Around Town

Mass Audubon Hosting Event on Pollinator Garden at Arsenal Project

By |

Celebrate the growing season with educators from Mass Audubon Habitat! Learn about the Arsenal Project’s Pollinator Garden planted and maintained by Mass Audubon Habitat staff with assistance from Watertown Community Gardens volunteers, the mall announced. The event will be held Saturday, June 4 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Pollinator Garden located near entrance by the Express store at the Arsenal Project, 485 Arsenal St. (if raining, event moves inside Innovation Space). Find out who are the pollinators – native bees, honey bees, birds, butterflies and other animals.

Around Town

Woman Catches Cancer Early Thanks to Relay for Life

By |

Margaret Klingmeyer began participating in the Relay For Life in honor of her sister, but the annual event that raises money for the American Cancer Society helped her in her own fight with the disease. Klingmeyer, 70, a semi-retired CPA who lives in Wellesley, is no stranger to fighting back against cancer. She began fundraising for the American Cancer Society in 2008, the year her sister lost her life after a battle with lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. That year, she joined Relay For Life of New Bedford, where she was born and where she sister lived. The following year, she started Team Hiker Chris with the Relay For Life of Watertown-Newton-Waltham event, in Watertown, the town where she cares for her grandchildren and often visits her daughter.

Transportation

MassDOT Has Technology to Help You Avoid Traffic on Memorial Day Weekend

By |

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced it is encouraging the public this Memorial Day Weekend to take advantage of technology tools for drivers, to travel during low volume times on major roadways, and to make note of service hours at Registry Branch Offices and for the MBTA.   

In recent years, the heaviest traffic on roadways is observed during Thursday, Friday, and Monday afternoons and early evenings.  Drivers are encouraged to make travel plans accordingly and if possible on those days to avoid the hours between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Traffic is especially heavy on I-90 at the I-84 interchange at Exit 9 in Sturbridge on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and at the I-90 Exit 11A, I-495 interchange, which handles vehicles headed south to Cape Cod and north to New Hampshire and Maine. For traffic and road conditions, drivers may use new technology to make decisions:

Customers may dial 511 and select a route to hear real-time conditions,
Visit mass511.com, a website which provides real-time traffic and incident advisory information,
Access MassDOT traffic cameras. Customers may visit www1.eot.state.ma.us/ in order to view traffic camera images covering portions of Route 3, Route 6, Route 28, and parts of  I-90, I-91,  I-93, and I-95. Download the Ridewise app. Customers may use Ridewise to obtain travel times for various routes including Route 3, Route 6, I-93 and portions of I-90.  The app is available on Android and iPhone.

Around Town

Library Offering Guided Walk Along Charles River With Nature Photographer

By |

A local nature photographer will lead a guided walk along the Charles River in conjunction with the Watertown Free Public Library. The library sent out the following information:

Spring time along the Charles is rich with wildlife. On Saturday, June 4 at 10:30 a.m., naturalist photographer Carole Berney will host a guided river walk starting on the patio outside the Watertown Free Public Library at 123 Main St. Feel free to bring your cameras! The walk is limited to 15 people, ages 16 and up.

Around Town

Watertown Youth Coalition Seeks Nominations for the Community Spirit Awards

By |

Watertown Youth Coalition (WYC) announced it is seeking nominations for the 2016 Community Spirit Awards, which honors people committed to the health and well-being of Watertown’s youth and families. People can be nominated for having done any of the following:

Served as a positive influence or mentor to a Coalition member or to others in the community
Had the courage to address challenging issues that affect youth and the community
Has actively taken steps to improve the Watertown community (in big and small ways)

Nominations are due Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Nominees will be recognized at the Community Spirit Awards at Arsenal Park on June 8 from 6-7:30 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. Food will be provided. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend.

Around Town

Minuteman High School Hosting Girls in STEM Summer Program

By |

Are you a seventh- or eighth-grade girl who likes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and wants to learn more about them in a supportive, female-oriented environment? Do you enjoy doing projects that are both fun and educational? Are you interested in finding out about career paths in STEM? Then register now for the Girls in STEM Explore at Minuteman High School in Lexington during summer vacation from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. from August 1 to 5, 2016! This five-day event featuring hands-on learning experiences is sponsored by Minuteman’s Girls in STEM Club, which consists of outstanding young women certified in mentoring who are currently being mentored themselves by successful female STEM professionals, the school announced.

Around Town

106-Year-Old Armenian Genocide Survivor Coming to Watertown

By |

A 106-year-old woman who survived the Armenian Genocide will be a special guest at an event at the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown. The Genocide Education Project will host a training workshop for high school teachers on how to teach about the Armenian Genocide on June 10 in Watertown. Asdghig “Starrie” Alemian, 106, of Weymouth, will be in attendance at the event, according to a report on the Public Radio of Armenia website. Also speaking at the event will be Sara Cohan of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation, who will deliver a talk called, “Testimony: The educational power of Armenian Genocide survivor interviews.”

The event will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the ALMA, 65 Main St. in Waterotwn.

Around Town

This Week’s Observances of Memorial Day Around Watertown

By |

Watertown’s veterans groups have a whole host of activities planned to observe Memorial Day. 

WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2016 at 5 p.m.: Meet at Saint Patrick’s Cemetery and Ridgelawn Cemetery

(RAIN DATE THURSDAY MAY 26th, 2016)

Flags will be placed at veterans’ graves at all Watertown cemeteries by Veteran organizations and Volunteers

THURSDAY, May 26, 2016: Veterans School Visitation:

9:30 a.m. – Cunniff School

FRIDAY, May 27, 2016: Veterans School Visitations:

9 a.m. – Watertown High School

9 a.m. – Lowell School

10 a.m. – Middle School

10 a.m. – Hosmer School

SUNDAY, May 29, 2016: Morning Services and Dedications:

8 a.m. – Cottage Street Cemetery

8:15 a.m. – Coolidge Square POW/MIA Monument

8:30 a.m. – WWI Memorial Stone

8:45 a.m. – Common Street Cemetery

9 a.m. -Charles River Float

9:15a.m. – WWII Memorial Stone

9:20 a.m. – Saltonstall Park

9:30 a.m. – Ridgelawn Cemetery

9:45 a.m. -St. Patrick’s Cemetery

10:00 a.m. – Memorial Service at St. Patrick’s Church

MONDAY, May 30, 2016: Morning Dedications and Parade:

10:30a.m – 11:30a.m. – Parade Check-in at TUFTS Parking lot

12:00p.m. – Parade Begins (A ceremony will take place at Saltonstall Park after the parade)