What's happening in Franklin, MA: Saturday, June 20, 2026 ???

Saturday, June 20

8:00am St. Mary Men's Faith Formation Group (St. Mary's Parish) 

9:00am Thrifty Threads (Franklin Federated Church)

9:00am Fallen Hero: Edward A. Kelly (Veterans Walkway, Franklin Town Common)

10:00am Franklin Historical Museum (always free)

10:00am Revolutionaries in White: A Look Across Three Centuries of Bridal Fashion     (Franklin Historical Museum)

10:00am Rise Up (Franklin United Methodist Church)

4:00pm South Street Six (live music) (Dean College Stage at Patriot Place)

5:00pm 3rd Annual Celebration of Life Fun Run Festival (Plainville)

7:30pm Garden of Hedon (live music) (THE BLACK BOX)

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

Fallen Hero Recognition: Edward A. Kelly - June 20, 2026 - 9 AM

There is a Fallen Hero Recognition event today (6/20/26) at 9 AM on the Town Common Veterans Walkway to honor First Lieutenant Edward A. Kelly, U.S. Army. 

This program will include the placing of a Memorial Wreath for the day, the playing of Taps, a salute from those present, and a reading of whatever history  may be available for that veteran.  This is a way of keeping the memory of that veteran alive.

Fallen Hero: First Lieutenant Edward A. Kelly, U.S. Army

First Lieutenant Edward A. Kelly, U.S. Army, was born on May 28, 1915, son of Michael and Ellen Kelly. Edward lived with his parents and one brother at 129 Fisher Street.  

First Lieutenant Edward A. Kelly was an officer in the regular army having enlisted on November 13, 1934. When conflict broke out, 1LT Kelly was sent to a tank outfit for training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was then ordered to the Hawaiian Islands to serve in an amphibious tractor outfit. 

1LT Kelly died a short time later on June 20, 1944, at age 29, while serving in Hawaii.  

1LT Edward A. Kelly was survived by his wife, Rose, and a child who were living in Los Angeles, CA at that time.  

First Lieutenant Edward A. Kelly was interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 17, 1949.

For the full series of Fallen Heroes you can visit this linkhttp://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/franklin-fallen-heroes-series.html 

The schedule of Fallen Heroes for the year on one page (PDF)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tlyiAK18owM81p8aJs1vhKc3p2bIK1cv/view?usp=drive_link

Free Emergency Preparedness class on Monday, July 20

via Franklin Fire Dept

"Come join us on Monday, July 20th at 4 PM. Our Paramedic Intern will be providing a free class on Emergency Preparedness. The location is our Fire Headquarters at 40 West Central St. "

Download the flyer as a reminder or to share -

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qzfzHKUjT2GuawPMqXYQoVftJNh4qcrE/view?usp=drive_link

Beaver St Interceptor (BSI) Construction Updates ~ Monday, June 22 through Friday, June 26, 2026

Beaver Street CLOSURE Alert - RT. 140 (West Central Street) to Recreation Center. Monday (6/22) through Friday (6/26) 7 AM to 4 PM:

All Traffic for Beaver Street will be rerouted to Grove Street for access. This includes those needing to access Franklin Glass and the residents at 242 - 270 Beaver Street. Please use caution when traveling in this area and follow all posted signs.

RT. 140 (West Central Street) Lane Closure Alert: Monday (6/22) through Friday (6/26) 7 AM to 3 PM:

The contractor will reinstall sidewalks within RT. 140 (West Central Street). The work will be contained within the southbound lane from Burger King to Beaver Street. During this time there will be lane closures on RT. 140. Please use caution when traveling in this area and follow all posted signs.

Please reference the interactive map and posted signs for details and updates. - https://www.franklinma.gov/557/Beaver-Street-Interceptor-BSI-Project

We appreciate the public's continued support and understanding and will continue to communicate regularly via social media, our dedicated email list, and the construction map as work progresses.

Garden Of Hedon scheduled to perform at THE BLACK BOX, Saturday, June 20 at 7:30 PM

Vintage style psychedelic blues rock with just a shot of punk rock attitude. Theswagger of The Stones, meets the sophistication of The Beatles, combined with the power of Led Zeppelin, and the eclectic weirdness of early David Bowie and Alice Cooper.

Garden Of Hedon scheduled to perform at
THE BLACK BOX, Saturday, June 20 at 7:30 PM

Matt Zajac: Lead Vocals, Background Vocals, Acoustic Guitar | 

William James Donovan: Bass Guitar, Background Vocals | 

Steven Serra: Electric Guitar | 

Tim Corrigan: Electric Guitar | 

Kevin Meaney: Slide Guitar | 

Johnny Keys: Piano, Organ, Keyboard | 

Tim Provost: Drums

Come see what’s growing in the Garden Of Hedon!

TICKETS = $20 presale, $25 at door   https://theblackboxonline.com/garden-of-hedon/

NE Revolution star Andrew Farrell to appear at Franklin Fan Zone - June 25

For the scheduled appearances of New England Revolution soccer players at other Fan Zones, check the images here ->

Free tickets, additional information, and event details for MetroWest Fan Zone locations are available at www.metrowestvisitors.org/world-cup.

Electric Youth has 2 concerts this June 2026

Electric Youth has 2 concerts this June 2026

One free one on the Town Common, one ticketed at THE BLACK BOX, both before they leave on their European tour.

Tickets for THE BLACK BOX show available - https://theblackboxonline.com/electric-youth-2026-bon-voyage/

Memorial Day Breakfast - Franklin Senior Center 5/22/26 (video)

Franklin TV recording of the Memorial Day Breakfast 2026 is available for viewing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e3-D_DO_xs

Memorial Day Breakfast - Franklin Senior Center 5/22/26 (video)

Franklin Public Schools will be hiring school nurses and a variety of other school positions

https://www.franklinps.net/page/employment-opportunities

Shared from - https://www.franklinps.net/page/employment-opportunities

As of June 19, 2026, the open positions:

https://www.franklinps.net/o/fpsd/page/postings

Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s new film shines a light on the human cost of unregulated social media (video)

"Life moves pretty fast. It is Monday lunchtime when Jennifer Siebel Newsom drops into the Guardian’s office in Washington, just a couple of blocks from the White House, for an interview to promote her new film. Less than two hours later her husband, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, announces that the couple are under investigation by the justice department.

One strand of the investigation specifically targets Siebel Newsom’s taxes and the California Partners Project, a gender equity non-profit she co-founded that received $4.3m in donations solicited by her husband. Gavin Newsom denounced the move as a “personal vendetta” directed by Donald Trump because the governor is considering running for US president.

Even before the news breaks, Siebel Newsom’s verdict on Trump is withering. “I feel sorry for our country right now because when the father figure, the leader, the president is such a broken, damaging, harmful role model, everyone’s being traumatised,” she says, more in sorrow than in anger. “Everyone’s mental health is not what it could be – should be.”

.....

Siebel Newsom’s newest film is Miss Representation: Rise Up, a bracing study of the cultural backlash against women and girls in the era of social media algorithms and AI deepfakes, the rise of the manosphere and “trad wives”, and, of course, the pernicious influence of Trump, who bragged on tape about grabbing women by the genitals and has been found liable for sexual abuse."

Continue reading via this shared link - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jun/19/jennifer-siebel-newsom-documentary-miss-representation-rise-up?CMP 

Trailer for her original film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KEisjEG3M

Franklin Public Radio - wfpr.fm schedule for Saturday, June 20, 2026

Franklin Public Radio - wfpr.fm
schedule for Saturday, June 13, 2026

Yes, Franklin has it's own radio station -> wfpr.fm. Franklin Public Radio has a brand new schedule for the locally produced shows that fill our air waves. 

It is available anywhere, anytime at wfpr.fm or in the local Franklin, MA area at 102.9 on the FM dial.

Tune in to listen to the following:

Get this week's program guide for Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online  http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf 

 

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Friday, June 19, 2026 ???

Friday, June 19    =    Juneteenth 

*** Town and Schools closed today for Juneteenth Holiday

9:00am Car wash (FHS Gymnastics fund raiser) (Franklin Car Wash)

1:00pm Thrifty Threads (Franklin Federated Church)

2:00pm Farmers Market (Franklin Town Common)

3:00pm John Marino (live music) (Franklin Town Common)

*** NO  Town Meetings today ***

---------

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

What vendors are at the Franklin Farmers Market this week? Friday June 19

"Vendors, performers, and food trucks at the

What vendors are at the Franklin
Farmers Market this week? Friday June 19

Franklin farmers market this week!!

June 19, 2026 -- 2-6PM

Performer: Joe Marino Solo Acoustic Cover Artist

Food Trucks: @travelin_pizza & @tcscoops & @wanderingcheers

Sponsors: @franklinculturalcouncil02038 @masscultural

Montville Candy @navadbakers @oldexit17farm @peacebeeandrainbowsonghenna @pincifoods @thepumpkinfarm @rasbrewhouse @stillgrainbistro @sweet_willow_naturals"

The Town of Franklin recognized for another first - "first municipality in the country to adopt social prescribing"

via Town of Franklin:

"Franklin's Social Prescriptions initiative was recently featured by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ).

In 2025, the Town of Franklin became the first municipality in the country to adopt social prescribing, a healthcare approach that connects residents with arts, culture, recreation, and other community-based activities to help address social isolation and support overall well-being.

More than a year later, the program continues to make an impact through partnerships that connect residents to meaningful community experiences."

Read the full article -  https://binj.news/2026/06/16/creative-remediation-the-mass-municipality-bucking-trends-with-social-prescriptions

Shared from - https://www.facebook.com/share/188aJ536gT/

Additional info on the Art Pharmacy program

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/art-pharmacy-officially-launching-5125.html

The Franklin TV video of the May 2025 launch of Art Pharmacy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKvpBwHdyNE

Lucas & Colin close out the 2025-26 School Year & talk summer projects (audio)

FM #1768 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1768 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my discussion with School Superintendent Lucas Giguere and Operations Director Colin Boisvert. We recorded our conversation in the FPS Central office conference room on Monday, June 15, 2026.  

Key topics

• Closing out the 2025-2026 school year

• School budget complete, summer work back to ‘normal’

• Summer projects across the schools to get ready for September

• Reflections on last summer, plans for summer 2026

The recording runs about 35 minutes. Let’s listen to our conversation.

Audio link - https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1768-franklin-public-schools-2025-26-school-year-closeout-06-15-26/

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School budget page -  https://www.franklinps.net/documents/about-us/school-district-budget(2)/fy2027-budget/860340 

One page summary - https://files-backend.assets.thrillshare.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4780/Fpsd/2a015b07-c2a9-4913-ab84-2c2b384961b1/FY27-FPS-1-pager-Budget-Request.pdf?disposition=inline 

Facilities presentation - (add link when available) 

Community calendar  https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar 

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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"

Commonwealth Pride awards

Via Ted Cormier-Leger

"Extremely humbled and honored to part of the inaugural class of 105 people statewide to be recognized for contributions to the LGBT community, our hometowns and to the commonwealth. It was a beautiful ceremony and I wish everyone could have experienced the joy in the chamber.

Thank you to the organizers, to Rep Roy for the nomination and to my loving husband for being in the audience as my biggest fan.

Happy Pride. "

Shared from - 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BnSNDE7BN/

The Pride Program with all the info on the awards and recipients can be found - https://www.canva.com/design/DAHLbg6yl5k/0PDh29xsqWclVzOPJmZQOg/view

Town Council witnesses backfill new hires sworn in & approves committee appointments (video)

Franklin's Town Council met as scheduled on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 with all 9 members in Council Chambers for this short 90 minute session.

Franklin TV video available for replay - https://www.youtube.com/live/7ofs1YHsfj8?&t=66

The agenda and documents released for this session - https://www.franklinma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06172026-2368 

Quick recap

• Town Council witnessed and welcomed
• Swearing in of new Firefighter / Paramedic - Johnna Moitoso
• Swearing in of new Clinician - Danielle Machado
• Swearing in of new Officer - Caleb MacLean
• Note: These folks are all backfilling positions already part of the authorized hire level and which were open due to individuals leaving for some reason. The 2 School Resource officers recently authorized for FY 2027 are not expected to be filled until October
• Annual Reappointments and New Appointments of Boards and Committees Members were approved. There are approx. 20 positions across 8 boards/committees still open. Applications can be made online https://franklinmaboards.vt-s.net/newcaf.php
• 2 resolutions to prepare to close out the FY 2026 budget as the fiscal year approaches June 30
• General Funds Appropriations, Transfers and Adjustments FY26
• FY26 Snow and Ice Stabilization Account Transfer

My notes in one PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RUd2GRsw73fPm4FS9hC690X-hR_aIM4s/view?usp=drive_link

Town Council poses with backfill new hires

Photos of the swearing in's -  https://photos.app.goo.gl/U8E77Df5E6pp41iBA