Community Events Calendar

A dream has become a reality!  Perhaps a bold proclamation at least for this writer it is true.

Yvette and I noticed a few years ago that Hollistonians appreciated having a place to find social events sponsored by Holliston entities that welcomed local participation.  At that time, there wasn’t an automated, centralized, and curated town-wide resource that was easy to access.  And more recently, the cross-street banners on Washington St are banned by the utilities.

Fast forward a few years and a new resource is now up and running thanks a “dream team” of town employees.  If you haven’t been to the Town website recently, you may not have noticed at the lower left corner of the screen the NEW “Community Events” calendar.

Shannon Cornwell, Asst Dir. Parks & Recreation; Melanie Hamblen, Economic Development Coordinator; and Chris Meo, IT Director, aka the “Dream Team,” turned a concept into reality.  Months of conversation, ideation, and exploration of existing technology differently gelled in December 2024. 

The result is a place where all Holliston entities: town departments, schools, social, civic, scouts, philanthropic, businesses can post upcoming events.  For residents, it serves as “the place” to go to see events they might want to add to their personal calendars.  The calendar holds events in the current and upcoming months – all in one place.

For Residents: Click on the All Upcoming Events link below the Community Events calendar to see what is planned in the current month.  Click on the Next button to advance through the year.  Remember to check here often, as events will be added on a rolling basis throughout the month / year.

For Sponsoring Groups: Completing the online form submits your event for vetting and posting.  Below are the steps to access the Events Calendar Policy / Disclaimer and Community Event Calendar Submission Form:

1. Click Departments on the Holliston Home Page

2. Click Community Events.

3. Click the Community Event Calendar Submission Form noting and saving the email address (communityevents@holliston.k12.ma.us) to send attachments related to the event.

Below is the Policy / Disclaimer that guides the publication of events on the Town Community Events Calendar.  Each calendar event submission will be reviewed for adherence to the criteria.

Policy/Disclaimer:

• The calendar is intended to serve as a resource for the Holliston community
• Calendar listings are offered to all Holliston Community Groups.  This offering is also extended to outside Community Groups offering events located in Holliston only.
• It is the event holder(s) responsibility to notify the Town if their event is cancelled or if there is any significant changes to the accuracy of the event posting (i.e. Date/Time or Location Change)
• The Town of Holliston does not endorse the content or accuracy of any listing or external website.
• The Town of Holliston is not responsible and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind, arising out of the use, reference to, or reliance on, any information or business listed on this site.
• By contributing any information (including text and graphics), you grant the Town permission – free of charge – to modify the material.
• Event holder(s) agree that all information is their own original work, not defamatory, does not infringe on any laws, and they have the right to provide the Town permission to use it for purposes mentioned above and that the Town has the right in its sole discretion to reject an event listing request.

Below is the Submission Form – Please note that the illustration below is not the entire form.  There are more data required before the form can be submitted.

Submissions will be vetted and a confirmation message or a request for additional information will be sent to the Event Contact listed with the submission.  A secondary but important goal of the Events Calendar is to minimize conflicts for dates, times, and locations.

Perhaps you’ve walked through Blair Square recently and spotted this new addition.  It’s a digital sign board that helps with wayfinding and keeping up with important town information – including events from the Community Events calendar on the Town website!

This above view shows our new downtown map which guides a walking tour of our local establishments.

Below is the “Holliston Neighborhood Newsfeed” which is dynamic in its presentation.  QR codes allow access to more information than can be displayed at one time.  Notice that the bottom left panel displays items from the Town’s Public Meetings calendar and the Community Events calendar.  Don’t forget to respond to Opinion question at the lower right corner.  (This time of year it’s not likely to spot a Box Turtle in our neighborhood!)

The manufacturer of this technology is a company called Soofa (rhymes with loofah) located in Cambridge.  Melanie Hamblen used grant funding to purchase and install this dynamic resource.

The activation of the Soofa board coincided nicely with the initial posting of the Events Calendar.  For those who remember “The A-team” series, “Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?” and for our dream team most anything is possible!