With 2025 in sight, Tri-Town community leaders and residents can look back on an eventful year of triumphs, losses, opportunities and new directions in a collection of memorable occasions that made 2024 unique.

The year began with Tri-Town Select Boards vowing to work more closely together to provide residents with elevated public services for everyone from regional school district students and senior citizens to tourists.

Individually, the towns of Mattapoisett, Marion and Rochester featured a myriad of stories that contributed to their history and future.

In January, Rochester voters at Special Town Meeting rejected a proposal that would have given the Select Board the authority for hiring at the Council on Aging; Mattapoisett issued a new policy for what flags could be displayed on town buildings.

February began with a two-hour public hearing in Marion regarding proposed changes to regulations surrounding town cemeteries while Rochester officials prepared for a tougher fiscal year. In Rochester, restaurant Matt’s Blackboard was sold and later would become Costa’s Kitchen.

In March, the Old Rochester Regional School Committee approved a resolution a in support of state legislation abolishing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Also in March, a former Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School culinary teacher, Andre Arsenault, was arrested in Wareham on rape and assault charges on a person over the age of 14.

The Old Rochester boys basketball team made a run to the state championship. Prior to the tournament final, a Bulldogs player was suspended from the team after spitting on an opposing player in the semifinals. 

Meanwhile, Mattapoisett resident and mixed martial artist Connor Matthews made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 30.

In Rochester, a Vietnam War veterans plaque made by Old Colony students was unveiled at town hall.

In April, new regulations for Marion cemeteries were approved after extended public discussion and outcry.

That same month, the Old Rochester School Committee voted to pull an article for Town Meetings throughout the Tri-Town to authorize a $12 million debt for facility improvements after pushback from some town officials.  

Rochester Town Administrator Glenn Cannon resigned in May to take the same position in Carver. The Marion Select Board decided to postpone a Town Meeting vote to abandon the state’s stretch energy code, which would have withdrawn the town from the state’s Green Communities program.

At Town Meeting, Mattapoisett voters supported a citizen’s petition to form a committee to oversee a road renovation project in the town village area.

Also in May, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll toured the worksite for the new harbormaster building in Marion.

June saw nearly $300,000 in state funding awarded to bike path projects in the Tri-Town; an Old Rochester Regional School Committee subcommittee was found to have violated Open Meeting Law.

During July, Michael Assad Jr. was named Rochester’s next police chief; Mattapoisett’s Harbor Days set sales records.

In August, Rochester hired Cam Durant, former human resources director in Fairhaven, as its next town administrator; the Marion Town Party was canceled due to the presence of mosquito-borne viruses. 

In September, data showed that Tri-Town students outperformed the state in a majority of MCAS exam grades and subjects. 

In October, “Good Morning America” aired a segment live from Hartley Family Farm in Rochester. Also in Rochester, a renovation project at Gifford Park in part financed by Tri-Town for Protecting Children, a local nonprofit, was approved by town officials.

In November, Tri-Town voters turned out for the 2024 presidential election; the Buzzards Bay Coalition reopened the Mattapoisett Bogs property after a year-long restoration project; a Thanksgiving feast at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School served nearly 250 senior citizens.

In December, Mattapoisett placed a moratorium on using public meeting space in town buildings. The moratorium came in the wake of a legal challenge faced by the town regarding the use of Ned’s Point and the Mattapoisett Free Public Library by a local church. Some time after the challenge was resolved, library director Colleen Tierney resigned after being hired in May.