HATFIELD — Day Pond for decades has been the site of the annual Poppy Thayer Memorial Fishing Derby, which on Saturday will involve a competition for children 14 and under from Hatfield and surrounding communities.

Running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and hosted by the Hatfield Fish and Game Club, this year’s event, with many families also expected to join in the fun, will also include a ribbon-cutting marking the completion of a nearly $320,000, multiyear restoration project that has returned the pond, located on the eastern portion of the Smith Academy campus on School Street, to a healthy amenity for the town.

The Select Board will read a proclamation formally celebrating Day Pond’s restoration and encouraging residents to enjoy the site for fishing, walking and other recreational activities throughout the year.

The restoration, funded entirely through the Community Preservation Act account and Town Meeting votes in 2024, 2025 and this spring, has removed 1,500 cubic yards of sediment and reconstructed the pond’s dam and outlet structure.

Before the project, silt had accumulated to an average depth of nearly 4 feet, causing the pond to be unable to support fish due to it being shallow, depleted of oxygen and choked with vegetation. This caused concerns for stocking the pond each spring prior to the fishing derby. Those fish that aren’t caught are later released into the Mill River.

The Hatfield Fish and Game Club, which has organized the fishing derby since at least 1937 and renamed the event in 1991 after late sportsman, boater and retired police officer W. Robert Thayer Sr., has also contributed funding for a solar-powered aeration system that will be installed, and has committed to doing ongoing maintenance.

Select Board Chairman Luke Longstreeth said the project, initiated in 2022 through appeals from Club President Michael Szych, has brought the community together.

“Day Pond will now be a place where residents of all ages can fish, walk, and enjoy the natural beauty of our town for generations to come,” Longstreeth said.

Smith Academy is expected to be able to use Day Pond for some aspects of its curriciulum, as well.

The focus on Day Pond was initiated by the Day Pond Restoration Committee, whose members included Szych, Bryan Nicholas, also of the Fish and Game Club, Select Board member Ed Jaworski, former Department of Public Works Director Phil Genovese and Smith Academy student Ian Guzowski. Former Town Administrator Marlene Michonski helped advnce the project that has been managed by current DPW Director Marlo Warner.

Engineering services were provided by TRC Companies Inc. of East Providence, Rhode Island, which conducted the original 2023 feasibility study that confirmed the pond could be restored, while construction was done by Western Earthworks, Inc of Hatfield.