ADAMS, Mass. — Cancellation of municipal events has been the norm at most board meetings lately because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Board of Selectmen continued that trend Wednesday night.

 

The sadness was palpable in the room as board members voted unanimously to postpone the remaining public events scheduled for the 200th birthday celebration of Susan B. Anthony to 2021. 

 

The Adams Suffrage Centennial Celebration Committee has been working for more than two years to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote along with Anthony's 200th birthday. The celebration was going to culminate in August with a weekend's worth of activities including live music, a food truck festival, fireworks and a parade all leading up to the unveiling and dedication on the town common of a statue of the Adams born suffragette made by world-renowned sculptor Brian Hanlon

 

Committee member Pam St. John was in attendance virtually to guide the board's decision. She pointed out that it wouldn't only be the weekend long celebration in August that would be affected but other smaller events leading up to it.

 

"On June 21, we were scheduled for our first event with the train ride; Aug. 9 was the 'Trial of Susan B Anthony' to be held at the library with actors coming up from Hudson, N.Y.; on Aug. 17, Cheryl Fay from Cape Cod was coming out to portray Susn B. Anthony also at the library," she told the board.

 

With so much uncertainty because of the novel coronavirus, the board members agreed that the best case of action was to postpone all the events until next year. Taking into account deposits paid to vendors, the readiness of town facilities to accept visitors, and the impossibility of knowing what the public gathering regulations will be moving forward, the board felt it really had no choice.

 

There was certainly a lot of hand wringing while the decision was being made.

 

"I just hate to see all this work go to waste. I feel horrible for the committee and especially everybody in town that this is going to fall by the wayside [for now]," said Selectman James Bush. "I hope we can find a way to make this as successful as possible and not take away the grandeur of it."

 

Selectman Joseph Nowak also serves on the committee and couldn't see a way the parade can occur with so much unknown about the future.

 

"[The parade] is definitely undoable at this point. We have put out many feelers for bands and other types of entertainment to perform in the parade. They were sent out in May and we have had very few people return anything because during the pandemic their minds have been on other things," he said. "As a member, as much as I hate to say it, I don't think the parade is viable at all this year ... it just won't work."

 

Chairwoman Christine Hoyt offered her own perspective on the postponements and was visibly emotional as she addressed the board.

 

"As a sitting elected official who is female and what Susan B. Anthony stands for for me and to be making this call ... it's very difficult and it's quite emotional. I know the work that's gone into it and I can't ignore that but at the same time I want to be able to allow the committee to do this next part," she said. "But I think with the events that have been proposed at this time, my opinion would be to cancel them."

 

Hoyt also raised the dearth of any semblance of tourism and travel that currently exists because of the strict regulations imposed locally and federally as a factor in her decision.

 

"This particular series of events was to bring visitors to our community, to put the town of Adams on the map and to be a real tourist attraction during tourist season," she said. "If these were just town of Adams community events I would say, 'hold off and lets not make the decision yet,' but this is reaching out to different areas of the country."

 

Schools, nonessential businesses, and public buildings have been closed or have had limited access since the governor issued a stay-home advisory in mid-March. School buildings will continue to be closed until at least next fall and the stay-home advisory has been extended to May 18. 

 

St. John felt that postponing now would give the celebration committee time to recoup any monies already paid out or taken in from vendors and performers and give it plenty of time to start planning for 2021.

 

Town Administrator Jay Green put a positive spin on the outcome after the vote was taken.

 

"This group has worked too hard. We have an excellent amount of money, we have some great ideas, and this town deserves the opportunity to celebrate. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter when we do it, we will do it together. We will be celebrating something that is frankly eternal," he said. "The concepts that she fought for will always be with us and will always be part of this town and we look forward to celebrating in 2021."

 

The board did not rule out having a much smaller scale unveiling of the statue should social gathering limits be increased beyond the current number of 10 but nothing was voted upon in that regard.

 

The Memorial Day Parade was also canceled for 2020. Another decision not easily made by the board but with the governor extending the stay-home order until May 18, holding a parade on May 25 was deemed a remote possibility.

 

The board did discuss doing something in conjunction with Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp. to honor the region's veterans. Neighboring municipalities Cheshire, Williamstown, and North Adams have already canceled their parades.

 

Hoyt said she has talked to representatives from those municipalities as well as local American Legion Post 160 Cmdr. Keith McLear about the possibility of doing something on a smaller scale and broadcasting it with NBCTC's help.

 

Bush had an idea ready to run by the board.

 

"Would it be possible to have a keynote speaker up at Maple Street Cemetery, have the honor guard up there with their guns, do the speech and do the 21-gun salute, and have them televise it? We'd still be honoring our veterans even though we wouldn't be having a parade," said.

 

Selectman Richard Blanchard, speaking as a member of the board and as a veteran, agreed with the idea to cancel the parade and liked Bush's notion of a smaller celebration.

 

"I don't think any of the honorees for Memorial Day would want anyone putting themselves at risk to honor them. I would be in for something remote like [Bush said]," he agreed.