At Duryea Electric, we’ve taken pride in helping Pioneer Valley families keep their electricity running reliably, but we also believe it’s a vital part of keeping those families and homeowners safe. This year, that belief actually earned some recognition: Duryea Electric is a winner of the 2025 Citizens Small Business Community Champion Award!
The award, given via Citizens, recognizes those small businesses that really go out of their way to help their communities. It also comes with a $10,000 award to help those businesses keep doing what they’re doing so well: helping the community. For our team here in Holyoke, that means the world, and we don’t take the honor lightly!
While recognition for hard work’s nice, Master Electrician and owner Ian Duryea likes the award for what it makes possible. Working in the Pioneer Valley means Duryea sees a lot of different homes varying in age and homeowners with different budgets. In those older neighborhoods especially, Duryea comes across a lot of fire hazards and outdated electrical systems. Sometimes, the homeowners tell us to simply leave the problem alone since they can’t afford it. That’s really hard to walk away from.
Funding Electrical Safety Repairs for Local Families
That’s why Ian earmarked half of the award to help local families pay for essential electrical safety repairs they otherwise can’t afford. It’s our way of taking that problem we see every week and nipping it right in the bud. The other half’s going right towards the trade itself: we’re funding continuing education and licensing for our apprentices.
Every electrician (no matter their level of expertise) always needs to keep training and maintaining their licenses. That’s a real burden for our newer team members earning lower wages. Investing in employee growth is, as Ian likes to put it, an investment right back into the community they’ll go on to serve.
The Story Behind Duryea Electric: Built Slowly, Built Right
If you’ve been following Duryea Electric at all since we started helping the Pioneer Valley since 2012, none of this’ll come as a surprise.
Ian took a bit of a winding road to the trade: musician, math teacher, youth program head, and hospitality pro. An apprenticeship really helped him find his calling. The hospitality background actually formed his foundation for helping Pioneer Valley customers. Whatever the size and scope of repair, replacement, whole-home renovation, we treat the job with the same gravity and respect it deserves. That’s how the Duryea team built such a robust business; mostly of word-of-mouth and satisfied neighbors’ referrals.
Read the Full Feature on Citizens’ Website
Citizens featured Ian and the whole story of Duryea Electric in a great write-up on their site. It covers his whole path to the trade and how he’s committed to a community-first philosophy. Give it a read!
Be sure to also catch a short video with clips from the story on our Facebook page.
Thank you, Pioneer Valley!
We’d be nowhere without our community, and this type of award is really a reflection of that community. Customers, neighbors, team members; all of them who trusted Duryea Electric over the years. We’re grateful and more committed than ever to keeping the homes in our community safe.
