WESTHAMPTON — The Westhampton Public Library will hold Lounging for Literacy II on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., an event they describe as the world’s largest gathering of people reading in lawn chairs.
The library says the current world record is 287 people, set in 2007 in Westhampton. The event was later covered by the American Library Association and the only other library system in America to pick it up and hold another Lounging for Literacy was the Seattle Public Library, which also took place in 2007.
In Westhampton, Lounging for Literacy was the first fundraiser for a future library building. The event raised $660,000 in private funds as a match for the $1 million Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners grant. This year marks the “new” library’s 15th anniversary, so officials decided to bring back Lounging for Literacy as a way to mark and celebrate this moment.
Saturday’s event is free.
PLAINFIELD— Tickets are on sale for this year’s 54th Plainfield Firefighter’s Barbecue, which will feature the color teal.
This year’s event will take place Sunday, Aug. 31, behind the Plainfield Public Safety Complex on North Central Street. Parking is available on-site. After much discussion, members of the Plainfield Volunteer Fire Association voted to raise adult ticket prices to $18, or $1 more than in past years. Children under 12 remain $9.
The meal package includes half barbecued chicken, local baked potato and corn on the cob, coleslaw, dinner roll, slice of watermelon and a beverage.
The event includes the same fun annual activities, including a giant silent raffle, live music provided by the Curtis Rich Review from Buckland and Plainfield, and 49th Annual Plainfield 1.1-mile road race. Thanks to the Massachusetts and Plainfield Cultural Councils, the event gives residents a chance to gather and enjoy a late summer afternoon in the Hilltowns.
Some 400 tickets are sold each year, so organizers encourge those who want to attend to buy their “TEAL” tickets in advance. Plainfield firefighters and EMT’s meet every Thursday evening at the Safety Complex at 7 p.m., where tickets are available. Most members of the department or the PVFA have tickets available for purchase.
NORTHAMPTON — More than 70 communities in Massachusetts, including several in Hampshire County, will engage with the promises of American democracy this year by participating in a growing cultural phenomenon — gathering to read and discuss Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Joining a tradition that evolved in African American communities for generations, Mass Humanities began providing funding for public shared readings of the orator’s influential address in 2009. The Reading Frederick Douglass Together (RFDT) program has become immensely popular, with 60 readings taking place in 2024, and more than 70 taking place in 2025, an increase of more than 16%.
In Hampshire County, Plainfield Reads will hold a reading at the Alden Pavilion, behind Shaw Memorial Library, 312 Main St., on July 4 at 10 a.m.; followed by readings on July 5 on the grounds of Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge St., at 11 a.m., and later that day in Amherst at the South Congregational Church, 1066 South East St., at 3 p.m.; and on July 30, a reading will take place at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum, 130 River Drive, at 6 p.m.
After escaping slavery in 1838, Douglass found freedom in New Bedford and went on to start his career and his family in Massachusetts. Recent research by Anne Mattina, a professor of communication at Stonehill College and a 2023 Reading Frederick Douglass Together Research Fellow, traced his appearances in more than 105 towns in the commonwealth between 1841 and 1861. The most celebrated orator of his day, Douglass’ denunciations of slavery and forceful examination of th e Constitution challenges audiences to think about the origins of American democracy, the legacy of enslavement, and the gaps between our actions and our aspirations.
Douglass delivered the Fourth of July speech on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society.
“Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country,” Douglass remarked. “There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. I, therefore, leave off wher e I began, with hope.”
Mass Humanities is a private foundation and the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The council had planned to host a convening of grantees in the fall to discuss Frederick Douglass’ life and works, but the event was paused due to federal NEH cuts. Mass Humanities continues to explore options to make that gathering a reality.