This Week's Winchendon News
"Community Conversations" Organizers Present Outcomes of the Conversations To BOS
from left, Pastor J Lillie, Jane LaPointe and Patti Stanko share the results of the Community Conversations series with the BOS
Photo copyright Town of Winchendon
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, July 13, three of the principal organizers of the series of "Community Conversations" held in the first part of 2026 came before the Board to talk about how the conversations went and what participants learned. Pastor J Lillie of Cornerstone Church, Patti Stanko of Beals Memorial Library and resident Jane LaPointe came forward to follow up on their presentation in February as the Conversations were preparing to start. At that time, the Board asked the organizers to come back with a report when the series was complete. (See "Beals Memorial Library Plans 'Community Conversations'" in the February 12-19, 2026 edition of the Winchendon Courier (scroll down to article). Also in the March, 2026 print edition, page 2.)
Four Conversations were held, one per month from February to May. The series was called, "Bridging Ideas and Building Futures," and each Conversation was professionally facilitated by a consulting firm contracted via grant money from CHNA9. Each one had a specific topic participants focused on. The first Conversation was held at the Beals Memorial Library, but was so well attended, the series was moved to the Old Murdock Senior Center where there was more space. They were held on Saturday mornings from 10:00 a.m. to noon.
Pastor J began, "Basically we had between 30 and 50 people come out every month, just from across various micro-communities within Winchendon, to have discussions based around four ideas. The first month was "what does community mean to you?" The second month we talked about "what do we want our community to look like." The third month we talked about "how do we get there." So it was a transparent look at obstacles and connections, including we talked about digital issues, silos, political strains, economic transitions, and whatnot. And finally, in the last month, we asked the question: "What, as a community, are we prepared to do?" So we began to talk about those things. We had amazing conversations around those things."
Ms. LaPointe said, "We got a grant from the our local CHNA to hire facilitators that came in and helped, and they were very good in structuring the conversations. It was really fascinating to hear all the different perspectives that came out on these four different questions, and there was a lot of opportunity for people to share their ideas, their thoughts, what this all meant to them, and it was good. We've got files of more detail than what's here. We have a lot of data."
Pastor J said, "I just briefly want to go over the four conversations.
"Discovering our definition of community. As we spoke together, we had I think 30 people that first month discussing just what is community, and we talked about, community is coming together, community is showing up, community is caring for one another, community is a system of communication between and about diverse groups. We did a lot of talking about moving between the silos, moving between the micro-communities, working with people who don't think like you do, and then also growing a volunteer base that would become a prime part of the conversation throughout.
"In the second month, we discussed envisioning Winchendon as a sort of a soft place to land. This focused on legacy, aiming for a stable town with a thriving economy where roots grow deep and people feel they matter...We had between 40 and 50 people that second month, and we went between a large group and then we moved into several small groups where we discussed the issues of who do we want to be, and so in those visioning sessions, the word 'home' appeared most prominently. We wanted people to feel at home here in Winchendon.
"When we began to discuss things of an economic nature, what came up was a lot of people were saying we need to say yes to things in our backyard. That's what YIMBY means: Yes, In My Back Yard. We need to start moving towards a positive approach towards economics and building a stable tax base, allowing residents to work locally.
"There was a great deal of desire to honor history, from the Senior Center to our trails. We had youth there every single month, and they had great input. This visioning prioritizes emotional relational health, linking arms instead of competing against one another. We did a lot of talking about how silos right now are duplicating efforts rather than building together."
Ms. LaPointe said there was a mix of people who had grown up in the town and always lived here, people who grew up here, left for a while and have come back, and people who are new to Winchendon. "But the value of home, and caring for each other, and the diversity of what we can build on really came through," she said.
Pastor J went on, "In the third month, we chatted about challenges and barriers to that soft place to land, we talked about how even though over the last several years, and this is really a testament to the work that the Board has done and other agencies in town have done, we talked about how silos have begun coming down. I've been in town all my life, and I see a greater desire to collaborate than I've seen in a long time. That's very exciting to me for a lot of reasons, and so for all those who are working in leadership in Winchendon, I think that's a testament, because we've been in silos for a very long time, and I'm seeing great movement towards breaking out of those.
"But silos still remain. Micro-community bubbles are still there. We need to continue to rebuild bridges. In my own work with the Council of Churches, we are working continually to build relationships and partnerships between all the churches in town, and so we're seeing those things begin to shift and move. A lack of central hubs limits chance encounters that build trust, but we're seeing those things begin to shift. There's a definitely a participation gap, win-lose mindset in local politics sometimes prevents compromise needed for town-wide progress. That came up in our conversations. Economic disconnect, digital barriers, Facebook can, many times, be a problem. We discussed that at length, and an information void." Many residents are simply unaware of resources like the Courier or Town website, they found. Negative voices on Facebook can overpower the optimistic majority, creating a fear of participation.
[Side note: This has been an issue with internet forums for many years before any "social media" platform ever went online, and very strong, "tough love" moderation is the only solution that really works.]
"It was very clear from what everyone was saying that the environment in our town now is open and ripe for what's next, and that's important," Ms. LaPointe said.
"Yeah, and we were a diverse group that was conversing there," Pastor J said. "There were people from across the generations, but also across silos from a lot of different agencies, and even people who weren't involved in agencies, who were saying there's something going on here that's different than they've seen before. So that was very encouraging to us.
"In our fourth conversation, we talked about moving from consumerism to citizenship, we talked about the resident paradigm shifting from treating residents as passive consumers of town services to active, engaged citizens. ATV--Authentic, Transparent, and Vulnerable--engagement approach, targeted outreach projects serving the whole community while considering the needs of all community members. One of the words that Jane introduced to us was targeted universalism and personal connection, building on personal relationships within town."
Ms. LaPointe said, "That was very important. That came through over and over and over again about how do we begin to break down some of these barriers and deal with some of the resistance or the hesitations that people might have, and it's the personal invitation, it's the reaching out, it's the inviting people to come to something. We can put all we want out there on flyers and Facebook and social media and this and that. But at some point, that will work for some people, but for the majority, no. We need to reach out, and people seemed willing to do that."
Pastor J said, "In our final conversation, as these conversations move forward, we always wanted it to end in action, not just talk. And so we asked, 'What are we willing to do?' Four things came out of that conversation that were pretty clear. Number one, there was a desire to build resilient volunteers. I've already met with this committee about the VolunteerHub program and things, but there were other people in that room, other than just me and the people from my church, who said we really need to create resiliency in our volunteerism within town. There was also an incredible conversation based around information, the information center and building deeper levels of communication, on using the kiosk at Front and Pleasant Street with new maps and signage and utilizing all the information that's at the Beals Memorial Library as an information hub."
Part of the "siloing," Pastor J said, is that "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and it appears that there's probably more than two hands working on the same projects at the same time."
At the conclusion, he said, "there's great desire to continue the conversations. We are going to begin to do that, and also the Livable Winchendon project was brought up, and talking about nine circle groups focused on the domains of livability as part of a continuing conversation. So we are actually in the process of moving forward with more community conversations at this point."
Ms. LaPointe said that the new Livable Winchendon initiative (Courier readers will be seeing a lot more about this) started out at the Senior Center with the Council on Aging, but they want it to be relevant to the whole community. "Now, when we think about Livable Winchendon, we're thinking of it as the umbrella, if you will, under which the different pieces, different committees, boards, community organizations that are related to what we'll be getting into with these different domains, how they can begin to connect, to see themselves together, to rally, to amplify the work that's already being done to get more leverage out of it, and that for me personally, that's what I've been hoping for, I think ever since I moved back to town. Now I see where it might be happening. We're going to be looking at how this blends in with the [HEAL Collaborative] work, the Community Heart & Soul work that was done, and the things that got appended to the Master Plan. My guess down the road is I think there's going to be something here that's going to help to inform the work and priorities of many different boards, committees, and civic organizations, and I think it will also inform perhaps an update to the Master Plan."
Resident Lauren Raps Appointed to Board of Health
Lauren Raps responds to questions from the BOH and BOS
Photo copyright Town of Winchendon
At a joint meeting of the Board of Health and Board of Selectmen on Monday, July 13, resident Lauren Raps was interviewed for and appointed to the last open seat on what is one of the most important town boards, but one which has been challenging to keep filled. A current staffer at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Ms. Raps brings an impressive set of skills and experience to the BOH.
BOH Chair Monique Connor began the questioning, asking if Ms. Raps would be able to make the Board's meeting time of 10:00 a.m. on Mondays. Ms. Raps said that she teleworks most days and has a fairly flexible schedule. Asked what she envisions doing as part of the Board, Ms. Raps said, "I am a newer resident of Winchendon. I moved here about eight months ago, so I am still very much getting my groundings and my bearings of all the things in my new home and everything like that. So really, just learning to work with you all as the Board and take in everything that this cute little Toy Town has to offer."
BOH member Barbara Zisk asked if Ms. Raps would be available if there was a health emergency in town.
Ms. Raps replied, "Yep. So, as part of my duties at the Mass Department of Public Health, I do work in the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management, OPEM. So that does involve dealing with emergencies as they arise and everything like that. But part of that is also being part of a 12-member duty officer team. So if there was an emergency that was super local to my hometown, I do anticipate being able to swap out with somebody that would not have an emergency as local and be able to deal with that."
Board of Selectmen member Audrey LaBrie asked how Ms. Raps saw her background and expertise applying to the Winchendon BOH.
Ms. Raps said, "So my current role at DPH, I serve as a regional and logistics inventory coordinator. So it is very much dealing with all of the behind-the-scenes items and things and stuff that has amassed, particularly after COVID. But prior to that, my office did a little bit of a restructuring, and previous to my current role, I was a regional coordinator. So I was actually able to spend time with I think, 71 communities down in the southeast region of Massachusetts, working directly with their local boards of health, and getting a very good understanding what the structure of local health looks like in Massachusetts and some of the direct challenges that come with local health and all of that. So I do think that has prepared me to have a good understanding as to the various things that arise at the local level."
Ms. LaBrie asked, "Should you be appointed to the Board of Health, do you foresee any potential conflict of interest between something that may happen at the state level versus something that's going to affect us directly? And how would you handle that?"
"I think you know, as a state employee, they do talk quite extensively about conflicts of interest and things like that," Ms. Raps said. "So I think if there was ever a question about a potential conflict of interest, I can always defer to the Mass conflict of interest line that they do have available, and take their legal advice on things like that, and defer to that aspect. But definitely, understand that certain issues may arise or things like that. But absolutely willing to kind of tackle them as they might occur."
BOS member Erika Eitland asked, "what is your experience working with data, public health data, and understanding how to make some of the decisions we want to? How can we be more responsive to that and what's available, especially for a town like Winchendon?"
"I think public health data is really the backbone of a lot of things in public health," Ms. Raps said. "We always like to say it: public health is science focused and data-backed and everything like that. And I think one of the biggest things available is looking at the various different reports and things that are available through the state level, and seeing how we can apply it here to our town, and really being able to integrate some of that data and seeing how we can apply it at the local level, and really have a good understanding as to how some decisions that are being made, maybe at the state level or even at the federal level, how that can impact us down here at the local level."
Ms. Eitland asked how Ms. Raps saw the issue of grants and funding, especially for parts of Massachusetts outside of the "inner ring" of 495 that gets most of the state gravy. Ms. Raps said, "I think grants perspective is a huge thing because funding is where things really always boil down to, right? Especially in times of funding crunches. So I think definitely evaluating what grants are available is an amazing option. But I think also looking into what other resources are available at the regional level, that we might not be tapping into currently, or what could we possibly expand upon? What partnerships could we form, and kind of various things like that. So I think that those are all absolutely things that we can look into."
Asked for examples, she went on, "I think a really good example, and I will be transparent in saying that because I did not previously work in the central area, or we like to call it in DPH, in the Worcester region. I don't have a very clear understanding of everything, but I will say that we have structures in emergency preparedness called the HMCCs, the Health and Medical Coordinating Coalitions, and they do provide various resources, and that is how the emergency preparedness funding is distributed at the local level. And with that, there are various things like caches of supplies and things like that. So I think there are various things. Just kind of being aware of it is some of the biggest challenges, and you know, not even knowing that those things are there. So I think that's one of the things that I've definitely been thinking about."
Ms. Eitland asked, "One thing that this town is, I think, really pushing hard for is transparency and communications. I think nothing is more important than, especially for Board of Health, how that's impacting families, especially in a community where intergenerationally we know that there's different needs across the entire spectrum. So I'm curious from your perspective, how would you approach communicating with this community? Are there strategies you've seen that have worked well in Southeast Region? How are you going to help this Board of Health be transparent and one with the community?"
Ms. Raps replied, "I think having a better understanding as to what we feel like our communication barriers are would be really helpful in going into that conversation more. But I think tapping into some of the existing local resources that we have, like at The HUB, at the YMCA, and just really making our messages aware and things like you know, do you guys know that we have a meeting today? And I know there's a lot of notice put out there and everything like that. And not everybody has time to go to meetings. But what other ways can we look at our messaging and what are we trying to get out there? Would be really great to really figure out."
Ms. Raps was asked if she had any questions, and she did not. Both Boards voted to nominate and appoint Ms. Raps to the Board of Health. As she is filling a vacated seat, her term will expire with the 2027 Town Election, so she will need to pull nomination papers and run for a full term at that time if she chooses to do so.
Beals Memorial Library Joins in Nationwide Public Reading of The Declaration of Independence
The volunteer readers listen as Beals Memorial Library Director Manuel King (in top hat) reads "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."
Photo copyright Town of Winchendon
After the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, public readings of it were held in towns and cities all through the colonies. In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, on July 8, Beals Memorial Library held a public reading of the entire document in the open air to all who came to listen, just as was done 250 years ago. Around a dozen community members volunteered to each read a section of the complete document as it was approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to King George III.
Readers gathered on the library's front steps, while listeners stood or sat on the lawn facing them. The reading started with bells ringing from the steeples of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon and the United Parish church on Front Street, along with an antique hand bell rung from the library steps. After the closing words of the document itself, the names of each delegate who signed were read.
WinchendonTV videorecorded the entire proceeding, which took about 15 minutes. The video may be seen on WinchendonTV at https://winchendon.cablecast.tv/internetchannel/show/405?site=1
Music at Your Doorstep: Massachusetts' Winchendon Music Festival
Winchendon, a former manufacturing hub known as "Toy Town," was the hometown of Andrew Arceci's parents and grandparents and where Andrew, a multi-instrumentalist, later returned to the town and founded the Winchendon Music Festival (WMF) in his father's memory in 2015. Since then, WMF has evolved from a summer festival to a "pop-up festival" providing opportunities for cultural enrichment through the form of free concerts open to the greater Winchendon community. The festival's programming spans a wide range of musical traditions. This year's season placed a program of Baroque music in dialogue with a variety of musical traditions--orchestral-choral works, a panel on AI and music, and a program of Vietnamese and classical guitar music by guitarist An Tran.
At the WMF's April 2026 pop-up Arceci on viola da gamba, Asako Takeuchi on Baroque violin, and John Lenti on theorbo and Baroque guitar delighted the audience with a program of Baroque and Classical music. The evening's offerings included Arcangelo Corelli's "La Folia," a riveting crowd pleaser, alongside the lesser-known "Collection of Old Scots Tunes" by Francesco Barsanti. In an intimate European-style salon setting hosted at the historic Murdock-Whitney house, the trio's music immersed the rapt audience in the world of seventeenth-century Italy, creating an evening filled with exploration, education, and enjoyment.
Throughout the concert, Lenti, Takeuchi, and Arceci made a point of breaking down barriers between the audience and musician, greeting old friends and welcoming in each member of the audience. Any sense of distance was removed quite literally too, as the intimate venue and close proximity allowed the audience to witness the minute details of musicians immersed in their craft. At one point, Lenti gave a short talk on the origins of the theorbo, an instrument with a distinctive long neck and set of 14 strings that few would recognize nowadays. "T-H-E-O-R-B-O" Lenti spelled out. "You may have seen something like this in Renaissance paintings and angels on Christmas cards," he added, referring to the theorbo's older, and more well-known, relative: the lute. As Lenti explained how the theorbo was created alongside the emerging musical practice of Baroque opera in the early seventeenth century, combining his keen interest in the instrument with light-hearted jokes, he coaxed a laugh out of wide-eyed children and seasoned scholars alike. This engaging presentation of the history behind this music was just a taste of the down-to-earth manner of this evening of early music. Wholeheartedly, the trio approached this music and audience alike with vivacity and humanity, creating a space where "historically-informed performance" could come alive.
Over the past few decades, classical institutions have been forced to confront the fact that playing, listening to, and learning about classical music is often expensive and inaccessible to the communities that they claim to serve. As such, pay-what-you-wish or free outreach concerts have become almost a necessity for any modern arts organization. Small arts non-profits and established symphony orchestras alike increasingly incorporate such concerts into their programming. Massachusetts boasts many classical music summer festivals--these number among the greatest artistic institutions in the country, and provide a transformative experience for their audiences. Yet, what happens to the communities that host these artists when the summer ends and musicians depart for major urban centers? The Winchendon Music Festival provides one obvious solution.
In an email announcement recently sent to supporters, Andrew Arceci said, "WMF will have a limited 2027 season, but we're delighted to announce that John Arcaro will return as one of the featured artists as he celebrates 50 years (!) on the faculty at Berklee College of Music.
"We remain committed to bringing exceptional music to the Winchendon community. We look forward to sharing additional details about 2027 in the coming months." Follow the WMF on Facebook at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057439419622 for updates.
