Whately Congregational Church annual chicken BBQ on Sept. 4

WHATELY — Tickets are available through Saturday, Aug. 26 for the Whately Congregational Church’s annual Labor Day BBQ.

The take-home-only meal will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 4 at the church, 177 Chestnut Plain Road.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for children. Tickets can be reserved by calling 413-665-2653 and must be purchased by cash or check only.

Conway Historical Society hosting reading of Hassell family letters

CONWAY — The Conway Historical Society is hosting a free reading of 19th-century letters from the Hassell family, which made its way to Conway from Maine.

Letters are dated from 1850 to 1903 and detail family life on a farm in Maine and how industrialization rapidly changed life in the region. The letters have been compiled by Jennifer Hassell Coliskey, the great-great granddaughter of Benjamin and Sarah Parker Hassell.

The reading of the letters will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Conway Historical Society, 50 Main St. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

Old Deerfield Painting Group featuring botanicals through Aug. 27

DEERFIELD — The Old Deerfield Painting Group’s 32nd annual exhibition continues through Aug. 27 with botanicals set as the theme.

The show is held at the Deerfield Community Center, on Memorial Drive, and runs each day from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

While botanicals is the featured theme, the show includes a wide range of landscape and wildlife paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel. Most works will be available for purchase as well.

“We are blessed to live and work in a place where we are surrounded by a rich, diverse plant kingdom,” said exhibition organizer David Sund. “Its bounty feeds us, its beauty nurtures our souls and its biology sustains our environment an dour bodies. It’s no wonder we chose to celebrate it on the stage.”

Conway Hills Wildlife sanctuary walk on Sept. 10

CONWAY — The Conway Open Space Committee is hosting a Massachusetts Audubon Society naturalist for a guided walk Sunday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m.

The public is invited to tour the Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and see its stone walls, woods and hayfields and learn about the plants and animals that live there, as well as current management strategies.

The event is free and open to all. People are encouraged to park at Conway Grammar School, 24 Fournier Road, and carpool to the site because parking is limited on Route 116.