GREENFIELD — A new, interactive business directory has found a home where Court Square meets Main Street.

The kiosk integrates with the city’s visitgreenfieldma.com website, a digital database dedicated to commerce and culture. Visit Greenfield features several intuitive features, such as informational displays of local businesses and a detailed calendar that is continuously updated with the latest events.

“This kiosk builds on the success of the visitgreenfieldma.com website that the city launched last summer,” Community and Economic Development Grant Assistant Christian LaPlante said in a statement. “It provides visitors to downtown with a new way to discover our local businesses and will be an important tool as we implement our recently completed downtown revitalization plan.”

Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, too, said the new kiosk fits with the broader downtown revitalization plan and her vision for the city moving forward. She added that the Court Square redesign plan, which was completed in 2017, included a recommendation for an informational kiosk.

“I’m excited about it,” Wedegartner said. “It took a while to get here.

“Some things get done in small bites and some get done in big bites,” she added.

Wedegartner noted she was especially excited that the kiosk was paid for using a $47,500 Regional Economic Development Organization grant from the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts.

Greenfield’s Community and Economic Development Department spearheaded the project, using the grant funding to purchase a kiosk and perform additional electrical work on the common. Some financing from a Massachusetts Department of Transportation Shared Streets and Spaces Grant also helped upgrade the electrical supply on the Greenfield Common.

In April, Court Square was closed to vehicular traffic for the summer to open its use to daily and weekly events and activities, as well as provide a location for a selection of food trucks. The pilot reconfiguration project was first implemented in 2021. Court Square remained closed that year from June until November, at which point city officials reviewed the community feedback they had received.

“We will be taking another look at Court Square sometime during the summer to try to determine what the next steps will be for Court Square and the common,” Wedegartner said, noting this means reviewing the different configuration patterns that were included in the 2017 plans. “The good news is we already have a kiosk. The question remains, does it stay right there or [should it be placed elsewhere]?”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

]]>