Photo: Service with a smile.
Now, you would think that on a hot summer Friday, Sept. 9 that the best service a young entrepreneur could provide the public is to set up a lemonade stand and rake in the quarters.
But in a tasty counterintuitive marketing strategy, young Milo of Bright Road thought, “Who doesn’t like freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies?”
So with a little help, Milo made a batch and sold them for two-bits to eager editors and people stepping off the MBTA bus stop near his house.
Photo: What’s in the Belmont Farmers Market this week.
It’s yoga for youngsters, making faces and recently-harvested produce highlighting Market Day in Belmont today, Thursday, Sept. 8, in the municipal parking lot in Belmont Center.
This week is the start of shorter hours for the Farmers Market, but only by a half hour, as it will be open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Vendors will have a wide variety of ciders, wines, syrups, fish, eggs, meat, cheese, crackers, bread, produce, flowers, snacks, fish & more. And this week includes kale, peppers, zucchini and other ground produce in abundance.
PERFORMERS IN THE EVENTS TENT
• 2 p.m.: Bob Leger returns to sing and perform on guitar with classic, pop, rock, country folk and blues songs.
• 4:30 p.m.: Yoga for Kids with Belmont’s own Groundwork Yoga & Wellness – Belmont
• 4:30 p.m.: Face painting with Amber, a resident who loves transforming faces.
The municipal parking lot in Belmont Center, at the intersection of Cross Street and Channing Road behind the former Macy’s store on Leonard Street.
Photo: Underwood Pool
It’s looking like it will be a wet end of what had been a gloriously hot and sunny swimming season at the Underwood Pool as the remnants of a hurricane that struck Florida on Thursday wanders its way to the region.
The National Weather Service has already issued a hazardous weather outlook for Belmont and most of lower New England beginning Sunday night and lasting into Tuesday. While the track and intensity of the now Tropical Storm Hermine remain a question mark for the area, expect rain and gusty winds for Monday and into Tuesday.
The pool is scheduled to be open this holiday weekend from 10 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. and on its final day, Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
No word from staff at the pool or the Recreation Department whether the pool will open for a final, rainy day. But stay tuned to the Belmontonian for updates.
Photo: Yard sales in Belmont.
Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:
Permitted yard sales by the Belmont Town Clerk are in bold:
• 315 Belmont St., Saturday, Sept. 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 77 Davis Rd., Saturday, Sept. 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photo: Cookies from Plymouth Congregational Church.
After 13 years, you could be excused to think that Meet Belmont – the annual late summer community “meet and greet” held Tuesday, Aug. 31 – would become old hat.
Think again.
At 7 p.m., the Chenery Middle School cafeteria was packed with kids, parents, couples and residents learning about Belmont for the first and some, the 14th time.
Nearly 100 non-profit organizations and town government departments were on hand to greet the wandering mob, with the noise high enough that normal speaking levels required leaning onto each other to hear what was being said.
Mark Maida of Longmeadow Road came to Meet Belmont with his two children, Aubry, 5, and Wesley, 3.
“We wanted to learn about all the things that are going on in Belmont and how we can be a better part of the community. There are a lot of activities to do in town and lots of organizations that go great work,” he said, carrying a load of pamphlets and other stuff in his arms.
Grouped by related interest – government agencies and committees along the wall, religious organizations next to each other – volunteers gave out information, novelties (kudos to Belmont Light with its sunglasses) and candy and treats to anyone interested to hear what they had to say.
“It’s great,” said Ellen Gitelman, executive director of Belmont World Film, the town’s film screening group, of being an exhibitor at Meet Belmont.
“Year after year, we get at least 30 to 35 people sign up for our mailing list. We see them at our Family Film Festival, the young families moving to Belmont, and they say, ‘Hey, you look familiar’ and I realize how I met them,” said Gitelman, who also said two businesses are eager to sponsor the festival after meeting her at the get-together.
By the end of the night, participants learned about the Garden Club’s Winter House Tour on Dec. 3, enjoyed the uniqueness of the Morris Dancers, how to register their cat with the town (Town Clerk Ellen Cushman registered just about 20 new voters) and how to register for sports camps run by the Recreation Department.
For the new organizers of this year’s Meet Belmont – Allen Babroudi, Natalie Leino, Erin Lubien, and Carol Trager – the night could not have gone more swimmingly.
“All of us are very proud of what occurred tonight,” said Lubien, noting that the rise in parents and children at the event was due to a closer connection with the schools, principals and groups like the PTA/PTO.
“We have been working around the clock for the past month doing this, and it came together at the end,” said Lubien, praising the 25 residents and students who volunteered Tuesday.
And for next year? Lubien said the group is already thinking about that night.
Belmont Garden Club.
“I’m coming for your cat!”
Belmont Media Center.
Organizer Erin Lubien (right) with Anne Mahon.
The voice of Belmont, officer Daniel MacAuley with Lt. Kristin Daley manning the Police Department’s table.
Town Clerk Ellen Cushman (left) with Asst Town Clerk Meg Piccione answering one of many questions about being a town resident.
Belmont Dramatic Club, the second oldest community theater organization in the country.
He’ll be fine.
Photo: Avery Bradley of the Boston Celtics putting his autograph on the new driveway court on Agassiz Avenue.
It’s not every day that Avery Bradley, Boston Celtic’s veteran guard who scores 15 points a game against some of best defenses in the NBA, is going to lose a game of driveway hoops to some preteen kid from Belmont.
But that is exactly what occurred this morning, Monday, Aug. 29, on Agassiz Avenue. One and done for the six year Celtics starter as he got only one shot off before getting “knocked out.”
“Oh, no. Avery,” yelled a bewildered Cedric Maxwell, the Boston great from the 1980s and still a fan favorite.
It was some morning at the last house on the dead end street as Bradley and Maxwell came to help break in a brand driveway court just outside the front door of Laura VanderHart and Jarrod Goentzel’s house that borders the Beaver Brook Reservation.
“This is just so exciting,” said VanderHart who watched their sons, 12-year-old Ian and Sam, who turned 8 Monday, mixing it up with pros, past and present.
The celebration was the result of the couple being selected a winner in the Celtics “Home Court” program which offers contestants the chance to have their home driveways transformed into a Celtics-themed home court, complete with equipment and Celtics gear in addition to a Celtics-style room makeover.
“We always wanted a court because it is at the end of the street,” said VanderHart, but after six years since moving into the house, it was something that needed to wait.
One night while watching a Celtics broadcast, Goentzel noticed the contest sponsored by Arbella Insurance and the team consisting of an essay on why a court should be constructed in your driveway.
“We should enter,” Goentzel told VanderHart, who wrote an article about how wonderful it would be that the entire neighborhood could all share the court due to its location.
“I was completely surprised when the Celtics called back,” she said.
You know you have arrived at the court by the bright green paint scheme as well as the signatures of Bradley and Max on the shamrock logo.
The celebration was topped off by Sam hitting the first basket, without the help of either Maxwell or Bradley.
Additionally, the Celtics hosted a free basketball clinic at nearby Waverley Oaks where Bradley taught basketball skills and stressed the importance of leadership, sportsmanship and community involvement.
His Belmont visit was the third time Bradley has participated at a Home Court opening, calling it a “blessing” that an organization such as the Celtics wishes to give back to the community and provide a safe place to play basketball.
Photo: Yard sales around town.
Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:
Addresses in bold have a town permit.
• 44 Flett Rd., Saturday, Aug. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. (“This is not just a sale, it is an event!”)
• 257 Beech St., Saturday, Aug. 27, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photo: Kimball Fruit Farm’s owner Carl Hills with the hardware.
Champion tomatoes and a successful composting company with a fanatical following in its hometown of Portland, Maine highlight this week’s Belmont Farmers Market that takes place today, Thursday, Aug. 25 at the Belmont Center municipal parking lot at the corner of Cross Street and Channing Road.
The market’s hours are 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Long-time Belmont market day vendor Kimball Fruit Farm won multiple top five prizes at the 31st annual state Tomato Contest held this week at the Boston Public Market. A total of 92 entries from 28 different farms competed in four categories: cherry tomato, heirloom tomato, field and slicing tomato, and heaviest tomato.
The Pepperall-farm won first place in heaviest with a weight of 2.68 pounds, second and fifth in the heirloom category with the Mortgage Lifter and the Cherokee Purple.
Kimball Fruit Farm is a third generation family run farm owned and operated by Carl and Marie Hills.
A new company will be introducing their unique composting service to Belmont residents.
Garbage to Garden will swap your bucket of food waste from the curb weekly for a fresh, clean bucket and, if requested, a bag of compost. This is a new service to Massachusetts with Belmont and Arlington being the first communities to be served by the Portland, Maine firm, which in its hometown has one-in-seven households participating in the service.
At the market today: tomatoes and corn, basil, the last of the blueberries and the first of grapes, great produce, wine and sundries.
Schedule of Events
Photo: A still from a video of the night paving in Belmont Center.
To see up close the paving of Leonard Street and its connecting roads over the past few nights has been to experience the cacophony and heat produced by massive machines as they grind and lay out a new top coat surface for Belmont Center.
But viewed from the air, the same action has an expansive grace, as the equipment appear more accessible and the entire operation has an elegance not before seen.
The video is by Belmont resident Lucas Tragos who last weekend received a national video award for a 22-minute sports documentary on the 2015 Belmont High School football team. His recent aerial video of Boston and Cambridge has been receiving great reviews.
Photo: Yard sales around town.
Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:
Addresses in bold have town permit
• 212 Trapelo Rd., Saturday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.