A transformative upgrade is coming to community funding efforts through the Northampton Arts Council’s launch of its ArtsEZ Spring Grant Round. Page 2
Council wants further discussion on group of ordinances
An ordinance to exempt two-family homes over 2,500 square feet from site plan approval will yield further scrutiny in future meetings.
Page 4
EASTHAMPTON
Council delays decision on historic Town Lodging property
The Easthampton City Council carefully weighed several financial decisions and ultimately decided to hold off on a decision about the disposition of the Town Lodging property.
Page 3
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
Hampshire College community rallies
By Trent Levakis tlevakis@thereminder.com
AMHERST — Passion and fervor were wholeheartedly apparent when a large gathering of Hampshire College students, faculty, staff and supporters of the school gathered at the Amherst Town Common on April 23 to support those impacted by the school’s recently announced closure.
Speakers throughout the event were consistent and clear: Hampshire College administration and the Five College Consortium needed to step up and offer reasonable pathways for the college community facing the worst of the situation.
“What this means: Students should be able to transfer to one of the four colleges, proportional to their resources, and all faculty and all staff at Hampshire should be granted a one-year bridge position to tie us over until we can find new jobs,” said Sarah Jenkins, a professor at Hampshire College. “This process has been chaotic at best. The four colleges must take meaningful action to ensure none of us are homeless, without insurance or access to medication, without child care or paychecks. The Five Colleges work because we do. We love Hampshire. It is our community. It is our home.”
Speakers made up of students and staff called on Hampshire College to be more transparent when working with outgoing students, faculty and staff during this process. They also urged the
college to help students, faculty and staff find new pathways elsewhere and allow all those impacted to have an opportunity to remain in the soon-to-be four-college consortium.
Hampshire College shared earlier this month that it will close at the end of 2026, marking the end of the school that was founded in 1965. The decision has left 250 faculty and staff facing sudden unemployment and hundreds of students forced to seek a new collegiate path.
The college almost closed back in 2019 when the school explored a potential higher-education merger and was not ad-
mitting an incoming class for fall 2019. The issue was ultimately resolved after then-successful efforts to raise money for the school. In a letter to the school community from Hampshire College, President Jennifer Chrisler and the Board of Trustees, despite that “herculean effort,” the financial pressures on the college’s operations have become increasingly complex, compounded by shifting external factors in the present day. The letter was updated with information about the closure as recently as April 21, as of print time.
“As President Chrisler has
shared regularly with our community and our regulatory agencies, we worked aggressively to increase enrollment, refinance existing debt, and realize new revenue via the sale of a portion of our land. We have long known that addressing these issues is essential to establishing a stable financial foundation, supporting long-term operations and meeting regulatory requirements. We are faced with the clear and heartbreaking reality that progress on each of these three key factors has fallen far short of what we had hoped,” the letter stated.
A protest in support of the staff, faculty and students being impacted by the closure of Hampshire College saw a large turnout, as many passionate voices came to support the college community. Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
See COLLEGE on page 2
Operations Director: Curtis Panlilio
Executive Editor: Chris Maza
Managing Editors: Dennis Hackett, Ryan Feyre
Staff Writers: Sarah Heinonen, Deb Gardner, Amy Porter, Trent Levakis, Cliff Clark, Tyler Garnet, Peter Tuohy
Graphic Design Manager: Beth Thurber
Graphic Design Department: Leigh Catchepaugh, Lorie Perry, Sophia McClellan, Susan Bartlett, Jim Johnson-Corwin, Molly Arnio
Sales Manager: Scott Greene
Account Executives: Matt Mahaney, Paula Dimauro, Lisa Nolan, Jeanette Grenier, Paul Poutre, Andy Shaw, Laura Tassistro
Classified Account Managers: Roxanne Miller-Longtin, Evan Marcyoniak, Shannon Spada
Sales Support: Carolyn Napolitan
Financial Department: Nancy Banning
Circulation Department: Nate Halla
Micro-grant model aims to decrease barriers
By Trent Levakis tlevakis@thereminder.com
NORTHAMPTON — A transformative upgrade is coming to community funding efforts through the Northampton Arts Council’s launch of its ArtsEZ Spring Grant Round, a new micro-grant model that aims to decrease barriers to entry for local creators.
This year, the Arts Council is pivoting to this high-impact model designed to support a broader, more diverse range of community projects and will award 15 micro-grants at a flat rate of $500 each for artists and cultural programmers in Northampton, Florence and Leeds.
Northampton Arts Council Executive Director Brian Foote told Reminder Publishing that following last year’s grant, the council received feedback from artists who highlighted the importance of the council’s endorsement and how it leverages further support and credibility. The feedback motivated the council to find the best ways of connecting local artists with community funding for artists’ work.
“By introducing $500 mi-
College
Continued from page 1
The college said that in collaboration with the state Department of Higher Education and the New England Commission of Higher Education, the current plan for its Completion Pathway is to allow Division III students, or final year students, to complete their degrees at Hampshire College. These students will have campus housing and student support available to them for the fall semester. The school will also remain fully accredited with approved degree granting authority from the state.
There is also a Transfer Pathway offered by the college to support Division I and II students, or first through third year students, in finding a new home for their college education. Hampshire College has several institutions that have transfer agreements with the school, offering students a more streamlined opportunity to explore a new college opportunity. These schools include Amherst College, Antioch College, Bennington College, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, the Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts, Mount Holyoke College, Prescott College, Smith College, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Warren Wilson College.
“These institutions are in the process of partnering with Hampshire to develop specific credit mapping procedures aimed at enabling the smoothest possible transition for our students,” the letter added.
Hampshire College student Issac Zaret told Reminder Publishing that he was drawn to the college due to its unique and well-known structure, which emphasizes self-directed learning impact and real-world issues over traditional forms of education. Zaret said that losing such an institution leaves many who
cro-grants, we can provide that essential affirmation and immediate, accessible support to more people, meeting artists where they are,” said Foote.
Applications are currently open with a submission deadline of Thursday, May 14, at 11:59 p.m. The application process is entirely online, and applicants are required to submit a project narrative, a budget, and supplemental materials such as work samples or letters of venue commitment.
The application portal is available at northamptonartscouncil. org, and assistance for technical support is available until May 1 by emailing admin@northamptonartscouncil.org.
In reflecting the Arts Council’s commitment to equity, the 2026 guidelines include the following enhanced priorities:
• Diverse Perspectives: Special consideration will be given to first-time applicants and projects centering underrepresented identities and multiracial perspectives.
• Broad Participation: Funding is available to individual artists, non-profits, for-profit en-
were passionate about what it had to offer for their education now in a state of uncertainty.
He also acknowledged the inopportune timing of announcing the closure so close to the end of the current semester.
“The alternative educational style, the culture of Hampshire, the access to resources and faculty — the faculty are everything at Hampshire College. Getting to have this personal relationship with your staff, with the faculty who are advising you and you are learning from, is really what made Hampshire worth going to,” said Zaret. “Faculty and staff, and students alike, are in an incredibly uncertain state right now.”
Although Hampshire College shared they will assist departing faculty and staff with information and support as they navigate the transition, Hampshire College professor Gaurav Jashnani called on the school’s leadership and the Five-College network to better meet the needs of its staff that is feeling left out to dry.
“We deserve a just closure. So many of us are really struggling right now. We’re overwhelmed. We found out as employees just last week, we’re all getting laid off,” said Jashnani. “I know many of you are here because you love Hampshire. You’re grieving, and what I can tell you about me is this: I’m disabled, I’m neurodivergent, I’m a queer person of color, and I fiercely believe in justice. There’s not a lot of places where I could bring even half of my full self to work, but Hampshire has been a place like that for me.”
Hampshire College is one of Amherst’s largest employers, something Jashnani said should be even more of a reason for the school’s administration and the Five-College network to step up during this time of need.
“I’ve heard people saying a lot this is really a serious issue for Amherst, the town and for our region, because Hampshire is the
tities providing public benefit, and public/municipal government entities.
• Accessibility First: The Arts Council prioritizes projects held in accessible spaces and those offering free or discounted admission to ensure all community members can participate.
Foote said that these changes will help diversify micro-grant recipients.
“Traditional funding models can unintentionally favor larger, more established organizations with the administrative capacity to manage complex applications. We noticed that many individual artists and smaller grassroots projects — especially those still building roots locally — felt the weight of those barriers,” explained Foote. “This new micro-grant approach is specifically designed to allow a more diverse range of artists to access funding, ensuring that financial support and professional validation aren’t just concentrated in a few large-scale projects.”
Proceeds from signature events, including The Silver Chord Bowl, Transformance and First Night Northampton, will directly fund
these grants. Support is available for projects in dance, literature, media, multidisciplinary, music, theater and visual arts. Proposed projects must take place between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027.
Foote said the response to the Spring Grant Round has been very encouraging so far and that the team with the Arts Council believes this micro-grant model represents the future of community-based funding; one that is more equitable, agile and reflective of the actual needs of the local artist community.
Foote said that expanding these efforts demonstrates the Arts Council’s ability to actively invest in the “seedlings” of the city’s culture.
“The ecosystem created by the Arts Council is vital because it sustains the independent spirit of Northampton,” Foote said. We’ve heard clearly that our approval often means more than the dollar amount; it is a statement to the community that a project is worthy of support. By preserving this culture, we ensure our city remains a vibrant place where new ideas can flourish.”
College Professor
school leadership, as well as the Five College
step up and help members of the school’s community find pathways out of this situation.
third biggest employer, but Amherst College is the second, and UMass is the first, and those are two of the main institutions we’re calling on together with Smith [College] and Mount Holyoke,” Jashnani told Reminder Publishing. “I’ve seen a lot of other professors and students at some of the other schools start working so hard on a moment’s notice and pouring their hearts out into helping us rally and helping us figure out how we can move forward.”
Jashnani added, “We have $7.7 billion in endowment money and a five-college consortium that is supposed to be there to support the success of one another’s institutions. They were very helpful, particularly Amherst in 2019 when there was a major crisis, but what we haven’t seen right now is leadership of the schools stepping in and saying, ‘we can do this, even for a year.’”
The staff and faculty reductions will happen in waves, according to the college, with the majority of employees departing on June 15. Every employee will receive at least 60 days’ notice.
minimize disruption and support dislocated workers.
Hampshire College professor and an organizer of the protest, rl Goldberg, told Reminder Publishing that resources have been spread thin with the closure announcement, and while people are doing their best, they feel both faculty, staff and students have not had the resources needed to support themselves.
In response to the situation, Goldberg and fellow staff have organized Help Hampshire Workers, an effort to support each other as employees of the school, as many are on the verge of losing their position and feeling like there are not a ton of clear pathways out. The goal is to raise funding to help support the school’s workers who do not immediately have a new opportunity following this transition. Moving forward, Goldberg said that they hope to see leadership of the institution step up and put the concerns of the college community at ease.
Reminders
about the budget issues in South Hadley and the challenges covering a difficult budget season as voters shot down two potential overrides. Dennis and Ryan also give updates on some stories around the area and a quick sports minute with the NHL and NBA playoffs in full swing and baseball season getting underway. Head to thereminder.com/ourpodcast or search “So That Reminds Me” on your favorite podcasting platform to listen.
The school has shared that it is working with elected officials and state government leaders to activate the MassHire Rapid Response, which is a free, proactive state service designed to help employees navigate reductions, layoffs or closures. The team provides on-site services, such as job placement, retraining and unemployment assistance to
“I think, immediately, transparency would be helpful as soon as they have it. I know it’s not the college unilaterally making the decisions, of course, there are other bureaucratic boards involved,” Goldberg said. “I think really coordinating with the other four schools to make sure all students, staff and faculty land somewhere from here, that would be a priority.”
Hampshire
Gaurav Jashnani called on
Consortium, to
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
Council delays decision on historic Town Lodging property
By Tina Lesniak Correspondent
EASTHAMPTON — In a lengthy meeting, the Easthampton City Council carefully weighed several financial decisions and ultimately decided to hold off on a decision about the disposition of the Town Lodging property.
At the start of the public hearing, Councilor James “JP” Kwiecenski moved forward a plan to declare the Town Lodging property as surplus and start the process of the city finding potential buyers for it. The roughly 54-acre property at 75 Oliver St. includes a former lodging house that has fallen into disrepair and many acres of agricultural land. The property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has three deed restrictions: agricultural, historical and affordable housing. The buyer would need to manage all three of those deed restrictions, and the city plans to require that the buyer pay at least 10% in property taxes so that the city can gain revenue from it. That desire for revenue for the city is one of the reasons for the move to dispose of the property now.
“The city is in quite dire straits,” said Kwiecenski. Just a couple of weeks ago, Mayor Salem Derby let the City Council know that it faces a roughly $3.8 million deficit for fiscal year 27.
Several residents who live near the property, including the owners of Chicoine Family Farm, spoke out against the potential sale. Owner Bill Chicoine said that recently he had been told his lease agreement to farm several acres of the property for hay for his farm would not be renewed. According to Chicoine, there was no prior notice. His daughter, Elodie, also noted that the deed to the Town Lodging property says that it was deeded to the inhabitants of Easthampton and that should be taken into consideration.
Chief Procurement Officer
Michael Owens said that he had let Chicoine know that he could farm the fields this season as long as the property isn’t sold. Owens later explained that the city had offered the property for lease in 2018 and received no offers. According to Owens, it would cost $1.2 million to bring the property, which has been empty since 2017, up to a reasonable condition.
“What do you then use it
for?” Owens asked.
Council President Koni Denham encouraged people in attendance to form partnerships to explore what could be done with the property. After several councilors said they felt like they needed more information and time to consider that the property had been deeded to Easthampton residents, the council voted to continue the public hearing to its May 6 meeting.
This council ultimately voted to move forward with two Community Preservation Act proj-
ects that will fund the design of the library annex design and fund three mortgage subsidy programs through Valley CDC for people trying to buy homes in Easthampton. Kwiecenski voted against both because he would like to see a more detailed accounting of CPA funds. These funds can only be used for certain aspects of open space and recreation, historic preservation and housing. These funds generally cannot be used to help balance city budgets.
The council approved most of the proposed supplemental
appropriations for items like required buyback of vacation and sick time for retired city employees, transfers of funds from free cash into various stabilization accounts and transfers of funds from enterprise retained earnings to upgrade water meters and repairs for the wastewater treatment plants. However, the council withdrew a proposal adding a part-time clerk to the tax collector’s office and continued spending money to support computer servers and vault storage that would keep data safe during a disaster.
DOWNTOWN MARKET Vintage & Vinyl returns to Northampton
NORTHAMPTON — On Saturday, May 9, DOWNTOWN MARKET Vintage & Vinyl is back for its third annual event at 33Hawley, The Northampton Center for the Arts in downtown Northampton.
Our first spring edition will feature two rooms with thousands of records and tons of vintage for sale from over 30 local and regional dealers, plus a variety of live vinyl DJs spinning throughout the
entire day.
Come out to score some new styles and sounds, connect with folks in the vintage and vinyl community and shop sustainably! There is $5 early admission from
9:30 a.m. to noon includes a raffle ticket. Raffle drawing at noon. Free admission from noon to 4 p.m.. Free parking is available in the 33Hawley lot. Vendors include: Spin That!
Records, Sunday Vintage, The Weirdo Wardrobe, Studebaker Hawk, Seasonal Work, Valley Finds 413, Gee’s Records, Gladsome Records, Ancestors Vintage & many more.
In what was a lengthy four-hour meeting, the Easthampton City Council elected to delay a decision on what to do with the Town Lodging property during its April 22 meeting.
Photo credit: E-Media
NORTHAMPTON
Council wants further discussion on group of ordinances
By Trent Levakis tlevakis@thereminder.com
NORTHAMPTON — An ordinance to exempt two-family homes over 2,500 square feet from site plan approval will face further scrutiny from multiple municipal bodies in the coming weeks.
After discussion during the City Council’s April 16 meeting, the body decided that the ordinance will be reviewed by the council’s Committee on Legislative Matters and the Planning Board, where a public hearing will eventually be scheduled before it comes back to the full City Council for final approval.
During the April 16 meeting, Planning and Sustainability Director Carolyn Misch explained that the ordinance was discussed about a month prior with the Committee on Legislative Matters before coming to the council for a first reading.
“Basically, the primary consideration is to remove the site plan review criteria or Planning Board public hearing for two-families [homes], just as single-families are exempted from having to come to the Planning Board, regardless of size. The City Council adopted an ordinance back in 2022 allowing two-families everywhere in the city, but currently, the way the zoning ordinance is written, if you’re proposing a structure that has two units in it and it exceeds 2,000 square feet, you’re still coming into a Planning Board approval process, which creates impediments to people who want to build or add one additional unit,” explained Misch. “So, this really is a mechanism to say, in total, if you’re building a two-family, it is by right, you don’t have to go to the Planning Board or site plan review.”
Misch added that the proposed ordinance also attempts to increase the threshold for site plan review, explaining that currently,
By Sydney Wietecha Correspondent
NORTHAMPTON — Poetry, an art form that predates literacy, continues to shape culture and community in the modern era. Through the musical interplay of sound and the deliberate precision of language, poets give voice to emotion and explore enduring themes, a tradition that
the intermediate project threshold is 2,000 square feet, and the major project threshold is 5,000 square feet for the gross area of construction across the city, no matter the project type. The threshold would increase from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet if the ordinance passes.
“The Planning Board has discussed this and looked at it, and the rationale behind that is that 2,000 square feet is a fairly smallscale project to push people into a public hearing process that takes two to three months,” said Misch. “It adds time and money in terms of getting site engineers to develop a site plan for applicants, so it’s just giving a little more wiggle room for those small-scale projects to be able to move forward without that additional cost.”
Misch said Legislative Matters and the Planning Board will look to host a joint public hearing on this ordinance, and following that, it will return to the City Council for a vote.
At Large Councilor Meg Robbins asked if the ordinance would exempt developers from coming before the Planning Board in order to secure the right to build. Misch explained that, as it stands, single-family homes of any size are exempt and that this ordinance would exempt a two-family from going in front of the board. The proposed ordinance does not exempt zoning requirements.
“We actually have design criteria specifically for two-family construction, which is different from any other residential uses. The applicants still need to comply with those very specific design criteria that the City Council adopted back in 2022, and those are absolutely still applicable. It’s just the process of going to the Planning Board for the board to just look and check the box that the applicant has actually met all that design criteria when in fact it’s already specified in the code, and you have to meet those,” Misch added. “The only reason
has remained vital since as early as 2,000 BCE.
On Feb. 18, the city of Northampton named Ari Banias as its poet laureate for the 2026–2028 term. Every two years, the Northampton Arts Council and its subcommittee — composed of former laureates and local poets — gather to select an artist who will serve as a leading voice for the city’s literary and cultural life.
why someone would come to the Planning Board if two families are exempt and you’re building, let’s say a 3,000-square-foot structure with two 1500-squarefoot units, is if the applicant has a different way of designing a project that doesn’t specifically meet the two-family design standards. That would trigger a Planning Board review. But, if you’re going to meet all those standards in the checklist in the zoning ordinance, you wouldn’t have to go to the Planning Board.”
Council President Rachel Maiore said that this ordinance was in line with the efforts made by the council in 2022 around two-family homes.
“I just wanted to say that the reason we picked this up in 2022 ... to get single-family homes and construction of them, or renovation of them, on par with two-families, because there’s kind of a bias in our country and in our state toward allowing greater latitude to single-family homes. So, with a nod to the housing crunch, that is kind of the philosophy behind the 2022 action we took on council and on this item,” Maiore said.
Other ‘out-of-date’ ordinances
During the same City Council meeting, the body voted unanimously to refer the rescission of
“I think the hope in appointing a poet laureate — in addition to celebrating the work of a local poet — is always greater visibility on poetry in the local arts scene as well as the chance to engage with people in the community who may be less familiar with poetry.” Kelsey Socha-Bishop, a member of the Northampton Art Council Sub Committee, said.
Banias’ poetry explores fluid identity, especially centered around gender and embodiment, alongside intimacy and desire. His work reflects on how language and relationships shape the self, often blending personal vulnerability with thoughtful, philosophical insight.
“From an outsider’s perspective it seems like he’s approaching poetry with a lot of curiosity and openness, which certainly lends itself to the expansiveness of our area’s arts and cultural
three city ordinances to Legislative Matters, where they will be reviewed before coming back to the council for a final vote. These ordinances were identified, and changes were recommended through the work done by the 2025 Ordinance Review Committee, which was led by Ward 4 Councilor Jeremy Dubs and At Large Councilor Garrick Perry.
“Basically, these are very out of date and not really relevant to today’s world, so it seems like it’s time for them to go,” said Dubs regarding the decision to recommend these changes out of the Ordinance Review Committee’s 2025 report.
The first item in this group was an ordinance rescinding section 241-4, “Obscene or Profane Language in Street Prohibited.”
The ordinance simply states, “No person shall accost or address another person in any street with obscene or profane language.”
According to the Ordinance Review Committee’s 2025 report, Solicitor Alan Seewald informed the committee that this section is unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable, leading to the committee’s recommendation to rescind this ordinance.
Also included was the recommendation to rescind ordinance 312-87, which prohibits thumbing, or hitch-hiking. Accord-
identity,” Socha-Bishop said.
“Ari Banias’ poetry pays careful attention to small details and mundanity. His work asks a lot of thoughtful questions about the nature of identity and power.”
Banias shared that the city of Northampton has had a profound effect on his work and process.
“Even after three years, living outside a major metropolitan area still feels new to me — it’s a total system reset,” Banias said.
“More than anything, it has influenced my pace and way of working; I’m finding myself less concerned with output and more tuned into the process. And I’m lucky to have a studio that allows me to experiment with space, and to bring in other practices and materials.”
The nomination of Northampton’s poet laureate was an unexpected surprise for Banias. “It was entirely unexpected, and it
ing to its report, the committee found the ordinance to be outdated and voted to recommend it be rescinded.
The third ordinance is section 245-13 through 245-20, “Inclusive, Hawkers and Peddlers of Fish, Fruits and Vegetables,” which outlines licensing requirements for hawkers and peddlers. According to its report, the committee reviewed these sections and found the language outdated, unnecessary and discriminatory against noncitizens, leading to the recommendation that these sections be rescinded.
“I want the public to know that if you’re really into finding out some of the weird ordinances, you can go and look at the Ordinance Review Committee meetings if that’s your bag, where we had some giggles about hawkers, and peddlers of fish, and thumbing, but we did a lot of due diligence to get here to rescind it, so I feel really comfortable sending this forward,” said Perry. Robbins added, “I love thinking about this city and the discussions that must of happened in order to make these ordinances. I just want to say, I had no idea, and thank you very much for not arresting me, because there’s a couple here, I think we could all say we’ve probably had challenges with before.”
took me a minute to metabolize. Now I’m excited!”
Banias will hold the title until 2028, using the role to expand poetry’s reach across the community.
“My hopes for my role as poet laureate are to instigate and deepen connection through poetry as a medium that’s available to anyone, and to expand people’s experience of and exposure to it. As a medium that’s both intimate and portable and one hundred percent free, poetry has powerful potential to move us, individually and collectively.”
“Anyone can write it. Or speak it, or sing it, or.… There are literally no rules,” Banias continued. “The way poetry encourages us to imagine — beyond the standardized, the rational and the reasoned — makes it a living site for bringing forward other ways of being.”
Photo credit: Northampton Open Media
The Best Damn Panini: Krave in East Longmeadow
By Dennis Hackett dhackett@thereminder.com
EAST LONGMEADOW —
Having worked exclusively in East Longmeadow over the past year, I have come to appreciate the town’s many lunch stops. I am happy to report that another excellent spot recently opened its doors.
Krave Restaurant, which opened in March, offers a variety of bowls, salads and paninis. Krave offers signature bowls and paninis, like the Orchard bowl, which comes with gorgonzola, candied walnuts, tomatoes, chickpeas and cucumbers, or the Philly panini, which comes with roasted peppers, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, shredded cheese and garlic mayo. Patrons also have the opportunity to make their own bowls or paninis, giving people the opportunity to pick from any of Krave’s ingredients.
In my many trips to Dunkin’ since Krave opened, the delicious smells from the kitchen have caught my nose as I have walked by, making me constantly say to myself “I’ll try it one day.” I am kicking myself because of how long I waited to try something. My first experience with Krave was outstanding.
Walking up to the counter, patrons are immediately greeted with a bevy of options, going station to station, working with staff to add different ingredients to a bowl or a panini. The staff also greets you with a big smile, ready to help you put together your
As wine professionals we often face terrible misconceptions and slanders against our favorite grapes. We hear that cabernet sauvignon is a graceless fruit bomb (tell that to Bordeaux), that riesling is too sweet (there is a whole category of dry riesling called “trocken”), and that zinfandel is overwhelmingly heavy (not so in the hands of California’s new generation of winemakers!). However, no grape is more frequently misunderstood than our dear, beautiful chardonnay. Too often we’re told that it’s too buttery, too oaky or too sweet. It is true that there was a time when many California wineries made a name for themselves by making the biggest and boldest examples of chardonnay out there, using large percentages of new oak barrels and malolactic fermentation to maximize the butter and vanilla notes in their white wines. This, along with California’s famous sunshine and the ripeness that can result from it, led to wines that, while sometimes finely crafted, were out of balance.
This grape is famously versatile and flexible though, known in the industry as “the winemaker’s grape” because of it’s ability to express itself in so many different ways. For example, cool climate chardonnays from places like Santa Barbara and Chablis are generally crisp, refreshing and bone-dry white wines with ample acidity. Explore Burgundy or Oregon and you’ll find chardonnays of unparalleled complexity and
order. If you’re in a rush, Krave also offers online ordering.
To me, barbecue chicken is a go-to sandwich, whether it has grilled or fried chicken and whatever other toppings you want to toss in there, so when I saw Krave had a BBQ panini, I knew that was my first victim. Topped with a golden barbecue sauce and a chipotle ranch, and filled with bacon, crispy onions and shredded cheese, my mouth was watering looking at the menu. I combined those ingredients with a protein add on of blackened chicken, and it was the perfect combination of savory and sweet with the sweet taste of the golden barbecue and the subtle kick of the chicken.
Staff Writers Sarah Heinonen and Peter Tuohy can attest to the way my jaw dropped when I saw the size of my panini when I opened the container in the newsroom. The box had two huge halves of my panini on a pressed ciabatta bread. The picture included with this review does not do the sandwich justice; it was massive.
Coincidentally we also ended up having food from Krave for a company lunch meeting, where I was able to try a bit more of the menu, while still snagging a corner piece of the BBQ panini. I tried another golden barbecue staple, Krave’s Good as Gold bowl, which in addition to what comes on the BBQ panini, comes with avocado smash, roasted peppers and cucumbers.
The versatility and options to create your own meals stand out the most to me, so while I love their BBQ panini, I am ex-
balance that integrate with oak so beautifully that you’ll barely notice that it’s there. Furthermore, many chardonnays do not undergo malolactic fermentation, the conversion of malic (apple) acid to lactic (buttery) acids, at all.
As you may be gathering, many of the features of the grape that some don’t care for are in fact decisions made in the winery rather than innate traits of the variety. Which leads me to three of our favorite domestic producers that are producing medium-bodied and balanced chardonnays that will change your mind about the grape.
First up we have Osmote’s Cayuga Lake Chardonnay. Osmote is the project Ben Ricardi, a Finger Lakes native who initially worked in California until returning home in 2017 to make wine in upstate New York. This is a cool climate region, one that you’d initially think would be inhospitable to wine grapes, but in the Finger Lakes the proximity to large bodies of water moderates the chill of winter slightly, allowing the grapes to reach ripeness. The Cayuga Lake chardonnay is light bodied and thirst quenching with a lean angularity more reminiscent of Chablis than California. Mineral with a touch of citrus peel. This is as light an ethereal as chardonnay gets. ($21.99)
Next, we have Scar of the Sea’s Vino de Los Ranchos Chardonnay. Scar of the Sea is the project of up and coming star Mikey Guigni, a young winemaker rapidly gaining attention for a hands
cited to be able to come up with my own concoctions on future visits, whether that is a new panini or bowl.
of winemaking style that yields supple, balanced wines that sing with food. Sourced from a pair of organic vineyards on California’s central coast, this wine is aged on the lees for a year and a half before being bottled unfiltered. Crisp but textured, this wine showcases cool climate minerality with hints of golden apple and brioche. ($34.99)
Catch and Release produce their Fair Trade Chardonnay from a vineyard located between the Russian River and the north end of the Mayacamas mountain range in Mendocino County. This wine comes in at a low 11.8% alcohol, proving that California chardonnay can in fact be light on its feet. The wine undergoes a mild malolactic fermentation and aging in neutral oak barrels that impart no flavor while allowing the wine to breathe, softening the edges of the wine and adding a bit of mouthfeel. The result is a chardonnay that is easy-drinking and refreshing with a bright acidity and mouth watering notes of lime, minerality and a touch of saltiness in the finish.($39.99)
Just a short distance from our East Longmeadow office, Krave is going to become a staple of my lunch rotation at work, with plen-
ty of more things for me to try. Krave Restaurant is located at 59 Maple St. in East Longmeadow.
Krave’s BBQ panini.
Reminder Publishing photo by Dennis Hackett
EASTHAMPTON VS HAMPSHIRE REGIONAL
BASEBALL
Easthampton and Hampshire Regional faced off on April 20. The game was tight but ultimately the win went to Hampshire Regional with a score of 4-3.
REMINDER SPORTS PHOTOS TAKEN BY SAM
Billy Warren moves out of the way for a called ball.
BLAKE
Cole Wojnar fields the groundball and throws it across the diamond.
The ball gets past the catcher and Christian D’onfrio scores a run.
Riley Florek catches the ball from the second baseman after a strikeout.
Tommy Boxby walks down the first baseline after a 4-pitch walk.
Catcher Braydon Billups runs towards the dugout for a foul ball.
Tommy Boxby slides headfirst into first base after the pitcher attempts to pick him off.
Patrick Larson throws a pitch during the first inning of the game.
Thomas Moore fields the ball with his bare hand and throws it to first base.
Pitcher Colby Cabrini fields the ball and throws it to first base.
Third baseman Andrew Symolon catches the ball from the catcher after a strikeout.
By Trent Levakis tlevakis@thereminder.com
EASTHAMPTON — Building on its 2026 momentum, the Easthampton Theater Company is gearing up for its second production of the year in “Applause,” a tale of ambition, success, and perspective that will open Sunday, June 7, at Williston Theater.
Based on the 1950 film, “All About Eve,” and the short story on which the movie is based, Mary Orr’s “The Wisdom of Eve,” the story centers on aging star Margo Channing, who innocently takes a fledgling actress under her wing, unaware that the ruthless Eve is plotting to steal her career and possibly her man.
The 1970 musical was written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, is scored by Charles Strouse, the composer of “Bye, Bye Birdie” and “Annie,” and in its original 1970 Broadway run was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical.
The upcoming production will be directed Manuel Morales, in what is his first opportunity directing a production for Easthampton Theater Company. Morales said his desire to take on the challenge of this production stemmed from his introduction to theater as a 12-year-old Easthampton Public School student, when he saw his older sister participate in the high school’s 2005 production of “Applause.”
“I had no idea what musi-
cal theater was, what Broadway meant; I’d never interacted with anything in this venue or genre before. When I sat down in that audience and saw my sister in this show, something just clicked in my brain, and it was like discovering music for the first time, discovering this new art form for the first time. I’ve had it stuck in the back of my brain for 20 years now,” said Morales.
The experience planted the drama seed in Morales, whose passion for the art form has been fostered since. Working various roles over the years, whether through production or as an actor, Morales thought, what better way to throw himself into directing on this scale than with a personal fa-
Roxanne: 413.213.6178
rmiller-longtin@thereminder.com
vorite of his?
“The stars just aligned because not only did I love the show, but Easthampton Theater Company is in Easthampton, the same town I saw the show initially, so it really felt like we need to bring this back to Easthampton for their own shared history and to let people know that, especially now with the way that our government is going with taking funds away from the arts, these things matter,” Morales said. “Even if it’s just watching your little niece and nephew in their show at school, it matters because it can turn into this.”
Performances will take place on June 7 and 14 at 2 p.m., with shows on June 11, 12 and 13 tak-
ing place at 7:30 p.m. inside Williston Theater.
The show’s producer, Eva Husson-Stockhamer, told Reminder Publishing that Morales was up for the challenge way before the pitch of the play itself.
“ETC really likes the idea of a director being very passionate about whatever show it is, play, musical, whatever. So when you find a director like Manny that says, ‘Hey, I want to direct for you guys, I want to do this, and this is why’ ... they’re going to be invested the whole way through, and that’s what you want from the director and what you want for your cast as well,” said Husson-Stockhamer. “That’s why, often in community theater, we will say, come and pitch a show. Not, we choose the show and let’s find a director. The opposite approach is often more fruitful.”
Morales said the show is a tribute to classic American theater, and the packed performance features musical numbers, humor, stand-out costumes and design, and a story local audiences can resonate with.
“One major selling point that I went to the board with was there’s not enough theater that showcases a mature cast or one that showcases the talent of someone who’s had it all, and that’s where we find Margo, the lead character in the show. She’s had an amazing career and is at the top of the game, and now comes a fresh face that’s kind of taking over all of her roles. And for someone who’s so career-driven, that’s their entire life,” said Morales. “So, I think we can all relate when we get to that age of starting to feel like what happens when I’m already on the top, what’s next? And that’s what our main character goes through while our other main character is now rising to the top, discovering what the industry really is.”
Morales added, “There’s so much joy and life in this show that it’s just going to burst in energy, and it has this 1970s disco
feel to it. It just sparks so much joy, and I really think we need that right now.”
Since its inception in 2023, the Easthampton Theater Company has noticed positive returns from its productions as word and popularity have spread. Husson-Stockhamer added it’s been great to increase the theater’s awareness among audiences in the local community.
“I think for me personally, I love when people come back and audition for us. That means they want to work with you. And sometimes, it doesn’t matter what the show is, they want to work with you, and that I really appreciate,” she added.
Morales said that the company’s growth represents a stamp of approval from the community that local theater is wanted and appreciated.
“It’s confirmation that what you do has meaning and it has power on community. It’s just a testament to what you’re doing and that it has a direct correlation of impacting your community, and I find that fascinating, and I find it life fulfilling,” he said. Morales added that he hopes to see everyone’s passion shine through during the upcoming production. He also wants the show to yield worthwhile entertainment for local audiences.
“I want people to really enjoy the experience of being an audience member and experiencing this show, because I want them to know a 12-year-old kid had this in his brain for 20 years, and now he’s sharing it with you,” said Morales. “I want people to feel that, but also, I really want to connect that this originated from a public school local production that has now expanded into this wonderful version. It’s not a revival, but it’s definitely a continuum of time and space. To me, it’s magic.”
For tickets or more information on Easthampton Theater Company and its upcoming show, visit easthamptontheater.com.
Photos from a recent Easthampton Theater Company rehearsal for the upcoming production of “Applause,” coming to the Williston Theater
