Franklin's Event Outlook: Aug 13 - Aug 19, 2021

Stay cool, it is supposed to be a warm one. The Town Common with the Farmers Market and Concerts on the Common at least will provide good things to do.

 
Friday, August 13
14:00 - Farmers Market
15:30 - Kids craft activity by Library Youth Services
17:00 - Concerts on the Common: "Matt Zajac"
18:00 - Concerts on the Common: "Pub Kings"
19:30 - FPAC performs "Legally Blonde"

Saturday, August 14 
10:00 - Historical Museum (always free)
14:00 - FPAC performs "Legally Blonde"
19:30 - FPAC performs "Legally Blonde"

Sunday, August 15
13:00 - Historical Museum (always free)
14:00 - FPAC performs "Legally Blonde"

Find the full calendar  https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/blog-page.html

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication:  https://forms.gle/oPdi8X3ZbHHyrHzo6

The Town meeting calendar is found  https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar

The School district meeting calendar is found   https://www.franklinps.net/calendar-by-event-type/26

 

Community Calendar

Quilting at the Park - August 18

Curious about quilting?  

This is your opportunity to learn more about the art and joy of this creative endeavor!  Come to the Francis William Bird Park in East Walpole, MA on Wednesday August 18.  6;00-7:30 PM for a free “show and tell” by members of the local Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild.  Guild members will display a variety of homemade quilts and share information on this time-honored craft, including the creative process, pattern and color choices, quilting techniques and the personal stories and inspirations behind the quilts.

Quilting at the Park will be held at the Music Court (stone stage).  Seating is informal on the lawn.  Please bring a blanket or chair for your comfort.  There will be a table of quilted items made by RNQG members available for purchase.  Prices range from $15-$50 (cash, checks, charge cards and Venmo are all accepted).

The main parking lot is on Polley Lane

The Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild (RNQG) is a non-profit group organized to preserve the tradition, culture and history of quilting and to promote the knowledge and understanding of the art of quilting.  Guild members hail from 32 towns in southeastern Massachusetts and northern Rhode Island. Form more information about the guild, please visit  www.rnqg.org

Rain date is Thursday August 19- Same time, same place 

Quilting at the Park - August 18

"Public health ... cannot be adequately protected by individual choices"

"The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life…"

—Preamble to the Massachusetts Constitution

"AS TWO MOTHERS who work in education policy, we have been steeped these past 18 months in the ongoing deliberations regarding public education during this pandemic. Where students were educated, under what conditions they were educated, on top of the ongoing questions of how and how well they were educated has been what we have lived for the past year and a half. As we prepare for our third school year impacted by COVID, much of the energy of this discussion has settled on masking.

Gov. Baker and state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley have abdicated their responsibilities for the public health of our schoolchildren and school staff. As a result, this decision has devolved to local school committees, who are on the receiving end of heated arguments of individual choice regarding this public health issue. School committees have been flooded with petitions and messages from abled, medically healthy families making claims to individual rights. However, school committees oversee government schools, and these public schools thrive only when the common good is available to all its students, not just the abled and medically robust. "

Continue reading the essay online ->  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/baker-should-protect-all-students-with-mask-order/ 

A young girl on the playground at the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester on October 1, 2020, the first day some students returned to in-person classes. (Photo by Michael Jonas)

Franklin Recreation: PeeWee baseball (video)

Franklin Recreation touts the PeeWee baseball program

Direct link to YouTube -> https://youtu.be/Km7ADVjDKYw

Shared from the Town of Franklin page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/recreation-department/news/pee-wee-baseball-video-0

Franklin Annual Report - 2020: Recreation Department

275 Beaver Street
Franklin, MA 02038 

http://www.franklinma.gov/recreation-department

The Recreation Department is located at 275 Beaver Street, Franklin MA 02038. The Recreation Department offers Franklin residents a variety of programs and activities for youth and adults, as well as coordination of youth sports organizations field use. The department operates and schedules activities for Beaver Pond (beach and turf field), Fletcher Field, Dennis Pisani Softball Field, Henry “Ski” Faenza Tot Lot (Nason Street Tot Lot), King Street Memorial Field, Dacey Community Field, and the Meadowlark Lane fields. The department is also responsible for scheduling the use of all school athletic fields. Our department works closely with the various town youth sports organizations and Athletic Director Tom Angelo to schedule all youth sports activities around the high school team practices and games.

Chilson Beach
Chilson Beach was open from June 20-August 21, 2020 with a swim at your own risk policy. No lifeguards were on duty. However, we staffed the beach with gate guards to check for residency as the beach remains Franklin residents only. The pond was home to canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and hiking. 

For information on Chilson Beach and our water testing results, visit:

http://www.franklinma.gov/recreation-department/pages/beaver-pond

At the above website, residents can check the water quality and E-coli levels as we run a water quality check every week to make sure it is safe for swimming.
On the turf field at Beaver Pond, we continue to permit soccer, field hockey, flag football, and boy’s lacrosse. The turf field was used for the Franklin Recreation Department’s NFL Flag football, Franklin Youth Soccer, and Franklin youth boys lacrosse, as well as yoga for senior citizens, tai chi, boot camp, and many other recreational activities. A portable recycled plastic walkway is on site for handicap accessibility to the water edge and playground area. The Franklin High School soccer, lacrosse and field hockey programs play all of their home games on the turf field as well. The turf field was recently resurfaced in 2017.

The Recreation Dept does so much, their full report doesn't fit here. Please continue reading with either the PDF version (page 109) or the print version (#103) -> https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/files/town-franklin-annual-report-2020

Prior Annual Reports can be found online

https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/pages/annual-reports

Franklin Annual Report - 2020:  Recreation Department

08/13/21: Let's keep it going Franklin

The Department of Public Health released new town-by-town data for coronavirus cases on Thursday, the latest set of such data showing how the virus has impacted individual communities throughout Massachusetts.

The state releases its weekly public health dashboard on Thursday of each week. 

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/15/nation/massachusetts-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-by-city/ 

Franklin OVID-19 cases in past 14 days

Franklin vaccination status to date

"Businesses say requiring the vaccine is the best way to keep employees – and customers – safe"

 

"There is no question vaccines are important and effective in combating COVID. But if vaccines are less effective in preventing illness and transmission with the Delta variant, it raises real questions about how the pandemic will end.

Initially, scientists were talking about reaching herd immunity – the level of population protection  at which the virus could no longer spread. Now, the conversation among experts suggests COVID may become endemic – a virus that circulates perennially, which society will have to learn to manage. Using vaccination – one-time or through boosters — to ensure that the virus takes a mild or moderate toll rather than a serious one is likely to be part of that. Natural immunity from infection could play a role. So could more effective treatment. Testing and limited quarantining could be another part. There could be other societal changes, like seasonal masking or improved indoor ventilation.

Harvard public health professor Yonatan Grad argues that past pandemics “have led to massive changes in the way we live that we’ve come to accept as normal.” COVID may do the same."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/delta-illustrates-benefits-limits-of-vaccines-2/
 

Army Spc. Angel Laureano holds a vial of the COVID-19 vaccine, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., Dec. 14, 2020. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)