Traveling Mystery Room with Big Ryan Saturday, December 27 | 1:00–2:30 PM Children’s Program Room | Sawyer Free Library, 2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester
The Sawyer Free Library is calling all young detectives and adventure-seekers! Kids ages 7–16 are invited to join Big Ryan for an exciting Traveling Mystery Room experience — an interactive adventure filled with teamwork, creativity, and fast-paced problem-solving.
The challenge: You’ve been abducted by aliens along with a group of your peers. Your only hope of escape is to work together, follow the clues, and complete each step needed to charge the escape pod. But act quickly — you have just one hour before the aliens discover you’ve broken free!
Important details:
Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org, and space is limited — please register each child individually.
Designed for kids ages 7–16.
Parents of children ages 7–9 are strongly encouraged to stay and lend a hand with the mystery.
Unrestored Fitz Henry Lane (1804–1865), Untitled (Floral Still Life), 1849, oil on panel. Gift of the Philip G. Lewis Family, 2025. On right, painting after being cleaned by Essex conservator, Lisa Mehlin. Original frame undergoing restoration by Boston-area conservator
The Cape Ann Museum has recently acquired a rare oil painting by Fitz Henry Lane (1804–1865), Untitled (Floral Still Life), 1849. The painting was cleaned in late November and is now undergoing additional restoration and conservation work on its original frame.
This early and distinctive work in Lane’s oeuvre depicts an arrangement of flowers gathered from a garden on Middle Street in Gloucester. The acquisition will be fully restored and displayed as part of the Museum’s main campus reopening in spring 2026, following a 16-month renovation. The Museum holds one of the world’s most extensive collections of Lane’s paintings and maintains the online Fitz Henry Lane catalogue raisonné, which has recently been updated for improved accessibility and ease of use, making it simpler for scholars, students, and the public to explore Lane’s works.
During Thanksgiving Week, art conservator Lisa Mehlin of Essex, MA, cleaned the painting at the Museum’s CAM Green location in Gloucester. Restoration of the frame is being carried out by Boston-area conservator Wenda Kochanowski over the coming weeks.
“It’s remarkable what the cleaning revealed, bringing out the vibrancy of color and the delicate detail of Lane’s floral depiction,” said Museum Director Oliver Barker. “We look forward to seeing the original frame restored and the painting hanging in the Museum when our main campus reopens next spring.”
The flowers Lane painted came from a house that once stood on the property at 44 Middle Street in Gloucester. Although the existing house on the site was built in 1883, an earlier residence occupied the property during Lane’s lifetime; no known images of that earlier home survive. In Gloucester Recollected, author Alfred Mansfield Brooks discusses the Stacy/Rogers family who lived there, noting the garden and the Lane paintings that once adorned the interior.
A letter, discovered on the reverse of the recently gifted work, detailed the delight that Harriet P. Stevens felt when she received the painting as a gift from Lane: “I cannot find words to express my thanks for the beautiful picture which you have presented to me.”
44 Middle Street in Gloucester (c. 1883).
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The winter sunsets are amazing from Magnolia. Walking Shore Road with the Sunset Club, is a fun time. The exercise is of course a benefit, but the real benefit is the friendships that have developed.
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A bunch of your favorite GMG people will be there selling Christmas gifts including Anna Eves Cape Ann Sea Salt, Donna Ardizzoni, Pat Dalpiaz and your boy Joey with a huge selection of caps!
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A bunch of your favorite GMG people will be there selling Christmas gifts including Anna Eves Cape Ann Sea Salt, Donna Ardizzoni, Pat Dalpiaz and your boy Joey with a huge selection of caps!
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Had to pull over on Stacy Boulevard on Friday, three hours after high tide. The waves came right over and covered my truck. Mother nature showed off on Friday.
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Please join us for our yearly tradition of plunging in the New Year. Once again, we will be hosting a food drive for The Open door. We kindly ask you to bring non- perishables. All welcome and please bring beach shoes ,as the beach is rocky !! Come experience the joy of Rocky Neck ❤️ We Promptly dip at 1pm !!
Location : Oakes Cove Beach. Stevens Way
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“Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 from “Come meet guest artist Barbara Lynch along with Stephen LaPierre, the Gloucester oil painter…along with Santa by the late beloved Rocky Neck painter Armand Sindoni…on loan from the Building Center.”
Stephen LaPierre’s Fine Art Open Studio. 11 Harbor Loop. Gloucester, MA.
courtesy photos: Armand Sindoni historic Santa in front of a few of Stephen LaPierre’s plein air paintings
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Good Morning Gloucester 