ATHOL — There are some who would like to see a coffee shop in downtown Athol.
A drugstore is needed, too, ever since Athol Family Pharmacy closed in September.
These opinions have made their way to the desk of Eric Smith through surveys made available to townspeople. Smith is Athol’s planning and community director and is sifting through roughly 100 of these surveys to better understand the town’s needs and desires.
The surveys are designed to assist with a market analysis the town hopes to conduct through a consultant hired with state grant money. They are the product of the Athol Downtown Vitality Committee, a group of people dedicated to rejuvenating the public face of the community.
“(It’s) trying to help promote bringing additional businesses downtown, but also trying to further the existing businesses that are here,” Smith said in his Town Hall office. He added the committee aims to address issues such as parking, cleanliness, safety, attractiveness and handicap-accessibility.
Printable copies online of the survey can be found at bit.ly/2jFdT51. You can also complete an electronic form of the survey from Survey Monkey at svy.mk/2jgqs9L. All answers are anonymous.
Smith said the committee has grown since September, from a handful of members to a full table in Town Hall’s Liberty Hall at the January meeting.
“I think people are pretty excited,” he said. “It’s exceeded expectations.”
Jonathan Eldridge, who owns Never Grow Up! at 463 Main St., was appointed committee chairman.
“I’d love to see more improvement down here. I’d love to see businesses lasting a little longer, more quality businesses,” Eldridge said. “I like the town. I like what it is and what it can be. I like it small and happy. (There’s) a lot of good people around.”
Ann Wilhite, who owns Déjà Vu, a women’s clothing consignment shop at 479 Main St., joined the vitality committee to help tackle some of the downtown’s problems.
“A lot of people don’t shop Main Street because of the littering, the language, the spitting, the dogs, the drugs,” she said inside her store. “We need to work together as businesses.”
She said committee members can figure out what consumers want downtown and determine how to fulfill market niches.
“I think we’re doing good. We’re making progress — just the fact alone that it’s being better attended than it ever has been. Eric is just awesome. He is awesome at what he does,” she said. “We’re very optimistic. We’re very energized, very hopeful.”
Wilhite’s concerns pertain largely to safety and security, and Athol Police Chief Russell Kleber has said he plans to soon have foot patrols downtown.
“Foot patrol downtown is a priority and it’s something I want to re-establish, but for now I am unable to because we are low in manpower and hopefully in the next couple of months our manpower will increase,” he said.
Anthony Brighenti, chairman of the Athol Board of Selectmen, grew up in town and previously said the 1980s and ’90s were a difficult time for Athol, because a lot of employers had left town and there were not many people leaving big cities for smaller communities. He said there used to be at least 15 factories in Athol.
“If you lost a job at one factory on Monday, on Tuesday morning you could go get another one,” he recalled. “That’s no baloney. That’s the truth.”
He said SmartAsset, a financial technology company headquartered in New York, ranked Athol the 10th best place to retire in Massachusetts because its taxes are livable.
The golden age of Athol industry is dead and gone. Just of few of the factories that once bolstered the town still operate, but it is clawing its way back from a few decades of despair. Companies such as the L.S. Starrett Company and Whipps Inc. keep alive Athol’s rich manufacturing identity a stone’s throw from the area the vitality committee is determined to restore.
Completed surveys should be returned to the Town Hall dropbox outside Town Hall or Room 28. You can also mail it to Athol Town Hall, 584 Main Street, Athol, MA 01331 by Jan. 31. For more information, contact Smith at 978-575-0301 or planning@townofathol.org.
The next vitality committee meeting is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 14.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 258.
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli