Members of the committee and volunteers were in attendance for the meeting. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
SOUTHWICK – The 250th Anniversary Celebration Committee held their monthly meeting at Southwick Town Hall on Monday night.
At the start of the meeting, Select Board Vice-Chairman Russ Fox, who has been organizing the committee, suggested that the committee select a chairman for the committee. Fox then nominated Jim Putnam as the chairman and all members in attendance were in favor of the motion.
Putnam, a Southwick resident, is the town moderator for town meetings and is a former member of the school committee.
“I’m eager and willing to facilitate this process,” said Putnam.
Minutes after being named the chairman, Putnam’s first order was to have all working groups put their plans together before the next meeting in September. The plans involve putting a budget together and making recommendations. The working groups are comprised of people in the committee who are working on a specific area of the celebration.
The different working groups are float, outreach and social media, parade, fundraising, events, historical content, and youth programming and schools.
Freda Brown, who’s a part of the events working group, touched on how beneficial it could be for the committee to work with a number of local businesses in Southwick.
“If we don’t have the support of the businesses, we’re not going to be able to do the things we want to do,” said Brown.
Fox acknowledged that he’s already been approached by several businesses in town who are interested in participating.
An key discussion at the meeting was the parade that will be a part of the celebration. George Tichy, who is chairman of the parade working group, informed the rest of the committee that a decision on the date of the parade needed to be made before the end of the meeting.
“The parade working group is dead in the water until you guys can make a decision,” said Tichy. “We can’t approach anybody.”
The committee spent several minutes discussing what would be the best day to have the parade in 2020. Tichy initially suggested October 3, but with the Big E during that time, some members were skeptical of that date. Another option was in May, but some members were unsure of that possibility as the high school band may be finished by then, and they’re an organization that the committee would want to include in the parade.
Jim Putnam was named the chairman of the 250th Anniversary Committee on Monday night. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Committee member Dave Gunn then voiced his opinion for October 10 as the parade date and a motion was made to tentatively accept that date. The parade will be on October 10 subject to Tichy speaking with the Town of Granville about the Granville Harvest Fair, as it’s also on the weekend of October 10.
In order for all of the events conceived to take place for the 250th celebration, the committee needs funding. Rep. Nick Boldyga announced that he’s helped secure $25,000 for the Town of Southwick to use towards the celebration. Along with help from Sen. Don Humason, the $25,000 is part of the $41.2 billion FY 2019 budget. According to Fox, the $25,000 needs to be spent by June 30, 2019.
Besides the $25,000, the town has $5,000 left over from Southwick’s 225th anniversary along with $5,000 each that will be appropriated for both FY18 and FY19.
The Southwick Civic Fund, a non-profit organization in the community, will be assisting the committee by managing any money raised for the 250th celebration.
