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Date: 10/18/2022
AMHERST – The Amherst Historical Society (AHS) will host its seventh annual Ski and Winter Gear Market sale on Oct. 29. Shoppers may enjoy the outdoor marketplace and purchase new, top of the line snow sport equipment and apparel. The event is AHS’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
Event organizer and AHS volunteer Bonnie MacCracken explained that the merchandise is donated by a local family business that is in its “second or third generation” of supplying the market, as the sale was hosted by other community groups prior to the AHS.
“The whole front lawn turns into a ski market, with downhill, cross-country, snowboards, snowshoes, outdoor clothing, helmets … everything is somewhat at a discounted price … we are not selling used equipment,” MacCracken said. “This is first-use, good quality equipment, and we are not trying to just ‘get rid of it.’”
She added that this year visitors will be able to purchase coupons for ski tune-ups to be performed at a West Springfield ski shop for a discounted price of $35.99. Cash, credit and debit will be accepted, but no consignment will be offered.
2022 marks the third anniversary of the event being hosted on the lawn of the Amherst History Museum at 67 Amity St., a departure from its previous iteration at the Masonic Center. The Historical Society was founded in 1899, and the museum is currently located in the Simeon Strong House, a converted dwelling which dates back to 1756, according to AHS Board of Directors President Gigi Barnhill. She said that the house will be open for visitors to tour on the day of the sale “upon request.”
The museum, which closes over the winter, is split between its gallery section and its house section. The gallery currently displays a photo series documenting the history of the black and Afro-Indigenous families that have lived in Amherst for hundreds of years. The exhibit is curated by Ancestral Bridges and opened on Juneteenth as part of the Ancestral Bridges Juneteenth Heritage Walking Tour.
The house section of the museum features multiple exhibits. The largest is an ode to Mabel Loomis Todd, a founder of the AHS and an integral part of Amherst culture, who was perhaps best known for editing the poetry of her sister-in-law Emily Dickinson. Also on display is the original scale used as the official weights and measures tool for the town of Amherst in the early 20th century, and a bedroom that was mandated to be left untouched when the AHS acquired the Strong House, also in the early 20th century, giving insight into the lives of Amherst residents of the past.
Barnhill said that the AHS’s mission is to “bring the history of the town to the public, and to engage people in their community.” She expressed a consensus among the board to make the AHS and the museum more inclusive.
“We’re going to start reaching out to various ethnic communities and help them reveal their history within Amherst; for example, the Cambodian community has been active here for a very long time,” Barnhill said. “This exhibition organized by Ancestral Bridges focusses on the black community from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century. This is a really good example of what we can do … And it may well be that at some point we change our name…the phrase ‘historical society’ has an elitist tone to it, I think. We might change ourselves to ‘The Amherst Museum,’ simply.”
She added that the AHS plans to start incorporating more items and exhibits from the 20th century into its collection of “several thousand artifacts.” Their focus had previously been solely the 18th and 19th centuries of the town; however, the 20th century is just as relevant to the town’s history, in Barnhill’s opinion.
In addition to the museum, the AHS also organizes 12 lectures a year. Lectures are currently hosted in the Woodbury room of the Jones Library and are free for all to attend. Barnhill and MacCracken described a wide array of lecture themes, ranging from a pie contest inspired by a visit from author Rob Cox all the way to a collaborative event with Sunrise Amherst teaching skills for managing grief. The AHS hosts its annual meeting with an address from an expert historical speaker. Summer concerts take place in the museum’s garden, with four last summer alone. Barnhill said the concerts are “very well-attended, and just a delight on a summer afternoon.”
MacCracken explained the significance of the sale.
“People often ask me, ‘Why a ski sale for the historical society?’ I tell them that yes, it’s a great fundraiser, but that [skiing] was a form of transportation in the 1800’s. We all had skis, we all had snowshoes, we all had sleds, so it’s part of our history,” MacCracken said.
Thus, the AHS will be living up to its mission by engaging with the community and fostering a space for the community to engage with itself and its own history by offering ski equipment with a historical twist, hopefully piquing interest in visitors to prompt them to explore the Museum and becoming more active in the AHS.
Barnhill also expressed the AHS’s need for volunteers.
“Right now, we only have open hours on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m … we only have a handful [of volunteers] … if we had more, we could be open more,” she said.
She encouraged interested members of the public to attend AHS programming, join the email newsletter, to donate financially and to donate their time volunteering at the Strong House, educating future generations about Amherst’s past.
The Ski and Winter Gear sale will be hosted on Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. under the tent at 67 Amity Street. The event runs rain or shine, and visitors of the nearby farmers market are encouraged to stop by as well.