Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra (center) came out in support of the groundbreaking for the new outdoor stage at Forbes Library.
Reminder Publishing photos by Trent Levakis
NORTHAMPTON — The groundbreaking for a new outdoor performance stage at Forbes Library took place on May 14 and the energy was high as library members and city officials joined for the ceremony.
“We are so excited. As you could sort of feel from the crowd, everyone’s just all smiles,” said Forbes Library Director Lisa Downing. “This has been a long time coming. We’ve been planning and dreaming about this for I would say over five years, so it’s really nice to see the ground actually being broken and this work being done.”
The stage will support a wide variety of programs including concerts, children’s programming and outdoor movies, extending the library’s long history of outdoor programming with this new resource.
H|AI Architecture, based in Northampton, designed the accessible, open air, covered stage for the library’s west lawn.
Downing told Reminder Publishing that with the Victorian aged library building, this new outdoor stage will help them have better outdoor infrastructure. For years, the library has had to run extension cords through the building to outdoor events with no outdoor outlets available.
The stage will also provide some coverage for outdoor weather and is being outfitted with lighting so events can run into the evening. The stage will eventually also be capable of hosting outdoor showings of movies. The space will also be able to be utilized by community groups.
“I think what’s really special about it is we have been in this building for over 130 years and there’s been no external changes really on a permanent basis, so this will be the first new addition that we have had ever,” Downing said.
The stage includes ramping to provide handicap access to the stage and viewing area. It will have electricity, lighting and a durable metal roof that will hold solar panels to power it. Campora Construction, based in Ludlow, will be building the $289,000 project.
Funding for the stage comes from American Rescue Plan Act funds distributed by the city of Northampton, a state earmark secured by state Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton), a gift from the Friends of Forbes Library and over $125,000 in donations. Additional funds are being raised to add audiovisual equipment and landscaping.
Downing said hopes are for the stage to be ready for use by September.
“It is so important that people have these opportunities to come together and explore. We really see it as an extension of our mission, which is to provide people access to information and to build community which I think from the very beginning, even before all this specific programming happened, the library was a place you could come get your questions answered, talk to people about various things and this just extends that to our programming,” Downing told Reminder Publishing of the project earlier this year. “It’s a beautiful spot. It’s right near downtown, it’s a good place inside and out, so I think this is just going to extend that opportunity for people to come down and spend time.”
