Upcoming Events to Be Aware Of

It's the holiday season, as I'm sure you can tell by the amount of catalogs in your mailbox.  Here are some important dates to look forward to this season:

Nov. 23-24: Monte's March, benefiting the Western Massachusetts Food Bank

Dec. 3: Hadley Master Plan Forum, 6:30pm, Hadley Senior Center
Dec. 6: Amherst College Vespers and Smith College Vespers @4pm & 730pm
Dec.13: Mount Holyoke College Vespers @ 4pm & 730pm

I was saddened to learn that Valley Gives Day is on hiatus until 2016 -- I look forward to that every year!  Not that that means I won't be giving during this season of gratitude giving and remembering, but VGD made it just a little more fun.

Library Building Forum

I probably should have come up with a catchy title for this blog post, but catchy isn't coming to me this evening, so I'll have to settle for practical.

The library is looking ahead to the future!  A forum to discuss building plans is coming to a Town Hall near you -- the Hadley Town Hall is hosting a library planning and building design forum on Monday, September 28, at 7pm, sponsored by the library trustees and the library design committee.  This is an opportunity for residents ask questions, voice opinions, and hear the pros and cons of various site options for a new library.

The voice of the community is a necessary part of the library building project -- add your voice to the others' and let it be heard!

Circulation is increasing, patronage is increasing, general usage is increasing -- and town population is increasing! -- but the library has not been able to increase in proportion.  For more information about the building program and why it's important, read (or skim) the Goodwin Memorial Library Building Program.  In it you will find community comparisons, space usage, collection information, public input from surveys and forums, and more!  (It's a large file, so it might take a minute or two to load into your browser.)

Click on the picture below for a few of the important statistics.

Valley Gives!

Valley Gives Day is a fun opportunity to donate to local nonprofit organizations and to watch the donations add up.  You can follow the action on leaderboards and hope your favourite nonprofit comes out on top.  This is the third year for VGD, and to date more than $3million has been raised for our community!
Valley Gives Day this year is Wednesday, December 10.  Don't forget to give!

Mount Warner Explodes!

Before I get into the meat of this post, I will admit that I used a sensational headline to grab your attention.  Mont Warner isn't exploding with lava or ash rock or little chocolate and marshmallow candies.  Rather, it's exploding with excitement and new activity.

The preserved area of Mount Warner consists of 2000 contiguous acres of land held by multiple conservation groups and individuals.  The Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations has stewardship of the Mount Warner Reservation, 159 acres dedicated for "passive recreation" (i.e. hiking, walking, skiing, mountain biking, etcetera -- no motorized vehicles or hunting).  A public meeting at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum last night gave interested residents the opportunity to share information and exchange ideas.

 

The Trustees shared their goals to "Protect, Steward, Excite"; to protect the numerous historic and natural resources on Mount Warner, including 5 stone/brick-lined artesian wells, vernal pools, Lou's rock, native birds and plants, and beautiful vistas (for a Mount Warner resource inventory created by students at UMass, visit this link); to steward the land by building new sustainable trails, marking & mapping them (there's a new 2-mile trail nearly completed!), creating a parking lot,  and managing invasives; to excite by partnering with local colleges, vineyards, orchards, farms, conservation groups, naturalists, and community and creating programs.

It was a great meeting with lots of ideas shared and discussed -- and it was a great way to meet neighbours and other outdoor enthusiasts!

Want to get involved in protecting, improving, and enjoying the Mount Warner area?  Come to the Opening Celebration and talk to Josh, the reservation superintendent, who may be forming a property committee; join the Friends of Lake Warner and participate in their activities (water chestnut pull at 9:00 on August 4, bring a canoe or kayak if you have one); or, just get out into the hills -- you can hike, bike, bird-watch, rock-climb, cross-country ski, and more!  Whenever you go, please remember to USE, ENJOY, RESPECT.



As previously stated, the meeting was held at the PPH Museum, which hosts small shows of various artists (I believe there were three artists represented last night).  The colourful the work of Jane Thurber was a great backdrop for the meeting.

Open Space Meeting -- Tonight!

Perhaps you have seen the Open Space & Recreation Plan survey handed out at town meeting this month.  If you haven't, I highly recommend finding one (I know there are some available at the library) and filling it out.
And then, just maybe, you would like to attend the Community Forum on the Hadley Open Space and Recreation Plan that happens TONIGHT from 7-9 at the Hadley Senior Center.  Look at this page for information.
If you care about how the open space in Hadley is utilized, consider attending.
Happy Thursday!

Money + Mouth + March

The day is almost here -- have you heard?  This Thursday is Monte's March III -- a march from Northampton, through Hadley and Amherst, all the way to Greenfield, pushing an empty shopping cart along the way.  You may be asking yourself or the person sitting beside you why someone would do such a perfectly ridiculous thing.  There's a simple answer to that -- it's to bring awareness to and support the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

I'm a huge fan of the FBoWM -- I think they do a great service to residents in Western MA as a food bank and as a place for people to help others.

Take a little time this Thursday to donate to the food bank during Monte's March -- or take it a step or two further by raising money and joining him on his trek.  Details and more information can be found on the Food Bank's website or at The River.

Walk on, Monte!

This Week's News

A few recent news articles for your perusal:

The Hadley Schools Superintendent Search
Report on the Hadley Town Meeting
US Wildlife Service Buys Hadley Conservation Land

I alluded to the new town website on the previous post.  While I like the sharp, clean look of the old website better, the new website has much more functionality.  And though not all the pages are populated yet, there is much more available information than there had been previously.
The library has its own site-within-a-site with links to the catalogs, databases, events, and more; the town by-laws are accessible from the town's homepage; minutes and agendas are available for viewing; bills can be paid online; and there's now a comment form.  You can also sign up for email alerts from the town here: http://www.hadleyma.org/Subscriber
I'm sure more information will be added to the website over the next few months, filling in some of the blank spaces and making it even more useful.

Were you at the Town Meeting Thursday night?  If you weren't, I encourage you to make space in your schedule for the November meeting; if you were, keep up the good work and come back to the next one!  (One of my favourite parts of this year's meeting was picking up my very own copy of the Annual Town Report, in which there is plenty of useful information and one of my photos.)

The Endangered Hadley Park

Town officials are considering selling Zatyrka Park (on the corner of Breckenridge and Huntington) in order to make money for a new community center.
Read the article from the Gazette here: http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/03/20/sale-of-hadley-park-could-fund-community-center

I used a picture of that park for the Hadley Heritage "Entrusting the Commons" project for the theme "Endangered."  Looks like I was more right than I knew....

 

The proposal to sell the park might end up on the spring Town Meeting warrant.  What do you think?  Share your thoughts with other MH readers by posting a comment below.