Downtown Amherst Contra Dance
A local community folk dance, inclusive & welcoming to all!
Third Wednesdays
7:30pm - 10:00pm
7:00pm intro lesson
Parking & transit
Our venue
Pacific Masonic Lodge
99 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002
(View on Google Maps)
The Masonic Lodge is a two-story brick building in downtown Amherst.
Please enter through the front entrance on Main Street.
Parking
Parking is NOT permitted in the driveway or behind the Masonic Lodge.
Street parking is often available on surrounding streets.
Lot parking is available 1-2 blocks away — we recommend the Boltwood Garage across the street.
Most parking is metered, but enforcement ends at 6pm or 8pm.
See the Town of Amherst’s parking map for current meter rates and times.
Public transit
Several PVTA bus routes stop within a 5-minute walk of our venue.
Popular routes include:
B43 (Northampton/Smith College — Hadley — UMass Amherst)
30 (Puffton Village — UMass Amherst — Colonial Village)
31 (Sunderland — Amherst — The Boulders apartments)
38 (Mt. Holyoke College — Hampshire College — Amherst)
Please check the PVTA website for current schedules and maps.
Route schedules are often different when local universities are not in session.
Accessibility
Our venue is unfortunately NOT wheelchair accessible. Still, some wheelchair users have been able to attend our dance in the past. Our committee members are happy to offer any additional assistance you may need to navigate the following obstacles:
Access to the front entrance is via two exterior flights of 5-6 concrete stairs. The first flight can be bypassed via a grass slope.
The dance hall and cloakroom are on the ground floor and are fully accessible from the main entrance.
The ground floor restroom has extremely small stalls. The single-occupancy restroom on the basement floor is somewhat larger.
This basement floor restroom can be accessed through the side building entrance, via 2-3 single-stair steps, or from the ground floor down a flight of stairs.The performer stage can be accessed from the dance floor up a narrow flight of about 6 wooden stairs.
The Masonic Lodge is a 100-year-old historic building, and ADA-compliant upgrades have been postponed until other exterior facade work is required. The DACD organization is currently exploring purchasing portable ramps to improve accessibility at our dance.
Please email us with any questions or concerns!