What’s Happening In Amherst?

by Art and Maura Keene

There are lots of interesting events happening in our town. You can help us make our events calendar more useful by sending us your listings and including contact information and/or a link for more information. Send events listings to amherstindy@gmail.com.

SINGLE DAY EVENTS

SATURDAY JUNE 24: EMPOWERMENT HIKE. Skinner Mountain State Park, 1500 West Street. 10:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m. Free. This guided hike helps you build comfort and confidence with navigation skills. Connect to nature. Learn how to become a better steward. Moderate round-trip hike, about a mile, with some challenging terrain.

SUNDAY JUNE 25: WILD FOOD WALK WITH AIDAN HAWKOWL. Kiwanis Field, 135 Stanley Street.
1 p.m. Free. Aidan Hawkowl as he leads us on a beautiful walk, and learn about a wide variety of wild foods – fruits and veggies, roots and shoots, and seasonings. Learn when to harvest them, how to use them, where they can be found, and how to positively distinguish them from look-similars. Afterwards, we’ll enjoy some goodies made from the wild friends we’ll encounter on our walk. Rain or shine. We’ll meet by the baseball field on Stanley Street in Amherst.

SUNDAY JUNE 25: BAD NEWS BEARS JAZZ. 6 p.m. Sweetser Park. Sponsored by the Amherst Business Improvement District, the Mass Cultural Council, and Encharter Insurance. Free.For ages 14 and up.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 28: CONVERSATION WITH AUTHOR CHUCK COLLINS AND ACTIVIST SAM LOVEJOY. 6 p.m. Amherst Books, 8 Main Street. Chuck Collins will discuss his new novel,Altar to an Erupting Sun, with anti-nuke local hero, Sam Lovejoy.   Collins’ new book is a near-future story of one community facing climate disruption in the critical decade ahead.   Bill McKibben wrote, ”A fascinating look at movements & the people who make them up, in the spirit of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future.“ Collins is a campaigner & storyteller who has worked for decades on environmental & economic justice campaigns.   He is the Director of the Program on Inequality & the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org.   He is co-founder of DivestInvest.org, a global movement to divest from fossil fuels & invest in climate so lutions; & trustee of the Post-Carbon Institute and Resilience.org.   He is also author of numerous books, including The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions & Is Inequality in America Irreversible?. 

SATURDAY JULY 1: ANNUAL INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION. 5 p.m. Warren McGuirk Stadium, UMass Amherst. Join us for the Town of Amherst’s Annual Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks Display at UMass Amherst McGuirk Stadium on Saturday, July 1st. Festivities will start at 5:00 PM with a fireworks display starting at dark.  The rain date for this event will be Saturday, July 8th at the same time and location.  Bring a blanket, the folding chairs, we’ll have food and beverages for sale – we want you to sit-back and relax, get a bite to eat, listen to some music and CELEBRATE at this annual tradition. This event is FREE and food, beverage, and novelty items will be available for purchase.  Parking will be available on site, more details coming soon. Parking will be free but donations are welcome.  Restroom facilities will also be available. For more details, see, https://www.amherstmarec.org/3727/Independence-Day-Celebration .

SATURDAY JULY 8: ART ON THE LAWN AT THE AMHERST HISTORY MUSEUM. 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. 67 Amity Street. This year the Amherst History Museum has invited local artists and crafters to sell their creations on the lawn of the museum on four Saturdays during our 2023 season. Our next Art on the Lawn at the Amherst History Museum takes place on Saturday July 8. Artists and crafters will be set up on the lawn of the museum from 11:00am to 3:00pm when the museum is open for visitors. Stop by to visit and chat with the artists. Come into the museum to see our newest exhibit, The Magnificent Life & Art of Mabel Loomis Todd, take a tour of the newly reinstalled rooms in the house, peruse books in the reading room, and view our extensive clothing textile collection. Art on the Lawn at the Amherst History Museum is free and open to the public. Entry to the museum is free. A $5 suggested donation is greatly appreciated. Artists interested in participating may visit https://amhersthistory.org/art-on-the-lawn-2023/

FRIDAY JULY 14: ZOE AND CLOYD CONCERT. 5 p.m. Wesley United Methodist Church, 98 North Maple Street, Hadley. Join ARHS grad fiddler/vocalist Natalya Weinstein Roberts and multi- instrumentalist John Cloyd Miller in their annual return to Western Massachusetts. The two reside in Asheville, North Carolina. The duo recently released their fifth album, “Songs of Our Grandfathers” which they describe as “klezgrass”, a combination of traditional Jewish klezmer music with bluegrass and traditional folk music.

SATURDAY JULY 15 AMHERST COMMUNITY BAND. 6 p.m. Sweetser Park. July 16 will feature “ACB Favorites aka The Greatest Hits”. July 22 will be “A Good Evening’s Laugh.” Sponsored by the Amherst Busness Improvement District, the Mass Cultural Council, and Encharter Insurance. Free.

SATURDAY JULY 22: AMHERST COMMUNITY BAND. Sweetser Park. July 16 will feature “ACB Favorites aka The Greatest Hits”. July 22 will be “A Good Evening’s Laugh.” Sponsored by the Amherst Busness Improvement District, the Mass Cultural Council, and Encharter Insurance. Free.

SATURDAY AUGUST 12: COMMUNITY SAFETY DAY. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Mill River Recreation area 95 Montague Road. Join the Senior Center, Fire Department, Police Department, CRESS, the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, and Northwestern District Attorney’s Office for the second annual Community Safety Day. Become a safety expert and get to know your local first responders. This event is geared toward promoting public safety awareness for all ages. Events will feature Touch-A-Truck, fire safety demonstrations, scam prevention, K9s, jaws of life presentation, face painting, balloon art, car and car seat checks, food, live DJ and more.

ONGOING AND MULTI-DAY EVENTS

FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH BEGINNING JUNE 6: RAINBOW COFFEE HOUR. 10-11 a.m. Amherst Senior Center, Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. The Rainbow Coffee Hour is a new LGBTIA+ social coffee group for ages 50 and above. Join us for this welcoming space to socialize. No format, no agenda, just community. The July coffee hour will be held on July 11, due to July 4 being the first Tuesday of the month.

FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: NORTHAMPTON JAZZ WORKSHOP. The Drake. 44 North Pleasant Street. 7:30 p.m. Free (donations accepted). Featuring the Green Street trio with a special guest. Featured set at 7:30 followed by an open jam session. Bring your axe. Full calendar of events here.

SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: OPEN MIC NIGHT AT THE DRAKE. 44 North Pleasant Street. Free event. Performers arrive by 5:30 p.m. Stage time: 6 p.m – 10 p.m. All ages. Younger performers will be slotted earler. All performers and styles of performances welcome, including but not limited to: music (of all kinds) – acoustic, folk, rock, hip hop, jazz, classical, etc…comedy, spoken word / readings, poetry, dance, performance art. House rules and more information.

FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: MOBILE FOOD PROGRAM. 1-2 p.m. The Boulders, 156 Brittany Manor Drive. Free produce. No registration necessary. Open to everyone. Brought by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the Amherst Survival Center. The Food Bank truck will be in the parking lot near apartments 115-125.

FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: COVID 19 VACCINE CLINIC. Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. 3:00-5:00 p.m. Free. The clinics offer Pfizer and Moderna Bivalent Boosters for ages 12 and up and Pfizer Bivalent Booster for ages 5 and up.  Registration is preferred, but walk-ins are accepted. To schedule an appointment, click here. More information

LAST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: CRAFT AND CONVERSE. Mill District General Store and Local Art Gallery, 91 Cowls Road. 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Are you tired of creating in solitude? Looking to connect with other artistic individuals? Grab your sketchbook, knitting bag, or water color gear and join our monthly coworking group! Craft and converse, hosted by Easthampton artist Kaia Zimmerman, is held the last Wednesday of every month from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. This welcoming, intentional space is designed for community members to come together for a casual, social evening while pursuing their own creative projects. Drop-ins welcome, but registration encouraged for any weather-related changes in schedule. Bring your own arts or crafts project (BYOA) to work on. Ages 16+.

EVERY WEDNESDAY : CAN’T REMEMBER CAFE. Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Are you or a loved one experiencing memory loss? At the Amherst Senior Center, we understand memory changes and have developed a new program based on the popular Memory Café format. The Can’t Remember (CR) Café offers fun, relaxation, and of course, snacks. This program is perfect for caregivers, people with mild memory loss, or anyone in the community who enjoys good conversation and strong coffee. Each Can’t Remember Café opens with a coffee and conversation hour, followed by a group activity. Join us on Wednesday, November 30th for a performance by our special musical guests, “Healing Hearts with Harmony” at 11:00am. Come for the coffee, stay for the connections! Email seniorcenter@amherstma.gov or call 413-259-3060 with questions. 

EVERY THURSDAY: STITCH CIRCLE. 4 to 6 p.m. Mill District Local Art Gallery and General Store, 91 Cowls Road. Grab your needles, venture to the General Store, and join us for our first Stitch Circle. Knitters, quilters, embroidery artists, and crocheters are all invited. Free.

EVERY FRIDAY JULY 21 THROUGH AUGUST 11: MUSIC ON THE TOWN COMMON. 6 p.m. Jazz in July All-Star concert on July 21. Mr G and Eric Lee on July 28, Sponsored by the Amherst Busness Improvement District, the Mass Cultural Council, and Encharter Insurance. Free.

LAST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH : LAST FRIDAYS AT THE DRAKE POETRY SERIES HOSTED BY LYRICAL FAITH. 44 North Pleasant Street. Join us every last Friday of the month* for Last Fridays at The Drake hosted by Lyrical Faith for an unforgettable open mic and poetry night experience featuring award-winning spoken word artists from across the country. Come through for music, drinks, and artistic expression where poets take center stage to share new work, old work, or any work that helps them get free. Doors and bar open at 5PM. Early arrival is encouraged to get a slot on the sign-up sheet. The cover charge is $5 with a college ID or $10 general admission. More Information. Full Events Calendar at the Drake.

EVERY SATURDAY THROUGH NOVEMBER 18: AMERST FARMERS” MARKET. Amherst Town Common. 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. This year’s market will features 45 vendors (so far) and has room to sign up a few more. More information

SATURDAYS JUNE 24 THROUGH AUGUST 19: CRAFTS FOR KIDS AT SIMPLE GIFTS FARM. 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Simple Gifts Farm 1089 North Pleasant Street. June 24 is decorating planting pots. Free, but limited to 20 children. Sign up at https://checkout.square.site/buy/NZPOILQLBXAW3RGLJHXQ2GEN

SATURDAYS JUNE 24 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2: COMMUNITY FUN NITES. 5-7 p.m. at Simple Gifts Farm 1089 North Pleasant Street. Game nights, acoustic open mic nights, and poetry slams. We have plenty of chairs and a few 6-foot tables. Feel free to bring you own. Our bubble machine will be going full blast to add to the fun community atmosphere. The farm store will remain open for any snacks and drinks you may want to purchase. Go to https://www.simplegiftsfarmcsa.com/events/ for a schedule.

SECOND SATURDAY OF THE MONTH (JUNE THROUGH OCTOBER): ART ON THE LAWN. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Amherst History Museum 67 Amity Street. Art on the Lawn at the Amherst History Museum takes place on the second Saturday of June, July, September and October; June 10, July 8, September 9 and October 14. Artists and crafters will be set up on the lawn of the museum from 11:00am to 3:00pm when the museum is open for visitors. Stop by to visit and chat with the artists. Come into the museum to see our newest exhibit, The Magnificent Life & Art of Mabel Loomis Todd, take a tour of the newly reinstalled rooms in the house, peruse books in the reading room, and view our extensive clothing textile collection. Entry to the museum is free, but a $5 donation is suggested.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH APRIL THROUGH OCTOBER: CARS AND COFFEE AT THE MILL DISTRICT. Hosted by the Mill District General Store, 91 Cowls Road, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. It is free for collectors to display their cars and compete for trophies in four categories: best domestic, best foreign, best exotic, and best overall, based on votes of the public. Plus, there will be coffee from Futura Coffee Roasters which will soon be joining the Mill District. Cars and Coffee will be held rain or shine.

Now through FRIDAY JUNE 30: EMILY DICKINSON’S GHOSTS AT GALLERY A3. Gallery A3, 28 Amity Street 1D. A new exhibit by Laura Holland and Nancy Meagher that is inspired by Emily Dickinson. .There will be an opening reception on Thursday, June 1 from 5-7 p.m. and a free, online art forum on Thursday June 15 at 7:30 p.m.  Gallery Hours: Thursday – Sunday 3-8 p.m. Register here for the forum. More information

THURSDAY JULY 13 THOUGHT JULY 16: YIDSTOCK: THE FESTIVAL OF NEW YIDDISH MUSIC. Yiddish Book Center, 1021 West Street. Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music is back! Now in its eleventh year, Yidstock brings the best in klezmer and new Yiddish music to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. From July 13 to 16, this four-day festival will include musicians and performers at the forefront of the Yiddish music scene. In addition to seven concerts, the lineup also includes four workshops, eleven talks, and one special film screening, all in celebration of Yiddish music, language, and culture. Build your own itinerary by purchasing tickets to concerts, individual talks, workshops, and the film screening. Information at: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock

SUNDAY JUNE 25 THROUGH FRIDAY JUNE 30: WATER COLORS BY NANCY EMOND. Burnett Gallery Jones Library. 9:00 a.m. – 5:15 pm. Free. Nancy Emond is a local watercolor painter and instructor. Although art has been a touch point throughout her life, her career in social justice work left little time for it, so after retirement, she is able to devote more time to it. She has shown, taught and donated her work to many nonprofit fundraising efforts. Nancy particularly loves instructing watercolor classes and private lessons. She has received local Cultural Counsel grants for instructing plein air classes. Most recently students painted some of Leverett’s historical buildings to be presented as an exhibit for the Town’s 250th founding anniversary. She says, plein air painting is liberating because you need to streamline your materials so you don’t need to carry such a heavy load. “I love watercolor because it has a life of it’s own in its unpredictable fluid movement. It can sometimes be frustrating but usually creates it’s own magic mingling on paper in surprising ways.” The natural world is her primary focus. Her goal when teaching is to have people love what they do and to feel they’ve achieved something at the end of each class by combining technique and principles. Pet portraits and home portraits are painted by commission.

NOW through FRIDAY JUNE 30: ARTWORK OF DR. SHIRLEY JACKSON WHITAKER AT LOCAL ART GALLERY IN THE MILL DISTRICT. Artist, activist and local nephrology specialist, Dr. Shirley Jackson Whitaker, will bring her etchings, paintings, and storytelling to the Front Window Gallery at The Mill District’s Local Art Gallery, 91 Cowls Road, for a new exhibit that will run through the end of June.  Whitaker weaves her love of art into all aspects of her life, connecting medical conundrums to trauma, to racism, to ongoing lynching, and then to canvas and the page.  Social Justice and a healthy community are her goals. A protégé of renowned artist Leonard Baskin, Whitaker uses her talent in etchings, drawings, paintings, photography, children’s books, and cinematography to “roar for change.” More information

NOW through SATURDAY JULY 1: EMILY DICKINSON’S GHOSTS. Gallery A3. 28 Amity Street. 3-8 p.m.
Accordion books and photographs by Laura Holland join oil paintings and sculpture by Nancy Meagher to conjure ghostly glimpses of Emily Dickinson. More information

NOW through SUNDAY JULY 2: GOD MADE MY FACE: A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT OF JAMES BALDWIN. Meade Art Museum, 41 Quadrangle Street, Amherst College. Look here for days and hours. This exhibit presents works from iconic artists such as Richard Avedon, Marlene Dumas, and Kara Walker alongside archival materials in order to explore the life, work, and legacy of James Baldwin (1924–1987). More information

NOW throughout THE SUMMER: THE MAGNIFICENT LIFE & ART OF MABEL LOOMIS TODD. Amherst History Museum, Strong House, 67 Amity Street. The 2023 Season at the Strong House brings a fresh look at our founder, Mabel Loomis Todd with an exhibit that explores Todd’s work as a nature writer, painter, conservationist, lecturer, and the editor of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Visitors will have the opportunity for a before-and-after look at several of Todd’s botanical paintings that have not been on view in decades due to needed repairs. Open Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment.

NOW throughout -SUMMER 2023: ANCESTRAL BRIDGES EXHIBITION AT FROST LIBRARY TO CELEBRATE BLACK AND AFRO-INDIGENOUS FAMILIES WHO LIVED AND WORKED IN AMHERST Frost Library at Amherst College, 61 Quadrangle Drive, 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m. This exhibition, the first partnership between the Ancestral Bridges Foundation  and Amherst College, seeks to center this long-neglected aspect of town history and to reveal the rich and complex lives of the Black and Afro-Indigenous community of Amherst. Our families’ old black-and-white photographs complement oral histories–some yet to be recorded – and other artifacts available locally and at the college. I hope these images and stories raise questions, prompt further research, and challenge us all to meet our collective responsibility to build a more just and equitable future. All are welcome. On view through the summer of 2023. Free.