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By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — Dina Brunetti was having flashbacks of her team’s rock fight of a game with Tantasqua last season during halftime on Wednesday.The Belchertown field hockey head coach felt her team controlled possession and had plenty of opportunities in...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown Fair returns to the Commons this weekend for the 165th annual celebration with a packed schedule of free competitions, demonstrations and entertainment for all ages.This year’s theme, “Barn in the USA,” pays tribute to...

In his 1775 “Common Sense” pamphlet, Thomas Paine observed, “Society in every state is a blessing, but government in its best state is but a necessary evil.” While society propels collaboration toward goal achievement, government is the unfortunate...

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — Trailing 13-8 and facing a fourth-and-3 in his own territory midway through the fourth quarter, Northampton football head coach Joe Kocot kept his offense on the field hoping a conversion would spark the team’s struggling offense.And on...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

Separated by five years, Cal and Chris Daskam never thought they’d get the chance to play together.The two brothers, alongside their older brother Clayton, all played football at Belchertown High School. They come from a long line of gridiron...

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — Playing field hockey for Dina Brunetti may seem like a lot of work, but the second year Belchertown head coach has a method to the self-proclaimed madness she puts her players through.It isn’t just about the sport itself. Brunetti wants...

With all the things to be unhappy about these days, I am happy to report my experience as a cyclist in the Belchertown-Granby-Amherst area this summer.I have found drivers almost uniformly courteous, giving me a wide berth, slowing and even sometimes...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

BELCHERTOWN — New Belchertown High School Athletic Director Kevin McNeill might never have held an AD position, but he brings with him years of coaching experience in not just Belchertown, but Hampshire County as a whole.McNeill replaces Jen Gouvin,...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — When a Belchertown teenager faced a sudden cancer diagnosis at the beginning of the summer before her senior year, the community at large came out to support her by raising $40,000 through GoFundMe to support her medical treatments and...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Saying that Police Chief Kevin Pacunas’ decision to deny a firearms license to a resident earlier this year was “overly broad, vague and therefore arbitrary and capricious,” a judge last month ordered the town to grant the license.In...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Speed limits on town-controlled roads in thickly settled areas or business zones might see a decrease by five miles per hour, dropping from 30 mph to 25 mph, if approved at the annual Town Meeting.Police Chief Kevin Pacunas and...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — After years of rubber-stamping capital projects as funds become available, leaving critical infrastructure work to pile up and deteriorating buildings to wait for repairs, Belchertown this week adopted the town’s first capital planning...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Brewed with tenacity, poured with purpose.The two slogans of Arcpoint Brewing Company, Belchertown’s first brewery located at 30 Front St., stand out in bright red letters against the blue grey walls painted the same color as the skins...

“Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.” So wrote Alfred Lord Tennyson in commemorating the heroic yet suicidal mission undertaken by the British Light Brigade in the 1854 Battle of Balaclava. Fast forward to the Pioneer Valley’s contemporary...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — The only structure that appeared still intact from the first superintendent’s home at the Belchertown State School was a century-old stone wall outlining a small grassy plot at 47 State St.At least that’s what residents believed until...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Despite stormwater rates dropping over the past couple years, residents won’t see similar savings on their stormwater bills for the upcoming year. The Select Board approved a stormwater rate of $6.62 for fiscal year 2025, up 78 cents...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY — Ear-ringing whistles, low grunts and wide smiles marked the first day of high school football camp on Friday, as Hampshire County teams held their first practices in advance of the upcoming season.Full-contact practices don’t begin...

By CONNOR PIGNATELLO

SOUTH HADLEY — When Katie Hopp and her fellow volunteer organizers started the Western Mass. Summer Field Hockey League in 2019, the league contained seven schools and about 70 players.Five years and six seasons later, they’re at 243 players from 18...

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Authorities have identified two victims in vehicle-related crashes that occurred at the end of July as Bert Hickey, 51, of Belchertown, and Heru Dihaan, 19, a Connecticut resident who had a sister living in Northampton.Hickey, who died on July 21 in a...

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — When the Belchertown Post 239 Senior American Legion coaching staff put together its roster for the 2024 summer season, head coach Todd McDonald couldn’t stop thinking about the potential his group had. The talent was undeniably there to...

All signs pointed toward another dominant Belchertown Post 239 performance through four innings of their Senior Division American Legion state tournament game at Fitton Field in Worcester on Wednesday afternoon.Belchertown jumped out to an 8-0 lead...