Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Defending-Champ Gold Kings Take Winner-Take-All Game 3 in PPSHL Semifinals

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Repeat after me – “The Boston Gold Kings are Defending Champions … The Boston Gold Kings are Defending Champions.” It’s an exercise I imagine most defending champions undertake. It’s a challenge winning it all, and even more so to repeat. 

The Gold Kings started slow last year, but got themselves together come the playoffs, culminating with a sweep of top-seed Salem in the Finals. This year the Gold Kings believe strongly that they are a better team with a deeper and stronger roster. This regular season ended with the Gold Kings as the 2-seed and Salem as the 3-seed. They were separated by one point, and they split their four regular-season games, each winning once at the other’s rink. In Games 1 and 2 they split — and, you guessed it, they each one at the other’s rink. And so, on Saturday night at the JAR, Game Three of the best of three would not only determine the season series, it would send one team to the Finals. Without further adieu, I introduce you to the Defending Champion Boston Gold Kings, a 6-3 winner and still alive to repeat as champions.

Entertainment

See When Registration Will Open for the 6th Annual Watertown Arts Market

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The Watertown Arts Market returns to Arsenal Park on Aug. 8, 2026. (Photo by Natalie Nigito Photography)

Registration will open for the 2026 Watertown Arts Market on Wednesday, April 1. See more details in the announcement from the Watertown Business Coalition, below. The Watertown Business Coalition (WBC), in partnership with the City of Watertown, is proud to announce the return of the Watertown Arts Market on Saturday, Aug.

Around Town

No Kings III Protest Draws a Crowd in Watertown Square

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One of the more than 1,000 attendees of the the No Kings III protest in Watertown Square on March 28, 2026. (Courtesy of Indivisible Progressive Watertown)

The following information was provided by Indivisible Progressive Watertown:

Approximately 1,300 people of all ages attended the No Kings III Protest in Watertown Square which was sponsored by Indivisible Progressive Watertown. Music was provided by Watertown’s own band “Rosie and the Resisters.” 

Protesters in Watertown Square at the No King III rally. (Courtesy of Indivisible Progressive Watertown)

An inflatable frog, a dinosaur, and an Octopus were all spotted on the Watertown Delta. State Senator William Brownsberger and State Rep Steve Owens as well as several Watertown City Councilors attended the protest. A protester dressed like an octopus at the No Kings III protest in Watertown. (Courtesy of Indivisible Progressive Watertown)

Many creative and thoughtful signs were seen and a lot of support was heard in the form of honks from passing vehicles.

Around Town

Traffic on School Street at Mt. Auburn Street to be Redirected Starting This Week

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The Mt. Auburn Street Project will impact traffic patterns temporarily beginning this week. See more information in the announcement from the City of Watertown, below. Drainage Installation & Test Pits

Crews will continue drainage installation and excavate test pits on Mount Auburn Street between Chauncy Street and School Street

Traffic and Sidewalk Impacts

Beginning March 30, 2026, a detour will be in place on School Street. Access to School Street from Mount Auburn Street will remain open; however, traffic traveling down School Street toward Mount Auburn Street will be redirected onto Adams Avenue and then back to Mount Auburn Street.

Around Town

Watertown Receives Statewide Award for Arsenal Park Renovation

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The sign welcoming people to Arsenal Park.(Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Watertown’s newest park renovation received a statewide award at the Massachusetts Recreation and Park Association Conference in Springfield this week. Recreation Director Ernie Thebado accepted the 2026 Agency of the Year: Design of Facility award for the Arsenal Park project, which reopened in the summer of 2025. The award is given to cities, towns, and state agencies which have created innovative park concepts and ideas. Thebado was joined by members of the Recreation and Community Development and Planning departments along with representatives from CDM Smith, the park’s design consultant, at the ceremony at the MassMutual Center on March 24. Thebado said he believes Arsenal Park received recognition because has something for everyone, including a towering play structure.

Schools

Proposed Watertown School Budget Cuts Multiple Positions, Increases Athletics, Busing Fees

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Watertown School officials, with the guidance of the School Committee, have reduced a shortfall of $2.5 million and came up with a budget that would have a $700,000 surplus, according to the presentation made Monday by Superintendent Dede Galdston. The total Watertown Public Schools Fiscal Year 2027 budget is $64.59 million, a $2.48 million or 4% increase from FY2026. The budget provides a level services budget from the current school year, which means that the district provides the same programs and generally includes the same staffing levels, although some positions have been eliminated and others added in the budget. The School Committee will discuss the proposed budget and vote on it at a meeting on Thursday, March 26 at 5:15 p.m. to be held remotely. See details here.

Government

City Has $4M Left from Elementary School Projects, Which Will Go to High School & Middle School Projects

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Cunniff Elementary School is one of three elementary schools in Watertown to be rebuilt or renovated. The projects closed out with a combined surplus of $4 million. The new school opened in 2021. (Photo by Watertown Public Schools)

Watertown’s elementary school building projects finished with a surplus of more than $4 million, which will allow the high school construction project to stay on budget, and fund designs for a potential new middle school. On Tuesday night, the City Council approved transfers of the $4,052,660 left over from the construction of the new Cunniff and Hosmer elementary schools, and the renovation and expansion of Lowell Elementary School.

Government

Members of Congress Get a Look Inside Watertown’s School Lunch Program, School Farming Class

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Congresswoman Katherine Clark and Congressman Jim McGovern have lunch with Hosmer School second-graders Maya and Daphne. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

A pair of enthusiastic Hosmer Elementary School ambassadors showed two members of Congress around their school Wednesday, ending with a meal cooked up by the school cafeteria staff that featured produce grown in Watertown High School’s hydroponic farm. Congressman Jim McGovern and Congresswoman Katherine Clark visited Watertown as part of McGovern’s End Hunger Now Tour of Massachusetts, in support of the bill he filed on Capitol Hill to increase the amount of federal funding for school breakfasts and lunches. Hosmer second-graders Maya and Daphne guided the two members of Congress through the hallways, into classrooms, through the media center, up and down stairs, and finally through the lunch line in the cafeteria. Watertown City Council President Mark Sideris, left, speaks with Congresswoman Katherine Clark and Congressman Jim McGovern during their tour of Hosmer Elementary School, led by Maya and Daphne.