Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category

By MARK SARDELLA Last month, through the efforts of a number of local people, local dog lovers and their canine friends received the gift of a new dog park in the Junction. But this long-vacant parcel and its neighboring property have an interesting, but mostly forgotten, history dating back to May 17, 1969. Let’s set […]


Well, it’s that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us and that means it’s once again time to review my annual Christmas list. My list includes gifts for both naughty and nice, because who am I to judge? So, without further ado… To Selectman Peter May: automatic canine voter registration. To Fred […]


By MARK SARDELLA What do you give the Wakefield resident who has everything? The perfect, outside-the-box Christmas gift idea might just be something available from the unlikeliest of shopping venues – Town Hall. The 2016 Town of Wakefield Annual Street List is available while supplies last at the Town Clerk’s Office for the low price […]


Green day

16Dec16

Thursday was a big day for the Massachusetts Cannabis Community. December 15, 2016 – a day that will live, if not in infamy, then certainly in idiocy. At 4:20 p.m., thousands of senile hippies and their millennial grandchildren shared a bong hit to celebrate the fact that decades of oppressive “prohibition” has come to an […]


I was relieved the other day when my L.L. Bean Christmas Gift Guide arrived in the mail. Not that I plan to buy any gifts from it. In fact, I’m at a bit of a loss as to why I’m even on their mailing list. I can only guess that I must have purchased something […]


From Designer Lawn Sprinkler Service By MARK SARDELLA WAKEFIELD — During the holiday season, what could be more fun and exciting for the whole family than getting a Christmas tree? How about having your Christmas tree delivered to your home in a sleigh pulled by Rudolph Truck with Santa’s Elf behind the wheel? That’s exactly […]


High priorities

02Dec16

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Wakefield voters got fooled once into voting for “medical” marijuana, falling for the scam along with the rest of the state in 2012. Before you get your safety pins out, let me remind you that medical marijuana was sold under the guise of […]


BY MARK SARDELLA If supporting the arts and local artists isn’t enough to get you to “Suburban Holidays,” Quannapowitt Players annual theater festival/fundraiser, how about an even better reason? It’s a damn good show! “Suburban Holidays V” marks the fifth year that QP’s annual winter fundraiser has offered a festival of short plays with holiday […]


Call them the gang that couldn’t shoot straight – unless they’re aiming at their own foot. Then again, calling the Wakefield Civic League a “gang” probably overstates their numbers. You have to feel a little sorry for the Wakefield Civic League, aka Bronwyn Della-Volpe. Everything they try to do seems to backfire on them. Take […]


It’s cool to be patriotic again. It hit me at last week’s Veterans Day observance in Veterans Memorial Auditorium at the Galvin Middle School. I sensed that something was different when I walked in and saw the huge crowd, many of them with red poppies in their lapels. And not a single safety pin in […]