On Sunday, October 18, Acton will close part of Esterbrook Road to cars, station police at crossing points along Great Road and ask residents to walk a stretch of road most of them usually drive. The Office of Economic Development is running the town's first Great Road Stroll, and the timing has a purpose. The same office secured tax credits for new tenants in vacant Great Road storefronts, which a town committee approved in September, with one condition attached: each recipient has to host local art exhibitions.
So the Stroll is the public showing of a project already underway. The businesses arriving on Great Road this fall are small and specialized. One is a bakery that started in a basement. Another sells gear for large dogs. Another services mobility equipment. Some of them reached Great Road with a public incentive and a gallery wall included.
One Sunday, four hours, and police at the crossings
The Stroll runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. across seven plazas, with attractions, recreational activities, business promotions and an art exhibition of work by local artist Elizabeth Ames. An earlier description in the town's September newsletter also listed local vendors, music and special offers from businesses.
The town's station map gives the route a clear start and finish:
- Start: Northwoods Builders
- End: Dunkin'
- Along the way: Powers Gallery, plus confirmed participants Huntington Learning Center, First Rugs and BUCKOLLAR
- Closed to vehicles: the Esterbrook Road access
- Parking: at the participating plazas, along Esterbrook Road and on Concord Road
The town has not published a full text list of all seven plazas, so the map in the October Municipal Monthly is the best guide to planning a route. The map's labels also say "walk & bike" and "family fun."
At 11:30 a.m., the town will hold a ribbon-cutting for BUCKOLLAR. The newsletter spells the name two different ways, but the company's own site uses BUCKOLLAR and describes its products as everyday essentials for people with large dogs. Its shipping policy lists 133 Great Road, Unit 1, as its address. A store that narrow is a bet on a nearby customer base. A roadside strip that was mostly parking-lot convenience would not support it.
The $10,000 that comes with a gallery wall
On September 23, the Economic Affairs and Community Committee approved $10,000 tax credits each for Adaptive Fitness & Movement and Mobility City through the town's Vacant Storefront Program. In July, the Economic Development Committee's minutes listed the two businesses at 425 Great Road and 155 Great Road.
Mobility City opened on August 3 in Suite B at 155 Great Road, inside Esterbrook Plaza. Its showroom sells and services mobility equipment. Esterbrook Plaza sits on the same Esterbrook Road that closes to cars on the 18th.
According to the town, the credits are meant to support businesses opening in previously vacant storefronts along Great Road and to encourage the corridor's revitalization. In return, both recipients will host art exhibitions in their spaces, giving local artists a place to show work. That condition turns a fitness studio and a mobility showroom into part-time galleries along a road that already has Powers Gallery on the Stroll map.
The program is still open. The town says the final round of applications is underway, with Expressions of Interest accepted until October 16. Patricia Costa in the Office of Economic Development handles inquiries. That deadline lands two days before the Stroll, so the last window for expressions of interest closes before the town walks the corridor.
The artist on the poster
Elizabeth Ames, whose work anchors the Stroll's art exhibition, is a Peru-born painter. She studied at the School of Fine Arts/Carlos Bacaflor from 1983 to 1988 and later at an art school in Lima. She and her daughter, Ellie Bejar-Benz, work as a mother-daughter duo from a studio they opened in Acton, where they collaborate and teach. The town has not said which plaza or storefront will host her exhibition.
A micro-bakery outgrows the basement at 166 Great Road
The clearest example of the corridor refilling from the small end is at 166 Great Road. Velvet Vine Cafe opened there in early 2025 and has since closed. Gonzalo Bethencourt plans to turn the space into the first storefront for Bethencourt Bakehouse, a business he started as a micro bakery in his home basement in spring 2025.
The Acton Exchange traced how he got there. He began at farmers markets, then held Saturday noon pop-ups at Eve and Murray's in West Acton, where the line often stretched out the front door. Debra's Natural Gourmet in West Concord and the Concord Cheese Shop came next. On Fridays he sells classic sourdough loaves at Cucurbit Farm on Parker Street and at the Walden Woods Project Farm on Route 2 East in Concord. He did all of this without employees. Here is how he describes the bread:
"authentic, European-style sourdough crafted with organic, freshly milled flours, long fermentations, and traditional techniques."
The menu has grown to include Cheese and Jalapeño, Figs and Red Wine, and Everything Bagel sourdoughs, Belgian triple chocolate sourdough cookies, focaccia with Italian herbs, and cranberry muffins made with fruit he drives to Massachusetts bogs to get.
The renovation plans are specific. The dark walls and ceiling will be painted a light color, wood-grain luxury vinyl will go down on the floors, and a wood counter will replace the black quartz. A new wall between the kitchen and the shop will have a large glass window so customers can watch the dough being prepared. A large new oven is coming from Spain. Every appliance is electric, and the existing natural gas supply will be disconnected. With the added capacity he plans to offer sandwiches on his own bread, plus coffee and other drinks.
He is still lining up contractors and applying for permits, and he is hoping to open by Thanksgiving. That is a target, not a confirmed date. Until then, the Friday loaves at Cucurbit Farm are the most reliable way to buy his bread in Acton.
456–459 Great Road, between buildings
Not every Great Road change this fall is a ribbon-cutting. The strip mall at 456–459 Great Road, most recently home to Acton Convenience, is scheduled for demolition, and two new buildings are planned for the site. Owner Leo Bertolami offered the building to the Acton Fire Department for training before it comes down. None of the training will involve active fires.
Larger tenants have also moved out this season. TJ Maxx and HomeGoods closed their Acton Plaza location and moved to The Point in Littleton, and the Acton Exchange reported no word yet on a new tenant. Big-box vacancies and the new small arrivals are happening at the same time. The Vacant Storefront Program, with its final round closing October 16, is the town's tool for deciding what fills the empty space.
The rest of the October weekend calendar
The Stroll lands in a busy stretch of the month, and a few events connect to the same story.
Friday, October 16, 6 to 8 p.m.: Monsterbash at NARA Park, 25 Ledgerock Way, a family Halloween party with a black-light DJ dance and a mummy-wrap contest.
All of October: Cucurbit Farm's 11th Annual Scarecrow Contest, where visitors vote for their favorites. This year's proceeds will be split among the Acton Food Pantry, the Maynard Food Pantry and Open Table. A Friday visit lines up with Bethencourt's sourdough table.
Friday, October 23, 6 to 9 p.m.: Discovery Museum's Gnome Gnight with Art on the Rocks, a 21+ evening of garden-gnome portrait painting led by Art on the Rocks.
On the 18th itself, the Stroll begins at Northwoods Builders at 10 a.m., the BUCKOLLAR ribbon is cut at 11:30, and the route ends at Dunkin' by 2 p.m.
A storefront that changes hands and a home that changes hands face the same question: what the space says when someone walks through the door. That is the heart of Hilary Bovey's design-led approach, and she is glad to talk it through, whether you are watching Great Road change or thinking about how your own home on a nearby street would present. Let's Connect.
