With the National Weather Service issuing a wind advisory for Belmont and eastern Massachusetts that will last until 6 p.m. on Sunday, the chances climb a branch or tree will fall across the power wires that supplies your abode.
If the power does go out, those effected should call Belmont Light at 617-993-2800.
Belmont Police and Fire departments said residents should only call 911 for true emergencies.
Trick or treating got off to an early start in Belmont as the Cushing Square Business Association sponsored the annual Cushing Square Halloween spook-tacular. It was an opportunity for all to get into costume and receive only treats from the retailers in one of Belmont’s business centers. Here are a few photos from this community-building event.
It’s fairly simple: turn your watches and clocks back one hour before you go to sleep tonight as Daylight Savings Time ends early tomorrow morning, Sunday, Nov. 2.
If you want to do it properly, stay up until 2 a.m. when DST officials ends and clocks are pushed backward one hour to 1 a.m. local standard time.
For most younger residents, smart phones and computers have been programed for the change. But if you grew up in a jewelers or watch repair family (me), changing hundred of clocks and watches was something of a drudgery.
Here’s a little history of Daylight Saving Time from the The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
Credit for Daylight Saving Time belongs to Benjamin Franklin, who first suggested the idea in 1784. The idea was revived in 1907, when William Willett, an Englishman, proposed a similar system in the pamphlet The Waste of Daylight.
The Germans were the first to officially adopt the light-extending system in 1915 as a fuel-saving measure during World War I. The British switched one year later, and the United States followed in 1918, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which established our time zones. This experiment lasted only until 1920, when the law was repealed due to opposition from dairy farmers (cows don’t pay attention to clocks).
During World War II, Daylight Saving Time was imposed once again (this time year-round) to save fuel. Since then, Daylight Saving Time has been used on and off, with different start and end dates. Currently, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March and ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.
Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:
Permitted yard sales by the Belmont Town Clerk:
• 95 Bow St., Saturday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It’s Halloween and tonight, Friday, Oct. 31, little ones will be coming up to your door with the call of “Trick or treat!” Unlike many towns, there are no restrictions on when and where “tricks or treats” can occur as town officials and Belmont Police continue to rely on the good common sense of residents to restrain hijinks around the “Town of Homes.”
• The treats start early as some of the youngest kids will get the chance to practice as the Cushing Square Business Association holds its annual Cushing Square Halloween on Friday, Oct. 31 with the trick or treating begins at 3 p.m.
• Along with your bowl of candy at the front door, set aside some spare change as the Chenery Middle School is giving 6th graders a community service hour if they collect for UNICEF tonight.
• If you have the chance tonight, head over to Hillcrest Road – which runs from Goden to Common streets midway between the Wellington and Chenery Middle schools – to see the skeleton army that has overrun the street. They are riding bikes, hanging onto trees, wearing interesting costumes, all under the control of the LARGEST BLACK CAT EVER SEEN!
Belmont resident and commercial photographer Clytie Sadler has done an outstanding photo essay of the undead on HELLcrest Road which can be seen on her web site: http://clytiesadlerphotography.com/blog/
Be safe tonight.
And you thought just going to high school was scary!
Two big terrifying events will be held at Belmont High School today, Thursday, Oct. 30, to get the whole family into a Halloween state of mind.
For the first time, there will be a Halloween Haunted House at Belmont High School from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All profits made from this event will go to the Make a Wish Foundation. There will be a range of spooky activities for people of all ages. For younger guests, there will a face painting station and a pumpkin painting station. There will be a very small suggested donation for participants who want to be “boo-ed.”
After being frightened, head over to the fourth annual “Masquerade Concert” performed by the Belmont High Wind Ensemble and Concert Orchestra will begin at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. The two ensembles will perform a family-friendly variety of seasonal selections, including creepy classics like the Tocatta and Fugue in D minor by Bach, selections from The Dark Knight Rises and FROZEN! Audience members should arrive in costume to maximize the fun. As always, the concert is free.
The Belmont Farmers Market bids adieu to its ninth season as it holds its final market day today, Thursday, Oct. 30.
Come down and say goodbye to your favorite vendors. Stock up for the winter. Stop by the Manager’s Tent for a free apple and fill out an survey card: Tell the organizers what you like about the Market, write a note for a vendor and say what changes you’d like to see at the market next season.
The Belmont Farmers Market is located in the Belmont Center parking lot at Cross Street at Channing Road.
The market is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This week’s guest vendors include Sugar + Grain, Fille de Ferme, The Amazing Smokehouse and Seasoned and Spiced. Find all the weekly vendors here.
Siraco Sharpening Service returns for a final visit. If you’re going to be cooking or carving pumpkins, you’ll want sharp knives! And you can put your gardening tools away sharp for next year. But, please, don’t bring lawnmowers. For big items, go to Siraco’s drop off sites which includes the quilt shop on Brighton Street.
The food truck is Benny’s Crepe Cafe.
IN THE EVENTS TENT
• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Face Painting with Amber Espar.
• 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Story time thanks to the Children’s Room of the Belmont Public Library.
• 4:30 p.m to 5:45 p.m.: Joe Zarro, Belmont resident and pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church, will be singing and playing the guitar.
Help the Belmont Food Pantry by bringing non-perishable items each week. Find out about the Belmont Food Pantry, and see how the Market supports it.
Maeve Miller, 10, decided to take a different tact on just what to paint on the large window at Starbucks in Belmont Center.
“It’s a monster cake,” said the Belmont resident as she slowly applied green paint onto the glass while amused patrons sat inside with their coffees. The resulting art work produced a Frankenstein-type monster with a squiggly mouth at the base of a frightening pastry.
All day Saturday, Oct. 25, Belmont Center businesses up and down Leonard Street saw their windows transformed into pumpkin patches, ghostly havens and other scenes of specters and ghouls during the second annual Belmont Center Halloween Window Painting Contest.
Kids from second to eight grade – with parents in tow – paid for the privilege to express their scary vision of Halloween on the town’s main drag. Unlike the first contest that took place on a cold and dank fall morning, this Saturday was warm – maybe a bit too warm as windows on the sunny side of the street began flaking under the cloudless sky – and allowed many strollers to come out to see the kid’s artistic prowess.
Halloween-season window painting has a long tradition in other towns – several of Newton’s villages have participated for the past 15 years – and was brought to Belmont with the help of the owners of A Chocolate Dream.
Sponsored by the Belmont Center Business Association, the event’s proceeds were donated to the Foundation for Belmont Education.
“The Journey to College” featuring Belmont Savings President and CEO Bob Mahoney will be held on Monday, Oct. 27 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Chenery Middle School. Joining Mahoney will be Dr. Laurie Nash, an Independent Educational Consultant, to discuss the college admissions process, including choosing a school and how to increase a child’s chances of getting accepted. The talk is part of a series of lectures between the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation and the Belmont After School Enrichment Collaborative (BASEC) that will offer parents information on topics such as college, conflicts and anxiety.
Geoffrey Brahmer, an accomplished researcher and popular lecturer, will present “The Diary of Herman Kruk: A Librarian in the Vilna Ghetto” at the Beech Street Center on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 1:15 p.m. In 1944, while detained in Vilna in now Lithuania, Kruk, a socialist librarian , was asked by fellow prisoners, “Why write a diary? We are all going to be killed anyway.” Kruk responded, “Drunk on the pen trembling in my hand, I record everything for future generations.”
Belmont resident Gerry Connolly – a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts Professional Chef Program – will be conjuring up some great easy-to-make “tailgate” delicacies such as Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Vegetable Chili, Hummus, Tabouli and Mock Boursin on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Library’s Assembly Room. Connolly’s events are always well attended and space is limited, so please sign up online or by phone by calling 617-993-2870.
Justin Martin will speak on his book Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America’s First Bohemians at the Friends of the Belmont Public Library’s Author Series on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Library’s Assembly Room. Martin shows how this first bohemian culture – imported from Paris to a dingy Broadway saloon – nurtured an American tradition of rebel art that thrives to this day. All are welcome to attend this free program. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Teens in 7th to 12th grade can start their Halloween early by attending Fright Feston Thursday, Oct. 30 from
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Come enjoy games, snacks and festivities.
Two big events at Belmont High School this Thursday, Oct. 30 to get the family into a Halloween state of mind.
The fourth annual “Masquerade Concert” with the Belmont High Wind Ensemble and Concert Orchestra will begin at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. The two ensembles will perform a family-friendly variety of seasonal selections, including creepy classics like the Tocatta and Fugue in D minor by Bach, selections from The Dark Knight Rises and FROZEN! Audience members should arrive in costume to maximize the fun. As always, the concert is free.
There will be a Halloween Haunted House at Belmont High School from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. All profits made from this event will go to the Make a Wish Foundation. There will be a range of spooky activities for people of all ages. For younger guests there will a face painting station and a pumpkin painting station.
Get the little ones ready for the Halloween festivities with a Musical Spooktacular with Philip Alexander on Friday, Oct. 31 at 10:30 a.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Philip promises not to be too scary.
The Cushing Square Business Association will be holding its annual Cushing Square Halloween on Friday, Oct. 31 with the trick or treating begins at 3 p.m.
After filling up on sugar and chocolate the previous night, more than 500 Belmont students from kindergarten to 6th grade will participate in the 14th annual Foundation for Belmont Education Youth Spelling Bee on Saturday, Nov. 1. beginning at 3 p.m. The six-hour long event, which takes place in the Belmont High School auditorium, will see the students – many in team costumes – show off their spelling skills with words such as “frog” for the kindergarteners to “escargot” which won the bee in 2012.
The Beech Street Center is holding its annual Diwali Festival on Saturday, Nov. 1, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Center, 266 Beech St. Sponsored by the Belmont Council on Aging and Friends of the Indian Senior Citizens’ Organization, enjoy a fun-filled evening of cultural programming and three course vegetarian dinner.
Cost in advance: $7 per person, non FISCO members: $10, Children ages 6-12 $5 each. Cost at the door: FISCO members and immediate family, $14 per person. Nonmembers $20 per person, Children ages 6-12, $10 each
To purchase tickets in advance call Nava at 617-993-2975.
Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:
• 81 Hammond Rd., Saturday, Oct. 25, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• 60 Horne Rd., Sunday, Oct. 26, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 354 Payson Rd., Saturday, Oct. 25, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 350 Prospect St., Saturday, Oct. 25, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Giant Rummage Sale at Belmont Hill School’s Jordan Athletic Center.
Remember, Belmont requires (free) permitting for yard sales. Apply here.