COLRAIN — Real estate and personal property tax bills were mailed on Oct. 5, and are due by Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Treasurer/Tax Collector Paula Harrison’s hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. However, her office will be closed Tuesday, Oct. 25, and Thursday, Oct. 27. Residents can pay in person, by mail, using the dropbox or online at colrain-ma.gov.
With questions, email taxcollector@colrain-ma.gov or call 413-624-5549.
SHELBURNE FALLS — The Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club will host a free program about Lucy Terry Prince at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center, located at 53 Main St., on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m.
Prince was kidnapped from Africa and enslaved in Deerfield until 1756. Though she is widely regarded as the first published African American poet, only one poem is known to have survived. “Bars Fight” is a ballad about an attack upon two white families by Native Americans on Aug. 25, 1746. The attack took place in an area of Deerfield called “The Bars,” a colonial term for a meadow. Prince later gained her freedom and moved to Vermont with her husband, Abijah Prince, where she successfully argued before the Vermont Supreme Court against false land claims.
In Wednesday’s presentation, Shanta Lee — who gives lectures as a member of the Vermont and New Hampshire humanities council speakers bureaus — will illustrate Prince’s importance as a poet and orator, and as one unafraid to fight for her rights within the landscape of New England. Lee will also perform “Bars Fight.”
There is no admission fee, but donations to the club’s scholarship fund for local students are welcome.