HALIFAX- Halifax is the second town to be chartered in the state, and is celebrating its 260th year as a chartered town this weekend.

On July 16, at 7 pm, the celebration begins with an ice cream social at the community hall at the intersection of Brook and Branch roads, in the village of West Halifax.

There will be live entertainment on the lawn (weather permitting) by Dusti Dufrense, of Colrain, MA. There will be ice cream and lots of great music, so bring lawn chairs for a fun evening of meeting old friends and making new.

Saturday, July 17, will be a full day of events throughout the village. A few of them will be a craft and tag sale, firemen’s water polo, youth lawn tractor pull, historic homes bus tour, dunk tank, cow plop contest, jaws of life demo, chain saw artist demo, games for the kids, and a pie eating contest. There will be a firemen’s chicken barbecue from 4:30 to 6 pm, adults are $12 and children ages 6 to 12 are $6. Hot dogs and burgers will be on sale from 11 am.

There will also be a street dance with the Lonesome Brothers, and much, much more.

Sunday, July 18, starts with a church service at the West Halifax Bible Church beginning at 10 am. The message title will be “Restored.” A luncheon will be served on the lawn of the church (weather permitting) at 12 pm.

The Old Home Days events will come to a close after a grand parade at 2:30 pm on Sunday on the main street of the village of West Halifax.

This Old Home Day will feature “The Bell” as its historic reference point. The bell is a full-size cast-iron church bell that was once in the belfry of the Congregational church, now the community hall. The bell dates to approximately 1844.

It was removed from the belfry of the building in 1935 and taken to the side of the road. For all the following years clear, cold, spring water has been running into the old bell. Over the years many families have used the water running from the side of the hill into the bell for their drinking water and to water livestock and horses.

Even as late as the 1970s many people with camps would get their water at the bell before they had wells. The old church bell is not used as much as in the old days but is still a beautiful and historic part of Halifax.

A sign has been erected by the 2010 Old Home Day committee at the bell so everyone going by can see what it is and what it has been used for all these years.

T-shirts and coffee mugs feature a beautiful picture of the bell. Hats feature a beautiful “catamount,” as there have been sightings of that elusive animal in town.

For more information call Joan Courser at (802) 368-7733.