NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Yes, there will be fireworks on the Fourth of July. 

 

And a Downtown Celebration. And SteepleCats games and a farmers' market and movies at Colegrove Park and music at Windsor Lake.

 

"It's going to be the best summer ever," said the city's Tourism Director Suzy Helme.

 

Helme was updating members of the North Adams Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday on the events that will be taking place this summer now that the state of emergency instituted during the pandemic is set to be lifted by mid-June. 

 

It was a lost summer last year for residents and tourists alike with the cancellation of several high-profile anniversaries — including the city's 125th anniversary — along with concerts, exhibitions and local community events. 

 

The summer of 2021 is shaping up to be a season of community togetherness, although there may still be some social distancing and comfort in face coverings, after a year of pandemic. 

 

"So events are still a thing and things are happening this summer, which we're pretty psyched about," said Helme. "What everyone should know is even if the COVID resources were going to stay in place throughout the summer, a lot of us that are in the events business were planning smaller outdoor events — we were planning Aug. 1 will be a free for all, but now it's going to be like next weekend."

 

Colleen Rafferty, guest services manager at Tourists and member of the chamber board, said the outline for the talk was different four days before — a day before Gov. Charlie Baker announced the lifting of all capacity limits on May 29 and the potential end of the state of emergency on June 15. Baker in late April had set a goal of Aug. 1 to return to normal but the fast pace of vaccination and declining COVID-19 cases has pushed that date up significantly.

 

"We're all adjusting as quickly as we can to all this information ... I would expect a lot of new announcements and surprises coming very soon," Helme said. 

 

The North Adams Farmers Market resumes on Saturday, June 5, at the St. Anthony's Municipal Parking Lot after a year of mostly online ordering and pickup at the Armory. It will be every Saturday rain or shine from 9 to 1. 

 

"We will probably try to add back in music we hadn't planned for the summer. But now that we know we can, we probably will," she said. "We also will bring back picnic tables, we'll try to get some prepared foods there now that we know that that's OK. We're going to make it as normal as possible because I think we're all ready for that."

 

The concerts at Windsor Lake resume on June 16 from 6:30 to 8 and run every Wednesday through the summer, weather permitting. These events are free and open to the public. Movies Under the Stars on the last Friday of the month will also begin in June. The family-friendly fare is shown beginning at dusk on a screen at Colegrove Park. The theme for this year hasn't been figured out yet, Helme said, but would be announced in the next couple weeks. 

 

"First Fridays, this is brand new and this is not initiated by the city, this is initiated by the business communities," she said. "The downtown business community has taken it upon themselves to be open late together from 4 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday evening of every month. ...

 

"It's actually a pretty vibrant little business community downtown so they are encouraging you to come down First Fridays support your local business owners."

 

The big kickoff will be the opening of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art on Memorial Day weekend. The museum had anticipated a release this week on coming events but there may be some reconfiguring going on with the pandemic restrictions being lifted. Mass MoCA will debut James Turrell's "Skyspace" in the old water tower and a pop-up restaurant, Chama Mama, over the weekend and already stated it was selling tickets for its folk/blues music festival Fresh Grass this September. 

 

Other events on the calendar include Steeple City Sounds Pop-Up concerts, Juneteenth, the annual fireworks after the SteepleCats game on July 4, the free day at Mass MoCA on July 17, Bang on a Can at the end of July, and National Night Out on Aug. 3. There will be a Downtown Celebration at a date sometime in August but probably on a Saturday rather than a weeknight.

 

"We haven't figured out a date because we'd like to do it on a Saturday this year since we're not doing a few other events," Helme said. 

 

The events not happening are the Eagle Street Beach Party for the second time in 20 years or the 10th annual Motorama. Both events require a great deal of planning that is not possible this close to summer, said Helme.

 

Also not happening is Solid Sound, the massive music festival that brings upwards of 8,000 people to the city. The Wilco-curated event at Mass MoCA was canceled some time ago but is expected to return next June. 

 

There are a lot of other smaller grass-roots events and exhibits being planned, said Helme, that will be added to the calendar as the summer goes on. These will likely include the opening of local music, performance and gallery venues.

 

The presentation of the "State of Tourism" was to give local business owners an idea of the events occurring in North Adams this summer and the surrounding area, such as Williamstown Theatre Festival and Jacob's Pillow. Rafferty spoke on some of the ways Tourists has dealt with pandemic over the past year and how it has connected with guests. She gave some examples how venues can give local hotels and motels information about their offerings that can be passed on to guests. 

 

What she and Helme agreed on was to be thoughtful of people's needs and the transition from a pandemic viewpoint.

 

"While all the restrictions will be lifted by the time most of these things happen, if you're not comfortable not being masked and not being close to people we encourage people to do what they feel best about," Helme said. "You want to wear your mask all summer long, go for it. You want to stay away from us — don't know why you would — but feel free to." 

 

The full presentation will be added to the North Adams Chamber of Commerce Youtube channel.