Home Posts tagged Deerfield Mass.

Deerfield Is ‘a Front Door and a Backbone’

By
Victoria Tubbs and Vytautas Sukys have big plans for Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.
Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

Victoria Tubbs and Vytautas Sukys have big plans for Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.

Victoria Tubbs and Vytautas Sukys have big plans for Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory.

Victoria Tubbs says her first visit to Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory in Deerfield was certainly a memorable one.

Indeed, as she and her brother, Vytautas Sukys, offered a tour of the business they now own and manage, she pointed to the bridge over the small koi pond in the conservatory and said, “I was proposed to right there 16 years ago.”

As she and Sukys stopped for a photo on that very spot, with one of the 4,000 or so butterflies inhabiting the place at any given time fluttering in the background, they said their broad goal is to create special memories for others while taking this business — now celebrating 25 years as one of the pillars of Franklin County’s tourism scene — in new and different directions.

These include a greater focus on events and creating more experiences for the thousands who come here every year, everything from glassblowing to classes on various subjects, blending nature with art and education.

Magic Wings, as noted, is one of the major draws in Deerfield. Others include Yankee Candle, Tree House Brewing Co., Historic Deerfield, and the Rock Fossil and Dinosaur Shop, all of these on or accessible from Routes 5 & 10.

Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory

Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory

Together, they contribute to an outsized role in the local tourism sector, its workforce opportunities, and overall regional identity for a town of just over 5,000 people.

“I like to say Deerfield consistently punches above its weight,” said Jessye Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce & Regional Tourism Council. “Deerfield works as a front door and a backbone in a lot of ways. It’s where a lot of visitors first experience Franklin County, and it’s also home to businesses that quietly operate on a regional and national scale, and it’s great that they found their home here.”

Elaborating, she said easy access off I-91 and multiple attractions combine to make Deerfield a destination for people looking for fun and education across a broad spectrum, whether it’s candles, beer, butterflies, or 18th century history — lots of it.

The last item on that list can be found at Historic Deerfield, an outdoor museum that interprets the history and culture of early New England. And, like other venues celebrating that time in the nation’s history, it is gearing up for the country’s 250th birthday with several new exhibits.

These include “Picturing the Revolution,” an exhibit that explores the diverse ways in which 18th-century individuals ‘pictured’ or understood the revolution as it unfolded, with maps, drawings, ceramics, and even satirical cartoons; “Dressing the Revolution: Fashion and Politics 1760-1789,” a display that includes more than 20 garments, accessories, textiles, and prints that illuminate the role of clothing at the time of the Revolution; and “A Town Divided: Deerfield in the Age of the Revolution,” an exhibit that explores how this rural Massachusetts community responded to the upheaval of the late 1760s through the 1780s.

They will all open April 18, said Amanda Lange, director of the Curatorial Department and curator of Historic Interiors for Historic Deerfield, adding that these and other programs will shed light on a time being brought into focus by the 250th celebrations — as well as some current events — and also bring more people to the museum and Deerfield.

“It’s an increasingly interesting time to be re-examining the birth, or origins, of the United States of America and the foundational documents,” Lange said, “as well as what was going on here, especially in Western Massachusetts, at that time.”

Amanda Lange

Amanda Lange

“It’s an increasingly interesting time to be re-examining the birth, or origins, of the United States of America and the foundational documents, as well as what was going on here, especially in Western Massachusetts, at that time.”

Overall, it promises to be an intriguing year for Deerfield, with new owners at Magic Wings, new programs at Historic Deerfield, more concerts at Tree House, and the many other draws. For this latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest looks at how Deerfield lives up its billing as a both a front door to Franklin County and the backbone of the region’s tourist economy.

 

Taking Flight

Tubbs told BusinessWest that she’s held leadership positions at several businesses, including a stint as wedding and event coordinator for the former Yankee Pedlar in Holyoke, but never owned one until now.

“I’ve always made money for other people,” she said, adding that all this changed, and she started working for herself, when she saw a notice on the internet that Magic Wings was for sale. “I thought, ‘that’s nice,’ and I closed my computer, but my brain would not let it go.”

Thus began a lengthy process of due diligence, learning a business that would be foreign to just about everyone, and talking her brother, an aerospace engineer by trade, into coming out for a look, and then eventually to come along for the ride.

“I knew there was a lot of stuff I didn’t know about — heating and cooling, for example — that I needed his help with,” she explained. “I do know weddings, I do know events, and I knew that this place was awesome.”

Sukys, who was working for GM in Michigan when his sister first started the exploratory process, said it was a slow, gradual course by which the two decided not only that they wanted to buy the business, but that they could make it a success.

“From the get-go, we were excited about it, but it was over time that we came to realize that we could make Magic Wings happen and also thrive,” he explained. “Then, it was like a full-out commitment, and I moved out here entirely; I got a lot of hands-on experience just being here.”

“From the get-go, we were excited about it, but it was over time that we came to realize that we could make Magic Wings happen and also thrive.”

All of the above took about two years, and in mid-January, they began a new era in this venerable business, officially taking over for another sister-and-brother team, Kathy Siore and George Miller.

The business plan calls for everything from updating the heating system and making it more efficient — a temperature of 70 to 75 degrees must be maintained for the butterflies — and also making the conservatory even more of a destination, especially for events. Several weddings are staged there each year — ceremonies and receptions alike — and Tubbs wants to do more of them, as well as birthday parties and other gatherings.

Meanwhile, there are plans to add a glass-blowing studio, reopen the café at the facility and broaden its menu, incorporate more local art in the gift shop, and offer classes in everything from painting butterflies to preserving butterfly wings they find in nature.

This is a year-round business, Tubbs noted, and January is actually a popular time to visit, both to beat back cabin fever and enjoy a few minutes without needing a winter coat.

“It’s the best way to get to the tropics without going very far,” Sukys said, adding that people come just to get a break from winter and smell the flowers in the conservatory.

Magic Wings and its new owners comprise one of many intriguing business stories in Deerfield, said Deane, noting that, while tourism is the dominant force, the town’s economy is quite diverse, featuring a solid mix of hospitality ventures, retail, manufacturing, education, agriculture, and service businesses.

This image is one of many that will be on display as part of the “Picturing the Revolution” exhibit to open on April 18 at Historic Deerfield.

This image is one of many that will be on display as part of the “Picturing the Revolution” exhibit to open on April 18 at Historic Deerfield.

It also boasts both legacy businesses and institutions, such as Deerfield Academy, Historic Deerfield, and Yankee Candle, and relative newcomers, such as Marty’s Local, a regional food distribution company founded in 2015 that connects more than 100 local farms and food producers with restaurants, schools, grocers, and institutions across New England and New York.

“That’s the best part about Deerfield — it’s not one product or one sector; it’s really an ecosystem,” she noted. “There’s agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and culture, and they’re all intersecting in Deerfield in a visible way.

 

Stitch in Time

As she talked about the new exhibits soon to open at Historic Deerfield, Lange noted that she’s sensing growing interest, not just in that round-number anniversary celebration to climax on July 4, but in the period being celebrated.

The Ken Burns documentary The American Revolution has certainly helped fuel such interest, she said, as have the many commemorations in area communities of the Henry Knox Trail, the route of Col. Knox’s famous ‘noble train of artillery’ from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the army camp outside Boston, a trek that ended in January 1776.

Knox and his men didn’t pass through Deerfield, Lange said, but there was plenty of other history written in this community, as a trip to the museum will reveal.

And the new exhibits to start in April will shed more light on the period and the people who lived through it, she said, adding that the museum has been planning for the 250th for some time now, especially with regard to assembling items for display, both from its own collection and other sources.

The “Picturing the Revolution” exhibit, for example, will include some battle plans for an engagement in 1780, showing the arrangement of the regiments and troops of the Continental Army.

“It didn’t happen because they were betrayed by Benedict Arnold,” she explained, adding that the plans were scrapped, and the forces were instead deployed to reinforce the fort at West Point.

The battle plan is among the dozens of items that will be on display at the museum across three exhibits. The “Dressing the Revolution” exhibit will focus on fashion, but also the manufacturing of items here and the profound shift — after the imposition of onerous taxes on British-made goods — toward non-importation. The “Town Divided” exhibit, meanwhile, will present multiple perspectives on how Deerfield residents embraced, rejected, or questioned Revolutionary ideals, said Lange, adding that the community was evenly split, more so than other area towns, between Loyalists and Whigs.

Other programming includes three one-act plays set in Deerfield during July 1774, on the eve of the Revolution, as well as a recreation of a tea party staged by Loyalists in defiance of non-consumption agreements. Historic Deerfield expects these various exhibits and programs to draw more people to the museum than would be considered typical.

Meanwhile, at Tree House, the brewery will continue to be a major draw, when it comes to both beer and music.

“Tree House has always been a destination, and not much has changed in that regard in the past decade,” co-founder Nate Lanier said. “We draw from all over — we’ve had visitors from more than 50 countries in the past year alone.”

Music has become a big part of the scene, he added. “Music has always been part of the Tree House experience. It goes all the way back to a record player in our original red barn in Brimfield. We started our concert series in Charlton with a small show, developed relationships with artists and promoters, and grew from there. Today, we’re hosting nationally touring acts; it’s been a natural evolution.

“Last year, concerts accounted for roughly 10% of our foot traffic in Deerfield,” he went on. “The concert-going crowd is significantly more diverse than our regular customers, which is great for us and for the region. Concerts are a challenging business, as we’ve learned the hard way, but they’re a significant economic driver: they generate regional lodging, food, and transportation spending, along with foot traffic to other businesses in the area. We’re proud of the role we play in making Deerfield a unique destination.”

And the backbone of the region’s tourism economy.

Marty’s Local Boosts the Region’s Food Economy

By
CEO Nick Martinelli
Features Special Coverage

Produce and Promise

CEO Nick Martinelli

CEO Nick Martinelli

 

As he gave BusinessWest a tour of his 12,500-square-foot warehouse in Deerfield, winding past long, high racks of boxes and bags of fresh produce and other food and beverages, as well as a brightly lit cold-storage area, Nick Martinelli eventually came to a three-bay loading dock which he called perhaps the most important part of the decade-old operation known as Marty’s Local.

“We have eight trucks, and they’re going six days a week. They’re going out to the farms in the area, and then to the restaurants and colleges and grocers,” he explained. “Everything comes in and out of here.”

Indeed, food that arrives at the facility from farms doesn’t stay long; it heads right back out to its final destination, wherever that may be. The operation has about 115 different partners, counting both the farms and food producers on one end and those purchasing food on the other.

“They’re primarily in Western Mass., but also elsewhere in New England and New York,” Martinelli said. “There are instances where food will be picked up and delivered the same day. But the great majority of our business is having trucks on the road, making deliveries, and then ideally picking up from our farm partners on the way back to the facility, to be packed that night and go out the next day. That’s the ideal.”

Martinelli, founder and CEO of Marty’s Local, began this career in 2015, completing a farming program in Orange called the Farm School, knowing he wanted to work in agriculture, but not sure exactly how.

“I was looking to figure out a place in the local agriculture economy,” he recalled. “I was going to work on a farm, but then I started to talk to a bunch of farmers and realized that there was a real need for distribution. I was seeing some of the growers that I knew driving their own product around, and I knew the demand was strong for these these foods that are really good. So maybe there’s a business opportunity to play that role and just focus on distribution, marketing, trucking.”

So Martinelli started doing just that, first in his car and then with a rented truck. “Then folks would say, ‘what else can you bring us?’ So it started to grow organically that way.”

That was the birth of Marty’s Local, whose network of partners are based not only in Western Mass., but also Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, and New York’s Hudson Valley.

Produce and grains were the first focus of the operation, but it soon expanded to dairy, including butter and cheese, as well as eggs, honey, maple syrup, and even products like sriracha and salsa.

“Almost every week, another farm or maker would reach out and say, ‘we heard you have this distribution service; could we work with you?’ So that’s how we built our roster of partners.”

In 2019, Marty’s Local acquired Squash Inc., a similarly minded local food distributor that had been around since 1973.

“We’d started to do some work with them, and then their owners were looking to retire, so we acquired that business. They had a lot of relationships with growers in the area, and a great customer base, and that was a nice merging of the two businesses that’s worked well,” Martinelli said. “With Squash, we added non-locals. They were sending a truck to the New England Produce Center in Chelsea, outside of Boston, three times a week to get non-local produce — avocados, limes, things you can’t get around here. We continued that, and it’s been a helpful component of the business.”

About 50% of the operation’s food purchasers are retailers, meaning everything from farm stores to independent grocers to chain stores. On the food-service side, which is most of the other half, are colleges, K-12 schools, caterers, restaurants, and wellness and retreat centers.

“There are a ton of farms, and we’re just scratching the surface with the ones that we’re working with.”

Martinelli said one plus for this business is that schools and colleges — not all, but many — have become more diligent about serving healthy options, while restaurants, everywhere but especially in Western Mass., have increasingly seen the farm-to-table concept as a selling point.

To supply those end users, farms have several options, he explained. “Farms are still doing self-distribution. They’ll either have a refrigerated truck that they use, or they’ll have a pickup truck or their personal vehicle, depending on the scale they’re operating at. Some of the farms we work with have multiple trucks, depending on how many customers they have. Some of them are working with distributors that are much larger than us, or some of them work with regional distributors like us. It really depends on the scale of the grower and maker.”

 

What’s in a Local Name?

Grateful for the farms that choose to partner with him, Martinelli takes a broad view of the operation’s impact on the region.

“On a personal level, all of us are motivated and compelled by the trust we have in food when we know where it came from. And when I say all of us, I mean on our team, although I think, in the market, too, there’s some truth to that for sure.”

That idea has driven growth in the local food economy over the past couple decades, he added.

“The sector has grown so much. And I think the reason is that trust, in terms of what food you’re putting in your body, but also who you’re supporting. Are you supporting somebody that’s down the road that you might run into, a business that you’re familiar with, whether you know those people personally or just drive by their business regularly? That’s meaningful to me personally, and I think that’s meaningful to a lot of people, and it’s an opportunity to put your money where your values are.

“So that’s certainly a driver for us — facilitating that, making it easier for people to see more products they recognize on the shelves,” he went on. “On a lot of shelves, it will say, ‘product from X country.’ OK, that’s not really that helpful, right? But if it says it’s from such-and-such farm in Northampton, Massachusetts, well, that’s different.

Eight trucks, both box trucks like this one and larger trailers, move food six days a week for Marty’s Local.

Eight trucks, both box trucks like this one and larger trailers, move food six days a week for Marty’s Local.

“Then you know what you’re getting,” he went on. “And you’re not only supporting the person or the business that’s down the road and putting food in your body that you can trust, you’re also supporting your regional economy, and maybe you’re preserving farmland. There are all sorts of ancillary benefits that come with it.”

Then there’s the matter of healthier eating.

“It’s more nutritious if it’s local,” Martinelli said. “I mean, there are studies showing that the nutrients are stronger after fewer days. So, if it’s coming in a truck five days across the country, it starts to leach out flavor — not in every single product, but there can be meaningful differences in the flavor and nutrition.”

Fortunately, he sees potential to grow this operation and continue to influence food freshness and nutrition while stimulating the local food economy.

“Are you supporting somebody that’s down the road that you might run into, a business that you’re familiar with, whether you know those people personally or just drive by their business regularly? That’s meaningful to me personally, and I think that’s meaningful to a lot of people, and it’s an opportunity to put your money where your values are.”

“There are a ton of farms, and we’re just scratching the surface with the ones that we’re working with,” he noted. “And not only farmers, but entrepreneurs who are one- or two-person businesses saying, ‘I have this great new product’ or ‘I make this great jerky.’ We’re talking about sauerkraut, yogurt, any number of different things where someone is eager to take their craft and get it out to the world, and that’s the role that we want to play.”

Recognizing that impact, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) named Marty’s Local one of its Local Hero honorees in 2024.

“Marty’s functions in a part of our local food system that is absolutely essential but largely invisible to the general public (except inasmuch as we might see a truck making deliveries),” CISA noted. “We’re lucky to have thriving farmers’ markets, farmstands, and CSAs in our region, but the reality is that direct sales from farm to consumer make up only about 10% of Massachusetts farm sales. That means that 90% of the food grown by Massachusetts farms is winding its way through more complex channels from farm to table — and Marty’s Local smooths that complexity out, bridging the gaps and getting more local food onto more local peoples’ plates.”

 

Special Delivery

Martinelli said his operation’s continued growth is a testament to untapped demand in what is, after all, an agriculture-heavy region.

“That’s also a testament to the number of people growing great food or making great food. So you have people who want it and people who are providing it, and we get to do it really well in the middle,” he told BusinessWest. “We take pride in doing that and paying real attention to good relationships with our vendor partners and with our customers, and all three parties valuing one another.”

And he enjoys making the connections that drive that growth.

“It’s exciting to be able to say to another customer, ‘you know, I just talked to a guy recently who didn’t know there was a service like this, saw our catalog, and said, ‘these are exactly the kinds of foods that I want to have in my store.’ And we make it easy for them to get those foods in there, and do it in a way that’s just as professional as any very large distributor, but with a special focus on local and regional high-quality foods.”

Again, Martinelli added, “we feel like we’re scratching the surface, 10 years in, with the amount of suppliers that have food to go out into the world and the amount of people out there who want that good food.”

 

Deerfield’s Economy Goes Well Beyond Tourism

By
Chris Dunne
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Chris Dunne

Chris Dunne says one of the town’s priorities is to create more housing.

 

‘Diverse.’

That’s the one word Jessye Deane kept coming back to as she talked about Deerfield and its business community.

And with good reason.

Indeed, while this community of just over 5,000 is home to Yankee Candle Village, Historic Deerfield, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, and other tourist attractions, its economy is quite broad, covering sectors ranging from agriculture to craft brewing (which doubles as a tourist attraction, as we’ll see); manufacturing to retail; restaurants to the arts.

They all come together in a picturesque community that is a true destination, said Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, which also calls Deerfield home. And this diversity is certainly an asset, she added, especially as manufacturing declines in many other communities.

“This diversity is the real strength of the economy of Deerfield,” she told BusinessWest, noting that, while large employers like Yankee Candle are always important, the backbone of the community’s economy is small businesses.

And, as noted, they cover all sectors, from restaurants like Leo’s Table in the community’s small but vibrant downtown to Ames Electrical Consulting, a growing business, soon to move to Greenfield, that specializes in helping manufacturers and even municipalities with efforts to automate facilities and processes.

That list also includes manufacturers like Worthington Assembly, which has become noteworthy not only for the circuit boards it produces for a wide range of clients but for a decidedly different culture, one it describes as ‘humanizing manufacturing’.

The obvious goal moving forward is to continue adding more pieces to this diverse business puzzle, said Chris Dunne, Deerfield’s Planning & Economic Development coordinator, while also making the town even more livable and, well, simply providing more places to live.

Indeed, like most other communities in this region — although not all those in Franklin County, where population loss is a pressing issue  — Deerfield needs more housing, said Dunne, adding that creating more is part of a larger effort to repurpose land and property in what he called the town campus.

“Approximately 45% of Deerfield residents are over age 55, so there is a definite need for senior housing.”

This is a collection of buildings, many of them currently or soon to be town-owned, including the current Town Hall, two churches, and a former elementary school, some of which could likely be converted to senior housing, said Denise Mason, chair of the town’s Planning Board, adding that there is real need in this category, and if it is met, other homes could become available to younger families.

“Approximately 45% of Deerfield residents are over age 55, so there is a definite need for senior housing,” Mason said. “And there is a housing issue across our region, and especially in Deerfield. We’re hoping that by building senior housing — and we’re looking to add approximately 32 units — that would free up some of the other homes, because we do have some older seniors who would like to downsize, but they have no place to move to.”

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns the lens on Deerfield, where an increasingly vibrant community and ever-changing destination comes into focus.

 

Developing Stories

They are referred to as the ‘1821 Building’ and the ‘1888 Building,’ respectively, because that’s when they opened their doors.

The former is a long-closed church, and the latter is the aforementioned former elementary school that, with the help of a $4 million federal earmark, is being eyed as a replacement for the current town offices, built in the ’50s and now outdated and energy-inefficient.

Wade Bassett

Wade Bassett says Yankee Candle is one of many intriguing draws that have helped transform Deerfield into a true destination.

Transformation of those two historic properties tops the list of municipal initiatives in Deerfield, Dunne and Mason said.

And if town offices can be moved to the renovated school, new uses, perhaps senior housing, could be found for the current Town Hall, which, as noted, is an aging, inefficient structure.

These properties and others sit on what is called the campus, a slice of land, most of it town-owned, between North Main Street and Conway Street that includes several structures, including Town Hall, the 1821 and 1888 buildings, the town’s senior center, a ballfield, and a second church, St. James Roman Catholic Church, and its rectory, which the town may acquire with an eye toward preservation and reuse, perhaps for more senior housing, said Mason, adding that a request for proposals will soon be issued for that property.

As noted, there is real need for this type of housing, said Mason, noting that, if it is created, homes will come on the market, opening the door for more families to move to the community.

Meanwhile, new senior housing on the campus and more young families would provide a boost for the nearby downtown, said Dunne, adding that, while that area is vibrant, there are some ‘infill projects,’ as he called them, to contend with, including a long-vacant Cumberland Farms (a new, much larger one was opened on Route 5).

Other initiatives include ongoing development of a municipal parking lot with EV chargers, one complete with a large amount of green space to counter all the paved surfaces downtown — and a Complete Streets project that include improvements to sidewalks and adding a tree belt to downtown streets.

While there’s a concerted effort to create more housing inventory for those who want to live in Deerfield, there’s already a deep portfolio of attractions for those who want to visit.

“Tree House is driving a lot of traffic to this area, with their beer and with their concerts.”

Yankee Candle has long been the mainstay, and it continues to evolve in this anchor role, said Wade Bassett, director of Sales and Operations at Yankee Candle Village.

But the tourist sector, like the overall economy, is diverse, boasting everything from butterflies to history lessons at Historic Deerfield to the latest draw — craft beer and accompanying events, especially at Tree House Brewery, now occupying the large campus that was once home to publisher Channing Bete.

That campus incudes a concert venue that brings thousands of people to Deerfield for shows, said Dunne, adding that the brewery is working with town officials to increase the limit for attendance so it can bring larger acts to that campus and thus increase the ripple effect.

19th-century building

This 19th-century building is among the properties in the town ‘campus’ being eyed for renovation.

And that effect is already considerable, said Jen Howard, owner of Leo’s Table, a breakfast and lunch restaurant on North Main Street, named after her grandfather, who owned and operated a similar establishment in Fitchburg after returning from military service.

Howard said she explains the name on a regular basis, adding that many guests will ask her male kitchen employee if he is Leo.

Those guests run the gamut, she said, noting that there is a solid core of locals, many of them senior citizens, but many diners are coming on their way to attractions like Yankee Candle, the butterfly conservatory, and, increasingly, Tree House.

“We even see some from the parking lot — people charging their vehicles will come in,” she told BusinessWest, adding that a much larger boost comes from the tourist attractions, which fuel many other hospitality-related businesses.

 

Staying Power

At Yankee Candle, they call it the “golden key.”

That’s the name of a long-standing program, a tradition, really, at the company, whereby one family, or an individual guest, is chosen to receive an actual, and quite large, golden key, which they are required to wear, and which entitles them to enjoy all the many experiences at the Village for free.

Deerfield at a Glance

Year Incorporated: 1677
Population: 5,090
Area: 33.4 square miles
County: Franklin
Residential Tax Rate: $13.85
Commercial Tax Rate: $13.85
Median Household Income: $74,853
Median Family Income: $83,859
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Yankee Candle Co., Pelican Products Inc.
* Latest information available

“They can enjoy Wax Works, they can fill a candy jar, they can get some ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s — it gives a next-level experience to the guest,” said Bassett, adding quickly that the program was designed to engage not only guests, but employees at the Village as well. Indeed, each day a different team member is assigned the task of deciding who, if anyone, is worthy of the golden key, which is awarded for many good reasons, from a 100th birthday to a wedding anniversary to marking one’s final round of chemotherapy.

“Recently, we had two people get engaged in our Black Forest, and one of our employees came back and said, ‘we just had an engagement in our store — why don’t we give them the golden key?” Bassett went on, adding that the program is just one way the Village strives to heighten what is still in most respects a retail experience and take it to the next level.

That level has been raised continuously over the more than 30 years that the Village has been operating, he said, adding that the facility, which is in seemingly constant motion and changing with the holidays and seasons — Easter and April school vacation are next on the schedule, and programs are already being developed — is now part of a broad effort to make Deerfield and all of Franklin County a true destination.

Indeed, like others we spoke with, Bassett said Deerfield has become a regional tourism hub, with a variety of attractions that can broaden a visit from a few hours to an entire day — or even longer.

Tree House has been an important addition to the mix, he told BusinessWest, adding that it is part of a craft-beer trail, if you will, along with Berkshire Brewing nearby in the center of Deerfield. But Tree House has become a much bigger draw with its concerts and other types of events.

“Tree House is driving a lot of traffic to this area, with their beer and with their concerts,” Bassett said, adding that this traffic is finding its way to different stops in the area, including Yankee Candle.

Deane agreed, and said that the goal in Deerfield, and across Franklin County, is to simply “extend the stay.” Elaborating, she said the community has Yankee Candle to bring visitors in, but it also has Tree House, Berkshire Brewing, Historic Deerfield, and other attractions to keep them there for an extended stay — and bring them back again.

 

Worthington Assembly Focuses on ‘Humanizing Manufacturing’

By
Rafal Dybacki (left) and Neil Scanlon
Franklin County

Blueprinting a Unique Culture

Rafal Dybacki (left) and Neil Scanlon

Rafal Dybacki (left) and Neil Scanlon are focused on continued growth and something they call ‘humanizing manufacturing.’

It’s called “The Pick, Place, Podcast.”

It’s co-produced by Worthington Assembly Inc. (WAi) and a collaborator — and tenant within its space in Deerfield’s industrial park — called CircuitHub, and it’s billed as an electronics show where representatives from the companies, which specialize in circuit-board design and assembly (contract manufacturing), discuss the printed circuit board (PCB) assembly process, offer design tips, and talk to industry guests.

“It’s a unique show — no one else is doing anything quite like this,” WAi principal Neil Scanlon said. “And we have a lot of fun doing it.”

But while proud of their own podcast, Scanlon and Worthington co-owner Rafal Dybacki preferred to talk about a different podcast, called “Uncover the Human,” featuring consultants who talk with guests about … well, how to make the workplace more human.

This has been one of the overriding goals for the two partners since they acquired the company, originally based in Worthington (hence the name) and moved it to Deerfield, and, long story short, they were featured on an episode of “Uncover the Human” just over a year ago.

“It’s a couple of consultants out of Colorado, and they’re trying to find … one way to say it is to peel back the layers and find the good in work and try to make workplaces more human and be not what they are today,” Scanlon said.

“One of our employees is good friends with one of the employees at this consulting company, and they were on a trip together, and our employee was telling her about our culture and how we make decisions. And she kept asking her questions and saying, ‘this doesn’t make any sense,’ and ‘let me try to understand this more.’ She became so fascinated, she said she had to get us on their podcast.”

They told the host what they told BusinessWest — that they take a different approach to hiring and developing employees. It’s an approach hinted at broadly in the headline over the company’s posting on jobsinthevalley.com, which features the two words ‘humanizing manufacturing.’

The two explained what that means.

“We have a flat, decentralized organization,” Scanlon said. “We don’t have supervisors, and everyone works in teams, and the teams work together to deliver quality product to our customers.

“We’re focused on people who are interested in problem solving, learning, and growing,” he went on, adding that part of the team’s culture, as we’ll see, is involving all employees in the work to find people who will make good fits.

Elaborating, Dybacki explained that, after inititial interviews, job candidates will then take what he called a “self-guided tour” of the factory and its various departments, seeing what’s done and asking any questions they might have. By doing this — something that very few, if any, other manufacturers would allow — the applicant gets a sense of not only of the work, but the people he or she will be working alongside.

“We have a flat, decentralized organization. We don’t have supervisors, and everyone works in teams, and the teams work together to deliver quality product to our customers.”

If that candidate is still interested, they begin what Scanlon described as a “three-day working interview,” during which the individual is assigned to work with specific teams. And if they’re still interested, things get taken to the next level — a 30-day working interview.

Overall, this process was blueprinted — there’s that word again — to get the right people on the company’s teams, and a workforce where members are both focused and happy.

For this issue and its focus on Franklin County, BusinessWest talked at length with Scanlon and Dybacki about Worthington Assembly and what’s in their business plan moving forward, but also about humanizing manufacturing and the unique culture they’ve created.

 

Making It Here

The consultants behind the “Uncover the Human” podcast aren’t the only ones interested in talking with these two entrepreneurs lately.

Indeed, Yvonne Hao, secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Economic Development, got them on the phone late last month as part of a larger effort to assess the climate for small businesses in the Commonwealth, especially those in advanced manufacturing, and better understand their issues and concerns.

Scanlon and Dybacki said they talked about a number of things with her, from the millionaire’s tax and how they feel it penalizes S corporations, like Worthington Assembly, to the gross-receipts tax and how it also it also hamstrings small-business owners. They also talked about the company’s culture, said Dybacki, speculating that Hao may have heard the “Uncover the Human” episode.

Whether she did or not, the call is an indication of how the company and how it operates have gained traction and visibility as it continues to grow and evolve — and mark a half-century of working on the cutting edge of circuit-board contract manufacturing.

Indeed, it was back in 1974 when Tom Quinn, the company’s founder, set up shop in his bedroom and soon developed processes for assembling circuit boards, first for a Boston-based client called Cyborg Inc.

The company moved from Quinn’s bedroom to a small barn in Worthington, where it continued a pattern of steady growth. Quinn and his wife, Barbara, sold the operation to Scanlon and Dybacki in 2008 and, seeking larger quarters, more reliable power, and faster internet, moved it to the industrial park in Deerfield a year later.

There, they’ve continued and enhanced the company’s reputation as a contract manufacturer, amassing a deep portfolio of clients, most of them in New England, in sectors ranging from medical-device manufacturing to industrial controls; from HVAC to segments of the automobile industry.

“We essentially build to a blueprint, much like a machine shop builds to a blueprint,” Scanlon explained. “A customer will come to us with a blueprint, and we will build that product for them precisely as that blueprint states.”

WAi does a considerable amount of work with CircuitHub, a designer of circuit boards for customers around the globe, and ships directly to its clients, Dybacki said.

It is one of the few circuit board assemblers in Western Mass., and a relatively small player in a large and extremely competitive sector, where, in this case, the smaller size is a competitive advantage because it comes with flexibility and the ability to handle the smaller orders that the larger players would not even consider, Scanlon explained.

“We handle things at lower volumes, where it’s too much work to send it off the China because the volume isn’t there, and other competitors simply don’t want to get involved with a $4,000 or $5,000 order,” he said, adding that the company can handle orders of a few dozen of an item to several thousand.

 

True Grit

WAi has enjoyed steady growth over the past several years, growing its workforce to 35, said Dybacki, adding that the focus has always been on “finding the right person and getting them in the right seat, and making sure they stay here.”

And this is where we return to the company’s culture and that notion of humanizing manufacturing.

Finding the right people is crucial, Scanlon said, because of the custom nature of the work being done.

“We do so many unique assemblies,” he explained. “On a given day, with this team of 35 people, we might be shipping 10 different assemblies that have in some cases never been built by anyone else. In order to do that, you need really good people that have a thorough understanding of how this works.

“You can’t have memorizers, you can’t have button pushers … our people that work here do the same thing over and over again for an hour, and then they move on to something totally different,” he went on. “They need a unique skill set.”

To find the right people — and then keep them — the company has created a comprehensive hiring, training, and onboarding process, one that secures input not only from those doing the interviewing and hiring, but those who will be working alongside the candidate in question.

It begins with that headline over the job placement and accompanying job description — ‘humanizing manufacturing.’

“This catches their eye, and they read about it, and then a lot of times they’ll reach out to us,” Scanlon said. “The type of person you get doesn’t necessarily have the exact skills you’re looking for, but they have the right attitude and a willingness to learn.

Dybacki concurred, adding, “in a lot of cases, that’s more important than having the needed skills.”

That aforementioned process, including the three-day and 30-day working interviews, includes something called a ‘360 form,’ whereby team members are evaluated by colleagues using core values and successful habits. These are listed with accompanying phraseology, so employees know just what they’re looking for, and ‘scores,’ if you will, ranging from ‘excellent’ to ‘average’ to ‘poor.’

These core values and descriptions provide some real insight into the degree to which the company wants people who are good fits, and how everyone at WAi is involved in finding those fits.

Under the core value ‘humility,’ we find “puts the team first; works well with others; open to change; open to learning; check any arrogance at the door; listens to others. No, really listens.”

Under the core value ‘honesty’ (described as “to be candid, straightforward, and fair”) is written, “our ability to be candid with our teammates is essential for our success; we cannot continuously improve if we aren’t talking about opportunities for improvement.”

Other core values and successful habits include ‘have fun,’ ‘contribute,’ ‘work well with everyone,’ and even ‘grit’ — “we need to always stay focused and push through the hard tasks all day, every day without becoming bored or complacent, and take pride in the simple yet at times difficult tasks.”

“Our teammates here will let you know if you have grit, if you’re able to do this work or not,” Scanlon said. “They’ll know just by the sound of the screwdriver.”

Using tools like the 360 form and a rigorous interviewing and onboarding process — which includes listening to that episode of “Uncover the Human” — the company has managed to successfully hire and maintain a workforce when many in manufacturing, and other sectors as well, are struggling to do so.

And much of it comes down to getting everyone at the company involved in this process.

“People here can’t complain about who they’re working with because they helped choose them and they have the ability to put feedback into a person’s 360,” said Scanlon, adding that, overall, these processes have created an environment where everyone is happy with who they’re working with, and they work together to take the company to the next level.

This is a true blueprint for success and a reason why this company is getting some attention — not just for the circuit boards it produces, but for the culture it has created.