Around Town

Watertown Helps Out —Citywide Volunteer Effort Runs Through May

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The Watertown Community Foundations’s annual month-long service event, Watertown Helps Out, will take place in May, and spots are still available. The WCF provided the following information:

Watertown Helps Out is a city-wide, public service event during all of May, 2023. Our non-profits need your hands-on help! From garden clean-up to organizing costumes to moving boxes and office work, there’s a volunteer opportunity for you and your kids. Your few hours means a world of difference to organizations including: Watertown Public Schools, Armenian Cultural and Educational Center, Perkins School for the Blind, the Charles River Conservancy, our local food pantries, community fridge and local churches. 

Sign Up

Find out how to volunteer and how to become a sponsor of Watertown Helps Out by clicking here: www.watertownfoundation.org/watertown-helps-out

Around Town

Discussion of Short Term Rentals Continues This Week

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Rules for short-term rentals — such as Airbnbs — in Watertown have been discussed at multiple meetings of the City Council’s Committee on Rules & Ordinances. The Committee will meet again on April 20 to continue the discussion. The meeting will be held on Thursday, April 20, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber in City Hall. The public can also participate remotely. The Zoom link is: https://watertown-ma.zoom.us/j/89707047441 The public can also join by phone: (877) 853-5257 or (888) 475-4499 and enter Webinar ID: 897 0704 7441

Comment can be sent by email to: lfeltner@watertown-ma.gov

Around Town

Watertown Remembers the Chaos, Concern and Celebrations During the Shootout & Search for the Marathon Bomber

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Police patrolled the streets of Watertown on April 19, 2013, searching for one of the Boston Marathon Bombers. Photo courtesy of Jade Burke. It seems like ages ago and at the same time just like yesterday that Watertown was rocked by gunfire and explosions, then went into lockdown as police scoured homes and yards for the Boston Marathon Bomber, before locating and capturing him in a boat parked on Franklin Street. On April 19, 2023, the 10th anniversary of the Watertown Shootout and Manhunt, Watertown News is sharing the memories of readers of that monumental day in our community. The area was already on edge.

Around Town

Get a Massage And Help Survivors of the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

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Massage Aid will raise money for survivors of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The following announcement was provided by Massage Aid:

In 2019, local Massage Therapists and Reiki Practitioners came together and donated their timeand services to raise money to help the people of Yemen and Massage Aid For Yemen was born.All the proceeds were donated to Doctors Without Borders earmarked for Yemen. WatertownCitizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment co-sponsored the event and were instrumentalin getting the word out and provided refreshments. Now that the COVID Pandemic is better under control, Massage Aid is back and this time theirefforts are going to help provide much needed relief to the earthquake survivors of Turkey andSyria. The First Parish Church of Watertown has generously agreed to donate the space for freeagain and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders earmarked forTurkey and Syria.

Around Town

Help Count the Herring Coming Up the Charles River in Watertown

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Volunteers are wanted to help the with the First Charles River Herring Count in Watertown. The count runs through the month of May at the Watertown Dam, and is coordinated by the Charles River Watershed Association. The count count tracks the number of herring and other migratory fish head up the Charles River. The Watertown Dam, just east of the Galen Street Bridge, is a place where some fish are blocked or hindered in their upstream journey. The CRWA sent out the following information:

Help us monitor migratory fish passage!

Around Town

Watertown’s Goose Dog is on the Job!

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City of WatertownVee, Watertown’s goose control dog, has arrived in town! Vee, the dog brought to Watertown for geese control, has arrived in town and has already gotten down to work. The Watertown DPW’s Parks/Cemetery Supervisor Bob DiRicco and his wife picked Vee up at the training facility in Leesburg, Virginia, and drove her back to Watertown over the Patriots Day Weekend. On Tuesday Vee started work. City of WatertownVee and the DPW’s Bob DiRico visited City Manager George Proakis in City Hall Tuesday.

Around Town

Historical Society Celebrating 250th Anniversary of the Fowle House

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Charlie BreitroseThe Edmund Fowle House is 251 years old, and the Historical Society will celebrated. Here Bob Childs of the Historical Society of Watertown reads the Declaration of Independence from the same spot it was first read in 1776, the second floor of the house in 2016. The Historical Society of Watertown invites the public to join the celebration of the 250th anniversary of one of the City’s oldest homes and a century of the Society owning the house. The exhibit features antiquities never before seen by the public. The opening celebration for “FOWLE HOUSE – 250 YEARS OLD” takes place on Sunday, April 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Fowle House is located at 28 Marshall St., off Mt.