Agenda

Santa’s Trains at Look Park

Through Dec. 24: This holiday season, Look Memorial Park is celebrating with a selection of running model trains whirling by displays of a whimsical wonderland of Christmas favorites and village landscapes. The Garden House, transformed into a Victorian-style train station, offers sights and sounds of the holiday season. Chat with authentic engineers, view themed holiday trees, and visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus before relaxing with a holiday cookie and hot chocolate. Each evening features a special guest conductor and station master from the community. Santa’s helpers will be happy to deliver your letter to Santa personally and let him know you are ready to visit him. Santa’s Trains at Look Park is open to the public daily from Dec. 10 to Dec. 23 from 4 to 8 p.m. and on Dec. 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This holiday event is free for all ages. Visit www.lookpark.org for information. Also, during Santa’s Trains at Look Park, step aboard the park’s train and take a one-mile ride on the Look Park Holiday Express to view more than 50 holiday light displays made by the park’s grounds and maintenance staff. The cost is $5. The train departs nightly every 20 minutes beginning at 4:20 p.m. The last departure is at 7:40 p.m. More than 20,000 visitors annually visit the park during the holiday season to visit Santa’s Trains, view the light displays, and share holiday dreams with Santa.

‘Firearms of Famous People’ at Museum

Through April 24: “Firearms of Famous People: From Target Shooters to Presidents,” a temporary exhibit of extraordinary firearms and memorabilia owned by well-known politicians, presidents, and celebrities, is now on view at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. The exhibit, which was organized in cooperation with the Smith & Wesson Collectors Assoc., is on display through April 24, 2016 in a space adjacent to the Smith & Wesson Gallery of Historic Firearms. The exhibit includes three presidential pistols, including a .44 double-action Smith & Wesson revolver owned by Teddy Roosevelt, along with a belt knife used by Teddy’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. Also featured is a .32 safety hammerless Smith & Wesson acquired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he was employed as an attorney in New York in the 1920s. The third presidential weapon is a .357 Magnum made especially for John F. Kennedy, featuring the handiwork of master engraver Alvin White. The revolver is fully engraved and inlaid with gold and silver, and bears the Great Seal of the U.S. on the side plate. This exhibit also includes three guns owned or used by movie stars, including a .32 caliber Smith & Wesson belonging to George Montgomery, well-known for his career as a film actor in many westerns. Clint Walker, best-known as the star of the Cheyenne TV series, owned a Smith & Wesson Model 3 that is on view. Also on display is a prop gun designed to look like a .45 caliber U.S. Army automatic pistol, used by Lee Marvin in the film Delta Force in 1986. Probably the two most famous gunmakers in the history of this country are Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, and this exhibit features firearms connected to both of these innovators. Other firearms featured in this exhibit were owned by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Theodor Robert Geisel (the father of Dr. Seuss), and Christina Nilsson, one of the opera stars of the 19th century. Admission prices are $18 for adults, $12 for seniors and college students, $9.50 for children 3-17, and free for children under 3 and museum members. The fee provides access to all four museums. General admission is free for Springfield residents with proof of address.

‘Look Good…Feel Better’

Jan. 28: The Baystate Regional Cancer Program at Baystate Mary Lane Hospital and the American Cancer Society will present “Look Good…Feel Better,” a free program for area women from 10 a.m. to noon. The program teaches beauty techniques to women who are undergoing cancer treatment. The session offers support, information, and an enjoyable first step toward renewed self-esteem, self-confidence, and emotional recovery for cancer patients undergoing radiation or chemotherapy. Deb Rozzen, volunteer cosmetologist with the “Look Good…Feel Better” program, will be on hand to work with each woman and help them learn how to enhance their appearance using makeup techniques. Wig care, scarf and hat use, skin care, and nail care will all be discussed, and all participants will receive a free makeup kit. Sessions are limited to 12 people, are open to any woman undergoing cancer treatment in the area, and will be held at the hospital in Ware. Pre-registration by Tuesday, Dec. 22 is required by calling Camille St. Onge, oncology social worker at Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, at (413) 967-2245.

Difference Makers

March 31: The eighth annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Details on the event will be published in upcoming issues of the magazine. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. The magazine’s editor and publishers have chosen this year’s class, which will be profiled in the Jan. 25 issue.