Page 9 - BusinessWest July 25, 2022

Mayor William Reichelt says West Springfield is making significant progress on many of the goals he set when first elected in 2015.
Party Planning
Returning to the subject of the 250th birthday party, Reichelt said the wheels are in motion for that celebration, and some pieces are starting to fall into place.
That list includes a special commemora-
tive 250th birthday beer to be created by Two Weeks Notice Brewing, which set up shop in West Springfield several years ago and has established a firm presence in the community; no word yet on just what this brew will be or what it will be called.
“Once I got into this, there was so much I wanted to do, and I quickly realized that nothing happens fast.”
Meanwhile, old documents and photos are being collected, and a commemorative history — a significant update to one produced for the 200th birthday in 1974 — is being planned, said Reichelt, adding that there is preliminary talk
of staging an event similar to the Taste of West Springfield that was put on for many years by the community’s Rotary Club.
“We’re talking about bringing something like that back, maybe with a food truck festival on the common,” he said, reiterating that planning for the 250th is still very much in the early stages.
And while this planning continues, officials are making progress on a number of different
many of the goals he set down when he was first elected in 2015, including infrastructure, new schools and additions to existing schools, attract- ing new businesses, and creating what he called a “walkable downtown” with plenty of attractions.
Early on, he said he wanted to create ‘another Northampton.’ “But people have this weird dis- like of Northampton, for some reason, so now, we say we want it to be like West Hartford,” Reichelt noted, adding that his community is certainly moving in that direction with initiatives ranging from a walking trail and improved infrastructure
along the historic town green to the reinvention of 95 Elm St.
Formerly home to United Bank and still known to many as the ‘United Bank building,’ the three-story office complex is now home to a mix of businesses, and a new restaurant will soon be added to that mix.
For this, the latest installment of its Commu- nity Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its focus on West Springfield and the many forms of prog- ress being seen there.
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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
JULY 25, 2022 9
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