Bob Brown, Author at Natick Report

Natick heart art to depart

August 11, 2020 by Bob Brown

The LOVE 01760 bridge of hearts, Natick’s colorful community art project that has been up since mid-July, will be coming down this Thursday, Aug. 13.

We’ve been by several times in recent weeks, and have always seen at least a few others there examining the 1,200 or so laminated hearts. Gotta say, the display has held up extremely well.

The public art installation was conceived by members of the Natick Center Cultural District, SPARK Kindness, local artists, businesses and organizations to help keep the community connected during the health crisis.

A selection of heart halves will be archived through the Natick Shares: A COVID-19 Community Archive Project.

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Natick issues mandatory water use restriction: Don’t blame us

August 11, 2020 by Bob Brown

The Town of Natick has announced a mandatory non-essential outdoor water use restriction in light of the light rainfall totals so far this summer. In other words, turn off the sprinklers to help ensure there’s enough water left for public health and safety needs, such as fire protection.

As you can see, we’ve been doing our part, with our two-tone lawn of fading green and crispy brown.

Here are the specific rules:

Watering Schedule

Residents and businesses occupying a building with an odd number street address will limit non-essential water use including lawn and garden watering to Monday and Thursday from the hours of 5:00 pm on the select day until 9:00 am the following day.
Residents and businesses occupying a building with an even number street address will limit non-essential water use including lawn and garden watering to Tuesday and Friday from the hours of 5:00 pm on the select day until 9:00 am the following day.
No non-essential outdoor water use Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday.

Non-Essential Outdoor Water Use Recommendation

Water lawns only when necessary. Please be aware that a healthy lawn only requires a maximum of one (1) inch of water per week.
Maintain your lawn at a height of at least two (2) inches. This practice will protect roots and retain soil moisture.
Water is lost to evaporation when watering during hot days
Visit https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watering-tips for additional watering tips.

Essential Outdoor Water Use Definition

Essential Outdoor Water Use shall mean those uses that are required for the following:

For health or safety reasons;
By regulation;
For the production of food and fiber;
For the maintenance of livestock;
To meet the core functions of a business (for example, irrigation by golf courses as necessary to maintain tees and greens, and limited fairway watering);
Irrigation by Plant nurseries;
Agricultural operations as necessary to maintain stock or establish new plantings;
Pest management;
Wash equipment to prevent damage and/or maintain performance;
Irrigation of parks and recreation fields

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Natick grads making the most of their moment

August 10, 2020 by Bob Brown

Thanks to Don Warren for sharing photos of recent Natick High School grads, who just can’t seem to take off those Class of 2020 graduation gowns. Seen here, a handful of grads hoop it up at Murphy Field on Monday, Aug. 10, 3 days after they graduated at Memorial Field.

While they’re too far away to see in detail, we’ll assume they were masked up.

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COVID-19 pandemic’s next target in Natick: Halloween

August 9, 2020 by Bob Brown

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t going to stop at disrupting spring and summer: Halloween’s around the corner this fall, and Natick’s already starting to think about what that might look like.

Select Board member Karen Adelman-Foster raised the touchy subject at this past week’s meeting.

“Halloween isn’t that far away and it seems possible that regular trick-or-treat isn’t going to happen,” she said. She raised the question of whether the town might come up with an alternative safe way to celebrate the holiday.

Natick typically does have several organized Halloween events, including a parade, trick-or-treating, and activities for costumed kids and adults downtown. But Town Administrator Melissa Malone acknowledged the challenge of doing something like that without social gathering.

Coming off a decision in June to cancel the annual Natick Days festival, Natick is thinking creatively about how to get something done for Halloween, she said. The town still has 2-plus months to do so.

“It’s just a little tricky,” Malone said.

Salem, the local epicenter for Halloween happenings, has already canceled or scaled back a bunch of its usual events.

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Congratulations to Natick High School Class of 2020

August 7, 2020 by Bob Brown

natick high graduation gis — Photo courtesy of Richard Ames, Natick GIS coordinator

Natick High School’s Class of 2020 patiently waited a couple of months, but finally got its graduation ceremony, which lasted from light until dark on a beautiful August night. Congratulations to the grads, and best of luck going forward.

We’ll add the Natick Pegasus recording of the event when it’s available.