The Southwick Fireworks capped off the event-filled day on Saturday July 22. (Photo courtesy of Bill Curran)
SOUTHWICK – Hundreds of residents of Southwick and nearby communities attended the events that occurred in Southwick last Saturday.
The festivities kicked off with the One Call Away Bike Ride at 8 a.m from Whalley Park. This 70-mile motorcycle ride took off at 10:30 a.m. and was followed by a BBQ when the bikers returned after 2pm. Dave Sutton, founder and president of One Call Away, said that around 160 bikes were part of the ride.
Sutton said that riders came from as far as the Central Mass towns of Leominster and Fitchburg, even as far as New York.
“That’s pretty good to come out here for this,” said Sutton.
The second One Call Away event of the day was the First Responders Appreciation Parade, as police and fire departments from surrounding communities took part, including Westfield, Granville, Tolland, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, and a number of others.
“That made every bit of what we did, perfect,” said Sutton. “These first responders are in harm’s way, day after day after day.”
The Wick 338 hosted their first ever MudFest on Saturday but it didn’t happen without challenges and a tremendous amount of excavation work.
Around 90 drivers were signed up to bring their trucks and the mud started flying shortly after 10am for the inaugural Mud Fest.
It wasn’t just the turnout of the drivers that impressed The Wick 338 President Rick Johnson.
“The spectator turnout was phenomenal, we filled the parking lot,” said Johnson. “We were very, very happy about that.”
Now that the first mud fest is under their belt, Johnson said The Wick 338 is now in the planning stages of when to do more mud fests in the future.
As the events headed into the evening, a bonfire took place in the pits of The Wick 338 motocross track. Joe Deedy, who co-organized the events, was pleased with the bonfire, which was so big that people at Whalley Park could see it from the pits.
(Photo courtesy of One Call Away)
“The bonfire was a real good attraction,” said Deedy.
Capping off the day was the fireworks, which also took place in the pits of the motocross track. Along with Deedy, Kevin Bishop helped raise the $11,000 needed for this year’s fireworks. Bishop was happy to see hundreds of people attend the fireworks.
“The fireworks I think were a great success,” said Bishop. “I was very proud to be from Southwick seeing an event like this.”
According to Deedy, they raised over $15,000 for the fireworks. Any remaining money left over will be used towards next year’s fireworks.
Deedy also announced that he has created a name for his non-profit organization moving forward, the Southwick Civic Corporation.
Partnering up together for the corporation, Deedy and Bishop will be focusing on raising money for traditional events in Southwick while also brainstorming new ideas.
