Toast the Good Life
The good life is especially worth toasting in Western Massachusetts during the summer. Here’s our top 10 list (in no particular order).
- Gorge on our world-famous asparagus (it’s Hadley Grass, here) at our WGBH Asparagus Festival, Saturday, June 2, on the Hadley Commons and featured in Yankee Magazine. Asparagus ice cream anyone?
- Load your bike for the Pedal2Pints Summer Ride, Saturday, June 2. Bike from brewery to brewery on one of 5 different rides from the 90-mile ride to the 33-mile ride.
- Stroll the street at Easthampton’s Cultural Chaos Cottage Street festival, June 9, and Northampton’s Main Street Summer Block Party, July 7.
- Sample our award-winning craft brews, special releases and beer-inspired dinners during Western Mass Beer Week, Saturday, June 9 through Saturday, June 16.
- Dine al fresco at one of our farm dinners with white linen tablecloths and candles, right in the field where the food is grown.
- Bring home hand-thrown pottery for your home and table at the Hilltown Pottery Tour, July 28-29. Keep your “craft beer getaway theme” going at the Hops + Pots event, Saturday night.
- Combine your wine-tastings with a barre class, a yoga class, or a Fleetwood Mac tribute band concert at one of our vineyards.
- Food truck fan? Don’t miss Food Truck Fridays.
- Pack a picnic and take a hike on one of the dozens of trails through our state parks or along our Holyoke Range. Great for kids and adults.
- Relive the politics and social change of the Sixties at Amherst’s Ko Festival of Performance, 5 weeks of original, authentic theater. July 6 to August 5.
Read what travel writers say about visiting western Massachusetts
Thrillist Best American Vacations for beer lovers