Hilltown Families 
Winklepicker Festival Mardi Gras Ball w/ Buckwheat Zydeco & After-Party w/ The Primate Fiasco Saturday, Feb 18th @ 7pm in Ashfield, MA Continuing our Parents’ Night Out promotions, Hilltown Families has...
Ashfield Needles and Threads Material Swap Sunday, January 22nd at 1pm Do you have bits and pieces of textiles left over from holiday craft projects that you’ll likely not use anytime...
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year It’s the Winter Solstice! This year on December 22nd. The actual blessed event is three minutes after midnight on the 22nd, so we...
Apples and Pumpkins and Maple Products, Oh My! The 41st annual Ashfield Fall Festival on Columbus Day Weekend One of the most popular small-town festivals in western Massachusetts, the Ashfield Fall...
Photography Exhibit Travels to Ashfield Opening Reception on Sunday, Oct 2nd, from 3-5pm There will be an opening reception today, Sunday, October 2nd from 3-5pm for “Hilltown Families: A Traveling Photography...
Rally for the Highland Communities: A Call to Action with Tom Wessels in Ashfield Mark Wamsley of the Highland Communities Initiative writes: Generations of residents have shaped the Highlands– stone by...
Big Dance Party Tonight for All Ages! Last night I dreamed that we were all set up at Elmer’s for a huge and gorgeous birthday party for one of our customers....
Night of Love and Chocolate! GRANDPARENTS AS FACEBOOK FRIENDS I just got friended by my dad on Facebook. Me, I got nothing to hide that I would show on Facebook anyway,...
Chris Smither in Concert Ashfield Town Hall in Ashfield, MA Saturday, January 15th @ 8pm Continuing our Parents’ Night Out promotions, Hilltown Families has two pairs of tickets to giveaway to...
Happy New Year & Happy Birthday Now we are in the hammock week of the year. You start out the year in January and, well, the year is like an egg....
Back to Our Story… And now it’s time to tell the further adventures of Mr. Justin Jones! As you may recall, last year at this time, Justin was fourteen years old...
Strange Coincidences I have a friend named Dave Taylor who I worked with in New Orleans. Dave now lives in New York. His best friend is named Seth Bernard. Seth lives...
Just in Case You Were Wondering … One day a few weeks ago, while walking down the sidewalk towards Elmer’s, I thought, “It’s almost Halloween! I should make bark-like faces to put...
The Trustees Encourage Visitors to Dream Big about Making Small Impacts on Local Land When globe-trotting Ambassador William Bullitt needed a place to ponder the world and relax with family, he...
Ashfield Fall Festival! Wait—Last Sunday in the middle of the 183 people coming in for breakfast, someone said to me, “Do you have those little individually wrapped butters?” And I said,...
The Years of Becoming An Interview with Sonya Kitchell Hilltown-native singer/songwriter Sonya Kitchell has been singing since she was in elementary school, knowing in 2nd grade that she wanted to be...
Herbal Medicine for Children and Babies Four Fall Classes at Blazing Star Herbal School Hilltown Families and Blazing Star Herbal School (BSHS) in Ashfield, MA have partnered up to offer one...
Pirates ho! That’s right—we will be celebrating National Talk Like a Pirate Day with Greg Ruth, the book’s illustrator, at Elmer’s. He will be reading and signing his book from 10am...
Ashfield FilmFest Gala Screening September 25th at 7pm in the Ashfield Town Hall It’s that time of year again for the 4th Annual Ashfield FilmFest. Last year all 450 tickets sold...
My Day at the Fair I was very tired at the Cummington Fair because we had a booth where we sold pulled pork, spare ribs and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. I decided...
Welcoming Autumn I was a city girl. We lived in Manhattan when I was child, but my parents were not from there. They were city mice in their own way. They...
Sex in the City Village I was in New York City on Wednesday! They have lots of well-dressed people there and lots of windows for you to look into while you’re...
Tony(a) Lemos of Ashfield, MA writes: I would like to remind everyone about the Wednesday Kids’ Market that happens in Ashfield Center every Wednesday in the Summer from 4-6pm in the...
The Quirks of Northern Gentlemen Last week I told you about Jim’s leaving and Donna then announced her retirement from the grocery and produce departments, as well. Happily, I am the...
Notes from Nan: Jim, Oh Jim done gone. By HF Contributing Writer, Nan Parati One of the problems of having a tiny restaurant with an outstanding certified chef is that he...
David Kulp of Ashfield, MA writes: The Ashfield Community Preschool is collecting information about our community needs for preschoolers through an online survey and we hope you can participate. All are...
Notes from Nan: And now, Spring. BY HF Contributing Writer, Nan Parati You know what I like about snow? It piles up. You know you’re getting somewhere with it. Unless rain...
Notes from Nan: The Weather BY HF Contributing Writer, Nan Parati I was just writing to my friends in New Orleans, telling them that day before yesterday it was 40 degrees...
Notes from Nan: Happy Mardi Gras! BY HF Contributing Writer, Nan Parati My Favorite Overheard Conversations of the Past Week: The first, on the Dangers of Winning the Superbowl and Having...