Around Town

Changing Main Street: Post Office Closes (for Now), Restaurants Coming and Going

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Crown CafeDiners enjoy a meal at Crown Cafe on Main Street. The restaurant will soon close after getting a notice to vacate to make way for a new development on Main Street. Over the past couple of weeks, the section of Main Street near Watertown Square has gone through more changes than it has for many years, with the Post Office closing — at least temporarily — restaurants opening and closing, and a new development starting construction soon. On Jan. 26, the Main Street Post Office closed for at least two years.

Sports

Watertown High School Athletes Gearing Up for State Tourney, Some Along Side Belmont Players

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by Charlie BreitroseSenior Laura Biagiotti and the Raiders’ girls basketball team have had a successful season. Here she plays against Oakmont in the 2023 State Tournament. Watertown High School’s winter sports teams are all on track to make the State Tournament in 2024, and even one group that doesn’t have a team of its own will be playing in the post season. Girls Basketball

The Raiders girls basketball team, under first year head coach Michael Tempesta, has put together two four-game winning streaks on the way to a 10-4 record. Most recently Watertown defeated Stoneham 53-34 at Watertown Middle School (the Raiders home court during the construction of the new high school).

Schools

Watertown Schools to Offer Free PreK Starting in Fall 2024

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(Courtesy of Watertown Public Schools)

Starting next fall, Watertown will offer free pre-kindergarten classes for 90 4-year-olds in town as part of a new universal PreK program. Since she arrived in Watertown, Superintendent Dede Galdston has been talking about offering universal PreKindergarten. She hoped that the district would get financial help from the federal or state government, but that has not materialized. “Sooner or later, if we feel this is something that is true to our core values, we might want to consider doing it ourselves,” Galdston told the School Committee on Monday. “So, I think we are at the moment and time where I think we do so.”

Around Town

New Banh Mi Restaurant Opens in Watertown, Grand Opening This Week

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Watertown has a new destination for Vietnamese sandwiches known as banh mi. Boston Restaurant Talk posted that Banh Mi Cafe has opened at 102 Main Street in Watertown. The location is next to O Some Cafe and is across from the Watertown Fire Station. According to the Banh Mi Cafe Instagram site, the restaurant also serves bubble tea. The restaurant will have a Grand Opening celebration on Feb.

Government

Watertown Appoints New Director of Health Department

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The following announcement came from the City of Watertown:

Congratulations to Abbey Myers, the City of Watertown’s new permanent Director of Public Health, effective, Monday, February 5, 2024. Abbey has been a key member of the Health Department’s staff since she was hired, providing customer service while coordinating many aspects of public health, from updating our COVID policy, to attending emergency management training, building our new rodent policy, establishing better rules for dumpsters, and catching bats (yes . . . bats!). 

She stepped up into the Interim Director role, in August of 2023, where she has served the public well, staffing the Board of Health meetings, managing the Health Department staff, and organizing the Department’s move to the Parker Annex last week.

Police/Fire

Police Log: Man Arrested for Taking Pair of Shoes, Check Stolen from Mail Box

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Jan. 27, 5:40 a.m.: Five people were seen exiting Milk Vape Shop on Arlington Street, got into a black SUV and sped away toward Arsenal Street. Four men and a woman, all wearing dark clothing, went into the store, jumped over the counter and took approximately $5,000 in merchandise. Detectives responded to the scene and found pry marks on the front door.

Entertainment

Watertown Resident Designing Costumes for The Huntington’s Upcoming New Play

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Watertown’s Zoe Sundra is the costume designer for The Huntington’s upcoming play “John Proctor is the Villain” at the Calderwood Pavilion. (Courtesy of The Huntington)

The Huntington announced that Watertown resident Zoë Sundra is Costume Designer for company’s upcoming production of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain 

The new play, running at the Calderwood Pavilion from Feb. 8 through March 10, centers young people coming of age as they examine The Crucible in their high school English class through a fresh lens. The piece comes from a young, rising voice in American Theatre, Kimberly Belflower, and is set in a small town in Georgia. This production also features several Boston-based artists including Victoria Omoregie (most recently was featured in Fat Ham this past fall) and Jules Talbot. 

About Zoë Sundra 

The Huntington: assisted on designs for Fat Ham, The Art of Burning, Witch. Regional: Chicken and Biscuits (Front Porch Arts Collective); But Not Buddy, The Addams Family (Wheelock Family Theatre at BU); Bombitty of Errors, Bright Half Life (Actors’ Shakespeare Project). Zoë is also a fiber artist and creates work under the name She Said Embroidery.

Around Town

Hear How Watertown is Tackling the Growing Problem of Hunger at a Live Roundtable Discussion

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After the ceiling collapsed in the church that hosts the Watertown Food Pantry, pickup was moved outside for several weeks. (Photo by Kathy Cunningham)

A lack of food has long been a problem for some Watertown residents, but the number of people worried about going hungry increased during the Pandemic and the numbers have only declined slightly in the past few years. On Feb. 12, Watertown News and Watertown Cable Access Television will host a live discussion with some of the people working on the problem of food insecurity in town. The Watertown Food Pantry has seen the number of families served each week double from pre- to post-pandemic.