Page 11 - BusinessWest November 28, 2022

The late Gregory Krupczak’s family say he played a significant role at Echo Hill Orchards and Winery.
Monson
Continued from page 9
“What we find is, if we market as a region, there’s more reason to come to the region because you’re not just going for one thing in one town. You’re going, ‘OK, I can go to the Keep Homestead Museum in Monson, but I can also stop at the Brimfield Antique Fair, or I can go over here to this brewery for lunch,” Surprise said.
The thrice-yearly antique fair is an example of one attraction that raises the profile of the entire region, including Monson. “We like to draw them out into the Quaboag region because there are a lot of people that go to those shows. It’s estimated to be about 250,000 people per year.”
With the help of the Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Monson was given $75,000 in grant funding for a variety of projects, including wayfinding signage for the downtown area to point out points of interest and historical sites, as well as $15,000 for events, which primarily run through the chamber in coordination with the town.
On top of the grants provided by state fund- ing, Surprise is working with groups of business- es as well as chamber members and the town of Monson to revamp and create a Monson Busi- ness and Civic Assoc., which is essentially part of the chamber, but focused solely on Monson businesses and their marketing.
He went on to explain that this helps busi- nesses with marketing and to create events that will attract people to their location and the downtown business corridor. The grants also
allow businesses to incorporate more outdoor seating, places where people can congregate in the downtown area.
Family Fun
State Sen. Ryan Fattman worked closely with the chamber to put funding into the state budget, as well as into the economic-development pack- age that just passed, providing $130,000 for agri-
“Having one of the agricultural businesses in Monson means that we are taking a step in sustaining agriculture in a small town.”
tourism businesses. One of the businesses that has received grant money is Echo Hill Orchards and Winery.
“We were planning on building a pavilion with it; it should actually be starting this month. And since we’re seasonal, we don’t have a whole lot of covered outdoor space, so the pavilion will allow us to have more room for people to sit outside so we don’t run out of space,” said Ashley Krupczak, manager of the winery/distillery and the second- oldest of the business’ second generation.
Echo Hill Orchards and Winery was just an apple orchard and fruit farm when the Krupczak family purchased it 25 years ago. Over the years, especially in the past decade, they’ve grown the farm into “more of a destination for families.”
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