SHELBURNE FALLS — The village’s Cultural District has been expanded farther into the Buckland side.
In 2012, Shelburne Falls became one of the first 10 communities in the state to be named a “Cultural District” — an honor that can open doors to more grants, more publicity and more resources for boosting business.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) has recently renewed this designation, adding Ashfield Street up to the Salmon Falls Gallery, and Conway Street to Elm. This second branch includes the Ann Brauer Quilt Studio, the Lamson Goodnow mill complex, the Art Garden and the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.
When the title was originally given to Shelburne Falls, Anita Walker, who was then executive director of the state’s Cultural Council, remarked: “This is the only place — probably on the planet — where people make a destination of going where the (Glacial) Potholes are. … Our best cultural districts are real, authentic places where you celebrate who you are, what you are doing.”
The original district included everything on the Shelburne side from Mechanic Street to the Iron Bridge and from Water Street to the Bridge of Flowers. On the Buckland side, the designation included two blocks along State Street, between North Street and Clement.
Carmela Lanza-Weil, executive director of the Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association and administrator of the Shelburne Falls Partnership, said the designation helped the village to win a John and Abigail Adams Art Program grant for four years and another MCC grant was used to revise the ShelburneFalls.com website.
The partnership’s next project is to improve the Buckland-owned parking area behind the Salmon Falls Gallery, Lanza-Weil said. Last year, public meetings were held to get the community’s ideas for both improved parking and a more welcoming landscape. Ideas included public art installations, new plantings, benches, walkways and public bathrooms. Mary Chicoine, Senior Land Use and Natural Resources Planner with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, has been working with the Conway School of Landscape Design to develop a master plan for the area. The master plan is expected to be complete by the end of this year, and Lanza-Weil hopes this designation will help in securing grant money.
She said, in the future, the Shelburne Falls Partnership may try for a second district expansion to include the Depot Street parking area, trolley tracks and the Trolley Museum’s outbuildings. “These improvements will enliven the entire area, making it yet another attractive place for residents and visitors,” she said.
The Shelburne Falls Partnership consists of the Business Association and the towns of Buckland and Shelburne.