Most readers will know The People's Pint at 24 Federal St. in Greenfield. A brewpub and restaurant, its proprietor, Alden Booth, is a Gill local. In partnership, Alden and Dan Young took an entrepreneurial chance on a brewing dream; it took hold in the early 90's and became reality on January 1, 1997.

Ten years ago, Alden asked himself why there was not a real community pub in our town? In Ireland, for example, even towns as small as Gill have a pub, locally owned and locally supported. There, families come after church and spend the afternoon chatting, playing kraik, traditional Irish music, throwing darts, eating whitefish, and pickled herring. While pickled herring is not on the menu at The People's Pint, darts and kraik certainly are, as are the many popular specials along with the unique and healthy menu. In some ways, the vision and persistence of Booth and Young have recreated a genuine local pub right here in Franklin County.

How did the Pint go from an idea around a fireplace to a curving bar where you can order a Farmer Brown? It is a local success story.

In the winter of 1992, a group of friends had gathered in the Booth family room to brainstorm a name for this dream. Dan Young crouched on the floor, tearing off sheet after sheet from one of the "heels" of newsprint from The Recorder. The group designed logos, thought of names, worked the logo into the name. Finally, today's logo took shape: a pint glass, filled just so, resting on a coaster. The ideas flew back and forth, and some healthy tension grew out of several debates: How dark is the beer in the glass? How much head should it have? Alden's own homebrewed Oatmeal Stout (which you can find, if you are lucky, on tap at the Pint) acted as a model. Dan dashed off artwork with the crayons of the Booth children until finally a drawing pleased all.

Then came the real test: What is this place? While the details remain clouded in the mists of history, a name came to life that night — The People's Pint: A pint of good, local brew for our local townspeople; a restaurant where you could go for a drop before the movie or stay for the afternoon; local produce and products to ensure freshness and to support community. The grain even goes back to feed Franklin county cows.

Then, a question hung in the air — where does the apostrophe go? Crisis. Is it a place for all of the "peoples" of the world or for all of the world's "people?" Are we the many making the one? Are we simply the one? Alden decided that this was a moment to "Think Global but Drink Local." It was a pint for our people, friends and neighbors in Franklin County. So the apostrophe settled where it is today. The coaster under the pint is gone, the beer within the glass is more iconographic than a lager or porter, and the Pint is a place where people go.

Of course, there were the other details of making a local business go: financing, finding an appropriate site, hours of taping dry wall, sanding, painting, hiring and the like. Booth and Young stuck with it, and in 1995 settled on the current site, the former site of the Green River Café. With a business plan in hand and a location in mind, local financiers and banks took a more serious interest in the scheme, and by the fall of 1996 the deep burgundy walls were painted and the vats installed below. The Pint has remained true to the principle of its dream — Community. Tuesday nights, for example, you can go watch a local film festival. A couple of week's ago, GCC film students showed their work to a packed house. There is an ongoing drive to support the Heifer Project, and the Franklin County Bicycle Coalition meets at the Pint. The Pint has often served as a location for Green Party fundraisers. Alden supports "going green" himself, often riding his own bike to work and growing many of the vegetables served there himself. He has also brought 32,000 lbs of compost back to his garden in the past five years.

Whose pint is it, then? It is your pint.

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