Day: May 4, 2023

For those of you who may be planning a visit to Gloucester to one of your favorites, here’s an update from Sugar Magnolias on Main Street. We’ll have to be patient, but they promise to return! And we’ll be waiting…

We’re intrigued by the challenges around us. Look carefully for the crow in the last photo.

Hey Joey, how’s this?

This afternoon’s storm clouds that rolled across the Inner Harbor was a sign of ominous things to come, but another more favorable sign, seen every day over East Main Street, is that of Cap. Joe & Son’s. I feel better already.

Bill Funk

Clouds at Play…

, an original production performing Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20 at 7:30pm.  The performances takes place inside the back dance studio on the Windhover campus and they last 90 minutes.

Adapted and directed by Peter Littlefield and performed by Peter Berkrot, Judy Brain, Duncan Hollomon, Cass Tunick, Brian Weed and Deirdre Weed.  Music performed by Kathleen Adams. Forest form sculptures by Liz Sibley Fletcher. A pre-performance talk by Grace Schrafft on Gloucester’s 17^th century witch persecutions will begin the evening.

Percy MacKaye’s 1922 poem, Dogtown Common, is a beloved document of Gloucester lore. It tells the story of two legendary figures, Tammy Younger and her niece Judy Rhines, shunned for practicing witchcraft. It was inspired by Charles Mann’s original 1896, The Story of Dogtown or In the Heart of Cape Ann, that compiles recollections about the outsiders, berry-pickers, subsistence farms and self-proclaimed witches that inhabited Dogtown after it was abandoned in the early 1800’s.

Windhover had been a dairy farm. It seemed the perfect place to stage the poem because it looks the way Dogtown must have looked before it was abandoned after the Revolution. Windhover’s production combines the idea of an installation with a staged reading like a ghost story. The performers sit around a table and build an image of Dogtown as they enact the poem. The performance is as fully staged as a conventional play, but we put the emphasis on the imaginative act of engaging a poetic text.  

Tickets are $15. For more information,
https://windhover.org/performances/

Performances of Dogtown Common are presented as part of the Gloucester 400+ celebration. For more information,
https://www.gloucesterma400.org/

Exhibition One and Associate Members’ Spring Show

Opening Receptions:
Friday, May 5 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM

North Shore Arts Association
11 Pirate’s Lane, Gloucester, MA 01930

The North Shore Arts Association is excited to welcome the public to experience a variety of masterful artworks by its membership in Exhibition One on display May 2 – 27. Running Simultaneously is the Associate Members’ Spring Show on view from May 2 – 21. Paintings, drawings, and sculptures complement each other in these exhibitions and are beautifully represented in the Main Gallery and the Gordon Grant Room and Hallway Gallery.  Award winning artworks are displayed throughout, bringing local talent to the forefront in a grand way.  

Please join us for the reception on Friday, May 5^th from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. All are welcome! North Shore Arts Association is located at 11 Pirate’s Lane, Gloucester, MA 01930.

For more information about events please call (978) 283-1857 or email arts@nsarts.org.

Visiting hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM, Sundays 12 – 4 PM, and closed Mondays in April.  

Exhibition One: Juried Artist Members’ Show

Associate Members’ Spring Show

Thursday evening at 6PM the place to be is going to be the St Peter’s club when they are opening their doors to the public for the 1st Ever Meatball Challenge. The first 100 people to donate $10 that night at the door will be able to try a meatball from 10 of Gloucester’s finer chefs. These people will be entered to win a door prize and will be able to vote for their favorite meatball!

I expect a great crowd. The bar will be open and we will be livestreaming the event!

Look for the other contestant’s hype videos.

Sclafani’s – Tonno – Oak To Ember – Minglewood Harborside – Delaney’s – Topside Bistro- Zina Saputo – Richie Baressi – Causeway – Charlie’s Place

Thursday evening at 6PM the place to be is going to be the St Peter’s club when they are opening their doors to the public for the 1st Ever Meatball Challenge. The first 100 people to donate $10 that night at the door will be able to try a meatball from 10 of Gloucester’s finer chefs. These people will be entered to win a door prize and will be able to vote for their favorite meatball!

I expect a great crowd. The bar will be open and we will be livestreaming the event!

Look for the other contestant’s hype videos.

Sclafani’s – Tonno – Oak To Ember – Minglewood Harborside – Delaney’s – Topside Bistro- Zina Saputo – Richie Baressi – Causeway – Charlie’s Place

These barns are tucked a little bit off the byway at the Cox Reservation on Eastern Ave in Essex near Farnhams. I like to take a walk up there once in a while to see what’s new. You know how it is when you finally “see” something that’s been there all along but this time it strikes you differently? Well, that’s what happened with these two barns. One is an art studio and you can clearly see the light must be fantastic for working in there. The other seems to be more functional but they each reflect their own majesty. They face each other like good friends with very different personalities. Access is free and the walks are relatively easy.

Mayor Greg Verga and Fire Chief Eric Smith report that the Gloucester Fire Department responded to a small fire in City Hall on Wednesday night.
City Hall is closed today. All other city buildings remain open, including the City Hall Annex.
On Wednesday, May 3, at about 11:30 p.m., Gloucester dispatchers received a call from the City’s alarm contractor that a general alarm had been struck at City Hall, 9 Dale Ave.
First-responding crews reached City Hall within minutes. They reported smoke and fire conditions coming from a basement office, bringing multiple additional crews to the scene for critical support.
The fire was reported knocked down by about 11:43 p.m. Fire crews cleared the scene at about 2:06 a.m. Thursday.
No injuries were reported.
No cause has been determined. The investigation by the Gloucester Fire Department, Gloucester Police Department, and the State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit attached to the State Fire Marshal’s Office remains active and ongoing.
City crews are assessing fire damage in the basement, and possible smoke damage in the remainder of the building.
“The swift response by the Fire Department prevented what could have been a devastating fire,” Mayor Verga said. “Our City departments will be working throughout the day to reopen City Hall as quickly as possible.”
Departments located in City Hall — Archives, City Assessor, City Auditor, City Clerk, Legal Department, Payroll, Personnel, Purchasing, Treasurer-Collector, and the Mayor’s Office – are closed to the public today. Those who wish to conduct business with these departments are asked to contact them by email, or by using appropriate online services through the City website.
More information will be released as it becomes available.

Thursday evening at 6PM the place to be is going to be the St Peter’s club when they are opening their doors to the public for the 1st Ever Meatball Challenge. The first 100 people to donate $10 that night at the door will be able to try a meatball from 10 of Gloucester’s finer chefs. These people will be entered to win a door prize and will be able to vote for their favorite meatball!

I expect a great crowd. The bar will be open and we will be livestreaming the event!

Look for the other contestant’s hype videos.

Sclafani’s – Tonno – Oak To Ember – Minglewood Harborside – Delaney’s – Topside Bistro- Zina Saputo – Richie Baressi – Causeway – Charlie’s Place