In this issue: New life on the horizon for New Marlborough’s oldest and most beautiful bridge.

Also: An update on the progress toward a renovated Town Hall; more on roads and bridges and the future of EMS in our area; an important preview of candidates for November 3 election of School Committee members; a revisit to a poignant poem on the last dairy farm in New Marlborough; an essay on the rise and fall of farming in this town through the centuries; a report on bear antics in Southfield; a look at changes in the Land Trust leadership; an article on the soon-to-be premiere of a  play about Ben Franklin by Mill River’s own Joan Ackerman; transfer station news; tributes to three recently departed members of the community; an In the Beginning piece from twenty years ago on the international membership of the New Marlborough Fire Company; and even more!