Springfield 250th Celebration Continues

The events scheduled for July 29 through August 6.

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Springfield 250th Celebration Continues with the Annual Stellafane Convention of the Springfield Telescope Makers
The 76th Annual Stellafane Convention of the Springfield Telescope Makers Convention will be held on July 29 & 30 on Breezy Hill in Springfield, Vermont. The Stellafane Convention was started in 1926 to give amateur telescope makers a place to gather, share their techniques and show off their handiwork to one another. The convention is still going strong after 76 years. This year’s convention will be dedicated to member and benefactor of The Springfield Telescope Makers, Fran Flanders. There will be activities for the whole family. Please come and explore the Springfield skies.
Monday Night at the Movies
Monday Night at the Movie on August 1 at 7 - 9 pm at Park Street School auditorium will be Harland Whitcomb's Historic Glass slide photograph collection that he presented in 2006 at the Springfield Town Library. It is titled "Turn of the 20th Century - Way Back When."
Using the photographs, he takes the audience from the first covered bridge across the Connecticut River right up through Main Street in Springfield and all along the River Road into North Springfield telling the stories of what the businesses were, who lived in the places and locating them as to what is there today.
After an intermission with punch and cookies hosted by the North School Preservation Group, the second shortened video will be excerpts from "Tales of the 20th Century" which is a favorite ‘classic’ film shown on SAPA TV produced by Sandy MacGillivray in 2003 with by-gone stories and conversations with some of the "old- timer" Springfielders - Lloyd MacGillivray, Bob Harrington, Elroy
Wheelock and Fran Flanders.
Thursday Nights on Main Street
The local history series continues with a program by John Swanson at the Methodist Church at 7 pm, August 4. He will be presenting, "The First Days of the Civil War in Springfield." This is especially significant since when our local “Company A of the 3rd Regiment” mustered in Springfield to report for active duty in the Civil War in 1861, there was a connection with their send-off with the Methodist Church. Come and learn this exciting history of this.
John Swanson, a history teacher at Riverside Middle School, and Civil War history enthusiast, is a re-enactor with the "Hemlocks," the state-wide group that portrays Vermont life and duty during the
Civil War. He will be giving background history which will lead up to the special Saturday August 6 plans for a "Living History Day" of camp life that will be held on the Common in Springfield from
9:30 am - 4:30 pm.
Everyday life will be seen, as well as drilling and preparations for active duty. There will be a memorial service for Springfield's Civil War soldiers in the Summer Hill cemetery at one of the grave sites of a Civil War soldier.
"Abraham Lincoln" will be on hand to greet people and talk and with folks. Steve Wood of Claremont , who certainly looks and dresses like Lincoln, will put himself into the character and does a
wonderful job of representing Lincoln's personality and it is a joy to visit with him.
The evening of August 6, there will feature “Civil War Ballroom Dancing” held at the VFW Post 771Club on River St. from 7 - 10 pm. All are invited and encouraged to attend. Period costume is encouraged, but not required. Dance lessons of that era will be given, so come and join in with the fun. The "Camp Lincoln String Band" will be providing the period music for this evening. The VFW has graciously donated the use of their hall for this special event.
The 250th Celebration Committee would like to extend our appreciation to the Sponsors of the
Springfield 250th Celebration:
Platinum - Town of Springfield, Edward Jones/Gerald R. Mittica AAMF and the Springfield Rotary
Club
Gold - Connecticut River Bank, Cota & Cota, IPG Employee Benefits, Precision Contract
Manufacturing/Image-Tek, SAPA-TV, Springfield Garden Club, Springfield Pharmacy and Springfield
Savings & Loan.
Silver - Comtu Falls Corp, Lucas Industries, Shaw's Supermarket, Springfield Housing Authority, T-Bird
Mini Mart, The Webmasters, VFW Post 771 and Windsor County South Credit Union.
The support of these sponsors has made the summer long celebration of events possible, please thank
them when visiting their businesses.