Page 12 - BusinessWest November 28, 2022

They make wines, spirits, whiskeys, and moonshines out of their apples, as well as a pick-your-own orchard for families with kids of all ages. Visitors can pick pumpkins, pears, sunflowers, and peaches during their respective seasons.
But being part of Monson means working with other vendors through- out the town. During the busy harvest seasons, food-truck vendors from Monson have been invited to the orchards the past couple of years.
“It’s just such a comforting and fun thing to do to be involved with your community and have something to offer the town and have something
to offer friends and family to come
do at our own place,” Krupczak told BusinessWest. “Having one of the agri- cultural businesses in Monson means that we are taking a step in sustaining agriculture in a small town. And what means a real lot to us, but other peo- ple, too, is protecting the land that the orchards give us.”
Despite their apple crop depleting sooner than they’d hoped this year, the winery/distillery has brought more traffic to the orchards. Krupczak said pleasant weather was a driving fac-
tor in how well the business did. “We had great customers this year; a lot of memories were made.”
Echo Hill Orchards and Winery is completely family-owned and man- aged, she added. “My mom is down in the store, my sister and I work in the bar, and in the offseason, we have to prune all of the apple trees. So there’s
a lot of work to be done. That’s also when we make all of our wine and our moonshine because we don’t have time in the fall season. It’s a lot of off time, but we’re still working hard, just on other things.”
Just like the Krupczak family, Mon- son Savings Bank President Dan Mori- arty and his team like to stay involved with his community. He said many of his employees are involved with out-
side organizations and charities. For example, Moriarty and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Rouette coached youth sports for many years in town.
“Whether it’s the arts or sports and recreation, whether it’s seniors, wheth- er it’s education, we just try, and it’s been like that for 150 years,” Moriarty said, noting this year’s anniversary cel- ebration of the bank’s history. “I think the bank has always wanted to be a good civic partner with the organiza- tions in town.”
The bank currently services 429 businesses that call Monson home, from mom-and-pop shops to larger companies that employ quite a few people from in town and outside it.
“I think, and I hope, the percep- tion of MSB is that we’re trying to work with every business in town. The one thing that we pride ourselves on is try- ing to give honest, prudent business advice, whether we can do a loan for a business or not,” he said. “We always try to help a customer get to a place where we can put them in a position to expand their business.”
Moriarty went on to explain that 2021 and 2022 were the bank’s historic best years from a growth perspective, and he’s confident that, despite an economy that may be heading into a recession, both consumers and busi- nesses have been resilient coming out of the pandemic. “I would describe 2023 as an environment of uncertainty, but with the potential to have some optimism.”
Honoring Tradition
Krupczak agreed. Even though this year was solid, business-wise, the fam- ily is hoping for a better year in 2023, even after the loss of their oldest broth- er, Gregory.
“He was great at woodworking and built benches for the orchard; he’d help us make and bottle the wine and whis- keys,” she recalled. “Chris, Gregory, Mia, and I would all bottle wine togeth- er each summer. That was a big part
of spending time together and making the wines; we will miss that time spent together greatly this coming year.”
She added that the family appreci- ates the support of everyone in Mon- son, especially through the hard time they’re facing. “It just showed us so much. It keeps us going.”
But, in some ways, that support isn’t surprising, Krupczak added.
“It has something to do with keep- ing the town small and keeping tradi- tions alive, like the families that lived in Monson and grown up here way before we owned this.” u
Kailey Houle can be reached at [email protected]
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