SPRINGFIELD — It’s been a long road for 17 girls that applied to represent Springfield this year as the city’s grand colleen. In the beginning, their names were redacted from the applications — they were assigned numbers from 1-17 and were anonymous.
OTIS — The O’Brien family is approaching the second anniversary of the night their 20-year-old son, Jack, was killed in a snowmobile accident. Since then, they have mourned and cried, but they have also honored his memory by raising nearly $250,000 for charity causes.
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Forty years ago, Ellen Buoniconti began giving piano lessons to children in the basement of her home. She took on five students at first, starting the business with modest expectations.