Discover Belmont In A Week: Belmont “Staycation” 2016 is Here

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Photo: Beaver Brook Reservation’s spray pool.

By Shodai Inose, Belmont Citizens Forum

Vacations are fun and relaxing, but can also be harsh on your wallet and the environment. A perfect way to stay environment- and budget- friendly is by having a Staycation! 

A Staycation is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a vacation in your hometown. Come with us to explore what Belmont has to offer for fun. We at the Belmont Citizens Forum have created a Staycation Passport with categories to check off, as well as a suggested schedule to follow. Try to discover as many new activities as possible, mixing and matching to accommodate your interests and your schedule. 

These are only suggestions: feel free to enjoy and suggest other activities Belmont has to offer! Thank you to those who already suggested ideas; we tried our best to incorporate as many as we could. 

Please also join us on Aug. 13 from noon-3 p.m. for the Belmont Staycation Picnic at the Wellington Station. You bring your blankets and picnic baskets and we’ll bring the popsicles in a historic Underwood family ice chest! We’ll also bring frisbees, a croquet set from the Belmont Woman’s Club, and other games and activities. Groundwork Yoga+Wellness will also be there to teach a free yoga lesson for kids at 1:00. Be sure to stop by!

The Staycation Challenges: 

We will have several August challenges with prizes, so you will definitely want to participate:

  • Our first challenge will be the Belmont Staycation Selfie challenge. Take a selfie at any of the locations we have listed on this article and post it on the Belmont Citizens Forum facebook page to get entered into our raffle!
  • Our second challenge will be the Belmont Staycation Passport challenge. Pick up your physical passport at the Belmont Public Library and other locations around town, email us at belmontstaycation@gmail.com to request one, or check our website for an online version. To get entered into our second raffle, fill out what you do in each category and send it to:

Belmont Citizens Forum

P.O. Box 609

Belmont, MA 02478

Want an extra entry into our raffle? Take the Belmont Staycation survey by Sunday, Aug. 7 to help us understand more about how residents plan their vacations — we’re hoping to do this again based on what we learn in 2016!  

Finally, go ahead and Like the Staycation on the Belmont Citizens Forum Facebook page!

A Suggested 7-day Staycation in Belmont: 

Notes: See bottom of the article for a calendar view; a tree symbol (?) denotes an environmentally friendly activity. 

Monday:

Groundwork Yoga + Wellness: If you have been stressed during the summer, this may be the place for you! Groundwork Yoga offers yoga classes for people of all ages, so you can go alone or bring your family. As quoted directly from their website, “[o]ur studio is warm, not hot.  Classes are heated to 70-75 degrees.” This studio is perfect for anyone who wants to be environmentally-conscious while working out in the neighborhood. 

  • Location: 402 Trapelo Road Belmont, MA 02478  
  • Prices (more options available):
    • Adult Drop-In: $17
    • Child Drop-In: $12
  • Types of Classes:
    • Standard Yoga
    • Family Class (2 kids free per adult) 
  • Phone Number: 617-866-9332
  • Website: http://www.groundworkwellness.com/ 

?Beaver Brook Reservation:  It’s a state park with a bike path, fishing opportunities, sprinklers, fields, and woodlands. Did you know that Beaver Brook is also home to a waterfall? This will be a great place to take your family. There is also a sprinkler park if your kids need to cool down after a hot summer day.

  • Location: Mill St, Belmont, MA 02478

Studio Cinema: Want a relaxing day? The Studio Cinema may be perfect for you to lie back and enjoy some time in a cool theater. The theater will be showing Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets this summer, so make sure to take your kids to these family-friendly films! From August 1-11, the cinema will be showing Jason Bourne with Matt Damon. They will also be showing Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant later in August. One Belmont resident explained it as having “air conditioning, movies, REAL butter on popcorn… pretty perfect on a hot night.”

  • Location: 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA 02478
  • Ticket Prices:
    • Adult: $11.00
    • Child: $9.50
    • Senior: $9.50 
  • Times: 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30
  • Phone Number: 617-484-1706
  • Buy tickets here.

Il Casale (Italian Cuisine): Don’t want to clean the dishes? Try some Italian food at Il Casale on your Staycation to get a taste of Europe! 

  • Location: 50 Leonard Street, Belmont, MA 02478

Come back to this site for the rest of the week for more Staycation events. 

Belmont Yard Sales: July 30–31

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Photo: Yard sales around town.

Here are this weekend’s yard/moving/garage sales happening in the 02478 zip code:

• 76 Albert Ave., Saturday, July 30 and July 31, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• 4 Broad St., Saturday, July 30. 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• 80 Davis Rd., Sunday, July 31, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 22 Park Rd., Saturday, July 30, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 10-12 Woodland St., Saturday, July 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Musical Market Day With Passports for Kids At Belmont Farmers Market

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Photo: 
 
Market Day in Belmont will be filled with music as three acts will perform at the Belmont Farmers Market today, Thursday, July 28.
The market is located behind Belmont Center in the Municipal Parking Lot adjacent Cross and Channing. The market is open from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
 
Also, vendors and market staff will be handing out “Passports for Produce,” a month-long activity for kids of all ages, to encourage trying new foods. The program will conclude on Aug. 25, with a day filled with kids activities including a scavenger hunt, cooking contest, prizes for completing the passport and more.
This week, sweet corn and fresh greens are in season as are peaches with tomatoes rounding out the produce harvest. 
 
Come check out our new fish vendor: Red’s Best Seafood!

Weekly Vendors
Red’s Best Seafood, Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery, Dick’s Market Garden, Stillman Quality Meats, Boston Smoked Fish Co., Goodies Homemade, Sfolia Baking Company, Hutchins Farm, Kimball Fruit Farm, Foxboro Cheese Co., Flats Mentor Farm, Nicewicz Family Farm, Couët Farm and Fromagerie
Monthly and Occasional Vendors
Turtle Creek Winery, Warren Farm & Sugarhouse, Belmont Acres Farm, True Grounds Coffee House.
Community Table
4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: State Senator Will Brownsberger
 
Schedule of Events
2 p.m.: Solomon Murungu – Belmont’s own Murungu will share the history of the mbira from his native Zimbabwe and demonstrate how to play this unique instrument made of wood with staggered metal keys.
4 p.m.: Story Time – Enjoy stories and songs about food and farms, an event for “children of all ages” sponsored by the Belmont Public Library.
4:30 p.m.: Liberty Bones – A nonet brass ensemble composed of semi-amateur trombonists from Belmont and other nearby towns.  
5:30 p.m.: Mystic String Quartet – Made up of members of the Arlington Philharmonic, the quartet is composed of Marianne Brown and Chandreyee Das on violin, Benjamin Miller on viola, and Peg McGirr on cello. 

The Running For The Dogs: Create Escape Seeks OK for 5K Road Race

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Photo: Racing with dogs.

Soon it will be the humans doing the chasing.

The general manager of Crate Escape came before the Belmont Board of Selectmen Monday, July 25, to seek a tentative OK for a proposed 5K road race in October that will be for the dogs.

General Manager Nikki Condon said the idea of the doggie daycare business at 30 Brighton St. sponsoring a fundraiser to assist in financing cures for canine cancers came to the facility’s owner, Bradley Hastings after he lost his dog to the disease two years ago. 

Working with RaceWire, a Braintree-based consulting firm, the business is looking at the weekend of Oct. 22 with a hope of having 250 people and for many, their dogs, attend and donate. Condon said Belmont Police had given a tentative OK so she could show her plans to the Selectmen. 

While the board was favorable deposed to the race, the members were concerned the proposed route layout – which would start at the facility and travel north of the commuter rail tracks – included some heavy residential streets such as Broad and Chilton streets in Precinct 8.

“These are busy, populous roads” that would be impacted on a Sunday run, noted Mark Paolillo, the board’s chair.

Condon, who has been the manager for eight years, said she would return to the police for further consultation and work with Town Hall to develop a 3.1-mile course that would not severely impact the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Established in 2004, Crate Escape provides daycare, overnight boarding, van service, grooming, and training in Belmont as well as Cambridge and Charlestown.

Car Wash Comes Through As Food Pantry’s Temporary Home

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Photo: The new, temporary location on Pleasant Street.

On Monday, July 25, just days before being forced to move the Belmont Food Pantry from its current site at Belmont High School, Patricia Mihelich was still pondering where she would relocate two rooms full of canned and dry food.

“On Saturday [July 30], we don’t know where the food will be,” said Mihelich, the founder and manager of the pantry that helps more than 200 individuals and families supplement their food supply.

She was still seeking a location for temporary use to store and distribute donated food while a new space at Mount Hope Church was prepped to become its new home.

“I’m still looking,” said Mihelich.

On Tuesday, Mihelich wish came through provided by the good people at Belmont Car Wash on Trapelo Road in the heart of Waverley Square.

“Paul Tocci, from the Belmont Car Wash, has generously offered a very large garage space with a bathroom that we can use,” wrote Mihelich. “There is a parking lot but it is also right next to the Star Market parking lot where volunteers can park.”

Now on Saturday, July 30, Mihelich will not be property watching but leading the pantry’s trip to its home away from home.

“See everyone, who can come, bright and early at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. Remember to bring gloves, water and wear light clothes. If all goes well we will be done with the move and set up by noon time,” she said.

The car wash site will now be where those in need will come until around Halloween in late October. 

“We will be able to open for business on the first and third Saturdays and the fourth Sunday. I am still working out something with him regarding the Tuesdays,” she said.

Last week, Mihelich said the church at 51 Lexington St. had offered her approximately 1,600 sq.-ft. in its basement for the food pantry’s permanent new home. She will have visited the location with a contractor who will require about six weeks to “touch up” the location. 

“We had an anxious few months, but we all support you in what you’re doing,” said Mark Paolillo, Selectmen chair. 

Belmont Light Asks Residents/Consumers To Limit Power Usage Thru Tuesday

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Photo: Sunny hot days ahead.

Belmont Light and its partner, Woburn-based energy efficiency firm Sagewell, are informing customers that Monday, July 25 and Tuesday, July 26, are expected to be high electricity use days due to continued high temperatures across New England. 

And the town’s electrical utility is asking residents and customers to help it save energy and money by reducing electricity consumption on Monday and Tuesday between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Because Belmont Light is municipally-owned, all savings are passed onto ratepayers. 

Belmont Light is asking consumers to employ at least two actions to reduce the town’s peak electricity consumption including:

  • Adjust the air conditioner a few degrees warmer and turn off the AC in rooms that are not in use. Adjusting the thermostat by two or three degrees makes a big difference.
  • Don’t cook with an electric stove or oven.
  • Shift laundry and dishwasher use until after 6 p.m.
  • If you have an electric hot water heater, wait to bathe or use hot water until after 6 p.m.
  • Run pool pumps or use hot tubs before 2 p.m. or after 6 p.m.
  • Shift other electricity use to before 2 p.m. or after 6 p.m.

Every bit of electricity reduced during peak times will help Belmont mitigate rising electricity costs. If you have any questions or would like advice on how to decrease peak energy consumption, contact Sagewell’s Belmont Light Peak Reduction Program at:
support@sagewell.com or
617-963-8141.

Belmont’s Food Pantry On The Move; And It Needs Your Help July 30

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Photo: The new logo.

Like a friend who calls in July and August, the Belmont Food Pantry wants to know:

“Can you help them move to their new home?”

The Belmont Food Pantry is on the move, and by the end of next week – if all goes to plan – the site which serves nearly 200 residents will be up and running at its new location near Waverley Square. 

After being forced to find a new place after the Belmont School Department was forced by skyrocketing enrollment to take back the two modular rooms behind Belmont High School, Mount Hope Church at 51 Lexington St. offered approximately 1,600 sq.-ft. in its basement for the food pantry’s relocation, said long-time manager Patricia Mihelich. 
The pantry’s new home has a ramp into the building, a new lift to the basement where the bathrooms are located.
But like any new home, you have to find a way to move the contents to the new place. According to Mihelich, moving day is Saturday, July 30th starting at 8 a.m. 
“As the saying goes ‘All Hands on Deck’ is needed for this day,” she said in an email to supporters.
In addition to residents with strong backs, Mihelich will need some handy persons with experience in construction.
“The preparation of the space will take some time, so we are also working on a temporary space to go to during that time.  I am working on the solution regarding this, and everything should be finalized by Monday,” she said.

Minuteman Relents on Election; Belmont To Use Usual Polling Precincts

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Photo: Voting will take place in the customary locations.

In a decision affecting an all-important vote in two months time, the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District will allow Belmont to use its customary polling locations for the Sept. 20 election rather than a single, centralized site to determine whether the district can go ahead with the financing of a new $145 million vocational high school. 

Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman told the Belmontonian that she received word of the reversal from Minuteman Regional School District Superintendent Edward Bouquillon on Friday night, July 15.

“Belmont requested that for the district-wide Minuteman election that voters were able to vote at our usual seven locations, eight precincts … and they were kind enough to allow that to occur,” said Cushman to a question on whether Minuteman had responded to her request and a letter in support from the Belmont Board of Selectmen. 

Belmont’s Selectmen were highly critical of the earlier single location decision, saying it was a deliberate attempt by Minuteman – which under state law is allowed to call for a district-wide vote if it could not convince the 16 communities Town Meetings to move forward on the $100 million bonding plan – to stifle the vote in Belmont, the only of the district municipalities whose Town Meeting members voted down the financing plan at a Special Town Meeting earlier this year. 

If the district vote passes the bonding issue, Belmont ratepayers could find themselves paying an additional maximum of $500,000 annually in capital costs in addition to the tuition to allow the roughly 30 Belmont students to attend the school in Lexington. 

The selectmen joined Cushman in hailing the change. 

“I’m thrilled to hear that [Minuteman] has allowed at least Belmont to vote in our regular precincts,” said Mark Paolillo, the board’s chair. 

“I think they heard the concerns of the Town Clerk and [the board’s] letter … because we do expect a relatively high voter turnout,” said Sami Baghdady, vice chair of the board. 

“There is nothing more discouraging to the democratic process than heavy traffic, waiting in lines and with only one polling station, it would have a big dampening effect,” he said.

While many town officials believe voter turnout of registered voters in the other 15 district communities will be in the low teens and even single digits, Cushman expects upwards of 30 percent coming out to vote. 

“The way I looked at it, it wasn’t because I supported a point of view, I just want broad representation to vote either way on this,” said Paolillo.

Earlier this month, Minuteman’s recommendation was to use only one location for a vote, which Cushman said would place a hardship on Belmont voters by causing confusion on where to place their ballot not only on Sept. 20 but in state and national elections before and after the financing polling. 

Cushman said the only location in Belmont that could accommodate up to 6,000 voters would be the Wenner Field House on the Belmont High School campus off Concord Avenue. 

With the need for added transportation, police coverage and mailings to voters, Cushman noted the total cost to the town to use one location would eventually cost Minuteman – which is paying for the election – about the same amount, about $16,000, as using the seven sites. 

With the reversal on Minuteman’s part, Belmont voters will head to their familiar polling locations on Tuesday, Sept. 20, but with one distinct difference. 

“Polls will be open from noon until 8 p.m.; we will not open at our usual 7 a.m. start,” said Cushman.