Town Edition
Worcester County
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
In 2001 the voters of Sturbridge agreed to tax themselves a little extra by adopting the Community Preservation Act, and five years later that money helped the town join with the state to buy 826 acres from Old Sturbridge Village and keep it open ground instead of house lots. That purchase, protecting Leadmine Mountain, remains the single largest open-space acquisition in the history of the Community Preservation Act. You can still watch the town pay for it: every spring, at open Town Meeting, any registered voter of Sturbridge can stand up and vote article by article on the budget, on bylaws, and on the debt for that land and for the conservation land at Heins Farm, where the trails you walk exist because somebody raised a hand in a crowded hall. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Sturbridge at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Sturbridge.
- County: Worcester. Sturbridge sits in south-central Massachusetts at the junction of the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstate 84, and includes the village of Fiskdale. It is best known as the home of Old Sturbridge Village, one of the largest living-history museums in the Northeast.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Robin A. Grimm.
- Schools: the town runs Burgess Elementary through School Union 61, about 795 students, led by Superintendent Deborah J. Boyd; grades seven to twelve attend the regional Tantasqua district.
How Sturbridge’s Government Works
Sturbridge runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Sturbridge is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Sturbridge is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected town-wide, who govern the town’s own elementary district (Burgess Elementary) under School Union 61. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Sturbridge, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in Veterans Hall at Sturbridge Town Hall, 308 Main Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. In 2026 the Annual Town Meeting business session met on June 1 at Tantasqua Regional High School.
- Town elections: Sturbridge votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on April 13, with the polls open from 6:30am to 8:00pm. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Sturbridge Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Sturbridge HistoryGraphite, a living village, and 1738
- DemographicsWho lives in Sturbridge
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSturbridge schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Worcester County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Sturbridge. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. The job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Sturbridge
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in Veterans Hall at Sturbridge Town Hall, 308 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 308 Main Street, Sturbridge, MA 01566. Select Board office 508-347-2500.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-347-2510, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at sturbridge.gov.
- Public schools: Burgess Elementary through School Union 61, 508-347-3077, tantasqua.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.