by The Publishers
9/22/2019

Following the Celebrate Holliston Parade [link to Parade article], the festivities moved to Goodwill Park for the annual Field Day.

Celebrate Holliston Co-chairs Catie Ehret and Nicole Lessard welcomed everyone and thanked this year's sponsors for their support and thanked the local dignitaries for giving their time to honor our Citizens of the Year.

Holliston High Seniors Renee Torio, Ian Shaw, and Olivia Skerry sang a beautiful harmonic a capella arrangement of our National Anthem.

Then down to the big business of the day - honoring two very deserving citizens who have added significantly to the mural that we all call Holliston.  Ken Henderson used the metaphor in his remarks and we have stolen them shamelessly here.

Bea Hait in her own quiet way does so much around town that goes almost unnoticed - until this year.  And as soon as the field day festivities are over Bea needs to hustle down to the Historical Society to prepare for tomorrow's Harvest Fair.  Bea received a proclamation and plaque from the Select Board and Citations from the State Senate and House of Representatives.

Before Ken Henderson got into the driver's seat of the ubiquitous Rail Trail golf cart, he taught for 50 years.  That experience working in front of a live audience showed as he delivered his remarks.  He too, received the town proclamation and plaque along with the citations from the Senate and House.  There was another moment in the program when Ken was left alone on the stage while his Senate Citation was finally located.  The audience was only seconds away from hearing Ken belt out some favorite tunes - his favorites that is.  

Next up was the Knights of Columbus Charity Raffle drawing.  Five local dignitaries drew the winning tickets for prizes of $1,000, $500, $250, $150, and $100.

Representative Dykema and Raffle Committee member Tom Anquish spun the barrel before the winners were drawn.  Also the Knights made donations to three local causes that totalled over $10,000.  Please click here to see the entire Charity Raffle article. [link to Charity Raffle article here]

HPD and State Police officers and dispatchers were on hand showing off special patches and vehicles focused on Breast Cancer awareness.  Officer Hagan was on hand but his K-9 partner had the day off and was chilling back in his kennel at HPD headquarters.

Once again the Chili Contest drew many entries - and even more 'judges.'  And the winners for Best Chili are:

1st Place                    #1 Pago                                             Steve Kiley

2nd Place                   #4 Fireball                                         Robyn & Kara Himick

3rd Place                    #8 The Big LeBowl of Chili                Leanne Farrell

Holliston’s Best Named Chili (We have a tie score)

1st Place                    #2        Son of a Jerk                         Wilson T. MacDonald

1st Place                    #4        Fireball                                   Robyn & Kara Himick

The Ahronian Landscaping and Design booth drew attention for its beautiful arrangement, some shade from Saturday' heat - and the 'Fix our Fields' Raffle sponsored by Mark and Linda Ahronian.  The raffle raised around $400 for the cause and George Kampersal and Peter Barbieri went home with the prizes.

And no fair would be the same without some souvenir swag.  Hope you picked up one of these collector's items.

You can view a photo album of all the Celebrate Holliston events at [Facebook link]

Huge thanks to Catie, Nicole, Lina, Jane, and the entire Celebrate Holliston committee for making this community-building event so important to all our citizens.