Community Events Adult Spelling Bee
NEF’s 23rd Adult Spelling Bee!
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity
130 Pine Street, Florence
Doors open and food sales start at 5:00 p.m.
Competition starts at 6:00 p.m.
Get dinner from the Holyoke Hummus Co. Food Truck!
Also available for purchase: snacks, drinks, and Herrell's Ice Cream cups.
Broadcast by WHMP radio and live streamed by Northampton Open Media (NOM)
This family-friendly event is FREE, but attendees must register in advance on the Bombyx website. Walk-up entry will be available if we haven't reached capacity.
exergue (EX-urg): a space on a coin, token, or medal usually on the reverse below the central part of the design, sometimes marked off from it by a line, and often containing the date
Peering at the coin he had dug up, Jerry was shocked to see the date of 1754 in the exergue.
—Winning word from the 2024 NEF Adult Spelling Bee
Thank You to Our 2025 Sponsors
Ruby: Greenfield Savings Bank
Emerald: DA Sullivan & Sons; Friends of Marcia Burick; and Marisa Labozzetta & Martin Wohl
Amethyst: Fierst Bloomberg Ohm LLP
Team Sponsors
413 Sleep Better
A2Z Science & Learning Toy Store
Adam & Yesenia Greeff
Brian Leaf SAT Prep
Broadside Books
Campaign to Elect Laurie Loisel to Ward 3 City Council
Campaign to Elect Megan Wolf
Chia Collins & Michael Cohen
Committee to Elect Quaverly Rothenberg
Committee to Re-Elect Michael Stein
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Dale Melcher & Bill Newman
Gage-Wiley & Co.
Greenfield and Northampton Cooperative Bank
Gwen Agna & Tom Marantz
Lesser, Newman, Aleo & Nasser
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra Campaign Committee
Osaka Lunch Club
Red Barn Honey Company
ReVision Energy
Sallie Deans Lake & Kevin Lake
Talk the Talk on WHMP
Tandem Bagel Company
The Dadz
The Northampton Lions Club
Thornes Marketplace
UMass Five College Federal Credit Union
Valley Home Improvement, Inc.
Whalen Insurance
Wohl Family Dentistry
Workroom Design Studio
Sponsor a team or form a team of spellers!
Support NEF and Northampton’s public schools by sponsoring a Spelling Bee team or forming a team to be matched with a sponsor!
Businesses, organizations, and community members can sponsor a Spelling Bee team for $300. If you want to sponsor but don’t want to put together a team, NEF can match you with one. If you want to form a team but don’t have funds to register one, NEF will match you with a sponsor.
The NEF Spelling Bee is well-attended by an enthusiastic audience of community members and NEF supporters. Up to 40 teams composed of three adults, most in costume, vie for awards in spelling, costume, and humor. The Bee is broadcast live by WHMP and recorded and shared for replay by Northampton Open Media (NOM).
All funds raised by the NEF Spelling Bee support our Small Grants for Teachers program, which funds the development of creative and innovative teaching and learning initiatives in Northampton Public Schools and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. Last year’s Spelling Bee raised over $13,000 and NEF awarded over $50,000 in Small Grants across grade levels and content areas in Northampton’s public schools. Help us fund even more grants and opportunities by participating in the Bee!
This family-friendly event is FREE, but attendees must register in advance on the Bombyx website. Walk-up entry will be available if we haven’t reached capacity.
Check out the 2024 NEF Spelling Bee on NOM’s YouTube site.
More Information
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What can you do?
Sponsor and form a team for $300! Teams consist of three spellers. Humorous team names (especially with ”bee“ puns) and costumes are encouraged.
Sponsor and we‘ll match you with a team! If you don‘t have spellers to send we can match you with a team in need of sponsorship.
Form a team and we‘ll match you with a sponsor.
Complete the Spelling Bee Registration to participate.
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Why bee a sponsor? Why bee a speller?
It's a blast! Plus, all the money raised by this event funds NEF‘s Small Grants and helps us fulfill our mission to support and strengthen public education in Northampton by providing resources that bring innovation and enrichment to students and teachers in every school.
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Will people know that you support our public schools?
Yes! Team sponsors will be recognized with gratitude on the Spelling Bee poster, in the spelling bee program, on NEF’s social media, and in the NEF newsletter.
Live Broadcast
Special thanks to our partners for live broadcasting the Spelling Bee Event!
WHMP
Northampton Open Media
Past Event Gallery
Check out photos from our previous events!
