The Beneski Museum of Natural History is on the Amherst College campus and is one of those smaller…read moremuseums that consistently surprises visitors who arrive without strong expectations. We walked into a building that is modern and elegantly designed, spotlessly maintained, and organized in a way that made navigation intuitive across the three floors. The collection spans three floors and covers fossils, dinosaur skeletons, mineral and gemstone specimens, and an extensive dinosaur track collection with particular connections to the Connecticut River Valley, which produced some of the most significant dinosaur trackways in North America. The dinosaur material is the centerpiece. Two full mammoth skeletons, a T. rex skull, and a range of other fossil specimens give the collection a visual impact that larger natural history museums with more resources and more famous specimens would be proud to have. The dinosaur tracks are a specific strength and the connection to local geology adds a regional dimension that makes the collection feel distinct rather than generic. Staff and professors associated with the collection were present and willing to answer questions in depth, which gave our visit a more engaged quality than a self guided tour at a larger institution typically offers. The museum is free and open to the public, which makes it an easy addition to any visit to the Amherst area without any planning required. For a small college museum that delivers a world class fossil collection in a beautiful modern space, the Beneski Museum of Natural History is a hidden gem in western Massachusetts and well worth a stop. It is the kind of place where you go in for a quick look and end up spending an hour without realizing it.

It's is such a gem! A must see. It's a free museum with a room full of mammal fossils, another of…read moredinosaurs, and a hallway of rocks and gems. You can easily spend an hour or more here, which makes it a perfect stop especially if you're looking for something indoors on a hot or cold or wet day. Our kids enjoyed the exhibits, the free stickers, and the dino toys they got to explore at the front desk.

Visiting family here from Austin Texas and needed something for the kiddo to do while here. Took…read morehim here, he had a blast. I mention Austin because we have this place called the Thinkery which I can compare this with. The Thinkery is relatively new, super expensive, and very pretentious. Whereas this is much older, and while some parts are missing/broken, it had charm, character, was well priced and was accessible to all. My fav part was the large climbing structure. Would visit again when in the area.

Who would have thought that there was such a hidden gem in Holyoke. I absolutely love this place…read more At first I was a little hesitant about coming here based on the limited pictures and reviews. I am not going to lie, I don't spend much time in the Holyoke area, so I was a little skeptical when I was driving past all these abandoned buildings. The parking isn't bad and a few quarters take you a long way here. I know people are little dubious about the street parking, but I have never had an issue, aside from a few of the parking meters being inoperable. There are also two garages that are across the street from the facility and the pricing for that is also fair. Remember bring change!!! I had to learn that the hard way. When I went into the building, I amazed. It is such a cute little facility. It is two stories, but the top level is more of a sitting area. You pay to get into the facility downstairs. There are elevators if you are wondering. The staircase is the way I like to go down because there is an artsy little metal dog that is there and my son always wants to check it out. Before you enter there is a little area where you can hang your coats. People normally leave diaper bags and lunches there. I always pack a little snack for my guy and leave it there. The restroom is also in this area. No food and water is actually allowed in the museum, unless you are heading to the back for a scheduled birthday party. The prices to get in are super cheap. I paid at the cash register and the cashier stamped our hands. After that we were free to roam. There are numerous play stations in this museum. They have an astonishing climbing area, a water works area, a building room, a mini construction site, an airflow center, bubble makers, shadow room, ambulance, fire truck, costumes, grocery store, theatre, a small slide, a toddler area... We can literally spend hours here. My son enjoyed himself so much that I decided to get a family pass, we have been here about every other week since my first trip here. I even booked his party this summer here. I can't wait for all his friends to play with him here. Mom and dad are getting a little sick of climbing through the playscape with him. LOL. Honestly, this is a great place for your kid to exert their energy. I wish I came here sooner, it would have been a more active winter. I recommend all parents to bring their little people here.

The Academy of Music is a lovely, historic and intimate venue. There is so much history here, there…read moreare so many stories--I think my favorite is Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton attending a James Bond film here. The truth is, I attended a show here by accident. It was the weekend of The Back Porch music festival and I intended to see the show of Maine musician Griffin William Sherry. It was super difficult to get anyone on the phone, but I finally did, and was told that Griffin would be among the musicians playing at the Friday night show at the Academy of Music, which was also going to be a tribute to Willie Nelson! How exciting! So I hung up the phone, bought tickets, booked a room at Hotel Northampton, and then drove down from Maine on a Friday after work. It was a beautiful venue, and a marvelous show, performed by a who's who of western Mass musicians. The only downside was that Griffin William Sherry did *not* play in the Willie Nelson tribute. His show was at The Parlor Room, at the same time as the Willie Nelson Tribute, so we missed it. Very disappointing *and* although I wish the person I spoke to on the phone gave accurate information, we saw a pretty amazing show at a lovely venue, so four stars.

I loved the historical and classic vibe of the Theatre. The upper section gave me a bit of vertigo…read morebut it's a pretty common set up. It was big but still felt intimate. Great location - so many awesome bars and restaurants in the area (shout out to Packards and The Tunnel Bar). Parking was easy to find (and free since it was Sunday!). Minus one star because the traffic flow wasn't super well organized - you have to wait in line for drinks where people are shuffling around to find their seat section. It also did not feel accessible for those with mobility issues. Not sure if they have an elevator (didn't see signage) but the basement was a bit of a haul down the stairs (especially coming from the upper level).

As someone who has loved and cherished Emily Dickinson's poetry my entire life, I hate to leave…read moresuch a bad review, but it was my honest experience. So, they strongly recommend you order your tickets online to make sure there is enough availability, so I did. However, when we got to the museum, they said something along the lines of our tickets being invalid for some reason. We were a party of elderly and disabled people so if something went wrong on their online system or the ticket order wasn't processed correctly we should not be punished. They refused to let us in, but at least we could walk around the grounds for free, and they were truly very lovely; unfortunately, the people who run the museum are not.

I want to kick this review off with a fact nugget- I knew NOTHING about Emily Dickinson (except…read morethat she was a poet) before I planned my trip the prior week to visiting the museum. This was a learning experience. It was Mother's Day weekend and also the museums 41st annual poetry walk to celebrate the anniversary of Emily's death. This is really what caught my eye- I love special events. So here are two review in one: Poetry walk Review: You report to the home, pick up a pamphlet that identifies the poem that will be read at each stop along the way along with a map of the stops and your daisies (her favorite flower.) Note: you are asked to pre-register online for the event (I mean they need to know how many pamphlets and daisies!) Off you go! We knew we were going to make it for maybe one stop and the cometary (last stop) due to an early morning tee ball game I wasn't going to miss. So that's what happened, we were able to stop at one poetry stop right outside the cemetery where they read two poems aloud and people were able to ask questions. The final stop is visiting Emily at her family plot in the West Cemetery (take a look at that mural on your left as you start waling into the cemetery with Emily in the center.) As we neared her tombstone, they were passing out cups of lemonade for a noon toast to Emily. They told some facts about the cemetery, a song was song that was inspired by Emily's writing and then one of her poems was read. We then raised our glasses and cheers to the woman herself. After the toast, everyone took their daisies and gently placed them on or around her headstone or the gate to the family's plot. It was nice to walk back through town as we grabbed lunch and then scooted back to the house for our 2pm pre-purchased entry into the house. Very nice event. The House Review: First off- no parking on site. Based on my experience- I would suggest not visiting the house during the week when college is in session! Around the house most parking spots are permit parking only for the college. With the event happening as well, it was hard to find parking. The Dickinson house has bene restored to Emily's writing hay day. As much as we did not have a guided tour (those happen in the morning) there were people stationed in each room who were a wealth of information. I had a lot of questions and they were not stumped and answered beautifully. I learnt a lot from all these fine folks who were just so interested in her, the family and the historical aspects. Thank you! (I really asked a lot of questions.) Austin's house, The Evergreen House, next door is preserved. Very different from Emily's. One has frozen in time and one has been reinvigorated to present the time. Walking through Austin's home was quite interesting as well. Their art is very interesting. I do enjoy how the museum opted to treat each house differently. I have mixed feelings after my trip about Emily and her poems especially the heavy editing but none the less very impressed with the museum and the people working there- vast amounts of knowledge that they were easily willing to share.

Great local theater group. Thoughtful productions, quality sets, skilled actors and a wonderful…read morevenue! There is street parking right on Green Street, as well as a lot diagonally across from the Mendenhall Center. The front door of the Mendenhall Center is on Green Street and opens into a comfortable lobby with seating, some tables, and a handful of vending machines along the back left wall. Restrooms are through the door to the right of the vending machines. Just in front of the vending machines is a cool spiral staircase (hard to tell that's what it is until you're right up on it, that's why I'm mentioning it!) that leads to the second floor where the New Century Theatre box office and theatre entrance is located. There is not a bad seat in the house, but I will caution you that shoulder room can be a bit tight so either surround yourself with friends or get ready to meet your neighbors :) Oh, and the theater is VERY air conditioned so you may want to bring something with sleeves even if it's sweltering outside.

As an undergrad at UMass we used to come to this auditorium to see shows ranging from a capella…read moregroups to live music from famous artists such as the Portuguese singer Mariza. Most recently we are attending the Celtic Nutcracker. The auditorium in Stockbridge Hall is a bit warn down and outdated, but the seats are fairly comfortable and you have a decent view of the stage from any of the seats. The staff here had always been polite and in our many visits we have enjoyed the performances here. Parking at times can be a bit tricky on UMass' campus, but their is a fairly large parking lot behind the hall which is fairly empty at night or during the weekends. The best time to see a show here is during the campus' vacation because parking and traffic is a breeze. The only real critique I have is that the bathrooms are a bit outdated, but if you have the chance to see a show here I would take the opportunity.

I am honored to be the first to give this 5-star establishment a review. According to the owner,…read moreit's been around for a couple of years so I'm surprised that it hasn't had a review yet. I think it might be because the location of it is not easy to find. It's behind a small shopping strip. Even the directions that Yelp has on here is confusing when you put it on the GPS it'll take you to the strip but then you have to make sure to drive around the back. I've been doing pottery for close to a year back home, but when I came to visit family, they expressed a desire to do something pottery related and so I came on here to Yelp and found out about Ceramic Studio. It's a small place. Immediately when you walk in, you'll see loads of ceramics that are available for glazing/painting. It ranges from as cheap as $5. What I like most about this place is that the price you see on the ceramic piece is the final price (not including of course tax and if you use credit card you'll be charged $2) I've been to other ceramic painting places and if you use glazes like the jungle gems, that's extra or you'll get an extra firing fee. They don't do that here, and I appreciate that. There's two rooms. One where walk-ins can come and paint, and another for if you book a party. When I was there, I felt like I was at a family members house. It's hard to describe. It's just really laid back and comfortable. They use a white bodied clay, and the glazes you can choose from are Mayco brand. I use Mayco when I do my pottery pieces and it's a good brand. I like that they have a chart with sample pieces of what they can come out looking like after firing. When you're new to glazing, a lot of times you don't realize that the paint color you use comes out looking totally different after firing, and they do a good job of letting you know what you can expect. You can see our before and after pics that I posted on here to get an idea. Overall, this spot is very affordable, felt right at home and if I lived in this area I'd probably be there all the time.

Had a great time. Plenty of options to choose from at very reasonable prices. Owners were great…read moreand extremely helpful.

Love this venue. Went to see Edgar Allen Poe Speakeasy Chapter II. Just as wonderful as Chapter…read moreI. 52 Sumner is wonderfully appointed and relatively new entertainment venue in the Springfield area. Convenient parking onsite and immediately across the street.

saw a great artist tonight, however, the seats have NO numbers, the room needs time alignment for…read morethe audio, was disappointed overall. wont be going back to 52