WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — For more than 60 years, Winthrop F. Chenail has been selling his bountiful crops to residents of Williamstown and beyond. 

 

"The family dairy farm at the top of Luce Road has been an anchor farm in our community since 1916," said Elisabeth Goodman. "His farm stand has been operating since 1965 and that's where we get our sweet corn, homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, summer squash flowers, and pumpkins that he and his grandson Nick Chenail grow as a side business to the family dairy farm."

 

Win Chenail's integrity, excellence, and dedication of service to the citizens of Williamstown was recognized at the annual town meeting on Tuesday with the 11th annual Scarborough Solomon Flint Community Service Award.

 

"At age 90, Win has not slowed down much," Goodman said. "I never did get to speak to him on the phone when notifying him about this award, as his wife told me he was busy in the greenhouse repotting 2,000 tomato plants."

 

Five generations have worked the Mount Williams Dairy Farm that Chenail's grandparents purchased, and Chenail's also been a caretaker of 130 acres of town land at the Spruces and Burbank properties. 

 

"The Chenail family has been managing the land since the 1950s keeping the fields green, lush, and productive with sustainable management practices," she said. "They fertilize it with manure from the dairy farm and lime as needed. With such careful, long-term stewardship of the soil, the land has continued to be fertile and productive for half a century under his fare."

 

Chenail thanked his family and fellow farmers for contributing to the welfare of the community and said it had been a privilege to keep the town-owned fields in farming. 

 

"How many people walk their dogs around the cornfields and appreciate the agriculture part of it, and also at the Burbank property, there was a trail from the Stratton Road going across to Luce Road, which a lot of people use and the track team from Williams will do a run through there, also at the Spruces. They enjoy it, too," he said. 

 

"So it's important that Sarah [Gardner] has recognized agriculture as a very viable and necessary endeavor. I know so many of you come to our very popular corn stand, and I will announce that the corn, sweet corn, is already up and growing."

 

Gardner, chair of the Agricultural Commission, said the Chenails are serious contributors to the local and the regional and the state food system. She nominated Chenail and later said this was the first time a farmer had been selected for the award. 

 

"They produce a significant amount of vegetables on that farm, and sweet corn, as we know, but also dairy. There are fewer than 10 dairy farms left in this county now, and we are the largest dairy county in the state," she said. "It's really looking bad. We're losing farms and farmland at an alarming rate, so that makes each farm all the more important, and each farm family all the more important. So I'm just glad we came together today to thank the farmer who feeds us. Win, thank you."

 

Anne Skinner, president of the Williamstown League of Women Voters, presented the league's annual Municipal Employee of the Year award to the director of the David and Joyce Milne Public Library, Angela Zimmermann.

 

Zimmerman, who was appointed in 2024, was unable to attend. 

 

Skinner described the league's criteria for selection in way that attendees could guess the recipient: D for dynamic, dedicated, and devoted; J for sharing joy; M for March 11, 2024; I for innovative, inclusive, and imaginative; L for leadership; N for new; and finally E for enthusiasm.

 

Select Board Chair Stephanie Boyd also took time before the meeting proper started to thank those whose terms were completed this year: Ruth Harrison, Thomas Sheldon, and Daniel Gura of the Affordable Housing Trust; Darryl Lapinski of Agricultural Commission; Ruth Russell of the Berkshire Public Health Alliance; Constable Andrew Bernard; Fence Viewer Nicholas McQueeny; David Levine of the Mobile Home Rent Control Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals; Kris Kirby of the Municipal Scholarship Committee; Brian O'Grady of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority; Lauren Stevens, Phil McKnight and Mark Brandiss of the Conservation Commission; Susan Puddester, Martin Greenstein, Laura Bank, and Rose Oliver of the Council on Aging; Sandra Goodbody and Marzio Gusmaroli of the Board of Health; and Emily Stone of the Historical Commission.

 

Goodman, town moderator, took a moment to honor the tradition of self-governance on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

 

"Massachusetts town meetings were a foundational influence on the Declaration of Independence," she said, as in 1774 Britain had banned town meetings in the colony. "In defiance of this law, nearly 60 towns in Massachusetts met and debated the notion of independence. Many townspeople pledged financial support for the battle for freedom, including Williamstown."

 

On June 24, 1776, the towns residents voted to send a letter to Boston stating that they "solemnly engage with their lives and fortune to support independence and democracy," Goodman said. "It was these actions by Massachusetts town meetings that led to our American Revolution. You are here tonight, so I know you understand the importance of town meeting. 

 

"I hope you reach out to your neighbors and friends, and urge them to come to our annual town meetings. Democracy does not just happen. We rely on voters to speak their minds and cast their votes. Now that we have noted the important history taking place here tonight, let's get down to details."

 

Read about the 2026 annual town meeting here.