Archive for the ‘Wakefield’ Category

Marching Orders

26Jul12

I love a parade. I’m especially fond of the Wakefield, MA Independence Day Parade, having attended most of them since the Eisenhower Administration. Over the years, I became less interested in the clowns and more interested in the politicians. In other words, my tastes haven’t changed very much. The 2012 Wakefield Independence Day Parade featured […]


Performances July 26, 27 and 28 You might assume that a play set in a beauty salon and featuring all female characters would appeal mainly to women – the theatrical equivalent of a “chick flick.” But after seeing the Next Door Theatre’s production of “Steel Magnolias,” what sticks with you are the play’s universal themes, […]


Largely ignored in all the excitement over the margin of victory in the June 9 Special Election was the fact that the decision to build a new Galvin Middle School was made by a minority of the town’s voters. Less than one-third of those eligible weighed in with a vote. If you count only the […]


Every time a special interest group manages to pack Town Meeting to ram their pet measure through, local government geeks find themselves wondering if there will be some long-term residual benefit, some lasting silver lining to this cynical exercise. Surely, they imagine, out of this great mass of people here to vote on their one […]


With a cast of 15, the Quannapowitt Players‘ “The Diary of Anne Frank” captures the terror, tension and tenderness experienced by two Jewish families being hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II, as told by Anne Frank in her diary of her family’s two years in hiding. The production is directed by […]


Pro-debt exclusion crowd dominates Wakefield, MA Annual Town Meeting The Monday, May 14 Galvin Gala was scheduled to begin at 7:30, but if you arrived later than 7 p.m., you may have found yourself parking, as I did, in Victory Village down off Richardson Street. Packing the Galvin Auditorium and the cafeteria, the crowd of […]


Judging from the comments of those who spoke, 99 percent of the hundred or so people who showed up for the April 30 public forum on the the Galvin Middle School were supporters of the project before they walked in the door. Given the composition of the audience, the project manager, architect and Wakefield town […]


It happened two weekends ago. Seemingly, if not literally, overnight, political yard signs sprung up like crocuses all over the town of Wakefield. Along main roads and side streets and especially on the coveted corner lots, each sign installation proclaimed a resident’s allegiance to a candidate or candidates in the April 24 Town Election. Some […]


In the spring of 1942, as World War II was being fought on two fronts, local soldiers and sailors serving overseas were much on the mind of their hometown. The Wakefield Daily Item ran a regular feature, “With Our Boys in the Service,” complete with photos and updates. Meanwhile back in Wakefield, Factory Field, where […]


The campaign to sell the town of Wakefield a new Galvin Middle School is already gathering steam and is likely to continue unabated through the May Annual Town Meeting and beyond. It’s going to be a hard sell. With a $74,740,254, price tag, building a brand new, state-of-the-art middle school is going to require the […]