Saturday, April 25, 2026

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Saturday, April 25, 2026 ???

Saturday, April 25

The Little Shop | Lady Bug Walk (Day 1/2)

9:00am Annual Ladybug Trail Walk Multiple points in Downtown Franklin

9:00am Thrifty Threads (Franklin Federated Church)

10:00am Franklin Historical Museum (always free)

10:00am Charles River Earth Day Cleanup (Sites across the watershed, from Boston to Hopkinton!)

10:30am Rainforest Reptiles! (Franklin Public Library)

1:00pm Painting for Adults! (Franklin Public Library)

2:00pm Boston Typewriter Orchestra Concert (Franklin Public Library)

2:00pm Dance Company (Dean College Main Stage Theater)

5:30pm dayTREAT featuring "SLOW BURN" (Pour Richard's Wine & Provisions)

7:30pm Dance Company (Dean College Main Stage Theater)

8:00pm Karaoke at The Raillery (Raillery Public House)

*** NO Town Meetings today ***

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Find the full Community event calendar https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication: https://bit.ly/Submit2Calendar

The Town meeting calendar is found https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx
The School district calendar is found https://franklinpublicschooldistrictma.sites.thrillshare.com/o/fpsd/page/school-calendar

Attention Franklin School & Town Retirees & Staff - FY 2027 Insurance Open Enrollment ends Friday, May 1

🚨 Attention Franklin School & Town Retirees & Staff 🚨

Don’t miss this important deadline!

🗓 Health Insurance Election Due:
Friday, May 1st by midnight

⚠️ Key Details:
• Current coverage ends June 30, 2026
• New coverage will begin July 1, 2026

✅ Make sure you’ve completed your election on time to avoid any gaps in coverage.

📌 More Information:
• Retirees: https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/1007/Retiree-Benefits
• Employees: https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/225/Employee-Benefits

📞 Questions? Contact the Human Resources Office at 508-553-4810

Please share to help spread the word!

Thank you,

Stacy Castell

DEPUTY DIRECTOR | HUMAN RESOURCES

355 East Central Street

Franklin, Massachusetts 02038-1352

O. 508-553-4841

O. 508-553-4810

F. 508-553-4896

E.scastell@franklinma.gov

FY 2027 Budget Narrative: Franklin Agricultural Commission

From the Town Administrator's FY 2027 Budget narrative, each department's story is worth sharing.

General Purpose

The Town Council established the Franklin Agricultural Commission per Special Legislation to promote, develop, and foster agricultural resources in the Town of Franklin. The Commission consists of ﬁve Members with three-year terms. Members shall be residents of Franklin and at least two members shall be active farmers, employed in an agriculture-related ﬁeld, or have experience and knowledge in agricultural practices of business. The Commission is also able to have two Associate Members with 1-year terms.

Stafﬁng

● Five (5) Volunteer Members

○ Includes: One (1) Chair

○ Includes: One (1) Vice Chair

FY27 Requested Budget Highlights

● This is a level-funded budget.

● The Commission hopes to continue to provide education and outreach of Franklin arms and supporting the local economy, expand the Franklin Farmer’s Market with the market coordinators, research the potential of becoming a right-to-farm community and expand community garden beds.

The PDF of this section -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-Ma8h1alSWMfEpvSpKIGx2xxReMhb8k/view?usp=drive_link

For the full FY 2027 budget narrative - https://www.franklinma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8912/FY27-Budget-Narrative-FINAL-1

The complete set of FY 2027 budget information can be found

https://www.franklinma.gov/Archive.aspx?ADID=577

3rd budget hearing covers Public Works & Public Safety (audio)

FM #1727 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1727 in the series.

This session of the radio show shares the Finance Committee Budget Hearing on Public Works & Public Safety, the 3rd of 4 sessions to go over the FY 2027 budget. The meeting was held in Council Chambers with 8 of 9 members present.

Quick recap:

Gus Brown, Building Commissioner, up first
Brutus Cantoreggi, DPW up next,
Next up Police Chief Lynch, level service plus 2, looking to get the SROs back
Next up, Chief Allen, Fire Dept.
Dispatch Center or the MECC being covered
Also skipped Tri-County and Norfolk Aggie last night with no explanation given for it. Tri-County and Norfolk Aggie, both assessments based upon enrollment, not much of a change year to year
So Thursday night, the Finance Committee will use the 3rd Floor Training room for their discussion to be more “around a table” rather than spread out to help their discussion. Potential revisions coming to the budget, what they are we'll watch and see.

Let’s listen in

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1727-finance-cmte-budget-hearing-3-04-08-26/

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The Franklin TV video is available for replay -

https://www.youtube.com/live/x8Hb_pCl64A?&t=164

Agenda doc including links to the FY 2027 budget

https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04082026-2221

My full set of notes in one PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D-RumOpcYkE7SZ_czpSZzW5TKdS9SE3B/view?usp=drive_link

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like something here, please let me know
And if you have interest in reporting on meetings or events, please reach out. We’ll share and show you what and how we do what we do

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Mass Senate: We Must Fight Back Against Book Bans

Note, this was edited for publication here, to view the full set of content follow this link - https://masenate.substack.com/p/we-must-fight-back-against-book-bans?publication_id=5356564&post_id=195347225&triedRedirect=true

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We Must Fight Back Against Book Bans

We have the opportunity to protect the next generation’s ability to think, question, and become fully themselves. Our values as a Commonwealth demand we take it.

Julian Cyr

Apr 24

∙

Guest post

READ IN APP

State Senator Julian Cyr speaks at a press conference featuring lawmakers, advocates, writers and librarians in support of his Protect Free Expression bill.

Before I ever held elected office—before I understood the mechanics of government or the levers of policy—I was a high school student on Cape Cod trying to make sense of the world around me.

At Nauset Regional High School in Eastham, I first got involved in organizing by speaking up with my classmates to protect the arts programs and teachers who helped shape who we were and who we’d become.

Senator Julian Cyr as a teen.

That experience taught me something I’ve carried ever since: young people deserve to be trusted with complexity, not shielded from it. Books are a fundamental part of that.

The books I read in my teens gave me language for things I didn’t yet fully understand, and perspective on lives that looked different from my own. Books helped me ask questions, challenge assumptions, and, over time, better understand myself.

That’s why I find the current wave of book ban efforts so troubling and so fundamentally at odds with what education—and our democracy—is supposed to be.

Thanks for reading The Gavel Drop! This post is public so feel free to share it.

What Happens Next

An Act regarding freedom of expression is awaiting action in the House of Representatives.

If passed by the House, any differences between the House and Senate versions will need to be reconciled—most likely in a conference committee—before the bill heads to Governor Healey’s desk for her review and signature.