Scene Here

Scene Here: Frostilicus

Scene Here: Frostilicus

As temperatures dip and the ice thickens on Heritage Park in East Longmeadow, ice skaters and hockey players of all ages lace up their freshly sharpened skates and brave the cold to carry on a generations-old winter tradition. Just ask Ryan Morton. He used to play...
Scene Here: Holidays in Whoville

Scene Here: Holidays in Whoville

The quadrangle at the Springfield Museums, with its many sculptures of Dr. Seuss’ most famous characters, can inspire wonder in most visitors any day of the year, but there’s an extra bit of Seussian whimsy about it around the holidays. The characters — The Grinch,...
Scene Here: Easthamptonshire

Scene Here: Easthamptonshire

If Frodo had been living in Easthampton’s new Mill 180 Park when Gandalf stopped by, he probably would have turned down the wizard’s all-powerful ring. Hidden inside an old mill building — with food, lawn games, coffee, beer, and wifi at your fingertips — it’s already...
Scene Here: Rent Rally

Scene Here: Rent Rally

Several dozen protesters gathered this past Friday at Mason Square in Springfield, chanting What Do We Want? Affordable Housing! When Do We Want It? Now! and carrying signs down State Street — through one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods — to Court Square in...
Scene Here: Lesser Evils

Scene Here: Lesser Evils

“The mythology is hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil and things will get better. “Lesser evil” politicians have been speaking for us and they are bought and paid for by their corporate influences consisting of “predatory banks, the fossil fuel...
Scene Here: Slippery Slope

Scene Here: Slippery Slope

It’s human nature to want to see just how far an idea can be pushed. Take Slide the City for instance,  the 1,000-foot slip-and-slide that transformed Appleton Street into a lazy river for the Celebrate Holyoke festival this past weekend. It’s easy to imagine...
Scene Here: Rosco’s Not Feeling It

Scene Here: Rosco’s Not Feeling It

Rosco just #can’t. After a full week of being a good dog — messing outside, not messing in the house, and being generally adorable — here he is, out on a river, of all places, hanging with these kids. “I’m too old for this,” he mutters to himself, sipping on an iced...
Scene Here: Cat 4 Prez

Scene Here: Cat 4 Prez

A crowd of several hundred people, made up largely of children, packed the lawn of the Springfield Museums Quadrangle on Tuesday morning in eager anticipation of a stump speech by the self-proclaimed “children’s candidate,” the latest to enter the presidential fray....
SceneHere: The Jam Must Go On!

SceneHere: The Jam Must Go On!

The 30th Green River Festival at Greenfield Community College was awash in music, good vibes, and rain — big time. Day two of the three-day festival, Saturday, saw some severe downpours, but a little rain wasn’t enough to dampen people’s spirits. — Kristin Palpini,...
Scene Here: Free Radical

Scene Here: Free Radical

The man is 74 years old. For half a century of tilting at the bone-grinding windmills of Darwinian capitalism, you’d think he’d be weary, wised-up, aching for retirement. But no, here he is in New Hampshire, on short sleep caught on a night flight halfway across the...
Scene Here: Songs Aloft

Scene Here: Songs Aloft

The creaky floorboards cry out when Tom Matherly shifts his weight. He rocks from one heel to the other in his tan boots, staring down at the frayed red rug while he twists the tuning keys on his vintage electric guitar. He’s pausing his set list to play “The Man Who...
Los Tres Reyes

Los Tres Reyes

DAN LITTLE PHOTO The camels may not be here at this year’s Three King’s Day celebration put on by Springfield’s Women of the Vanguard and various community partners, but the party’s so much fun that no one seems to mind. Arriving around 5:30 at Main Street’s...
Forecast: Messy

Forecast: Messy

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO It’s here — the white we all wanted on Christmas. But they sent the wrong stuff. Given the Valley’s tropical Christmas — we saw people posting Christmas bikini pics on social media — it’s really a mean joke that flakes fell last Tuesday while...
Working for Workers

Working for Workers

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO At Price Rite in Chicopee on a recent Thursday afternoon, the rally is in action. A man wearing a vest with Bernie Sanders buttons and Jobs with Justice pins approaches my car. I roll down the window at his polite but persistent behest. He hands me...
The Nest

The Nest

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO Outside the Nest, a house/underground music venue on a side street off Belchertown Road in Amherst, a cloud of smokers greet me. I follow the train of people kicking off their boots and shoes at the bottom of the basement stairs where a living room...
Getting Lit

Getting Lit

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO The holiday spirit arrives a bit early at Easthampton’s Keep Cottage Street Lit event at the Brass Cat. On this recent Wednesday night, the packed pub is a unified wall of happy noise as revelers clutch stemless, child-sized glasses and mill around...
Scene Here: Bird Brain

Scene Here: Bird Brain

Photo by Greg Saulmon Motivated by hunger and a bit of sport, the peregrine falcon searches for a high perch from which she can keep a sharp lookout for prey. Her favorite meals are pigeons, ducks, and shorebirds, but in the lush Pioneer Valley any kind of medium-size...
Scene Here: A Potato in the Rough

Scene Here: A Potato in the Rough

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO A third of all the food that’s produced in the U.S. goes to waste, Jessica Harwood tells the 14 young gleaning helpers at Atkins Farm. Standing in a circle on a mild mid-afternoon, the children take turns offering up first names and their thoughts...
Scene Here: Franklin County Pumpkinfest

Scene Here: Franklin County Pumpkinfest

A devil dances along the lane of Avenue A in Turners Falls. She’s joined by a witch, whose laughter breaks through the crowd in the purest delight. Through the droves of people a young princess pushes her small hands into a large pile of pumpkin guts. A tiny Jedi is...
Scene Here: Guaranteed to fall

Scene Here: Guaranteed to fall

KEVIN GUTTING PHOTO When Cameron Clapp was 15, a night of drinking landed him on train tracks, where an oncoming freight train took his arm and both his legs. “Right now, in this moment,” Clapp tells a room full of health care professionals at Healthsouth...
Scene Here: Before Sunrise

Scene Here: Before Sunrise

At the end of a long day, there is no separating me from the world. Everyday needs loom large in my mind, and I’m roped, like Gulliver, to a thousand little worries. But at six a.m., when I step onto my front porch, I feel small again. Looking up at a cold, dark sky,...
Scene Here: Beam Me Up

Scene Here: Beam Me Up

Bulbs flash. Beats drop. Bass thuds in my ribcage. On the dance floor, bolts of light swirl together in neon colors, and the dancers are a galaxy of iconic sci-fi stars. A tall young man with long hair and a Jedi cloak whips his red double-bladed lightsaber in...
Scene Here: Yoga and Beer

Scene Here: Yoga and Beer

AMANDA DRANE PHOTO At 6:20 p.m. on a Thursday I arrive at Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton to do yoga and drink beer. Clad in yoga attire, we the attendees make our way up to the large, bustling farm building on Fort Hill Road. Brightly colored mats, yoga clothes, and...
Scene Here: The Runway

Scene Here: The Runway

Kelly Dempsey, 31, originally hails from Monson and now she’s on the latest season of Project Runway, which premiered last Thursday. At the packed Pasquale’s Restaurant in East Longmeadow last Thursday, Dempsey’s friends, relatives, acquaintances, and some fond...
Scene Here: Let’s go tag-saling!

Scene Here: Let’s go tag-saling!

Old garden hoses and porcelain chickens … Oxidized metals and outfits for Wiccans … Doodads and knickknacks that spring cleaning brings … These are a few of my favorite things. I step across a cluttered driveway in Florence, eager to help kick off the beginning of tag...
Scene Here: Peak Condition

Scene Here: Peak Condition

Not everyone would choose to spend a Sunday morning deep in the woods of southern New Hampshire. The scattered hikers on top of Mount Monadnock at 10 a.m. arrive from all directions — the mountain has dozens of trails — in various states of outdoor preparedness. There...