Everyone in town has a story to tell and opinions to share. In this feature, we shine the spotlight on one resident to learn more about them and their connection to town.

Vinnie Cappetta

Meet: Vinnie Cappetta

Hopkinton Independent: What brought you to Hopkinton?

Cappetta: “I came in 2006. I basically found a family house, and that’s what drew me to the town. I was looking for housing in Marlborough, and it just didn’t work out. It turned out there was a house here, and that’s kind of how we ended up here.”

HI: What do you do for a living?

Cappetta: “I’m a pastor — five days a week, I’m doing that. I’m assistant pastor at a church in Framingham. I’ve been doing that since 2006 — right when I moved into Hopkinton, I started that job. On my day off, I started a 501(c)(3) counseling organization called Check Your Compass. We provide counseling for individuals and couples and groups, group counseling as well for trauma and grief.”

HI: What activities do you enjoy in your free time around town?

Cappetta: “I enjoy fishing. There’s a couple of places in Hopkinton, like [Lake] Whitehall is one of the primary places I have liked to fish over the years. [I] also play basketball with some of the guys in town. Lake Maspenock is another place I like to hang out, and Hopkinton State Park is another great spot I like to go.”

HI: What makes Hopkinton unique in your opinion?

Cappetta: “When we came, it was kind of a small-town atmosphere, and I think we still have that even though we’re growing quite a bit. The other thing that stands out is just the school system and the rigorous studies and providing a good base of education for my children. I didn’t really necessarily come here because of that, but it certainly — as I was looking at a house, it was kind of beat up, but it was in a beautiful area in a town where I knew where my kid would get a good education, and now I’ve had two other children since I’ve been here.”

HI: What is your favorite Hopkinton memory?

Cappetta: “Boston Marathon, pretty much every year that we have been [living] on the Marathon route — so that’s coming on like eight or nine years now — every year we’ve been out there cheering on runners, and also opened our home to our friends and family and anyone who wanted to come and hang out with us on our front yard. So there’s definitely a lot of memories there.”

HI: What is your favorite thing about Hopkinton?

Cappetta: “I like that it is a smaller town and that there is a sense of community that is fostered through, like even the adult basketball league kind of thing. It’s nice whenever [I’m] going to school events that I see the guys that I play basketball with, because they have kids in the school system. That sense of belonging and sense of, ‘I belong here.’ Even though I didn’t live here before, people kind of adopted me into their town.”

HI: If you could change one thing about Hopkinton, what would it be?

Cappetta: “[It] was a Town Meeting event that I went to or watched on TV, it just seemed like the political process was a little clunky, I guess. I’m excited that they’re going to look at the downtown configuration and try to make that better, in terms of having some business in Hopkinton. The fact [is] that people have a hard time getting to me on time because of the traffic in the center of town. Obviously, that’s going to get worse before it gets better — there’s construction. But it’s hopeful that maybe a few years from now, maybe we’ll have a better  traffic pattern.”

HI: What do you hope the future holds for Hopkinton?

Cappetta: “Yeah, I’m encouraged. I hope that the education will remain strong. I hope the sense of community will remain strong, and I’m also hopeful as a mental health practitioner about some of the initiatives, both public and private, that I see happening in the town to help raise the emotional health of the people that live here.”

— Interview conducted by Gethin Coolbaugh