Franklin Matters

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Harvest Festival - Sep 20th

The Franklin Downtown Partnership is preparing for their September Downtown Harvest Festival and is inviting crafters, restaurants, vendors and community groups to register for this year’s event.

This festival is the Partnership’s largest event and brings over 2,500 people to downtown Franklin each year. The festival will be Sunday, September 20th. The rain date is Sunday, September 27th. The event will be downtown starting on Main Street and will include East Central Street and Summer Street. There will be a variety of free entertainment and fun games and food. This year the Partnership is inviting restaurants to participate and showcase their menu items to area residents. Last year the festival had close to 100 vendors and crafters participate and they expect even more this year.

Space is limited, so anyone interested in participating should e-mail Mary Graff for more details and a registration form at mgraff@berryinsurance.com or call (508)733-5504.

The booth fee is $50.00 if registration is received by August 20th. The fee increases to $75.00 after that. Registration is free for Partnership business members.

Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation is this year’s Gold Sponsor and Middlesex Savings Bank is the Bronze Sponsor. Sponsorships are still needed for the festival. As a non-profit organization the Downtown Partnership depends on sponsors in order to fund the downtown festivals and events.

The Partnership has formed a merchants committee which will be hosting a “Third Thursday” event downtown each month. The events will be held every third Thursday and will include special events, sales, refreshments, and free entertainment at local downtown businesses. For more details contact Jane Curran at janeframe@verizon.net This year the downtown will also host a Holiday Stroll on December 3rd.

Any business, organization or resident interested in becoming a sponsor or who would like to become a member of the Partnership should call the Executive Director, Lisa Piana, at downtown.franklin@yahoo.com or (774)571-3109 or visit the downtown office location at 9 East Central Street .

The Partnership’s mission is to stimulate economic development in the downtown in order to create a positive impact throughout the area. Some of the past Franklin downtown projects include the new bronze sculpture in front of the museum, the downtown signs, and working with town officials on new construction, green space and streetscape projects. New members are always welcome!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Wachusett St open

The constructions signs are down.
The trenches paved for now.

Franklin: Wachusett St open the signs are down the trenches paved for now., originally uploaded by shersteve.

The street is back in business until next year when it will get rebuilt.

In the News - hold-up, Chilson Beach, flu season

Stick-up attempt made at St. Rocco's fair

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Michelle Laczkoski/Daily News staff

------

Franklin town beach closes for summer

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

------

Franklin officials plan for flu season

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

Anticipation - Third Thursday - 8/20/09

Anticipation!

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

No, Carly Simon is not appearing this Thursday. The Brothers McCann are!

The Brothers McCann will play in the plaza next to Cafe Dolce.

Other downtown Franklin will be open and participating:

Spotlight shop and Franklin School for the Performing Arts
Jane's Frames
Sarapaan
Rick's Restaurant
Franklin Pizza
Hair at Nail It
ArtBeat
Salon Sorella
Pretty is Pink

Come on down to Franklin's downtown Thursday night!

Concerts on the Common - Ayla Brown

Ayla Brown will be appearing Wednesday, August 19 for Concerts on the Common from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

Monday, August 17, 2009

School Choice update

The Milford Daily News discloses that Franklin will not participate in School Choice this year.

Franklin won't participate in School Choice program

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

What this means is that those student already enrolled will continue and that no "new" or "additional" students will be accepted into the program this year.

If I recall correctly from prior School Committee meetings, the district has approximately 50 students enrolled in the program. This is down from 2 years ago when there 70-plus students in the program.

The district's choice really was "Can we afford to fill in a few empty slots to gain the additional revenue?" When the slots would commit the district to providing the education to those students for the full program (K-12) and due to the significant reduction in teachers over the past several years, growing the average class size, the answer was "No."