Page 47 - BusinessWest February 20, 2023

sheer will to survive, many businesses have made it through the pandemic and to the other side.
But this story, this partnership, is not just about COVID and helping businesses ride out that storm. Indeed, it’s an ongoing story of bringing new businesses and new vibrancy to downtown Amherst and beyond. Businesses like the live- performance venue known as the Drake, an initiative of the Downtown Amherst Foundation, which, in less than a year, has brought roughly 1,000 performers and more than 15,000 patrons to the community.
This informal partnership’s philosophy is summed up in a branded campaign launched in 2021 and funded by a Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism grant, called, appropriately, “What’s Next? Greater Amherst.” It includes
a YouTube video and a website — www. greateramherst.com — that highlights the natural beaty, global cuisine, and arts and culture in the community and helps people who are planning a visit.
Overall, these partners continue to work to make Greater Amherst both a destination and a place to put down business roots. Thanks to them, what’s next is more creative programing, more opportunities for growth, and more vibrancy.
And that makes them true Difference Makers.
The Power of Two
Returning to the dark days of the start of the pandemic — and they were dark ... the lights literally went out in downtown Amherst — isn’t exactly easy for Gould and Pazmany.
These were extraordinary and, in many ways, desperate times when business just stopped.
There was a great deal of uncertainty about what would happen, they recalled, and for several weeks after the state was shut down, businesses suffered mightily.
But as they looked back, these two partners said that was also a time of what could, in some ways, be called triumph, when people, and a community, reached down deep to find ways to support one another and help them through that darkness.
Before we elaborate on that, let’s set the stage by talking about the two organizations and their missions.
Like several other communities in the area, Amherst has both a chamber and a business- improvement district. The former, as most know, exists to promote and support businesses, and it does this through everything from advocacy (at the local, state, regional, and national levels) to education and providing forums for businesses to gather, network, learn, and perhaps do business with one another.
The BID, meanwhile, is charged with everything from cleaning up downtown and watering
the plants growing from hanging baskets to handling holiday lighting displays and marketing the community through initiatives such as Destination Amherst.
But it was during the pandemic that the two organizations really came together, pooled their resources, and put their various skills sets to work.
Pazmany and Gould were working remotely
at the time — the chamber office, like most businesses, was closed — but they were together often, working long days (and a great many nights) to help businesses. Here are just some
Stamell Stringed Instruments was one of dozens of Amherst-area businesses to receive gifts of PPE — free safety posters, gloves, sanitizer, and more — as a part of the #IAMherst campaign, through monies raised through the Downtown Amherst Foundation.
BusinessWest
FEBRUARY 20, 2023 47
EXTENDS A HUGE
congratulations
TO
CLAUDIA PAZMANY AND GABRIELLE GOULD
FOR BEING RECOGNIZED AS 2023 DIFFERENCE MAKERS!