A bulletin board with newspaper articles and pictures of the late Peter Levesque is prominently displayed inside the shop.
ADAMS, Mass. — Maple Grove Equipment's new owner Brandon Lemaire wants to continue in the footsteps of longtime owner and mentor Peter Levesque.
"I know if Pete could be here today he would have a smile on his face," Lemaire said. "He always said, 'I want to see you run it.'"
Levesque had owned the 8 Leonard St. equipment sale, rental and service center since 1992 but the business had existed since 1936. Maple Grove had first operated as a marine sales and service family business under Chester Dydowicz, a longtime police officer and pilot, who died in 1990.
Lemaire said Maple Grove Equipment had long been the place to go for lawnmowers, snow blowers, and snowplow sales and service in Northern Berkshire County.
"Pete always said, 'in the winter everyone needs a snow plow or needs a snow blower,'" Lemaire said.
Lemaire worked for Levesque for nearly a decade and after leaving the shop for a spell, received a call from Levesque's wife who said he had fallen ill.
Lemaire said he visited him after surgeons tried to remove a brain tumor.
"I went to go see him. He was with it and he kind of talked to me for a little bit," he said. "Two weeks later she called me again and said he is not doing well. She said she knew nothing about the business."
"She was retired, she wanted Pete to retire and she wanted to spend time camping and doing stuff with him so she told me, 'Now is the time Brandon if you want to do it just let me know we can work something out.' So I am in the process of buying it right now."
Levesque passed in July 2023, and Lemaire took over in early November.
Lemaire said it has been business as usual and although he wants it to grow, he feels no need to disrupt the services people have grown to expect including the sale and service of lawnmowers, snowblowers, and snowplows among other things. The business specializes in servicing well-known plow brands.
"I see a lot of customers out in town, the grocery store or Walmart. Customers come up and talk to me. They like the service we offer," he said. "Obviously, we want to grow. Every business wants to grow and be better."
He said he did do some remodeling in the showroom and, eventually, wants to offer 24-hour plow repair.
"Plow guys, if they break down in the middle of the night, will want to get their plow fixed so they can finish their route instead of waiting," he said. "So that will be a big thing."
He added that the business still provides golf cart rentals, a unique service in the area.
And Lemaire said business so far has been good.
"Things have been busy now that we are open," he said. "We have been getting a lot of people from Bennington, Pittsfield, Lee, Lenox so that is really a big thing."
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Housing Secretary Makes Adams Housing Authority No. 40 on List of Visits
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Executive Director William Schrade invited Secretary Edward Augustus to the rededication of the Housing Authority's Community Room, providing a chance for the secretary to hear about the authority's successes and challenges.
ADAMS, Mass. — The state's new secretary of housing got a bit of a rock-star welcome on Wednesday morning as Adams Housing Authority residents, board members and staff lined up to get their picture taken with him.
Edward Augustus Jr. was invited to join the Adams Housing Authority in the rededication of its renovated community room, named for James P. McAndrews, the authority's first executive director.
Executive Director William Schrade said he was surprised that the secretary had taken up the invitation but Augustus said he's on a mission — to visit every housing authority in the state.
"The next logical question is how many housing authorities are there in Massachusetts? There's 242 of them so I get a lot of driving left to do," he laughed. "This is number 40. You're in the first tier I've been able to visit but to me, it's one way for me to understand what's actually going on."
The former state senator and Worcester city manager was appointed secretary of housing and livable communities — the first cabinet level housing chief in 30 years — by Gov. Maura Healey last year as part of her answer to the state's housing crisis.
He's been leading the charge for the governor's $4 billion Affordable Homes Act that looks to invest $1.6 billion in repairing and modernizing the state's 43,000 public housing units that house some 70,000 low-income, disabled and senior residents, as well as families.
Massachusetts has the most public housing units and is one of only a few states that support public housing. Numbers range from Boston's tens of thousands of units to Sutton's 40. Adams has 64 one-bedroom units in the Columbia Valley facility and 24 single and multiple-bedroom units scattered through the community.
The state's new secretary of housing got a bit of a rock-star welcome on Wednesday morning as Adams Housing Authority residents, board members and staff lined up to get their picture taken with him. click for more
That wasn't all, of course, as she was applauded for her 30 years overseeing the town's elections and vital records. There were plenty of hugs and some tears for a closing out of her long career.
click for more
Listening to Little list off all the specialized components he sells and installs, from public safety lighting to municipal warning lights and radio communication, his technical knowledge and experience shines through.
click for more
Selectmen Chair and 1Berkshire Director of Member Services and Christine Hoyt has been nominated for the April Community Hero of the Month. click for more
Specialty Minerals is expected to pay $299,000 for a discharge of calcium carbonate into the Hoosic River nearly three years ago in a consent decree with the Attorney General's Office. click for more
The Adams Beautification group, which has been quietly sprucing up the town since 2022, hopes to bring in more members of the community during a community cleanup day scheduled for Saturday, April 27. click for more