Letter to the Editor: Hudson’s 150th celebrations highlight community spirit

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Letter to the Editor:

2016 has come to an end and the Sesquicentennial Committee expresses its sincere appreciation to the many businesses, organizations and individuals whose involvement throughout the year made the Hudson 150 celebration such a huge success.

We began in the fall of 2015 with a fundraising campaign that far exceeded our expectations due to the generosity of our major sponsors D. Francis Murphy Insurance, Avidia Bank, Intel Corporation, Friends of the Hudson Senior Center, St. Mary’s Credit Union, Benderson Development, Hudson Rotary Club and Stop and Shop of New England.

The light pole banner campaign which added charm and character to the downtown was embraced by Chaves Heating and Air Conditioning, Durand Chevrolet, Marlborough Savings Bank, Randall Properties, The Entwistle Company, Juniper Farms, Fletcher Tilton, Hudson Lock, Patriot Ambulance, S & F Concrete, Hudson Appliance, Davis Architects, Plastic Molding Manufacturing, Tighe-Hamilton Funeral Home, Nashoba Blue, Country Glass, Boyd Coatings Research, Rail Trial Flat Bread, Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson, CHAPS, Kane Industrial/Self Storage, New England Clean Energy and the Hudson Eagles.

Window Clings were purchased by 577 Main St. LLC, Better Accounting Service, Bryley Systems, Casaceli Trucking, Applebee’s, Clayton & Alice Carlisle, First Federated Church, H & R Block, Hannaford Supermarket, Hudson Pest Exterminators, L & S Boule Insurance, Paquette Family Dental, Riverside Gun Club and Sereni Salon & Spa.

In addition, the committee sold t-shirts, cookbooks, buttons and medallions that proved to be wonderful keepsake items to commemorate the year.

A few of the most memorable experiences included the firework display sponsored by the Hudson Rotary in conjunction with the Symphony Pro Musica concert, historic talks and presentations held at the Hudson Public Library, Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson and the Senior Center, the encampment during Hudson Fest, the balloon festival at the Hudson Concord Elks and the open house at the Historical Society. Additionally, the walking tour and historic map of downtown, the mural on lower Main Street by local students and the architectural display in the kiosk on the Town Hall lawn are projects that rounded out the year that are lasting features of our 150th celebrations.

We are fortunate to have raised a significant amount of money for the largest and most widely attended festivity – the parade on Sept. 18. The coordination of this event was a huge endeavor, spearheaded by Brian Stearns with the assistance of hundreds of individuals as parade section coordinators, traffic and parking attendants and water station helpers. His efforts were augmented by the assistance of Hudson Police, Fire and Public Works departments personnel.  Water station contributions along the parade route were donated by Bacon’s Wine and Spirits, Hannaford’s, Target, Sperry’s Liquors, Tedsechi Food Shop, CVS, Lowe’s and BJ’s Wholesale. We appreciate those donations and the excellent job done by everyone involved!!!

The final event will take place in the spring of 2017 at the new Police/DPW Headquarters, with the burial of two time capsules organized by the Hudson Historical Society. A bench and tree will be purchased to commemorate our 2016 celebration and marking the spot of the time capsules.

Hudson Sesquicentennial Steering Committee members

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