Bob Brown, Author at Natick Report

Nonstop Natick nightlife: Natick Night Out (Aug. 4) and Natick Nights (Aug. 6)

August 3, 2026 by Bob Brown

The Natick Police Department and community partners host their annual Natick Night Out event on Tuesday, August 4 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the High School Memorial Practice Field on West Street. There will be games, food, and an opportunity to meet local first responders. This is a free event.

Then on Thursday, Aug. 6 (5-8pm), Natick Center Cultural District hosts the last Natick Nights event of the season at Natick Common. The theme this week will be the 250th Anniversary of the United States and 375th Anniversary of Natick. Historical figure re-enactors will be on hand, plus lots of vendors, local organizations, a beer garden, music, and more.

Natick Nights Pride theme — Natick Nights (Photo by Isabelle Zhang)

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Float on: Natick ready to build boardwalk across Pickerel Pond

July 31, 2026 by Bob Brown

And we’ll all float on, okay—”Float On” by Modest Mouse

As Natick removes one artificial structure at the Charles River dam in South Natick to restore the waterway, it is readying installation of a human-made floating boardwalk across Pickerel Pond to provide greater access to nature.

The 5-foot-wide, 195-foot long bridge will link the trails at the north and south sides of the pond, and the Oakdale and Wethersfield neighborhoods. The town describes the bridge as being as long as 13 cars end to end… there may be that many in the woods nearby to test that measurement out.

pickerel pond rusty car — Pickerel Pond car

The new Natick boardwalk is sort of a mini version of the half-mile one that’s part of Marlborough’s Lake Williams trail.

Williams Lake trail, Marlborough — Williams Lake boardwalk

The Pickerel Pond connector will save trails users from having to leave the site, walk a mile on Oak Street, and re-enter the other end of the trail system.

Natick’s boardwalk will feature floating panels anchored in the mud below, aluminum safety handrails, and wooden stairs anchored into the hillside. This approach to a connector is way less expensive than going with a full-blown boardwalk, according to the town. A bunch of native plants will be added to restore disturbed areas, according to the town.

The town awarded a contract to United Contracting for $279k, with money coming from a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant from the state, plus mitigation funds from MathWorks for off-road connectivity. A more traditional style of wooden boardwalk would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more, according to the town. Ongoing maintenance costs associated with the boardwalk are expected to be minimal, the town says.

Construction is slated to start in late August, and the hope is that it will be usable by this fall. A second phase of construction will focus on stairs, vegetation management, restoration plantings, and depending upon the weather, could proceed in the spring.

You can keep tabs on the Pickerel Pond connector via the town website.

While some might see irony in the town adding a floating bridge across Pickerel Pond even as it removes the big bad spillway from the Charles, that’s something of an apples to oranges, or maybe beavers to voles, kind of comparison.

Natick Environmental Planner/Conservation Agent Claire Rundelli says the Conservation Commission “does have to balance their roles as environmental stewards and regulators and the deed holders of public recreation land. In this regard there was a desire from the Natick community for this connection, as the proposed connection between the North and South trail systems was identified as a priority action in the 2020 Open Space and Recreation Plan Update. The proposed connection also supports the Open Space, Recreation and Natural Resource Goals of the Town’s 2030+ Master Plan.”

Rundelli says the Pickerel Pond project has been designed to minimize environmental impact. The shortest route possible was chosen, for example, and building a floating boardwalk rather than a more traditional one will shorten the construction period.

“The floating boardwalk means that there is very limited disturbance needed within the wetland resource areas. Traditional boardwalks built on piers require in-water work by contractors, while the floating boardwalk sections can be brought to their locations by boat without a need for workers to be in the water.

The boardwalk design takes critters into consideration. Solid handrails will be installed rather than rope ones to lessen the chances of wildlife getting stuck in it. Waterfowl will be able to swim under either end of the bridge.

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Hammering away at the South Natick Dam spillway

July 29, 2026 by Bob Brown

spillway removal — Photo by Marco Kaltofen

The very loud and shaky dismantling of the spillway at the South Natick Dam continues, with a hydraulic hammer being used to break up the concrete over which the falls used to flow. As of earlier this week, about half of the spillway had been crushed. The former pond above the dam has been reduced to a mucky mix, as expected, once water was released through the gates.

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You can view the action from the Bacon Free Library side of the Charles River, but the Old Town Park with the picnic tables and trees is off -limits to the public for now.

The town, which decided in 2022 to ditch the dam and spillway rather than fix them, is counting on the river to restore itself in the years to come once the man-made structures are removed this summer.

There’s a move across the state and country to nix dams in the name of liability avoidance and ecological restoration.

Time to update our Top 10 Things to Do in Natick list…

Natick’s plans are to gussy up the surrounding parks, making them more accessible. It’s looking to pay for this largely via grants and by tapping into Community Preservation Act funds collected via a property tax surcharge.

The dismantling of Natick’s spillway has attracted locals, including Natick’s drone-equipped GIS division, as well as rubberneckers from outside news organizations.

Natick Report goes over your head: Banner installed in Natick Center

July 28, 2026 by Bob Brown

While Natick Report remains an online-only local news site, we have now technically entered the world of print with a Natick Center Cultural District banner flying high above Washington Street adjacent to the Morse Institute Library and facing Town Hall.

The few dozen new Natick Center Cultural District banners, which feature flowers and a depiction of the Natick Common gazebo, were installed earlier this month by the Department of Public Works and Fire Department.

Ours reads: “Natick Report: Your local news source.”

If we can encourage a handful of readers to pose under the banner and share your pics at natickreport@gmail.com, we’d love to publish them.

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Natick Fire Department on record call pace; Dept. launches community survey

July 27, 2026 by Bob Brown

Natick Fire Chief Jason Ferschke told the Select Board at its July 22 meeting that the fire department handled a record number of calls last year, and is on a pace to exceed that this year (see slides from presentation). Ferschke presented alongside Assistant Chief Christopher Hampton.

The number of fire-related calls has bounced up and down in recent years, but emergency medical services (EMS) calls have risen steadily and accounted for a much larger percentage of the 6,557 overall calls last year.

Ferschke, responding to a question from Select Board member Kristen Pope about where the increase in calls is coming from, pointed to a healthcare system under “significant strain” that’s having a trickle down effect on EMS operations. More education is needed, he said, to help people figure out when to head to the emergency room vs. an urgent care center.

Also during the annual update, Ferschke said the department is currently seven members short, following a big retirement year and in the face of general recruiting challenges for what is a dangerous and tough job. The department’s vacant slots have decreased from 14 or 15 over the past year, he said.

A newish challenge faced by firefighters are incidents involving lithium ion batteries. The department recently responded to a fire involving an energy storage system in a shed. Guidance on how to combat such fires keeps changing, Hampton said.

One way that firefighters learn beyond the classroom is by connecting with contractors about buildings that are going to be torn down to see if the department can use them for hands-on training.

“We do not train in the house until the electricity and gas (if applicable) are disconnected and any other necessary mitigation (like asbestos removal) has occurred. This usually means we usually have a very brief window—days to a week—before the structure is torn down,” Ferschke told us recently when we asked about this process. “This is a great opportunity for our personnel to conduct training with more realistic handling of hoses through a building, cutting holes in roofs, and other skills that benefit from true hands on training. Even if we had a full training facility at our disposal training like this is important as it as close to being realistic without setting the building on fire. We do not conduct live fire evolutions in these buildings. There is a significant process involved with live fire evolutions makes it too challenging to conduct them in acquired buildings.”

Highlights of late include the arrival of a new ladder truck and engine. Also, the department has started a Community Risk Reduction program that gets firefighters interacting with kids, older adults, and other groups (this program used to operate as the SAFE TEAM).

Looking ahead, the fire department is working on a strategic plan, and has launched an online survey to gather community input.