Snowstorm cancels Grafton’s Halloween Town Meeting

PHOTOS BY PETER CARLSON

Grafton’s once-in-a-blue-moon outdoor Halloween Town Meeting has been postponed until November 7 due to snow covering the Grafton High School football field.

Select Board Chair Peter Carlson found several inches of snow coating the area around 12:30 p.m. and made the call to postpone fall Town Meeting for the second time, fearing snow and cold temperatures would interfere with setting up the field and diminish voter turnout.

Town Meeting was originally set for October 19, with Town Moderator Dan Concaugh calling for it to be held inside Grafton High School. It was moved to October 31, outside on the football field, on town officials’ recommendation due to COVID-19. In a twist, Concaugh announced his resignation shortly after making that call. Moderator duties normally would fall to Town Clerk Kandy Lavallee by state law, but Lavallee is currently on medical leave.

That left the ball (snowball?) in Carlson’s hands, so he called in former Town Moderator Ray Mead to once again run the meeting. Mead’s last meeting was in June, when the issue on the football field was heat rather than snow.

Third time’s the charm? Town Meeting is now set for November 7, 11 a.m., outside on the Grafton High School football field.

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