WHEN: Saturday Night, December 1, from 5-8pm
WHERE: Downtown Northampton
Join us downtown to experience Main Street on foot. Shop at our local stores, eat at your favorite restaurants, enjoy the holiday lights and celebrate the winter season!
Where to park? All of our municipal lots will be open and waiting for you, as well as the parking garage. A parking map is available here. There is also parking available on downtown side streets, and on-street parking on Elm, Green and West Streets near Smith College.
TRAFFIC FLOW: Main Street will close to through traffic starting at 4pm. Please note: Main Street will be closed only from Masonic Street (which will remain OPEN) to King Street (which will also remain OPEN). The lower block of Main Street, between King Street and Market Street will be open to through traffic the entire evening. This is because there are two other big events happening in downtown Northampton on Saturday night: an 8pm concert at the Calvin (Melissa Etheridge) and an NEPR fundraiser at the Hotel Northampton.
What’s happening, you wonder? A quick overview:
- S’mores and fire pits, of course – in the block near Thornes
- Winter kid-friendly games with Northampton Parks & Recreation, AND kid-friendly activites with the Hampshire County YMCA!
- Karaoke with Hits 94.3
- More winter kid-friendly games with the Northampton Montessori School
- A Crackerbarrel Alley takeover by UMass Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Students and Faculty
- Food on the sidewalk from Belly of the Beast, Iconica Social Club and Viva Fresh Pasta
- Forbes Library kid crafts and read-alouds
- Food from Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School culinary students
- D.J. Quintessential – in front of Cathy Cross
- The Northampton DPW, Police Department and Fire Department with trucks for kids to explore
- MUSIC – SO MUCH MUSIC!
A schedule of performances, being coordinated with the Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals as part of their December fundraising efforts, is available HERE (it’s being updated constantly). You can catch the Northampton High School band in Pulaski Park, small acapella groups wandering the streets, Valley Rock Voices on the steps of First Churches, an acapella jam inside First Churches, folk music inside the Unitarian Universalist Society, the Florence Community Band and others at the Christian Science Center, a schedule of groups in front of City Hall, and lots of groups performing inside retail spaces on and off Main Street.
