Photo: Yard sale in Belmont.
Yard sales in the “Town of Homes.”
• 29 Bay State Rd, Saturday, June 4, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• 19 Broad St., Saturday, June 4, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• 9 Little Pond Rd., Saturday, June 4, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 41 Marlboro St., Saturday, June 4, 9 a.m. to Noon.
• 159 Slade St., Saturday, June 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Photo: WWII Veteran Jim Boozier at Friday’s ceremony.
The students flanked the walkway at the entrance of Belmont High School where just a week previous several strode with their dates to the buses taking them to this year’s prom.
The young freshmen, sophomores, and juniors – the newly-liberated seniors were spending a day in community service – were in marked contrast to the aging men who now filed between them towards the white flagpost at the foot of Clay Pit Pond on the warm May morning.
As the school’s marching band played “Anchors Away,” the assembled students gave a steady applause to the men who marched before them, who once, just a few years older than the present students, put on their country’s uniform to defend the nation.
The yearly observance of Memorial Day at Belmont schools – at the High School and the Butler and Winn Brook this year – allows the generation that served and fought to be a testament to students of sacrifice for a greater good.
The dozen or so veterans – who served in all branches of the armed services from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan – stood under the flag pole as speeches were made and lessons taught.
“The bitter lesson of history is that freedom is never guaranteed,” said Belmont High Principal Dan Richards.
“It is only those great and noble men and women who have been our guaranteers of our freedoms who we have come here to honor and those who are not able to join us, we owe you more than any ceremony can recognize,” said Richards.
For the veterans, the day is special for the recognition of their service as well as the opportunity to be a living history lesson.
“Twice a year, the veterans who come to these programs, we feel like rock stars when we leave for the day,” said Roger “Kip” Gaudet, Jr., commander of the Waverley VFW Post 1272 on Trapelo Road.
While it is an emotional time for the honorees to participate in the annual observations, “but it means more to us to have you people come out and support what we’ve done in the past,” said Gaudet.
“We are the Old Guards of the freedoms that you have today. And you people standing out here, are the guards of our future freedoms,” he said.
“Freedom is not free. There is a price to be paid for it,” said Gaudet.
Photo: Last year’s parade.
Due to a forecast of a heavy morning and afternoon rainstorm on Monday, May 30, the Belmont Memorial Day Parade and the ceremony at Belmont Cemetery on Grove Street have been cancelled.
A reverse 911 call from the Belmont Police Department to town resident at 6:41 p.m. Sunday, May 31, made the announcement of the cancellation.
Photo: Last year’s winning band, Belmont’s own Free Shipping.
Belmont Savings Bank will be sponsoring the upcoming third annual Battle of the Bands on Wednesday June 22 at Payson Park. Middle school and high school bands from local communities are able to compete to be Battle of the Bands Champions.
The annual event opens the Payson Park Music Festival’s 2016 season.
Band interested in competing can contact Belmont Savings at marketing@belmontsavings.com. The concert begins at 6:45 p.m. Or if you would like to enter a band into the contest, contact marketing@belmontsavings.com.
All the participating bands will receive a $25 iTunes gift card. The winning band will get a $250 grand prize. The concert is proudly sponsored by Belmont Savings, which will be on-hand to add to the festivities by giving away a free Bose Soundlink.
The bank will also post a video of each band in advance of the concert on its Facebook page. which The band with the most votes (“Likes”) will receive a “Favorite on Facebook” award: a $50 AMEX gift card.
The bands so far are:
For more please visit: https://www.belmontsavings.com/community/battle-of-the-bands/
Photo: The cast photo of “The Sandlot.”
A fun family activity that happens across the US each summer is coming to Belmont next Friday as the Belmont High School Class of 2019 presents “Movie Night Under the Stars” featuring “The Sandlot” on June 3, at 8 p.m. on the Brendan Grant Field. next to Belmont High School.
Tickets are $5 per person with a $25 family cap. Bring your own blankets and pillows. Popcorn and beverages will be available for sale.
Photo: The poster for the 2016 One-Act Plays.
A man falling from a plane who spends his final moments on a business call, a bedtime story that goes terribly awry and the tale of a boy becoming a man with a topsy-turvy ending you’ll see coming from miles away.
These are just a few of the stories being presented by the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company at its annual One-Act Plays. In performance Friday and Saturday in the Little Theater at Belmont High School, the eight plays – a combination of comedy, drama, satire and romance – are directed by 11th and 12th-grade students and acted by their classmates. And each just about 10 minutes long.
Here is a clip of “Sure Thing,” a favorite one-act play.
Performance Information:
Tickets: Adults: $12, Students: $5, FREE for BHS staff.
Tickets are on sale online and at Champions in Belmont Center.
Always popular, One Act Performances may sell out so buy tickets in advance. A very limited number of tickets or wait list seating will be available at the theater.
Directed by Sophia Lubarr & Tenny Gregorian
BALTHAZAR: Oliver Leeb
Directed by Emma Giallongo & Katie MacAuley
SAMUEL: Raffi Manjikian
STACIE: Josie Cooper
DJ: Jack Merullo
Directed by Daphne Kaxiras & Katie Mabbott
SON: Sri Kaushik
DAD: Nic Neves
MRS MALBY: Miriam Cubstead
DAN TOLLISON: Patrick Bean
JENN GROUT: Maerose Pepe
MRS. TELLER: Julia Cunningham
AMBER CARLSON: Clara Miller
ALIENS: Naria Sealy, Melanie Aftandilian, Kirsten Poulos
Directed by Andre Ramos & Jasper Wolf
NANCY: Molly Thomas
ANTHONY: Alex Aleksandrov
LIBBY: Lilikoi Bronson
DR. BLEDSOE: Al Hughes
AUDIENCE: Conor Bean, Giulianna Ruiz-Shah
Directed by Helena Kim & Rafi Wagner
BILL: Nick Borelli
BETTY: Nicole Thoma
BELL RINGERS: Alyssa Bodmer, Megan Bodmer
Directed by Hannah Messenger & Kyra Armstrong
PRODUCER: Tess Hayner
MAN: Danny Holt
DIRECTOR: Grace Christensen
ARTHUR: Ben Crocker
EMILY: Natalie MacKinnon-Booth
COSTUMER: Zoe Armstrong
STAGE MANAGER: Zoe Chase
Directed by Benjy Cunningham
LADY MAGNESIA: Olivia Pierce
GEORGE FITZTOLLEMACHE: Lennart Nielsen
ADOLPHUS BASTABLE: Victor Dankens
PHYLLIS: Abigail D’Angelo
LANDLORD: Sam Sorensen
POLICE CONSTABLE: Edward Stafford
DOCTOR: Evan Wagner
Directed by Aaron Fairbanks & Cameron Fetter
FATHER: Clark Addis
CHILD: Sammy Haines
MOMOMO: Jocelyn Cubstead
GLABBO: Wonyoung Jang
CLOWN: Becca Schwartz
SPAMEISTER: Callie Reagan
SPAWORKER 1: Nathan Miller
SPAWORKER 2/MELINDA: Sarah Jane Henman
SPAWORKER 3/MOM: Isabella Jaen-Maisonet
TREE: Haley Brown
Photo: At Belmont Cemetary
Parades and remembrances mark Memorial Day in Belmont.
Belmont Public Schools will observe the holiday Friday, May 27 with a morning of exercises at three schools.
On Monday, May 30, the town honors the holiday with its annual parade from Cushing Square to Belmont Cemetary on Grove Street. The parade steps off at 11 a.m.
Marching bands from Belmont High and Chenery Middle school, color guards and members from the Belmont Police and Fire departments, veteran motorcyclist, marchers from local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops and veterans will all take part
All veterans and current military personnel are invited and welcome to join the other vets at the head of the parade.
Lining the route – up Trapelo Road before making a left at Grove Street and continuing to the Belmont Cemetery – will be families and residents cheering the marchers.
At the cemetery, a wreath laying ceremony will take place, speeches will be read, flowers laid at the graves of veterans, the names of Belmont citizens who died for this country will be honored, “Taps” played and a final salute will be given.
Photo: A gun buy back in Florida.
There is a perception that gun buyback programs should be concentrated in high crime areas, Belmont Assistant Police Chief James MacIsaac told the Belmont Board of Selectmen at its meeting Monday, May 23.
“So it was bit surprising two years ago that we discovered there was a real need for this event in Belmont,” MacIsaac told the Belmontonian after the meeting.
After a total of 62 guns were brought in 2014, Belmont Police Department and private religious groups have once again joined together to hold a second gun buyback event, this time in coordination with neighboring police departments.
The regional event will occur on Saturday, June 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Belmont DPW Yard, 37 C Street.
Belmont Police is partnering with their colleagues in Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville, Watertown, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office, the Belmont Religious Council and individual houses of worship including co-sponsors:
The buy back allows residents a safe way to dispose of unwanted firearms and ammunition, no questions asked. All firearms turned in at the gun buyback were turned over to the Massachusetts State Police to be destroyed.
During the inaugural purchase in 2014, a variety of firearms were accepted including, rifles, shotguns, pistols and a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun.
MacIsaac said in addition to peace of mind, safer house and community, participants will receive gift cards to local grocery stores – purchased by the religious organizations – when they drop off their unwanted firearms. The Belmont Police ask that firearms be transported inside vehicle trunks unloaded, safety engaged, inside a box, bag or case. There is no limit to the number of firearms that can be turned in.
Belmont Police is asking that firearms be transported inside vehicle trunks unloaded, safety engaged, inside a box, bag or case. There is no limit to the number of firearms that can be turned in. Belmont police has set up the following special phone line to receive questions and/or requests for assistance in safely transporting firearms: 617-993-2529
The Belmont Police Department and Middlesex Sherriff’s Office will provide on-duty officers at the event to receive weapons for the safe storage, followed by destruction in accordance with state law.
For more information go to www.belmontgunbuyback.org
To make a tax-deductible donation, please make the check payable to: Belmont Religious Council (Belmont Gun Buy Back in the Memo line) and mail to
BRC c/o David Alper
One Oak Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Photo: A moment from the Belmont High School Pre-Prom Promenade.
Here is a few of the looks from Friday’s Belmont High School Pre-Prom Promenade. Photos by Lisa Gibalerio.
Photo: Belmont Town Day on Saturday.
Food, animals, kiddy carnival rides, a dog show, classic cars, live music, a dunk tank and thousands of residents on Leonard Street can only mean one thing: the 26th annual Belmont Town Day is Saturday, May 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Proudly sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank and run by the Belmont Center Business Association, the yearly event closes down Belmont’s largest business hub so families, friends and gaggles of kids (and especially teens) can wander up and down the High Street to eat samples from the Center’s eateries, listen – and dance – to a live rock band, view classic cars at Belmont Savings (and vote on your favorite) and visit approximately 60 tables set up by businesses, schools and local groups and organizations, several with interesting raffles items.
This year, there will be a photo booth for families with World Marathon Challenge finisher Becca Pizzi.
And there will be a dunk tank near il Casale. Three chances to throw a strike and knock a kid into freezing water.
“Belmont Savings once again looks forward to welcoming everyone at this year’s Town Day on May 21, which promises to offer the most fun-filled tribute to the Town of Belmont yet,” said Bob Mahoney, President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank.
“This year, the bank encourages Belmont families and Town Day attendees to stop by our sixth annual car show, our third annual dog show and – for the first time – a photo booth with World Marathon Challenger, and local resident, Becca Pizzi.”
Belmont Savings’ third annual dog show will begin at noon on the main stage. Prizes will be awarded for categories such as Best Trick and Cutest Puppy. Town Day attendees will select the “best-in-show” by the loudest applause. “Best-in-show” will receive a $100 Belmont Pet Supply gift card while each entrant will receive a gift bag.
The Town Day schedule includes face painting in front of the Belmont Savings main branch located at 2 Leonard Street and pony rides from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. under the Leonard Street Bridge, also sponsored by Belmont Savings.
This year a photo booth for families with Becca Pizzi will be open from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Pizzi completed the 2016 World Marathon Challenge, participating in seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. The 35-year-old business owner, manager, and mother held the fastest time in the women’s category and placed third overall. Last April, Belmont Savings sponsored the first-ever Becca Pizzi Family Fun Run 5k and 1-mile kids run.
Belmont Savings introduced the car exhibit in 2011, giving proud area collectors an opportunity to show off their pristine cars. Originally showcasing 12 cars, the show has grown to more than 40 cars. The cars will be at 2 Leonard Street and along Moore Street in Belmont Center.
Attendees will also have a chance to enter the cash cube adjacent to the Belmont Savings booth, where they can try their luck at catching flying dollar bills. Running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., participants may enter the cash cube, with half the collected dollars being donated to the Foundation for Belmont Education.