Two new sugar maple trees were recently planted in Memorial Park on South Main Street in Orange. They may be a relatively modest addition to the greenscape in town but we trust the trees will grow into tall healthy hallmarks of rural New England. The trees came from a collaboration between National Grid, the town’s Highway, Parks and Cemeteries Department and the Orange Revitalization Partnership.
National Grid’s forester Don Crocker said the company likes to give back to communities where it has done work, like removing diseased or overgrown trees that could lead to power line damages. Last year he found himself working in Orange with the help of Highway, Parks and Cemetery Superintendent Colin Killay.
“I wanted to do something for (the department) because they were so helpful getting what I needed to do done,” said Crocker.
Many communities do not have the funds to do their own planting, said Crocker, so any assistance National Grid can lend helps out those communities in their planting efforts.
Denise Andrews, a member of the Orange Revitalization Partnership, said the organization has been working in the town for more than 20 years. She said the group originally initiated work to spruce up Memorial Park, and its members have been stewards of the area for years.
Once Killay heard from National Grid about donating the two trees, Andrews said he reached out to the Orange Revitalization Partnership to brainstorm locations for the planting. Andrews said Memorial Park was the perfect place.
Donald “Spin” Ainsworth spent more than 30 years as the organist and choir director at Starrett Memorial Methodist Church in Athol, and recently the community celebrated his life with a memorial service and musical celebration at the church where he played all those years.
“He loved music, he loved seeing people enjoy music,” Pastor Mary Owen said. “He loved to put on big concerts, not just for him to play the organ, but he loved to have the voices singing. He could really make that organ rock and roll, and when he played, things could really reverberate.”
Ainsworth, who died on June 5, spent his life dedicated to his passions — music and his community. He learned to play the piano in eighth grade, and he played throughout his life.
Every third Thursday of the month this summer, crafters like Tracey Alden of Warwick, who makes homemade products from tooth powder to herbal teas, head to downtown Orange to sell their wares. In a way it’s like the ancient village markets of Europe.
Alden was one of many local merchants, musicians and businesses who headed to downtown Orange for the most recent installment of Third Thursday Street Fair, hosted by the Orange Merchants Group. Brenda Anderson, Trail Head Outfitters and General Store co-owner, organizes the event.
Hundreds of people visited throughout the day.
“Without small businesses sticking together, there is no way we could make it, and I am glad I am in this town, so we can further everybody’s success,” noted Booth Salon owner Jim Stanley, a new business in town.
Lindsay Haigh, who grew up in Orange, has made it all the way to the FOX television show “MasterChef” as she brings her skills to a much bigger stage than her own kitchen in Atlanta, Ga.
Haigh, 41, is a contestant on the series’ ninth season. The winner of the show claims the title of MasterChef and a $250,000 grand prize.
But it wasn’t until the past four or five years that Haigh started cooking, and since then she’s experimented with getting creative in the kitchen.
“Cooking was kind of my escape. I started with, ‘I kind of liked that dinner last night, let’s see if I can recreate it in my kitchen or do it a little different.’ It just started to become a passion,” she told the Daily News.
Haigh’s mother, a resident of Orange, Nancy Haigh, said once she heard her daughter was going to be on the show, she wasn’t all that surprised.
“When she says she wants to do something, she does it,” said Nancy Haigh.