The cake that once sat in Westfield’s Park Square Green now sits next to Hatfield’s town hall to commemorate their own 350th birthday. (Photo by Peter Currier)
HATFIELD- The former cake that sat in the middle of downtown Westfield has been decorated and finally lit up in its new home in the center of Hatfield.
Hatfield had purchased the cake from the Westfield 350 Committee earlier this year to use for its own 350th birthday celebration. Hatfield 350th Anniversary Steering Committee Co-Chair Lauria Banas said that the cake had been installed in the town’s center for about two months, but that the actual lighting wasn’t until Dec. 21 with the annual Hatfield Luminarium, an event in which the main roads of the city are illuminated by candles placed inside of milk jugs or paper bags.
Banas said that the actual lighting of the cake was conducted by the retired Fr. Robert Coonan and the Hatfield 350 logo contest winner Madelein Nagy. The Westfield 350 logo that sat on the top of the cake as the 350th candle will be replaced with the Hatfield 350 logo Nagy created. The citizens of Hatfield voted Nagy’s design as the winner for the official logo.
The topper has not yet been placed, as the cake is decorated with Christmas trees and wreaths instead. The lights were plugged in and turned on in the middle of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
Hatfield’s 350th birthday takes place a little more than a year after Westfield’s. Their Incorporation Day is on May 31, with the celebratory parade taking place June 13.
Banas said that the cake will be lit up for most of the next year, although they are planning for it to be taken down before winter 2020-2021.
Banas noted that this year’s Illuminarium was more of an informal kickoff to the Hatfield 350; the New Year’s Eve Gala at the Log Cabin will be the official beginning of the town’s 350th year.
