Mrs. Claus is Coming to Belmont’s Annual ‘Turn on the Town’ Dec. 4

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After 23 years arriving alone, Santa is bringing the Mrs. along for this year’s business trip to Belmont.

Mrs. Claus will join Santa at the Belmont Savings Bank on Thursday, Dec. 4 during the Belmont Center Business Association’s 24th annual “Turn on the Town” celebration. The holiday festivities will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. along Leonard Street in Belmont Center.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive and light the tree adjacent the Bellmont Cafe at approximately 6:20 p.m., before riding their sleigh to the bank’s headquarters at 2 Leonard St. to pose for free photos from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

“It is a true pleasure to be again sponsoring Belmont’s Turn on the Town this year, and we look forward to contributing to the continued success of this annual tradition,” said Bob Mahoney, President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank.

“This year, we are thrilled to be offering free kiddie train rides. They are the latest example of the wonderful ways this event continues to grow and engage with the Belmont community.”

Returning this year, the Bank’s “Santa’s Helper Contest” offers youngsters a chance to ride in the Sleigh with Santa and Mrs. Claus from the tree lighting to the Bank’s Belmont Center branch. The winning family will also be first in line to have their photo taken with Santa and his wife inside the Bank’s branch. Parents may enter their children to win on a landing page on belmontsavings.com/santashelpers.

Outside the branch, Bank employees will be handing out hot chocolate. Inside, the Bank’s executive garage will be a petting zoo.  Additionally, Belmont Savings will be handing out glow sticks inside the branch. There will also be stocking giveaways inside the bank lobby with gift cards and products from Local Rewards partners.

Residents are encouraged to celebrate the season of giving and bring non-perishable food items or unwrapped toys to be donated to the Belmont Food Pantry.

This Week: Special Town Meeting, Singarama Wednesday, Music for Food Tuesday

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• The Special Town Meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School auditorium. Only one major article on the agenda for the 290 members to discuss and vote: the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction project, to be paid for out of free cash. There is a single amendment; to pay for the project with a 15-year bond paid from general funds.

• Music & Movement with Rubi, a movement and music program recommended for ages 3 to 5 (but 2 year olds are welcome) will be held in the Flett Room on Monday, Nov. 17.  There will be two sessions: 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

• Viola and Cello Music for Food: On Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library, Rosalind Ventris, violist, Zenan Yu, pianist, and Alan Toda-Ambaras, cellist, will perform music for solo viola and cello by Frank Bridge, Rebecca Clarke, Bach, and Hindemith. The performance is sponsored by the Friends of the Belmont Public Library in partnership with Music for Food, a musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. Admission is free. At the concert, donations will be collected by Music for Food for the Belmont Food Pantry.

• Singers from each of Belmont’s public schools – third graders to high school seniors – will get together Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Belmont High School auditorium for the annual choral panorama known as Singarama. The program will be filled with secular and seasonal songs, classical and modern music, all of which are beautifully arranged for the audience’s enjoyment!

• The Belmont Book Discussion group will discuss Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother and Daughter Journey to the Sacred Places of Greece, Turkey, and France by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor on Wednesday, Nov. 19 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Flett Room. Everyone is welcome to attend.  Copies of the book can be requested through the library catalog or call the library’s Reference staff at 617-993-2870.

• The Wellington PTO is holding its 4th annual Wellington Shopping Night Fundraiser in Belmont Center on Thursday, Nov. 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Make a purchase at these participating establishments – bessie blue, Marmalade, Revolve, Bells& Whistle, Thirty Petals boutique and El Centro – mention the Wellington School and 15 percent of your purchase price will be donated to the Wellington PTO.

• The Underwood Pool Building Committee will hold a public meeting on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., in the Assembly Room at the Belmont Public Library, where the members of the construction team will be introduced and answer questions.

• The Underwood Pool Building Committee and the Belmont Board of Selectmen invite the public to the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Underwood Pool complex on Friday, Nov. 21 at 8:15 a.m. at the construction site.

This Weekend: Saturday’s Ski Exchange, Printmakers’ Show Friday Night

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• The Belmont Gallery of Art is holding a special Friday Night showing today, Friday, Nov. 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. of it’s current exhibit, “Continental Drift: Printmakers Converge,” an exhibit of work by members of the Boston Printmakers and the Icelandic Printmakers Association. The gallery will also be open this Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Gallery is located on the third floor of the Homer Building in the Town Hall Complex, 19 Moore St., right off Leonard Street in Belmont Center behind the Belmont Savings Bank building.

• The Belmont High School Ski Team’s Annual Ski Sale and Swap held in the High School cafeteria on Saturday Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Proceeds benefit the BHS Ski team. Anyone selling equipment should arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. For information: 617-823-4233; scott@navfund.com

• Arlington’s Menotomy Musical Theater is staging The Wizard of Oz on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m as well as Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. in the Belmont Town Hall auditorium, 455 Concord Ave. Tickets are $15 in advance online or $20 at the door.

Duty, Honor, Country: Schools Salute Vets in Remembrance Observances

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The Chenery Middle School Wind Band played patriotic music, the chorus sang the “National Anthem” and several students made speeches and recited poems to their classmates and the two dozen men – many slowed with age – sitting on chairs on the side of the stage.

They were an array of armed forces veterans from Belmont and surrounding communities, coming to the school as the living embodiment of the commitment and sacrifice they gave to the country.

The school-wide assembly, held on Monday, Nov. 10 in the Chenery auditorium, is an annual commemoration of the service of all veterans and those currently in uniform.

“I want to thank all of you for showing up today because twice a year, we feel like rock stars,” said Kip Gaudet, commander of Belmont’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Trapelo Road.

“We come here to represent those who can’t be here, who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we enjoy today,” said Gaudet, who was awarded a bronze star for “heroic or meritorious achievement or service” as a radio man in Vietnam.

Chenery’s Principal Kristen St. George advised students to take a moment on the holiday to personally reach out and thank a veteran “for their contribution … for fighting for things that are important to us and our country.”

St. George read the names of veterans with a connection to the “Chenery community” and for the student to simply “listen and to reflect.” Included in the names were of Chenery teacher Ryan Schmitt and Army Spc. Jonathan Curtis, an alumni who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Gaudet read the names of the veterans who stood to receive the applause from the auditorium, including Frank Morrissey, a 96-year-old vet from the US Navy.

“Hopefully these events reminds the students of freedom’s cost,” said Gaudet after the service, before leaving with his fellow veterans for visits at the Butler and Winn Brook elementary schools before a lunch at the VFW post.

“The veterans get appreciated for their service and the kids learn something, so this morning is like a two-way street,” he said.

The highlight of the ceremony was the reading and a musical rendition of the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae who wrote the poem on May 3, 1915, moments after presiding over the funeral of his friend, Alexis Helmer.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.”

This Week: Veterans Day Tuesday, Stealing Masterpieces Wednesday

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On the government side of the week, the Community Preservation Committee will hear presentations from groups seeking CPA funds as well as ask them questions at the committee’s public meeting at Town Hall on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.

Juliette Fay will speak about her latest novel, The Shortest Way Home, at Belmont Public Library’s “Books and Bites” from 11 a.m. to noon, Monday, Nov. 10. Described by Library Journal as “a moving, introspective look at what it means to be family, and to be truly home,” The Shortest Way Home is the Massachusetts resident’s third novel. All are welcome to attend this free program. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be provided. The Assembly Room is handicapped accessible.

The 7th and 8th Grade Book Club will discuss Ava Dellaira’s Love Letters to the Dead, in the Young Adult’s section of the Belmont Public Library on Monday, Nov. 10 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Also choose December’s book and enjoy some snacks.

Tuesday, Nov. 11 is Veterans Day.

The Belmont Historical Society presents author Anthony Amore, director of security at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for the past five years, who will give an illustrated lecture on the notorious theft of 13 priceless masterpieces from the museum in March 1990, “Stealing Rembrants” at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room on Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. Copies of Amore’s book, Stealing Rembrandts, will be available for purchase. Refreshments will be served.

 It’s an early release day for all public schools – elementary, middle and high schools – on Wednesday, Nov. 12. 

The Belmont League of Women Voters will be meeting in the Flett Room of the Belmont Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 13 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Board of Library Trustees and the Friends of the Belmont Public Library invite the public to attend a reception to honor retiring Library Director Maureen Conners for her 18 years of service on Thursday, Nov. 13 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the library’s Assembly Room.
The Beech Street Center’s Senior Book Discussion Group will discuss Bleak House by Charles Dickens (Chapter 1 through Chapter 31) on Friday, Nov. 14 at 11 a.m. at the Beech Street Center. The group will discuss Chapter 32 to the end on Friday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m.
The Beech Street Center will be screening The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns on Friday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. Viewers will watch Episode 5, “The Rising Road” concerning FDR’s first two terms from 1933 to 1939.

Babysitting Safety Workshop for ‘Tweens’ on Nov. 11

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Every parent wants a babysitter who knows more than just caring with their child for a few hours; they want someone who is prepared to handle the rare emergency that might occur.

Professional Ambulance Center for MEDICS is offering a Safe Sitter® program for students 11 to 14 years old on Veterans Day Tuesday, Nov. 11 from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Pro EMC training facility at 31 Smith Place in Cambridge.

Proceeds from the workshop will benefit the Foundation for Belmont Education.

The one-day course Safe Sitter® course is a comprehensive program that teaches adolescents everything they need to know to be safe when they’re home alone, watching younger siblings, or babysitting.

The course includes CPR certification, basic first aid, childcare essentials and behavior management, as well as information on how to be safe while home alone or babysitting.

The program combines full group activities with small group practice sessions, and includes giving students hands-on CPR experience with manikins. The day ends with an hour of testing to ensure kids learned the skills. Testing includes written exams and a hands-on scenario-based test.

To register for the class, please visit www.centerformedics.com, select “Training – Class Schedule” and scroll to the Safe Sitter class listing. You may also access the registration directly at http://proems.enrollware.com/registration/reg-start.aspx?id=523914.

The class accommodates 60 students. Registration closes on Sunday, Nov. 9. 

The cost of the program is $85 and includes all classroom instruction materials, which may be taken home, CPR certification cards, a Safe Sitter ® program certificate of completion and snacks during the program. Students should bring their own lunches and dress in comfortable clothes suitable for sitting and working on the floor.

Special Town Meeting Warrant Briefing at the Beech Tonight

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The Belmont League of Women Voters and the Warrant Committee is co-sponsoring a warrant briefing tonight, Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center.

This is an opportunity for Town Meeting member as well as the general public to ask questions of town officials and department heads about the single article on the warrant – concerning the funding for the 2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction project – prior to Special Town Meeting to be held on Monday, Nov. 17 at the Chenery Middle School.

Raffi Manjikian, vice-chair of the Warrant Committee, will preside.

Curtain Raises on Performing Arts Company’s ‘Twelfth Night’ Tonight

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The curtain goes up tonight, Thursday, Nov. 6 on the Performing Arts Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” a comedy about a cross-dressing, ship-wreck surviving, poetry-loving girl who finds herself at the center of a not-so-average love triangle.

The production, produced and directed by Ezra Flam, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium.

The play will also be staged on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8, at 7 p.m. 

Tickets are adults: $12 in advance/$15 at the door; students: $10.

Tickets are available online and at Champions Sports in Belmont Center.

Chenery 8th Grade Students: reserve a free ticket when you order online using coupon code: CMS8. Belmont Schools Staff: reserve a free ticket online with coupon code BPSSTAFF or by e-mailing tickets@bhs-pac.org 

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Police HQ Heading for Incinerator Site? Find Out Tonight

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It was just a couple of sentences during a joint meeting held at Belmont Town Hall this past Wednesday, Oct. 29.

But the short statement by Board of Selectmen Chair Andy Rojas introduced a new, and potentially game changing use to the mix of opportunities being proposed for the 16-acre former town incinerator site off upper Concord Avenue.

“There are five to six options including a police station with the capping being discussed,” said Rojas during a meeting with the Selectmen, Capital Budget and Warrant committees, bringing up for the first time a new location for the  Belmont Police Department headquarters.

The state is housed in a threadbare Depression-era building at the corner of Concord Avenue and Pleasant Street across from Belmont Town Hall. The replacement of the headquarters is on the list of capital projects being considered for funding by the Capital Budget Committee and the Board of Selectmen.

On of the last issues facing a revamped headquarters is finding an adequate location. For several years, the Belmont Public Library on Concord Avenue was the likely site for a new station if the town approved contraction of a new library. But three times in the past decades those plans have been scrapped.

The construction of a new headquarters is a high priority of Police Chief Richard McLaughlin.

The possibility of a modern headquarters for the police will be discussed at a precinct meeting tonight, Monday, Nov. 3 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School auditorium.

Constructed in 1959, the incinerator operated until 1975, when it became the town’s transfer station for two decades. It is currently used by the Belmont DPW for equipment storage, leaf composting and placement of debris.

In January, Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation presented by State Rep. Dave Rogers authorizing the sale to the town of the state-owned land. The law allows Belmont to purchase the land after an appraisal determines the fair market value of the property. In addition, the town will be responsible for the site’s costly remediation of environmentally hazardous material.

Some of the possible uses for the site discussed in the past include a solar farm, recreational playing fields, open space, use by the Highway Department and even a marijuana plantation to supply the medical marijuana industry.