Page 8 - BusinessWest March 7, 2022

important losses, including a sense of identify and feelings of pride in the community.
As for what is being regained ... the word that came up over and over and over again is ‘normalcy.’
“There’s a lot of pride in our community when it comes to parade weekend activity, when it comes to the parade and the road race, not just in this community, but across the region,” said Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia. “With quarantee- ning and all the other things we’ve had to deal with, this will bring back some kind of sense of
“It’s a homecoming. People come back to the city, and you see people you haven’t seen since perhaps last year; it’s a wonderful family- oriented event.”
normalcy.
“And that’s important, because civic engage-
ment and pride in a community, any community, is critical,” he went on. “Any opportunity we can get to keep people excited about feeling good about the city they live in continues to help build on quality of life. That’s why it’s so important to have the parade back.”
Peter Rosskothen, owner of several hospitality- related businesses in Holyoke, including the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, the Delaney House restaurant, and others, agreed.
“It’s very good for business,” he said of the
parade, the road race and the month of events and activities leading up to it. “But it’s also good for the morale of Holyoke; it’s big- ger than business, it’s civic pride, it’s the community coming togeth- er. Holyoke is a city with some problems, but you kind of forget about that with the parade.”
Joyce concurred, noting that the losses are not restricted to dol- lars and cents.
“It’s in the mindset and emo- tions of people who have grown up with this,” he explained. “I’m 71 years old, and I’ve been on
the committee for 45 years. And I remember the first parade I went to; my father was marching with the Post Office, and my mother and I would walk about a mile and a half downtown to watch the parade. When I was away at col- lege, I missed a few parades, but other than that, I haven’t missed any.
“It’s a homecoming,” he went on. “People come back to the city, and you see people you haven’t seen since perhaps last year; it’s a wonderful family-oriented event.”
For this issue, BusinessWest
puts the lost years of 2020 and
2021 into perspective, and looks
ahead to what all are expecting to be a memora- ble month as Holyoke welcomes back a tradition.
Damien Rivera says that, for bars and restaurants in downtown Holyoke, the parade and road race are like the Super Bowl.
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8 MARCH 7, 2022
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