Photo: Belmont Police
With the Massachusetts ‘9-1-1’ system down and out as of Tuesday, June 18, the Belmont Police Dept. is advising Belmont residents who have police, fire, or medical emergencies to call Belmont Police on these alternate phone numbers:
Residents should not use 911 until the system is restored.
If there is an emergency outside of Belmont, contact the Massachusetts State Police at 508-820-2121.
Photo: The Juneteenth flag (credit: Wikipedia)
This year, on Wednesday, June 19, the country celebrates Juneteenth National Independence Day. It is a federal and Massachusetts holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining June and nineteenth, it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. (Thank you, Wikipedia)
Trash and recycling pick-up will be delayed by a day.
Here is what’s closed and what’s open on Juneteenth:
Most retail operations are open for the new holiday.
The MBTA will operate on its regular weekday schedule for those who want to use public transportation.
Photo: Cooling center opened for all residents
With temperatures during a midweek heat wave expected to reach the mid-90s to over 100 degrees, Belmont is providing a pair of cooling centers to help all residents stay comfortable and safe during the peak of the hot weather.
The Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., will be open on Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Center will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, as part of the Juneteenth holiday.
The Belmont Media Center, at 9 Lexington St., will be open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Water will be provided at both locations.
Photo: Co-Capt. Mia Taylor lifts the state championship trophy after Belmont won its sixth consecutive title, defeating Weymouth, 80-0, on Saturday, June 15, at Curry College.
In a near flawless performance of top-flight rugby, Belmont High School Girls Rugby secured its sixth consecutive MIAA Division 1 state title, romping past a young, scrappy Weymouth squad, 80-0, at Curry College on Saturday, June 15.
The victory continues Belmont’s dominance in the tournament. The Marauders have won every championship game since 2017, when Belmont scored 17 unanswered points to defeat Algonquin Regional High School 17-14 in a true nailbiter.
According to Kate McCabe, who started the varsity team a decade ago and has led the squad to each of its half dozen championship victories, it has been “a privilege” to coach what she and her players have created both this season and as a program.
“No one’s showing up because I’m so much fun to hang out with,” said McCabe. “It’s the players that made a family and a system that people feel empowered to be a part of even when they come in knowing nothing about rugby,” she said.
For senior outside center and co-captain Mia Taylor, the victory culminates in a personal three-peat of state championships.
”This team is just incredible. Every day, I’m excited to go to practice. I love these girls so much,” said Taylor, who will soon be off to UC San Diego, where she will continue playing rugby.
While Belmont came into the game unbeaten in 2024, having defeated Weymouth 26-12 in the first match of the season, the Marauders have had its handful with the Wildcats. In its past two encounters, Weymouth kept the matches close until late, including holding the lead early in the 2023 state semi-finals.
Belmont was anything but dominant in the first five minutes, losing its first four possessions on a series of miscues and nerves. But McCabe allowed the team seniors to take care of adjustments on the pitch.
“The coaches didn’t talk to you,” McCabe told her team after the game. “Nobody stepped onto the field. We let you lead, and you played off each other that whole time. Your voices were heard, and they were repeated together, supporting one another. We could not be more proud.”
Belmont dominated the defensive side of the ball. The front eight prevented Weymouth from putting in a positive phase, with the Wildcats inside Belmont’s 22 meters just once in the first 35 minutes. Belmont’s backs – led by senior wing Ally Caputo and junior Robyn Tonomura-MacDonald – never allowed Weymouth’s swift wings and full-back to break free turning the corners.
Senior lock Sally Amer secured her brace, scoring in the 15th and 23rd minutes, with the first a 10-meter run when she ran over two defenders before lunging into a try. Her second was more impressive: stealing a Weymouth scrum and moments later taking a straight line to try for the five points.
It didn’t take long for Belmont to right the ship, with Taylor grabbing her first try on a run around the right side after nine minutes. It was left up for Belmont’s senior fly half and kicking specialist Lucy “Buzz” Kabrhel to nail the two-point conversion from the most acute angle for the 7-0 lead.
Moments after receiving the kick, Caputo discovered a crease in Weymouth’s front line and streaked 60 meters for Belmont’s fourth try of the half. Three minutes later, Kabrhel found herself with a meadow of space and slalomed into try. With her conversion, Belmont would enter halftime with a 33-0 lead.
Despite being up by five tries, a rugby advantage is never secure as the scoring team receives the ball after a try and can dictate the game. But Belmont would allow the Wildcats just a single drive close to its try line before senior prop Olivia “Liv” Mann propelled herself to try after Belmont ran a master class in bringing the ball down the pitch. Taylor would throw down a brace within six minutes to complete her hat trick, and the rout was on. Mann, senior lock Abby Hill, junior “Number 8” Sadie Taylor, and Becca Michaud finished the scoring.
With Kabrhel’s 11th of 13 conversion kicks sailing through the uprights, the referee blew his whistle, and Belmont would celebrate its most dominating performance of the five previous state finals.
“It’s a long game, and over the course of the playoff run, we tell them, ‘You play the very best that you have. Give it your all, put it all on the field.’ And today, you can see people were just running as hard as they possibly could, and it was really beautiful to see,” said McCabe.
When Taylor was presented with the state championship trophy, she immediately started jumping up and down, her smile as bright as the sparkling late spring sunshine, expressing everything she and the team were feeling.
“My senior year meant so much to finish it here with every one of my teammates. I’m going to miss this so much,” Taylor said as she carried the trophy off the pitch.
Photo: Belmont Pride March is this Saturday, June 15
Belmont LGBTQ+ Alliance, Belmont Against Racism, and Human Rights Campaign are holding the annual Belmont Pride March and Celebration on Saturday, June 15, at 1 p.m., starting at the Belmont Town Green across from First Church Belmont at 404 Concord Ave.
The day will begin at 12:45 p.m. with opening remarks as residents gather before the parade. The parade will include a short march along Concord Avenue up to Belmont High School before returning through Belmont Center back to the Green. The route is relatively flat and accommodating for everyone.
Photo: Belmont Girls’ Rugby in the title game again
Belmont High Girls’ Rugby will seek its six consecutive MIAA Division 1 state championship this Saturday after the Marauders made quick work of Lincoln Sudbury Regional, 71-5, in the state semi-finals match held at Harris Field, June 5.
The undefeated and top-ranked Marauders (7-0) will meet a scrappy third-seed Weymouth squad (5-2) in the title game taking place at 2 p.m., on Saturday, June 15 at Curry College in Milton. The Wildcats sprinted away late from Algonquin Regional in its 60-29 semifinal victory.
Tickets can be purchased at GoFan.com
After an early scare in which Belmont thwarted a Lincoln-Sudbury push deep inside Marauder territory, it was all Belmont as the team pilled up 35 points in the first 20 minutes as it shut out the Warriors in the first half. Junior Robyn Tonomura-MacDonald totaled four of Belmont’s 11 tries while playing stellar defense.
Saturday’s game will be a rematch of the first match of the season which Belmont waited late before pulling away. After scoring two tries quickly, Weymouth came within two – 14-12 – at the half. Weymouth held the advantage for most of the second half before two outstanding long run tries by Mia Taylor gave the Marauders the 27-12 victory.
Photo: Poster for the groundbreaking for the new Belmont Public Library
With the proposed Municipal Skating Rink receiving the bulk of the news since February, residents’ attention finally crosses Concord Avenue in what’s being called an “exciting week” for Belmont’s new library.
At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12, the Belmont Public Library Building Committee will host the official groundbreaking for the new library at 336 Concord Ave. Being built on the site of the former facility, the 41,500 square foot, two-story structure is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025.
The celebration is open to the public, but there is one requirement for attending: please wear closed-toe shoes. It is a construction site!
One day before the groundbreaking on Tuesday, June 11, the building committee is anticipating some “additional exciting news” it will be able to share.
Photo:
Facing the task of closing a $2.1 million gap facing the proposed Municipal Skating Rink, Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin was staring at a quandry.
Two weeks before the Special Town Meeting when a rescue package would be presented to the members, Garvin had two sources to make up the deficit, a $750,000 state earmark thanks to State Sen. Will Brownsberger, and a town account created from a fire insurance settlement when the Kendal Arts Center burned to the ground more than two decades ago.
But the possibility using a huge chunk of the Kendal’s $2.5 million would be problematic, according to Garvin. While the rink qualifies to use the account as a captial project, several town committees and members note the Kendall School Insurance Fund is an important element in supporting future major town developments as it will help finance the project’s planning and design stage.
“It really hurt coming up with the budget,” said Garvin. “[An answer] didn’t occur to me until we were really trying not to raid the Kendal [Fund].”
And the solution came from Wall Street. Garvin reviewed the town’s financials and saw the town’s investment income account had an impressive showing. As recently as the posted third-quarter results on the Finance Department website, investment income stood at $1.5 million with an expected $200,000 monthly increase over the final three months, according to the town’s Financial Director Jennifer Hewitt. What better time to benefit from the revenue windfall attributable to the bonds the town issued last fall to save the rink and not drain the Kendal fund.
“As soon as I thought about it, I said, ‘Why didn’t I think of that before,” said Garvin. “Sometimes you just need to look at it differently,” she said, as the town firmed up the supplemental budget package it will present at Monday’s Special Town Meeting, June 10.
The $2.25 million supplement funds package will be comprised of:
Best of all, according to Select Board Chair Roy Epstein, the package will not increase residential property taxes as did the $29.9 million 2023 debt exclusion, while the Kendal Fund will have $1.15 million remaining in its account.
Epstein noted the package will fill the entire shortfall while adding a small $150,000 contingency “to give a small safety margin for the project.”
The reason for the warrant article in the first place was to respond to the request by the Municipal
Skating Rink Building Committee for an additional $2.1 million for the project. The rink’s $29.9 million pricetag approved by voters in April 2023, ballooned to $35.2 million by February 2024 due to cost inflation and . After completing a round of value engineering, the rink remained in arrears by $2.1 million, requiring the building community to approach the Select Board and town to find a solution.
Monday’s meeting will include segments explaining the cause of the shortfall and the finance package.
A potential fly in the ointment facing the rink Monday is the stripping of solar panel arrays that is expected to raise the hackles from the town’s Energy Committee and a large number of “green” Town Meeeting supporters.
While “recogniz[ing] the disappointment that PV panels are not in the current scope,” Epstein noted the “building will be fully PV ready and we are actively pursuing other avenues to fund this last piece.”
Photo: Belmont Farmers Market opens for the season on Thursday, June 6.
The 18th edition of the Belmont Farmers Market will get underway at 1:45 p.m., Thursday, June 6 – rain or shine – at its traditional home in Belmont Center’s Claflin Parking Lot. A slew of new vendors selling produce, drinks, prepared meals, baked goods and a while lot more will be available.
The market is open on Thursdays in June to October from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (6 p.m. in October)
The day will be highlighted with the third annual Food Assistance Information Fair and food drive.
This season sees the return of the popular children program: POP Club: The Power of Produce. Enroll your kids in the club, and they get $3 every week to spend at the Market on any fruits, vegetables, or food-producing plants that they want to buy. It’s free for all children between 5 and 12 years old.
Don’t forget bring non-perishable food donations for the Belmont Food Pantry. The pantry will thank you.
Belmont Farmers Market is a project of Belmont Food Collaborative, Inc
Photo: Belmont High’s Julian Wong finishing off a point against Xaverian in the MIAA D1 opener
In its opening match of the MIAA Division 1 state championship, the 16th-ranked Belmont High Boys’ Tennis squad swept aside 17th seed Xaverian Brother, 5-0, on Wednesday, May 29, and now awaits a likely trip to Danvers to face top ranked and undefeated St. John’s Prep (17-0).
Belmont’s (11-6) top two singles, senior Charlie Osborn and junior Julian Wong, made quick work of their Hawks’ opponents, with Osborn winning 6-0, 6-1 in 35 minutes and Wong 6-4, 6-0.
“I wasn’t down ever in the match, I had a pretty good start,” said Wong, who was sporting a nifty new haircut for the playoffs. “I was up 5-2 in the first when I had a bit of a mental gap and he came back to 5-4. So I just had to really focus that and game and play it through. Of course, a ton of my friends came out today and it was really great.”
Yet after going down 2-0, the Hawks kept a narrow path to sneak out of The Town of Homes with a minor upset.
“Xaverian (9-8) was staying in the mix while putting pressure on our third singles and doubles teams,” said Dave Benson, now in his third year as the Marauders’ head coach.
But as they have done throughout the season, Belmont’s doubles came through with victories. First pairs of senior Ben Miller and junior Henry Moriarty were extended in both sets (7-5, 7-5) while seconds sophomore Brady Chan and first year Kalya Radojovic won it in a second set tie breaker (6-1, 7-6 (7-2)).
“The benefit of tight matches is they allow us to grow and be more accustomed to handling pressure situations. The boys responded exceptionally well, pulling out tight sets and tiebreakers in each match,” said Benson, who has managed the squad out of the first round for the past three seasons.
Belmont’s Soyam Pokharel battled fellow junior Nick Napoli as well as his body in a marathon match that went deep into the third set. With the match in a third set tiebreaker, Pokharel cramped up with him leading 8-5. After a five minute medical time out, Napoli came storming back to tie the match at 8-8. Each player fought off numerous match points with Pokharel finally eking out a 12-10 victory.
Belmont is now in a wait and see position as St. John’s has yet to play Chelmsford so that a day can be scheduled.
“I know most of their players and they have a deep squad,” said Olson. “They have pretty consistently good players, top to bottom. I can’t predict how my match is gonna go but I do know they will be one of the toughest teams we will play. Definitely one of the hardest games.”