Walpole's Hooper Institute Celebrates Centennial Year

The Frederick H. Hooper Institute is celebrating its 100th year, and the organization has an exciting lineup of programming planned throughout its Centennial Year. The Hooper Institute, as it is most commonly known, began in 1926 when George Levi Hooper and his wife Mary, residents of Walpole, expressed their interest in agriculture, forestry, botany, soils, conservation and environmental sciences. They left money to the town of Walpole to build an institute dedicated to those fields. Frederick H. Hooper, George's brother, was a doctor, and the couple wanted the institute named in his honor. "Our building was officially built in 1930, originally a vocational agriculture school teaching woodworking, auto mechanics, metalwork and more. They had an orchard, and they did forestry work out on the field in the property," explained Greta Drager, executive director of Hooper Institute. "When Fall Mountain Regional High School started, there was no need to have students attend the institute, so instead, Hooper staff started going to the Walpole schools and teaching classes and running after-school clubs. That's the model we go with now." Today, the Hooper Institute continues to play an active role in the community. The organization runs the Walpole Community Garden, which includes 17 community gardeners and more than 40 garden beds. It also offers adult programming, community events, summer camps and maintains gardens at all Walpole schools. For its centennial year, the Hooper Institute has a full calendar of special programming. "We have a very fun year going on," said Drager. "We had Winter Fun Day in January; kids built cardboard sleds and went sledding." And the institute recently hosted a Salamander and Spring Frog Talk with the Harris Center on March 18. A gardening workshop series is also planned throughout the year, with sessions scheduled for April, May, July, September and October. The Hooper Institute will host an Earth Day 5K on Saturday, April 18 at 9 a.m., and the Harris Center will return on April 22 for a Family Earth Day Hike from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Another major event planned for the year is a celebratory picnic on May 16 in honor of George Hooper's birthday, which is May 14. The event will include a large picnic and plant sale, and the community is invited to spend time on the institute's grounds. Each year the Hooper Institute hosts a Fall Festival, which will take place this year on Sept. 26 and will feature a farm theme. "We will probably have some cows and equipment demos going on," added Drager. "And every year we do wreath making, which we have planned for Dec. 4 and 5." Additional events are currently being planned and will be announced later, so community members are encouraged to stay tuned for updates. The Hooper Institute is also always looking for volunteers to join its team. "We have been able to do a lot in 100 years. We have two new staff members with lots of new energy coming in and I think it will be a great year," Drager said. The Hooper Institute is located at 165 Prospect Hill Road in Walpole. For more information and a full list of events, visit www.hooperinstitute.org.