SHELBURNE FALLS — A 90th birthday party for the Bridge of Flowers will take place this Saturday, and all residents of Buckland and Shelburne are invited.
“We decided that the 90th needed to be a big deal,” said Annette Szpila, chair of the Bridge of Flowers Committee.
Planned by a subcommittee of the Bridge of Flowers Committee, itself a subdivision of the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, the birthday party will celebrate the bridge and honor the hundreds of volunteers, past and present, whose work has made the bridge the icon it is today.
“(Volunteers are) so important,” Szpila said, adding that she “can’t imagine there would be a bridge” if it weren’t for volunteers.
Szpila added that the fruits of the work of volunteers is the reason why so many people visit the bridge annually.
“Everybody (was) throwing out their ideas,” Szpila said. ‘“Oh, we should have music! Oh, we should have food! Oh, we should have art!’”
Volunteers planned just that and more.
Celebrations will kick off at 1:30 p.m. with a parade. Starting on the Buckland side, the Shelburne Falls Military Band will lead first-graders and other students from Buckland-Shelburne Elementary School in a march across the Bridge of Flowers, up Water Street and then cross Main Street to end at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center, where the rest of the activities will take place.
In preparation for Saturday’s celebrations, Laurel Rollins, a member of the Bridge of Flowers Committee, went into first-grade classrooms at Buckland-Shelburne Elementary and spoke to the students about the history of the bridge. Two classes will create wearable art projects to wear during the parade.
“We just felt it would bring about a very festive atmosphere for one thing,” Rollins said of the students’ participation. “And to get them interested in the history of our bridge and of our town” is important, too, she added.
Artist Peter London created colorful banners that will likely precede the military band, Rollins said.
At the community center, musicians are set to play. Honey gathered from bees that populate the Bridge of Flowers will be for sale.
There will also be a table featuring information about restored Trolley No. 10, which used to cross the bridge. An “Ask the Bridge Man” table, featuring self-described bridge buff and a chief engineer for Tighe and Bond, Brian Brenner, will be nearby. Tighe and Bond completed an assessment of the bridge earlier in September.
There will also be an art show and sale. Of the 16 local artists expected to show their work, there were only two requirements:
“There has to be some sort of reference to the bridge,” said Joanne Soroka, a member of the subcommittee that planned Saturday’s events. Additionally, all works had to be two-dimensional, said Soroka, who is in charge of curating the art show and sale.
“I hope it just enhances the whole celebration,” Soroka said of the show, adding she hopes “that people are surprised at how many people find the bridge beautiful enough to paint and keep for history.”
A short slide show will use images of the bridge throughout the years. Images were procured by the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum and from Nancy Dole, of a bookshop with the same name, Szpila said.
A few speeches will toast the bridge and its history. Speakers will include state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, and state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, who will read a proclamation from the Senate.
“We’re going to end it with a birthday cake,” Szpila said. Guests will sing “Happy Birthday” to the bridge, and the committee’s oldest member, Marion Taylor, will cut the cake.
Reach Maureen O’Reilly at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or moreilly@recorder.com.