• It’s an Early Release Wednesday for all of Belmont’s six schools. 10:30 a.m. for High School, 11 a.m. for Chenery Middle School and 11:40 a.m. for the elementary schools with the exception of the Winn Brook which releases at 10 minutes until noon.

• The Belmont Book Discussion Group will discuss “Blindness” by Jose Saramago at its meeting at 3 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room. Everyone is welcome to attend. Copies of the book can be requested through the library catalog or call the library Reference staff at 617-993-2870.

• The Belmont Historical Society is holding its monthly meeting from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Claflin Room at the Belmont Public Library.

• Belmont’s financial “watchdog”, the Warrant Committee, will be discussing the Capital Budget Committee’s budget (those long-range “big” ticket items) as well as the proposed new Minuteman Career and Technical High School regional agreement with the town and proposed changes to the town’s bylaws in response to a citizens petitioned moratorium on the demolition of single-family homes which would be replaced with two-family homes within the General Residence Zoning Districts at its 7:30 p.m. meeting at the Chenery Middle School. 

• On this day in 1927,  Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Here is the New York Times report:

Paris, May 21 — Lindbergh did it. Twenty minutes after 10 o’clock tonight suddenly and softly there slipped out of the darkness a gray-white airplane as 25,000 pairs of eyes strained toward it. At 10:24 the Spirit of St. Louis landed and lines of soldiers, ranks of policemen and stout steel fences went down before a mad rush as irresistible as the tides of ocean.

“Well, I made it,” smiled Lindbergh, as the little white monoplane came to a halt in the middle of the field and the first vanguard reached the plane. Lindbergh made a move to jump out. Twenty hands reached for him and lifted him out as if he were a baby. Several thousands in a minute were around the plane. Thousands more broke the barriers of iron, rails round the field, cheering wildly.

• The Planning Board will hold a community meeting at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School concerning a zoning amendment it is presenting to Town Meeting in June that attempts to address citizen’s concerns raised by the one-year moratorium passed at last year’s Town Meeting that prevents tearing down single-family structures in the general residence sections of town to replace them with multi-family buildings.

• The Belmont High School Club Rugby team will host Boston College High School in the Massachusetts Youth Rugby Organization’s Division 1 state championship semi-finals at 7 p.m. at Harris Field on Concord Avenue. If the team is victorious, they will defend their title at Fort Devens on Saturday.

• Examine live caterpillars, see butterfly wings under a microscope and learn which common butterflies are likely to be spotted in Belmont over the summer as Habitat naturalist Barbara Brown will give a free talk about “Caterpillars, Butterflies & Moths” from 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. at the Beech Street Center. 

• Adult development expert Paul Kampas comes to the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St. at 5 p.m. to discuss “Love Relationships Across the Generations: A Community Conversation” presenting an adult development model of healthy love relationships and to co-facilitate a conversation about how younger and older generations may have differing perspectives.

• Pre-School Storytime will be held at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex.

• The Belmont Public Library’s Children’s Room is holding Storytime for 2’s and 3’s.  Due to overwhelming popularity, this storytime is offered both at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Bring your little ones for stories, songs, and more. Both programs will take place in the Flett Room, across from the Children’s Room. 

• The Zoning Board of Appeals will be holding a public meeting Monday, May 19, at 7 p.m. in the Belmont Gallery of Art (located in the Homer Municipal Building in the Town Hall complex) to discuss the application to relocate Starbucks Coffee from its present location in Cushing Square to a store front near the intersection of Belmont Street and Trapelo Road. The move, which will last for approximately a year, is necessary due to the construction of the retail, residential and parking development known as Cushing Village.

• The Planning Board will hold a community meeting on Tuesday, May 20, at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School concerning a zoning amendment it will present to Town Meeting in June that attempts to address citizen’s concerns revolving around the one-year moratorium on tearing down single-family structures and replacing them with multifamily buildings.

• “A World of Celebrations” comes alive with floral arrangements at the Belmont Garden Club’s Flower Show taking place on Friday May 23, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Featuring  designs for France’s Bastille Day, China’s New Year, Italy’s Carnival of Venice, the show will also include a horticulture division.

• The Belmont High School Club Rugby team will host Boston College High School in the Massachusetts Youth Rugby Organization’s Division 1 state championship semi-finals on Tuesday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at Harris Field on Concord Avenue.

• The Belmont League of Women Voters will be holding a warrant briefing for the budget sessions of Town Meeting on Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St. An opportunity to get your questions answered before the June sessions of Town Meeting. The budget will be covered, as well as other articles not handled in the May meetings. Co-sponsored by the Warrant Committee and the Belmont League of Women Voters Education Fund.

• What is the closest thing to a red carpet event we have in Belmont each year begins just after 4 p.m. when the annual Pre-Prom Promenade takes place at Belmont High School. Those attending this year’s Belmont High School Senior/Junior Prom will be “presented” to parents, siblings, friends and the public in the Belmont High School auditorium and as they board the buses to take them for a night of dancing and fun. Get there early; the place fills up fast.

• Today is also the final day of school for graduating Belmont High Schools seniors, for many, completing 13 years in the district. 

• Local musician Liz Buchanan performs original songs and traditional favorites for the toddler set at 10:30 a.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• No sports at Belmont High today; see above.

• Town Meeting members from Precinct 1 and 7 are invited to attend a briefing at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library on the financial articles – including the town and capital budgets – to be discussed when the annual Town Meeting reconvenes on June 2. Members of the Warrant, Capital Budget and School committees will be in attendance to answer your questions.

• The Book Club for Chenery Middle School students in fifth and sixth grades (the lower school) will be held from 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Children’s Work Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• Belmont’s Senior Center will be holding a meeting of the Caregivers’ Support Group at 2 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

• Belmont High’s Girls’ Tennis will host Woburn High at 3:30 p.m. and Girls’ Lacrosse will take on Winchester High at 4:30 p.m. at Harris Field.

• Today is the centennial of the birth of Tenzing Norgay, the great Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer who, with Sir Edmund Hillary, made the first ascend of Mt. Everest in 1953.

• The best of the Belmont High School senior thesis papers will be honored at the annual Lillian Blacker Awards being held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Belmont High School Library. The Blacker awards are presented each year to three High School seniors for outstanding writing ability on their senior theses. Each student entering their final year at Belmont High is required to read, research, and write a lengthy paper investigating a literary topic. English faculty members determine the winners after an extensive reading process.

• The Chenery Middle School Honors Concert featuring the most advanced ensembles at the school will take place beginning at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. 

• The annual meeting of the Belmont Historical Society will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Joe Cornish will give a presentation on ‘Recognizing Belmont’s Historic Homes: Historic House Plaque Program.’

• The Belmont Solar Car team is holding a fundraising night at Panara Bread in the Fresh Pond Mall at 174 Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in which the restaurant will donate a percentage of its sales during the event to the team.

• The Belmont Public Library’s Children Room is sponsoring “Print Making for Books: a program for children” beginning at 2:30 p.m. in the library’s Assembly Room. Sign-up is required; please call the Children’s Room at 617-993-2880 to sign up.

• Belmont High School’s Boys’ Tennis will host the SpyPonders of Arlington High at the High School tennis courts beginning at 4 p.m.