When my business partners and I decided to open up our real estate agency this past winter, two of the most challenging aspects of that decision were coming up with a name, and finding a suitable location. After many sleepless nights, and roughly 5,000 brainstorming sessions - we finally settled on "Maple and Main Realty" as our name. This decision was precipitated by our great fortune at having found a beautiful home here in Bob Lawton's Artifacts 20th Century building in Florence, MA (we owe this turn of events to our partner in crime, Julie Held :)) -- which happens to be near the intersection of (North) Maple and Main Streets! We took it as a sign that this was meant to be.
We love Florence! We love our space (thank you John Iles - maker of our beautiful desks and overall build out of our space)! We envisioned having fabulous events here, with artwork from local artists gracing our white walls...
We were thrilled when local artist and neighbor Donnabelle Casis invited us to be a part of (First) Florence Night Out - the first of hopefully many Arts Night Out in our neck of the woods. This event turned out to be a smashing success!
We put our heads together and invited local artists, including Dave Gloman, Robbie Heidinger, Ann Lewis, Tom Martin, Barbara Neulinger, Katy Schneider and Robert Young to show there work here.
We burned through a case of wine in 2 short hours - as well as numerous "Maple and Main" M&M party favors...
And the town of Florence was rockin' - literally! There was live music next door, artist's open houses, a film by local filmmaker Tom Greto looping in the Artifacts 20th Century Space, a balloon artist down the street, and our space was packed with revelers until the bitter end!
We love Florence! And we are so happy to be a part of the community here.