She delivered!
Toolbox
Published: May 27, 2010
BARRE TOWN – Mother Nature delivered for Revell Allen's students at
Barre Town Middle and Elementary School on Saturday, but fortunately
Allen's daughter – Fairfax resident Lori Miller – didn't.
Or did
she?
You decide.
Allen's eyes may have been on the skies
heading into Saturday's "Family Fun Day" – a charitable event organized
by seventh- and eighth-graders in her problem solving through literature
class – but her ears were waiting for a call from her very pregnant
daughter.
Allen tells us that call eventually came (more on that
in a moment), but not until after her class had closed the books on a
potentially record-setting event that, despite a morning sprinkle and
the threat of showers, was bolstered by fair weather most of the
afternoon.
According to Allen, more than 500 folks attended the
event and with just one bill left to pay and proceeds from the sale of
snacks still rolling in, the class has already raised more than $2,700
for the Vermont Foodbank and may yet hit its $3,000 target.
"They're
working on it," she says, thanking the multitude of area businesses
that contributed to the cause.
Although Allen's students got to
head for home after staffing the assortment of games and activities they
organized on Saturday, Allen got to head for Fairfax.
Turns out
Miller called and summoned her mother at the end of the day to tell her
that her newest grandchild was on the way.
Allen responded and at
3 a.m. Sunday – less than 12 hours after Family Fun Day ended – her
grandson, Colin, was born.
"It was a long weekend," says Allen,
who spent part of it supervising a day of family friendly activities and
the rest of it riding herd on her 22-month-old granddaughter, Leah, and
admiring the newest addition to her family.
"It worked out
perfectly," she says.
'Royal' recruit?
BARRE –
Folks in Barre are buzzing about the "princess" who will participate in
Monday's Memorial Day parade.
OK. She's not a real princess, but
we're told Williamstown's Taylor Clark will be the closest thing there
is to royalty in a parade that steps off from the Barre Municipal
Auditorium at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
Clark, a member of the Barre
American Legion's Junior Auxiliary, has been recruited to serve as this
year's "Poppy Princess" and we're told she'll be accepting donations and
handing out poppies that parade watchers might want to wear in honor of
veterans who died serving their country.
It wasn't Clark's idea.
Credit goes to Patricia McGrath, a member of the Legion's Ladies'
Auxiliary, who liked the idea of a "Poppy Princess" and thought Clark,
whose grandfather, Ronald Howe of Williamstown, is a member of Post #10,
would be the perfect ambassador.
Members of the American Legion
Auxiliary and the Ladies Auxiliary of VFW Post #790 will all be
distributing poppies during Monday's parade that will end at City Hall
Park where it will be immediately followed by a brief ceremony honoring
veterans.
Members of the Legion, the VFW and the local Elks Lodge
will also be distributing miniature American flags during a parade that
will feature marching bands from Barre, Barre Town and Spaulding High
Schools and a "princess" from Williamstown.
Better late?
WILLIAMSTOWN
– For the last several years folks in Williamstown have made a bigger
deal out of Memorial Day than most surrounding communities. Beyond just a
parade and a brief ceremony (though there are both of those), it has
become something of a community celebration, which is typically held the
Saturday before Memorial Day.
It will be again this year, though
we're told officials have tweaked the format in hopes of creating a
more seamless experience between the parade that kicks off the event and
the fireworks display that signals it is coming to a close.
The
solution that they'll be experimenting with this year is abandoning the
early afternoon parade in favor of one that steps off at 5 p.m. The
parade down Main Street will still feature the traditional laying of the
wreath at the local war memorial and end at the recreation field across
from the Pump N Pantry.
Food vendors will be set up on the
field, where there will be entertainment and other activities to keep
folks occupied until the fireworks display at dusk.
16