10 July, 2015
Town officials, local business leaders and government officials along with the chamber of commerce gathered at "Yogurt Beach" on 34 Main Street to welcome the frozen yogurt shop to downtown Hopkinton. After a ribbon cutting ceremony, Chamber of Commerce President Scott Richardson presented owner Chris Cooney with a certificate of recognition on behalf of the chamber, State Representative Carolyn Dykema was in attendance to offer Chris a citation on behalf of the state.
John Coutinho represented the Selectmen to welcome Yogurt Beach and emphasized "Yogurt Beach" is positive for downtown: "this is part of that whole visioning we have been working on the last year, part of the downtown revitalization."
Chair of the Planning Board Ken Weismantel spoke about how new business coming to town such as Yogurt Beach helped erode the conversation of increasing downtown parking capabilities; "I am using this as an opportunity to suggest to our selectmen that it's time to get some off-street parking so that business's can come here, we don't want to be limited by the amount of seats."
Owner of "Yogurt Beach" and Hopkinton native Chris Cooney mentioned his family moved to Memphis for 2 years but they are glad to be back; "we went for 2 years, and I will say you don't realize what you have until you leave it... we love Hopkinton, we love the school system, we love the people, it's very unique here." Cooney also praised Town Manager Norman Khumalo as well as town boards for the extensive help they provided in the process of opening his business; "it wasn't simple, but it was smooth, we ran into hurdles, they helped us get over hurdles...they gave us a lot of suggestions on how to get through it rather than saying hey it's your's."
In the first video you can see the highlights of the Chamber of Commerce welcoming ceremony for "Yogurt Beach"
In the second video you can see an HCAM News interview with owner of "Yogurt Beach" Chris Cooney.
