■A record crowd of 47,714 for the first two opening days and a record $703,567 bet in yesterday’s parimutuel horse racing got the Three County Fair off to a flying start Sunday and Monday. In yesterday’s racing an estimated crowd of 22,000 poured $45,933 more into the betting windows than last year’s Labor Day total of $657,634.
■Six local youths have enlisted in the U.S. Navy and are taking basic training at the training centers in Great Lakes, Ill., and Orlando, Fla. They are: Richard H. Turner Jr., Arthur K. Smith, Ralph J. Billieux Jr., Jean M. Kirouac, Jeffrey M. Kirouac, and Armand Perras Jr.
■This is to be a year of change at the Northampton High School, and that’s good for learning, according to many interviewed yesterday, as the school opened to its full student body. The new long-block schedule means students will be making more and better use of their time, teachers and parents say.
■Linda Vacon has resigned as executive director of VNA Plus of Western Massachusetts Inc. to become executive director of the Chicopee Visiting Nurse Association. Vacon held the VNA Plus position for seven years.
■The Gazette today marks the 225th anniversary of its founding on Sept. 6, 1786. The Cerutti press at the Gazette building on Conz Street is a round-the-clock operation that produces four daily newspapers, including the Gazette, and many other publications besides.
■UMass notched another early season victory Monday, but it wasn’t on the basketball court or football field. Over a 14-foot frying pan at the Haigis Mall, members of the University of Massachusetts dining services team set a new world record for the world’s largest stir fry.