Joyeux Le Quatorze Juillet, Belmont

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Photo: The painting is “Bastille Day, Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris” by the Bostonian Childe Hassam.

For all Belmontians who call France their (ancestral) home: Joyeux Le Quatorze Juillet! Today, Tuesday, July 14, is Bastille Day, the national holiday of France. But the French themselves don’t call today “la fête Bastille.”

Today is simply known as “la fête du 14-juillet” – the July 14th holiday – or more officially, “la fête nationale” – the National Holiday. In 1880, the French decided to celebrate a national holiday; July 14th eventually won out because it was the day of la Fête de la Fédération, a joyous celebration in 1790 that honored the new French Republic and commemorated the one year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.

So the day is a holiday mostly concerning national pride and the values “liberté, fraternité, and égalité,” with a extravagant military parade in Paris, picnics, parties and fireworks. As for Belmont – yes, the town’s name is Old French for “beautiful mountain” – you can find some decent macaroons at LA Burdick Chocolate in Harvard Square and you can obtain big, fluffy croissants at Quebrada Baking Company in Belmont Center. 

This Week: A Trip to Iran, Airplane NOISE! and ‘Le quatorze juillet’

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Photo: Barry Pell’s photograph of Iran.

On the government side of the week: 

  • The Zoning Board of Appeals is meeting in the Belmont Gallery of Art, third floor of the Homer Building in the Town Hall complex, on Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m. 
  • The long-delayed Cushing Village project will come for a review and approval of decorum standards at the Planning Board which meets on Monday, July 13, at 7 p.m.  
  • The Net Metering Working Group will continue its accelerated meeting agenda gathering on Monday, July 13, and Wednesday, July 15, both at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.
  • The Belmont Historic District Commission meets on Tuesday, July 14, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to evaluate the Stephen Frost House (1763), 467 Pleasant St., which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States. Frost was on his way to the battle of Concord on April 19, 1775 when he came across a group of Arlington minutemen who needed a leader. He took command and later in the day capture a supply train. 

• Tuesday, July 14 is “Le quatorze juillet” Bastille Day! 

• Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, July 14. 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.

• Noon movies for children on Tuesday, July 14, noon to 1 p.m., in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• Barry Pell will give a talk on Iran-Persian Glory and Islamic Revolution at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., on Tuesday, July 14, at 1:15 p.m. Pell traveled 4,000 miles through the country’s magnificent landscape, visiting historic cities and monuments and meeting with Iranian people who openly shared opinions about their lives and relations with America. This program will be accompanied by Pell’s spectacular photography.

• Faculty from Powers Music School’s Music on the Hill (MOTH) summer program will perform a selection of music for students, friends, and family to enjoy on Tuesday, July 14, 6:30 p.m, at Powers Music School, 404 Concord Ave. Students will perform on Wednesday and Thursday, July 15 and 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the school. 

• The Belmont Public Library is hosting a great kids program, Ed’s Magic Show, on Tuesday, July 14 at  6:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room.

• Stories with a Police Officer for kindergarteners and slightly older kids on Wednesday, July 15, at 2 p.m. in the Assembly Room. 

• The Belmont Book Discussion Group will discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, on Wednesday, July 15, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the 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.

• Explore different cultures and read great books in our international fiction book club!  This month the The Belmont International Fiction Book Club will discuss The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, on Wednesday, July 15 from 7 p.m. to  8:30 p.m. in the Flett Room. Explore different cultures and read great books in our international fiction book club on the third Wednesday of the month. Everybody is welcome. If you have questions, or need help finding a copy of the book, contact Kylie at ksparks@minlib.net.
 
• Hugh Hanley has been singing with young children for over thirty-five years in his work as an early childhood educator, music specialist and entertainer. He’ll be at the Belmont Public Library on Thursday, July 16, at 10:30 a.m. in the Assembly Room, for a program for pre-K children. 
 
• Boston West Fair Skies Coalition will hold its July meeting on Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room.
 
• State Sen. Will Brownsberger will hold office hours at the Beech Street Center, on Friday, July 17, at 10 a.m. 

Belmont Yard Sales, July 11 – 12

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Photo: Yard sales in Belmont.

Yard sales in the “Town of Homes.” 

• 40 Hamilton Rd., Saturday, July 11, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 41 Pequossette Rd., Saturday, July 11, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• 29 Wilson Ave., Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 109 Winter St., Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

Pair of Belmont Farm Stands Open Weekends This Season

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Photo: Farmer Tim’s Vegetables. 

A pair of farm stands – one well established and another starting this year – will be providing Belmont residents with fresh produce for the coming growing season.

Belmont Acres Farm – previously Sergi’s Farm from 1947 to 2011 – is open on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The stand is at 34 Glenn Rd. off Blanchard Road; enter through the main gate on Glenn Road and exit via Taylor Road. Shoppers are asked to leave pets at home as a family dog attacked the farm animals last year. The stand is also open on Tuesdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

Farmer Tim’s Vegetables is a new farm stand this growing season, open on Sundays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Boston Musicians’ Association’s parking lot at 130 Concord Ave., across from the entry to Belmont High School. Tim Carroll, a long-time Belmont resident who purchased a farm in Dudley, will sell fresh farm vegetables in his hometown from the stand. 

Early Summer Harvest at Belmont Farmers Market

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Photo: Early in the season. 

The Belmont Farmers Market is open Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The market is located in the Belmont Center Municipal Parking Lot at the intersection of Cross Street and Channing Road

At the market today, Thursday, July 9:

Weekly vendors: C & C Lobster & Fish, Gaouette Farm, Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery, Dick’s Market Garden, Fior d’Italia, 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, Westport Rivers Winery

Guest vendors: Carr’s Ciderhouse, Seta’s Mediterranean Food, Spindler Confections, Soluna Garden Farm.

Food Truck: 
Jamaica Mi Hungry.

Performances in the Events Tent
• 4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Storytime, sponsored by the library
• 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.: Sara Fard, music educator and local performer
• 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Arlington Philharmonic Chamber Players

Tastings in the Events Tent:  Savinos Grill, in Cushing Square, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Belmont Food Pantry:
 The Farmers Market collects non-perishables to help those who use the Belmont Food Pantry. Please bring something to the manager’s tent.

Traffic: Belmont Center construction will affect traffic, but the Market is open.

Belmont Dramatic Holding Auditions for Fall Production

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Photo:

Actors all! Your stage is ready, so come play the part!

The Belmont Dramatic Club – second oldest continuously operating and performing community theatre group in the United States – is holding auditions for its fall 2015 production of Tom Stoppard’s “Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoots Macbeth” (includes the “15-minute Hamlet” plus two-minute encore) on Monday and Tuesday, July 27 and 28, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., in the Belmont Town Hall auditorium, 455 Concord Ave. please enter through door that opens onto parking lot).

  • Auditions will consist of readings from the script so please be familiar with it. Perusal copies are available at the refinance desk of the Belmont Public Library and at the Arlington Public Library.
  • Please be prepared to stay for the evening.
  • Bring a resume and, if you have one, a headshot.
  • Please bring to the audition a complete schedule of conflicts.
  • Enter through door that opens onto parking lot).

Callbacks if necessary will be on Thursday, July 30, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Belmont Town Hall.

Rehearsals will be Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., beginning in early September.

Performance dates are:

  • Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m.
  • Sunday Nov. 15, at 3 p.m.

Go to the BDC website: http://www.belmontdramaticclub.org for character descriptions and other play information. For questions, email the club at cheannwelch@gmail.com

This Week: Net Metering Group Starts, Magic with Mike Bent, Cheryl Arena at Payson Park

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On the government side of “This Week”: 

  • The inaugural meeting of the Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group takes place on Monday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall in which it will discuss its goals and criteria for the creation of a solar tariff. 
  • The Belmont School Committee is holding a rare summer session on Tuesday, July 7, at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School. There will be a few minor issues that will be bookend by executive sessions. 
  • The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee is holding an early morning meeting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, July 8, at Town Hall where it will continue to identify the challenges it faces.
  • The Community Preservation Committee is holding its monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 8, at 5 p.m. at Town Hall in which it will go over the progress of outstanding projects going back to 2014.  
  • The Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group holds its second meeting on Wednesday, July 8, at 7:45 p.m. at Town Hall where it will get into the data heavy concerns of tariffs; the current Belmont Light subsidies, tariffs at other municipal utilities and “spot prices.”

• Pre-School Summer Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, July 7. 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. 

• State Rep. Dave Rogers will be holding office hours at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., on Tuesday, July 7, at 9:30 a.m.

• The Belmont Public Library is screening Movies for Children on Tuesday, July 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the library’s Assembly Room. 

• A wonderful summer event as The Magic Show with Mike Bent – who has entertained at the White House’s Easter Egg Roll – arrives on Wednesday, July 8, at 2 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. The show by the Belmont resident is for kindergarteners and older kids.

• Belmont native Cheryl Arena, the winner of the 2013 Blues Audience Newsletter Reader’s Poll for “Most Outstanding Harmonica Player,” will join “The Love Dogs” as this week’s featured artists at the Payson Park Music beginning at 6:45 p.m., Wednesday, July 8, at Payson Park Playground at Payson Road and Elm Street.

• Sustainable Belmont holds its monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 8, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Flett Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• It will be Superhero Storytime for pre-Kindergarteners at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, July 9, in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. 

• Belmont Farmers Market takes place in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot on Thursday, July 9, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.  

• The Senior Book Discussion Group will meet on Friday, July 10 at 11 a.m. at the Beech Street Center where it will two short stories: “Indian Camp” and “Big Two-Hearted River (Part 1 and Part 2)” from In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway.

Raising the Flag for the Fourth on Homer Road

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Photo: Gregory Arabian raising the flag in front of his house on Homer Road. 

If you have never heard of Israel Bissell, then you should come by and ask Gregory Arabian.

The Homer Road resident held a July 4th flag raising on Friday, July 3 at this house with a contingency of Belmont Fire – including Chief David Frizzell who came with Engine 1 – and Belmont Police present to honor a great, but now relatively unknown American Patriot.

Bissell, it turns out, was a 23-year-old post rider ordered by John Hancock in April 1775 to spread the word of the Battle of Lexington and Concord down the east coast from Watertown to Harford, New York and Philadelphia.

“That act help unite the United States of America,” said the attorney whose practice is located in Watertown.

The retired US Air Force officer and Commander of the Belmont AMVETS Post 2008 said that “many things are forgotten. July 4th is forgotten. July 4th is remembered only for barbecues, days off.”

“But the reason why July 4th is so important is that we are independent and free and we should enjoy this nation,” he said.

And to the sounds of the “National Anthem,” Arabian raised the flag – which flew over the Capitol Building in Washington DC – to honor those freedoms.

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This Weekend: Nearby 4th Fireworks, Power’s ‘3 Piggie Opera’, Benton Story Time Friday

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Photo: The view of Boston’s fireworks from Robbins Farm in Arlington. (arlingtonpictures.com)

• Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, on Friday, July 3 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 Powers Music School is bringing little pigs to Belmont with a performance of “Three Piggie Opera” at noon, Friday, July 3, at the school located at 404 Concord Ave. The performers are Powers’ Pow-Wow Prep students, ages five to nine, who attended a two week total immersion in a musical environment. 

Alas, Belmont does not hold a 4th of July celebration, but nearly every other neighboring town and city does. Here are just a few events and fireworks in adjacent communities and in Boston. 

Friday, July 3

• Boston/Fenway Park: The Red Sox will hold a postgame Independence Day celebration after the Red Sox-Astros game. The celebration will include a pyrotechnics show, which will be set to special 4th of July music. The show will take place approximately 15 minutes after the conclusion of the game and is expected to last about six minutes.

• Lexington: The annual Fourth of July Carnival takes place at Hastings Park through July 4 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Youth Games take place on July 4th at 10 a.m.

Saturday, July 4

• Boston: 10 p.m. Over the Charles River adjacent to the Esplanade. (Don’t want to trek to Boston for the show? Try scouting out a space at Robbins Farm in Arlington.)

• Newton: 9 p.m. Albermarle/Halloran Field, located on Watertown Street, Route 16.

• Waltham: 9:15 p.m. Leary Field, 19 Athletic Field Rd.