S. Hadley to hold Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony

SOUTH HADLEY — The town’s annual National Vietnam War Veterans Day Commemoration at the South Hadley Public Library will take place Thursday at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 with light refreshments for all.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day recognizes the sacrifices veterans and their families made during the Vietnam War. It is also a day to recognize town veterans who served anywhere in the world from Nov. 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975. In 2012, President Obama officially proclaimed March 29 “Vietnam War Veterans Day” and in 2017, that date was established officially and permanently by law.

Thursday’s event will feature veteran speakers and special recognition of Vietnam veterans, as well as honoring service members from South Hadley, Holyoke, and Granby with a wreath-laying ceremony and the sounding of “Taps” for those who made the supreme sacrifice during the Vietnam War.

The ceremony will include the dedication of two new Purple Heart town signs honoring Vietnam veterans that will be placed in both South Hadley and Granby, the two communities being previously proclaimed as Purple Heart towns.

The ceremony is being sponsored by the South Hadley American Legion Post 260, South Hadley Sons of the American Legion, South Hadley VFW Post 3104 and The Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Drive-through shredding event

HADLEY — A townwide, drive-through shredding event is taking place at the Hadley Senior Center, 46 Middle St., Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.

A town-sponsored event, the shredding is only open to Hadley residents, who will be asked to show identification.

Each household will be limited to five boxes of materials per household. Volunteers will be on hand to remove materials from each vehicle.

Catering company to set up at Gardeners Supply

HADLEY — Push for Joy, a recently created mobile coffee events and catering company, will be setting up at the Gardeners Supply Co., 285 Russell St., beginning Saturday.

Co-founder Cora Lambert told the Select Board, which issued a common victualer’s license to the business Monday, that the cart serves coffee, espresso and pastries made in a commissary kitchen in Deerfield.

“We were invited by the Gardeners Supply Co. to take our little mobile espresso cart and serve coffee and pastries to their patrons for limited hours on Saturdays and Sundays for the spring,” Lambert said.

Lambert and wife Margaret Dixon co-founded Push for Joy over the winter and began by setting up at Grow Food Northampton’s winter market.

Holyoke sets dates for transition out of receivership

HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke will work together over the next five months to develop a governance plan that outlines the steps needed to take back local control of the school system after nine years of receivership.

This transition to local control will include seven meetings starting in April and lasting through August with the Local Control Subcommitee and Russell Johnston, acting education commissioner.

“We are grateful for this clear demonstration of the state’s willingness to work with us,” Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said in a statement.

The first meeting will take place on Monday, April 8, at 5 p.m., in the Fifield Room at Dean Tech. The discussion topic will be a review of the Turnaround Plan that has guided receivership since 2015.

Future meetings are scheduled for April 23, annual budgeting; May 13, policy process; May 28, process for reviewing, hiring, and evaluating the superintendent; June 10, create plan for collaboration with key stakeholders; July 22, revisit Turnaround Plan; Aug. 19, review and develop recommendations for School Committee bylaws to go into effect when receivership ends.

The meetings are open to the public in person or via Zoom.

Garcia notes that August is not when receivership ends, but that is the timeframe for completion of the exit plan.