Southwick
FOOD & DRINK
Distemper virus, not rabies, is ravaging raccoons, threatening unvaccinated dogs
Over the last several weeks dozens of Greater Westfield residents have been reporting raccoons acting strangely, with many describing them walking in circles, appearing lethargic, and most fearing the animals have contracted rabies. They haven’t. It’s an outbreak of canine distemper cutting a deadly swath through raccoon population, according to...
Arts Beat: Spirituals and more on program at Juneteenth concerts this week
“Unreconciled,” Jay Sefton’s tour-de-force play about a young theater student (Jay Sefton) who is the victim of abuse by a priest, and yet moves on to be a therapist and an actor, has its world premiere at Chester Theatre, July 4-14, after a workshop last summer at Chester. Sefton performed the work in Provincetown last month, and after the Chester run, the show moves to Belfast, Ireland, before opening Off-Broadway on Sept. 25. Sefton wrote the play with Mark Basquill. James Barry directs. For details on the play: www.unreconciledtheplay.com. For information on the Chester performances: www.chestertheatre.org.
Father’s Day: An afternoon for fishing, family, memories
Old Lyme ― In between rigging friend’s fishing lines, Malachi Brown, of Springfield, Mass., explained that he never kept okra around the house while his children were growing up. “I hated okra,” Brown said. But growing up in the South, he said he had eaten it all...
Dave Portnoy raves about CT pizza place, but rants about a bigger issue. What really happened.
E & D Pizza Co. scored high in a coveted one bite review by Dave Portnoy, but Portnoy went off on a sarcastic tangent in the beginning about how he felt slighted for not being invited on a recent trip to Washington D.C. where New Haven was proclaimed the pizza capital of the nation. “That doesn’t happen without me… I kind of exposed it (New Haven pizza) to the world,” Portnoy of Barstool ...
Ludlow celebrates 250th birthday parade and picnic
LUDLOW — Everybody loves a parade. That was evident on Saturday as thousands of spectators lined Chapin and East Streets under sunny skies as 26 floats and 1,200 participants helped celebrate Ludlow’s 250th birthday. The procession started at Ludlow High School and culminated at Veterans Memorial Park for a picnic featuring live music, amusement rides, craft vendors, food trucks, local breweries, local civic organizations, non-profits organizations and local businesses. Several surrounding towns joined in the celebration, including Springfield and Belchertown. In all, more than 150 units marched in the parade. Originally part of Springfield, Ludlow incorporated as a separate town in 1774. It has roots as a mill town, with many sawmills and gristmills that were powered by the Chicopee River and other nearby waterways. The 250th celebration was to be capped off in the evening with a fireworks presentation.
Balancing act: The nostalgia of cut grass, the benefits of low-impact lawn maintenance
I love the smell of freshly cut grass. It instantly conjures memories of childhood summers, staying out playing with my friends in the neighborhood until the streetlights turned on, visiting the ballpark behind my house to buy candy at the snack bar, and hours spent doing absolutely nothing but exploring for salamanders in the woods around my house. It’s amazing how our brains are wired to recall specific memories when triggered by familiar smells.
Greater Westfield librarians gearing up for youth, adult summer reading programs
All summer, libraries in Greater Westfield will be host programs around the theme “Read, Renew, Repeat.” It’s an invitation to connect reading and knowledge with environmentalism and sustainability. But librarians say “renewing” and “repeating” the practice of reading during a season when students aren’t cracking open their...
Stretching and strength exercises for your summer activities
(Mass Appeal) – Our studio is a little full today which means we’ve got to do today’s Fitness Friday in a more confined space. But that’s OK. Carol Palmer, a fitness class instructor at the Westfield Senior Center, is here to show is some stretching and strength exercises you can do right in your kitchen.
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