Amy Porter

Jillian Battles stands among the 800 bags for active duty troops after filling them at Westover Barnes Air National Guard base on Nov. 8. Reminder Publishing submitted photo

The Mass Cultural Council has designated Westfield as one of three new cultural districts, along with Holyoke and Watertown, capping a recent two and a half year effort by city officials, area arts organizations, individual artists and the Westfield Merchants Association.

Whip City Animal Sanctuary, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located on 232 Montgomery Rd. that provides a home for rescued and surrendered farm animals will be honoring William Reed of Westfield during open hours this Saturday, Nov. 23 at 11 a.m.

he Nov. 19 School Committee meeting began on a high note as Galen Wilson, WTA Aviation department head talked about the program that prepares students as certified aviation mechanics.

At the Westfield School Committee meeting on Nov. 20, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski presented his three main goals for the school year, with some pushback from the committee to include data for the first goal on student learning, which emphasizes improving student achievement on district assessments and increased student attendance rates.

At its meeting on Nov. 19, the Planning Board approved a self-service aviation fuel facility at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport on a 6 to 1 vote after a presentation by Airport Manager Christopher Willenborg and engineers Craig Schuster of the Airport Solutions Group and David Frothingham, Wilcox and Barton.

WESTFIELD — The Mass Cultural Council has designated Westfield as one of three new cultural districts, along with Holyoke and Watertown, capping a recent two-and-a-half-year effort by city officials, area arts organizations, individual artists and the Westfield Merchants Association. For some, the effort goes back more than a decade.

The Westfield City Council voted Nov. 21 to send a request back to Mayor MIchael McCabe for $2 million in free cash to offset taxes, and to postpone a vote on the tax rates for 2025. The deadline to vote on the tax rate is Nov. 26.

Westfield Public School Food Drive co-chairs Susan Figy, Ralph Figy, Eileen Jachym and Jimmy Jachym led the effort to assemble 200 meals for families who need them in the district.

WESTFIELD - On Nov. 21, the City Council voted to accept several grants to the city, and approved the award of $150,000 to the Westfield Woman's Club for exterior renovations.