A Look Back: April 7, 2025

50 Years Ago

■Three teenagers completed an 18-hour stint each of dancing this weekend in efforts to raise money for a scholarship for a Tri-Hi Y member. Winners were Buff Zeitler, Steve Laiczyk and Ann Rayes-Guera, all of whom will receive a dinner at the Captain’s Table.

■Tennis fans in Northampton can look forward to the first city-owned tennis courts opening here as early as the summer of 1976, based on projections by the city’s recreation director. Recreation Director Patrick M. Goggins said that while his budget request of $89,000 for eight lighted tennis courts was turned down this year, the eight courts have been included in the proposal for the Smith’s Vocational High School addition instead.

25 Years Ago

■An ordinance requiring businesses seeking special permits to prove that their presence would strengthen the city’s vitality, or at least not harm it, will come across the desks of city councilors tonight. The ordinance would primarily affect large retailers angling to move into the city, according to Wayne Feiden, director of the Office of Planning and Development.

■Northampton is among some 50 communities that have signed on to the “No Place for Hate” campaign, a program designed “to end anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry of all kinds.” The program is co-sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League and the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

10 Years Ago

■The Dalai Lama will spend three days in the Pioneer Valley in October, giving talks at Smith College, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it was confirmed Sunday.

■Three long-time Hadley residents, all of whom have previously served as selectmen, will vie for two spots on the Select Board in an election in April. The candidates are incumbent Joyce Chunglo and former selectmen Gerald Devine and John Mieczkowski Sr.