NORTHFIELD — In part to celebrate the graduating Class of 2020, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District towns will be participating in a “Friday Night Lights” vehicle procession on Friday.
Vehicles will line up at around 6:30 p.m. at Warwick Community School, leaving the parking lot at 6:45 p.m. The procession will travel through Northfield and Bernardston, with a stop at Pioneer Valley Regional School, before ending at Leyden Town Hall.
“This is a PVRSD community event to honor our students, health care workers, first responders and residents,” Superintendent Jonathan Scagel said.
The event has been shared on Facebook by the police and fire departments from all four school district towns, and Scagel has already received emails from parents and staff members who are looking forward to “Friday Night Lights.” He said it will celebrate the school district’s solidarity, while honoring the graduating class, first responders and health care workers.
“We’re all in this together,” Scagel said. “This is a way to show that we’re thinking of everybody.”
Scagel said the event will see school staff in decorated vehicles and first responders in police cruisers and fire engines — as well as construction and business vehicles — driving through the four district towns, waving to students and families as they pass by their homes. Families are asked to light a candle and place it on their porch, or at the end of their driveway as a symbol of unity, hope, thanks and love as the communities weather the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope you will come onto your porches or by the side of the road, practicing social distancing, to wave hello, see smiling faces and have a little fun,” Scagel wrote in a flier for the event.
For families who do not live along the procession route, organizers ask that they park safely along the route, or in the Pioneer parking lot, to view the event.
In honor of the graduating seniors, the Pioneer athletic field lights will be lit, with “2020” displayed on the scoreboard and signs placed along the field. Organizers ask that families stay in their vehicles and off the field if they are watching the procession from Pioneer.
The full route is as follows: From Warwick Community School, left onto Winchester Road, right onto Northfield Road (which later becomes Warwick Road in Northfield), left onto Main Street, right onto Route 10, right onto Access Road, left onto Old Bernardston Road, right onto Bennett Brook Road, left into the rear entrance of Pioneer, right back onto Route 10, left onto Route 5 in Bernardston, veer onto South Street and continue past the Police Department, continuing onto Barton Road, right onto Greenfield Road and drive into Leyden, ending at Town Hall at 16 West Leyden Road.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.