Above: At past Literacy Nights, Neary students and families enjoyed stories by Big Ryan and goofing in front of the Green Screen. (images L-R by Beth Melo and cropped from brochure)
Next Thursday, Neary School is hosting its 4th Annual Family Literacy Night. It’s an evening to celebrate student literacy as a family.
(Although kids may be more excited about the pizza and ice cream dinner.)
It’s also a chance for the school to raise funds for SOS and collect for their annual PJ drive.
This year, pajamas and socks are being collected Andy’s Attic – providing new and gently used clothing to disadvantaged children and their families in Worcester county. Attendees are urged to bring a new set of pajamas sizes 5-14 and/or socks for kids-adult.
The event takes place Thursday, October 25 from 6:00-8:00 pm. (Doors open at 5:45 pm and the first station begins promptly at 6:00 pm.)
The night is organized into 6 stations – and families are encouraged to plan the whole two hours to take advantage:
Scholastic Book Fair
Storyteller – Big Ryan
Pizza and ice cream
Family metaphor poems
Green screen family photo
Reader’s Theater
The fundraising event and Book Fair raise money for programs like the upcoming Author Week, funded by SOS. Next week students will be visited by authors Sarah Albee, Lauren Magaziner, Micha Archer, and Ralph Masiello.
For more details on Literacy Night, check out the event brochure by clicking images below:
(brochures and images above right from Neary Facebook posts.)
It’s been a week since I shared videos by Southborough Access Media. No surprise, more have been posted, as have ones by Northborough Cable. These cover presentations at the Library and Algonquin, plus another look at Heritage Day.
To fit these in, I made the windows small. But you can click on the full screen icon in bottom right corners to expand, or click the links.
Composting 101
The Southborough Library brought back experts from Blackstone Valley Veggie Gardens to teach how to turn leaves, grass clipping and veggie scraps into “nourishing black gold” to feed your garden. (YouTube link)
posted to You Tube by Southborough Access Media
ARHS National Merit Scholar Recognition
Algonquin’s administration and the Regional School Committee recognized Algonquin’s National Merit Scholars (Note: This followed the cancellation of the planned committee meeting due to lack of quorum) (YouTube link)
posted to You Tube by Northborough Cable
ARHS Financial Aid Workshop
Algonquin’s Guidance Department held a workshop for parents on College tuition financing and Financial Aid (YouTube link)
posted to You Tube by Northborough Cable
Heritage Day 2018
The 45th annual celebration. SAM captured parade highlights, pumpkins on the stone wall and some quick images on the field. (YouTube link)
posted to You Tube by Southborough Access Media
You can also watch SAM features on their public access tv channels: Verizon 38 and Charter 131. You can find that schedule here. You can find Northborough Cable’s school channel, covering Algonquin and Northborough, on Charter 194 and Verizon 36.
For specific coverage of town government meetings, see SAM’s government channel schedule. For the full set of videos, visit their YouTube page here.
Above: Tweens and teens can get some “Wicked Good” henna tattoos in time for Halloween weekend (images from Facebook posts by the Library and Wicked Good Henna)
The Southborough Library is bringing back a popular “Crafternoon” for tweens and teens (ages 8+). Mandy Roberge from Wicked Good Henna is returning with her most-in-demand specialty – Henna Tattoos.
No registration is required – but kids will need to be among the first 50 to show up.
Embracing the season, Roberge will offer “spooky-themed” designs. For past examples of her Halloween themed offerings click on the thumbnail left.
But, the program isn’t limited to Halloween tattoos. Participants can also pick any of her more traditional-themed designs.
The Crafternoon is Thursday, October 25 starting at 3:00 pm.
As you probably know – programming space is limited these days. If the weather cooperates, the fun will take place at Roberge’s tent. But it’s rain or shine with the inside Main Floor as backup location.
For those of you unfamiliar with henna tattoos, Roberge’s website describes it as henna paste patterns are “glued” to the skin with a lemon-sugar mixture and kept on for hours to stain the skin. When applied properly, the stain darkens over several days before it begins to fade away.
I found some pretty cool fast motion videos of the painting process posted to Roberge by Facebook. Check out an example below:
Above: A beautiful autumn reservoir view from Allan Bezanson in 2016.
It’s time for another open thread. What’s on your mind this week, Southborough?
I’ll tell you what’s on mine. I love it when readers share beautiful photos (like the one above) or fun ones – like snapshots of trick or treaters. So, if you’ve got any great fall pics – or see something worth taking a moment to pull out your phone for – send them in. The invitation covers nature shots, community/school events, sports, etc.
Don’t just post them to instagram. Email your favorite pics to mysouthborough@gmail.com.
Now, back to the standard open thread explanation. . .
For those of you new to the blog, the open discussion thread is your place to ask questions, sound off on town issues, or share information with other readers. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
Ask questions about programs in town or the town itself
Post a note about things that you’re selling or giving away, or things that you want
Share notices about upcoming events (Southborough or otherwise)
Register your thoughts on town issues or news stories
Point out interesting or helpful resources
You can add comments to the thread throughout the week. Check back often to see new comments. (If you read the blog via email or RSS, you might want to check the site from time to time for new comments.)
Above: This home at 3 Maplecrest Drive went on the market this week for $530,000 (MLS photo)
Here’s what went on and off the market this week. Thanks to Gail DuBois (email) of Keller Williams for supplying the town’s new listing information for the week.*
Above: The Southborough Golf Club is operating alongside the construction area for the Public Safety Complex. But dealing with impacts to two holes is proving to be a challenge. (image cropped from photo posted to Facebook by the Southborough Fire Department)
This month, Town Administrator Mark Purple updated the Board of Selectmen on another RFP that only hooked one bidder.
This one was for work needed on the Southborough Golf Club (aka St. Mark’s Golf Course). Building the Public Safety Complex on the property requires work on two of the nine holes. Purple told selectmen that the bidder’s price tag was too high.
This story was on my to-do list. But I’ve had trouble keeping up with all of the Town news. Luckily, Southborough Wicked Local recapped Purple’s update for us, including next steps:
The town rejected the sole bid to reconstruct part of the Southborough Golf Club to work around the $22.6 million combined police and fire stations being built on the property.
An architect redesigned the locations of first tee box and ninth green to reroute the 9-hole course around the new building. The town sought bids for construction, Town Administrator Mark Purple told selectmen earlier this month.
“Only one bid came in,” he said.
The base bid of $607,000 and $120,000 in bid alternatives came in above the $340,000 in Community Preservation Act money set aside for the work.
Purple said the town is working with the golf course architect to reduce the scale of work to “better reflect the amount of money” the town has.
“They seem to think that trying to compress the work into the time frame before this construction season ended was part of the issue,” Purple said. “If we extend that out into next April it might be something that can be done.”
I followed up with CommCan and the Town to try to understand – did I misunderstand something, or did I miss something that happened after the March 2016 ZBA hearing?
At this point, I’m still not fully clear on all of the details. But since candy-like “edibles” was a topic of great concern to some parents in Town, I’m updating readers on what I do know.
Janet Clare Capodilupo of Chatham [formerly of Southborough], after waging a valiant battle with brain cancer, entered eternal rest Friday, October 12, in the company of her family.
Do you have an event or meeting you want to let people know about? Or a fabulous idea for a story? Or maybe you have a question about Southborough you can't find the answer to? Email me!
(Although kids may be more excited about the pizza and ice cream dinner.)
Scholastic Book Fair
The fundraising event and Book Fair raise money for programs like the upcoming Author Week, funded by SOS. Next week students will be visited by authors Sarah Albee, Lauren Magaziner, Micha Archer, and Ralph Masiello.
