A downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, organization has made raking leaves an annual election day event.
Tuesday morning Chris Clark cast his ballot, and then came to Historic Northampton on Bridge Street. He and other volunteers were raking small piles that those merged with other piles.
At the end of two hours an enormous berm of leaves was at the back of the grounds.
"I think the idea of doing something on election day — particularly last year — was a really good idea," Clark said. "There was a big crowd."
Northampton, which is the county seat, had a heated mayoral and other races, but no federal or state candidates were on the ballot.
Clark thought that might be why fewer volunteers came out this year. Maybe people were less anxious, he said.
Historic Northampton Co-Executive Director Laurie Sanders said hosting the event does mean less yard work, but it was initially created to help people get out any election day "jitters."
Casting her eyes around the yard at the "small but mighty crew" as Sanders described the volunteers, she said a few hours of raking is one way Historic Northampton can help people connect, and its a way to make memories especially for children at the the nearby elementary school.
"If young people have a memory as they grow up of jumping in a leaf pile on their way to and from school, that deepens their sense of place," Sanders said.
Raking on election day, or getting volunteers to paint a fence is how a historic society or museum can play a role building community, Sanders said.
The fence event was called "Good Neighbors Paint Good Fences," riffing on a line of poetry from Robert Frost.
Sanders said when he was teaching at Amherst College, he frequently visited a bookshop in Northampton, passing by this very spot.
