EASTHAMPTON — Remembering the lives lost from the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been a solemn occasion in Northampton, but this year the local commemoration will also be focused on celebrating life and hope for the future.
Since 1980, the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts commemorated the bombings, not only remembering the past, but the existing threat of nuclear weapons.
This year’s event will be held in Easthampton at the Nashawannuck Pond on Sunday from 7-8:30 p.m., reiterating the call for an end to all nuclear weapons.
Director Jeff Napolitano said the event has typically been an educational commemoration. He said today’s smallest nuclear weapon is significantly more powerful than the bomb dropped in Hiroshima.
“We are facing a much more dangerous world,” he said.
Instead of focusing on negative aspects of the bombings, Napolitano said the event will focus on celebrating life and hopes for the future. He cited the progress made with Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted by the United Nations in July.
On Sunday, participants are invited to make origami peace cranes. Salon 180 will do braids with peace sign beads. Mt. Tom’s Homemade Ice Cream will have ice cream available. Mayor Karen Cadieux and other local officials will speak, and poetry will be recited by Maria Jose Gimenez.
Children at the Treehouse Foundation and at the Emily Williston Memorial Library are decorating paper lanterns for the event. At 8 p.m., the lanterns will be lit and placed in the pond. Napolitano said anywhere from 50 to 200 people turn out to the event each year and he expects around 50 to 100 people this year.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.