Shoppers browse through goods for sale during the sixth annual Shutesbury Holiday Shop at the Shutesbury Athletic Club in 2017. The event returns Dec. 2.
Shoppers browse through goods for sale during the sixth annual Shutesbury Holiday Shop at the Shutesbury Athletic Club in 2017. The event returns Dec. 2. Credit: STAFF FILE PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

Sunderland church hosting cocoa and carols on Saturday

SUNDERLAND — The First Congregational Church of Sunderland will offer hot chocolate and carol singing on Saturday at 5 p.m., as the church lights its outdoor creche for the Christmas season.

Shutesbury Holiday Shop returns

SHUTESBURY — The annual Shutesbury Holiday Shop will return from Friday, Dec. 2, to Sunday, Dec. 4.

Located at the Shutesbury Athletic Club, 282 Wendell Road, the Shutesbury Holiday Shop pulls together a wide variety of holiday gift-giving options from local artisans, craftspeople, authors and musicians. It will be open on Friday, Dec. 2, from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 4, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Field Memorial Library sets up Holiday Giving Tree

CONWAY — The Friends of the Field Memorial Library’s annual Holiday Giving Tree will be in the library’s rotunda from Nov. 28 to Dec. 19. Members of the public can bring gift cards, donations, notes of support and other items for folks who use the Hilltown Churches Food Pantry.

The library is open to receive donations on Mondays from 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 2 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This year, the food pantry is specifically requesting books for children ages 2 to 18, gift cards parents could use for children’s gifts, ingredients that could help make cookies and other baked goods for the holidays, and basic toiletries.

The Hilltown Churches Food Pantry will distribute most items on Dec. 13.

Conway Historical Society hosting presentation on armored mud balls

CONWAY — The Conway Historical Society is hosting Greenfield Community College Professor Emeritus Richard Little on Tuesday, Dec. 6, to talk about armored mud balls, a rare geological structure with some well-preserved examples found in Franklin County.

Little will give the talk at the Conway Historical Society, 50 Main St., at 7:30 p.m. Little will bring in samples of armored mud balls and discuss their importance in understanding local geology. Refreshments will be served.

With Franklin County’s eight known mud balls “definitely” being the only lithified specimens observable internationally, Little is pushing for the state to designate them as the official sedimentary structure of Massachusetts.