In 1922, spring arrived in Hopkinton with the V-shaped flocks of wild geese returning to their summer quarters in Rhode Island. That April, the Arcadia Print Works filed for bankruptcy and a petition was filed to sell the property, while the Hopkinton Town Farm’s population of the poor and sick had dwindled down to one inmate. John M. Barber put garden seeds out for sale at his store in Odd Fellows Block, and the People’s Bargain Store in Kenyon Block offered ladies silk dresses and Easter hats. Preparations were underway for the opening of the Yawgoog Boy Scout Camp, and enough votes were collected to plan for wiring the First Baptist Church of Hope Valley with electric lights.
Sixteen-year-old Ethel Maines posted notices asking if anyone had found the gold pencil she’d lost somewhere along Spring Street, and Edward M. Tillinghast advertised a red house for sale across from Bailey’s Mill. The warm temperatures had caused the fruit trees to bud, and if another frost came that season, a great deal of fruit would be lost.
All local schools observed the 100th anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant’s birthday, and the Hope Valley Grange hosted the director of Brown University’s psychology department. The Hope Valley Girl Scouts hosted a “Cold Meat Supper” at the Baptist Church, and Mary (Tucker) Crandall invited people to her home to learn hat-making and decorating. An aqua-duct measuring three feet wide and two feet deep was being placed underground in Depot Square.
At Barber’s Hall, a member of the Salvation Army projected four reels of pictures and solicited young ladies from the audience to collect money during the Salvation Army’s upcoming House to House Canvas Day. May rained down upon the valley, and on Arbor Day, students at all local schools took part in planting flowering shrubs.
At the end of the month, George Gagnon’s baskets made by a disabled World War I veteran were for sale at the Red Cross Rooms in Westerly, and a forest fire destroyed approximately twelve square miles of land in Richmond. Residents welcomed summer back. 