The Montague village of Turners Falls won the same award in 2011. Watch video
SHELBURNE FALLS—Creativity really does abound in Shelburne Falls.
Evident is the creative re-use of an old trolley bridge over the Deerfield River for a pedestrian walk bursting with flowers in spring, summer and fall, the popular Bridge of Flowers. There are artist studios, public art installations, a performance center and a coffee house that exhibits local artists’ work and hosts live concerts. There’s a trolley museum and popular restaurants.
There are village events like an arts walk, road race and dinner on the Iron Bridge.
Visitors come for the bridge, the businesses and the events that take place throughout the year and to see the interesting glacial pothole formations in the rocks in the river. There’s easy access to the village from Route 2, the Mohawk Trail.
According to Mary J. Vilbon, executive director of the Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association, “a new energy has evolved” in the Village of Shelburne Falls—which is in the towns of Shelburne and Buckland on either side of the Deerfield River joined by the historic iron bridge.
That energy caught the attention of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which has announced the winners of the 2013 Commonwealth Awards, honoring exceptional achievement in the arts, humanities and sciences.
Recognized as “Creative Communities” are Barnstable on Cape Cod and Franklin County’s own Shelburne Falls.
The awards will be presented Tuesday, Feb. 19, during a Massachusetts Statehouse ceremony in Boston.
“The Commonwealth Awards recognize exceptional efforts to build a central place for arts and culture in the life of a community,” said Greg P. Liakos, spokesman for the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
He said the work Vilbon and others are doing is exceptional and has pulled together a broad group of stakeholders, including local artists, members of the business community and local and regional government officials “to harness the resources they have to build a more vibrant community.”
The village’s success is the result of diligent work by members of a unique partnership established in 1995 of the Buckland select board, the Shelburne select board and the board of directors of the Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association.
They meet six times a year to talk about ways to help local businesses and “make our village a place to come not just to have a business but to live,” Vilbon said.
Andrea P. Llamas, Buckland town administrator, credited the business association members, business owners and artists for putting “their heart and soul” into the local economy and ensuring websites and tourist maps help draw people into the village.
Turners Falls, a village in the town of Montague, received a Creative Community Award in 2011. “I think the arts community in that part of the state is especially good at collaboration,” Liakos said. “Absent major cultural institutions as anchors, artists and nonprofits recognize that they can get more accomplished by pooling their resources and energy.”
Economies are changing; so much of the Shelburne Falls economy depends on tourism and local artists. “There has been more and more of a creative focus,” Llamas said.
Ann Hamilton, president of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce in Greenfield, said people in the most rural county in Massachusetts “recognize how important the creative economy is, and various artists living here for the past few years have tried to strengthen the economic base.”
Shelburne Falls has the added benefit of its picturesque setting, and it “has always been an interesting place to visit,” she said.
Molly Cantor, a potter who owns a gallery in the village, said she came here “because it’s such a beautiful place,” but also because it is affordable.
The quality of life that keeps her here—she has been in business since 1997—encompasses not just the affordability and natural beauty, but the presence of other artists and the support the towns and the chamber of commerce give to businesses too.
“This is an intimate, small town that has everything we need,” she said.
That includes customers and students. “I’m able to stay here because the people in this area are supportive of art and are interested in art and come in and buy art,” she said, adding that the classes she teaches continue because she has students who are excited about learning and being creative.
Regarding the list of this year’s award winners, Massachusetts Cultural Council Executive Director Anita Walker said, “This extraordinary group of institutions and individuals beautifully represents our state’s unique cultural fabric and tells a powerful story of the great public value of the arts, humanities and sciences. Their collective and individual achievements have contributed enormously to the quality of life in Massachusetts.”
Other award categories include achievement, art/science collaboration, access, creative learning, cultural philanthropy, leadership and media.
Liakos said the Shelburne effort to create a Village of Shelburne Falls cultural district was exemplary; it was one of the first cultural districts in the commonwealth.
A cultural district is a compact, walkable area of a community with a concentration of cultural facilities, activities and assets.
“There are so many terrific assets in that (Shelburne Falls) community,” Liakos said, naming among them the gallery scene, infrastructure like the Bridge of Flowers and natural resources like the Deerfield River.
Presented every two years, the Commonwealth Awards shine a spotlight on the extraordinary contributions the arts, humanities and sciences make to education, economic growth and vitality and quality of life in communities throughout Massachusetts.