Holden

• Holden Days will be held Saturday, August 22 from 9 am – 3 pm. Join this fun family event along Main Street. Park at WRHS or Dawson School and take one of the free shuttle buses that run on the hour and half-hour. Enjoy delicious food, live music, children’s activities, a farmers’ market, and talented artisans selling unique gifts. Learn about local businesses, nonprofits, town departments – Come one, come all! WFP will have a table and tent near Damon House so please stop by, say Hi, meet the staff, grab some swag, and tell us what you love (or don’t like!) about the paper. We look forward to seeing you, rain or shine.

 • As posted on the Friends of the Holden Senior Center’s Facebook page: “The Holden Senior Center remains closed until Monday, August 17. During this time, the building will be accessible to staff only. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make these improvements, and we look forward to welcoming you back soon!” According to the Senior Center’s Director Karen Phillips, the improvements involve expanding the Center’s parking lot. Despite the recent heavy rains, Phillips says they are “being hopeful that we will re-open on Monday, the 17th.” 

Paxton

• The Paxton Fire Department is coordinating free reflective street number signs that can be displayed in the front of your home. The signs can be in a vertical or horizontal orientation. If you would like to order one, stop by the Senior Center and speak with Director Cindy Love, who has application forms. She will then send the forms to the Fire Department. Senior Center hours are Monday through Friday, 9 am-2 pm.

• Spotted lanternfly lands in Paxton. Unfortunately.

For those readers unfamiliar with this voracious, creepy insect, the SLF (Lycorma delicaula) is an aggressive, invasive, sap-feeding insect that first found its way to Pennsylvania in 2014, now covers most of that state’s counties, and can now be found in more than 50 Massachusetts municipalities.

 While they are not harmful to humans or pets, this insect can devastate agriculture such as grape arbors, vineyards, orchards, and maple trees. And no exaggeration, if the nymphs and adults infest your yard, it is something right out of a Hitchcock horror movie.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) maintains an online map of the infestation, which can be viewed on its Invasive Pest Dashboard.  Like a scourge slowly covering the state, the highlighted cities and towns show the insect’s inexorable, advancing onslaught. 

Go here to learn more about Pennsylvania’s experience: extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly or go here to report a sighting: massnrc.org/pests/slfreport.aspx or here to learn about MDAR’s steps to take if you find an adult, nymph, or egg masses: www.mass.gov/spotted-lanternfly

Rutland

• The celebration of Finn Park’s 100th anniversary continues August 15 at 7 p.m. with a dance at the park’s historic community building with music by Dan Mackowiak. Tickets are $8. This is followed on August 23 at 2 pm with an afternoon of coffee and delicacies. According to the Finish Heritage Society Sovittaja, Finns are the world’s heaviest coffee drinkers, averaging 3-4 cups daily, with consumption so vital that the law mandates two daily coffee breaks for workers. On the 23rd, the coffee will be imported from Finland and there will be Finnish foods to enjoy including homemade pulla or nisu, coffee bread; rye bread; cheese and butter; cookies; and Karelian piirakkas. Due to unforeseen circumstances, our guest speaker Lisa Tarkiainen Steele is unable to be present that day. There is no charge but donations will be appreciated.

• A public information meeting about Rutland's Community Electricity Program will be held from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, August 19 in the Blair Conference Room, Rutland Public Library. Rutland Community Electricity is the town’s new municipal aggregation program. It is designed to provide residents with new electricity supply options that feature competitive prices, longer-term price stability and more renewable energy (though savings cannot be guaranteed). This program was approved by the Rutland Town Meeting in 2025 and by the Department of Public Utilities in February 2026. The program will launch October 2026 and will offer three electricity supply options for residents and businesses. The program will also support regional renewable energy growth by sourcing all additional, voluntary renewable energy from 'MA Class I' resources. These consist primarily of wind and solar projects located within New England. Learn details at this public information session.