WHAT’S HAPPENING IN AMHERST?

There is a lot happening in Amherst in the month of September. Here is a brief listing of some select events. 

Amherst History Walking Tour, Saturday, September 14 at 10 a.m. (rain date September 21). Explore the history of Amherst on foot. Meet on the front lawn outside the Jones Library and walk through our downtown to view some of the same sights that library founder Samuel Minot Jones saw more than 100 years ago. Registration required, limited to 10 participants. To register, please call 413-259-3097. A Centennial Celebration Event.

Tree Planting.  Saturday September 14.  Join the Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee from 9-Noon at Crocker Farm School to plant trees.  Details here. 

Seventh Annual Amherst Poetry Festival. Sept 19-22 at various venues.

Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, with support from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Beveridge Family Foundation, Amherst Business Improvement District, and Massachusetts Cultural Council, this year’s Amherst Poetry Festival celebrates the poetic legacy of Emily Dickinson and the contemporary creativity of the Pioneer Valley and beyond. Join us September 19-22 for four days filled with slam poetry contests, poetry discussion groups, the Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon, writing workshops, panels, master classes, readings, performances, and so much more!

For more information about our events, including expanded descriptions, locations, and information about our facilitators, please visit our website: www.EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org/APF/

Annual Town Block Party, Thursday, September 19. 5-9 p.m. Downtown Amherst. Music, food, entertainment, community. A free, fun street party with something for everyone to welcome in the fall. Entertainment includes the fabulous SHOW Circus Studio on high wire and stilts; WRSI– 93.9 The River on stage with live music; and a DJ and community performances. Our downtown restaurants and cafes set up on North Pleasant Street, interspersed with businesses as well as community and civic groups. Help celebrate and join the party! More information here.

Walk Out in Solidarity with the Global Youth Climate Strike. September 20. Noon. UMass. Further details here.

The 24th Amherst Invitational At Hampshire College. Saturday September 21. 10 AM – 2 PM. Robert Crown Center, Hampshire College. Come out to watch some of the best high school cross country runners in the state competing in six races.

Puerto Rico Day Celebration
Join the Amherst Regional Public Schools for a Puerto Rico Day Celebration on Monday, September 23rd from 12:30-1:30 PM at Town Hall. There will be performances by Amherst Regional Public Schools staff and students, a reading of the Town proclamation and the raising of the Puerto Rican flag. The entire community is invited to come and celebrate! For questions or more details, call ARPS at (413) 362-1871

We’re Doomed. Now What? Reading and Conversation with Roy Scranton September 20. 7:30 PM at the Olver Design Building, UMass.

We live in a time of alarming and bewildering change–the breakup of the post-1945 global order, a multispecies mass extinction, and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. Roy Scranton is the author of several books, including Learning to Die in the Anthropocene. His latest books are Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature, and the novel I  Oklahoma! He teaches at the University of Notre Dame.  Join Roy Scranton for an exploration of how to make sense of the planetary catastrophe we’re currently living through, and what real hope for a human future might look like.

Hannah’s Ride

UMass Amherst Information Technology (IT) has organized a memorial bike ride and community event in memory of former student Hannah Frilot. The event will take place on Sunday, Oct. 6.  An avid bike rider, Frilot was an IT student worker whose energy and passion for advocacy and helping others left a profound impact on those around her. Following her death in 2014, UMass Amherst IT set up the Hannah Frilot Memorial Scholarship in her honor, awarding a $1,000 scholarship each year to an undergraduate student pursuing a career in STEM in which their gender is underrepresented, much like Frilot, who was an industrial engineering student. 

The ride itself will span 17 miles, beginning and ending on campus at Lot 33, between Sortino Field and the Southwest Residential area. A shorter, “challenge” route will also be available. Registration forms can be found online at umass.edu/it/hannahs-ride or completed in person between 8 – 10 a.m. the day of the ride. 

All riders will head out at 10:30 a.m., but students and community members of all ages are invited to take part in the entertainment, raffles, and other festivities throughout the day, including a performance by the UMass Drumline, a special “Bike Rodeo” put on by the UMass Police Department, an art tent with pieces for sale and more.

In the event of rain, Hannah’s Ride will take place at the same time on Sunday, Oct. 13. Additional information and updates can be found at the scholarship’s official Facebook page, facebook.com/FrilotFund.