NORTHFIELD — How did you celebrate World Asphalt Day?
Well, about 125 Franklin County Chamber of Commerce members convened at the Northfield Golf Club’s Beech House on Friday for a buffet lunch catered by Bash Catering and to hear about how the state’s most rural county “rocks.”
Guests heard from a panel that consisted of Bobby Betsold, All States Materials Group’s marketing director; Richard Little, professor emeritus at Greenfield Community College and founder of EarthView LLC; Ryan Shumeyko, board member of the Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition; and John Sanders, co-owner of DSP Shows.
Betsold used metaphors to compare his industry to his local community. He explained roadway pavings are made of aggregate (granular materials like sand, gravel and crushed stone), asphalt and air voids.
Ryan Shumeyko of the Western Massachusetts Climbers’ Coalition holds rock climbing anchors as he speaks at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Northfield Golf Club on Friday. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Greenfield Community College Professor Emeritus Richard Little with his armored mud ball display at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Northfield Golf Club on Friday. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
John Sanders, co-owner of DSP Shows, speaks at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Northfield Golf Club on Friday. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Those in attendance at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Northfield Golf Club on Friday. Credit: PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
“The aggregate is all of you. It’s the people,” he said, elaborating that the asphalt binding everything together represents the area’s common values, and the air is the space they share.
Betsold said harmony is needed to create any quality mix.
“We are a community,” he said. “We’re a strong community.”
The Chamber of Commerce leaned into the rock theme, and referred to the regular and decaffeinated coffee as “liquid asphalt.” Executive Director Jessye Deane sprinkled 25 rock-related puns into her remarks and awarded a raffle prize to the chamber member who guessed closest to that number.
Deane also mentioned that Little could explain how Franklin County rocks both metaphorically and geologically.
In 1970, Little discovered lithified armored mud balls in the quarried stone supports of a now-dismantled suspension bridge over the Connecticut River between Turners Falls and Gill. An armored mud ball forms when dried mud crumbles and falls into a streambed, where the mud becomes sticky, collecting pebbles as it travels in the stream. The armored mud balls of the Jurassic period were then covered by stream deposits, which solidified them over roughly 200 million years.
“This is the best place in the world to study geology, to experience geology,” Little told the guests. “Geologists have a special view of the world. We actually see through time.”
He also said Franklin County is the only place on the planet to easily see lithified armored mud balls. He mentioned that he and state legislators are championing a bill to designate the geological formations as the official state sedimentary structure.
The next Chamber of Commerce event is the legislative breakfast (featuring priority updates from Franklin County’s policymakers) from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Greenfield Community College on Friday, June 26.
