Event Calendar
Upcoming Events from Bloom Local’s Partner Network
Kids Makers Market
Little Roots, Bombyx, Art Always, & High Five Books are excited to present a Winter Kids' Makers Market featuring kids as the makers, ranging from 6-18 years old!
Come purchase gifts for yourself, your friends, or family - for the holidays, birthdays, fun surprises, or just because. You'll find jewelry, soaps, note cards, art, candles, food and more.
Participants will be able to engage in arts and crafts by Art Always, with music by Little Roots students and teachers, and books by High Five Books. Spread the word! Hope to see you there! Interested in having your child participate?
Register at: bit.ly/kidsmakersmarket2024
Registration
This is a FREE event.
Click/tap button below for more information.
We Celebrate the Light: A community holiday celebration & storytime for families
Join beloved local authors Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple for this community interfaith holiday celebration. Families are invited to make light-inspired crafts provided by BOMBYX in-house congregations, Beit Ahavah, The Reform Synagogue of Greater Northampton, and Florence Congregational Church.
Jane and Heidi will read their new picture book WE CELEBRATE THE LIGHT, and Little Roots will provide musical accompaniment. A community fire will cap off the twinkly evening!
High Five Books will have all of Jane and Heidi's books for sale, and families are welcome to bring their own copies for signing.
Registration
This event is sliding scale, with a $10 suggested donation.
Click/tap button below for more information and to purchase tickets.
Katie the Catsitter Party! with Graphic Novelist Colleen AF Venable
Cat’s out of the bag: This November, High Five Books is hosting graphic novelist Colleen AF Venable for a KATIE THE CATSITTER party!
In celebration of the release of book no. 4 in the series, THE PURRFECT PLAN (out Oct. 8!), we’ll gather at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity here in Florence on Sunday, November 17, 3-4:30PM.
Colleen will discuss her creative process, demonstrate how to draw characters from her books, and answer questions about everyone’s favorite superhero sidekick series! There will be treats, of course.
Readers are welcome to bring their own book copies for signing, and we’ll have all her titles for purchase.
Registration
Tickets for this purr-fect afternoon are pay-what-you-will
Click/tap button below for more information and to get tickets to the event!
Documentary Screening: BANNED TOGETHER
Directed by local filmmaker and educator Kate Way, Banned Together follows the recent wave of book bans in the United States. The feature length documentary film follows the courageous efforts of three students from a small South Carolina community who take a stand when almost 100 books are abruptly removed from their school libraries. As the students rise to become national voices in the fight against censorship, the film captures the broader narrative of book banning and curriculum censorship across the United States.
Featuring interviews with best-selling authors whose works have been banned, including Juno Dawson, Jodi Picoult, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Ellen Hopkins, and Erica L. Sánchez, the film also includes insights from Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, constitutional scholars, educators, librarians, parents, and student activists from across the country.
The 90-min screening will be followed by a brief panel discussion. High Five Books will have banned books for sale.
Registration
Click/tap button below for more information and to get tickets to the event!
Kids Makers Market at BOMBYX
Young crafters, makers, cooks, and creatives are invited to vend their handmade wares on Saturday, May 18, 2024, 2-5pm, at BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity.
Little Roots, Bombyx, Art Always, & High Five Books are excited to present a Spring Kids' Makers Market. Featuring kids as the makers, ranging from 6-14 years old! Come purchase gifts for yourself, your friends, or family - for birthdays, fun surprises, or just because. You'll find jewelry, soaps, note cards, art, candles, food and more.
Alongside kid vendors will be local arts businesses: High Five Books, reading with families throughout the day and vending books and creative supplies. Art Always, selling ART TO GO kits and hosting a free Craft Bar where families can choose supplies to create with at home. Little Roots, offering a “Peaceful Percussion” Instrument Petting Zoo. Resilient Community Arts, hosting a tote bag-decorating table. Wake the Dead Donuts vending their hot, fresh mini donuts.
Shoppers are also encouraged to visit the second Yet Another Queer Pop-Up Market at the Florence Civic Center, just up Pine Street from BOMBYX, to round out a craft-tastic day for families and craft supporters.
Registration
Click/tap the link below for more information on this event.
Email BookbinderRose@gmail.com if your child would like to be a part of the makers market!
No RSVP required.
Doodles & Donuts with Cece Bell
Registration
Join High Five Books and award-winning author, illustrator and graphic novelist Cece Bell for an early evening family art and music extravaganza—with hot, fresh donuts!
The beloved creator of #1 New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor-winning El Deafo (now an animated show on Apple TV+) and many other books that young people adore (Sock Monkey; Chick and Brain; Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover) will lead artists and readers through the process of creating her latest all-ages alphabet book Animal Albums from A to Z, a hand-wrought, high-fidelity, hilariously tongue-in-cheek homage to the golden days of album cover art.
Cece will spin original tunes from Animal Albums, lead drawing demonstrations (and maybe a dance-a-thon!), discuss the new book and its connection to El Deafo, and answer all her fans’ questions.
Readers are welcome to bring their own book copies for signing; all titles will be also available for purchase. Wake the Dead Donuts will have fresh mini donuts and donut sundaes for sale.
Tickets are available via Bombyx.live on a sliding scale. No one will be turned away for lack of funds!
Bloomfest: A Springtime Gathering for Creative Minds
Join us for an afternoon of professional and creative networking curated by and for the local LGBTQIA+ and queer-allied community!
Come prepared to make new connections, get creative with The Color Collaborative, and enjoy a delicious taco bar from Crave Holyoke! Lower lighting and sound area and “ice-breaker” conversation tables will be available.
Sharona Color of The Color Collaborative will lead a community collage centering the idea, “Change is coming. What do we need to imagine?” inspired by the song “Change is Coming” by local Jewish Queer musician Molly Bajgot.
Bloomfest is hosted by Bloom Local with support from these Q/T-run and -allied orgs and small businesses:
Access Details
Accessible Parking & Entry Ramp
Lower lighting & sound area
Masks required when not consuming food & beverage
Registration
$0-$40 suggested sliding scale entry in advance & at door.
Contact hello@bloomlocal.live with any questions or access needs.
About the Artist
Sharona Color is an Easthampton, MA based artist and community activator. She uses mesmerizing colors to capture fleeting moments of awe from life. In her work, she seeks to bring people from vastly different life experiences together by playfully acknowledging the deep, sometimes hidden, inner thoughts and feelings that we all share. Sharona’s work ranges from small paintings to large-scale murals. All of her work begins with experimentation and play! From there, she lets color lead the way. She believes that all people are creative and she has a knack for guiding people and organizations towards finding their own creative voice, whether it be through creating murals or hands-on educational experiences. Sharona runs The Color Collaborative, a collective studio space in Easthampton.
LGBTQ+ & Allies Trivia Night with Ivy of Skye Trivia in the Pioneer Valley
In this special edition of trivia, Ivy will share a wide range of trivia questions about the LGBTQ+ community, their allies, and the J.S. Bryant School and team. You’re guaranteed to laugh, to enjoy the company of those around you, to be humbled, to celebrate, and to learn. The perfect way to spend your evening whether you bring your family, your partner, or someone from your chosen family. Join us as we find our way through the last of the cold and gray days of March into the Spring!
A suggested donation of $10 - $50 helps us to open our doors in 2025; everyone is welcome regardless of donation. RSVPs are required for this event.
Registration
Spring Equinox at BOMBYX
DEEPENING INTO SPIRIT AND THE ENERGIES OF THE SPRING EQUINOX THROUGH CREATION, COMMUNITY, AND RITUAL, WITH M RUDDER