Town Changes July 4th Cooling Center From Beech Street Center To Public Library

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The Morrissey Hall Community Room of the Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Ave., will be open to provide air-conditioned relief on Saturday, July 4 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The

The library location replaces the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., as the cooling location in town. In addition, the Underwood Pool, adjacent to the library on Concord Avenue will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat watch because of a prolonged period of dangerous heat and humidity. Dangerous heat continues into the Saturday holiday with heat indexes reaching 98F to 115F.

Persistent exposure to high heat and humidity may cause illness. All residents are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned buildings, avoid direct sunlight, and check on relatives and neighbors. 

What’s Open/Closed On July 3 And Independence Day

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Photo: John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress.

Saturday, July 4, the country observes the 250th anniversary (that would be the semiquincentennial) commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (The document was signed on July 2nd). 

Massachusetts’ own John Adams, who signed the Declaration and was the nation’s second president, said the Fourth should be celebrated the day with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” 

Saturday also marks the 200th anniversary of Adams died on July 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the document’s adoption. It also marks the bicentennial of the death of the declaration’s chief author, Thomas Jefferson, the third president.

Here is what’s closed and open on the 4th of July.

Open on July 3rd

  • Massachusetts state government offices and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV). Unlike federal employees, the state does not observe Saturday holidays on the preceding Friday, so normal weekday state operations proceed.

Closed on July 3rd

  • Belmont Town Hall, the public library, Benton Library, and town offices.
  • Federal government offices.
  • US Postal Service: Both Belmont post offices are open.

Open on the the 4th of July

  • Underwood Pool: Open to members and those purchasing day passes.
  • Retail stores: Open at owner’s discretion
  • Supermarkets: Star Market on Trapelo Road in Waverley Square is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., but the pharmacy will be closed.
  • Coffee shops: Starbucks and Dunkin’s on Trapelo Road will operate regular hours. The Dunks on Pleasant and Church will also be open.
  • CVS: 89 Leonard St. (Belmont Center) Store 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Pharmacy 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • CVS: 264 Trapelo St. Store 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Pharmacy 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Closed on the 4th of July

  • USPS offices in Belmont.

For those who will be traveling using public transportation, the MBTA is running on the following schedule on the 3rd and the 4th

  • Subway will run on a modified Saturday schedule until 3 p.m. After 3 p.m., the subway will run on a weekday schedule.
  • Bus and the RIDE will run on a Sunday schedule.
  • Commuter Rail will run on a weekend schedule. After 8:30 p.m., bikes will not be allowed on board on trains. The last train from Boston’s North Station on the Fitchburg line, which serves Belmont and Waverley commuter stops, will depart at 11:40 p.m.
  • There is no fare after 8:30 p.m. on all lines.

Where to see fireworks celebrations near-ish to Belmont:

Belmont Farmers Market Reduces Hours Thursday, Closing At 4 PM

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Photo: The Farmers Market will close easly this Thursday due to the expected high heat temperatures.

The extreme heat wave blanketing Belmont and most of the US east of the Mississippi River will force the Belmont Farmers Market to cut its Thursday operating hours in half for the safety of vendors, volunteers and patrons.

The market will open at its usual 2 p.m. time and run until 4 p.m., closing two-and-a-half hours early.

Temperatures are expected to hit highs in the 100s F and high 90s F on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Due to the heat, there will be no activities at the Events Tent.

The Farmers Market takes place every Thursday at the Belmont Center parking lot, 10 Claflin St.

Belmont Under Heat Advisory Until 4th Of July; Cooling Centers Opening In Town On Wednesday, July 1

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Photo: In the summertime when the weather is high

Belmont will be opening cooling centers after the the National Weather Service issued an extreme heat watch for eastern Massachusetts for the first four days of July.

The NWS indicated a prolonged period of dangerous heat and humidity from 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 1 and lasting through 8 p.m. on Saturday, the 4th of July with peak heat conditions during the afternoon on Thursday, July 2 and Friday, July 3.

  • Heat index values may reach in a range of 96-112 degrees F.
  • Overnight relief from the temperature will be poor.
  • Persistent exposure to high heat and humidity may cause illness.
  • All residents are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned buildings, avoid direct sunlight and check on relatives and neighbors.

Belmont will open two town buildings as cooling centers over the four days:

Cooling Center Locations and Hours July 2026

DPW: Yard Waste Pick-Up Delayed A Week

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Photo: Put it out next week

To accommodate a new schedule, the Belmont Department of Public Works has suspended yard waste pickup from Monday, June 29 through Friday, July 3.

Pick up will resume on Monday, July 13. For the months of July, August, September, and October, yard waste will be picked up during a specific designated week on your recycle day. There will be one pickup for blue weeks and one for green weeks during that month. The complete schedules can be found on the yard waste calendar here.

More information can be found on the DPW web page.

Breaking: Belmont Fire Chief DeStefano Leaving Post In September

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Photo: Belmont Fire Department Chief David DeStefano

Belmont Fire Department Chief David DeStefano has submitted his resignation, according to Belmont Town Administrator Patrce Garvin who made the announcement at the Select Board meeting on Monday, June 29.

Garvin said DeStefano’s final day will be Sept. 6.

The announcement was made after an executive session meeting which the Select Board discussed “next steps” in finding a replacement.

“More to come,” said Garvin.

DeStefano began his career in 1989 at the North Providence (R.I.) Fire Department, becoming Belmont’s top firefighter in March 2021.

Giving Is An Art: BHS’s Revamped Arts Honor Society Transforms Wall To Mural At Sancta Maria

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Photo: Finishing touches being applied on a mural at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility by members of the revamped National Arts Honor Society

Cans of paint laid open in a corner of a community room at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility as seven Belmont High School artists spent a May Friday afternoon – a Friday! – placing the finishing touches on transforming a drab wall into a striking mural within the walls of the Cambridge facility that straddles the Belmont town line.

The cool blue, green, and beige color scheme depicts sunbeams and a breaching whale, transforming the once large blank canvas into a vivid and calming spot for the hospital’s patients within the memory loss unit.

“It’s a lot of work from the artists. But we’re now seeing how the preliminary design is coming along and can see the final work. It’s great to see,” said Alexis Zhang, a BHS sophomore and one of the project leaders.

“This is a great location, a great spot to do it,” said Belmont High arts teacher Milo Milowsky when viewing the work.

The project was devised and created by members of the reemergent National Arts Honor Society, which was reestablished at Belmont HIgh School in 2025. The charter originated 20 years ago but did not generate much support at the time.

“We were really surprised that we didn’t have this [in Belmont] because a lot of surrounding schools, like Lexington and Winchester, have a national arts honor society charter, and we have such a busy arts program,” said Zhang. 

With the help of Milowsky as faculty advisor, the chapter revived student interest, with more than 40 current members. Once the charter was back up and running, the students began performing small activities such as selling caricatures at the Belmont Farmers Market. Soon after the Honor Society’s reemergence, it began looking at larger venues to bring the group’s talents, starting with nearby spaces. The two began just emailing nonprofits, health centers, and public spaces with a proposition: can we create a mural for you?

“We want to use the talents of all the students to uplift the space, as there was not any art here,” said Zhang.

It didn’t take long for the group to receive an answer from Sancta Maria. 

“I learned about this a couple of months ago,” said Chief Executive Officer Alvin Lim. “They approached us and they wanted to do something for the community.” Saying the hospital wanted to support a group that gives back to our community, “[w]e’re like, ‘yeah, why not? Why not support the arts program?'”

“They were completely open, because in the past no one had reached out to them before,” said Zhang. The staff told the students there was available a room used by nursing and care staff and the Alzheimer’s and dementia patients that was ripe for a change.

The project’s design and color select wasn’t literary throwing ideas on the wall. Approximately half of the club’s 40 National Arts Honor Society members contributed to the planning process by providing feedback to the design.

“We didn’t freelance it,” said Zhang, as students formed small work groups to brainstorm concepts. “We had a lot of rough sketches, and then we combined it all on a large sheet of paper. It was during the process the artist focused on the whale “because it symbolizes kind of the energy that we want to convey, like longevity. We also like the ocean and the clouds because of their expansiveness and this ability to fill up the space,” said Zhang.

Milowsky came through for the student by connecting them with Hillside Gardens/Ace Hardware on Brighton Street for donated paint and material. “[Hillside Gardens] was really exciting; they were really welcoming,” said Zhang. “We’re artists and students as well, so we don’t have any of the funding for it.”

For successive Fridays from January to June, the students put in several hours prepping and painting as staff and patients would stop at the windows into the room to watch as the wall metamorphosed from a blank wall to a brilliant seascape.

On June 5, the room was filled with hospital staff and all the students who had ideas and applied paint to celebrate the completion of the Honor Society’s first (“but not last,” said Zhang) endeavor at public art.

For Sancta Maria’s Lin, when he was first presented the project, “[m]y expectation was I wasn’t sure how this would end up.” But then he saw the finished mural “my mind’s blown. This is unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud of these students. I’m so grateful that they would do this for [Sancta Maria].”

He said the spectrum of colors provides a cheerful image that makes the unit’s dementia and Alzheimer’s patients “really happy. They make them feel calm. It makes them feel like they’re home.”

Long-time educator Milowsky said he hadn’t seen this level of commitment and execution in 15 years. 

“I think it’s great for the community and it brings awareness to the arts. For them to venture out again and do things for the community is remarkable. It shows them how good of artists they are and how they can give back.”

In The Heat Of The Moment: Belmont High Girls Rugby Captures 8th Straight State Title Beating Weymouth, 36-24

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Photo: Belmont High Girls Rugby Senior Captain Capucine “Cappy” Detheux holding the MIAA Girls’ Rugby championship trophy after the Marauders defeated Weymouth, 36-24, on June 11

Three scoring tries from Belmont’s standout junior Rebecca Christensen and a masterful demonstration of solo and group tackling from its backs led Belmont High Girls Rugby to win the program’s eighth consecutive MIAA State Rugby title, defeating a talented Weymouth High, 36-24, at Quincy’s Memorial Stadium on Thursday, June 11.

With the victory, Belmont remains the only program to have won the Division 1 crown, starting in 2016 with only the COVID pandemic preventing championship matches in 2020 and 2021. 

In postgame comments to her team, Belmont Head Coach Kate McCabe, who originated the program in the mid-2010s and has led the team since, said the players demonstrated a “beautiful display of heart” during the game.

“You should be so proud of the rugby that you played,” said McCabe, just before she was drenched with a “Gatorade Bath” from three of her players.

With the temperature pitchside breaching 100 degrees on the sun-soaked turf field (requiring water breaks every 10 minutes), and with a pair of starting forwards in senior prop Maria Ocampo Fram and super sub junior Timkkha Mukwazhi on the bench with injuries, Belmont’s young team – having graduated 13 of 15 senior starters from the 2025 team – understood they would have their hands full with a Wildcats team that has greatly improved in the past three years.

“We knew coming in that Weymouth was going to be such a challenging opponent. They run so hard, they play really beautiful possession rugby,” said McCabe. “They kept our regular season game close (a 42-24 Belmont home victory on May 15), so this would be certainly a battle out there.” 

An important factor in the win was a day of aggressive tackling on Weymouth’s runners, including its impact players Nicole Moraes and Delaney Barhight. From the start, Belmont’s junior center LeeLee Kozelian, junior wing Claire Ferreira, junior flyhalf Nina Lind and senior ‘8’ and captain Cappy Detheux gave the Wildcats little space to break into the open field. During many of its phases, Weymouth would be stalled or lose territory from Belmont’s defensive stance. 

“It was really about consistently making those tackles to get the opportunity to reclaim possession, and when we had ball in hand, getting over our rucks and keeping the ball, and the opportunities would arrive,” said McCabe.

“I think it was really hard in the heat, but we play together around the ball and that really made a big difference,” said Detheux.

On offense, the team would look up to its all-star Christensen to lead the way. 

“A lot of people would look at the fact that [Christensen]’s very tall, she knows how to run through contact, and imagine that is the thing about Becca that’s impressive,” said McCabe. “But she has tremendous rugby IQ; she sees space, she is a constant voice on the field, directing where traffic goes, distributing the ball, and calling plays at set pieces.”

The game

Both teams began on the front foot, with Belmont cracking the scoreboard first when senior fullback Farrah Harris showed her wing speed turning the defensive corner then cutting inside the last defender and cruised 30 meters untouched into the try zone after seven minutes to give the Marauders a 5-0 lead. 

But Weymouth’s Moraes would punish Belmont by intercepting a long and slow back pass and trotted opposed to try at 10:24. Only a missed conversion kept the Wildcats from taking the lead. 

Belmont started attacking Weymouth’s defensive middle with Christensen scoring her first try with a 10-meter push at the 15-minute mark to up the advantage to 12-5. Just under four minutes later, sophomore wing Cece Held took a great delivery to streak down the left sideline, giving the Marauders a 17-5 lead.

But just as it appeared Belmont was starting to pull away, a stolen ball by Weymouth after the kickoff put the Wildcats deep in the Marauders end. And while there was some debate on the sideline that Belmont had prevented the ball from being grounded in the end zone, the try was given, and the subsequent conversion cut the lead to five, 17-12 at the 23-minute mark.

The next 10 minutes saw many possessions change via the knock-on rule – a players miss handling the ball that advances – on both sides as the heat began taking a toll on both teams. But a late Belmont surge into Wildcat territory saw Held repeat her sideline sprint to score with a minute and a half remaining to double Belmont’s lead to 22-12 at the halftime whistle. 

Despite going down to 14 after a player was sent off due to a 10-minute yellow card penalty, Belmont came out of the locker room with the momentum, nearly scoring twice in the first five minutes with an apparent try disallowed as the ball was held up. The third venture towards the Wildcat tryline proved successful as Christensen rammed the ball into the try from a meter out to push Belmont’s lead to 29-12. 

After a Marauder penalty placed the ball deep inside Belmont’s end, Wildcat MVP Delaney powered through for a try at the 49-minute mark to cut the Marauders’ advantage to 12 points (29-17). But Weymouth’s hoped-for comeback would be hampered by its own yellow card, removing the offending participant for a critical 10 minutes. 

With possession, Belmont battered Weymouth, launching power runs at its center. With its line weakened by heat and assault, the Wildcat front buckled as Christensen scored her most impressive try of the game: a crashing, spinning, and ultimately diving coup de grâce putting the Marauders up by 17 with 12 minutes remaining. 

After her final try, Christensen came to the sideline and told McCabe, “I have nothing more.” 

“That’s all we’re asking for, right? Go out there and give everything that you have, and [Christensen] certainly put it all out there on the field tonight.” 

Delaney would have the final say for the Wildcats with a weaving, slalom-like sprint for a try at 10 minutes on the clock. But once it regained the ball, Belmont essentially ran out the clock to secure its eighth title.

After the game, McCabe said winning the championship started back in the cold and wet of March.

“We talk at the beginning of the season that the goal is to get here, and that’s all we talk about. So I think it means a lot to each player, and they each have their own answer about that. For us, as coaches, I think getting to this game is the thing that we’re most proud of, and what happens on the field the players control, and it’s not so much about us. That’s why I’m so proud of them.” 

Belmont Town Meeting Approves $1.3 M Path Price Tag Despite Last Minute Appraisal Surprise

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Photo: Select Board Chair Matt Taylor

The phones of Belmont Town Meeting Members began pinging a notification from the Town Clerk’s Office less than two hours from the start of the last week of the annual Town Meeting on June 8. 

“Urgent Update” – ATM (annual town meeting) and STM” read the 5:14 p.m. message. And many – if not most – members knew what was being revised, having been told that last-minute appraisal amounts would be coming in for a pair of articles authorizing payment for easement rights or the taking of property the meeting had voted to authorize the week before.

What was unexpected was how much the price tag attached to one of them would be.

Crossing out an earlier estimate of $200,000 in Article 3 found in a Special Town Meeting, town officials would be asking members in just a few hours to appropriate $1.3 million to gain control of the right of way over a pair of narrow parcels making up a spur of Alexander Avenue from Channing Road to the commuter rail tracks.

Apologizing for “the whiplash” the news had on the meeting, Select Board Chair Matt Taylor told the assembly it was facing an almost impossible hard and fast early August deadline from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to do anything but vote Wednesday.

“The consequenses of voting this down [is] it is extremely unlikely that we will have the funds to acquire the property rights needed for the community path,” said Taylor, thus missing out on the millions of funding, while seeing the thousands of volunteer hours and $2.2 of town and Community Preservation Committee recommended funding spent on design and acquistion of right of way would be wasted.

“And then it would be back to the drawing board,” said Taylor, with the real likelihood that a Community Path in Belmont would never be realized.

In many ways, members were presented with a scenario straight from the silent films: the Community Path was tied to the tracks with the funding deadline barreling down on it with only that Town Meeting vote able to come to the rescue.

And while many Town Meeting Members were critical of feeling “jammed” by the appraisal results and the lateness of its delivery, the loss of the path as this late junction was too great for the majority of the Meeting to tolerate.

Also favoring a ‘yes’ vote was having a source of the $1.3 million in one-time funds from this fiscal year’s Investment Income account, as well as recent precedent when almost two years ago to the day Town Meeting approved an additional $1.5 million to help cover a $4 million shortfall to construct the Belmont Sports Complex. 

“I think many people talk about this being shocking; unexpected things happen,” said Emily Peterson (Precinct 1). “To vote ‘no’ on this because it was unanticipated is biting your nose off to spite your face.” 

And many who were hesitant to be pushed to vote on the measure by the deadline constraints followed the example of the venerable Town Meeting member Robert McLaughlin (Precinct 2), who explained that while he had difficulty squaring the circle of the appraisal, “I’m going to hold my nose and vote for it.” 

The article – which required a Special Meeting format as it required current fiscal year funding – passed 212 in favor, 24 opposed, and two abstained. 

The importance of the unpaved path, principally used by MBTA crews to maintain the Fitchburg commuter line running through Belmont, is what it represents: the final pieces of the parcel puzzle needed to open the purse strings to release $48 million in construction funding to build the first half of the Belmont Community Path.

The project – a bike lane from Brighton Street through Belmont Center to the Clark Street bridge and pedestrian tunnel under the tracks – has taken the better part of a decade to envision, plan, garner support, and obtain state and federal funding commitments to arrive at a point that all the parts would come together to receive MassDOT’s final OK by the early weeks of August.

But to keep to the deadline, the vote to approve the allocation needed to occur at Town Meeting. And the new eye-opening cost had many believing reaching the two-thirds approval benchmark would be at risk. 

The appraisal spike in the assessed value was likely due to “new development opportunities.” But even with the possibility of new development in Belmont Center and the construction of Cambridge Point, the $4.5 billion “mini-city” a quarter mile from the east Belmont line with more than 2,000 apartments and 2.5 million square feet of lab and office space, a doubling of the initial $200,000 value, was seen by many as a stretch.

To explain the ramping up of the cost, McLaughlin – an attorney with extensive experience in real estate – said appraising plots of land that measure just a few feet “are about as difficult as they come” due to the concept of “residual damage.” If taking that small parcel is critical to the value of the entire parcel, the owner is entitled to be compensated for the full amount of the damage the path caused.

“My guess is that these appraisers first saw how little square footage was being taken and came up with the initial $200,000. When you drilled down on the job, the owner told them, “Oh, now I’ve lost my view, now I’ve lost my privacy, now the fair market value of my whole property is a lot less,” said McLaughlin. It was only then the appraisers by $1.1 million. 

Complicating the request was a narrowing timeline to the deadline. With the timer ticking down to zero, Town Meeting had little leeway but to take the vote on a plan that was more than a fivefold increase in the estimated cost. 

Conspiring in compressing the deadline were an insistent MassDOT that Belmont seek funding in this year’s funding cycle squeezing the permitting process and not riding the appraisers to complete their task well before Town Meeting. Town Counsel Mina Makarious, whose firm Anderson & Kreiger hired the appraisal team, acknowledged he could have pushed the analysts more than he did but said the review was delayed due to the lateness in state documents and just the ability to visit the site. 

After 90 minutes of debate, Town Meeting Members voted emphatically – if with some grumbling – to stay the course.

Belmont Farmers Market Opens For Its 21st Season

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Photo: Select Board’s Carol Berberian cutting the ribbon to open the 21st season of the Belmont Farmers Market

With the official opening of the Belmont Farmers Market on Thursday, June 4, Town Moderator Adam Dash declared, “It’s now officially summer in Belmont.” No truer words could have been spoken.

The day saw 90 degree temperatures under a cloudless sky that had vendors dousing themselves with water and some patrons placing their overheated smart phones on ice as the heat played havoc with humans and machines.

But the conditions did not thwart patrons from flocking to Belmont Center on the first market day of the season. While produce stalls are still weeks away from trucking in the first harvest of vegetables and fruits, vendors did a brisk business selling baked and cooked goods, meat, fish, and beer. The day included music, kids story time with the Belmont Public Library, and information on food security.

“After five months of planning, it’s great to finally be doing,” said Hal Shubin, chairman of the market, at the opening ceremony. The Farmers Market is part of the Belmont Food Collaborative, a nonprofit umbrella organization that includes Belmont Composts, Belmont Helps, Belmont Food Pantry, and Community Gardening. A large component of the Collaborative’s mission is in support of food security.

“A recent report shows that 40 percent of the households in Massachusetts doesn’t always have enough food. Think about what that means for your family,” said Shubin, who pointed out the market started its food assistance program in 2011, raising more than a quarter million dollars in extra money for individuals to buy healthy local food and to support area food banks.

The market also promotes children being involved in the market with its POP Club which allows members $3 a week to purchase produce of their choice.

Among the speakers at the opening was Liza Bemis, a fifth-generation farmer and co-owner of Hutchins Farm, a historic 112-acre organic farm located in Concord that has been a vendor since 2008. She spoke of the importance of the state’s Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) in which SNAP/EBT users are provided extra funds – depends on their household size – to purchase fresh, local fruits and vegetables from participating Massachusetts farmers markets.

“The immediacy of the impact from the HIP program really surprised me,” said Bemis after her operation was certified by the state.

“I had no idea there was such a need in the greater Belmont community, and how many folks wanted to be customers, but hadn’t been able to access our produce. As other farmers became HIP certified, and the program grew in recognition, it was amazing to see how this program could impact both customers and farmers. It was a textbook win-win program, how to get more fresh food into customers’ diets, and how to strengthen the economic stability of local farms by expanding our customer base and increasing our current customers’ purchasing power.”

At 2 p.m., Select Board member Carol Berberian was given the honor of cutting the tomato red ribbon and the opening bell was rung for the first time this season.