ROYALSTON — Last fall, a group of Royalston residents joined forces with Police Chief Curtis Deveneau to raise funds for the town’s police department. The effort began shortly after Deveneau told Royalston’s Selectboard that it would cost nearly $14,000 to put four part-time officers through training required under the police reform act passed last year by the state legislature. In some communities that may not sound like a lot of money, but to a small town police department it’s a big chunk of cash.
November’s fundraising event raked in about $4,500, and now the same group of people are once again joining with Deveneau to hold another event in hopes of topping that amount.
Laurie Truehart, one of those who organized last fall’s fundraiser, told the Athol Daily News that this year’s will take place over two days.
“It’s going to May 14 and 15,” she said. “Saturday is going to be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, the 15th, is Police Recognition Day and there will be a ceremony.”
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week.
“What we’re also going to be doing both days,” she continued, “is having an art show in the upstairs (of Town Hall). While the vendors were upstairs in the fall, they’re actually going to be outdoors this time around, in the spring. There is also going to be an artists reception on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. That will include light refreshments. Contributions are welcome, but there is no formal charge to attend.”
Organizers are looking for more local artists to participate in the art show. Anyone interested can email Truehart at info@artistvancour.com.
“We really haven’t had anything like this since the town’s 250th anniversary (in 2015). There were some really talented people from Royalston who took part and we’d kind of like to do that again. Of course, we’ll welcome artists from anywhere locally.”
Truehart said organizers are still working on booking entertainment for the event, with some entertainment taking place in Town Hall and some performers outside. One act that has definitely been booked is local musician Ryan Hood. Hood performed at the November event, as well as at numerous other events in Royalston in recent years.
“We will be having the DARE program there again,” said Truehart. “We also will have the ROTC kids from Monty Tech again. The Royalston Fire Department will have a table this year. And we will be having hayrides again.
“We will be serving food downstairs in Town Hall. Saturday, it’s going to be like regular lunch fair. Sunday there’s going to be a pancake breakfast/brunch, which will be put on by me and the volunteers.”
She said there will also be raffle tables and a silent auction. All vendors are donating an item to the raffle table as their fee for participating. Anyone else who would like to donate items for the raffle may also email Truehart.
Truehart said while funds being raised will again go toward the cost of training, she does foresee future events being held to raise monies for other police department-related expenses. She added that another one-day event is slated for this fall.
Asked what motivated her to get so involved in assisting the department, Truehart said, “I do have a couple of friends who are on the police force. Also, I just thought these guys really needed some assistance with funding because this way it’s not going to come out of their own pockets. And I’m just trying to bring the community together.
“Basically, this community really needs to get behind our police officers. These guys are great. They know a lot of the people personally. They know them by first name. And this really, hopefully, is bring people together. I mean, the turnout last year was amazing. Everyone had such a good time.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.coma