■A Northampton man has bought Wally’s Soda Bar, 4 Main St., from Mrs. Shirley A. Puchalski, widow of the former mayor. John J. Pruzynski Jr. said today the store will be run “just exactly as it has been” and he does not anticipate changing the name or hours of operation.
■The Third Annual Massachusetts Morgan Horse Show will be held at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton on May 26 and 27. Fifty classes are scheduled for the show, including In Hand, Pleasure Saddle, Pleasure Driving, Park and Trail. Entries will be judged individually by standards of the American Horse Show Association.
■Five days before taking the stage at StageWest in Springfield, Vanessa Redgrave will attend a screening of her newest film at the Academy of Music in Northampton on May 4. The Academy Award-winning actress, whose appearance will highlight this year’s Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, will be at the showing of “Déjà Vu,” a film by Henry Jaglom.
■Most every homeowner on Liberty Street in Bay State can rest easy. Their property tax bills will rise only slightly, and a few may fall. But outside of the city’s Bay State section and up the hill on Washington Avenue, it’s another story. Near the neatly clipped lawns of Smith College, property values have been soaring.
■Eleven contestants from Easthampton High School will take to the stage Friday, singing, dancing, telling jokes and performing skits, as they vie for the top spot in the seventh annual Mr. Easthampton pageant. The event is a fundraiser for the school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) program.
■Contributions to preserving the environment are earning former Congressman John Olver accolades at the 50th anniversary celebration dinner for the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. Olver and fellow Amherst resident John Green, a naturalist and photographer, are being given “heroes for a Healthy Planet” legacy awards as part of the gala, which will be held at the Lord Jeffery Inn on Friday.