And MASS MoCA - which resides in the converted factory complex that Sprague so abruptly vacated - wants to capitalize on this new era of simmering start-ups by attracting more retail tenants, and foot traffic, to the museum’s front courtyard and surrounding buildings.Įnter Eric Kerns and Orion Howard, the co-founders of Bright Ideas. There is more robust discussion lately of forming maker spaces and supporting local artisans and small businesses. Old factory spaces are becoming low-cost lofts for artists. After Sprague downsized and moved out of town in the mid ’80s and the early ’90s, times have been tough here. And, of course, MASS MoCA’s 17-year run in this city has boosted and transformed tourism and residential life.īut there’s nothing downtown quite like Bright Ideas, and in North Adams - the least populous city in Massachusetts, with just 14,000 residents - each new swell of economic activity is something special.įor decades, Sprague Electric Company was the city’s largest employer. North Adams is not without its leisure-hour gathering places like this - Public Eat + Drink serves craft cocktails and hosts live music, while pubs and diners like The Hub turn out some great lunches. On the Saturday I stopped by in early May (about a month before the official grand opening), the place was busy with a few dozen visitors chatting, eating food cart lunches and sampling flights of craft ale. If the entryway to Bright Ideas seems dwarfed by the echoing factory setting, the taproom inside paints a different picture: big windows, warm light, a long wooden bar top, and eye-catching walls in primary colors. The small but ambitious operation is a new tenant of MASS MoCA, which means that finding the front door to the brewery involves some poking around in the art museum’s front courtyard.Īfter a minute or two, you spot it: The bright orange, all-caps lettering jumps out from the window above a set of glass doors in an enormous brick exterior. New breweries tend to pop up in unlikely industrial spaces, and Bright Ideas Brewing in North Adams is no different.
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