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Enjoy a Saturday morning of art, architecture, history, and food in Natick Center

April 6, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Have you ever been curious about what’s on the upper floors of the iconic 11 S. Main St. building in Natick Center? You know the one, the four-story brick structure that Bagel Table calls home. Well, your chance to venture to the third floor happens on Saturday, April 9am-11am at an Arts Open House. (The space is not accessible and can be reached only via stairs.)

natick center drummers blm

First, enjoy musical and dance performances and visual art displays featuring artists from the Natick Public Schools and various programs in town. While you’re appreciating the young artists, take time to ooh and ahh over the 135-year-old building’s interiors with its high ceilings, beautiful tin tiles, and arched windows. It’s a morning of the arts, architecture, and history, all without leaving town.

From there, stop by the Natick Farmers Market, with food and gifts vendors upstairs and downstairs in the Common Street Spiritual Center, and farmer and meats & fish purveyors in the back parking lot. The Market takes place every Saturday, 9am-11am.

The whole shebang that is the Farmers Market will move entirely outside onto the Natick Common in early May.

Filed Under: Art, Community, Kids, Shopping



Support young entrepreneurs at the Natick Children’s Business Fair

February 15, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Common Street Spiritual Center will host the Natick Children’s Business Fair during a one-day marketplace event on Saturday, February 19, 3pm-6pm. Entrepreneurial kids ages 5-15 will present their very own startup business ideas at 22 booths as they show customers the results of their work developing a brand, creating a product or service, building a marketing strategy, and finally opening for business. The event is designed to give children the experience of selling a product.

There is still booth space available, so if your young entrepreneur is interested in joining in the fun, here’s a link to the sign-up page.

Common Street Spiritual Center, Natick, church

Items for sale might include cupcakes and other baked goods; handcrafted jewelry; bookmarks; knitted hats; and more.

Judges will review the businesses and honor winners for Most Original Business Idea; Highest Business Potential; and Best Presentation and Creativity.

This event is sponsored by Common Street Spiritual Center, Great Silk Road Craft, Acton Academy, the Acton School of Business, and the generous support of donors and volunteers.

Filed Under: Business, Community, Kids, Shopping

Sidewalk Sale in Natick Center, and beyond

May 12, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Come to downtown Natick to support the local business community and shop small on Sat., May 15, 10am – 4pm.

Natick Center

Local merchants will spill out of their storefronts and onto the sidewalks, creating a fun and lively atmosphere in Natick Center.

After 1pm there is NO charge for metered parking, and the municipal lots are always FREE on the weekend. Try out the Passport app to pay for downtown parking.

Don’t forget to stop by the Farmer’s Market on Natick Common, which has opened outside. The hours are 9am-1pm.

More outside shopping, beyond Natick

Linden Square in Wellesley will hold its annual Sidewalk Sale on Thurs., May 20 – Sun., May 23. Loads of merchants will have their goods out all day, and some sale items will be discounted up to 70%. Don’t miss the discounts at this fun yearly event.

Wellesley Square Merchants will hold their next monthly Sidewalk Saturday event on May 22. Central Street will be closed 10am – 5pm. from Grove Street to CVS, creating a pedestrian-friendly, family-fun event. Live music will be part of the fun in front of CVS and further down the street in Central Park (near the Wellesley Square post office).

Additional dates for Wellesley Square Sidewalk Saturdays are: June 19, July 17, August 21, September 18.

Filed Under: Beyond Natick, Business, Community, Entertainment, Shopping

Beyond Natick: Hiking at Ravenswood Park in Gloucester; bookstores; and lunch

March 7, 2021 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

The forecast called for mild temperatures in the 40s and promised no wicked winds or bone-chilling winter precipitation, so we took the one-hour drive from Natick to Gloucester to explore Ravenswood Park. The 600-acre nature preserve is owned and managed by the Trustees of Reservations. Open year-round, sunrise to sunset, the spot is a magnet for hikers, dog walkers, and cross-country skiers. Mountain biking is  permitted on a few trails, but those trails are closed to mountain biking March 1 to April 30, during mud season.

Ravenswood Park, Gloucester

The small, no-fee parking lot located at 481 Western Ave. was almost full when we got there, and many cars were parked along the street at this popular spot. We made our way across the muddy lot and onto the wide trail. Pretty soon into our hike we face-palmed ourselves for not throwing our yaktrax into our back packs. What are we, amateurs? We’ve been doing this winter hiking thing for months now.

“It’s icy like this the whole way,” a friendly local advised us. “If you have yaktrax back in the car, you should go get them.”

We trotted the five minutes back to the parking lot, strapped on our traction aids, and were the happier (and steadier) for it. The main trail, undoubtedly once covered with light, fluffy snow, was now packed down to a hard and slippery ice-and-snow mix. But now we were a match for such conditions. Steps that were slow and tentative when we set out with just our hiking shoes became confident strides now that we didn’t have to fight for purchase on a slick surface. Amazing how much better a hike gets when you’re not worried you’re going to fall and break a hip.

The usual suspects were on the trail—casual walkers and their dogs; family groups; and determined types eager to get off the wide, main path and explore deeper into the woods. The further you get from the parking lot, the more the hiking experience improves. The madding crowd fades away. The quiet creeps out from behind the trees and under the rocks, making its presence felt as a calming companion in the snowy New England landscape. You may be deep in the woods, but it’s hard to get lost at Ravenswood. The multiple trails are well-marked, and permanent maps located at potentially confusing junctions keep hikers in touch with their true north.

Ravenswood Park, Gloucester

 

We followed the Ledge Hill Trail. Once you get the top you’re rewarded with a view of Gloucester Harbor, known as America’s oldest seaport. Especially with young kids, if all you did was an out-and-back hike on Ledge Hill trail to the overlook, that would be a fine hike and a successful family outing. The path is lined with moss-covered boulders, some of them absolutely massive, and the hiking itself is easy, with no sudden elevation changes.

We decided we needed to stretch our legs a little more and from the overlook we followed the blue trail loop. About two miles later, we met back up with the Ledge Hill Trail, which led us back to the path most taken, and the parking lot.

From there we took the 7-minute drive to Gloucester’s Main Street to wander around a bit before lunch. Because it was a Sunday in the winter, many of the shops were closed. And because we are in a pandemic, some of the shops are open by appointment only. And because we are in a pandemic, some of the shops are closed for good. There isn’t a town we’ve explored this winter that doesn’t have empty storefronts. Gloucester is no exception.

Gloucester, Massachusetts

 

Come on a sunny spring day and you’ll find the doors open to antiques shops, art galleries, upscale clothing boutiques, shoe stores, a record store, restaurants, and more. We stopped in at two places—The Bookstore of Gloucester, 61 Main Street; and Dogtown Books, 132 Main Street.

The Bookstore of Gloucester is an independent shop that’s been in town for over 45 years. They sell a curated collection of new books that include everything from bestsellers to nautical history and local literature. Thanks to their artist of the month program, the walls are always full of original art, most of it for sale.

Dogtown Books is one of those fiercely unique places where a book lover can get lost for hours. The mission of the secondhand spot according to its website is “to be the best destination for Gloucester’s local and visiting readers, writers and creatives, and to connect people with the books that they will love.”

Gloucester, Massachusetts

 

How can you not love a place like this? Dogtown is filled with all the things I secretly want to surround myself with at home. They’ve got books shelved neatly, and books piled in corners. Maps and magazines, and odds and ends. Leather bound tomes and tattered paperbacks. I love the vibe, but if I cart it all home, then I’ll have to dust it. Not that Dogtown, or any of the best used book shops, puts much faith in the idea of dusting. But when cool indie places are a little disheveled and unable to pass the white glove test nobody cares. It’s part of their charm. When they do things like devote an entire bookcase to “penny dreadfuls,” they’re considered hip and/or keepers of the past. When I do it, my family calls me a “hoarder.”

If you wander downtown Gloucester, definitely stop into both bookstores. I mean, two bookstores on one Main street? How is that even possible today? Must be some kind of North Shore magic.

All that hiking and wandering made us hungry. Our goal was to get takeout, park on Ocean Ave., and eat our lunch overlooking the water. We tried out a hugely popular local favorite, The Causeway Restaurant. After picking up our order of Caesar salad with scallops, fried calamari, and clam chowder, we drove a couple blocks down the street Ocean Ave. and got our parking space with a view. The ocean was pretty and all, but the people watching was even better. Everyone was out and enjoying the day, some sitting on benches and taking in the view, others on power walks. Nearby Stage Fort Park is another good place to have lunch if the parking spaces on Ocean Ave. refuse to open up. Plus there’s a playground and a dog park there, so fun for all. But the visitor center and its all-important bathrooms aren’t open until mid-spring.

Lunch smelled fantastic so we opened up the bag and got going. Whoops. They forgot to include our clam chowder. Pity. We’d heard rave reviews, but that’s the way it goes. A quick call to the restaurant cleared the charge off our card. On to the rest of the order. The meal-sized appetizer of fried calamari was fried up light and lovely, and the squid itself was tender. The Caesar salad was also enormous, with so many large and delicious scallops, perfectly grilled, that the leftovers became part of a bruschetta that night.

Other menu items that looked tempting were baked coconut rum haddock (dinner only); bacon wrapped scallops; shrimp scampi or alfredo; plus classics like onion rings, whole belly clams; burgers; swordfish, and steak tips. This diamond-in-the-rough spot offers friendly, informal service, reasonable prices, and huge portions. The dining room is open, and it’s BYOB.

There’s so much more to do in Gloucester—hang out one of their beaches, or catch a whale watch, or charter a fishing boat. Maybe we’ll be back in the summer and return with more to report.

MORE:

A winter hike at Ashland State Park

Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, NH

A spring visit to Boston’s Arnold Arboretum

A walk around Walden Pond in Concord


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Filed Under: Beyond Natick, Books, Food, Outdoors, Restaurants, Shopping

Natick business visit: we stop by the new PGA Tour Superstore

February 4, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

In a crafty move, the PGA Tour Superstore in Natick welcomed those who golf or are golf-curious to its grand opening at 1398 Worcester St. (Rte. 9 east), in the former Michaels art supply store. We dropped by to visit the 34,000 sq. ft. retailer to see what they’ve done with the place after a gut remodel achieved in a sub-part time of about four months. Hey, it’s not their first swing at this kind of thing. The Natick location marks  PGA Tour Superstore’s third Boston-area location (Braintree and Peabody are its other area outposts), and 45th store overall.

PGA Tour Superstore, Natick

“We’re definitely rolling and so excited to be here. It’s been a lot of effort to get everything together to get to this point, and a lot of fun,” assistant general manager Tyler Clerverdon said.

The PGA store, short for Professional Golfers’ Association, offers what you would expect in a store of its massive size—all the golf gear and apparel you could ever want, on a grand scale. An entire wall of just golf balls. An entire wall of just shoes. Aisles of just clubs. You get the idea. The store’s emphasis is on golf, but it also offers tennis equipment and apparel.

PGA Tour Superstore, Natick

When we stopped by, a bunch of families were having fun puttering about the 1,500 sq. ft. putting green area, while the virtual golf center’s bays were filled with those trying to find the perfect club or improve their swings. There are four bays for club fitting, and four practice bays, with practice bay rentals available at a rate of $10 by the half-hour. You can bring your own clubs, but not your own bag. And if you’re wondering why you must wait a few minutes when there’s an empty bay right over there, that would be due to physical distancing requirements. The virtual golf center offers lessons in two additional bays, and is staffed with certified instructors.

PGA Tour Superstore, Natick

The 10 bays have different purposes but use the same technology. Data-driven improvement metrics are very big here. To make every swing count, each practice bay is outfitted with ball flight launch monitor technology, as well as video swing capture and playback capabilities. The idea is to give golfers concrete feedback about how to improve their overall game.

With winter looming long, golf courses frozen solid, and a dearth of things to do that seem safe during a time of pandemic, it’s likely that PGA Superstore will see a steady stream of the activity-starved. If those improved or newfound golf skills transfer over to the outdoor links come spring, so much the better for Natick’s newest addition to the route 9 retail landscape.

PGA Tour Superstore, Natick

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