Belmont Farmers Market Opens Thursday, June 6, At 2 PM

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Photo: Ribbon cutting Thursday at 2 p.m.

Roy Epstein, Belmont’s newest member of the Select Board, will join Miss Tomato on Thursday, June 6 at 2 p.m. for the ceremonial ribbon cutting, bell ringing and a trumpet fanfare, to celebrate the opening of the 14th season of the Belmont Farmers Market.

Not only will residents and visitors have great local produce, baked goods, dairy, meat and fish, and prepared foods to purchase like all farmers’ markets have, but the Belmont Farmers Market is more.

,There will be storytime, performances for kids and grownups, community information, chats with friends and neighbors, and much more.

VENDORS ON OPENING DAY

  • Produce: C & M Farm*, Common Acre Farm*, Dick’s Market Garden, Hutchins Farm
  • Meat, fish & dairy: Hooked (Red’s Best & Boston Smoked Fish Co), Foxboro Cheese Co., Lilac Hedge Farm*
  • Bread, pastry & sweets: Dulce D Leche, Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery, Mariposa Bakery*, Tick Tock Chocolates*
  • Prepared foods: Del Sur Natural Empanadas, Deano’s Pasta, Just Hummus*, Tex Mex Eats
  • And more: Beverly Bees,*, When Life Gives You Lemons.
  • Indicates a new vendor in 2019. Find out more about all of our vendors.

EVENTS TENT

The market match government benefits to help all families take home great, local food: SNAP (Food Stamps), WIC (for moms & babies) and FMNP (for seniors). Most of our produce vendors accept HIP.

  • 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Music by The Soundchasers
  • 4 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Storytime for kids and grownups. Reading by our friends at the Belmont Public Library
  • 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.: Music by LBE Brass

COMMUNITY TABLE

  • 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.: Talk with Mary Beth Calnan, Belmont’s Recycling Coordinator. She can answer questions about Belmont’s plastic bag ban, and about trash, recycling and yard waste pickup.
  • Kim Foster of Community Growing: Plant a seed with your kids to take home while learning about gardening and Belmont Food Collaborative’s Community Growing program.

Ready For Your Close-Up, Mr. Williams

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Photo: Behind the scenes with Mr. Williams at Town Hall.

One, if not the sole, perk of being an ex-Belmont Selectman – if that title can be used one final time – it’s the honor of having a “goodbye” portrait hung in the Select Board Room of Town Hall.

Going back a century, the photos of residents who were elected to the executive branch of town government are placed in perpetuity on the walls overlooking the current members as the proverbial “judge over their shoulder,” giving wise guidance to those following them.

On Tuesday morning, Jim Williams, who served one eventful term on the board, arrived in the board room for his appointment with Belmont photographer Beth Ann Fricker of BAF Photography.

While he selected a more traditional tie rather than his favorite with sharks details, Williams – who is moving to Florida in the next few months – didn’t select a pair of paints for the session. If it’s a portrait they want, shorts will do the job just fine.

It’s not known if fellow ex-Select Board member Sami Baghdady showed up in shorts for his portrait later in the day.

Caps, Gowns and Beach Balls: Belmont High Class of ’19 Graduates 305

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Photo: Thumbs up on graduation, 2019.

As of 5 p.m. Sunday, June 2, the ranks of Belmont High School alumni grew by 305 when the Class of 2019 were proclaimed graduates of their new alma mater by Superintendent John Phelan.

In a packed and plenty warm Wenner Field House filled with family and friends wielding phones and cameras to capture the moment, the scarlet-robed graduate received their diplomas amidst cheers, speeches, motor boards thrown high in the air along with numerous beach balls that gave the ceremony the feel of a day in the Fenway Park bleachers.

Interim Belmont High School Principal Thomas Brow

The program began with Interim Belmont High Principal Thomas Brow recalling an incident with a small tree and an unnamed mischievous student when he was an assistant principal at the Chenery Middle School where he first met the class of ’19. In resolving the act of preteen vandalism in a quiet and private manner, Brow hoped the graduates will learn that “as you go on your life’s journey, you will have conflicts and challenges. The moral is it’s not the conflict that’s importanty, it’s how you handle it.”

“Please take that message on with you as you do great things with your life,” he said.

Brendon Hill, 2019 Belmont High School Class President.

The first of three student speakers, Class President and presenter of each graduate Brandon Hill celebrated achievements and events in the class’ shared history.

“There were a lot of memorable events the first day of freshman year. Showing up 20 minutes late to your Spanish class, and then claiming tp\o your teacher you thought you had a free.”

“Later on in life. When you think back to high school, and all the friends and memories that you created. Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile, because you’re a part of something special,” Hill said.

Vassilios Kaxiras, recipient of the School Committee Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship

Vassilios Kaxiras, recipient of the School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship, the first of two academic honorees,

Speaking about “my knowledge of the people around me widened … every day I came to school. All 305 of us have was wildly different backgrounds as personalities,” Kaxiras said. “As a result, I’ve met countless people who shattered my stereotypes of countries I know visited. And I found a lot of interesting things I didn’t know anything about before. So just keep up. Perhaps because of this diversity, I’ve also found to be incredibly welcoming,” he said.

“Sometimes the best way to find your place in an unfamiliar world is to jump right in.”

Lara Zeng, recipient of the School Committee Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship.

The second academic speaker, Lara Zeng, recipient of the School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship, reflected on the now and the future to come.

“I’ve heard it said that when adults ask us what we want to be when we grow up, it’s because they themselves don’t know what the future holds. And they’re looking for advice and guidance from us because they’re just as lost as we are. This side of it might be scary. It’s a testament to how our lives are never set in stone,” Zeng said.

“But I think it’s empowering to remember that we will always have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. We can always grow into whoever we want to be. We know who you are right now; students, athletes, artists, musicians, siblings, friends. Like the adults, we don’t have all the answers. We don’t know who we’ll be in the future. But I hope we never stopped learning.”

“Our high school experience has prepared us for whatever lies ahead. I am so honored to have grown up with you all and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish next,” she said.

After the speeches, for an hour each now former student attending the ceremony strode up to the podium, shook Phelan’s and a School Committee member’s hand, received their diploma from Brown before walking towards a new part of their lives.

And then hats were thrown in the air (along with four beach balls) when Phelan proclaimed they had satisfied their requirements to graduate before heading out of the field house and into the bright sunshine of a Sunday afternoon.

Groundbreakings, Part 2; DPW On June 4 And Police July 9

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Photo:

In the past month, the Town of Homes has transformed into a Community of Groundbreakings. After last week’s ceremony for the Belmont Middle and High School, its now the opportunity for additional municipal projects to have their own ribbon cutting.

The Department of Public Works/Belmont Police Department Building Committee is inviting the public and residents to a pair of ceremonial groundbreaking events:

• The renovation of the Department of Public Works facility will take place on Tuesday, June 4, at 8 p.m. at the DPW yard which is at the end of C Street.

The new construction and renovation of the Belmont Police Headquarters will happen on Tuesday, July 9, also at 8 a.m. at the headquarters located on the corner of Pleasant Street and Concord Avenue across from Town Hall in Belmont Center.

Belmont Baseball Captures Third Middlesex Title After Outpitching Lexington

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Photo: Belmont High Marauders; 2019 Middlesex League co-champions.

Third times a charm as Belmont High Baseball used another outstanding pitching performance by junior Mike Brown who outdueled Lexington High ace Grahan Seed for a 2-1 victory and secured a third consecutive Middlesex League Liberty title for the Marauders on Saturday, June 1.

Belmont shares the league crown (the first time Belmont has strung three in a row) with Woburn by winning the final regular season game vs the Minutemen in what was likely the last high school game ever played at Brendan Grant Field which will become part of the construction site of the new Belmont Middle and High School.

“I’m proud of you guys. You guys are freaking awesome today. The bench, the starters, everything,” said long-time Belmont head coach Jim Brown to his charges after the game.

Belmont, at 12-8, waits until Tuesday, June 4 to see when and where they’ll be playing in the Division 2 North Sectionals. And Brown has high hopes for his team this postseason.

“Yeah, they’re a scrappy team,” said Brown about the Marauders. “They’ve won games one to nothing, two to one, two to nothing. They back up their two starters [Brown and senior Martin Marintchev] in the field better as the season went on.”

And Saturday’s matinee kept to Belmont’s season-long script as the Marauders dug up a pair of runs in the fourth and relied on Brown’s dominating performance on the mound to take home the win. The junior southpaw struck out 15, gave up more hit batsmen (2) than hits (a lone single) with the only run against him unearned.

Mike Brown on the mound.

After both teams could do little the first time through the line up against each pitcher – Brown struck out 10 and Seed K’d four in the first four innings – before Belmont struck for their two in the bottom of the fourth.

A hard-earned walk by leadoff batter David Pergamo was followed by a deep double to center right by Marintchev. After an intentional walk to Brown to load the bases, Matt Brody ripped an RBI single up the middle to score Pergamo. After a fly out to the outfield, Justin Rocha hit a hard grounder to third that drove in Marintchev on the fielders choice.

Lexington scored in the top of the sixth without the benefit of a hit and seeing a mere four batters come to the plate. With one out, the number 8 hitter second base Noah Sevigny walked, stole second and while attempting to steal third came home on a throwing error. Belmont got out of the inning as Brody threw out Minuteman’s Matt Favazzo heading to third during the play.

Lexington made it interesting in the top of the 7th when Brown hit two batters who ended up in scoring position. But a lazy fly to Joe DeStefano playing right ended both the threat and the game.

With two pitchers – Brown and Marintchev – who Brown call’s league all-star caliber and just enough offense when it counts, “you guys can do some damage in the tournament,” Brown told the team.

Police To Enforce Parking Bylaws Along Lower Belmont Street Starting June 3

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Photo: Map of the enforcement area (Belmont Police)

The law is coming to the Wild, Wild West of parking known as the lower section of Belmont Street.

Due to long-standing complaints of vehicles and commuters habitually ignoring the town’s parking bylaws along the eastern end of the main traffic artery, Belmont Police will begin vigorously enforcing the parking code beginning Monday, June 3.

The enforcement area will run from School to Ericsson streets and will include both sides of Belmont Street which the town has jurisdiction.

The town’s Parking Control Officers will enforce:

• all posted parking signs such as “1 or 2 hour parking limits” and “no parking to the corner”,

• MBTA bus stops, and

• unposted parking bylaws including no parking within 20 feet of an intersection, blocking bike lanes, driveways or fire hydrants.

Starbucks Returns To Cushing Square, Opening In Mid-June

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Photo: Starbucks returns to Cushing Square.

Caffeine lovers, hipsters and teenagers, rejoice! Starbucks is returning to Cushing Square with an opening in the second week of June.

The multinational coffeehouse chain with 30,000 stores worldwide came before the Select Board on May 29 at Belmont High School to obtain a common victualler license which was granted unanimously.

“We’re still probably not going to be able to open for about another week or so trying to finish up the site, make sure it’s safe in the public,” said Daniel Brennan who works for dpb Design Consultants which partners with Starbucks on permitting and licensing.

“We don’t have a concrete [opening] date but after talking to the construction manager, it will probably be a week to two weeks after Friday [May 31], when we get our certificate of occupancy,” said Brennan.

Daniel Brennan, dpb
Design Consultants

Brennan said the store will likely have a “soft” opening. “[Starbucks] usually does a ‘friends and family’ where they invite the employees and their families so they can test out all the equipment and get it going,” he said.

The best approach for the public to know when the store is open “is go by and see people inside.”

Town Administrator Patrice Garvin noted the health department has signed off on the site.

The 42 seat store will have 25 to 35 employees working on the site. There will be approximately 20 off-street parking spaces adjacent to the location between two buildings.

While the store will be open daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., Brennan asked the board to approve a closing time of 10 p.m. which was permitted in the special permit approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

“We will likely want the later time after it is open so we don’t want to come back for the change,” said Brennan.

Advise And Consent: Town Meeting Opens Budget Season With Roll Call Q&A

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Photo: Mike Widmer, Belmont’s Town Moderator.

While the second half of Belmont’s annual Town Meeting is dedicated to all things budgets and numbers, the reconvened gathering of the town’s legislative body tonight, Wednesday, May 29, will have the opportunity to give its “advise and consent” on the contentious matter of roll call votes.

The evening’s appetizer is six questions presented by Town Moderator Mike Widmer to the approximately 290 Town Meeting members to obtain an “informal sense” of the body regarding the parameters and procedures for recorded votes.

During the first session of Town Meeting in April, roll calls were requested on a series of votes including several which the articles passed by sizable margins. While many seeking recorded votes said their goal was greater transparency by elected members, others viewed it as “vote shaming” (there’s an app for that) to point out those who made unpopular votes.

The answers to the questions will be “strictly advisory and non-binding” and used to inform Widmer, the Select Board and “others” whether to consider any potential articles on the topic at a future Town Meeting.

The questions include yes or no answers to when an automatic roll call should be used instead of anonymous vote (all the time vs only on close margins) and what is the threshold percentage or number of members needed to have a roll call and whether to use percentages or a member count.

“Town Meeting seems quite divided on the issue of roll calls, some arguing for roll calls on every article while others wanting to raise the 35-person requirement,” said Widmer.

“I have no way of knowing how many support which position and of course there are lots of alternatives beyond these two positions. I think it will be helpful to get a sense of [Town Meeting] in order to develop a proposal with the Select Board to be presented at the fall Town Meeting,” said Widmer.

While the objective of the pre-meeting Q&A is to find the sense of Town Meeting, the decisions could dampen or accelerate citizens petitions seeking to force the issue.

An article at fall Town Meeting on the future of the hows and whys of roll call voting will likely be driven by the Select Board. And so far the three-member board is keeping an open mind on the issue.

“We haven’t made any decision to take any action at this point,” said Tom Caputo, chair of the Select Board at Tuesday’s groundbreaking for the Belmont Middle and High School. “But we’re pleased that [Widmer] is putting those questions in front of town meeting and looking to get their feedback and we’ll take action from there.”

“I think the [Select Board] wants to make sure that we are helping to support town meeting and ensuring that we are both achieving accountability, but also minimizing some of the more acrimonious activities than we’ve seen in in the last couple of Town Meetings,” he said.

Waltham’s Okie Named Burbank’s Interim Principal

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Photo: The rear of the Burbank School.

Waltham educator J. Seeley Okie has been named interim principal of the Burbank Elementary School for the 2019-2020 school year, according to a news release from Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

He will begin his tenure at the Burbank on July 1.

For the past seven years, Okie was an assistant principal at the MacArthur Elementary School in Waltham. Prior to becoming an administrator, Okie taught third and fourth grade in the Natick Public Schools, the Charles River School in Dover, and the Keys School in Palo Alto, Calif. Okie began his career in education as a K-12 science teacher in the Foothills Academy, Wheatridge, Colo.

Okie earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Colby College. He obtained a Master’s Degree in School Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Lesley College.

Belmont High’s ‘Little Shop’ Secure Multiple Nominations For State Theater Awards

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Photo: The poster.

Feed me those nominations, Seymour!

The Belmont High School Performing Arts Company production of “Little Shop of Horrors” was nominated for a slew of awards by the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild which announced nominations for their annual MET Musical Theater Awards last week.

“A huge congratulations goes first and foremost to the entire student cast and crew of the show,” said Ezra Flam, Performing Arts Company’s Producer/Director.

Forty-nine High Schools across the state submitted productions for consideration this year which were seen by three adjudicators who scored the shows in a number of categories. In each category, the five or six highest scoring productions or individuals were nominated for their work.

The show was nominated for:

• Best Lighting Design

• Best Scenic Design

• Best Sound Design

• Best Orchestra

• Best Dance Ensemble

• Best Choral Ensemble

• Best Technical Crew

• Best Lead Actor: Sammy Haines as Seymour Krelborn

“The range of categories in which we were nominated encompasses the work of virtually every student involved in the show.  It’s a testament to the hard work of all of our students who put so much of their time, energy and passion into the show,” said Flam, who congratulated several staff members and students “whose work with the PAC is invaluable.”

Anastasia Elliot, Vocal Director

Jenny Lifson, Choreographer

Arto Asadoorian, Pit Band Director

Chris Fournier, Lighting Designer

Anna Moss and Ian O’Malley, Set Design and Technical Direction

Lila West, Costume Designer

Christin Rills, Puppet Coordinator

Sophia Shen ’19 Lights Crew Chief

Molly Annus ’20, Neal Lonergan ’20, Set Crew Chiefs

Sam Lubarr ’19, Adrine Kaligian ’20, Stage Managers

Eliana Roberts ’19, Sound Crew Chief

“Of course, far more than any public recognition, I am proud of the show and of the work of the Performing Arts Company as a whole,” said Flam.

“I am lucky to work every day with a wonderful group of students and colleagues.”