ADAMS, Mass. — There was supposed to be fanfare and celebration, speeches and parades.
But then came COVID-19.
The town of Adams was set to commemorate native daughter Susan B. Anthony and the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment securing women's right to vote. The yearlong observance began in February with the serenading of Anthony on her 200th birthday.
The Adams Suffrage Centennial Celebration Committee had been working for more than two years to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote along with Anthony's bicentennial. 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.
Hanlon's bronze was being put into place on Tuesday morning at the Town Common, which is also undergoing an update that was to be completed more than a month ago. The delays caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic pushed it to later in the year but most of the most of the work is expected to be completed before winter.
The new common at the south end of Park Street is getting new pathways, a new gazebo in the eastern corner and a small plaza featuring the Susan B. Anthony memorial.
The monument is made up of three pieces — a stepped granite base, the adult Anthony orating (she crisscrossed the nation during her adulthood giving 75 to 100 speeches a year on the subject of suffrage), and Anthony as a child sitting on the lower steps of the base.
The civil rights activist was born on East Road and lived there until her family moved when she was 6. She died in 1906, 14 years before the final passage of what is often called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. She frequently returned to Adams to visit relatives whose descendants still live in the area. Her birthplace is now a museum.
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Adams Sees No Races So Far
By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — With less than a week left before nomination papers are due, there are currently no contested seats.
Only selectman incumbent John Duval has returned papers. Selectman Howard Rosenberg has decided not to seek re-election.
Rosenberg, who was elected in 2021, said he has chosen not to run again to make room for younger candidates.
"I feel strongly, we need younger people running for public office, as the future of our town lies within the younger generation. The world is so fundamentally different today and rapidly changing to become even more so. I believe we need people who are less interested in trying to bring back the past, then in paving the way for a promising future. The younger generation can know that they can stay here and have a voice without having to leave for opportunities elsewhere," he said.
The only person to return papers so far is former member the board Donald Sommer. Sommer served as a selectman from 2007 to 2010 and before that was a member of the School Committee and the Redevelopment Authority. He ran unsuccessfully for selectman in 2019 and again in 2021 but dropped out of before the election.
Incumbent Moderator Myra Wilk and Town Clerk Haley Meczywor have returned papers for their respective positions.
Assessor Paula Wheeler has returned papers and incumbents James Loughman and Eugene Michalenko have returned papers for library trustees.
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