Author: Kimsmithdesigns

Documentary filmmaker, photographer, landscape designer, author, and illustrator. "Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly" currently airing on PBS. Current film projects include Piping Plovers, Gloucester's Feast of St. Joseph, and Saint Peter's Fiesta. Visit my websites for more information about film and design projects at kimsmithdesigns.com, monarchbutterflyfilm.com, and pipingploverproject.org. Author/illustrator "Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden."

JOHN MCELHENNY’S INTRODUCTION FOR JOEY, CAPE ANN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SMALL BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR FOR GLOUCESTER

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Above photo courtesy Mayor Romeo-Thekan. See more photos from the Mayor’s Facebook page here.

For those who were unable to attend either celebration this past week, the party at the Studio honoring Joey, or the CACC Business Person of the Year awards ceremony and luncheon held today at Castle Manor Inn, we thought you’d like to read John’s straight-from-the-heart introduction.

June 5, 2015

I’m honored to be here to introduce this year’s Cape Ann Chamber Small Business person of the year for Gloucester, Joey Ciaramitaro. It’s such a great event, to be here among all these small business people who’ve done so much for all their communities here on Cape Ann. Thank you for all you do.

Though Good Morning Gloucester focuses on Gloucester I know Joey’s worked hard to include all of our towns on the blog, from Rockport resident Nichole Schrafft’s regular posts to coverage about the Manchester Athletic Club and the Manchester Essex schools to posts about the Essex River Race and tons of other Essex events. That’s one of the great things about Good Morning Gloucester — how inclusive it is in so many ways.

I’m not sure everyone here knows how Good Morning Gloucester was created. It began as a daily post on the Cape Ann Online message board. Joey would take pictures down the dock before dawn every morning and post them to the message board. Those posts began to draw so much interest that Joey moved them over to a standalone blog in December 2007.

And so Good Morning Gloucester was born. And Gloucester has never been the same since!

Of course, Joey’s love for Gloucester goes back long before that. He started working down the dock for Capt. Joe & Sons, the family business, when he was 9 years old. (I know how old Joey is and that was a long, loooong time ago.) The day Joey graduated from college, his dad left Joey’s work boots by the front door. “See you down the dock tomorrow morning,” his dad said. And Joey’s been down the dock ever since.

Everyone has their own thing that they love most about Good Morning Gloucester.

Maybe it’s Kim Smith’s butterflies or Donna Ardizzoni’s Rafe’s Chasm photos or Craig Kimberley’s grilliin’ shots or the “GMG Represents!” photos from Moscow or Beijing. (Though I have to say, that time the photographer came to take photos of Joey for a German pin-up calendar, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.)

Me, I love Good Morning Gloucester for three reasons:

First, GMG creates a community and brings us together around the blog. We share comments on the blog or we meet up in person at Mug Ups or we pass each other on the street, all of us bound together by knowing Joey or something we saw on the blog. It’s a big GMG Gloucester community that’s been created and we’re all a part of it.

Second, I think GMG strengthens our sense of place. Gloucester is an authentic place where people are plumbers and artists and fishermen and bankers and lobster brokers and teachers. People here are diverse and we’re imperfect and we’re real and the blog captures us perfectly. Good Morning Gloucester has the little stories and the little pictures that seem so routine but then added together make up our lives here. From the kids’ birthday parties on Niles Beach to the coyotes in West Gloucester to the lobster boat heading out of Gloucester Harbor to the new shop opening on Main Street to that tall awkward guy who lives downtown and wears the skinny jeans. GMG tells the stories of the everyday things that make Gloucester at once a real, ordinary, mundane town and the greatest place to live on earth.

Which brings me to the third reason I love Good Morning Gloucester and the guy behind it. There is no bigger champion for Cape Ann, no one who’s done more to change Gloucester’s image in a positive way within our city and beyond, than Joey Ciaramitaro. Joey likes say it’s all because of the Good Morning Gloucester team and that’s true. But it all started with one guy taking photos on his way to work down the Gloucester dock in the quiet dark before dawn.

And today?

Today, GoodMorningGloucester puts up 20 news posts per day and draws an average of 50,000 page views every single day. On a good day? The blog gets 80,000 page views. All of the posts take their lead from Joey’s love for Gloucester and the mundane, everyday awesome of the city we call our home.

So please join me in congratulating this year’s Cape Ann Chamber Small Businessperson of the Year from Gloucester, the co-owner of Capt. Joe & Sons Lobster Company, a founder of our downtown block parties, one of the biggest champions of our city there is, the man behind Good Morning Gloucester, Joey Ciaramitaro.

John McElhenny ©Kim Smith 2015

Sunset Tours of Gloucester Harbor

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Sail away on the Schooner Ardelle to the world of Fitz Henry Lane

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (June 4, 2015) – The Cape Ann Museum, in partnership with Maritime Gloucester, is pleased to announce three dates for their popular Fitz Henry Lane Sunset Harbor Cruise this summer. The narrated tour of Gloucester Harbor aboard the Schooner Ardelle will be offered on the following Wednesday evenings: June 17, July 15 and August 12. Cost is $30 for Museum members; $45 for nonmembers. Space is limited; reservations required. For more information please call (978) 281-0470 or visit maritimegloucester.org.

Lane-GloucesterHarborSunrise1851Image: Fitz Henry Lane, Gloucester Harbor at Sunrise, c. 1850. Oil on canvas. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum

The newly renovated Cape Ann Museum celebrates the art, history and culture of Cape Ann – a region with a rich and varied culture of nationally significant historical, industrial and artistic achievement. The Museum’s collections include fine art from the 19th century to the present, artifacts from the fishing & maritime and granite quarrying industries, textiles, furniture, a library/archives, and two historic houses. For a detailed media fact sheet please visit http://www.capeannmuseum.org/press.
The Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $10.00 adults, $8.00 Cape Ann residents, seniors and students. Youth (under 18) and Museum members are free. For more information please call: (978)283-0455 x10. Additional information can be found online at http://www.capeannmuseum.org.

Congratulations to All the 2015 Poetry Without Paper Winners!

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To celebrate April as National Poetry Month, the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library is proud to have participated in its twelfth annual Poetry Without Paper contest.

Poetry Without Paper 2015 Gloucester MA ©Kim Smith 2015

Elementary School:

First and Second Place (shared): Charles King, Grade 5, East Gloucester Elementary School: “Fireworks”
and George King, Grade 5, East Gloucester Elementary School: “Blank Slate”
Third Place: Calvin Del Vecchio, Grade 5, East Gloucester Elementary School: “The Sun”
Honorable Mention: Aurelia Harrison, Grade 3, West Parish School: “Immortal”

Middle School:
First Place: Mila Barry, Grade 6, O’Maley School: “Living in The Valley Green”
Second Place: Willa Brosnihan, Grade 6, O’Maley Innovation Middle School: “The Swarm”
Third Place: Ruby Mills, Grade 7, O’Maley Innovation Middle School: “Forest”
Honorable Mention: Katherine Bevins, Grade 7, O’Maley School: “Memory Window”

High School:

First Place: Emily Ryan, Grade 11, Gloucester High School: “Loving in Reverse”
Second Place: Josette Thompson, Grade 12, Gloucester High School: “True Love Haiku”
Third Place: Spencer Taft, Grade 12, Gloucester High School: “A Note for the Windshield”

To read all of the prize-winning poetry, click here

PRIZES: Each winner will receive a cash prize, a book of poetry, publication of the winning poem, an invitation to read the poem at the awards ceremony, and the chance to appear on the local TV program The Writer’s Block.

See Martin DelVecchio’s Beautiful Photo Gallery Here:

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MUST READ CAROLYN KIRK RESPONSE TO TIMES SENSATIONALIST WIND TURBINE ARTICLE

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To the editor:

The recent Gloucester Daily Times headline and story about the wind turbines (“No windfall from turbines,” May 29) was typical quality from this newspaper — a misleading headline and a lack of facts. Two points I would like to make — when my administration was working to make the turbines a reality, we were taking a stab in the dark in terms of revenue projections. We always estimated between $400,000 and $450,000 per year. As they came online and experienced down time, as well as mandatory shutdowns for two hours a day during the summer months per the City Council special permits, the revenue is tracking at over $350,000 per year. On top of that, the owner-operator makes a tax payment to the city of $40,000 per year as part of the power purchase agreement. We came darn close to our projected revenue range.

Read the full rebuttal here: Turbine Story Off Base

Liv’s Wedding in Less Than Three Weeks and Checking Off My To-do List!

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Love this beautiful linen in shades of sea and sand. As a general guideline, table runners are usually about 1/3 the width of the table. I was able to cut three runners out of each length and have some leftover fabric, more than enough to make a few pillows–they will be a lovely reminder of Liv and Matt’s wedding!

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Comsos 12 ©Kim Smith 2014 copy

So Very Proud of Our Joey for Winning the CACC Gloucester Small Businessman of the Year Award

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Schooner Roseway at the Gloucester Marine Railways

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We love living up the hill from the Gloucester Marine Railways–never a dull moment!

Roseway Schooner MA ©Kim Smith 2015

History of the Gloucester Marine Railways from the Railways website:

“In 1855, Dodd & Tarr Fisheries was started on the tip of Rocky Neck in Gloucester Harbor. As the fisheries business grew to encompass a wharf, a grocery store, warehouses and 15 schooners, the need arose for a way to repair and maintain the fishing vessels. In 1859, the company constructed the first of two marine railways on the northern-most tip of their property on Rocky Neck. From then until about 1970, the Railways used a steam engine to haul up the vessels. One note of interest is that the gears used in the steam engine were produced at the same factory that built the engine for the Civil War battleship, the Monitor.

In 1874, the Tarr bothers of Gloucester took over the firm of Dodd & Tarr and by 1879 the company was listed as “Rocky Neck Marine Railways Association”. The name “Dodd & Tarr & Co.” was reserved for the fishing business only. By 1892, the railways was maintaining 20 first class vessels. In 1907 Capt. Frederick Albert Cook reportedly brought his schooner to the Railways to be sheathed for ice and outfitted for an Arctic expedition. In the 1920s and 30s, schooners participating in the International Fishermen’s Races were hauled out at the Railways for painting and last minute repairs. In the late 1980s the Mayflower II came for repair. Recently the privately owned 128 foot Nantucket Lightship was hauled up in dry dock as she received fresh paint and maintenance.

Since 1859 the Rocky Neck Marine Railways, now known as the Gloucester Marine Railways Corp., has maintained and repaired thousands of fishing, commercial and pleasure boats from the wooden schooners of the last century to the present day steel and fiberglass vessels. A modern Travelift has recently augmented the original railways as GMRC keeps moving ahead, from one century to the next, distinguished as the oldest continuously operating marine railways in the country and a well respected member of the marine industry in the Northeast.”

Read more about the Gloucester Marine Railways Corp on their website here.

Roseway Schooner Gloucester MA ©Kim Smith 2015

About the Schooner Roseway from the World Ocean School website:

“In the fall of 1920 a Halifax, Nova Scotia, newspaper challenged the fisherman of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to a race between the Halifax fishing schooners and the Gloucester fleet. Therefore many schooners, such as Roseway, built at this time were not strictly designed for fishing but in order to protect American honor in the annual races.

Roseway, 137′ in sparred length, was designed as a fishing yacht by John James and built in 1925 in his family’s shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts. Father and son worked side by side onRoseway, carrying on a long New England history of wooden shipbuilding. She was commissioned by Harold Hathaway of Taunton, Massachusetts, and was named after an acquaintance of Hathaway’s “who always got her way.” Despite her limited fishing history,Roseway set a record of 74 swordfish caught in one day in 1934.

Roseway was built and maintained to an exceedingly high standard, using a special stand of white oak from Hathaway’s property in Taunton. She had varnished rails and stanchions and had a house built for her every winter. She was so well maintained that the coal for the stove was washed before being stored in the bunker. This kind of treatment, which contributed to her longevity, was unheard of in the commercial fishing fleet.

On December 7, 1941, just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Boston Globe reported the purchase of Roseway by the Boston Pilots Association. In the article, the Pilots describedRoseway as “sturdily constructed of oak, the craft is fully capable of withstanding the battering of heavy seas and onslaughts of terrific gales that pilot boats maintaining the lonely vigil off Boston Harbor are called upon to meet.” Clarence Doane, agent for the Boston Pilots, stated that Roseway “approaches as close as possible to specifications of the ideal pilot boat as any vessel. . . .”

Read more about the Schooner Roseway on their website here.

Roseway Gloucester MA ©Kim Smith 2015

Meet the Cape Ann Small Business Persons of the Year and Week-long Schedule of Events June 1st through the 5th, Culminating with Mayor Carolyn Kirk Giving Keynote Speech!

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CHAMBER CELEBRATES CAPE ANN SMALL BUSINESS WEEK JUNE 1 – 5

 

The Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce salutes Cape Ann’s 2015 Small Business Persons of the Year at a series of events this week. Monday night, Manchester will honor Mike Storella of Central Street Gallery at 7 Central from 5 to 7 p.m., while on Tuesday friends and fans will celebrate Joey Ciaramitaro of Good Morning Gloucester from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Studio as Gloucester’s choice for Small Business Person of the Year. On Wednesday, June 3 Karin and Ken Porter of Roy Moore Lobster Company and Roy Moore’s Fish Shack, Rockport Small Business Persons of the Year, will in turn be recognized at the Emerson Inn by the Sea from 5 to 7 p.m. Tim and Vicky Kennefick of the Windward Grille, Essex Small Business Persons of the Year, will be feted at their own restaurant on Thursday, June 4 from 5 to 7 p.m. All will be honored together at the Chamber’s 35th Annual Small Business Week awards luncheon on Friday, June 5, beginning at 11:30 a.m., at the Sea Glass Restaurant at the Castle Manor Inn, 141 Essex Avenue, Gloucester. The keynote address at the luncheon will be delivered by former Gloucester Mayor and current Deputy Secretary for Housing and Economic Development Carolyn Kirk.

 

Cape Ann Small Business Week is designed to highlight the extraordinary contributions of Cape Ann’s small business community for exemplary entrepreneurial achievement as well as notable civic and community involvement. This year’s Small Business Week award winners are being honored individually at receptions in their respective communities during Cape Ann Small Business Week, thanks to the generous support of presenting sponsor Institution for Savings. Please visit capeannchamber.com for a complete schedule of these receptions.

 

Friends, family members, and colleagues of all small business honorees are invited and encouraged to attend the receptions and the luncheon. Each reception is complimentary, while tickets for the luncheon are available to all for $30. To register online, please visit capeannchamber.com.

For more information, please contact Kerry McKenna at kerry@capeannchamber.com or call the Chamber at 978-283-1601.

Meet the honorees (of course our Joey needs no introduction) ~

Mike Storell Head shot Cropped VersionManchester Small Business Person of the Year Mike Storella

Business career: High tech Operations, Sales and Business Development background for many years in Communications, internet and computer systems of various types. Past positions at IBM, Cisco, and a number of tech startups, presently COO at dog hunter LLC a maker of Iot devices( internet of things). Board member of Rockport Art Association and Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce. Artistic career, plein air painter: One of the Founders of the Central Street Gallery in Manchester by the Sea, MA, it is a co-operative gallery consisting of 14 working artists with 6 shows per year of new works and approaching our 7th year.

Joey Head shotGloucester Small Business Person of the Year Joey Ciaramitaro

Joey Ciaramitaro is co-owner of Captain Joe and Sons Lobster Company and creator of GoodMorningGloucester. He graduated from Bishop Fenwick High School in 1985 and Bentley College in 1989, with a BA in Economics. Joey is the father of two beautiful daughters- Madeline and Eloise Ciaramitaro, ages 8 and 9. He is one of the original founders of The Downtown Gloucester Block Parties.  Joey credits his success to the support that his mom Pat, and father Libby gave him growing up, the fantastic people he gets to work with every day, the men and women who lobster for Captain Joe and Sons, his business partner Frankie, and the incredibly passionate Blog contributors who are part of the Good Morning Gloucester family.

Ken & Karin Porter smallRockport Small Business Persons of the Year Karin and Ken Porter

Ken Porter began working at Roy Moore Lobster Company at 39 Bearskin Neck in 1979 while still in high school. He continued to work there on weekends for the next ten years, while also working as a lobsterman out of Rockport Harbor. The business was started in 1918 by Roy Moore and was later purchased by Dana Woods and operated by Dana and his son Charlie until the 1980s. In 1989, the year that Ken and Karin were married, Ken purchased Roy Moore Lobster Company. In 1998, Karin and Ken opened the Fish Shack restaurant upstairs from the Lobster Company, and operated there until moving the restaurant to its present location at 21 Dock Square in 2003.

While operating these two successful Rockport businesses together for more than 25 years, Karin and Ken Porter have also generously given back to the Rockport community for decades. For many years they have supported every high school class and the DECA program by hosting fund raising spaghetti suppers and pancake breakfasts at the Fish Shack. Every year they also provide the lobsters for and support the Rotary Club’s Lobster Fest and the Navy Committee’s lobster bake. They also support the Council on Aging with an annual dinner for seniors and the Rotary Club’s annual Valentine’s Day luncheon for seniors. Every Sunday in February, Ken runs a pool tournament at the Legion Hall to raise funds for Rockport’s Veterans Weekend, and every December since moving to Dock Square Karin has provided free hot chocolate following the Christmas in Rockport Tree Lighting ceremony.

Karin and Ken Porter live in Rockport and have two children, John and Charlene.

 

Tim & Vicky HeadshotEssex Small Business Persons of the Year Tim and Vicky Kennefick

Vicky and Tim Kennefick opened the Windward Grille Restaurant in August 2005 after 6 months of renovations. The restaurant was formerly known as the Hearthside Restaurant, a well-known dining destination on the north shore. Our goal was to bring the restaurant back to the reputation it had once enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s. We have 6 children ranging in age from 30 to 14, most of whom have worked at the restaurant throughout the years. Tim is a native of Gloucester and was familiar with the area and the restaurant location. As we close in on our 10th anniversary we hope that the people of Cape Ann have enjoyed our establishment as much as we have enjoyed meeting many new friends.

 

The keynote address at the luncheon will be delivered by former Gloucester Mayor and current Deputy Secretary for Housing and Economic Development Carolyn Kirk.

 

Carolyn A. Kirk, Deputy Secretary, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development for the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Carolyn A. Kirk joined the Administration of Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito in January of 2015 and serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

In this position, Kirk leads operational management and shares policy responsibility for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Mass. Office of Business Development and its ancillary agencies of Mass. Travel and Tourism, the Mass. Marketing Partnership, and the Mass. Office of International Trade and Investment.

In addition, Kirk is responsible for economic planning and growth in the Maritime economic sector, oversees the MassWorks grant program, and provides direct support to the Lieutenant Governor’s office on a number of initiatives.

Prior to her appointment with the Baker/Polito administration, in 2007 Kirk was the first woman popularly elected as Mayor of the City of Gloucester. Kirk went on to win three subsequent general municipal elections and never lost a ward or a precinct in any of her contests and served as Mayor for seven years.   Kirk’s administration invested over $100million in infrastructure thus laying the groundwork for future economic growth.   The first-ever business class hotel is under construction in the city in a long sought after waterfront location adjacent to downtown. A new $40 million elementary school, the first one to be built since World War II and which Kirk led the effort on for seven years, is also under construction in the city.

 

Deputy Secretary Kirk’s professional career spans over 25 years.  She is a long-time management consultant and her clients have included many of the Top 20 banks in the US, along with Fortune 500 companies.  She and her husband Bill Kirk have two children, Sam, 17 and Baylee, 14.  Both are enrolled in Gloucester Public Schools.

A graduate of the Boston College class of 1984, Carolyn Kirk was born and raised in Clinton, NY and moved to Massachusetts to attend college.  She moved to Gloucester in 1988 where she still resides, and was drawn to the diversity and beauty of the city.

WOW! What a Team ~ Thank You Friends of the HarborWalk Volunteers!

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Thank you Lynn Bird, Amy Kerr, Catherine Ryan, Charles and George for an awesome and fabulous job! We spent the morning weeding and getting the HarborWalk beds ready to plant butterfly attracting annuals. Lynn, Amy, and Catherine are just amazingly helpful and super hard workers. With special thanks to Charles and George for their enthusiasm and wonderfully positive attitude. The boys pitch right in and just really attack the worst of the oversized weeds–we especially enjoyed the funny names they’ve assigned the most offensive weeds, names such as tidy whities!

Gloucester HarborWalk volunteers ©Kim Smith 2015

Gloucester HarborWalk Volunteers Lynn Bird, Amy Kerr, Catherine Ryan, George, and Charles

Day 2 Filming the Duckling Family

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Mallard Duckling ©Kim Smith 2015The Mallard Duck family that I have been filming during the early morning hours this past week is allowing me to get very close, venturing to within two feet from where I am tucked in amongst the reeds by the water’s edge. The ducklings mirror the parent’s every action and they are are especially adorable learning how to oil their feathers. Although the female attempts to stay close, and the male is always hovering nearby, one is becoming increasingly independent, a little too independent if you ask me. I can’t get over the ducklings vulnerability–its a miracle any survive to adulthood.

Female Mallard and Ducklings ©Kim Smith 2015

The mixed flock of ducks is comprised mostly of Mallards, with several pairs of American Black Ducks mixed in. A single pair of Blue-winged Teals was spotted for several days.

Blue-winged Teal adult male breeding ©Kim Smith 2015

Blue-winged Teal Adult Male Breeding Plummage

American Black Duck ©Kim smith 2015American Black Duck

Baby Bunny Nest ~ An Enchanting Discovery!

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Look what we uncovered while working at a client’s garden ~ 

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Baby rabbits are called kits or kittens and these look like they are Eastern Cottontails, the most common and widespread species of rabbits in North America.

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In the future if I accidentally come upon a similar looking nest, I think I would leave it undisturbed. We were very startled by the sight of the baby wild rabbits after pulling away leaves and the downy soft “lid,” or protective covering, and they very nearly were almost raked!

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Look What Andrea Holbrook Captured ~ A GLOSSY IBIS IN GLOUCESTER!

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Andrea writes, “OK , because of where I work — Gloucester — and amazing bird photos posted by friends — that would be you Kimberley Caruso and Kim Smith — I find myself stopping to shoot shorebirds with a camera. Spotted Thursday morning at Grant Circle, a glossy ibis and two snowy egrets. Not great photos but I had never seen a glossy ibis before!”

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Thank you so much Andrea for sharing your photos of the stunning Glossy Ibis. It’s breeding range in the Western Hemisphere is quite narrow and I would love, love to capture this species on film. Keeping my eyes peeled thanks to you!

From the Mass Audubon website, “In Ancient Egypt, ibises were venerated as sacred birds. They were believed to have a connection to the deity Thoth, the wise scribe and lorekeeper of the Egyptian pantheon. While Glossy Ibises are not literate, they are marvelous travelers. The Western Hemisphere population of this species represents a fairly recent arrival to the New World, believed to be descendants of birds who flew from Africa to South America in the early nineteenth century (Davis & Kricher 2000). Read More Here

 

NO GEESE ALLOWED!

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Don’t mess with Mama Swan!

Mute Swan attacking ©Kim Smith 2015

Mute Swans are extraordinarily powerful birds and I have seen them turn on a dime, especially at this time of year when the cygnets are beginning to hatch. The above Canada Goose tried to make a landing but was immediately rebuffed, in no uncertain terms. Several times since, I have observed geese circling overhead, but as soon as the swan is seen, they immediately change course.

Absolutely Amazing Awesome Gloucester Presentations by O’Maley School Students!

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O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -12 ©Kim Smith 2015O'Maley Awesome Gloucester 11 ©Kim Smith 2015Not one, but TWO, micro grants of $1,000.00 each were awarded to the two winning teams of the O’Maley Innovation School student challenge for the Awesome Gloucester Awards.O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -2 ©Kim Smith 2015

O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -3 ©Kim Smith 2015The Bicycle Generator project, created by sixth grade students Cole Cunningham, Joseph Ciarametaro, and Owen Hardy, is an outstanding idea combining hands on building with harnessing kid’s natural energy in an effort to make their school more environmentally friendly. Read More About the Bicycle Generator Project Here.

O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -6 ©Kim Smith 2015O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -8 ©Kim Smith 2015The O’Maley Butterfly Garden is a wonderful project created by sixth grade students Emma Duckworth, Willa Brosnihan, and Kelsey Lowthers. The garden is already underway, with beds dug and ready for planting (the kids did all the heavy lifting)! The funds received will go towards purchasing plants. Read More About the O’Maley Butterfly Garden Here.

O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -5 ©Kim Smith 2015O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -9 ©Kim Smith 2015I just have to add that I was so impressed with the student’s presentations; with their poise, professionalism, humor, and their well-planned and well-executed proposals especially. I saw a roomful of beaming faces last night, not just of students, but wide smiles on teachers and parents as well. Hats off to all!

O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -4 ©Kim Smith 2015O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -10 ©Kim Smith 2015O'Maley Awesome Gloucester -7 ©Kim Smith 2015.JPGSuper Proud Moms Lara, Tracy, and Nicole!

New Video from Lisa Smith ~ Gloucester City-wide Arts Festival 2015

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Lisa writes ~ “Here it is fresh off the press video highlight of the Gloucester Schools City-wide Arts Festival held earlier this month in downtown Gloucester. I couldn’t cover it all, but what I did cover was amazing! It includes a short interview with GHS science teacher Kurt Lichtenwald, his robotics program is fantastic. People got to play with the robots and other engineering marvels that his students made.”

 

Gloucester Stage Opens Tonight!

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Richard Nelson’s “Sweet and Sad” opens May 28 at Gloucester Stage, 267 E. Main Street, Gloucester, MA, with performances until June 20.

Presented in collaboration with Stoneham Theatre. Directed by Weylin Symes. Video trailer created by 8mufnz for Gloucester Stage. For tickets visit gloucesterstage.com or call the Box Office at 978-281-4433.

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