Building Up Belchertown 2025 Cohort Announcement & Celebration, October 9 from 3:30-5:30pm at Arcpoint

October 3, 2025

Belchertown, MA -  The Town of Belchertown and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce the Building Up Belchertown 2025 Cohort Members and celebration event. Together, we have forged a partnership to support local small businesses through the Building Up Belchertown program. The Building Up Belchertown 2025 Cohort businesses receive one year of Chamber membership at no cost—jointly underwritten by the Town of Belchertown and Amherst Area Chamber—gaining access to valuable resources, networking events, and promotional opportunities. 

We are pleased to announce the Building Up Belchertown 2025 Cohort Members, and celebrate the cohort and growing Chamber membership among Belchertown businesses. Please join us in congratulating the Building Up Belchertown 2025 Cohort at our upcoming celebration on Thursday, October 9 from 3:30-5:30 pm at Arcpoint Brewing Co, 30 Front Street, Belchertown, MA. A full description of each of the 10 new Belchertown members follows.

 

1. 1. Arcpoint Brewing Co. is a veteran-owned micro-brewery and taproom where drinks are brewed with tenacity and poured with purpose.

• Belchertown Veterinary Hospital is a full service hospital that performs wellness visits, same-day sick pet appointments, surgeries, and more for cats, dogs, and all exotic animals.

• Clay Mates is a paint-your-own pottery and ceramics studio where both kids and adults can explore the shelves, select projects to paint, and unleash their creativity to design a unique masterpiece.

• Cold Spring Investments serves families and businesses as their fiduciary long-term planner, providing a comprehensive approach to wealth planning, risk management, tax efficiency, and estate planning.

• Devon Lane Farm Supply offers 60 years of experience in the farm and outdoor equipment industry and carries a full offering of equipment from brands that customers trust.

• Freetide Creative helps business owners grow and elevate their branding through social media management, content creation, and photography.

• Grace Aesthetics And Wellness is committed to fostering a sense of well-being and rejuvenation by providing cutting-edge aesthetic treatments and nurturing wellness services that enhance both inner and outer beauty. 

• Innovate Culture Lab, LLC helps create workplace cultures that are inspiring, aligned, and built to last through culture design, communications strategy, and change management expertise.

• Shattuck’s Sugarhouse is a small family operated sugarhouse located in a quiet wooded area next to Jabish Brook offering maple products year-round, including maple syrup, maple cream and maple candy.

• Soundscape Merchandise is a family owned and operated print shop that provides screen printing and embroidery services, as well as promotional products, to a wide range of clientele both locally and across the country.

 

Building Up Belchertown 2025 members get strong support for their small businesses and access to marketing opportunities through the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. These programs help grow the local economy, build connections between business owners, and make Belchertown’s business community stronger. In 2021, the town created the Belchertown Local Rapid Recovery Plan to focus on growing the economy using local strengths. One key idea in the plan was to use federal recovery money to help small businesses join groups like the Amherst Area Chamber.

“The Town of Belchertown is leaning into the relationships between residents to build a network of small businesses that can both receive Amherst Area Chamber member benefits, and also collectively represent Belchertown within the Chamber, a regional body,” shared Steve Williams, Town Manager. “Our partnership with the Amherst Area Chamber embodies our strategy for expanding local resources and visibility through modest investments in high-impact support programs to serve local businesses in coordination with like-minded entities. We aim to grow these offerings and our partnership with the Chamber, proved through on-going joint activities towards sustainable economic growth and development.” The Amherst Area Chamber has been an important partner to the Town of Belchertown in realizing economic development goals, both through the Building Up Belchertown program and other small business engagement programs.

 

"The Building Up Belchertown program shows the power of partnership in action," said Jacob Robinson, Executive Director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. "By working together with the Town of Belchertown to introduce ten new local businesses to the Chamber, we’re strengthening local connections while also supporting economic growth and long-term vitality in Belchertown."

 

In 2023, the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Belchertown teamed up to help local businesses. Our goals were to give more attention to current and new Belchertown businesses, help local business owners connect with each other and others in the area, and offer more support to help businesses grow and attract new ones to town.

By the end of 2024, the Chamber and the Town made this partnership official. We’ve expanded from simply promoting events to launching a local business networking event and starting the Building Up Belchertown membership program.

Today, the Town and Chamber continue to support each other on economic projects, like creating a local brand, improving signs around town (wayfinding), and promoting tourism. Together we can ensure a thriving Belchertown that is sustainable and supportive to small businesses.