CityLine: Brockton Beer leads a downtown revitalization

20TH CENTURY, BROCKTON WAS AN EPICENTER OF THE SHOE AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. ITS NICKNAME WAS SHOE CITY. BUT AS INDUSTRY LEFT, A VIBRANT DOWNTOWN WENT WITH IT. NOW SOME BROCKTON UNIONS ARE TRYING TO BRING THE CITY BACK TO ITS FORMER GLORY. I TOOK A CHANCE ON BROCKTON ALMOST 40 YEARS AGO, AND MY HUSBAND AND I BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE HERE AND THAT’S WHEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE CITY, CYNTHIA PENDERGAST IS THE BROCKTON PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT NEIGHBORWORKS HOUSING SOLUTIONS. SHE’S PASSIONATE ABOUT BUILDING A MORE ROBUST CITY THROUGH HER WORK, WE HELP TO STABILIZE COMMUNITIES BY STABILIZING ITS RESIDENTS THROUGH COUNSELING, THROUGH CREATING HOUSING, THROUGH PROVIDING SERVICES. THERE’S SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY DOWNTOWN WITH THE BUILDINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SITTING VACANT FOR MANY YEARS. AND SO STARTING TO SEE THEM AS NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR CREATING MORE HOUSING HAS BEEN AN AMAZING THING. SYCAMORE ON MAIN, A BUILDING NAMED FOR ITS PROXIMITY TO THE LIBERTY TREE, A STOP ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, IS NOT ONLY A HOUSING SOLUTION, BUT AN EXAMPLE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS INVESTMENT IN SMALL BUSINESSES. BROCKTON BEER WAS FOUNDED IN 2018 BY FIVE FAMILIES CONNECTED BY THEIR CHILDREN AND WEEKLY GAME NIGHTS. NEIGHBORWORKS HAS BEEN A GREAT PARTNER WITH US WHEN WE WERE LOOKING AT SPACES, LOOKING FOR FUNDING, LOOKING FOR CONNECTIONS, YOU KNOW THEY WERE AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE HELPING US SECURE ALL OF THOSE. IT’S HERE AT SYCAMORE ON MAIN THAT BROCKTON BEER COMPANY MADE ITS HOME OWNERS, ED. CABELLON AND IVO SILVEIRA, SAY THEY HAD TO CHALLENGE PERCEPTIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES FOR THEIR BUSINESS WHEN BANKS WERE NOT WILLING OR DIDN’T BELIEVE THE IDEA OF A CRAFT BREWERY IN DOWNTOWN BROCKTON, WHICH WAS SOMETHING THAT WE HIT A LOT OF, UH, TO BE ABLE TO PARTNER WITH FOLKS THAT WERE COMMUNITY BASED, THAT UNDERSTOOD THE POTENTIAL OF WHAT THIS COULD BE, AND SAW THE VISION FOR WHAT WE SAW ORIGINALLY WAS A HUGE LIFT FOR US. WE THOUGHT, BECAUSE WE LOVED CRAFT BEER SO MUCH AND EVERYONE WAS GOING TO BREWERIES AROUND US, BUT NOT HERE. WHY NOT DO THAT HERE IN DOWNTOWN BROCKTON? AT FIRST, IT WAS AN IDEA THAT MANY PEOPLE PUSHED BACK ON BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T THINK THAT CRAFT BEER WOULD SELL IN BROCKTON, THAT THAT FOLKS IN OUR COMMUNITY WOULD NOT BE INTERESTED IN THAT. UH, BUT WE KNEW THAT TO BE NOT TRUE FROM PORK BELLY ADOBO TO AN OXTAIL POUTINE, THE MENU REFLECTS THE DIVERSITY OF THE OWNERSHIP AND STAFF. OUR KITCHEN IS NOW NOW GETTING EQUAL BILLING IN TERMS OF OUR FOOD TO THE BEER. SO I THINK IN TERMS OF DESTINATION, WE’RE ALSO BEING SEEN NOT JUST AS A BREWERY, BUT ALSO AS A RESTAURANT. AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE SOME, SOME REALLY GREAT FOOD IN DOWNTOWN BROCKTON, WHICH WE HOPE THEN INSPIRES OTHER RESTAURANTS AND OTHER BUSINESSES TO COME DOWN HERE BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE COMING DOWN HERE FOR BOTH THE BEER AND THE FOOD. IT STARTS WITH OUR HEAD BREWER AND ALSO OUR KITCHEN TO OUR TWO CHEFS. LIKE THERE’S A LOT OF INPUT WITHIN THE TEAM OF OF WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE FROM THE BEGINNING, FROM THE RAW INGREDIENTS OF A BEER TO ITS PACKAGING, ITS DESIGN THROUGH ITS NAME, EVERYTHING AND AGAIN, IT IS A REFLECTION ON THE COMMUNITY, A LOT OF THE BEERS THAT WE HAVE, EITHER ON TAP OR THE BEERS THAT WE DISTRIBUTE, HAVE SOME FORM OF CONNECTION BACK TO BROCKTON OR US AS OWNERSHIP OR THINGS THAT WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT. NEIGHBORWORKS CEO ROBERT CAWLEY ALSO HOPES THAT OTHER BUSINESSES TAKE THE LEAP NOW THAT THEY’VE SEEN WHAT BROCKTON BEER HAS BEEN ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH. GATEWAY CITY, LIKE BROCKTON THAT IS EXPERIENCING A RENAISSANCE AND WE WANT MORE PEOPLE IN THE DOWNTOWN. WE WANT PEOPLE TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY IN THE DOWNTOWN AND WE FEEL LIKE WE’RE A PART OF THAT, A SMALL PART OF IT, BUT AN IMPORTANT PART. AND BROCKTON BEER COMPANY WILL CELEBRATE THEIR TWO YEAR TAPROOM ANNIVERSARY WITH A PARTY KICKING OFF THEIR CULTURE ON TAP SUMMER BEER GARDEN SERIES ON THURSDAY, JUNE 27TH AT 4 P.M. AND THEY’LL ALSO HOST GLOVE IS LOVE, AN OUTDOOR BEER GARDEN PRIDE EVENT ON JUNE 29TH FEATURING LIVE MUSIC FROM QUEER SINGER AND SONGWRITER JESS MARTIN. BREW ACTON IS PAYING TRIBUTE TO ANOTHER LOCAL BOXING LEGEND. A NEW STATUE NOW STANDS IN THE NEW MARVELOUS MARVIN HAGLER PARK. HAGLER WAS A MIDDLEWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION, COMPILING A RECORD OF 62 WINS AND JUST THREE LOSSES, WINNING 52 FIGHTS BY KNOCKOUT, INCLUDING 12 TITLE DEFENSES. HE HELD THE MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FOR SEVEN YEARS, FROM 1980 TO 1987, AND WAS ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE SPORTS STARS IN THE WORLD THROUGHOUT THE 1980S. DURING LAST MONTH’S UNVEILING, BROCKTON MAYOR ROBERT SULLIVAN CALLED HAGLER A, QUOTE, A GLOBAL BOXING ICON WHO EMBODIED ALL THE BEST ATTRIBUTES OF THE CITY, INCLUDING TOUGHNESS, PERSEVERANCE, COMMUNITY AND DEDICATION, UNQUOTE. HE WENT ON TO SAY THE STATUE WILL STAND AS AN INSPIRATIONAL SYMBOL OF HAGLER’S SPIRIT A