The Westfield 350th Birthday Parade May 19 is led by members of the city’s scout troops. In the golf cart directly behind them is Art Bousquet and Dave Cowart, who were the scouts who led the 1969 300th parade. (Marc St. Onge Photo)
WESTFIELD- The Westfield 350th birthday celebration is a wrap after this long-anticipated weekend brought thousands of Westfield residents out to take part in the festivities.
The City of Westfield is now officially 350-years-old as of Sunday. The celebrations began Friday with a proclamation ceremony in City Council Chambers at City Hall. Mayor Brian P. Sullivan and President of the Friends of the Westfield 350 Harry Rock hosted the event where they took the opportunity to thank the community for all the time and effort that was put in over the entire planning process for the 350th birthday.
“It takes a village,” said Rock, “And what a village! This could not have happened without you.”
Later that evening was the monthly ArtWalk, during which local artists posted up outside shops on Elm Street and showcased their work. Some were photographers who capture a variety of subjects while others were painters using different styles and mediums to make works of art.
A replica of the giant birthday cake on Park Square Green in honor of the city’s 350th birthday was presented during a private reception for Westfield 350 volunteers and sponsors at the Westfield Athenaeum May 17. (Hope E. Tremblay Photo)
The bulk of the weekend’s activities took place on Saturday throughout the city. Some residents woke up bright and early to do yoga by the Great River Bridge. Others got up just as early to attend the Community Pancake Breakfast at Westfield Middle School. Some people, surely, did both. Also beginning in the morning was a painting project in which local artists painted some of the utility boxes near the Park Square Green. The now decorated utility boxes now have works of art on them instead of being the dull green color they once were.
Early in the afternoon, the Run Westfield 5K began at Westfield State University’s south parking lot and ended on Elm Street by the Gaslight District, where a block party was waiting for the runners. The race was won by 24-year-old Jacob Thomson for the men with a time of 14:09. For the women, the winner was 29-year-old Katrina Spratford with a time of 15:51.
There were two showings of the Westfield Theater Group’s original musical, “Time in Westfield.” The script was written by Kathy Palmer specifically for the Westfield 350. It took the audience on a journey through time to explore Westfield’s history. The music in the play was written by Marion Dunk.
“It is a lighthearted entertaining comedy that should appeal to all ages,” said playwright Kathy Palmer, “It should appeal to people who like plays, people who like musicals, people who like fun stories, people who like history, people who like to see old Westfield pictures.”
The backdrops shown throughout the play were all of authentic pictures of Westfield and its history. There were over 40 different cast members in the play, roughly a third of whom had never acted in any capacity before.
There were five showings of the original production throughout its run, which began on May 10th. The showing on Friday, May 17th was not open to the general public, as it was a special showing for all of those who had worked on the 350 since preparations began.
On Saturday afternoon, the celebrations continued on the field by Amelia Park and Westfield Middle School, where a children’s carnival took place. A number of local food trucks were present while the Beach Boys tribute band “The Driftwoods” played on a stage at the edge of the field. Later in the night, when the band wrapped up, Rock took the stage to begin a countdown, akin to what was done during Westfield’s firs- ever First Night part held on New Years Eve of this year. At the end of the countdown, the Westfield 350 bike sign on top of the Boys and Girls Club lit up, and the fireworks began. The fireworks show was sponsored by Advanced Manufacturing.
Stanley Park Managing Director Bob McKean drives a golf cart as part of the Stanley Park contingent in the Westfield 350 parade May 19. (Marc St. Onge Photo)
Rock’s countdown was done with the young grandson of the late Kazimierz ‘Kaz’ Trzepacz, the main creator of the bike sign. Kaz was a retired employee of Columbia Manufacturing who was tasked with creating the sign by the company’s president, Ali Salehi.
Salehi said later that Kaz was the most talented employee he had ever seen at his company.
“I said, ‘Kaz, make me this’,” said Salehi while pointing to a drawing of the bike on a piece of draft paper. “This is all I gave him.”
Kaz passed away before his sign was lit up on top of the building. Rock and the other 350 organizers chose to honor him by having his grandson do the countdown.
Rock estimated that somewhere around 5,000 people were in the field watching the fireworks, compared to roughly 3,500 who watched them in the same spot on New Years Eve.
The events culminated in a parade May 19, the actual date of Westfield’s birthday. The parade began at Stanley Park and Westfield State University and went down Western Avenue to the Park Square Green. There were over 40 floats and hundreds of marchers representing many Westfield organizations, companies, churches, and groups. Rock said that he has no idea exactly how many people came out to view the parade, but he said that the crowd was about 10 people deep throughout most of the route.
“We hit it out of the park,” said Rock, “The big thing is that we got the weather on our side.”
At the end of the parade, when the last floats and marchers finally reached the Park Square Green, there was a performance by the Mummers Woodland String Band. Spectators were treated to ice cream and cupcakes prepared by students from Westfield Technical Academy.
“What I love about this celebration is that, when you looked at the parade, everyone was in it,” said Rock, “People would say to me ‘well who is going to watch it? everyone is in it!’.”
Of course, the celebrations did not really begin this weekend. Preparations began approximately two years ago, and the first Westfield 350 events began last fall. The Westfield 350 Historical Lecture Series began in late November and brought packed crowds of Westfield residents who learned much of the broad and niche history of their city. The first lecture discussed the past celebrations of Westfield’s 200th, 250th, and 300th birthdays. The topics of the lectures ranged from the histories of specific Westfield figures, to sports in Westfield, to some of Westfield’s lesser known landmarks.
The Westfield 350 also brought a now familiar fixture to downtown Westfield. The large cake sitting on the Park Square Green was installed in late December. It was built in a collaboration of several local businesses, including Westek Architectural Woodworking, where the cake was assembled. Rock said that the cake was a $70,000 project that took a lot of planning to come up with the final product. The interior of the cake is wired to light the 350 electric candles that were placed on the cake’s layers.
The wooden structure will remain on the green until September, Rock said. He added that the organizers of the celebrations are trying to find buyers who will use the cake instead of it having to be scrapped. He noted that there are several communities in the area who will be celebrating milestone birthdays in the near future, and that one of those towns may end up with the cake.
Rock said that the two-years of planning and coordinating was extremely challenging, but that it paid off as much as he had hoped when everything was said and done.
“It was a challenge-and-a-half,” said Rock, “but, for me, it was all about promoting civic pride and saying ‘thank you’ to our city. Getting our citizens reengaged and excited about the quality of life that we have here and all of the attributes that make Westfield ‘Westfield’.”
Rock thanked the city departments that assisted with the celebrations, including: The Police Department, the Police Auxiliary, the Department of Public Works, the Fire Department, Westfield Gas and Electric, the Mayor’s Office, the Office of Community Development, and others. He also emphasized that, despite how widespread the celebrations were throughout the months and this weekend, no tax dollars were spent on the Westfield 350. Rather, the entire tcelebration was privately funded, the key sponsor being the Westfield Bank, Rock said.
The next step now, said Rock, is getting ready for the city’s 400th birthday, which is right around the corner in 2069. Rock said that he was talking to some of the kids in the parade when he asked them how old they were, to which they responded eight and nine years-old.
“I said, you know what, you’re going to be 58-years-old when the Westfield 400 comes. It’s going to be your job to plan the 400th anniversary,” said Rock, “I was planting a lot of seeds. My hope is that we have created some traditions. I hope we have created some memories for the kids to grow up with.”
