The creation of the Cottage Street Cultural District will be celebrated Friday on Cottage Street in Easthampton at 4 p.m.
Mt. Tom's Ice Cream is one of the more than 20 businesses in the new Easthampton Cottage Street Cultural District. EASTHAMPTON - The city will celebrate the official launch of the Cottage Street Cultural District Friday with ceremonies in the Cottage Street Parking Lot .
The Massachusetts Cultural Council designated the street as a Cultural District in March and council Executive Director Anita Walker is expected to participate in the celebration along with Mayor Michael A. Tautznik and others from the community.
The celebration begins at 4 p.m.
Luthiers Co-op will provide music; Christine’s Bean Sprout Cafe will sell a “Culture” yogurt smoothie and White Square Books will feature historical Easthampton maps, according to a release announcing the celebration.
Easthampton City Arts+, which applied for and received the designation, has created a web page that lists more than 20 businesses and galleries along Cottage Street included in the district.
Initially, the district proposal had included Cottage, Union and Main streets and a portion of Payson Avenue but the area was not deemed walkable enough to conform to the cultural council guidelines.
“It has to feel like a cultural district,” Burns Maxey, the arts coordinator had said.
The walkability factor of the district is a key component and the previous district was not linked in that way.
The cultural districts initiative grew out of an economic stimulus bill passed by the Massachusetts Legislature in 2010.
The cost to the city is about $200 for signs to mark it.
Besides Luthier’s, Christine’s and White Square, other businesses in the district include Platterpus, Too; Popcorn Noir, Nini’s Ristorante, the Brass Cat and Nash Gallery.
“I'm very excited for the city,” Tautznik said.
“We have been very focused in our efforts and to have earned this designation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council is as a real testimonial, that others see what we have as unique and deserving of recognition,” he wrote in an email.
“It is a very attractive business district,” he said with a variety of shops and restaurants.
“Those familiar with the history of the Cottage Street area can really appreciate how the street has changed over the past twenty years.
“What was then the home of rough and tumble bars and a seedy movie house is now a pleasurable stop for the whole family.”
He was referring to the Majestic Theater, which had shown adult movies until it closed in 1986.