Small towns make for strong ties.
As Greenfield prepares to celebrate its 225th anniversary on Saturday in Oak Park, its townspeople are making sure that the celebration is more than just one day.
This past week, on the 15th, which is the true anniversary of the town’s founding, young and old gathered at Town Hall to eat cake, celebrate and enter their names into a time capsule.
Oh, yes, and to ring the bell. The bell was rung 225 times, one for each year the town of Greenfield has been around.
The bell is found in the 18th-century Meeting House, which is one of the town’s most recognizable landmarks. (Speaking of the Meeting House, did you know that the Meeting House was rotated so it faced the town center? You can find this little tidbit of trivia, and more in our special section on Pages 13 to 16.)
But back to the bell-ringing.
Almost a dozen Greenfield residents walked up the stairs and lined up to ring the bell, and doing so, became part of history. The names of the bell ringers will become part of the town’s history.
And this kind of history doesn’t make itself. Without the coordination of the anniversary committee, none of this would be possible. In fact the committee, comprised of Dorene Adams, Maureen Caron, Robert Caron, Adele Hale, Katherine Heck and Carele Mayer, has been working on this since 2014.
That bell ringing ceremony aside, the big event is at Oak Park Saturday, beginning with a parade at 9 a.m.
Among the exhibitions will be stations set up by countless groups, ranging from the Recycling Center to the Stephenson Library. Each will hold raffles, present history, or otherwise promote its place in the culture of Greenfield.
It is fitting that this celebration be held at Oak Park. Once upon a time, the annual Oak Park fair was such a big event, that transportation would be offered to carry people into Greenfield from Boston.
We celebrate Greenfield’s anniversary, for it reminds of why we chose to live in the Monadnock region — our small town way of life keeps our communities strong.