Mill 1 at Open Square was awful during our wedding planning. Covid hit after we had a signed contract and they wouldn't (or couldnt) follow through with their part of the contract. They would not give us our money back but instead wanted us to sign an addendum with all these new rules. Long story short, the courts had to order them to give us back our deposit. read more

COVID-19 Wedding We fell in love and booked this venue a year in advance. Due to COVID-19 restrictions put in place by The Governor Charlie Baker we were unable to hold our wedding as stated in the contract, a contract that we had paid in full. We had to forgo our wedding becuase of the Pandemic and ALL of our vendors except Mill 1 refunded us and were extremely gracious. The owner believed that he was not in breach of contract even though we paid for a space for 50+ guests, a dance floor, & a bar which due to COVID-19 he was unable to provide any of those things. its NO ONES fault that these restrictions were put in place it just comes down to being able to provide what was paid for. None of us would have thought a year ago that we would be "social distancing" and wearing face masks everywhere we go. The owner stopped replying to emails after we asked him straight up (so he would simple have to say YES, he can provide us with was was in the contract or NO, he cannot. ) We had to get our lawyer to reach out and inform the owner that he was in fact in breach of the contract & that further action will be taken if he continues to refuse to return our money. Of course the morning after our lawyer was in touch with him we got an email back from John. This time stating that we could have our wedding at Mill 1 BUT with only 25 people inside or with 100 people outside at another location outside the building of Mill 1 (which by the time our wedding date came around was no longer allowed in MA due to further restrictions put into place). But that is simply thats not what we paid for and were promised by our conrtact that we had signed and paid in full. We paid for the gorgeous building and the ambiance it provides. Not something out in the parking lot with less than half the guests we wanted. John would still not address the fact that we couldnt have a dance floor or a bar. He told our lawyer that he would give us half of our money back but only if we signed an NDA (non-disclosure act) so we couldnt inform the public on how he chooses to run his business no less how he chooses to treat consumers during a PANDEMIC. Our lawyer asked him for that in writing...we never got it. Spoke to our lawyer today (7/29/2020) and we have to formally sue the venue, John Aubin had no response to the letter our lawyer sent over on 7/21/2020. Today is 9/8/2020 and yesterday we finally recieved some kind of correspondance with the venue. We got an email from Regina (event coordinator) asking us if we would be using the space on 9/12/2020 for our wedding. Our attorney reached out to the venues owner John Aubin on 9/5/2020 to inform him that we would be continuing with our choice to not modify our wedding that we had paid in full for & that he could reach out at any time prior to discuss options but either way we would be continuing with legal action against Mill 1. We got no response from him. The email from Regina was fowarded by us to our attorney who kindly informed her of where we stood on the matter. Please note that Regina also mentioned that we needed to respond to her by 9/8/2021 (yes, she said 2021 obviously meaning 2020) so they decided to reach out at 1am, on a Holiday weekend, only 5 days prior to our original wedding date, and give us 1 day to respond, ONLY after the owner recieved notice that we would be persuing further legal action, coincidence? We dont think so either. Today is Monday, 9/14/2020 - our wedding was supposed to be a few days ago, no word from venue. Today is 12/30/2021- Yes, the end of 2021. We haven't heard a thing from John Aubin BUT we got an official court date today. We will see him in court January 26th 2022. Today is 1/26/2022 - Court was cancelled DUE TO COVID (ironic isn't it?) 4/13/2023 TWENTY TWENTY THREE- we've been to multiple court dates and John's tactics have works, we're exhausted new parents and we can't do it anymore ‍ anyways, a word of caution, stay away. We've spoken to SEVERAL other couples who have also had to sue the venue and WON (they got their money back thank goodness) read more

Mill 1 at Open Square was our dream wedding space, tucked into a familiar mill town setting in western Massachusetts. It was a blank canvas that allowed our personalities to shine bright on our day. Gorgeous industrial-rustic meets modern convenience, and a staff of prepared and relaxed professionals to help you through the details. Michelle St. Jaques (Marjorie, too!) was the grounding force that made sure our vision was seen through to the end. You know how it goes, the people you love want to lend a hand, and often their opinions about decor and layout and design are...their own. Michelle made sure our needs were met through the melee. We had a truly "diy" wedding. We bought and designed the lighting, hauled in and laid out the floral work, hand-made favors and place cards and decorated our cake. We came armed with sticks and fabric panels and a myriad of gold spray-painted accessories. On the Friday before our wedding, we were allowed to come in and set up with the Mill 1 staff following our design plan and instruction, and we could not have been happier about how it turned out. What a perfect celebration. The vendors we were given to choose from for catering were great, the bridal "ready room" was comfortable, and a beautiful setting for photos, and we just cannot be thankful enough for everything. If you're here looking for a fresh, green, and original space to get married or host an event, this space far exceeded my expectations, down to the extreme cleanliness of everything - including the shiny wood floors. My wife was overtaken with the urge to knee-slide across the floor during Heart's "Alone" and her white pants were untouched by dirt or dust. Those are pretty clean floors! read more

Long story short: I've been looking at wedding venues for almost a year now and we had our wedding planned out but due to COVID, we had to postpone. My fiancé and I started to look at other options just out of curiosity and we inquired with Mill 1 about having our wedding at their venue. We ultimately decided to go with a DIY backyard wedding reception for 2021, but I was very pleased with my correspondence with Regina, the Events, Sales, and Operations Manager. I have contacted several venues over the past year to inquire about weddings and nothing was close to the response that Regina gave me- very informative (including what the cost and includes and what couples need to budget for), included links of FAQ's, and communication was quick and timely. If our budget was bigger for a wedding, we would have definitely gone with this place!!! read more

Open Square is at the forefront of the revitalization of downtown Holyoke. The variety of companies, organizations and artist are making Open Square a hub of activity and ideal place to start a business. Ideally located, along the canal's in Historic section of Holyoke Open Square was and is the perfect place for my business, VegaYoga & Movement Arts, which was named best place for yoga in the 2011 Valley Advocates readers poll. Rich with history and contemporary design elements Open Square is the place to see and be seen at. Aaron Vega read more