Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Party at Lake Wyola!

On Wednesday, July 20, we've arranged for extended hours at Lake Wyola Park, 6-8:30 pm, for a community party co-sponsored by the Shutesbury 250th Anniversary Steering Committee and the Friends of the MN Spear Library.
 
Lifeguards will be on duty, and parking during those hours will be free!
 
Bring a picnic! Swimsuits! And games or musical instruments if you wish! We'll be informally celebrating Shutesbury's 250th anniversary of incorporation, the 200th anniversary of the establishment of Shutesbury's "social library" as a traveling bookcase . . .  and now, of course, the wonderful announcement on July 14 of the award to Shutesbury of a $2.1 million construction grant for a new library on Leverett Road!
 
In honor of these events, members of the 250th Anniversary Steering Committee and the Friends of the MN Spear Library will be serving lemonade, watermelon and cake.
 
So come swim, schmooze, eat, drink and be not just merry, but "always cooler" -- by dipping in the waters of Wyola at the end of what promises to be a very hot day.
 
And before or after you change into your swimsuits, stop to admire Maili Page's photo exhibit of Lake Wyola scenes past and present (displayed in a special case mounted on the west side of the buildilng).
 
Join us!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Tavern Time

Everyone welcome to a Shutesbury Social

“Tavern of Time”
 Shutesbury has a long history of people gathering at Taverns to meet with neighbors and share the news of the day.
Join us to share memories and stories that give character to our town.  Celebrate 250 years of community!

Sunday July 10
2-4pm
Shutesbury Athletic Club

Hope to see you then,
 your barkeep Karen Traub

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Don't Miss the Farm and Garden Tour!

Explore the beauty and diversity of 10 Shutesbury farms and gardens between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m on Sunday, June 26. Your hosts on this self-guided tour will be delighted to welcome you, rain or shine! Carpooling is strongly encouraged.
 
An elegant brochure with full descriptions, directions and parking instructions is provided with each ticket. Tickets, $5 in advance, are still available at the M. N. Spear Library, at Town Hall (ask for Town Clerk Leslie Bracebridge) and will be for sale the morning of June 25 at the Saturday Market behind Town Hall.
 
On the day of the tour, tickets can be purchased for $7 at Craigieburn Farm Alpacas, 243 West Pehlam Road; at Rita Farrell and Michael Broad's Gardens, 36 Briggs Road; and at Meryl Mandell and Stephen Smulski's Gardens, 453 Wendell Road.
 
Net proceeds from the sale of tickets will be used to beautify Shutesbury's public spaces.
 
Thanks to Susan Rice, Susan Loring-Wells, Rita Farrell and all the other farm and garden enthusiasts who have worked so hard to make this happen! They're now planning a second tour on September 11 that will include some new sites -- and the wonders of nature in a different season.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Come to our parade!! The parade will still be held TODAY at 3PM. The route starts at the Elementary School and ends on the Town Common. Spread the word!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Parade!

Come watch our parade! June 11th at 3-4PM. BBQ and live music afterward at the Shutesbury Athletic Club (282 Wendell RD). Spread the word and come join in the fun!


(Rain date: June 12th. BBQ will be June 11th even if the parade is on the 12th.)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wanted

Wanted: Marshals for the 250th Parade on June 11th. Contact Dagen Julty, Parade Coordinator, at 259-1808 or dagenjulty@yahoo.com if you're interested!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Calling Parade Participants!

We are still actively seeking parade participants for the Big Parade on June 11th
(rain date: June 12).

The route will be from the Shutesbury Elementary School to Town Hall (about one mile)
from 3 - 5 PM.

All entries are welcome:

Animals

Bicycles

Walkers

Decorated Cars & Trucks

Floats

Flat Beds with dancers, actors, musicians, exhibitions, fashion or art work

Movable Art

Banners for local groups, businesses, or organizations

Etc., Etc., Etc.! If it moves and you're connected to Shutesbury somehow, you're in!!



Followed by BBQ and band at the Shutesbury Athletic Club

Please contact Dagen Julty, Parade Coordinator, at 259-1808 or dagenjulty@yahoo.com
for free registration and/or more information.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Enjoy a New England “time travel dinner” March 18!

Main dishes, breads and desserts from 18th through 21st century New England will be on the menu at a fundraising dinner for the People of the Past, the 250th anniversary historical reenactment group.
The buffet, 6:00-8:00pm at the Shutesbury Athletic Club, 282 Wendell Rd., will feature vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare: baked beans, brown bread, succotash, beef stew, soda bread, a 1950s tuna noodle casserole, and a tomato, lentil and kale stew from Shutesbury chef Leslie Cerier’s Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook. Dessert includes Indian pudding, apple crisp and a delectable assortment of cakes from Colonial days.
Suggested donation for the dinner is $5 per person.
Members of People of the Past will be happy to answer questions about the role YOU could play in costume in one or more events in 2011. How about reprexenting a revolutionary soldier? The proprietor of a hotel beside healing mineral springs? A hard-working farmer and homemaker of the 1800s? Neighbors gathered in a Shutesbury inn to make palm-leaf hats or chat about "current" events? There are many possibilities for speaking AND non-speaking parts -- and roles for children, too!
On Friday evening, children attending will also have an opportunity at the dinner to create their own links for the 250th Anniversary Steering Committee's growing 250-link paper chain, to be p;roudly carried in the June 11 parade and displayed around town at other times.
Following the dinner, the Shutesbury Athletic Club will present Uncle Hal’s Crabgrass Band in the front room.  Hal Bosco, 63, of Greenfield, will pay a rare 1970 Martin acoustic guitar of which only 200 were made. Jim Bonham, 60, of Buckland, will play a stand-up bass built in the late 1940s. John Kunhardt, 52, of Belchertown, will play a vintage 1957 Gibson A-style mandolin.

We hope to see you there!
Janis S. Gray, for the People of the Past

Friday, February 25, 2011

Who first walked Shutesbury’s hills?

Shutesbury -- On Friday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall, Margaret (Marge) Bruchac, a professor of anthropology, historical consultant and person of Abenaki descent, will speak on “From Kwineticook to Quabbin: Native People in West-Central Massachusetts.”

Her program, sponsored jointly by the 250th Anniversary Steering Committee and Friends of the Library, will combine oral traditions and historical anecdotes to illuminate the survival strategies of Native people in the region after King Philip’s War. She will also offer context on the Native presence today.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Kick-Off Bonfire

The Kick-Off to Shutesbury's 250th year was excellent! A big thanks to Dagan Julty for providing music and a sing-along, to the Shutesbury Fire Department for the bonfire, to Stephen Kulik for coming and giving a speech, to Maryelise Lamet and Janis Gray for providing cider and pretzels, to Marilyn Tibbets for providing hot cocoa and to Sabra MacLeod and Gale McClung for writing the excellent 250th Anniversary song! You can find a copy of it below.

And of course a big thank you to everyone who came! We hope to see you at future events.







The Town of Shutesbury's 250th Anniversary Song

Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Words: Sabra MacLeod and Gale McClung

We started out as Roadtown back in seventeen thirty-five.
The Lancaster-to-River route was what we could provide.
The road was so successful that the town soon grew and thrived
And time kept marching on! 

Chorus:
What a wonderful occasion
For a joyful celebration!
We are bursting with elation
As time goes marching on!

Twas seventeen-hundred sixty-one that Shutesbury was named
In the honor of a governor of undistinguished fame.
And then we were incorporated; now we all acclaim
That we have carried on!

Repeat chorus after each verse until final one.

Shutesbury is a rural town whose climate is supreme,
Whose air is always cooler and whose water's super-clean.
Renowned for forests, hills, and streams and atmosphere serene,
We'll all keep singing on!

Among the early industries were sawmills, boots, and shoes,
And Haskins' famous gold-tipped pens for everyone to use.
There of course was agriculture many felt the urge to choose,
And they've kept farming on.

Among the town's remembered names are Dihlmann, Wilde, and Spear,
And Norell, Locke, and Hunting who was clerk for fifty years.
With Haskell, Carey, Thayer, Pratt and Plaza it is clear,
For them we carry on.

Daniel Shays is known from far and wide.  Rebellion was his game.
He felt the government unfair.  Correction was his aim.
A local highway honored and immortalized his name.
For him we're marching on.

We residents appreciate our rural atmosphere.
With Quabbin and Wyola we have lots of water here,
For fishing, swimming, boating, all such gifts, so very near,
We'll just keep singing on!

For all our wild animals the town has been renowned.
Raccoons and foxes, deer, and owls have always been around.
Now bears and moose, coyotes, even bobcats can be found,
And we keep hiking on.

Our town library first began two hundred years ago.
With just one bookcase it was clear that it would have to grow.
And now it's so successful that its future makes us glow
As we go reading on.

The fire department came to be in nineteen fifty-one.
Because of faithful volunteers its service had begun.
And now the whole department's full of pride for all it's done,
And it will carry on.

We're grateful for our church that now is named "Community,"
And also for our local school. We're proud as we can be!
Our town hall's solar panels are a joy for us to see,
As we go greening on.

Final chorus:  
Gathered here in celebration
For this wonderful occasion!
Let us shout in exultation
That we will carry on!

Sunday, January 2, 2011