WE ARE HOMETOWN NEWS.

Enfield Library accepting submissions for annual Festival of Trees

ENFIELD — The festival, open to all, kicks off with an opening reception on Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m. with light refreshments, music, and fun and games. The exhibit is open until Dec. 31.

East Longmeadow Town Council discusses potential dispensary bylaw changes

EAST LONGMEADOW — Jeffrey and Christina Brooks are seeking to open a recreational marijuana dispensary in the industrial zone on Shaker Road. The couple knew they would need a bylaw amendment to do so but ran into an unexpected roadblock when they came before the Town Council on Nov. 26.

Local and state officials join the March for the Food Bank

For the 15th year, the March for Food Bank with Monte Belmonte took place on Nov. 25 and 26, to help raise funds for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Public gets look at future Agawam High School

AGAWAM — Residents and town officials got a look at the latest designs for the new Agawam High School at a public meeting on Nov. 20. Agawam Mayor Christopher Johnson, who also serves as the chair of the Agawam High School Building Committee, highlighted the state-of-the-art features, while emphasizing that decisions were made based on the lessons other schools learned in their school builds.

Chester Railway Station shares train history at school

CHESTER — On Nov. 22, David Pierce, president of the Chester Foundation, brought the Chester Railway Station and its history, in the form of a G Scale train set, to Chester Elementary School.

Comfort Bagels opens in downtown Westfield

WESTFIELD — The city’s newest business, Comfort Bagels, began in the kitchen of its Founder/owner Janet Blake during the coronavirus pandemic, when she, like millions of others, started baking bread to fill those empty days during the pandemic lockdown.

Whip City Animal Sanctuary honors farmers donation

WESTFIELD — The Whip City Animal Sanctuary family of volunteers and friends honored William Reed on a chilly and damp Saturday morning, Nov. 23, to thank him for his gift of 11 acres to the home for rescued and surrendered farm animals, many of whom have been neglected and abused.

Organizers rally for restored school positions

NORTHAMPTON — While heavy rain began to fall outside of City Hall, local labor groups and supporters stood tall underneath umbrellas outside before the City Council’s Nov. 21 meeting for a rally to call on the city to allocate the necessary funding to restore the approximately 20 positions cut in the Northampton Public Schools last budget season.

Pineapple Express begins offering cannabis to go

WARE — On Nov. 21, a special ribbon cutting event took place to celebrate the grand opening of Pineapple Express, a cannabis home delivery company, in the parking lot of Phillips Plaza in Ware on West Street.

Sarno joins community for Union Station tree lighting

Mayor Domenic Sarno joined the Community Music School of Springfield, the Springfield Redevelopment Community for the fourth annual tree lighting ceremony at Union Station. After wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season, Sarno lit the tree and sent the Amherst Railway Society’s model train around the evergreen. The Community School of Music, under the direction of String City Orchestra co-director Will Losch, performed holiday songs before the tree lighting.

Seniors invited to 50th annual Christmas banquet

SOMERS — For the last 50 years, the Somers Knights of Columbus Council 4303, Lions and Rotary Club have joined together to offer a Christmas banquet to the town’s senior citizens — an event that brings them together for an afternoon of talking, connecting and a turkey feast.

Select Board agrees to call Special Town Meeting

SOUTHWICK — The Select Board agreed during its Nov. 25 meeting to schedule a Special Town Meeting sometime in January to have residents to decide on a request by the Community Preservation Committee to allocate $164,000 of its funds to allow the Historical Society to purchase a piece of property on College Highway.

First leg of Food Bank march ends in Northampton

NORTHAMPTON — The 15th annual March for the Western Mass. Food Bank kicked off on the morning of Nov. 25 at 6 a.m. from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Springfield, but by 3:40 that afternoon about 30-plus marchers crossed the Northampton city line.

East Longmeadow works toward identifying inequities in digital access and skills

EAST LONGMEADOW — East Longmeadow is working to close the digital divide in town with the help of a $55,994 grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program. A steering committee made up of residents and town staff is working with the consulting firm Kimley-Horn to identify inequities in the ability of residents and businesses to use the internet.

Magazines

Dining & Entertainment

Dinner and Show: Gourmet grinders and gladiators

The bristling cold of winter often leaves me blue. Seeing the sky turn pitch-black by 5 p.m. daily leaves me in a malaise as I pine for warm days where I could bask in the outdoors. During this hibernation period, I crave comfort food more than ever.

Opinion

Additional train service is a long time in coming

So, a couple of weeks ago as I stood on the train platform at Union Station listening to elected and transportation officials talk about the status of additional passenger train service between here and Boston, I realized that no one acknowledged former state Sen. Eric Lesser.

Wrong location for middle school

Article 6 is a wakeup call to Longmeadow residents signed by over 300 citizens who agree that the current Williams Middle School site is the wrong location. At the Nov. 12 Town Meeting, voters will get to decide whether they support a new consolidated middle school to be built on the current (WMS) property site despite some major disadvantages which threaten long term consequences for the town.

Find a better solution for middle school

I would like to address last weeks Letter to the Editor, asking Longmeadow residents to vote yes on Article 6. Contrary to the opinion of the MSBC, we are not trying to derail the process, we are trying to find a better solution and location for the proposed new combined middle school. Let me address each of their points.