Rehoboth To Celebrate 375th Anniversary in 2018

Next year Rehoboth marks its 375th anniversary and a committee has been formed to plan a year-long celebration.

The committee includes Mike Costello as chairman and Connie Wenzel-Jordan as vice-chairman. Kelly Hathaway was named recording secretary and Cheryl Gouveia is Treasurer. Other members of the committee include Ken Abrams, Andrew Carden, Frank Cardoza, Kathy Conti, Helen Davis, Jean Grota, Neal Harrington, Jake Kramer, Laura Schwall and Cynthia Lee.

At its first meeting on June 26, the group discussed several ideas for the anniversary.  “We’d like to make this one of the best celebrations the town has ever seen,” Costello said. The committee plans to form sub-committees to oversee different events that will take place throughout the year. The big event will be an anniversary parade with floats, bands, antique vehicles and much more. The parade will likely take place in October, which is the month when the town was first established in 1643. “I think that is the most crucial thing. We want a major parade that everyone will remember,” Costello said.

The committee wants to dig up the time capsule that was buried for the 325th anniversary and make plans to create a new one for the 375th anniversary. Some of the suggestions for what should go in the time capsule included a newspaper, the town’s annual report and a menu from a local restaurant (to show the current meal prices). A suggestion was made to involve the schools in the time capsule project.

The committee also wants to reach out to neighboring cities and towns to help or join in the celebration. When the town of Rehoboth was originally formed it included parts of Seekonk and Attleboro as well as several Rhode Island towns. Some of the events that the committee talked about are a fashion show with period costumes/attire, a Kids Day at Redway Plain, a carnival, a clam bake, a holiday house tour, a ‘Taste of Rehoboth’ event and an anniversary ball. The committee will decide at its next meeting what events will be held.

The committee also discussed how to fund the anniversary celebration. Due to budget issues, the town is not going to be able to pay for the celebration. One of the members said that if the town wants a great parade, it can be very costly – as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars. The committee will be holding various fundraisers. One of the ideas for a fundraiser was a golf tournament.

A website has been created for the 375th anniversary. The address is: www.rehoboth375.com and there is a link there for donations. Donations can also be mailed to the town offices at 148 Peck Street, Rehoboth, MA 02769. Checks should be made payable to “Town of Rehoboth – 375 Anniversary.”

The committee will meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 26 at 7 p.m. at Gladys Hurrell Senior Center.