The Lenox Chamber of Commerce opened a Visitors Center on Thursday for residents and visitors alike. The goal is to draw attention to outdoor recreation, business and cultural attractions in the Western Massachusetts town.
Organizers say the more than $25,000 renovation project — and the four months it took to move the Lenox Chamber of Commerce into the town’s former soda pop shop on Housatonic Street — were worthwhile.
The chamber’s headquarters had been bouncing around town for decades, and now it has a permanent home.
At a ribbon cutting ceremony, Chamber President Rob Murray says the interactive visitor center will help residents and people just stopping through find their favorite spots in Lenox.
“What this visitors center is about is also engagement, a chance for us to engage more with our visitors. It's also about strategy balancing tourism with attracting people here. That's our ‘Why Lenox’ campaign,” Murray says.
He says the center will showcase the town’s beauty, history and creativity.
Walking in through the front door, Chamber Director Kameron Spaulding points to the artwork by Lenox native Judy Bates that is featured everywhere. Sculptures by another local, Anthony DeVries, decorate nearly every window, and information pamphlets and packets are scattered from wall-to-wall.
“This first area is our outdoor recreation display. So this highlights all the great outdoor activities that you can do in the Berkshires, from hiking, to swimming, paddling, everything you can do – skiing in the winter. In this area, you can see this main map, but you can take away hiking trail maps and directions to all of those locations around the Berkshires,” Spaulding says.
There’s information about it all, from the Lenox Library, to the Lenox Historical Society, Shakespeare and Company and more.
“Right here in the middle is our brochure information area. So it’s actually half here now, because the Berkshires is a summer location,” Spaulding says.
Visitors can still get half-price tickets to certain shows through the Chamber.
“Our other exhibit is this ‘Why Lenox’ exhibit and we are going to have more about this in the next month. This is all about making the pitch of why Lenox isn’t just a great place to visit but a great place to live and work as well. So with that we have all of these photos – there are 30 of them. They show different parts of the Lenox experience. And each one on the back has information about what the photo relates to, so everything from employment, to all of the resources that we offer for businesses, from mentorship, vocation site finding, tax increment finding. And you can actually learn about that all here, and then we direct you to the website to learn more,” Spaulding says.
The visitors center is open seven days a week.
