More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.
Come one, come all to the biggest event of the school year! The Lilja Elementary School Carnival is back for the first time since 2019, and there’ll be rides, games, prizes, raffles, acrobat shows, a reptile show, airbrush tattoos, a balloon twister, food and drink for sale, and more! Bring the whole family down for an afternoon of fun at this town-wide event.
A sculpture exhibit is headed to a section of the Cochituate Rail Trail in Natick this September and October after it gets an initial showing over the summer in Brookline.
The Studios without Walls juried exhibit will be on display in Riverwalk Park come May 28. It will make its debut in Natick pending coordination with the town’s health and safety officials. The temporary installation would reside on about a half mile stretch between the Cochituate State Park spur and the Amvets building.
The Natick Center Cultural District and the Friends of Natick Trails would host this event. The proposal was made at this time so that organizers can try to secure sponsors for the project. The hope is to have more permanent art and other events along the trail down the road, and this project would serve as something of a trial.
Among those whose art is on display is Natick artist Rebecca McGee Tuck, who reached out to the Natick Center Cultural District to about possibly having the exhibit temporarily installed here come September. The artist says works include those made from metal, stone, found objects, and more.
More: Bike art in Natick
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Usually the Middlesex Savings Lot parking lot in Natick Center is nothing more than a utilitarian expanse of black asphalt, just a spot to park the car while you run into the bank and do some business. Last weekend the drab spot was filled with the sound of Bollywood music, the aroma of Indian food, and color—lots and lots of color. The Holi Fesival had come to town.
Bright and eco-friendly dry powder filled the air as participants covered themselves and each other in the brilliant hues. Because Holi represents the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil, the relief that the battle has once again been won calls for the very air to be filled with color and joy. As powder is tossed around, it brightens the hair and clothing of revelers, practically becoming embedded in their very pores.
Sponsored by the Mass Cultural Council, community partners, and organized by many volunteers, the festival echoed the holiday celebrated in the Indian subcontinent. Also known as the “festival of colors” or the “festival of love,” Holi is associated with the season of hope and new beginnings.
Red symbolizes love and fertility; yellow, the color of tumeric, recalls traditional Indian cooking; blue represents the Hindu God Krishna, and green is for new beginnings. So if you noticed that the crowd in Natick Center seemed a little more colorful, a touch more vibrant than usual, that’s why.
Several years in the works, Natick’s online permitting and licensing system went online Monday in an effort to make things more efficient and transparent for residents, organizations, and the town.
While it would have been great to have this in place earlier during the pandemic, the town is happy to have it now. The system was funded through a combination of state grant money and a town capital program appropriation.
The “one-stop shop permitting system” will decrease the number of people who need to come into town buildings, according to Director of Community & Economic Development Amanda Loomis, who previewed the system during a recent Select Board meeting. The town still encourages people to come in, but they should be able to ask more educated questions after handling the basics online.
Town Administrator Jamie Errickson added during the Select Board meeting that the permitting system should save people the trouble of going from town building to town building for issues that involve multiple departments.
Another benefit for the town, Loomis said, is that Natick should be able to save on storage space as it relies less on paper forms and documents.
The town’s website features a prominent link to the permitting/licensing system, which initially supports the following:
On the way are the Health Department and Department of Public Works.
If you already have an account with a licensing/permitting system from another community that uses the same Viewpoint software, you can use that in Natick. That’s what happened when I logged in, since I already have an account with another town. Other communities that have switched over to online permitting have raved about the benefits (See “Wellesley fire makes shift to online permitting”).
You’ll be able to apply for permits and licenses ranging from building permits to weekday entertainment licenses by exploring the offerings across departments, commissions, and boards.
Note that you will get dinged with a 3% processing fee for online payments, though you can still make payments in person. Using an e-check will cost $2.25.
Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com
The Natick Department of Public Works welcomed one and all to an Open House and Truck Day event at the 75 West Street facility. By the 10am start time, throngs of kids, their grown-ups, and other truck enthusiasts were lined up and ready to see and touch dump trucks, excavators, front-end loaders, and more. A crafts table kept the creative juices flowing, popcorn kept the energy going, and DPW staff was on hand to answer questions and run demos of systems and equipment at the free event.
