ADAMS, Mass. — The long-awaited Greylock Glen Outdoor Center will formally open on Friday with host of officials ready to cut the ribbon. 

 

The $7.3 million center is the first step in what Adams officials hope will become a bustling recreational venue at the foot of Mount Greylock. 

 

The town was named developer of 54 acres of the 1,063-acre parcel, part of the Mount Greylock State Reservation, in 2006. The hope was the community could get things moving on developing the site after decades of failed projects. The project has moved forward, in fits and starts, since then with the outdoor center being a critical step after years of preparation.

 

The Greylock Glen's recent history has had a tighter focus with the town more in control of a concept that includes a camping area, amphitheater, outdoor educational center, trail network, and lodge. Many of these elements were hashed 15 or more years ago by the Greylock Glen Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from stakeholders including Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Mass Audubon and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

 

The project's jumped through numerous hopes, from the local Conservation Commission to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.

 

It's been 15 years since the initial plans were unveiled at the Adams Free Library for a campground, lodge and outdoor center within a 29-acre footprint that would access miles of trails within the glen and up to the state's highest summit. 

 

But since the vision started to come together, the project has been stalled by, among other things, the global economic collapse of 2008 and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic … not to mention all the regular steps that need to be taken to make such a massive project "shovel ready."

 

The glen was put into the town's hands after Gov. Jane Swift killed a $150 million resort proposal in 2001. Gov. Charlie Baker ensured funding as the project took shape, committing $6.5 million in state funds in 2021 and another $2.8 million in 2022, when he arrived to toss a shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking. 

 

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Richie Neal will join Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation Director Paul Jahnige and state Rep. John Barrett III and local officials for the grand opening. Neal two years ago secured $1 million toward the project through Congressionally Directed Spending from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

The grand opening kicks off the long weekend with performances at the Adams Theater, fall foliage walks led by Mass Audubon, the Hoosac Valley Coal and Grain Fall Fest, a bazaar and kids' fair at St. John Paul II Parish, a tour of Maple Street Cemetery, the popular Ramblefest at the Adams Visitor Center on Sunday afternoon and the annual Mount Greylock Ramble on Monday.