Williamstown Select Board OKs Budget for Pride Month Events
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday approved town funds to support a series of Pride Month activities in town this June.
By a vote of 5-0, the board OK'd up to $5,000 to fund events that will kick off with a Progress Pride Flag raising in front of town hall on Sunday, June 1, followed by a community meal on the lawn of the Milne Public Library.
That kickoff celebration accounts for nearly half of the funds sought by the organizing committee planning the festivities, Select Board member Randal Fippinger told his colleagues.
"This is a [Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee] event connected with the public library and other folks in town," he said. "The director of the library, Angela Zimmerman, has been helpful with planning all these events."
The $5,000 is coming from a $27,700 line item for the Select Board in the fiscal year 2025 budget the town approved last May.
Fippinger said the planning committee working on the celebration would nail down specific dates and formally announce events after Monday's vote, when they knew how much money they had to work with.
"Quite honestly, this is a long time coming for Williamstown," Jeffrey Johnson said just before the vote. "I'm honored and proud we're getting this off the ground. Hopefully, it's the beginning of an annual event for Williamstown."
A brief meeting the night before Tuesday's town election saw the board take just a few actions.
It OK'd a series of one-day alcohol licenses for the owner of Lanesborough's Olde Forge Restaurant to pour at Williams College reunion events next month. And it appointed Hancock Road resident Severin Beckwith to the town's Agricultural Commission.
"The Ag Commission met last week, and at the meeting we were able to meet Severin," current Commissioner Brian Cole said. "We all know who he is and are impressed by him. We're all looking forward to him joining the commission."
Beckwith told the board that has been in town since 2022, when he came to take a job at Caretaker Farm.
"It's a farm that's very focused on community," Beckwith said of the community-supported agriculture operation. "But the farm community is very small. I'm eager to get involved in the larger community of Williamstown, and the Agricultural Commission seems like a good way to do that."
Longtime WilliNet Executive Director Debbie Dane stepped in front of the cameras on Wednesday to present the town, through the Select Board, a plaque that the local access television station is donating to be placed in Town Hall.
The new plaque honors winners of the Scarborough Salomon Flynt Award for Community Service. Town Hall has a plaque recognizing winners of the then-Scarborough Award, which was given from 1982 to 2015.
The Williamstown Community Chest's Edith and Adolph Salomon Volunteer of the Year and the town's Faith R. Scarborough Community Service Award were merged in 2016, with the added names of philanthropists Mary and Henry Flynt, who died in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Dane took the opportunity to read aloud a tribute to Faith Scarborough, a longtime volunteer and public servant, that ran in the North Adams Transcript after her death in 1981 and which is displayed under glass in Town Hall.
The new plaque has the names of the first nine winners of the renamed award and room for future recipients. The 2025 Scarborough Salomon Flynt Award winner will be named at town meeting on Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in the Mount Greylock Regional School gymnasium.
A couple of upcoming events were highlighted during the meeting.
Stephanie Boyd mentioned that the town's Carbon Dioxide Lowering [COOL] Committee will hold an "Energize Williamstown!" event on Tuesday, May 20, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Milne Library to share ideas about how to cut waste and conserve energy.
Town Manager Robert Menicocci reported that the first in a series of "Citizens Academy" events at the Milne was a success and promoted the Tuesday, May 13, town meeting preview event led by Moderator Elisabeth Goodman. The Citizens Academy series, an initiative of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, is scheduled to be available for viewing on WilliNet and its website and smart TV app.
Finally, Monday marked the final meeting for Fippinger, who was elected to the board in 2022 and was not standing for re-election in Tuesday's balloting.
"I just want to thank you for all your contributions," Johnson said. "I want to go back to the former GSA [at Mount Greylock Regional School] and the work you did with them and they continue to work with students.
"We'll be in touch, but good run, my man."
Tags: pride, recognition event,
