Special Events

Purple Run for a Cure Half-Marathon/5k

A 5k & 10K RUN, and NEW in 2019 a Half Marathon, along with a 1.1 mile Walk to benefit for Relay For Life!

Pedal in the Park

Pedal in The Park: Health and Wellness Festival
Buffet Brunch
Inclusive bike, trike, and handcycle rides
Resource Fair
Wellness demos
Silent Auction to benefit All Out Adventures

Speaker panel:
Dr. Josef Arnould of Strength for Life
Tom McCarthy, Director of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Universal Access Program
Stephanie Ovitt the Women’s Program and Wellness Director of Soldier On

FAQs:
What are my transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event?
The event will be at the Dow Pavilion in Look Park. Vehicles with disability placards and Veterans are admitted to the park at no charge. Otherwise there is a $9 entrance fee per vehicle.

Will the brunch include vegetarian or gluten free options?
Yes, we will include vegetarian and gluten free options. If you have other dietary needs or severe allergies please get in touch to be sure we can accommodate them.

Season Passholder Appreciation Weekend

A special thank you to our Season Passholders! Stop by the park on Saturday, May 11th and/or Sunday, May 12th and enjoy a day at the park with coupons to help make the day extra sweet. Grab your coupons at the ranger booth when you arrive at the park.

Don’t have a Season Pass yet? Stop by the park during Season Passholder weekend to get your pass and your coupons.

For more information call 413-584-5457.

Walk MS: Northampton 2019

Walk MS brings together a community of passionate people for one powerful cause: to end MS forever.

It is because of YOU and your involvement in Walk MS that people affected by multiple sclerosis have access to around-the-clock information, support and resources they need to live their best lives.

Team up for someone you love and register today for Walk MS. With every step you take, we are closer to ending MS forever.

If you have Walk MS questions, please contact the Fundraising Support Team at 1-855-372-1331 or FundraisingSupport@nmss.org.

Follow Walk MS on Facebook: www.facebook.com/walkMS

Join the Walk MS community by using #walkMS on social media!

What is MS video: https://ntlms.org/whatisMS

We Believe video: https://ntlms.org/WeBelieveFBE

Mother’s Day

Bring your mom to the park on Mother’s Day! All mom’s enjoy free mini golf and unlimited train rides for the day!

A performance by the Easthampton Music Conservatory

Join us in 2019 once a month at Look Park for Afternoon Tea! Each monthly tea will feature a different speaker or activity. Tickets are $10.00 per person and reservations are required. Teas will take place at the Garden House during the colder months. As the weather gets warmer, we will move outside. For questions or reservations, please call 413-584-5457. Click the image to the left to see our full list of teas!

A Performance by the Easthampton Music Coservatory

Located just off the Williston Northampton Campus in Easthampton, Massachusetts, the Easthampton Music Conservatory offers exciting private and group lessons to musicians of all ages and abilities.  Their teachers are the finest in the valley, and  value collaborative efforts to provide excellence in musicianship at all levels and in many styles.

Join us on May 15th at the Garden House to enjoy an hour long performance by the Easthampton Music Conservatory. Stay after to enjoy refreshments and mingle!

OH DEER!

Oh Deer! Spring is here and our animals are excited about the sunny and warm weather ahead. Come spend some time with our deer and other rescued animals at the zoo while you enjoy a refreshment or two on Thursday, May 16th from 5pm to 8pm.

We’ll have beer and wine for sale as well as snacks to enjoy.
Tickets are $10.00 per person. Please buy in advance if you can.

All proceeds from this event will benefit the Look Park Christenson Zoo.

For questions or to buy tickets please call: 413-584-5457.
Tickets also available at: https://lookparkma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29841

Western MA Walk to Defeat ALS

https://bit.ly/2SMNEzG <— Register Here!

Western MA Walk Contact:
Ashley Vellante
Ashley.Vellante@als-ma.org
781-255-8884

Your participation in the Walk to Defeat ALS has a direct impact on people living with ALS and their families at the local level. Fundraising through the Walk drives bold, urgent innovation as we march together toward a treatment and ultimately a cure for ALS.

Through education, support groups, access to care, and advocacy, we are working to defeat ALS and provide hope to people living with ALS and their families.

Use this page to connect with and share fun fundraising tips with other Team Captains and walkers!

More information: https://bit.ly/2SiJwSE

Bounce House Bonanza

Join us on Sunday, June 9th 11am to 5pm for a day of bouncing! We’ll have 15+ bounces including a bounce house and bar for adults! Dj Quintessential and DJ Suspence Live will be here to keep the party going all day as you play yard games and enjoy snacks from area food trucks!

Wristbands for unlimited bouncing: $15.00. Individual tickets: $1.00.
Vehicle parking fee does apply.

For more information visit: www.lookpark.org or call 413-584-5457.

Father’s Day

Bring your dad to the park on Father’s Day! All dad’s enjoy free mini golf and unlimited train rides for the day!

The Franklin King Summer Children’s Series

Join us on Tuesday’s this summer on June 25 at 10am for our Franklin King Children’s Series!

June 25: Ed Popielarczyk’s Magical Moments
July 2: Mister G
July 9: Alex The jester
July 16: Drumming About You with Bob Bloom
July 23: Showtime Steve
July 30: Bowey The Clown
August 6: Ed Popielarczyk’s Magical Moments

Tickets: $5 per person (2 & Under FREE)
Full Series Pass + Vehicle Entry for Children’s Series: $30.00

Call our office, 413-584-5457, if you are interested in purchasing a Franklin King Children’s Series Pass! For only $30 per person you can see all the acts in this year’s series AND receive free vehicle entry on day of Children Series events.

To buy tickets online visit: https://lookparkma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29841

*SOLD OUT* Norah Jones at Pines Theater

DSP Shows Presents:

Norah Jones
Saturday, June 29th, 2019
5pm Gates | 7pm Show
The Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park | Northampton, MA

Norah Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 Grammy Awards and signaling a paradigm shift away from the prevailing pop music of the time. Since then, Norah has sold 50 million albums worldwide and become a 9-time GRAMMY-winner. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), and Day Breaks (2016)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies and Puss N Boots. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Little Broken Hearts, produced by Danger Mouse, was a fascinating step in the artistic evolution of one of the music world’s most consistently intriguing singer-songwriters. With Day Breaks, Norah returned to her jazz roots while also proving her to be this era’s quintessential American artist, the purveyor of an unmistakably unique sound that weaves together the threads of several bedrock styles of American music: country, folk, rock, soul, jazz. Most recently, Jones has released a series of eclectic singles including collaborations with artists and friends such as Jeff Tweedy and Thomas Bartlett.

http://www.norahjones.com

Moe. and Blues Traveler: All Roads Runaround Tour

SiriusXM Jam_ON & DSP Shows Present:

Moe. and Blues Traveler
All Roads Runaround Tour
with special guest G. Love & Special Sauce

July 17th, 2019
5pm Doors | 5pm Show
Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park | Northampton, MA

Moe.
http://www.moe.org/

Moe. is the preeminent progressive rock band on the music scene today. With 20 years of touring and just as many albums under its belt, the quintet of Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey on guitars and vocals, Rob Derhak on bass and vocals, Jim Loughlin on percussion and vibes, and Vinnie Amico on Drums, continues to push the standard for performance art.

By all accounts, for this “legendary jam band,” as Rolling Stone magazine recently described them, it would be best to keep your eyes on this band and your ears tuned in to their music. Witness history in the making. This is welcome news for the moe. faithful and the band’s ever-expanding fan base. Yet — even better news for the world of rock and roll — moe. has finally come into their own.

Blues Traveler
http://www.bluestraveler.com/

30 years ago, the four original members of Blues Traveler, who had known each other since their early teens—John Popper, Chandler Kinchla, the late Bobby Sheehan and Brendan Hill—gathered in the basement of their drummer’s parents’ Princeton, NJ, home and the seeds were planted for a band who has released a total of 13 studio albums, four of which have gone gold, three platinum and one six-times platinum. Over the course of its illustrious career, Blues Traveler has sold more than 10 million combined units worldwide, played over 2,000 live shows in front of more than 30 million people, and, in “Run-Around,” had the longest-charting radio single in Billboard history, which earned them a Grammy® for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Their movie credits include Blues Brothers 2000, Kingpin, Wildflowers and others. A television favorite, they have been featured on Saturday Night Live, Austin City Limits, VH1’s Behind the Music and they hold the record for the most appearances of any artist on The Late Show with David Letterman.

G. Love & Special Sauce
http://philadelphonic.com/

Garrett “G. Love” Dutton is celebrating his 25th year as touring and recording artist. With over 15 records released, G. Love has been an influence to artists such as Jack White, Jack Johnson, The Avett Brothers, Slightly Stoopid and many more. With his signature blend of Delta Blues, Hip Hop, Funk, Rock and Roll and Jazz, G has literally created his own funky stew of American music. Expect a high-energy mashup of funky vibes and songs written from the front porch to get the world smiling and dancing to the positive message of Love and the Blues.

Dinosaur Jr. and Kurt Vile & the Violators

DSP Shows Presents:

Dinosaur Jr + Kurt Vile and the Violators
July 28, 2019
5pm Doors | 6:30pm Show
Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park | Northampton, MA

Dinosaur Jr
https://www.dinosaurjr.com/

Let’s face facts — in 2016 it is remarkable that there’s a new Dinosaur Jr. album to go ape over. After all, the original line-up of the band (J Mascis, Lou Barlow & Murph) only recorded three full albums during their initial run in the 1980s. Everyone was gob-smacked when they reunited in 2005. Even more so when they opted to stay together, as they have for 11 years now. And with the release of Give a Glimpse, this trio has released more albums in the 21st Century than they did in the 20th. It’s enough to make a man take a long, thoughtful slug of maple-flavored bourbon and count some lucky stars.

Last year, 2015, saw the amazing live shows Dinosaur Jr. played to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their eponymous debut LP. There were too damn many guest stars poking their noses into songs and amps for some of us, but the shebang was upful enough, and the songs they were celebrating are amazing enough, that it was tough to gripe. But essentially that was a nostalgia fest — a very fine nostalgia fest — but it’s the future that beckons the living. So you have to be pretty damn chuffed that the band has managed to pull another magnificent rabbit out of their collective hat.

The songs on Give a Glimpse were recorded over the past year or so, again at Amherst’s Bisquiteen Studio. The sound is great and roaring with J’s various bleeding-ear psychedelic guitar touches oozing their way into the smudge-pop modeling, while Murph’s drums pound like Fred Flintstone’s feet, and Lou’s bass weaves back and forth between proggy melodicism and post-core thug-hunch.

Of the 11 songs presented, nine are J’s. Mascis has had so many projects going at various times — from the retro glam of Sweet Apple to the metal dunt of Witch to the ostrich-rock overload of Heavy Blanket — it’s always a little shocking he can compartmentalize well enough to keep his tunes with Dinosaur Jr. sounding so instantly recognizable. Which is not to say they’re interchangeable, it’s just that he has a very idiosyncratic way of structurally assembling and presenting the songs. Even when they’re not being played in concert (with amps turned to 12, and vibrating ’til they glow red).the way he hits his guitar strings has a unique quality that immediately lets you know you’re listening to Dino. It’s a very cool trick, and something only a small percentage of guitarists ever manage.

The other two songs here were written and sung by Lou, and they’re quite great as well. Although Barlow’s template and palette are more mercurial and shifting (as they are with his other ongoing projects, like Sebadoh), the two here have a consonant resonance. Both songs carry the same vibe as Roger McGuinn’s great early sides with the Byrds (although this has to do more with spirit than specific notes), reminding us that albums like Fifth Dimension and Notorious Byrd Brothers were among the main models for East Coast bands like the Soft White Underbelly. “Love Is…” and “Left/Right” represent the same kind of style displacement.

Mascis’ songs offer a lot of formal style moves as well. Over the last three decades, J’s songwriting has continued to pursue confusion, isolation and mis-communication as its main themes (which is one of the reasons he’s always been the artist-of-choice for so many misfits), but he has really worked on the craft of songwriting, and he’s constantly improving his ability to convey these feelings rather than merely inhabit them. “Lost All Day” might be the most eloquently sad of the songs on Give a Glimpse, but my favorite is probably “Mirror,” which comes off like the best song Blue Oyter Cult didn’t record for Agents of Fortune. The opening (and repeating) line, “I’ve been crawling around since I met you,” branded itself onto my brain the instant I heard it. But then, “Goin’ Down” (not the Freddie King tune) is a stone classic as well. And “Tiny” has the prettiest pop architecture. “Be A Part” continually makes me flash on the first time I heard “Cowgirl in the Sand.” “I Told Everyone” is almost like a Bowie tribute when you hear it from another room. “Good to Know” has the record’s most insane guitar solo. “I Walk for Miles” contains the most thuggish riffs. “Knocked Around” features the most elegant use of falsetto. And the whole damn thing is great.

With all the insanity that is stalking the Earth in 2016, it’s nice to have something to rely on. Who’d’ve dared to think it’d be Dinosaur Jr.?

Kurt Vile and the Violators
http://www.kurtvile.com/

Travel can inspire in surprising ways: Kurt Vile discovered as much making his first record in three years, the eclectic and electrifying Bottle It In, which he recorded at various studios around the country over two very busy years, during sessions that usually punctuated the ends of long tours or family road trips. Every song, whether it’s a concise and catchy pop composition or a sprawling guitar epic, becomes a journey unto itself, taking unexpected detours, circuitous melodic avenues, or open-highway solos. If Vile has become something of a rock guitar god—a mantle he would dismiss out of humility but also out of a desire to keep getting better, to continue absorbing new music, new sounds, new ideas—it’s due to his precise, witty playing style, which turns every riff and rhythm into points on a map and takes the scenic route from one to the next.

Using past albums as points of departure, Bottle It In heads off in new directions, pushing at the edges of the map into unexplored territory: Here be monster jams. These songs show an artist who is still evolving and growing: a songwriter who, like his hero John Prine, can make you laugh and break your heart, often in the same line, as well as a vocalist who essentially rewrites those songs whenever he sings them in his wise, laconic jive-talkin’ drawl. He revels in the minutiae of the music—not simply incorporating new instruments but emphasizing how they interact with his guitar and voice, how the glockenspiel evokes cirrocumulus clouds on “Hysteria,” how Kim Gordon’s “acoustic guitar distortion” (her term) engulfs everything at the end of “Mutinies,” how the banjo curls around his guitar lines and backing vocals from Lucius to lend a high-lonesome aura to “Come Again.”

These journeys took Vile more than two years to navigate, during which time he toured behind his breakout 2015 album b’lieve I’m goin’ down, recorded a duets album with Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist Courtney Barnett, opened for Neil Young in front of 90,000 people in Quebec, famously became a clue on Jeopardy, hung out with friends, took vacations with his wife and daughters. “I’ve been bouncing around a lot and recording all over. My family would meet me in the middle of America, and we’d go on a road trip somewhere. I would record in between all that stuff.”

Let’s start in Philadelphia, Vile’s hometown and a perennial inspiration. The first song recorded for Bottle It In became the album’s opener: A quintessential Violators tune featuring longtime band members Jesse Trbovich, Rob Laakso and Kyle Spence, “Loading Zones” is a paean to the City of Brotherly Love as well as an explication of his peculiar parking strategy. “I park for free!” he and the Violators all proclaim, proudly and defiantly, as he moves his car from one loading zone to another, always avoiding meter fare and parking tickets. The song dates back to the b’lieve sessions, but it took Vile a while to figure out how to put the song across. “It ended up feeling too weird for the last record, and I’m glad I waited because it had to grow into a guitar jam. I don’t think I was ready for the swagger it took to deliver such a ridiculous concept. It’s about owning your own town. It’s about knowing a place like the back of your hand.” And if that curious guitar tone—the one that sounds like a distorted voice, sounds familiar, it’s because Vile used the same kind of pedal that his friends/idols Sonic Youth used on 1995’s “The Diamond Sea,” which at 27 minutes is roughly the amount of time Vile can leave his car in one Philly loading zone. Coincidence?

From there Vile headed west. In April 2017, he trekked out to Indio, California, to catch the Stagecoach Festival and sit in with his friends the Sadies (“my favorite modern band”). Inspired by Willie Nelson’s epic set, Vile spent a few days in Los Angeles working with producer Rob Schnapf at his Mant Sounds studio. “He does these really cool pop things, weird versions of pop songs,” says Vile of Schnapf, who has produced albums for Beck, Elliott Smith, and Guided by Voices, among many others. The two had previously worked together on “Pretty Pimpin,” the leadoff track on b’lieve that became a number-one AAA radio hit. Their second collaboration was similarly inspired: Featuring backing vocals from Cass McCombs, the eleven-minute title track is full of ominous bass rumbles, hazy-steady drumbeats from Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, delicate harp stabs from Mary Lattimore, and what sounds like chewy distortion leaking out of a David Lynch flick. “I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. I didn’t know ‘Bottle It In’ was going to be that long. It’s sort of like living something rather than having it all planned out. You have to go out there for the experience and the inspiration.”

Months later, when a lengthy Violators tour ended in Salt Lake City, Vile let the momentum carry him further west, where he recorded several more songs with engineer/producer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, the War on Drugs) at The Beer Hole in Los Angeles. Another epic came out of that meeting, the loping “Bassackwards,” the album’s beating heart and Vile’s most compelling evocation of how he sees the world. “I was on the ground circa Planet Earth, but out of sorts,” he sings over a gently psychedelic bed of backmasked guitars. “But I snapped back, baby, just in time to jot it down.” Other songs were put to tape during sojourns to Portland, Oregon, and to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where fellow Violator Rob Laakso co-produced. The bulk of Bottle It In was bottled up at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Peter Katis (Interpol, the National) engineering and producing. Bottle It In captures the spontaneity of these impromptu sessions, revealing Vile as a diligent and singularly determined musician.

These recordings are the destinations, but the journeys were just as important, whether they gave him time with his wife and kids or an opportunity to get some writing done. “For a while I was terrified of flying, so I would be listening to whatever country songs I was obsessed with. I’d have George Jones blasting in my ears. Or, I would be reading something about country music. Or, I would start writing songs in that flash of being afraid, being swallowed by life. I’m up there on a plane drinking wine because like everybody else I’m afraid to die. And I wrote ‘Hysteria’ up there.” That new song, with its woozy guitar fanfare, captures mid-flight queasiness well, as Vile daydreams about escaping the flight: “Stop this plane ‘cause I wanna get off,” he sings. “Pull over somewhere on the side of a cloud.”

Bottle It In is about place only insofar as it is about the people in those places: friends and family, bandmates and music heroes, colleagues and collaborators. There’s a lot of love in these big-hearted songs, a lot of warmth toward everyone in Vile’s orbit and even toward those whose paths he’s yet to cross. “Loved you all a long, long while,” he sings on “One-Trick Ponies.” “Looked down into a deep dark well, called all of your names.” The jangly country-rock tune serves as a valentine to… he won’t say, but he and Mozgawa and Farmer Dave Scher deliver a beautifully sympathetic sing-along chorus that invites every one of us one-trick ponies to join in.

As Vile prepares for another round of lengthy tours and countless shows, these songs should prove good company, reminders of the love and responsibility he has toward those he leaves at home and those he meets along the way. That makes the sentiments resonate more strongly and lends Bottle It In an emotional weight. “It’s like that moment on the airplane,” Vile says, “when you’re on your way somewhere and you have that burst of panic. When you’re terrified of dying, that’s when you want people to know you love them.”

An Evening with Lyle Lovett and his Large Band at Pines Theater at Look Park

DSP Shows Presents:

An Evening with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Friday, August 2nd, 2019
5pm Gates | 7pm Show
Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park | Northampton, MA

A singer, composer and actor, Lyle Lovett has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums. Coupled with his gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of country, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a convention-defying manner that breaks down barriers.

Whether touring as a ‘Duo’ or with his ‘Acoustic Group’ or his ‘Large Band’, Lovett’s live performances show not only the breadth of this Texas legend’s deep talents, but also the diversity of his influences, making him one of the most compelling and captivating musicians in popular music.

Since his self-titled debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has evolved into one of music’s most vibrant and iconic performers. Among his many accolades, besides the four Grammy Awards, he was given the Americana Music Association’s inaugural Trailblazer Award, and was named Texas State Musician.

His works, rich and eclectic, are some of the most beloved of any artist working today.

https://www.lylelovett.com/

John Butler Trio+ with Trevor Hall at The Pines Theater

DSP Shows Presents:

John Butler Trio+ with special guest Trevor Hall
Saturday, August 3rd, 2019
5pm Gates | 6:30pm Show
The Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park | Northampton, MA

John Butler Trio+
http://johnbutlertrio.com/

Trevor Hall
http://www.trevorhallmusic.com/

Look Park Food Truck Festival

We had a great time at the 2018 Food Truck Festival, even if it was a bit rainy! We hope you’ll join us again in 2019! Stay tuned for more info!