HATFIELD — Luminaries and lights throughout town, with a fireworks display from the Lions Club Pavilion on Billings Way, will be part of the annual Hatfield Luminarium on Saturday evening.
Scheduled for the last Saturday before Christmas Eve, the 42nd event will have numerous activities in Hatfield Center starting at 5 p.m., with holiday crafts and a book giveaway for children at the Hatfield Library.
At 5:30 p.m., residents are encouraged to begin displaying their candles from their yards as people make their way through town. The town is requiring all moving vehicles to have their headlights on at all times.
Then, at 6 p.m. caroling and greetings with the Smith Academy Band takes place from Memorial Town Hall, heralding the arrival of Santa Claus and his meeting with children and families at the fire station at 6:20 p.m. Refreshments there will include hot coffee and hot chocolate, and doughnuts from Atkins Farms Country Market.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m, the fireworks, sponsored by the Hatfield Celebration Committee that grew out of the Hatfield 350th Committee, will be shot off from the pavilion area behind Hatfield Elementary School. Access to that site will be limited beginning in mid-afternoon as staging begins.
The evening is capped off at 7 p.m. with a concert at the First Congregational Church.
The Luminarium is one of the major events that annually draws visitors to town, along with the Hatfield Bonfire, a concert held in October.
Put on by the Hatfield FireFighters Association, the success of the bonfire this year means that $5,000 is being donated to town organizations.
Association Vice President Kerry Flaherty told the Select Board Tuesday that the gifts will include $1,000 going to the Friends of the Council on Aging for events that it holds at Smith Academy Park or elsewhere, and $1,500 to the Celebration Committee to put on events throughout the year.
The biggest donation will be $2,500 to the Smith Academy Athletic Boosters for building varsity baseball dugouts at the school. Flaherty said that will mean both the softball and baseball fields have dugouts.
Flaherty said the bonfire continues to provide support for municipal fire and rescue operations as well.
“We’re super grateful,” Flaherty said. “We end up purchasing equipment not at the town’s expense.”
Select Board Chairwoman Diana Szynal complimented the association for its generosity.
“That’s amazing,” Szynal said. “All of these donations are amazing.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
