Still rolling on the river

Brunelle family keeps expanding marina business

By JANICE B EETLE

Fire dictates change.

So says Lucien “Luke” Brunelle, owner of Brunelle’s Marina in South Hadley, and he would surely know.

In 1944, a man ran across the ice-bound Connecticut River from Holyoke to South Hadley to alert his grandparents that their home on the riverbank was on fire, saving the family and their farm animals.

In 2013, another fire destroyed the Brunelle family’s marina, built along that same stretch of riverbank. The Brunelles are like phoenixes, though. They keep rising from the ashes.

In the 1940s, after a few years, the family had rebuilt their farm. Eleven months after the 21st century fire, the Brunelles were back in business with a bigger and better marina.

Brunelle is a junior to his father, the late Lucien “Luke” A. Brunelle, and the son knows the history of the marina well and has repeated it often recently, given that the business turned 60 in 2019.

The senior Brunelle was a mason by trade, and his brother, Richard, was a master carpenter. Together with their parents, Beatrice and Alphonse, the family launched

LEARN MORE Business: Brunelle’s Marina Where: 1 Alvord St., South Hadley For more info: Online, brunelles.com; call, 413536-3132

On Sept. 24, 2013, two months after a devastating fire, Lucien “Luke” Brunelle, center, flanked by his parents, Lucien and Josie, unveils plans for the new Brunelle’s Marina during a Beyond Business gathering to support the rebuilding of the marina. (DAVE

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