Page 16 - BusinessWest April 18, 2022
P. 16

 and hospitality, is poised for a resurgence after two long years of the pandemic.
Indeed, for the past two years, Surprise has held off publishing the chamber’s tourism guide and visitors directory. The pandemic led to fre- quent changes and cancellations to event sched- ules, making publishing the guide seem futile.
Businesses are now contacting Surprise because they want to get their names and events out to the public once again. The new guide
is scheduled to be complete by early May and available to the crowds attending the Brimfield
“With the tourism guide, we’re hoping to entice some of the folks who go to Brimfield to check out antique shops, vintage shops, and other boutique retailers in Palmer. The idea is to create a trail, similar to brewery trails.”
Antique Flea Market in mid-May.
“With the tourism guide, we’re hoping to
entice some of the folks who go to Brimfield to check out antique shops, vintage shops, and other boutique retailers in Palmer,” he said. “The idea is to create a trail, similar to brewery trails.”
Speaking of breweries, Surprise said Palmer and other towns in the chamber are looking to
host a brewery in their community.
“Even though there are lots of breweries in the general area, we have our eyes open for anyone who wants to open a brewery to see if we can help them with any incentives,” he noted.
Bridges to the Future
To make Palmer more
economically viable, the
master plan suggests
ensuring proper infra-
structure is in place. Two
main bridges in town,
located on Church Street
and Main Street, are
both in need of replac-
ing. MassDOT closed
the Church Street Bridge
in 2019 while the Main
Street bridge had minor
repairs which will keep
it safe for vehicular traf-
fic. The town will soon erect a truss bridge to use while a new Church Street bridge is built.
“The state said it will use some of their infra- structure funding to fully replace the Church Street bridge, but that could take up to five years,” McNutt said. “The truss bridge allows us to keep the bridge open to traffic.”
In MassDOT terms, the Main Street bridge is
      Linda Leduc says turning chronically vacant sites on Thorndike Street into vital businesses is a development priority.
  not in imminent danger, but the town does need to replace it in the future. McNutt said the plan right now is to use the truss bridge on Church Street, then move it to Main Street once the per- manent Church Street bridge is complete.
With passage of the federal infrastructure bill, McNutt remains
   16 APRIL 18, 2022
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
BusinessWest
optimistic about the proposed east-west
Palmer
Continued on page 44
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