Page 35 - BusinessWest July 6, 2020

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“People never have the opportunity to do that, so that was great,” Nivison said. “We’ve become really creative trying to think of what we can do to bring Historic Deerfield to people when they can’t come here. Being closed down, we still want to have people engaged.”
Many Franklin County attractions, especially of the outdoor variety — such as Zoar Outdoor and Berkshire East in Charlemont, where people can engage in ziplining, biking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities — are already open. But indoor attractions face different challenges and are on a different reopening pace, due to both state guidelines and their own sense of caution.
But a wider reopening is the goal, as area tourism officials con- sider the region a connected ecosystem of activity that draws visi- tors to take in multiple sites, not just one. In short, the more attrac- tions are open, the more each will benefit.
“We’re talking a lot about how we can convince visitors to come back when the time is right because there’s so much outdoor fun you can have here,” said Diana Szynal, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. “We have hiking, cycling, fly fishing, regular fishing, walking trails — there’s so much oppor- tunity for things to do here that are perfectly safe and healthy.”
Safety First
Szynal was just scratching the surface when she spoke to Busi- nessWest. From retail destinations like Yankee Candle Village to museums, golf courses, wineries, and covered bridges, it’s a region that has plenty to offer, and attractions like Magic Wings and His- toric Deerfield certainly sense anticipation among fans and poten- tial visitors when they connect with the community on social media.
“We’ve become really creative trying to think of what we can
do to bring Historic Deerfield to people when they can’t come here. Being closed down, we still want to have people engaged.”
But they also don’t want to jump the gun and see the region turn into another Houston.
“It’s been a little unnerv-
ing, but from the beginning,
my brother and I didn’t want
to reopen until we feel it’s safe,
even if the government lifts the
BusinessWest 4 5w x 5 8h indd 1
5/7/19 11:24 AM
regulations for businesses like Magic Wings. We don’t mind waiting it out a little bit to make sure everything is safe,” Fiore said.
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“We normally can take in a lot of people, but we’re different because we’re an indoor facility,”
she added, noting that Magic Wings will follow the state’s guidelines for social distancing, masks, and crowd count, while considering options like visiting by appointment as well. “We’re trying to think of all the different things we can do to make sure people are really safe but still have a pleasant experience.”
It helped, she said, that the conservatory procured a Paycheck Protection Program loan to keep its staff paid, and now that reopen- ing approaches, she’s hoping to get everyone back on the regular payroll. “We’re responsible for the livelihood of a lot of people.”
But the shutdown also posed an opportunity, she added. “It’s beautiful here — it’s in pristine shape, because we were able to
do some cleanup things, different projects, that we don’t have the opportunity to do when we’re open every single day. We hope to welcome people back to a nice, fresh environment that’s better than they remember.”
While the museum houses of Historic Deerfield remain closed for now, the organization got a boost from the reopening of Deer- field Inn and Champney’s Restaurant & Tavern. The week she spoke with BusinessWest, Nivison said the restaurant already had more than 100 reservations lined up for the following week.
Those facilities will benefit from September’s museum reopen- ing, but this fall may still look a little different than most, as tours may be limited — or be smaller, self-guided experiences — while outdoor tours may be expanded. Demonstrations of trades like blacksmithing may be moved outdoors, while the annual Revolu- tionary muster event, typically held on Patriots’ Day in April, will likely happen this fall as well.
“We want to be able to give a good experience to folks and really take advantage of all the
outdoor things they can do,” Nivison said. “There
Tourism
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BusinessWest
FRANKLIN COUNTY
JULY 6, 2020
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