Around Town

LETTER: A Miyawaki Forest for Watertown!

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The Miyawaki Forest in Danehy Park in Cambridge. (Courtesy of Watertown Miyawaki Team)

This spring, a group of Watertown residents — known as the Watertown Miyawaki Team — met to develop a Miyawaki Forest. These forests are named for Akira Miyawaki (1928-2021), a Japanese botanist with a passion for trees. Traveling around his country, he noticed groves of large, mature trees growing near Shinto temples. He was surprised the trees were so healthy, in spite of growing close together.

Around Town

Registration Open for Donohue’s Turkey Trot, Prize for Referring Most Runners

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Charlie BreitroseThe Donohue’s Turkey Trot will be held on Thanksgiving for the 18th time in 2023. The following announcement was provided by Donohue’s Bar & Grill:

As in past years, we’ll have a team competition with prizes for the largest team and the fastest team. We’ve also got an amazing prize for the person who refers the most runners into the race: FREE Donohue’s chicken wings for a year! All runners are entered into our post-race raffle, which includes over 50 six-packs of beer and bottles of wine! Pre/post-race breakfast opens at 8 a.m.

5K Race starts at 8:30 a.m.

Free Kids Fun Run starts at 8:35 a.m.

Free Breakfast for Everyone! Runners and spectators are welcome to join us for a free post-race breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, and bacon.

Around Town

City Seeks Input on How Park Renovation, Hosting On-Site Meeting

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The following announcement was provided by the City of Watertown:

The City is looking for your input on an overall vision plan for How Park and a focused Phase 1 renovation of the playground. Come visit the park, at the corner of Pleasant and Bacon Streets, from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, rain or shine, to speak with the design team and City staff to learn more about the project. We want to hear your ideas and thoughts about the park to shape the playground renovation and future phases of renovation! 

There will be two more public meetings to share your thoughts: one at the end of September or beginning of October, when the design team will share initial concepts based on your feedback, and a final meeting in November to show the community’s preferred overall design concept and more details about the Phase 1 playground renovation.

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Watertown Attorney Makes List of Lawyers to Watch in America

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Alexandra Mansfield of Watertown made the 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. She is an associate in Mirick O’Connell’s Litigation Group

The following information was provided by Mirick O’Connell Attorneys at Law:

Alexandra N. Mansfield, of Watertown, was included in the 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America™ for her work in Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Construction, and Litigation – Intellectual Property. 

This is her third year listed. Mansfield is an associate in Mirick O’Connell’s Litigation Group and she focuses her practice on business litigation. She has substantial experience in the areas of business, construction, and intellectual property disputes. See all the attorneys with Mirick O’Connell Attorneys at Law who were named to the Best Lawyers List by clicking here.

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Watertown Group Hosting Life Friendly Garden Tour

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Courtesy of Friends of Bees

The following information was provided by the Watertown Friends of Bees:

Mark your calendar! The 25th annual Life-Friendly Garden Tour is a few weeks away on Sunday Sept. 10 from 1 until 5 p.m.

Gardeners across Watertown will be opening up their gardens to guests, showcasing their wonderful chemical-free and life-friendly gardens. If you want to learn more about gardening to support bees, butterflies, birds, and/or healthy humans, check out the event page for more info. This event is hosted by Friends of Bees, which frequently collaborates with our Watertown Pollinator Pathways team.

Around Town

Preschool Story Time at Gore Place’s New Barn

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The following information was provided by Gore Place:

On Wednesday, September 6th, from 10 am to 11 am, join our Family Educator at Gore Place, the historic estate in Waltham and Watertown, for story time in the new threshing barn. Preschoolers will learn about vegetables and how they grow through stories and movement. They will then do some harvesting of their own (weather dependent). The Watertown Public Library Bookmobile will be on site for children to browse and check out books after the program. Park in the parking lot and make your way to the barn for check-in.

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Charles River in Watertown to be Treated for Invasive Plant Species

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MassDCR announced that a stretch of the Charles River in Watertown will be treated for invasive aquatic plant species this week. See the announcement below. On Thursday, August 24, 2023, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will conduct invasive aquatic species control work in the Charles River from approximately the Newton Yacht Club in the City of Newton to the Arsenal Street Bridge in the City of Boston. The Charles River will remain open to the public, however, DCR encourages those on the river that day to avoid the treatment area and the treatment vessels. If left unmanaged, invasive aquatic species will outcompete native plant species and inhibit water flow and recreational access. Alternative local state parks include the downstream portions of the Charles River Reservation in the City of Boston, Mystic River Reservation in the City of Medford, Beaver Brook Reservation in the Town of Belmont and Middlesex Fells Reservation in the Town of Stoneham.  

WHERE:  Charles River from the Newton Yacht in the City of Newton to the Arsenal Street Bridge in the City of Boston 

WHEN: Thursday, August 24, 2023 

Around Town

Prospective Young Scientists Get a Look at a Real Lab at Watertown’s Kymera Therapeutics

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Students in the summer program run by MassBioEd and the LEAH Project got to look around the labs at Kymera Therapeutics in Watertown (Courtesy of Kymera)

A group of aspiring young scientists got a glimpse inside a Watertown company that does cutting-edge biopharmaceutical research. The high school age students recently visited Kymera Therapeutics’ offices and labs at Arsenal Yards as part of a field trip organized by MassBioEd’s Summer Program. MassBioEd partners with the LEAH project and LabCentral to offer a lab-based summer internship program to rising high school juniors and seniors. They spend four days a week learning about biotechnology tools and improving their technical skills at LabCentral in Cambridge. One day each week, they visit life science companies and organizations to see how the skills and tools are used.