GILL — As part of the last remaining days of 2018, the town of Gill 225th committee put on one last event to celebrate the town — a community skate at Northfield Mount Hermon School.
The two-hour long skate was open to the public and included food and hot chocolate brought by volunteers.
Steve Damon, a member of the committee, said the idea was to have one more skate before the year was done. The school allowed residents onto the ice and use of several pairs of skates and helmets.
“Some people say, ‘There’s Northfield Mount Hermon, riverside…’ — no there’s one big town of Gill,” Damon said. “We wanted to bring people in town together.”
Gill residents in attendance of different ages and skating abilities said they enjoyed time skating on the rink.
Logan Tyler, 8, said he liked skating because he got to feel the breeze as he gained momentum on the ice.
“I like skating and I’m pretty good at it,” Tyler said. “I’m on a hockey team.”
Tyler’s mother, Stephanie Brown said she was excited they got to try a new rink.
“We went earlier this year and it was a blast,” Brown said. “It’s fun.”
Gill Fire Department volunteer Jason Edson, who lives in Montague, said he brought his son to spend time with him.
“I lived in Gill for a long time and I wanted to spend time with my son,” Edson said. “I haven’t skated in 31 years and I still can’t skate backwards, but I’m really psyched. It’s really fun and it’s been fun.”
His son, James Edson, 8, said he likes skating and plays hockey as well.
“It’s just feeling the wind and skating with friends on the team here,” James Edson said. “It’s my first year skating, too.”
Gill resident Sorrel Bingham brought her family to go skate together because they attended other community skates earlier this year.
“It’s great that they (Northfield Mount Hermon) opened up the rink to the community,” Bingham said. “We don’t get an opportunity to do this very often, so this is nice. I think it’s important to get a little taste of how to skate while the kids are little. I hope it would become an annual event.”
Thirteen year old Zoe Ballou, of Greenfield, said she used to take lessons.
“It’s fun and I like hanging out with friends,” Ballou said. “I like skating. It’s a change from walking around, skating is really freeing.”
Todd Cesere brought his family to skate together and while the family normally skates on a brook by their home, skating at the ice rink was a nice change in pace.
“We’ve been to the other 225th themed events in town this year. We saw it in the newsletter,” Cesere said. “It’s nice to skate with other people from Gill and celebrate the town together.”