By Ed Goddard and Cindy Thompson, Chairs of Wrentham 350 Committee

As the Chairs of the Wrentham 350th Committee, we offer a heartfelt “thank you” to Wrentham residents and businesses for their support of the committee’s efforts to celebrate Wrentham’s 350th Anniversary. The 11-member committee was overwhelmed with our community’s support; we end our milestone year with a few concluding observations.

Wrentham residents love our town:  We cannot overstate the outpouring of love for our little town. Residents flooded us and our social media sites with fond memories of Wrentham. We learned of beloved businesses and people that are no longer with us but that remain a fabric of the Wrentham community. From the Davis Store to Bishops Tavern to William Sweatt, we were introduced and reintroduced to Wrentham’s history from folks who regaled us with their beloved memories of growing up in Wrentham. As a result, we better understand how important it is for current residents to preserve Wrentham’s character for our kids and grandchildren.

Wrentham residents and businesses are incredibly generous:  Nobody expected our committee to raise $250,000 to fund our Wrentham 350 events during 2023. We remain incredibly proud that all events, except for the Grand Gala, were free to residents. Every $5 donation was treasured equally as each $5,000 donation. Examples of this exceptional generosity were anonymous donors who paid for two tables for Wrentham seniors at the Gala and who matched the $12,500 Food Pantry donations at the Gala for a total donation to the Food Pantry of almost $25,000!

Wrentham remains united in common cause to preserve our sense of community:  The real world did not suspend itself as the committee executed on its events. Globally, the war in Ukraine stretched on and the Israel-Hamas war began. Closer to home, we had contested municipal elections and a controversial proposal at Town Meeting to change local election procedures. Throughout it all, Wrentham residents remained respectful of one another and continued to value the diversity of viewpoints that we expressed on such important subjects.  Wrentham residents reinforced during Wrentham 350 that we share a common goal: keeping Wrentham the best community in the Commonwealth.

Wrentham has a bright future:  We enjoyed celebrating Wrentham’s past 350 years, but we are more enthusiastic than ever about Wrentham’s future. Watching the next generation celebrate at the town’s birthday party and our Grand Parade, and witnessing so many of them add their signatures to our time capsule reinforced that the best is truly yet to come.

We close with the hope that the committee has done justice to Wrentham’s historical past and fully expect that we are entrusting Wrentham’s future to residents who will help continue this storied history into the future. Most of the committee will likely be unavailable in 2073 when the time capsule is unearthed on the town common, but we will certainly be smiling upon those to whom we have passed the torch.