Readers of last month’s column will recognize this month’s as “Small-town Races II.” We recently had Greenfield’s Don Maynard race, the Summit Run in Hadley and Conway’s Covered Bridge 10K; now here comes the Roadtown Turkey Trot in Shutesbury, on Nov. 22.
Haydenville, Whately, Shelburne Falls, Goshen and some other towns hereabouts match Shutesbury for smallness, but having once lived in Shutesbury, I think it wins the prize for remoteness, not merely because it’s a long drive from there to anywhere besides the Leverett Food Coop and the Shutesbury Athletic Club (which I know is athletic, because I sat at the bar there one night to watch the Olympics on TV) but especially because of the steep hills and the beautiful forests.
Looking out my back door some winter days when there used to be snow, I would imagine I could ski from Shutesbury to Canada without bumping into anyone I knew. Saying hi to neighbors in Florence meant talking with two or three of them any time I walked to the post office; in Shutesbury it meant waving at a possibly familiar face in a passing car once a week.
But then comes an Event, and immediately Shutesbury is a lively community. The Roadtown Turkey Trot is a good example.
This 5-kilometer race was inaugurated in 2023 to celebrate the approach of Thanksgiving but also to raise funds for a significant makeover of the town’s M.N. Spear Memorial Library. This sweet little library began in 1811 as a single bookshelf, its contents funded by subscribers who contributed a minimum of one dollar apiece to create a social and educational facility in the community. In 1902 the library acquired its own building, thanks to a bequest of $1,500 by Mirick N. Spear of Amherst.
A century later, a movement got under way to make the library larger and to freshen it up. After much discussion, planning and, finally, construction, the library is expected to reopen soon, five times as large as it was, with new rooms for exercise classes, crafts, lectures, movie nights, reading spaces for families with young children and for quiet adults, and a space for teenagers — exciting stuff not to be taken for granted when you live in the woods. In case those aren’t enough offerings, for Shutesbury residents the library lends not only books but kayaks. Really.
Like the Lake Wyola race in June — Shutesbury may be small, but it features two dandy races each year — the Roadtown Turkey Trot comprises not only a footrace but a timed walk on the same 5-kilometer course and a fun-run for children. The walk starts at 9 a.m. near the school (23 West Pelham Road), the run at 9:15. The fun run, on the Shutesbury Elementary School track, starts at 9:45. Funds raised by the Turkey Trot will help to finish the library’s outdoor spaces, including a play area for children. The entry fee for the 5K run or walk is $35 online at Roadtown.org or $40 at the school on race day. The fun run fee is $15.
My own experience of running this Turkey Trot is that the post-race party is the best part. The school gym is full of friendly people eating apples, baked goods and other refreshments, the age-group winners get nice prizes — my prize (second place, men over 70) was the coolest water bottle I own — and all 5K runners are entered in a drawing for a Diemand Farms turkey, cranberry sauces, pies, and other goodies. You can register in advance at Roadtown.org or at the school the morning of the race.
About the race’s name: In the 1730s, when it was obvious that development of communities in the Connecticut River Valley would be helped by good connections to Worcester County and eastward, people built a road from Lancaster to Sunderland, then known as Swampfield, through present-day Shutesbury, which thus was known as Roadtown. The 50-mile road, essentially a cart track at the time, was a key to Sunderland’s development.
Speaking of Turkey Trots, the annual Holyoke Elks Club Turkey Trot starts at noon on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now in its 46th year, this is a wonderful flat six-mile race: no traffic, great scenery — the Ashley Reservoir, surrounded by huge pine trees, with the occasional hawk soaring overhead — and loads of post-race pasta and clam chowder. Register now at empireonerunningclub.org or on race day at the Elks Club on Whitney Avenue. Registering by Nov. 12 gets you a long-sleeved T-shirt.
John Stifler has taught writing and economics at UMass and has written extensively for running magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at jstifler@umass.edu.