Photo: People celebrating the holiday season in Belmont Center at the annual tree lighting.

Santa Claus continues to find his way back to Belmont. And this year, ol’ St. Nick will visit Belmont Center on Thursday, Dec. 5, for the 34th annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony from 5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The night’s highlight will be Santa and Mrs. Claus arriving on Leonard Street around 6:15 p.m., on top of one of Belmont Fire Department’s engines. Santa will flip on the Center’s holiday lights on a tree adjacent to Bellmont Cafe which is donated by the Belmont Lions Club.

Team Santa will travel down Leonard Street to the M&T Bank branch – the former Belmont Savings Bank – where he and the Mrs. will greet their most significant constituency: children. Parents will get the opportunity to take photos with the jolly old man. Santa will be giving out candy canes and a promise to bring that special present on Dec. 24. 

Leonard Street will be closed, and family and friends are invited to gather and enjoy the holiday lights, meet with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, listen to Belmont High School’s amazing Madrigal Singers, and enjoy some fried treats. Local business members of the Belmont Center Business Association organize the night’s events.

Photo: Brendan Shea and his wife, Jess, during the pinning ceremony held at Belmont Town Hall

One of Belmont’s own is joining his hometown public safety family as Brendan Shea was welcomed to the Belmont Fire Department.

At a ceremony held during the Select Board meeting last month, Shea – who grew up in town – received his helmet shield from Belmont Fire Chief David DeStefano while his wife, Jess, pinned his badge to his uniform.

A graduate of UMass-Lowell, Shea was appointed to the department in March and attended the Massachusetts Fire Academy, graduating in August. Currently a probationary firefighter, Shea is assigned to Group One.

DeStefano told the Board that two of the next three people that will be hired are Belmont residents.

Photo: Bring your pumpkins to Town Hall … but only on Sunday, Nov. 3!

Halloween has come – along with a late fall “heat” wave – and gone. For many residents, the most pressing question facing them is what to do with all their pumpkins. The usual options are limited to letting them rot on your front stoop, toss them into the woods (the wildlife will thank you), or wait for some mischief youngster to smash them in the middle of the street.

But what is becoming a welcome tradition, Belmont Helps is holding a “Pumpkin Rescue and Charity Donation Drive Thru” on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Just load up those giant winter squash in the van or SUV to 455 Concord Ave. in Belmont Center and volunteers – or you can do it also – will fling the orange fruit into a truck waiting to drive the collection to a composting pile.

Belmont Help’s Amy Kirsch said the non-profit – founded in 2020 to alleviate food insecurity in Belmont and respond to the pressing needs of its neighbors – will also be collecting donations of cash, coins, and gift cards that will help the volunteer organization to provide assistance to those seeking help during the coming holiday season.

Photo: Belmont High kicker John Townsend lines up the winning field goal vs. Lexington High.

After being blown out (and shutout) in three of its first four games, Belmont High Football finally put together just enough offense to support an outstanding defensive performance to walk off of Lexington High grass field with its first victory of the season, 9-6, over hosts the Minutemen.

A 80 yard kick off return by junior Casey Regan to start the second half and a clutch 26 yard field goal from senior John Townsend with just under five minutes remaining put Belmont in the win column (1-4) and gave Belmont Head Coach Francois Joseph his first career varsity victory.

“It feels great,” said Joseph, with what was left of his voice, after the game held on Thursday night in windy and cold conditions that included a rare peek of the aurora borealis.

“It’s our first year with a whole new group and we didn’t want to go 0-for. I just wanted to give the seniors an experience and just wanted to win one game for them. I want them to remember this game and how they gutted it out,” said Joseph.

While there were several candidates for “player of the match”, the honor would certainly be handed out to the four defensive linemen – seniors Daniel Martins and Zak Zaddem and juniors Enzo Passos and Seamus Murphy – that made the night a Halloween-like nightmare for the Minutemen offense.

The match itself wasn’t pretty in any manner of speaking. The first half resembled a reenactment of a medieval battle with both sides ramming into each other in between the 20s, ending in a characterless 0-0 stale-mate. But all that changed when Regan gathered the second half kick then sprinted down the right sideline untouched, giving Belmont its first lead of the season and scoring for only the second time since the final minute against Cambridge.

Belmont would show streaks of offensive punch with senior QB Wyatt Sclafani at the helm including flipping the field when a quarterback scramble picked up 28 yards to the Minutemen 39 yard line in the third quarter.

Belmont experienced some anxiety in the final quarter after Sclafani left the game suffering from an acute calf injury. But replacement signal caller junior Kyle Curtis produced a timely 15 yard pass over the middle to junior Andre Chavushian placing the ball on the Lexington 9 yard line with 7 minutes to go. Four plays later, Townsend – an outstanding kicker on Belmont’s top-ranked rugby squad – coolly drilled the ball through the uprights to increase Belmont’s advantage to 9-0 with 4:48 to play.

“[Townsend] is one of the best kickers in the state and we haven’t been able to get him close enough to make kicks like that,” said Joseph, who says Townsend routinely kicks 40-45 yard field goals in practice.

Lexington quickly cut the Marauders’ lead back to one possession with a 79-yard pitch and catch to wide receiver Amari Mow to cut Belmont’s lead to 9-6 after the missed PAT. And the Minutemen would have one final opportunity after blocking Townsend’s attempted punt with 2:23 to go. But the D line would come up big keeping the Minutemen in check. A 4th down pass was knocked down to seal the W.

“With the win, the team can now look ahead for a second win and then a third,” said Joseph.

Belmont will travel to neighboring Arlington on Friday night, kick off at 6:30 p.m.

Photo: Belmont Health Department’s next COVID/flu vaccine clinics Oct. 22, Oct. 30

The fall marks the beginning of the cold, flu and COVID season so join Belmont Health Department’s next COVID/flu vaccine clinics on:

• Tuesday Oct. 22, and
• Wednesday Oct. 30.

Register here: www.starmarket.com/vaccinations/group-clinic/TownofBelmontVAX

The clinics will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Beth El Temple Center, 2 Concord Ave. The updated COVID-19 vaccine is available for anyone 12 years and older. There will also be flu vaccine (regular and high dose), RSV, Pneumonia, Tetanus/Whooping cough (TDAP), and shingles vaccines available for those eligible. Contact your primary care doctor with any questions about eligibility.

Please call the Health Department with any questions, concerns, or for help registering at 617-993-2720.

Photo: It’s show time this week at the Belmont High theater as the Performing Arts Company holds four performances of Mean Girls, the musical

In its first production in the Belmont High School auditorium, the Belmont High School’s Performing Arts Company is going full Broadway with Mean Girls, the hit musical that brings the current high school experience to the audience.

The large cast of talented student dancers, singers, actors, and an army of dedicated “techs” are accompanied by a band of students and professional musicians performing from their very own orchestra pit, a first for a PAC performance.

Mean Girl’s Director and Producer Ezra Flam is taking full advantage of the professional sound and lighting equipment and using all of the backstage theatrical rigs because … he can.

Other than Saturday’s matinee, tickets for the three 7 p.m. performances are extremely limited.

PERFORMANCES
Thursday, March 16 at 7 pm
Friday, March 17 at 7 pm
Saturday, March 18 at 2 pm and 7 pm​

Tix Info

• ADULTS: $15 in advance, $18 at the door.
• STUDENTS/CHILDREN: $10
• BHS Students: $5 Thursday and Sat Matinee, $10 Fri & Sat 7 pm

“We have six rigs that bring down the backdrop and other set material. I wanted to use more but they were all taken,” said Flam after the first dress rehearsal on Monday of performance week.

Selecting Mean Girls was twofold for Flam: “I really like the flash, that it’s in your face,” and it’s a great show to “showcase the orchestra pit” as well as what “the set crew can do with all we now have” in the new theater.

Directing his 10th PAC musical, Flam is assisted by Musical Choreographer Jenny Liftson, Arto Asadoorian is the pit band director, Kaitlin Donovan leads all the singers, Anna Moss is the scenic director, Ian O’Malley, the technical director, and Lila West came up with all the colorful costume designs.

Mean Girls is adapted from the hit 2004 film of the same name and tells the story of Cady Heron, who starts high school at 16 after being homeschooled in Africa for the first 15 years of her life. Cady quickly crosses paths with “The Plastics,” a group of popular girls who rule the school through intimidation, backstabbing, and bullying. Initially joining their clique as a joke, Cady finds herself sucked into their world and discovers the dark side of high school friendships.

With a script by the writer of the original film and Saturday Night Live Alum Tina Fey, Music by Jeff Richmond (30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), and Lyrics by Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), the 2018 musical follows the plot of the film and includes many of the movie’s iconic moments and jokes.

Due to mature subject matters and situations, adults bringing younger elementary-aged children may want to discuss Mean Girl themes before the performance. But watching the dress rehearsal, the show is full of good-hearted moments and a great message at the end … well, maybe not where a mean girl is hit by a bus. (“She doesn’t die!”)

The Performing Arts Company is Belmont High School’s extracurricular student theater organization, providing hands-on opportunities for students to learn about all aspects of theater, from performance to design to production management, while creating high-quality shows.