AMHERST, MA (WSHM) -
Friday afternoon 5,000 UMass students celebrated the end of their college careers, and for local businesses in Amherst it's the start of a very busy weekend.
"It's big, it's huge, it's a major impact on the area," said Tammy-Lynn Chace of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce.
Nowhere is that impact more evident than The Black Sheep in downtown Amherst.
The business has been open for 26 years, and owner Nick Seamon says this month is like no other.
"May is our busiest month of the year," said Seamon. "We're at least 50 percent busier than any other month of the year."
Seamon attributes the upswing in business to not only the UMass graduation, but next week's Amherst College graduation, followed by Amherst College's reunion weekend.
"It pays a lot of bills. This is like Christmas for most stores. However, it brings up the fact that the colleges don't coordinate with the town to do this as well as possible," Seamon said.
Seamon told CBS 3 that he would like to see the colleges approach the local businesses more so they get a better feel for how busy things really get.
He said the only "dead months" now are January and February.
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