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HOLYOKE HISTORY TIMELINE >> Pride
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in the city, not just in cannabis, but also in the arts, hospitality, retail, and more.
“There’s a lot happening here — Holyoke is a great city that has so much to offer,” she said, adding that downtown is becoming more vibrant and, with many new types of arts and hospitality businesses opening, becom- ing much more of a destination.
Matt Bannister, senior vice president of Marketing and Corporate Responsi- bility at PeoplesBank, another Holyoke institution nearly as old as the city (it was founded by silk-mill owner William Skinner in 1885), concurred.
He cited Gateway City Arts on Race Street, a live-entertainment venue, as an example of a relatively recent arts-
“There’s a saying ... as Holyokers, we can talk bad about Holyoke, but you can’t talk bad about Holyoke. People here are very committed and passionate about their city.”
fueled resurgence in the city, one that displays the trickle-down effect of such businesses and their ability to spur more development.
“Gateway is an example of the kind of anchor that you can build around,” he explained. “You get some nightlife, and the next thing you know, you have entrepreneurs and food trucks and all that. What’s happened down at Gate- way, and what’s happening on Main Street, is that there’s some nice enthu- siasm and energy.
“Overall, there is a good core of solid businesses, and there is a gov- ernment in place that understands the importance of business development
— we have smart people with a good vision,” Bannister went on, adding that the current wave of entrepreneurial energy coupled with large amounts of state and federal stimulus money make this a unique and potentially powerful moment in the city’s history.
For this special 150th-anniversary celebration edition, BusinessWest talk- ed with a number of business owners about what they see today in Holyoke — and what they expect to see down the road.
Making Progress
There’s a manhole cover embed- ded in the floor just inside the main entrance to the property at 529 South East St., near the lower canal in Holyoke.
It bears the name J.W. Jolly, the com-
Steve Grande (left) and his son, Ben, have engineered a transformation at Meridian Industrial Group.
Staff Photo
Lynn Gray, general manager of the Holyoke Mall, says there a great deal of “entrepreneurial spirit” coming alive in the city.
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<< HOLYOKE’S 150TH >>
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pany that made manhole covers for cit- ies across the country and around the globe at that site more than 140 years ago.
There’s a mat now covering the one in the lobby here because more than a few people tripped over it, said Steve Grande, a former Springfield police officer who bought the business that was operating there, Central Massa- chusetts Machine, in 2009 and even- tually changed the name to Meridian Industrial Group to reflect a broader customer base and product portfolio.
Indeed, this cutting-edge machine shop that he manages with his son, Ben, now specializes in very large parts
“There’s a lot of entrepreneurial spirit really coming alive in the city.”
(up to 30,000 pounds), including com- ponents for missiles, submarines, and even NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) program that famous- ly knocked a meteorite off its orbit a few months back.
Meridian is an example, and there are many of them in this city, where the past, present, and future come together
Staff Photo
at the same mailing address. And this is one of the many things being cel- ebrated as the city turns 150.
It’s like that at the Canna Provi- sions facility on Dwight Street, where a dispensary designed to look like an art gallery has been created in an old mill where Yankee Candle once leased space and began its meteoric rise.
It’s like that at the Gary Rome Hyun- dai dealership on Whiting Farms Road, where a combination car wash and dog wash is taking shape on property that
Pride
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