Events: May 2008 Archives
If you've ever been to a Stow SpringFest, you know it usually rains (or snows)! This year we got lucky. It was a very special year for us because our town celebrated its Tercenquarternary. What's that word you say? Well the word was "invented" for this occasion and simply means we celebrated our 325th anniversary. We had a huge parade this year. We had the Stow and Sudbury Minutemen, bagpipers, tractors, trucks, antique cars and fire trucks, a replica of the Stow West School (the 1-room schoolhouse still standing on Harvard Road), and a hayride. We even had ourselves a clown on a bike! The girl scouts carried the flags belonging to Stow over the years and the parade was closed by the famed Belgian horses of Rockbottom Farm.
The parade ended at Center School where the real festivities began. There were huge cakes to celebrate the Stow Community Chest's 25th anniversary, students playing instruments at the Stow Friends of Music booth, encampments of minutemen, animals, an old-fashioned broom maker, a blacksmith, spinning and weaving demonstrations, firemen playing "water polo", 20 information booths, and activities galore.
The afternoon gave us a wonderful children's play at the Old Town Hall. "The Time Trap" was a unique lesson in Stow history from a kids' point of view. The play was inspired by books by Stow's Martha Perkins and chronicled the lives of modern day Stow kids who got caught in a parallel existence with 18th, 19th and 20th century Stow kids. The portal in time was an old outhouse.
For more images, visit: Paul's Apple Country Gallery no. 21 or see a select few in the "Images" post below. Proceeds from print sales will go to support the Stow Community Chest.
For more images, please visit: Paul's Apple Country Living Gallery no. 21. Proceeds from print sales will go to support the Stow Community Chest.
The Persuasions are one of the world's premiere a capella groups who began singing together in Brooklyn on street corners and subway stations in the 1960s. From there they went on to release 20 albums. How did they come to our little town? You may remember the tragedy of the death of 19 year old Frankie DeMeo, captain of Nashoba Regional's wrestling squad. Vinnie Sestito, an entertainment industry executive and Stow resident, brought the Persuasions here to kick off the Frankie DeMeo Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund, which is being run by high school students, aims to create "a Northeastern experience inside the high school," according to Sestito. The reference is to Northeastern University's well-known internship program that combines classroom experience with real-world training. The fund aims to help learning disabled students achieve their potential. Frankie struggled with an autism spectrum disorder, but through wrestling and hard work became a success in high school and was preparing for college.
Donations can be sent to Frankie DeMeo Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Nashoba Regional Scholarship Fund, PO Box 523, Bolton, MA 01740. Image: Four members of the Persuasions (Jim Hayes, Joe Russell, Jaytois Washington, BJ Jones).
Stow's Adrienne Wickham-Gobert adds a female vocal presence to the all-acoustic trio The Travis and Wes Experience (plus Adi).
The social and entertainment event of the year in our neck of the woods has to be the Battle of the Bands at Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton. This is the second annual event and proceeds benefit the Friends of Sudanese, an organization that assists Sudanese refugees who were brought to the Boston area in 2001 by the State Department after 9 years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Last year we had the opportunity to meet one of these people who told us how different things are here and helped us to appreciate just how great this country is.
Stow's Mike Sestito fronts for the rock band Timeless Infamy.
I bring my daughters to this annual event because there are very few opportunities for 9 and 6 year olds to see live rock concerts. To them, these musicians are every bit as famous as Avril Lavigne or Miley Cyrus––well, okay maybe not that famous. They dress up in their concert gear (i.e., leather) and sit in the front row and take in all the sights and sounds.
They have a couple of teachers host the event, with some bad jokes that the students are quick to jump on, and this year's show was coordinated by Stow's Sam Tobia. They have judges. They have scoring. And, yes, they have a winner. But the winner doesn't get a recording contract. Instead they get a $100 gift certificate to a local music shop. What did you think this was Fox's America's Best Band?
Shelburne Farm is right around the corner from our house and is one of the five apple orchards we have in Stow. Each orchard has its own appeal and, if you are somewhat local, I suggest you check them all out. Owner Ted Painter was one of the recipients of a grant to plant tall spindled apple trees–a modern advance in orchard design. And did they plant: 1400 of them to be exact, spaced about three feet apart. These aren't the apple trees you are used to seeing that are broad and planted far apart. It was quite a sight as a tractor pulled a large spade that prepared the planting for each tree. As you can see from the image, the planter just places a tree in the trough every three feet and someone comes along behind them and fills in the dirt.
Manager Jeff LaPlante and his Minor League "Reds" team prepare for the first Opening Day exhibition game this past Sunday on DJ's Field in Maynard, MA.
There is nothing that signals spring more than baseball's opening day, whether it's at the professional or tee ball levels. The Assabet Valley Little League serves the towns of Maynard and Stow and draws approximately 600 players on 52 teams. A far off dream for many of these kids is to play Tee Ball at the White House. President Bush, who as you probably know is the first President to have played Little League, has been hosting annual Tee Ball games on the South Lawn of the White House. This year, there will be a Tee Ball "All Star" game with one player selected from each state. A more realistic dream is to just be part of a local All Star team in the regular baseball and softball local and regional tournaments where they can hope, with skill and a little luck, to get to Williamsport, PA.
