It has been a while since the last one. ChicoPeople is back, and here is your Monday rundown.

In today's ChicoPeople:

Let's get to it.

🎖️ $50,000 is headed to the American Legion

State Senator John Velis landed a $50,000 earmark for Chicopee American Legion Post 452 and its building, with some of it going to other veterans groups in the city. Post 452 has been holding that building together for a long while. Good week to be a member.

🏪 Downtown opened its doors on Wednesday

The Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce ran Falling for Chicopee Center at The Hub at Market Square on Springfield Street, from 4 to 7 and free to walk into. The Mayor’s Office and the Valley Opportunity Council helped put it on. Shoppers got a punch card, filled it up at downtown shops, and dropped it in a drawing for prizes the stores donated. A scavenger hunt for grown ups.

🌧️ The city would like you to have a plan

September is Emergency Preparedness Month, and Mayor John Vieau spent it asking people to sign up for alerts, put a kit together and check on their neighbors. It lands a year after the storms that tore through western Massachusetts last September. The flashlight in the junk drawer with no batteries in it does not count.

🏗️ Zoning Committee

The meeting that decides what can get built where. Worth sitting in on if something is going up near you.

Details: Wednesday, 6:30pm · Chicopee City Hall Auditorium, 274 Front Street
Cost: Free

👗 Closet Clean Out Bash

A thrift market at The Hub. Bring what you are finished with, dig through what everybody else brought.

Details: Thursday, 5:00pm · The Hub, 31 Springfield Street
Cost: Free

🎸 The Avenue Returns to View Street

Live music at View Street Tavern on Friday night.

Details: Friday, 8:00pm to 11:00pm · View Street Tavern, 92 View Street
Cost: No cover listed

✈️ Westover Run the Runway 5K and Festival

You run a 5K down a real runway, past the Patriot Wing's C-5M Galaxies. Then at 11 the festival opens: a C-5M you can walk through, helicopter rides, vintage aircraft, military displays, Touch-a-Truck, food trucks, a DJ, live music and a beer tent. The biggest thing happening in the city this week and it is not close.

Details: Saturday, race at 8:00am, festival from 11:00am · Westover Metropolitan Airport, 255 Padgette Street
Cost: $25 adults and $15 for kids 4 to 12 for the race, which includes a shirt, a water bottle, an $8 food voucher and a drink ticket

What is the best thing about living in Chicopee that somebody from out of town would never guess? Hit reply and tell me.

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