Greenfield Recorder

On July 29, during a very heavy rain storm,  a 30-foot-long tree limb fell across my street. The limb was from a city-owned tree on the tree belt in front of my house. It completely blocked the street and was, in part, leaning on electric wires. Soon after the limb fell, the Greenfield Fire Department was at my door making sure that everything was fine and asking if I needed to leave my driveway.

GREENFIELD — Dark skies and light rain didn’t stop nearly 1,100 people from attending this year’s rendition of Harvest Supper on Saturday, a celebration of local farmers, food and community. Started back in 2005 by Juanita Nelson, Harvest Supper has grown in the over two-decades since the idea first became reality.

HEATH — At 108 years old, the Heath Fair’s spirit remained as strong as ever this year, despite gloomy weather in the forecast. The fair opened on Friday and attendees had a plethora of activities to take part in over the three-day event. For Elissa Viarengo, co-president of the Heath Agricultural Society, the fair is community celebration of agriculture.

TURNERS FALLS — Seventy-five years ago, a Franklin County mother wrote a letter to the Greenfield Recorder calling for fellow parents of children with disabilities to come together and support one another. Rita Marguerite Canedy had two children with disabilities and was searching for a better future for them at a time when families were often given few options beyond institutionalization.

ORANGE — The subcommittee tasked with considering potential changes to the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District’s regional agreement is beginning to strategize how to reach its objective. Legal counsel Adam Dupere met with members in Mahar’s library and media center on Thursday to outline some of his suggested tweaks to the regional agreement, which was signed in the 1950s. He said he plans to have more substantial suggestions at the next meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 23.

SPRINGFIELD — Fewer baptisms, weddings and churchgoers, along with a shrinking number of priests and rising deaths and funerals, are prompting the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield to rethink how it serves Catholics across western Massachusetts. Church closures may be part of the process, which will include input from parishioners through a series of listening sessions over the coming months.

LEVERETT — In a town founded two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, around 55 properties, including homes, cemeteries and stone walls, already existed during the American Revolution.

Good morning! Blue skies and sunshine accompanied my Sunday drive past ripening apple orchards and corn stalks on the backroads of New York to Saratoga. Earlier on Rte. 9 near Hogback a woman facing traffic ran past holding a torch shoulder high, participating in a Peace Torch relay through the U.S. to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. This was my first trip to the track in two years. The answer was simple when someone asked why I’d abandoned the annual trek.

Mary (Polly) Caron Conway, MA – Mary (Polly) Paine Caron, formerly Mary Bradford Paine (yes, an 11th direct descendent of William Bradford of the Mayflower), passed away peacefully on July 24th, 2026, surrounded in love and presence by her family; her husband Gary, her 4 children Alexandra, Brendan, Lindsay, and Tyler and their spouses Jimmy, Kristin, Katie, and Sharon, her 12 grandchildren Delaney, Riley, Mackenzie, Matthew, Madison, Mason, Jackson, Logan, Maxwell, Lillian, William, and...

Greenfield’s Olivia Lemay and Skyler Steele of Frontier Regional have a chance to showcase their softball talents for a charitable cause at the A Shot for Life Home Run Derby and Pitchers Challenge on Aug. 29 at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough. All money raised goes to cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Donations can be made here. To donate in Lemay and Steele’s name, comment their name in the donation. While the event is fun, it’s all about the cause.