door on a near-term cut, and rate-cut odds for the next meeting drifted lower through the afternoon.
Around Town
§ 04- · Town
Springfield City Council approved a $1.04 billion FY27 budget last Wednesday on a 10-to-3 vote. The plan was balanced without an override or new recurring revenue.
- · Vote
Easthampton heads to the polls June 9 on a $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override. Superintendent Michelle Balch told the school committee the district would cut 35 positions if the override fails. The full $152M city budget hinges on the result.
- · Town
Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra presented a $152 million FY27 budget to the City Council, balanced without an override this year but flagged as likely needing one in FY28. The continuation of the council's budget hearing runs Tuesday, June 2 at 212 Main Street.
- · Opening
PVTA launched a new regional bus route linking Northampton, Westfield, and Southwick, part of the route expansion following ridership recovery under the fare-free Try Transit initiative. Service is running now.
- · Closure
Stony Hill Road in Wilbraham is closed in sections this week for paving. If your commute cuts through to Boston Road or Route 20, plan a detour.
- · Opening
Gándara Center opened Hermanas Del Río in South Hadley, a new residence offering supportive housing for women in recovery. It joins the center's existing network of bilingual behavioral health services across the Valley.
- · Notice
Bradley International Airport added a Breeze Airways nonstop to Louisville's Muhammad Ali International, with service starting Friday. Useful if you've been routing through Hartford-to-anywhere-but-Kentucky for Derby weekends or family in the Ohio Valley.
Local Wins
§ 05William "Ronnie" Collamore, Holyoke's longest-serving elected official, got a street named after him last week in a ceremony the city put together to mark decades of work on the council and around the neighborhoods. The honor is the kind of thing that usually arrives posthumously, which is part of what made the afternoon land the way it did · Collamore was there, family was there, and the sign went up while the man it names could read it himself.
The new street-name designation sits in Holyoke and is the city's way of saying thanks on the record. If you find yourself driving through and spot the sign, that's the story behind it: a guy who kept showing up to meetings for longer than most of his neighbors have been voting, finally getting his name bolted to a pole.
Valley Fact
Friendly's
On May 26, 2019, last week's anchor, Curtis L. Blake died at 102. Blake and his brother S. Prestley had founded Friendly Ice Cream in Springfield in 1935, in the depths of the Great Depression, selling double-dip cones for a nickel apiece. The single shop became the regional chain that stamped a generation of Pioneer Valley kids' birthday parties, with the Fribble for the older siblings.