AMHERST – Six artists who completed pieces of chalk art with daffodil themes, displayed on downtown sidewalks during Daffodil Days weekend, are vying for the top prize in an Amherst Business Improvement District contest.
People can vote on their favorite illustrations until Monday, with the first prize for the artists $200, second prize $100 and third prize $50, Ann Tweedy, the marketing and communications director for the Amherst BID, said in an email.
All voters will be entered to win a $50 gift certificate to a downtown business.
While Tweedy said recent rain has washed away most of the colorful drawings, people can still see them online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P8L8B7K.
The works included Jayne Rubenstein’s triptych “Attracting Hummingbirds,” “Daffodils in the Wind” and “Monarchs” in front of A.J. Hastings; Nancy Haver’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” at the entrance to Collective Copies; Jenn Burdick’s “Daffodil & Blue Marbles” at Blue Marble; Jenna Marchione’s “Foxxy Love” at Sweetser Park; Dean J. McKeever’s “Love for Spring,” near the former Folcwald sculpture gallery; and Zophia Noble and Helen Ramspott’s collaborative piece “Snake” and “Flowers.”
An Amherst literacy organization is ensuring children in Springfield-area schools have books to read. Beginning Thursday, Reader to Reader is putting on what it calls the “Spring Book Extravaganza” by donating 15,000 books for schools in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee and West Springfield. In a statement, David Mazor, Reader to Reader’s founder, explains that “these books are part of our ongoing support for the Reading Success by 4th Grade Initiative. Increased access to books is a key factor in raising literacy rates.”
The program is in its sixth year. Hundreds of boxes of books already line hallways at Belcher Elementary in Chicopee, the host site.
“Year after year, Reader to Reader has been an amazing resource for our district,” Belcher Principal Samuel Karlin said in a statement.
A free concert featuring Mozart’s “Kegellstatt Trio” will be performed by Carol Hutter on viola, Anderson Apes on clarinet and Harry Seelig on piano from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Monday at the Amherst Woman’s Club, 35 Triangle St.
Refreshments will be served after the event.
The Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness program will hold a free event at the Unitarian Universalist Society, 121 North Pleasant St., from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday
The program is a Harvard organization that provides free kidney health screenings and health education to underserved communities and aims to reduce chronic kidney disease through awareness and prevention.
During the event, people will get free blood pressure, urinalysis and blood sugar testing, a body mass index check and a physician consultation.
MONDAY: Select Board, 6 p.m., Band Room, middle school; Finance Committee, 6:30 p.m., Professional Development Room, middle school; Annual Town Meeting, 7 p.m., middle school auditorium.
WEDNESDAY: Select Board, 6 p.m., Band Room, middle school; Annual Town Meeting, 7 p.m., middle school auditorium.
