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By JACOB NELSON

When Heather McCann founded her farm, Rustic Outlook, in 2020, she picked a niche that few local farmers have chosen. She decided to make beans her thing.Dry beans, specifically. They’re a pantry staple that lasts for years and a delicious part of...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Starbucks continued its expansion in the Pioneer Valley on Wednesday with the opening of a cafe in Belchertown on North Main Street, just in time for pumpkin spice latte season.The franchise’s newest Hampshire County location now serves...

By EMILEE KLEIN

As the last notes of the 165th Belchertown Fair’s annual parade drifts off into the autumn air — quickly replaced by the joyous screams of children on carnival rides and the soft coos of barn animals — babies from around western Massachusetts take...

A matter of record(s)NORTHAMPTON — If you like shopping for vinyl records, this news will be music to your ears: the Downtown Market Vinyl & Vintage Fair will have thousands of records (and other vintage goods from local and regional sellers, of...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown Fair returns to the Commons this weekend for the 165th annual celebration with a packed schedule of free competitions, demonstrations and entertainment for all ages.This year’s theme, “Barn in the USA,” pays tribute to...

In his 1775 “Common Sense” pamphlet, Thomas Paine observed, “Society in every state is a blessing, but government in its best state is but a necessary evil.” While society propels collaboration toward goal achievement, government is the unfortunate...

With all the things to be unhappy about these days, I am happy to report my experience as a cyclist in the Belchertown-Granby-Amherst area this summer.I have found drivers almost uniformly courteous, giving me a wide berth, slowing and even sometimes...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — When a Belchertown teenager faced a sudden cancer diagnosis at the beginning of the summer before her senior year, the community at large came out to support her by raising $40,000 through GoFundMe to support her medical treatments and...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Saying that Police Chief Kevin Pacunas’ decision to deny a firearms license to a resident earlier this year was “overly broad, vague and therefore arbitrary and capricious,” a judge last month ordered the town to grant the license.In...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Speed limits on town-controlled roads in thickly settled areas or business zones might see a decrease by five miles per hour, dropping from 30 mph to 25 mph, if approved at the annual Town Meeting.Police Chief Kevin Pacunas and...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — After years of rubber-stamping capital projects as funds become available, leaving critical infrastructure work to pile up and deteriorating buildings to wait for repairs, Belchertown this week adopted the town’s first capital planning...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Brewed with tenacity, poured with purpose.The two slogans of Arcpoint Brewing Company, Belchertown’s first brewery located at 30 Front St., stand out in bright red letters against the blue grey walls painted the same color as the skins...

“Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.” So wrote Alfred Lord Tennyson in commemorating the heroic yet suicidal mission undertaken by the British Light Brigade in the 1854 Battle of Balaclava. Fast forward to the Pioneer Valley’s contemporary...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The only structure that appeared still intact from the first superintendent’s home at the Belchertown State School was a century-old stone wall outlining a small grassy plot at 47 State St.At least that’s what residents believed until...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Despite stormwater rates dropping over the past couple years, residents won’t see similar savings on their stormwater bills for the upcoming year. The Select Board approved a stormwater rate of $6.62 for fiscal year 2025, up 78 cents...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Authorities have identified two victims in vehicle-related crashes that occurred at the end of July as Bert Hickey, 51, of Belchertown, and Heru Dihaan, 19, a Connecticut resident who had a sister living in Northampton.Hickey, who died on July 21 in a...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A recent visit to Brookfield Farm gave Bronx, N.Y., teens Emily Robinson and Royale Cash Panchoo an opportunity to see baby pigs, pick blueberries and make flower bouquets, one of their several excursions around town and the region while...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Before police officers began their patrols last Friday, each officer clipped on one of the 23 fully charged body cameras sitting on a docking station, officially launching the department’s body-worn camera program that aims to improve...

BELCHERTOWN — Authorities are investigating a single-car crash that took the life of a 51-year-old Belchertown resident on Sunday night, the third fatal motor vehicle crash in Hampshire County in a 72-hour period.Police responded to Sunday’s crash at...

By EMILEE KLEIN

Sara Fortin and her boyfriend Robert Mehr explore their new home of western Massachusetts by hopping in their car and driving from neighborhood to neighborhood, searching for yard sales, tag sales, estate stales, any type of local market with...