Around Town

See and Hear Highlights of SOLSTICE Light & Audio Show at Mount Auburn Cemetery

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A new light show is featured on Bigelow Chapel for SOLSTICE in 2025. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

SOLSTICE returns to Mount Auburn Cemetery beginning Friday, Dec. 5 with some new features and a different theme in 2025. Watertown News got an early peak at SOLSTICE during Wednesday’s Friends and Family night, while Matt Hanna, host of Little Local Conversations, spoke with two of the people behind SOLSTICE 2025. Trees at Mount Auburn Cemetery alight along the lantern-lit pathway during SOLSTICE.

Letters

OP-ED: Trip to Seaport Shows Big Holes in MBTA Service

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An MBTA Bus at the Watertown Yard. By Mark Pickering

MBTA service in Watertown has been in decline for years – even as neighboring communities have seen theirs maintained or even improved. Watertown has the worst MBTA service of any community bordering it and all of Boston’s neighborhoods. One of the latest blows is the elimination of the so-called “Express” bus to South Station. The result: It took me and hour and a half to get to my former Boston Herald offices in the Seaport.

Around Town

Aggressive Raccoon Reported in Watertown, Latched onto Person’s Leg

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Raccoon

A resident reported being attacked by a raccoon on Arsenal Street, Watertown Animal Control warns. See more information, below. There is a raccoon in the area of 140 Arsenal Street that is acting aggressively. This raccoon lunged at and bit the pants of a Watertown resident. The resident kicked the raccoon off her leg and it ran away and could not be located.

Around Town

Items Being Dumped at Watertown Boy & Girls Club Costing Hundreds to Remove

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Items recently dumped in the parking lot of the Watertown Boys & Girls Cluh. Recently, the Watertown Boys & Girls Club has been receiving some unwanted drop-offs in the form of furniture, mattresses, and other items being left in or around the club’s dumpster. The club serves about 150 school-age children each day in its afterschool and aquatics programs. Usually, the items are dropped off at night, and they are costing the Club money, said Executive Director Gary Beatty. “I can’t say for certain if it’s people being vindictive, or if it’s like simply miseducation,” Beatty said. “I get the sense that some people see a dumpster in our parking lot, and assume that it’s just a place that’s available for the public to come and dump their unwanted belongings.”

Around Town

Watertown Holding Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony

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Watertowns veterans will remember Pearl Harbor with a ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 6. See more information in the announcement from the City of Watertown, below. Please join us on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, at 9 a.m. for our Pearl Harbor Ceremony on the Watertown Dock in Watertown Square, behind the Hood Rubber monument along the river.

Food

Bar ‘Cino Introduces New Brunch Offerings in Watertown

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New brunch items available at Bar ‘Cino in Watertown. Bar ‘Cino in Watertown added new items to its brunch menu including a spinach and fontina frittata, a breakfast sandwich with chicken sausage and stirred egg, and a scrambled eggs and fontina grilled pizza. See more information in the announcement from Bar ‘Cino, below. Newport Restaurant Group, an award-winning collection of unique restaurants and hospitality venues located throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is pleased to announce new brunch items at its Bar ‘Cino locations in Watertown, Brookline, and Westwood, and the addition of brunch on Fridays in Brookline. For more information or to make reservations, visitwww.barcino.com.

Around Town

See How to Give to Watertown Organizations on Giving Tuesday

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Watertown has many worthy organizations to support on Giving Tuesday, whether it is supporting children, the arts, troops overseas, history, and more. Watertown Community Foundation

Watertown families are under pressure. Benefits for food, housing and health support are in peril, as the overall cost of living continues to rise. When you donate to the Fund for the Most Vulnerable, you help support Essential Needs Grants. You designate your gift for programs to address food insecurity, housing assistance, emergency assistance, mental health, health and wellness for Watertown’s most vulnerable residents.

Around Town

OP-ED: Beyond Closed Doors: Understanding Domestic Violence in Our Community

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By Anahid Shahrik

In the wake of a recent tragedy in Watertown, the Armenian community finds itself grappling with a painful reality: Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate by neighborhood, income level or outward appearance. It exists behind long driveways in affluent suburbs just as readily as in apartment buildings where neighbors can hear through thin walls. And too often, it remains hidden until it’s too late. On Oct. 27, 2025, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Armenian Relief Society Cambridge “Shushi” Chapter and the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center co-hosted a community awareness panel in Watertown, providing a safe space to address what is too often left unspoken — a conversation our community urgently needs.