W. T. Whedon Thinks Norwood Will Continue an Annual Old Home Week Celebration.
The Boston Globe of last Sunday published nearly a page of opinions on Old Home Week as obtained from officers of Old Home Week Associations and Old Home Week committees. Their general verdict is that Old Home Week has proved a great success everywhere, and is a festival which will be perpetuated in Massachusetts towns. Among towns heard from by the Globe are Haverhill, Sudbury, Amherst, Weymouth, Heath, North Brookfield, Royalston, Hanover, North Rochester; Oxford, Sandwich, Douglass, Medway, Manomet, Stowe, Melrose, Franklin, Palmer, Wareham, Norwood, Northfield, Chatham, Lanesboro, Hull, Harwich, and Middlefield.
William T. Whedon, vice president of the Norwood Old Home Week Association, and secretary of last year’s Old Home Week committee, writes as follows concerning Old Home Week in this town:
“The observance of old-home week •in Norwood, under the auspices of the Norwood old-home week association, was a success in every sense of the word. At headquarters 207 visitors registered and received a special visitor’s badge. There were many others who came in for the closing festivities who failed to register, so that we estimate the total attendance of visitors at 250. This exceeds the initial observance last year, given under the auspices of the Norwood Board of trade, by considerably over 150. Every New England state was represented, as well as New York, Illinois and California.
“Enthusiasm is strong for its continuance, but there is a difference of opinion as to whether it should be observed annually with a modest celebration or once in two or three years on a more elaborate scale. Suffice it to say that while Norwood was one of the first towns in Massachusetts to observe old-home week, the present indications are that she will be the last to give it up.
WILLIAM T. WHEDON, Vice President Norwood Old Home Week Association.
General Committee of Old Home Week Association Winds Up Affairs For the Year.
The general committee of the Norwood Old Home Week Association held what will probably be its final meeting for the season in Business Association headquarters last Tuesday evening. Vice President Whedon occupied the chair. The meeting busied itself mostly with hearing and acting on the finances of the recent celebration as reported by the various committees. The principal expenses reported from the leading committees were as follows:
Reception $31.02
Printing $63.52
Historical $51.08
Entertainment $177.13
Music $41.84
Secretary, supplies, stationery, etc., $20.75
The total expenses, which are not fully set forth in the above list, will be $420.09. The town’s appropriation was $350. Some $35 more is promised from reliable parties and it is thought that there will be no difficulty in raising $35 additional. It should be stated that the total expense of the refreshment committee, owing to the liberal contributions of both food and money by the townspeople, was only $6.50. The expense of the entertainment committee includes the tent and seats with the labor on the same. The grand total for entertainment was therefore $177.13.
T. O. Metcalf, who was chairman of the printing committee, and whose firm did practically all of the printing for the affair, will donate a portion of his bill, making the expense of printing just $50. It was voted that the bills of the several committees be all paid by John F. Kiley, treasurer, after being properly audited.
A vote of thanks was extended to all who helped in any way Ju making the celebration a success, including some thirty-nine or forty societies and fraternities who gave assistance or offered it. Special notes of thanks were extended to Frederic J. Stimson and Don Gleason Hill, orators of the occasion, to Charles S. Ross, the poet, to Tilomas F. Anderson, secretary of the Massachusetts Old Home Week Association, for the interest he had taken in the affair and for his presence on the chief day of the celebration, to Mrs. Joseph Squires of the refreshment committee, and Mrs. A. O. Readel for her generosity in entertaining without charge those who put up the tent.
The N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad local officials were thanked for the free use of lights for the tent. The Association vol cd to insert a general vote of thanks in the local papers. The meeting then adjourned. It is not probable that any further meetings will be held until the annual meeting in February next.
(All articles originally appeared in the Norwood Messenger unless otherwise noted)