AMHERST — Like so many other events in 2020, the 26th annual Trivia Bee, put on by the Amherst Education Foundation, will be a virtual affair when it is held later this month.
The bee, normally in the middle school auditorium, will instead be broadcast live on YouTube Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m., with teams playing via Zoom.
“Our goal is to raised $10,000 for our public schools in Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury,” said John Page, who is coordinating the trivia bee for the foundation.
Each team will go to a breakout room when State Rep. Mindy Domb, the emcee, asks questions, and after a team makes a decision and comes up with an answer, they will return to learn if their answer is correct and score a point. Each team will be provided detailed instructions for this process.
Questions continue to be written by quizmaster Joe Lastowski.
Participation is free, but teams and players are encouraged to make donations so the foundation can support classroom projects and schoolwide initiatives, including those that increase access and equity.
For more information, go to https://www.amhersteducationfoundation.org/trivia-bee
Meantime, three new members have joined the foundations’s board. They are Marzena Burnham, a University Events Manager at the University of Massachusetts, Kerry Crosby, a literacy consultant on the Fountas and Pinnell Team for Heinemann Publishing Company, and Gastón de los Reyes, a business school professor and lawyer.
An outdoor photography exhibit title d“Larger than Life” will be held Friday evening on the back wall of the Amherst Cinema in downtown Amherst.
From 6 to 7 p.m. for senior citizens, and from 7 to 9 p.m. for the general public, people will be able to drop by to see images from “The Front Steps Project” and “Becoming” by local photographer Isabella Dellolio.
The aim is to celebrate local families, seniors, and community during the pandemic.
Dellolio had more than 200 families pose for portraits for Front Steps Project, with many of the subjects donating money to the Amherst Survival Center. The project raised $19,000.
Becoming is a documentary and portrait photography exhibit featuring older adults living in Amherst and neighboring towns.
Masks and social distancing are required. In case of rain, the free event will be pushed back to Oct. 23.
The event is hosted by the Amherst Survival Center, the Amherst Senior Center and Common Wealth Murals, a nonprofit which manages public art projects, directed by resident Britt Ruhe.
Amherst recently received a $129,427 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Shared Streets and Spaces Program that will improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, expand outdoor dining space and the length of the outdoor dining period, promote bus ridership, and create a more inviting streetscape.
Much of the money will go toward outdoor heaters for restaurants, new streetlights to better illuminate pedestrians, two new heated bus shelters, accessibility improvements to curb ramps, handwashing stations, planters and plants, and picnic tables for the North Common.
Both North and South Pleasant Streets will be adjusted to accommodate bike lanes and expanded outdoor dining space. This includes removing the right turn lane from North Pleasant onto Amity, with the Planning Department working with Stantec, a planning and design company, on the change.
“Town Planning and Public Works staff have worked with the Amherst Business Improvement District and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce to develop creative new options that will sustain our local businesses this fall and next spring,” Town Manager Paul Bockelman said in a statement. “These changes have the potential to make a permanent improvement to the streetscape in the downtown.”
An online petition has launched by Amherst residents urging the University of Massachusetts to penalize and possibly suspend undergraduate students responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak that prompted the delay in Amherst public schools reopening.
The petition can be viewed at http://chng.it/Qwsrq2tKHV
Though others have advocated for discipline, UMass officials have argued for an educational approach that encourages students, even those living off campus, to get tested regularly.
MONDAY: Town Council, 6:30 p.m., virtual meeting via Zoom.
WEDNESDAY: Planning Board, 6:30 p.m., virtual meeting via Zoom.
THURSDAY: Board of Assessors, 11 a.m., and Energy and Climate Action Committee, 6 p.m., both virtual meetings via Zoom.