Ten years ago, it seemed impossible that this comatose mill town could recover. Its unemployment rate was the highest in the state, and over two-thirds of its storefronts were empty. A land developer once even suggested that the town be flooded to create lakefront property.
However, North Adams experienced a whiplash turnaround, and today many of those once-abandoned storefronts are taken up with restaurants, galleries, and high-tech start-ups. The unlikely reason, to almost everyone's agreement, is an art museum. An abandoned industrial complex has been converted, despite early hoots of derision, into a center for the visual and performing arts. It is called the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and it has strikingly altered the socio-economic dynamic of North Adams.
The first Sunday of October is Fall Foliage Day, with a parade of fire engines, marching bands, and Clydesdales and balloons, hot dogs, and cotton candy on sale at sidewalk stands.
