Florence Bank to Hold Dribble Parade in West Springfield to Celebrate the Opening of the New Hampden County Banking Center
Two hundred people to bounce basketballs from the Boys & Girls Club to the new center
WEST SPRINGFIELD—Led by a Basketball Hall of Famer, 200 people dribbling basketballs will march from the Boys & Girls Club of West Springfield to Union Street on Saturday, Oct. 14 as the West Springfield High School band plays Florence Bank’s “Always” song.
In an event aptly dubbed the Florence Bank Dribble Parade, bank and city leaders and area residents will celebrate the opening of the bank’s new Hampden County Banking Center at 1010 Union St.—the bank’s first branch in Hampden County. At the same time, it will also honor its partnerships with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Boys & Girls Club. A rain date is set for Oct. 15.
The parade and grand opening event will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, where Florence Bank President and CEO John Heaps Jr. will speak and present club leaders with a gift of $50 per participating dribbler, up to $10,000. The parade, led by a surprise Hall of Famer, will then step off into Main Street from the club at 12:30 p.m. and proceed down New Bridge Street to the banking center.
Up to 200 people will each dribble an Under Armour basketball, purchased locally at psi 91 in Springfield for the event, without stopping on the .6-mile parade route. Children interested in dribbling in the parade are invited to register to take part in the event at www.florencebank.com/dribble; registrations will be capped at 200, and each child will receive a free basketball.
Dribblers must be at least 5 years old and must be accompanied by an adult. All dribblers should arrive at the West Springfield Boys and Girls Club, at 615 Main St., West Springfield, at 11:30 a.m. to check-in and receive their basketballs.
Mayor Will Reichelt and other West Springfield leaders are expected to march in the parade and take part in the festivities at the banking center, which will include face painting, games, basketball competitions, and demonstrations by the Court Jesters, a comedic basketball troupe. Two food trucks, the Bistro Bus and Log Rolling, will provide meals.
“This festive celebration will honor our new branch and its employees, as well as the important relationships we have created and nurtured in Hampden County,” Heaps said.
Florence Bank opened its new, full-service Hampden County Banking Center on Aug. 24, prompted to expand into Hampden County by the mergers and buyouts that have defined the banking landscape in past years, leaving Springfield without a community bank headquartered there.
The Dribble Parade and celebration comes one month after a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the branch on Sept. 14 with Heaps, bank staff and community leaders in attendance to officially commemorate the opening of the bank’s 10th branch.
In 2007, Florence Bank opened a loan production office in West Springfield, the success of which is responsible for transforming the bank’s total commercial loan portfolio to more than 36 percent from Hampden County-based businesses. That success also made clear the need for the full-service branch.
In the next three to five years, Florence Bank plans to open additional branches in the Greater Springfield area.
All of Florence Bank’s products and services will be offered through the center, located at the corner of Memorial Avenue and Union Street in one third of a 9,000-square-foot plaza that will also hold other commercial tenants.
The Hampden County Banking Center has eight employees including: Branch Manager Maureen Buxton; Assistant Branch Manager Stephanie Moore; Commercial Lenders James Montemayor and Henry Downey; Mortgage Loan Originator Susan Seaver; and John Ernst of Florence Bank’s Financial Group, who will be available by appointment.
Florence Bank has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton and Williamsburg and is headquartered in Florence.
