Stow Historical Society to Ask Minutemen for ANSWERS
Have you ever wondered about the Minutemen who marched from Stow to Concord on country paths on April 19, 1775? What was that day, which we now know as Patriot’s Day, like? Did these farmers have any training for warfare? And just who were these local boys? Bob Stokes, captain of the Stow Minutemen, and others in his company will fill in all the known details of that day at a pot luck dinner sponsored by the Stow Historical Society on April 4 at 6:30pm at Stow Town Hall. The program is open to the public. Reservations should be made with Dorothy Sonnichsen at 978-897-3344 or [email protected]. Participants at the dinner are invited to bring their own questions for the special presentation.
Gleasondale Village Design Workshop
On April 5, from 9am to 12pm, at the Hale School cafeteria, join the Stow Planning Department and UMASS Regional Planning and Architecture students for a hands-on design workshop as part of the Gleasondale Village Planning Project. Utilizing public input from previous workshops and focus groups, the students will be presenting visual design scenarios of a revitalized Gleasondale Village. The workshop will be a great opportunity for residents to engage with the opportunities and limitations around potential mill expansion and neighborhood improvements. Refreshments will be provided.
6th Annual Stow Town Cleanup Scheduled for April 5
Help us pick it up during the 6th annual Stow Town Cleanup. Sign up for your cleanup area on the town map at the Lower Common near Papa Gino’s on Saturday, April 5, from 8 a.m. to noon. The Stow Cleanup Group will have garbage bags and gloves (adult sizes) available at no cost. Though our April date should help us avoid poison ivy, participants should wear gloves, long pants and sleeves, and bright clothes or a reflective vest. Bags can be tossed in your own trash can or left by the side of the road. The Town Highway Department will pick up bags on Monday.For more information, go to www.stowcleanup.wordpress.com.
Upcoming Events at the Randall Library in April
Check out our new library website at www.RandallLibraryStow.org to find out the latest news on upcoming events, programs, reading suggestions and a whole lot more.
Lego Club, Wednesday, April 2nd from 4-5:15pm – Meeting the first Wednesday of each month, this is the first meeting of the Lego Club.
Ed Morgan, Saturday, April 5, at 10:30am – Enjoy an interactive sing-along for children ages 1 to 99 with Ed Morgan, “The Music Man.” Learn new ways to connect with your family through songs. This family-friendly performance will have everyone up moving, dancing and singing. We hope to see you there!
Author Visit: Ammi-Joan Paquette and Fairy Houses, Saturday, April 12, at 11am – Come meet Ammi-Joan Paquette, author of picture books and children’s novels such as Rules for Ghosting, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, and Petey and Pru and the Hullabaloo. She will discuss her books and writing process, and teach us how to make fairy houses out of found materials from nature.
Poetry Reading with Robert Clawson & Susan Richmond, April 24 at 7pm
In honor of National Poetry month, the Randall Library is pleased to have poets Robert Clawson and Susan Richmond in to read and speak about their poetry and inspirations.
Robert Clawson has been published in magazines and journals.He is a teacher, poet and publisher and currently lives in Acton with his family. Susan Richmond’s recent publication, Increase, is inspired by the journals of the Harvard Shaker Community and her year as poet-in-residence at the Fruitlands Museum. Her previous collections include Purgatory Chasm, Boto, and Birding in Winter.
“The Struggle to Be Free”: A Celebration of Passover
On Sunday, April 6, at 9am and 11am, the First Parish Church of Stow and Acton will focus on the Passover Story, which recounts the long oppression of the Hebrew people and their struggle for freedom. We will examine the meaning of that rich story and how it applies to our world today, especially for those who still struggle to be free. Both services will include traditional Passover music and songs of freedom. The church is located at 353 Great Rd. in Stow. Our facilities are wheelchair accessible. For more information call the church office at 978-897-8149, or visit our website at www.fpc-stow-acton.org.
Seed Saving: free slideshow/lecture and seed swap
Sunday, April 6, from 3pm to 5:30pm at the Stow Town Hall, 375 Great Rd. Confessions of a Seed Snatcher is a humorous, insightful journey of discovery into the world of seed saving. Learn how to save seeds from many of your favorite garden friends, as you enjoy entertaining stories of “finding” seeds in unusual places. Following the slideshow/lecture we’ll have a hands-on component where you can “gather seeds” from a large collection of flower heads, seed stalks, pods, for your own planting. Bring your own seeds to share with others, as well. Please bring snack-sized baggies or envelopes to take home some seeds. Presenter, MariePatrice Masse, is a member of the Stow Garden Club. This event is a great opportunity to meet others and learn about the Stow Community Garden. For more information contact MariePatrice Masse, 978-579-0897.
LEARN ABOUT RANDALL LIBRARY’S FUTURE
The Randall Library Trustees and the Randall Library Friends will hold a joint meeting on April 12 to discuss our vision for Randall Library. This year’s Town Meeting will not be asked to approve a building project for the Library, but there is a plan to renovate and expand the Randall Library. We can continue to provide excellent library services to the Town, preserve our historic landmark, and grow to become a library of the future. And work toward these goals has already begun!
Join us on Saturday, April 12, at 10:30am at the Randall Library. Plans for our future building project will be reviewed. Hear the progress that has been made and learn about the next steps to be taken in the coming year. (There will be refreshments.)
YOUNG EAGLES FLIGHT RALLY SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 12
All those between ages 8-17 will have a chance to take to the skies on Saturday, April 12 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, as EAA Chapter 196 hosts a Young Eagles Flight Rally at Minute Man Airfield, 302 Boxboro Road, Stow.
Pilots at the event will explain more about their airplanes, allowing young people to discover how airplanes work and how pilots ensure safety is the prime concern before every flight. The rally is part of the EAA Young Eagles Program, created to interest young people in aviation. For more information, go to www.eaa196.org/eagles.htm, call 978-212-9196, or send an email to [email protected].
MYCHIPS Child Identification Program Coming to Stow
The MYCHIPS Child Identification Program will be made available to Stow residents Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Hale Middle School on Hartley Road in Stow. MYCHIP (Masonic Youth Child Identification Program) provides tools to help law enforcement authorities find and identify a lost or missing child. During the event, families will have the opportunity to record a videotape of their child, perform fingerprinting and a tooth print bite impression, and swab the child’s cheek for DNA material. All materials created will be given to the parents. To schedule an appointment for your child(ren) to participate in the program or to ask questions, please call the Stow Board of Health at 978-897-4592 or email: [email protected].
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny will be joining The Stow Lions for breakfast at the Hale School Cafeteria on Sunday, April 13, from 8am to 11:30 am. We’re serving a homemade breakfast including scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, pancakes, juice, milk, coffee, tea, and fun. There will be door prizes and a raffle table, too!
Tickers are at the family friendly prices of $6 for adults, $3 for children, and $4 for senior citizens. For additional information email [email protected]. Also, check our web site, www.stowlions.org.
SPRING PEEPER CONTEST
What will you be doing during April School Vacation? Are you ready for a fun family outdoor adventure? The Stow Conservation Trust (SCT) is sponsoring the 2nd Annual Spring Peeper Contest. Find all six (6) of the Spring Peeper posters located in some of SCT’s Conservation properties (Red Acre Woodlands, Leggett Woodland and Hale-Corzine). The hunt for the spring peeper posters will run between April 16 and April 26. Look for them on your own or find clues to where they are displayed on the SCT website www.stowconservationtrust.org
Submit photos of all six (6) posters (displaying the poster number) or submit sufficient written details of the location the posters were found to [email protected] and you will be entered into a drawing to win for a family membership to Mass Audubon (a value of $65). Submission deadline is May Day, Thursday, May 1, 2014. Include your name and a phone number with your submission in case we need to contact you.
R.A.D. Basic Self Defense Course
The Stow Police Department is hosting a R.A.D. Basic Self Defense course for the young women of Stow (ages 13-16) during April vacation (Monday, April 21 thru Thursday, April 24, from 10am to 1pm, at the Hale Middle School Gym). The R.A.D. System is a comprehensive, women-only course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction, and risk avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training suitable for women of all ages and abilities. Class size is limited. To register, please contact Officer Cassie Ela at 978-897-4545 or via email at [email protected] by April 13. For more information about R.A.D. visit: www.rad-systems.com. Monday April 21, 2014 4:30am-Noon
The Stow Minutemen March on Patriots’ Day
The Stow Minutemen Company will once again march the same route taken by the Colonial militia in April 1775 to Concord, upon hearing the news that the British Regulars were marching towards Concord. We start out at pre-dawn on Monday, April 21, at 4:30am, when the air is cool and all is quiet – but not for long as musket volleys, colonial fife and drum music, and the marching of many feet awaken townsfolk along our historic route. This year, the Company will begin its annual pre-dawn Trail March “muster” with over 30 Colonial re-enactors dressed in period garb, as well as many modern-day “civilians” who are welcome to follow along at the rear. Please note that the Stow Minutemen do not actively organize, supervise, or chaperone civilian followers, and cannot be held responsible for any child or adult. We encourage carpooling for the return, since several roads in Concord will be closed to vehicles.
The annual Trail March and our participation in Concord’s Battle at Old North Bridge and Parade is rain or shine. So come out and join us and live what happened on what we now know as Patriots’ Day. For more information, e-mail us at [email protected], or call us at 978-206-1775 or visit: www.stowminutemen.org.
NEW BOOK CLUB MEETING
The next meeting of the New Book Club will be at 7pm on Tuesday, April 22, at the Randall Library. We’ll discuss Shine,Shine,Shine, by Lydia Netzer. Oddities and idiosyncrasies are cast in a metaphysical light, but Netzer makes them easily understood. Join us to share your understanding of this unusual story. Bring your suggestions for future reads. Questions — call 978-897-6055.
Friends of Troop 1 Stow Electronics Recycling Event
Boy Scout Annual Electronics Recycling Day and Pick Up Service — Friends of Boy Scout Troop 1 Stow will hold the 11th annual electronics recycling event, Operation Motherboard, at Bose Corporation, 688 Great Rd. (Rt. 117), on Saturday, April 26, from 9am to 2pm. An electronics pickup service is available on April 5 and April 19 for seniors, those requiring assistance with heavy items such as air conditioners, TVs or treadmills in advance of the recycle event day, and anyone not able to drop off on event day.Please visit http://troop1stow.net/recycling for complete rate details and to review the accepted items list. Call 978-212-9175 or send email to [email protected].